Le compartiment Global Small Cap Energy de la sicav luxembourgeoise ISF (International Selection Fund) de Schroders, lancé le 17 mai 2010, a obtenu de la BaFin l’agrément de commercialisation en Allemagne. Ce fonds investit dans des petites capitalisations du secteur énergétique (50-500 millions de dollars) dans le monde entier.Les gérants John Coyle et Ben Stanton (qui pilotent déjà le Schroder ISF Global Energy) misent sur la conjonction d’une reprise économique et donc de la hausse de la demande avec le manque de capacités de production de pétrole ; ils tablent aussi sur une multiplication des fusions et acquisitions. La taille du fonds (35-50 lignes) sera plafonnée à 500 millions de dollars.Le Global Small Cap Energy n’utilisera pas d’effet de levier, de ventes à découvert ou d’investissements directs en matières premières.Caractéristiques Dénomination : Schroder ISF Global Small Cap Energy EURCode Isin (part A) : LU 0507598497Indice de référence : MSCI World EnergyDroit d’entrée : 5 %Commission de gestion : 1,5 %Souscription minimale initiale : 1.000 euros
Récemment, la CNMV a enregistré le fonds long/short market neutral GLG Alpha Select, un produit coordonné domicilié en Espagne et investissant en obligations britanniques, rapporte Funds People. Ce fonds de 70-100 lignes réplique dans un cadre OPCVM III la stratégie d’un hedge fund géré par John White et domicilié aux îles Caïman. Il a été lancé en février et se décline en parts en dollars américains, en euros, en livres et en yen.La commission de gestion est de 2 % pour les investisseurs institutionnels et de 2,75 % pour le retail tandis que la commission de performance se situe à 20 %.
D’après les statistiques de VDOS Stochastics, l’encours total des 3.205 sicav espagnoles, un véhicule utilisé surtout par les grandes fortunes espagnoles, ressortait au 30 juin à plus de 25,32 milliards d’euros, ce qui représente une diminution de presque 1,3 % sur le niveau de fin décembre. Fin mars, les actifs gérés ressortaient à 26,21 milliards d’euros (lire notre dépêche du 28 juin).BBVA Patrimonios a été comme pour le premier trimestre le numéro un pour les encours, avec une part de marché de 11,14 % et pour les souscriptions nettes avec 81 millions d’euros pour avril-juin contre 77 millions pour janvier-mars. Comme au premier trimestre, sa sicav Morinvest se classe première, mais son encours a baissé à 440 millions d’euros fin juin contre 452 millions fin mars.
Depuis six mois, Alken Asset Management dispose d’un agrément de la CNMV (lire notre article du 13 avril). A présent, la société de gestion luxembourgeoise créée par Nicolas Walewski après son départ de Syz/Oyster a fait enregistrer pour la vente en Espagne, en plus de son navire amiral European Opportunities, le Small Cap Europe que gère Jean-Pierre Mariaud et dont l’encours est de 32 millions d’euros.
Le gestionnaire britannique de hedge funds Parvus Asset Management a déclaré à la SEC avoir acheté pour 132 millions de dollars une participation de 10 % dans l’américain Liberty Acquisition Holdings Corp, la structure mise sur pied par Nicholas Berggruen (qui en détient 9,87 %) pour réaliser le sauvetage du groupe espagnol Prisa, rapporte Cotizalia.Parmi les autres actionnaires de Liberty Acquisiton figurent The Children Investment group (TCI), Pentwater Capital, Tig Advisors, Fir Tree et Centaurus Capital. Ensemble, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup et Credit Suisse détiennent 12 % de Liberty.
