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30/09/2009

2010 could be the year of the green boom

Agefi Switzerland reports that the sustainability analysis service from Banque Sarasin is convinced that the Copenhagen climate accords will mean strong potential for sustainable investments. As pledged made under the Kyoto protocol expire in 2012, the Copenhagen conference to be held this December will represent an important turning point, not only for the climate, but also for investors. At a press conference in Hong Kong, Andreas Knörzer, head of sustainable investments at Banque Sarasin, emphasized that sustainable investors would profit from infrastructure spending planned by governments in order to stimulate growth. This spending will be primarily invested in the energy, water and transportation sectors. Before the Copenhagen environmental summit in December, 16% (USD512bn) of public spending totalling USD3.1trn was invested in technologies to adapt to climate change.
30/09/2009

Crisis provokes concentration for real estate funds

The Wall Street Journal notes a growing trend for limited partners in private equity funds to require general partners to transfer real estate funds or assets to other fund managers whom they trust. For example, Palmer Capital Partners took over two European real estate funds in July from Belgravia Asset Management, a firm which has since closed down. ING Groep has taken over about USD2.1bn in assets since the beginning of the year from clients seeking to change managers, and in June, ING Clarion took over the New City Asia Opportunity Fund, which was previously managed by New City Asia Fund Management Pte. Ltd of Singapore. AEW (an affiliate of Natixis Global Asset Management) has received transfers of about USD1.5bn in assets from institutional investors, including CalPERS, as these investors have withdrawn their assets from other managers (Shattuck Hammond, in the case of CalPERS).
30/09/2009

Euroclear to sell stake in LCH.Clearnet

As part of an initiative to rebalance the shareholder structure of LCH.Clearnet, Euroclear is planning to redeem its 15.8% stake in the London-based clearing organisation. Pierre Francotte, CEO of Euroclear, has also announced that LCH.Clearnet and Euroclear will launch an initiative to allow their clients to save on costs and to benefit from improved synergies between cash settlement of securities trading activities at LCH.Clearnet, and custody and settlement activities at Euroclear.
30/09/2009

Lyxor becomes number one provider of sectoral ETFs

Thomas Meyer zu Drewer, head of ETF activities at Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) for Germany and Austria, says that the 18 sectoral ETFs (covering 18 of 19 sub-indexes of the DJ Euro Stoxx 600) from the French management firm as of 18 September had assets of EUR1.85bn. This makes Lyxor the new number one promoter of sectoral ETFs in Europe. Assets have leapt 135% since the beginning of the year, while the Euro Stoxx 600 has gained 23%.
30/09/2009

KanAm grundinvest fund distributes dividend of EUR2.50 per share

For the fiscal year ending on 30 June, the grundinvest fund from the Munich-based asset management firm KanAm will pay an unchanged dividend on 1 October of EUR2.50 per share, representing EUR212m, or EUR22.8m more than in 2007-2008. Performance in 2008-2009 was down to 5%, compared with 5.7% in 2007-2008, and 6% in 2006-2007 (see Newsmanagers of 1 October 2008). Occupancy rates for properties in the portfolio as of the end of June totalled 98.6%, and assets as of the end of August totalled EUR4.4bn, compared with about EUR5bn as of the end of June. The fund was reopened to subscriptions on 8 July, after a period of closure from the end of October 2008 (see Newsmanagers of 7 July 2009). An independent audit of assets in the portfolio has resulted in a downward adjustment of 8 euro cents per share.
30/09/2009

Fidelity launches a fund of "real" assets

On Tuesday, Fidelity International announced that it is releasing the Fidelity Global Real Asset Securities fund, launched on 2 September, for sale. The product, with 40-60 positions (currently 62), managed by Amit Lodha, allows the investor to benefit from economic stimulus programs worldwide and in the industrialisation of emerging countries. The portfolio will be invested in businesses in sectors dealing with “real” assets, such as infrastructure, energy, commodities, base materials, industry, real estate and public services. Returns will nor be impacted by the rise and fall of energy and commodity markets. Front-end fee and management commission total 5.25% and 1.5%, respectively.
30/09/2009

