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02/09/2009

Outflows from HSBC funds of hedge funds

HSBC’s Geneva-based private saw net outflows of over USD4bn from the hedge funds portfolios in first half, the Financial Times reports. Assets at HSBC Alternative Investments, the fund of fund business of the bank, now total USD22.27bn, compared with USD46.28bn at their peak in September 2008.
02/09/2009

UIRE acquires Mercado shopping centre

It is the largest real estate transaction year to date in Germany : for EUR164m, Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE, co-operative banks) has acquired the Mercado shopping centre in Hamburg (Altona-Ottensen) from a joint venture of Pirelli & C. Real Estate SpA and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing. The 24,000 square metre property will be entrusted to the open-ended real estate fund UniImmo:Deutschland, and for the next five years, its day-to-day management will be contracted out to Pirelli & C. Real Estate Deutschland GmbH.
02/09/2009

Activist funds in hard times

Les Echos reports that since the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, all the major activist hedge funds have been in serious difficulties including closures, negative performance, departure of clients. Cerberus, Atticus, The Children’s Investment Fund Management, Knight Vinke and others are going through a rough patch, and are no longer in a position to put pressure on companies to incite them to restructure and improve their profitability. Shareholders, rendered immune to much pressure by the crisis, are now less receptive to activists’ talk, and less inclined to follow them. Capital is rare, and time is money, even though funds need time in order to function correctly. In Europe, the number of deals concluded by activist funds fell to 19 last year, compared with 73 in 2007.
02/09/2009

CAC 40: Over EUR21bn in profits in first half

Companies of the CAC 40 have posted EUR21.2bn in earnings in total in first half, a decline of 57% compared with the corresponding period of last year, according to tallies by Ricol-Lasteriye for Les Echos. This decline is partially the fault of heavyweights of the index such as Total, whose profits were virtually halved to EUR4.459trn.
02/09/2009

Morgan Stanley may team up with a management firm

According to sources familiar with the matter, cited by the Wall Street Journal, Morgan Stanley is planning to integrate its fund business Van Kampen into a joint venture, which would be founded in partnership with a larger ally. Among the firms that may team up with Morgan Stanley in asset management are Invesco, Franklin Resources, Aberdeen AM, Federated Investors, and Nuveen Investments.
02/09/2009

GSAM quadruples sales staff

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) has recruited two executive directors as of 1 September, who will be in charge of banking client relationship management (commercial banks, savings banks, co-operative banks). The team, led by Michael Gruener, director of distribution for retail funds, now consists of seven people, with the arrival of Thorsten Saemann (ex senior manager business development at Standard Chartered Bank), and of Erik Drollinger, who was previously a retail specialist at Henderson Global Investors for Germany.By the end of the year, five more recruitments are planned, which will allow GSAM to quadruple its sales force. The new recruits will also be in charge of banking client relationship management.
02/09/2009

BC Partners in comeback to big acquisitions

The private equity firm BC Partners has made one of the largest acquisitions of the year, with the purchase of a 40 % stake in Synlab, a company based in Augsburg, and a 100% stake in the Viennese firm Futurelab, for EUR400m, of which EUR300m are provided from its own equity, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. Evernal financing will come from the Austrian Raiffeisen-Bank, UniCredit, and WestLB.This is only the second large-scale operation in Germany since the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, following the acquisition of Kalle by Silverfleet.
02/09/2009

Ibercaja Gestión leads for subscriptions

In August, the strongest net subscriptions for Spanish management firms were at Ibercaja Gestión, with EUR157.1m, ahead of BBVA Asset Management (EUR74.8m), Invercaixa Gestión (EUR45.8m), and Santander Asset Management (EUR24.7m), according to statistics from the Inverco association.In terms of assets, the rankings remain unchanged: BBVA AM leads with nearly EUR33bn, followed by Santander AM (EUR28.6bn) and Invercaixa Gestión with EUR12.5bn.
02/09/2009

Bernard Madoff's personal possessions up for auction

This week, the US Marshal Service is planning to sell the house of Bernard Madoff in Madock, Long Island, at auction. It plans to bring in USD8m for the property (it was bought for USD3m in 1979). Madoff’s Manhattan apartment is expected to sell for USD7m, while the Florida house is expected to bring in USD11m, Die Welt reports. The auctions will also include artworks, furniture, and Ruth Madoff’s shoes.
02/09/2009

