Agefi reports, citing figures from the annual study by Inrev, the European association of non-publicly traded real estate funds, total capital raised in 2009 for these funds was down 60% at EUR5.9bn. Meanwhile, in a sign of considerable caution on the part of investors, 64% of capital raised in 2009 was from investors who already know the fund manager, 10% more than in 2008. The association is expecting funds raised this year to total EUR10.9bn, an 86% increase, the newspaper adds.

One and a half months after creating its new platform, db ETC Index Plc, and launching the first four products in its range (see Newsmanagers of 9 March 2010), Deutsche Bank has announced that five new ETCs have been admitted to trading on Xetra in Frankfurt, with a product based on the large S&P GSCI index (the db Commodity Booster Euro Hedged ETC) and four ETCs based on sub-indices (db Agriculture Booster Euro Hedged ETC, db Industrial Metals Booster Euro Hedged ETC, db Energy Booster Euro Hedged ETC, and db Natural Gas Booster Euro Hedged ETC). Like the first four products in the series, these ETC funds are hedged for forex risks against the US dollar, and have a Booster optimisation mechanism which limits the risk of losses when positions are rolled to replicate the evolution of commodities futures. All the new ETC products are registered in Germany and carry a management commission of 0.45%.

In the past four weeks, US and European investors have withdrawn a net total of USD93.7bn from money market funds, and according to Société Générale, net outflows since the beginning of the year have totalled USD300bn in the United States and USD14.4bn in Europe, equivalent to 11% and 15% of total assets, respectively, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The withdrawals have largely been redirected to government bonds, particularly Asian emerging market bonds denominated in local currencies, as well as to commodities, inflation-linked bonds and ETFs. However, despite strong gains on the stock markets, equities funds have received little of the money withdrawn from money market funds.

In first quarter, the Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund index posted growth of 1.63%, compared with 2.5% for the Morningstar MSCI Composite Index. In the month of March alone, the hedge fund index has posted a gain of 2.77%, compared with 2.3% for the MSCI index. The Morningstar Hedge Fund of Funds index has stagnated, with gains of only 0.25% for the quarter (1.6% in March). Among the top performers, the Morningstar Corporate Actions index leapt forward by 6.82% for the quarter (and 3.49% in March), while the Morningstar Distressed Sic earned gains of 7.42% (and 5.815 in March). Negative performances, however, were registered for the Morningstar dvlp Asia Equity (-6.61%), Equity Arbitrage (-0.87%), Europe Equity (-1.26%), and Short Equity (-2.36%).

JP Morgan Securities Services has hired Laurent Vanderweyen from rival firm RBC Dexia as general manager of its Luxembourg business. He joins the firm in July 2010. At RBC Dexia, Vanderweyen was managing director and chairman of the executive committee.

Le capital-investisseur américain Triton propose 30 millions d’euros pour acheter les 120 grands magasins Karstadt, dans lesquels il compte investir par ailleurs 60 millions d’euros. Cependant, précise Bild am Sonntag, le repreneur potentiel envisage la suppression de 4.000 des quelque 26.000 emplois. D’après Der Spiegel, Triton veut en outre renégocier les accords salariaux ainsi que les loyers, complète Die Welt am Sonntag.

Un mois et demi après avoir créé sa nouvelle plate-forme db ETC Index Plc et y avoir lancé les quatre premiers produits (lire notre article du 9 mars), la Deutsche Bank a annoncé que cinq nouveaux ETC ont été admis à la négociation sur Xetra à Francfort, avec un produit sur l’indice large S&P GSCI (le db Commodity Booster Euro Hedged ETC) et quatre ETC sur des sous-indices S&P GSCI (db Agriculture Booster Euro Hedged ETC, db Industrial Metals Booster Euro Hedged ETC, db Energy Booster Euro Hedged ETC et db Natural Gas Booster Euro Hedged ETC).Comme les quatre premiers de la série, ces ETC bénéficient d’une couverture du risque de change sur le dollar américain ainsi que d’une dispositif d’optimisation «Booster» pour limiter les risques de pertes lors du roulement des positions pour répliquer l'évolution des futures sur matières premières.Tous les nouveaux ETC sont de droit allemand et assortis d’une commission de gestion de 0,45 %.