Omega Gestión launches Alphaville

Omega Gestión de Inversiones, the asset management firm owned by Alicia Koplowicz, has registered the hedge fund Alphaville with the CNMV. The fund has initial assets of EUR10m, Funds People reports. The objective is to obtain performance of 12-15%, with average volatility of about 85, says Alberto Ruiz, CEO. The particularity ofAlphaville, a multi-strategy fund, is that it combines investment in absolute returns funds with investments in live securities on bond and equity markets.
30/09/2009

GIC to restart investments

Ng Kok Song, director of investment for the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), has announced that the Singapore sovereign fund is planning to begin investing again. Its liquidity ratio currently stands at 8%, on USD200bn in assets, and the percentage of equities in its portfolio has fallen to 38% from 44%, largely due to sales of shares in industrialised countries, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. In the period ending on 31 March, assets fell by “more than 20%,” which reduced performance over 20 years to 2.6% in real terms. However, since the beginning of April, more than half of these losses have been offset.
30/09/2009

Skagen recruits a portfolio manager

Skagen Funds has hired Cathrine Gether as portfolio manager. She will mainly be working on equity analysis of existing and potential holdings as part of the team that manages the emerging markets fund Skagen Kon-Tiki. Cathrine Gether comes from a position as portfolio manager in the hedge fund Millennium Capital Partners in London.
30/09/2009

Recovery on US real estate markets is fragile but real

Since May, the price of residential properties in the United States has been rising steadily, Agefi reports, with an increase of 1.6% in July in the 20 largest metropolitan areas in the country, according to the Case-Shiller index, published by Standard & Poor’s. The improvement of the market in one year is also visible. The value of homes has fallen 13.3%, the smallest rate of decrease observed since February 2008. The end of falling prices has been accompanied by an increase in activity in four of the past five months. But caution is still best, ahead of the end of some support measures in November and an expected rise in unemployment. Since March, more than 300,000 repossessions have been counted every month by RealtyTrac.
30/09/2009

Assets at ETF Securities hit all-time highs

Assets under management at ETF Securities have set a new record at EUR10bn, as a growing number of investors show an interest in hard assets, at a time when the financial situation of governments is deteriorating and quantitative easing raises particular concerns about the evolution of the US dollar and the pound sterling, and about inflationary outlooks in the mid-term.
30/09/2009

Aberdeen opens an office in Sao Paulo

Aberdeen Asset Management is opening an office in Sao Paulo in Brazil. It will be headed by Nick Robinson. The Credit Suisse acquisition brought Aberdeen’s total equities under management in Latin America to USD4 billion.
30/09/2009

Fortress forms allegiance with Carlisle Management

The Fortress International Fund announced on 28 September that it is signing an agreement with Carlisle Management, which will become the investment advisor for all investment and restructuring activities at Fortress. The Fortress International Fund, which will be launched by the end of the year, offers investors potential for growth combined with lower volatility than traditional investment strategies. Exposure to life insurance comes through investments in American mid- and long-term life insurance policies.
30/09/2009

Novethic plans to rate asset management firms

Novethic las launched an SRI label for socially responsible investment funds (read the article “92 funds obtain SRI label” in this issue of Newsmanagers). The aim is to facilitate understanding of these products by retail investors, and to favour their spread amongst this class of clients. Although it has a slightly different vocation, this label replaces SRI ratings that Novethic had been developing for several years. “We decided that it would be impossible to have the two coexist,” says Anne-Catherine Husson-Traore, CEO of the affiliate of the Caisse des Dépôts. Novethic is not planning to completely abandon the idea of ratings, but will change their object slightly. Instead of rating products, the affiliate of the Caisse des Dépôts will evaluate asset management firms. The rating, which will be free of charge, like the label, will rate the SRI investment process specifically. It will be launched in first half 2010.
30/09/2009