UBS a renforcé son équipe dédiée au segment de la clientèle fortunée UHNW (ultra-high-net-worth) par le biais de promotions internes et de recrutements, selon Asian Investor.Amy Lo, actuellement responsable du marché de Hong Kong et du segment UHNW également à Hong Kong, a ainsi été nommée responsable du segment UHNW pour l’ensemble de la zone Asie-Pacifique. UBS a procédé à une promotion interne (Jean-Claude Humair) et à un recrutement (Francis Liu) pour assumer les fonctions d’Amy Lo à Hong Kong. Francis Liu, précédemment chez Bank of America Merrill Lynch, rejoindra UBS en décembre. Il travaillera en binôme avec Jean-Claude Humair, actuellement responsable de la gestion de fortune au Japon pour UBS.
La société de gestion basée à Boston Eaton Vance vient de recruter Rob White, précédemment chez Banquo Credit Management, en qualité de responsable de son nouveau bureau régional à Singapour.Selon Asian Investor, Eaton Vance compte bien entendu s’intéresser aux grands investisseurs institutionnels mais la société de gestion envisage aussi de développer ses activités sur une classe d’actifs moins traditionnelle, les prêts bancaires. Eaton Vance espère obtenir une licence pour exercer sur le marché des capitaux ainsi qu’un agrément de société de gestion d’ici à la fin de l’année.
L’établissement asiatique DBS Group serait en négociations avancées pour vendre son activité de gestion d’actifs ou la fusionner avec un partenaire stratégique, selon plusieurs sources citées par Asian Investor.Selon le site Internet asiatique, au moins deux sociétés seraient sérieusement intéressées par DBS Asset Management, qui gère 20 milliards de dollars d’encours : le japonais Nikko Asset Management et une société de gestion européenne dont le nom n’a pas été dévoilé. Pour une société européenne, une acquisition serait intéressante car elle lui permettrait de se doter instantanément d’une plate-forme asiatique crédible.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Société Générale Private Banking announced on Wednesday, 6 October that it has teamed up with Copal Partners to strengthen its equities research and to build its services dedicated to high net worth retail clients. The agreement allows Société Générale Private Banking to double the number of securities covered by its equities research, and to extend its analysis to Latin America, the United States, Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and to strengthen its abilities to respond to specific demand from private clients in relation to all publicly traded equities, a statement says. Société Générale Private Banking will retain supervision of all research produced by Copal Partners.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US management firm Franklin Templeton on 5 October announced that it has added to its defined-contribution pension program sales team with the recruitment fo Tyler Johnson as DCIO Key Account Manager. Franklin Templeton has also revised its organisation to take into account changes which are taking place in the advising market, where consolidation is continuing, but where there is still a population of financial advisers who may occasionally sell pension plans, but who need assistance to do so.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US management firm Lord, Abet & Co has announced the appointment of five partners: David J. Linsen and Thomas B. Maher, fund managers, Jonathan M. Morgan, director of institutional services, Lawrence B. Stoller, vice general counsel, and Stacy P. Allen, chief administrative officer.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mutual Fund Wire reports that DWS Investments has appointed Jeffrey Diamond as director, senior national account manager and head of offshore distribution in the United States. Diamond, previously at UBS, will be based in New Jersey, and will report to Michael Woods, managing director, CEO and director of distribution in the United States.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Insynergy Investment Management, which has recently launched the Absolute China and Absolute India funds, and recruited David Stead (ex Skandia) as business development director, has appointed Bambos Hambi as head of strategy and development. Hambi, who had been a full-time consultant for Insynergy since early August, was director of multi-management at Gartmore until May 2008.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The aggregate hedge fund index calculated by HedgeCo has posted an average annualised performance of 7.14% for the first seven months of the year, compared with growth of 4.18% for the S&P 500. The long/short index has earned the best results, with returns of 7.58%.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Several sources cited by Asian Investor say that the Singapore-based DBS Group may sell its asset management activities, currently at DBS Asset Management, or merge them with those of a strategic partner. Among the candidates who are said to have already entered talks with DBS are Nikko Asset Management and a European management firm. Assets under management at DBS Asset Management currently total about USD20bn (SGD26bn).