Stress testing in an analysis phase in Europe

La Tribune reports that the European council for economic and social affairs (ECOFIN) will release the results of stress tests of European banks by the end of the month, “most probably before the G20,” the CEBS (European committee of banking supervisors), in charge of receiving the results of efforts by national regulators and European banks submitted to ECOFIN, announced on Tuesday.
02/09/2009

Madoff report to be published soon

A report on the Bernard Madoff fraud by the inspector general of the Securities and Exchange Commission, David Kotz, was submitted on Monday to the chairman of the regulatory agency, and will be published in one week, the Wall Street Journal reports. The 450-page document will offer a detailed description of the way in which the fraudster escaped detection for lo long. The report is expected to blame inexperience and lack of competence on the part of those who investigated Madoff, the WSJ reports.
02/09/2009

Bank of America negotiating to pay back USD20bn

The circle of banks which have partially or completely paid off funds received as part of the US government’s TARP aid program may soon grow by one bank, La Tribune reports, citing the Wall Street Journal. According to the newspaper, Bank of America (BoA) is negotiating to reimburse USD20bn which it received in January at the time of its acquisition of Merrill Lynch. BoA would not be paying off all the aid it has received - it had previously received USD25bn in assistance - but it is said to no longer be considered a recipient of “special” government assistance. The US newspaper reports that this will allow it to get free of the surveillance of pay scales by Kenneth Feinberg, the bonus czar for the United States.
02/09/2009

87% of defined-benefit funds are closed to new entrants

The “2009 ACA Pension Trends Survey Report 1,” undertaken in June and July by the Association of Consulting Actuaries, and which surveyed 309 employers with pension funds with assets totalling GBP138bn, has found that 87% of defined-benefit funds are now closed to new entrants, and that of these, 18% are also closed to new future accrual.In addition, 39% of defined-benefit funds are currently considering changes to benefits to be delivered in the future, either through a modification to the way these benefits are calculated, or through a move to a defined-contribution system.The survey, available at www.aca.org.uk, also shows that nine DB funds out of ten are in deficit, with average financing rates of 79%, compared with 87% two years previously.
02/09/2009

Germans have an average of EUR3,000 each in Spezialfonds via insurers

Wolfgang Mansfeld, president of the BVI association of asset management firms, said that 82.5 million German citizens hold approximately 426 million health, damage and life insurance policies. Insurers and reinsurers, whose financial investments total EUR1.141bn, have allocated about 21.3% of this amount to institutional funds (Spezialfonds), or about EUR243bn. This corresponds to an aveage of about EUR3,000 per person.
02/09/2009

Institutional assets increasing in volume

In 2003, assets under management in Germany on behalf of institutional investors represented 58.1% of total assets. As of the end of June, this total was 61.4%, according to the BVI association.The Börsen-Zeitung reports that as of 30 June, assets in open-ended funds totalled EUR600.9bn, while purely institutional management totalled EUR955.4bn, of which EUR661.7bn were in Spezialfonds.
02/09/2009

Good returns for local hedge funds

The Finles/IEX index of 23 Netherlands-based hedge funds, which ia being calculated for the first time by Circle Partners, has posted returns of 0.41% in July, bringing total average gfains to 9.03% since the beginning of the year, Hedge Week reports (while the HFRX index has posted retusn of 7.16%). From 1 September, the index will include two new products, the Robeco All Weather Global Equities Fund, managed by Michael Strating, and the World View Global Macro Fund, amanged by Frits Fiene.
02/09/2009

Assets 38% below peak in May 2007

Securities funds may have posted their first net subscriptions in 27 months in August, bringing an increase in assets under management of 0.9% compared with 31 July. But Cinco Días notes that EUR162.84bn in assets is still a level 3.4% below 31 December, and 8% off their record of EUR261bn as of 31 May 2007. All categories of funds have posted returns in August, according to Ahorro Corporación, with equities funds and diversified funds at the top of the rankings, at 6% and 2.3%, respectively. Since the beginning of the year, emerging markets equities funds gained 31.16%, while Spanish equities came in at 22.74%, and Euro zone equities at 20.45%. In the same period, the Ibex index gained 21.5%.
02/09/2009

First net subscriptions since April 2007

According to statistics from the Inverco association of asset management firms, securities funds on sale in Spain posted net subscriptions in August of EUR402m, compared with net redemptions of EUR196m in July. This is the first time that the sector has posted net inflows since April 2007.Assets increased last month by EUR1.46bn or 0.9% compared with their levels in July, to a total of EUR162.84bn as of 31 August. This is the largest increase in assets under management in 28 months.
02/09/2009