UBS may sell off Paine Webber

Agefi Switzerland reports that the CEO of UBS, Oswald Grübel, has told Financial Times Deutschland that wealth management activities in the United States (Paine Webber), which the firm acquired at peak prices in 2000, are not part of the bank’s core activities. The bank is not planning to sell them off immediately, however. “We have received a number of inquiries from potential buyers, but it wouldn’t make sense to sell at current valuations,” the CEO adds. He says the firm’s recent battle with the US tax authorities is not expected to cause further withdrawals of assets.
30/09/2009

FDIC in plans to make banks pay in advance

Agefi reports that the agency that guarantees banking deposits in the United States, the FDIC, whose special guarantee fund is financed by premiums paid by insured institutions, decided on Tuesday by a unanimous vote of its board to ask banks to pay their premiums in advance for a period of three years, in order to bring in USD45bn in reserves. As of 17 September 2009, the liquidator for bankrupt banks guaranteed deposits totalling a cumulative USD4.8trn, at 8,134 savings institutions, with total assets of USD13trn. If the proposal is approved, banks will be required to pay their contributions for fourth quarter 2009 and for the years 2010-2012 to the guarantee fund by 30 December.
29/09/2009

Probable augmentation de capital pour Unicrédit

L’Agefi rapporte que les rumeurs sont pressantes sur une levée de quatre à six milliards d’euros sur les marchés d’Unicredit grâce à une augmentation de capital avec droit préférentiel de souscription. Selon Reuters et la presse transalpine citées par l’Agefi, la banque italienne aurait mandaté au moins quatre banques pour réaliser l’opération - Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Mediobanca, UBS - sans compter la division de banque d’affaires d’Unicredit. Une augmentation de capital éviterait à UniCredit, qui tient un conseil d’administration aujourd’hui, le recours aux titres hybrides, dits «Tremonti» (du nom du ministre des Finances), mis en place par l’Etat et assortis de plusieurs conditions. UniCredit se verrait notamment imposer des limites dans ses politiques de rémunération et de dividende.
29/09/2009

La gestion d’actifs de Credit Suisse en phase d’intégration chez Abderdeen

Selon L’Agefi suisse, Aberdeen Asset Management entre dans le stade final et critique de l’intégration des activités de gestion institutionnelle de Credit Suisse. La société écossaise, qui a acquis ces activités en décembre dernier pour 250 millions de livres, souhaite ainsi se développer en Suisse où elle est encore peu connue et où elle gère déjà quelque 22,5 milliards de francs d’actifs. Elle cherche à renforcer sa présence locale en élargissant les bureaux à Zurich et à Genève avec six employés que la société a hérités de Credit Suisse.
29/09/2009

UBS : Sergio Marchionne et Peter Voser jettent l'éponge

L’UBS a annoncé mardi matin du Sergio Marchionne, «senior independent director» du conseil d’administration, et Peter Voser ne seront pas candidats lors de l’assemblée générale du 14 avril 2010 à une réélection comme administrateurs de la banque. Tous deux sont «désireux de se concentrer sur leurs tâches managériales très exigeantes». Le premier est notamment CEO de Fiat SpA, de Fiat Group Automobiles et de Chrysler Group. Le second est CEO de Royal Dutch Shell.
29/09/2009

Standard Life Investments renforce son équipe crédit

Standard Life Investments a nommé Christopher Heckscher en tant que vice-président senior, crédit US (senior vice president, US credit). Il vient de Wellington Management où il a couvert divers secteurs dans le domaine de l’investment grade US et du haut rendement pendant 14 ans. Basé à Boston, Christopher Heckscher sera placé sous la responsabilité d’Erlend Lochen, responsable du crédit US et responsable global du haut rendement. Il sera chargé de couvrir le haut rendement US et travaillera avec l'équipe actions US pour élargir la couverture des émetteurs américains de qualité investment grade.
29/09/2009
Fonds