Selon Funds Europe, Henderson Global Investors vient de nommer Joost Wijstma au poste de directeur des affaires institutionnelles pour le Benelux. Il sera basé à Amsterdam. Joost Wijstma rapportera à David Morley, directeur des ventes institutionnelles, et localement à Steven De Vries, directeur des ventes de fonds pour le nord de l’Europe. L’objectif de la société de gestion est d'élargir la distribution de ses fonds investis en obligations à revenu fixe, en actions, en immobilier et en stratégies alternatives à destination des fonds de pension d’Europe continentale et des compagnies d’assurance.Auparavant, Joost Wijstma dirigeait l'équipe de vente néerlandaise de Franklin Templeton.

JP Morgan Securities Services a recruté Laurent Vanderweyen chez RBC Dexia pour occuper, à compter du mois de juillet, le poste de general manager de son activité luxembourgeoise, rapporte l’ICFA (International Custody & Fund Administration). Chez RBC Dexia, Laurent Vanderweyen était managing director et président du comité exécutif.

María Luisa Gómez Bravo, présidente de BBVA Asset Management, indique dans un entretien avec Expansión qu’elle compte s’appuyer sur le réseau de la banque en Asie pour attirer des investisseurs locaux, notamment en Chine. Le BBVA dispose de succursales et de bureaux de représentation en Inde, au Japon, en Corée, à Singapour et à Taiwan. De plus, il a conclu une alliance en Chine avec Citic, dont il détient 15 %. En outre, BBVA AM renforce actuellement son équipe commerciale dans la zone.L’autre axe de développement sera l’Europe, grâce à la directive Ucits IV. Dans ce contexte, BBVA AM a recruté récemment Olivier Asselin (Western AM) comme CIO Europe, un directeur des solutions d’investissement, (Aymeric Forest, BNP Paribas Fortis), un responsable pour le crédit (Enriquee García Pazos d’UBS) et un coordinateur pour les ETF (Salavador Gómez, BlackRock).

En juillet 2009, le Banco Popular a créé une nouvelle division, Family Office PBP, dirigée par José Luis Castro. Actuellement, cette nouvelle activité gère la fortune de 46 groupes familiaux dont le patrimoine financier moyen se situe à 25 millions d’euros, indique Expansión.Family Office OBP dépend de Popular Banca Privada, une entité détenue à 60 % par le Banco Popular et à 40 % par Dexia-BIL. Popular Banca Privada comptait fin 2009 un total de 4.005 clients, soit 348 de plus que fin 2008 et gérait 5,66 milliards d’euros (+ 13 %). Son bénéfice avant impôt a gonflé de 67 % l’an dernier.

En Italie, la clientèle des fonds d’investissement est principalement «retail». Ainsi, selon une étude de GfK Eurisko et prometeia, 70 % des encours des fonds commercialisés en Italie sont aux mains de particuliers, contre 45 % en Allemagne et environ 20 % en France et au Royaume-Uni. A contrario, les assureurs et les fonds de pension représentent uniquement 18 % de l’encours des fonds italiens, alors que ce niveau est de 30 % en France et en Allemagne et même de 80 % au Royaume-Uni. Cette faible institutionnalisation explique en partie la faiblesse du secteur italien de la gestion d’actifs, dont les encours ressortaient autour de 430 milliards d’euros fin 2009, indique l'étude, qui souligne qu’il est donc fortement dépendant des politiques d’offres des banques. Les banques constituent d’ailleurs encore 75 % de l’intermédiation des activités financières des familles italiennes. Parallèlement, ces dernières sont nombreuses à détenir des produits financiers en direct. L’autre caractéristique du marché italien est la structure des frais, qui n’est pas corrélée à la demande. Ainsi, ces dix dernières années, les frais de gestion moyens pondérés par les encours sont restés stables, malgré la réduction progressive des encours des fonds italiens, note l'étude. Dans ce contexte, GfK Eurisko et prometeia estiment que l’avenir du marché dépendra des choix stratégiques que les intermédiaires financiers feront aussi bien en termes de modèles de distribution que de production. Le marché pourra seulement se stabiliser s’ils privilégient les relations de moyen terme, au travers de la proposition d’instruments d'épargne ayant des horizons d’investissement plus longs. Si cela se produit, l'étude estime que le marché des fonds pourrait croître à un taux annuel moyen de 7,6 % environ sur trois ans.