According to the Financial Times, French officials now say that they are prepared to accept the principle of a passport for third-country funds, subject to strict conditions. In particular, Paris insists that it should be the new European Securities and Markets Authority which issues a passport to a third-country fund and then supervises that fund.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Global Small Cap Energy sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav ISF (International Selection Fund) from Schroders, launched on 17 May 2010, has been issued a sales license for Germany by BaFin. The fund invests in small caps in the energy sector (USD50-500m) worldwide. The managers, John Coyle and Ben Stanton (who already manage the Schroder ISF Global Energy fund), are betting on the conjunction of economic recovery and a rise in demand with a lack of oil production capacity; they are also betting on an increase in mergers and acquisitions. The size of the fund (30-50 positions) will be limited to USD500m. Global Small Cap Energy will not rely on leverage, short-selling or direct investment in commodities.CharacteristicsName: Schroder ISF Global Small Cap Energy EURISIN code (A class shares): LU 0507598497Benchmark index: MSCI World EnergyFront-end fee: 5%Management commission: 1.5%Minimal initial subscription: EUR1,000
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Credit Suisse group on 6 October announced that it has launched a new real estate fund, the Credit Suisse Real Estate Fund Hospitality (CS REF Hospitality), which is the first real estate fund in Switzerland to invest in a diversified manner in Swiss hospitality properties. Only qualified investors may participate in the first issue, which is planned for November or December 2010, Credit Suisse says in a statement. In addition to the acquisition of existing properties, the fund may undertake construction projects. Real estate investments are diversified by operator, type of property, age, building type and situation. Initially, only qualified investors may subscribe to the CS REF Hospitality. Institutional investors whose treasury is professionally managed and high net worth retail investors are included in this category. The statement explains that the term “hospitality” includes the hotel industry in the broad sense. The hospitality business, previously limited only to hotels, now includes a much wider range of services, from residences with hotel services to student campus residences, health sector properties, residences, and various forms of hotels.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The range of hedge funds focused on Eastern Europe from the Swedish asset management firm Emeralt Investments has grown with the addition of Opal, a long/short Russian and CIS equities product which combines stock-picking and macro analysis, Hedge Week reports. The fund, which has started up with considerable seed capital, will be managed by Johan Ekström, who has returned to Emeralt after a period at the Russian Alfa Bank. The fund will invest in sectors other than oil and gas, with the objective of generating outperformance compared with long-only Russia funds and global emerging markets funds.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Anthony Serhan, who was previously managing director of Ibbotson Associates Australia, an affiliate of Morningstar, has been appointed CEO of Morningstar Australasia Pty Ltd., where he was previously head of adviser and research. He will continue to serve as director of Ibbotson Associates Australia, which will now be led by Daniel Needham, who has served as CIO for several years.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Pioneer Investments has launched a guaranteed fund investing in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), the Pioneer UniCredit a formula BRIC 4 dicembre 2015. The fund is aimed at savings investors seeking to invest in emerging countries, while benefiting from capital protection, the asset management firm says. The fund has a fixed duration, and may be subscribed to until 28 October. At maturity, the client is supposed to receive 30% of the performance of the S&P Bric 40 Risk Control 18% in Euros.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In September, mutual funds on sale in Italy saw net redemptions of EUR1.74bn, according to the most recent statistics from Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset managers. Outflows were largely driven by money market funds, which saw outflows of EUR1.78bn, Flexible funds and hedge funds also came out with a negative balance of EUR191m and EUR176m, respectively. Bond funds, for their part, saw outflows of EUR4m. For the month, only equities and diversified funds show net inflows, of EUR224m and EUR155m, respectively. But those were not enough to compensate for redemptions from other categories of funds. Assogestioni also notes that foreign-registered funds posted net inflows of EUR619m, while Italian-registered funds saw outflows of EUR2.36bn. As of the end of the month, assets under management in the sector totalled EUR449.38bn, a very slight decrease compared with August. Of this total, 78.4% is managed by Italian groups, and 21.6% by foreign groups. For the month, the largest inflows went to Mediolanum (EUR137.2m) and Generali (EUR53.5m), while firms with the heaviest outflows were Intesa Sanpaolo (EUR611.9m) and Bipiemme (EUR279.2m).