BGI lance trois nouveaux iShares sur le Russell Top 200

Vendredi, Barclays Global Investors (BGI) a fait admettre à la cotation du New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) les ETF iShares Russell Top 200 Value Index Fund (IWX), iShares Russell Top 200 Index Fund (IWL) et iShares Russell Top 200 Growth Index Fund (IWY). L’indice Russell 200 regroupe les 200 plus grands émetteurs de l’indice Russell 3000 qui représentent environ 65 % de la capitalisation des enterprises américaines cotées.
Fonds
29/09/2009

Un ancien de chez Coutts rejoint BSI Bank

Hanspeter Brunner, ex-chief executive de RBS Coutts, a rejoint la banque privée suisse BSI, selon Asian Investor. Il devrait s’installer en mars prochain à Singapour pour prendre la tête des activités de la banque en Asie et développer la présence de l'établissement dans la zone.
29/09/2009

okoworld reprend la gestion de ses fonds en direct

Le gestionnaire luxembourgeois Ökoworld Lux SA, filiale du cabinet allemand de conseil en développement durable versiko, a annoncé lundi,qu'à compter du 1er novembre, il reprendra en direct la gestion des cinq compartiments de la sicav Ökovision, Classic, Europe, Garant 20, Klima et Water for life. Pendant 13 ans, Ökoworld s'était bornée à développer des supports d’investissement écologiques et éthiques.Pour passer à la phase de gestion directe, la société a recruté deux gérants de portefeuille expérimentés, Alexander Funk (qui a notamment géré fonds d’actions ÖKO-Aktienfonds chez DZ-Bank International) et Frank Frey.
29/09/2009
Fonds

GLG lance un fonds de dette

GLG Partners, l’un des plus gros hedge funds londoniens, a lancé un nouveau fonds investi dans la dette de sociétés britanniques et européennes en difficultés, rapporte le Financial Times. Le nouveau produit gère déjà 300 millions de dollars pour le compte de ses clients, selon des personnes proches du dossier. Il est géré par Galia Velimukhametova.
Fonds
29/09/2009
Fonds

Le fonds saoudien F6 s'intéresse au Liverpool

Selon Cinco Días, le fonds saoudien F6 est en train de négocier avec George Gillett l’acquisition de 25 à 50 % du club de football de Liverpool. Cela vient un mois après que Sulaiman el Fahim, un investisseur des Emirats, ait acheté le club de Portsmouth. Voici un an, le fonds souverain Abu Dhabi United Group avait pris le contrôle du Manchester City.
Fonds
29/09/2009

RBS voudrait vendre une partie de sa gestion d'actifs

Afin de diminuer l’emprise de l’Etat britannique sur son capital, la Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) a imaginé de vendre une partie de sa gestion d’actifs en scindant RBS Asset Management (30 milliards de livres d’encours), selon The Times. L’idée serait de conserver Coutts (la banque de la famille royale britannique), un établissement spécialiste des grandes fortunes, et de vendre le reliquat. Morgan Stanley aurait été engagée comme banque conseil pour cette cession.
29/09/2009

Swisscanto va développer son activité institutionnelle

Le gestionnaire helvétique Swisscanto a recruté Rob Barrett comme head of UK institutional business, la même fonction qu’il a occupée chez HSBC Global Asset Management, rapporte Professional Pensions. Cette embauche s’inscrit dans le cadre d’un changement de stratégie à la faveur duquel Swisscanto a décidé de commercialiser des produits obligataires et actions mondiales auprès de fonds de pension britanniques, bien qu’il ait déjà géré des investissements à Londres depuis près de 20 ans.
29/09/2009

Prisa vend des participations à DLJ et Ongoing

Pour 404 millions d’euros, Grupo Prisa vend 25 % de l'éditeur Santillana au fonds DLJ South American Partners et 35 % du portugais Media Capital au fonds Ongoing Strategy Investments, rapporte Cinco Días.

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