Au premier trimestre, l’indice Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund a enregistré une progression de 1,63% contre 2,5% pour le Morningstar MSCI Composite Index. Au cours du seul mois de mars, l’indice des hedge funds a enregistré un gain de 2,77% (contre 2,3% pour l’indice MSCI). L’indice Morningstar Hedge Fund of Funds a stagné avec une hausse de seulement 0,05% sur le trimestre (1,6% en mars).Parmi les meilleures performances, l’indice Morningstar Corporate Actions a dégagé une avance de 6,82% sur le trimestre (et 3,49% en mars) tandis que le Morningstar Distressed Sec affichait un gain de 7,42% (et 5,81% en mars).On relève par ailleurs les performances négatives sur le Morningstar dvlp Asia Equity (60,61%), sur l’Equity Arbitrage (-0,87%), sur Europe Equity (-1,26%) et sur le Short Equity (-2,36%).

Dans une étude citée par Mutual Fund Wire, Cerulli prévient les sociétés de gestion que les fusions et acquisitions ne sont pas toujours la meilleure façon de croître. D’autres méthodes comme les financements spéciaux et le private equity sont à privilégier. Pour étendre sa distribution, Cerulli recommande aussi les third party marketers.

BlackRock a indiqué qu’au 31 mars l’encours de ses ETF de la marque iShares a atteint 509 milliards de dollars répartis sur 434 fonds dans le monde, dont 201 ETF avec 409 milliards de dollars aux Etats-Unis et 172 produits avec 100 milliards de dollars en Europe.

John Paulson has said in a letter to investors that the hedge fund management firm he heads, Paulson & Co (USD32bn), will shoulder all legal costs for the civil case against Goldman Sachs Group, in which Paulson & Co played a significant role, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The founder of the alternative management firm Moore Capital Management, Louis Moore Bacon, tops the Sunday Times Rich List of the 25 richest hedge fund managers based in the United Kingdom published this week. Bacon’s wealth has nearly doubled in the past year to GBP1.1bn in 2010, from GBP650m last year. The head of Sail Advisors comes in second place with estimated wealth of GBP950m. Several managers who place in the Sunday Times rich list have expatriated a part of their activities to other countries, ahead of an expected increase in British taxes and the introduction of the alternative management directive. Alan Howard, co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management, who takes third place with wealth estimated at GBP875m, and Michael Platt, co-founder of BlueCrest Capital Management, in fifth place with wealth of GBP375m, have both opened offices in Geneva.

Investment Week reports that the head of emerging markets equities from Scottish Widows Investment Partners (SWIP), Kim Catechis, and chief investment officer Alistair Reynolds, will join Martin Currie in November of this year. Catechis will take up the newly-created position of head of global emerging markets (GEM), while Reynolds will become her deputy. The appointments follow a decision at Martin Currie to set up a global emerging markets equities desk distinct from Asian activities.

In July 2009, Banco Popular founded a new division, Family Office PBP, led by José Luis Castro. Currently, the new activity manages the wealth of 46 high net worth families, with average total net worth of about USD25m, Expansión reports. Family Office PBP is a division of Popular Banca Privada, an entity which is 60% controlled by Banco Popular and 40% owned by Dexia-BIL. As of the end of 2009, Popular Banca Privada had a total of 4.005 clients, 348 more than at the end of 2008, and managed total assets of EUR5.66bn (+13%). Pre-tax profits increased 67% last year.

María Luisa Gómez Bravo, president of BBVA Asset Management, says in an interview with Expansión that she is planning to leverage the bank’s network in Asia to attract local investors, particularly in China. BBVA has branches and representative offices in India, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. In addition, it has formed an alliance in China with Citic, in which it holds a 15% stake. BBVA AM is also adding to its sales personnel in the region. Another area of growth for BBVA is Europe, due to the upcoming UCITS IV directive. To strengthen its European team, BBVA has recently recruited Olivier Asselin (Western AM) as CIO for Europe, as well as a director of investment solutions (Aymeric Forest, from BNP Paribas Fortis), a credit head (Enrique García Pazos from UBS) and an ETF coordinator (Salvador Gómez, from BlackRock).

Henderson Global Investors will this week reopen its European Property Fund of Funds, which was closed to redemptions when the real estate market crashed, the Financial Times reports. Assets in the fund are valued at EUR405m.

Agefi Switzerland reports that Gottex Fund Management Holdings Ltd announced on 23 April that its assets under management as of the end of March totalled USD7.92bn, compared with USD8.13bn as of the end of 2009. The Lausanne-based management firm managed to attract only USD290m in assets (of which USD120m were for the managed accounts platform GSS< and USD130m for the Constellar platform, which is now a part of Gottex), while redemptions totalled the same amount in first quarter. In addition to these balanced inflows and outflows, USD100m were redeemed to investors in run-off asset classes. In a statement, Gottex confirms that it has “growing activities serving institutional clients,” but says that “the time necessary for decision-taking remains too long,” due to a sentiment of uncertainty which continues to reign on the financial markets.