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For six months, Alken Asset Management has been licensed by the CNMV (see Newsmanagers of 13 April). Now, the Luxembourg management firm founded by Nicolas Walewski following his departure from Syz/Oyster, has registered the Small Cap Europe fund managed by Jean-Pierre Mariaud, with assets of EUR32m, for sale in Spain, in addition to the firm’s flagship European Opportunities fund.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The CNMV has recently registered the market neutral long/short fund GLG Alpha Select, a UCITS-compliant product domiciled in Spain, which invests in British bonds, Funds People reports. The fund with 70-100 positions replicates the strategy of a hedge fund managed by John White, domiciled in the Cayman Islands, in a UCITS III-compliant format. The fund was launched in February and is available in shares denominated in US dollars, euros, pounds Sterling and Japanese yen. Management commission is 2% for institutional investors and 2.75% for retail investors, while performance commission is 20%.
Since the beginning of the year, ING Investment Management has seeninflows of EUR200-300m for high dividend yield equities management, following inflows of EUR450-500m in 2009. As of 31 August, the asset management firm had EUR9bn in assets under management in this strategy, out of total assets under management of EUR376bn (30 June). ING IM’s dividend strategy, launched in 1999, is now divided into several geographical regions: Europe, global, United States and Asia.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Luis Ojeda, previously CEO of the private wealth management (PWM) division for Spain at Deutsche Bank, has been promoted to head of PWM for all of Southern Europe, including Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, and the French-speaking part of Switzerland, Cotizalia reports. It is a newly-created position, and Ojeda will be replaced in Spain by the current deputy CEO, Antonio Losada. PWM offers services to retail clients with financial savings of at least EUR2m.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Observer 2010 study from the Spanish Inverco association of asset management firms, covering the period 2007-2009, finds that Spanish investors withdrew a total of EUR438m from Spanish equities funds in 2007, while the Ibex index of the Madrid stock exchange gained 7.3% that year. In 2008, when the Ibex lost 32.1%, net redemptions totalled nearly EUR2.9bn. In 2009, when the index gained 52.8%, net subscriptions totalled only EUR21m. The conclusion drawn from this is that many investors pulled out in 2008 and missed out on the rally in 2009. At the height of the crisis, from the end of 2007 to the end of 2008, the number of subscribers fell by 552,000, to nearly 308,000.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of 1 February, Clemens Reuter, a member of the senior management team, head of member relations and head of stock market activities at SIX Swiss Exchange will become head of the ETF operation at UBS Global Asset Management, in cooperation with the business units for investment banking and wealth management. Reuter will continue to be based in Zurich, and will report to Martin Thommen, head of UBS Funds for Switzerland and interim head of ETF activities.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Boston-based management firm Eaton Vance has recruited Rob White, previously of Banquo Credit Management, as head of its new regional office in Singapore. Asian Investor reports that Eaton Vance is naturally planning to focus on major institutional investors, but that the management firm is also planning to develop its activities in a less traditional asset class: bank loans. Eaton Vance is hoping to obtain a license to operate on capital markets as well as a management firm license by the end of the year.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } UBS has added to its team dedicated to the ultra-high net worth (UHNW) client segment through internal promotions and recruitments, Asian Investor reports. Amy Lo, previously head of the Hong Kong market and the UHNW segment, also in Hong Kong, has been appointed head of the UHNW segment for all of the Asia-Pacific region. UBS has made one internal promotion (Jean-Claude Humair) and one recruitment (Francis Liu) to replace Lo in Hong Kong. Lio, previously of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, will join UBS in December. Liu will work alongside Humair, currently head of wealth management in Japan at UBS.