Decline in number of fund shareholders

Five months after the stock market rally began, subscriptions to securities funds in August totalled nearly EUR3.55bn, and redemptions totalled over EUR3.14bn, while the sector has posted its first net subscriptions (EUR402m) since April 2007. However, Expansión notes, the number of shareholders in investment funds has fallen further to 5.69 million in August, which represents a 1.19% decline in July.
02/09/2009

Subscribers may be disadvantaged in mergers of funds of funds

For companies which manage mutual funds, the best strategy in times of economic difficulties is often to merge products, but this is not always the best solution for investors, the Wall Street Journal reports. Mergers such as these make it possible to conceal poor performance or to absorb funds which have become too small to be profitable. There have already been 300 mergers of funds between the beginning of the year and mid-August, as many as in all of the year 2008. Specialists are expecting this trend to accelerate, as managers are facing growing pressure to reduce costs as competition intensifies, particularly due to ETF products. For subscribers, mergers like these may be beneficial as they may lead to reduced fees, but this is not always the case. In particular,one shouldpay attention tothe duration of the waivers that keep the combined fund’s expense ratio from exceeding the acquired fund’s pre-merger expenses.
02/09/2009

BC Partners sort du bois

Le capital investisseur BC Partners réalise l’une des plus grosses opérations de l’année en acquérant pour 400 millions d’euros, dont 300 millions de fonds propres 40 % de la société Synlab d’Augsbourg et la totalité du viennois Futurelab, rapporte la Börsen-Zeitung. Les financements externes sont apportés par l’autrichien Raiffeisen-Bank, par UniCredit et par la WestLB.C’est seulement la deuxième transaction de grande envergure en Allemagne depuis la faillite de Lehman Brothers, après l’acquisition de Kalle par Silverfleet.
02/09/2009

GSAM quadruple sa force de vente

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) a recruté au 1er septembre deux «executive directors» chargés du suivi de la clientèle bancaire (banques commerciales, caisses d'épargne, banque populaires). L'équipe dirigée par Michael Gruener, directeur de la distribution de fonds retail, atteint sept personnes avec l’arrivée de Thorsten Saemann (ex senior manager business development chez Standard Chartered Bank) et d’Erik Drollinger, qui était spécialiste du retrail chez Henderson Global Investors pour l’Allemagne.D’ici à la fin de l’année, cinq embauches supplémentaires sont prévues, ce qui permettra à GSAM de quadrupler en un an sa force de vente. Les nouveaux arrivants seront également affectés au suivi de la clientèle des banques.
02/09/2009
Fonds

UIRE acquiert le centre commercial Mercado

C’est la plus grosse transaction immobilière de l’année en Allemagne, selon les protagonistes : pour 164 millions d’euros, Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE, banques populaires) a acheté le centre commercial Mercado de Hambourg (Altona-Ottensen) auprès d’une coentreprise de Pirelli & C. Real Estate SpA et Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing. La gestion de cet actif de 24.000 mètres carrés affecté au fonds immobilier offert au public UniImmo : Deutschland est attribuée pour les cinq prochaines années à Pirelli & C. Real Estate Deutschland GmbH.
Fonds
02/09/2009

versiko supprime son réseau de distribution

La société de conseil en ISR Versiko a enregistré au premier semestre une chute de 38 % de son chiffre d’affaires à 4,7 millions d’euros, mais son résultat est demeuré positif (de 465.000 euros hors exceptionnels). Dans la mesure où l’activité d’intermédiation de placements financiers a accusé par une baisse de 50 % de son chiffre d’affaires à un niveau de 42 % inférieur aux projections, versiko a décidé de fermer ses succursales au 31 décembre 2009 et de concentrer le suivi de sa clientèle à partir du siège de Hilden, près de Düsseldorf.
02/09/2009
Fonds

Les fonds de mandats se distinguent

Les encours en multigestion dans le monde ont reculé de près de 30 % en 2008 à 2.600 milliards de dollars à la fin de l’année, selon Cerulli Associates. Sans surprise, les fonds de hedge funds ont le plus souffert, avec des actifs en chute de 34 %. La baisse des fonds de fonds traditionnels est de 31 %, un déclin qui s’explique par le fait que ce sont des produits très «retail». Sans compter que les marchés de multigestion les plus touchés ces 18 derniers mois (comme l’Italie et l’Espagne) sont essentiellement composés de fonds de fonds. Les produits de multigestion qui tirent en relatif leur épingle du jeu sont les fonds de mandats (managers of managers), dont les encours ne déclinent «que» de 20 %.
Fonds
02/09/2009
Fonds