Les Echos reports that French management firms slightly improved their returns adjusted for equity risks in 2009, bringing this monthly alpha level up from 0.11% to 1.89%, a level which remains far lower than the prevailing average before the crisis of about 3%. But they have also managed a more considerable increase in the proportion of funds in the top performance brackets (ratings of four or five stars). The Alpha League Table places Rothschild & Cie Gestion ahead of Oddo Asset Management, Palatine Asset Management and Camgestion.

Deutsche Bank has admitted that since 2009 it has been undertaking a restructuring of its real estate fund America REIT III, from its affiliate RREEF (USD2.6bn in assets). Its participation in the fund is 10%, while the remainder was contributed by institutional investors, including US pension funds, Die Welt reports. The RREEF America REIT III is invested in REITs as well as in 92 real estate properties located in major US cities. The fund is said to have lost 65% of its value.

Fitch Ratings has confirmed its Asset Manager rating of ‘M2' for Groupama Asset Management, which covers all asset management activities of the firm in Paris, except the alternative and directional multi-management activities of Groupama Fund Pickers. “The [ratings] decision reflects the support of the shareholder in the business, Groupama S.A., its long experience in asset management, and a development strategy which has demonstrated its pertinence in the past few years. The rating also takes into account the quality of the investment process supported by significant research resources,” the ratings agency comments. According to Fitch, Groupama has several challenges to overcome: the completion of an integration of the operational platform, the development of new areas for growth on the level of management, with the launch of an absolute return product range, and the enlargement of its client base through the creation of a Luxembourg Sicav for external distribution networks.

In first quarter 2010, the Blackstone Group has declared net profits of USD360.4m, compared with losses of USD82.4m in the corresponding period of last year, while net inflows from management fees increased to USD98.7m, from USD89.5m. Total assets increased to USD98.07bn, compared with USD92.22bn as of 31 March 2009, of which USD25.17bn, down from USD25.46bn, are in private equity, USD23.82bn, compared with USD22.87bn are in real estate, and USD49.07bn, up from USD43.09bn are in credit and marketable alternatives.

Sears Holdings Corp has announced that it has acquired more than 18.66 million ordinary shares in Sears Canada from the hedge fund management firm Pershing Square Capital Management, at a price of CAD30 per share. The 17.3% stake in the capital of the business, worth a total of about USD560m, will give the US firm a stake of about 90.4% in its Canadian operation.

The US asset management firm T. Rowe Price has announced net profits for first quarter of USD153m, compared with USD48.2m for the corresponding period of last year. Assets as of the end of March totalled USD419bn, compared with USD391.3bn as of the end of December, and USD268.8bn one year previously. Of this total, mutual funds on sale in the United States represented USD249.5bn. Net subscriptions totalled a record USD10.3bn in first quarter (of which USD6.1bn were for mutual funds), while market effects brought an increase of USD17.4bn in assets under management.

Agefi reports that the US Senate has received a report which blames unjustified ratings by the ratings agencies Moody’s and S&P for high-risk financial products for causing “massive economic damage.” The report follows an investigation which looked at hundreds of emails, and found that the ratings were sometimes based on subtle negotiations between bankers and ratings agencies. A more severe issue, the newspaper notes, is that employees of both ratings agencies gave testimony that there was pressure to give good ratings to products from “good clients.” The report also reveals an inability on the part of Moody’s and S&P to integrate fraud risks tied to real estate mortgages, even though emails from employees reveal that they were aware of the issue. The US Senate concludes that the cupidity of the agencies prevented them from being objective.

Ramin Toloui, a portfolio manager at Pimco (Allianz Global Investors) says that clients, especially pension funds and insurers, who are often the most reticent when it comes to emerging markets, are demanding products which invest in corporate bonds from these markets, the Wall Street Journal reports. Pimco last month increased the exposure of its Total Return fund to bonds of this type from 5% to 6%. More significantly, the Global Advantage Bond index from Pimco assigns a weight of 30% to emerging markets. Pimco is currently invested in bonds from state-owned energy and financial sector businesses, as well as bonds from private sector businesses in commodities, housing construction and infrastructure. Many of these investments are in Brazil, Mexico, Russia and the Gulf region.