Les souscripteurs risquent d'être lésés lors de fusions de fonds

Pour les sociétés qui gèrent des mutual funds, la meilleure stratégie en période économique difficile consiste souvent à fusionner des produits, mais ce n’est pas toujours la meilleure formule pour les investisseurs, constate The Wall Street Journal. Cela permet de masquer les mauvaises performances ou de faire absorber les fonds qui sont devenus trop petits pour être rentables. Il y a déjà eu 300 fusions de fonds entre le début de l’année et la mi-août, soit autant que pour l’ensemble de 2008. Les spécialistes s’attendent à une accélération de cette tendance parce que les gestionnaires sont soumis à une pression croissante de réduction des coûts à cause de l’intensification de la concurrence, notamment en provenance des ETF.Pour les souscripteurs, une fusion de fonds peut être bénéfique et se traduire par une baisse des frais, mais ce n’est pas toujours le cas. Il faut notamment bien faire attention à la durée des «waivers» qui bloquent le maximum des commissions au niveau de celles du fonds cible.
Fonds
02/09/2009

Bank of America négocie le remboursement de 20 milliards de dollars

Le cercle des banques ayant partiellement ou intégralement remboursé les fonds du plan de soutien américain à la finance (Tarp) pourrait prochainement s'élargir, indique la Tribune qui cite le «Wall Street Journal». Selon ce dernier, Bank of America (BofA) négocie le remboursement de 20 milliards de dollars perçus en janvier lors du rachat de Merrill Lynch.BoA n’aurait pas soldé en totalité l’aide reçue - elle avait précédemment obtenu une aide de 25 milliards de dollars - mais elle ne serait alors plus considérée comme bénéficiaire d’une aide «exceptionnelle» de l'État. Selon le quotidien américain, cela lui permettrait de se libérer de la surveillance exercée par Kenneth Feinberg, le tsar des rémunérations outre-Atlantique.
02/09/2009

Morgan Stanley pourrait s’allier à une société de gestion

Selon des personnes proches du dossier citées par le Wall Street Journal, Morgan Stanley projetterait d’apporter son activité de fonds Van Kampen à une joint venture qui serait créée en partenariat avec un allié de taille plus importante. Parmi les sociétés qui pourraient s’associer à Morgan Stanley dans la gestion d’actifs figurent Invesco, Franklin Resources, Aberdeen AM, Federated Investors et Nuveen Investments.
02/09/2009

SocGen confirme le projet de cotation en Bourse de sa filiale TCW

Un porte-parole de GIMS, le pôle qui regroupe la gestion d’actifs, la gestion et le métier titres de la Société Générale, a confirmé mardi à NewsManagers que le groupe maintenait le projet de cotation en Bourse de sa filiale californienne TCW. Depuis la décision annoncée en janvier dernier de rapprocher les activités de gestion traditionnelles de la Société Générale de celles du Crédit Agricole, «notre position n’a pas changé», a souligné le porte-parole. La banque de La Défense avait alors indiqué qu’elle souhaitait mettre en œuvre un «spin off» de TCW dans le cadre d’une introduction en Bourse au cours des cinq prochaines années. «Nous voulons que TCW soit un acteur de premier plan dans la consolidation de l’industrie de la gestion d’actifs aux Etats-Unis et dans cette perspective, nous continuons d’envisager une introduction en Bourse dans les cinq ans à venir», a expliqué le porte-parole. La Société Générale n’a pas souhaité commenter en revanche les informations du New York Post daté du 1er septembre qui laissait entendre que TCW, qui gère quelque 105 milliards de dollars, pourrait faire l’objet d’une recapitalisation ou d’un MBO avec le concours d’un fonds de private equity. Selon le quotidien américain, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts ferait partie des sociétés de capital investissement qui pourraient participer à un scénario de ce type. Dans un entretien au quotidien, le directeur général par intérim de TCW, Marc Stern, a indiqué que le private equity pourrait en effet participer à une opération de recapitalisation de la filiale, mais il a démenti toute cession de la société par la Société Générale. La Société Générale avait acquis une participation majoritaire dans TCW en 2001 qui, au fil des ans, a gonflé à 70 %.

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