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06/05/2009

Neuberger Berman Group LLC devient indépendant

A la suite d’un LBO, le capital de la société new-yorkaise Neuberger Berman Group LLC est passé sous le contrôle majoritaire de ses dirigeants, de ses gestionnaires de portefeuille et d’un groupe de salariés. Une part minoritaire reste détenue par le précédent propriétaire, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Comptant 70 ans d’existence, Neuberger Berman gère un encours d’environ 158 milliards de dollars d’actifs et emploie 1600 salariés, dont 250 gérants d’actifs. Environ la moitié de ses actifs sont investis en actifs monétaires et obligataires, spécialité de base de la maison, 40% en actions et 10% en produits de gestion alternative.
06/05/2009

Legg Mason creuse ses pertes

L"action Legg Mason a chuté de 20 % mardi après que la société de gestion a publié une perte nette trimestrielle de 325 millions de dollars, soit une hausse de 30 % sur un an, et a fortement réduit son dividende, rapporte le Financial Times. Sur le trimestre, les investisseurs ont retiré 43 milliards de dollars de ses fonds, et ses encours sont revenus à 632 milliards de dollars, contre plus de 1.000 milliards en 2007.
06/05/2009

UBS coupe les ponts avec Raoul Weil

L’UBS a confirmé à ats qu’elle s’est définitivement séparée de Raoul Weil, chairman et CEO d’UBS Global Wealth Management & Business Banking (GWM/BB), accusé aux Etats-Unis d’avoir aidé de riches clients à frauder le fisc (lire notre dépêche du 13 novembre 2008). L’intéressé est considéré par la Justice américaine comme «fugitif» depuis la mi-janvier. Il avait décidé de se mettre en congé de ses fonctions deux mois auparavant tant que l’affaire n’aurait pas été réglée.
06/05/2009

Fund managers make changes to their product ranges

As of the end of March, assets in equities funds had fallen 36% in one year, to EUR125bn, while bond fund assets had contracted 23% to EUR139bn. There is reason to believe, therefore, that revenues from management fees have fallen in the same proportions, while competition from ETFs is intensifying, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung notes. Many of the approximately 100 management firms active in Germany are probably in the red. Currently, the heads of these businesses are shutting down or merging funds wherever possible. Others, such as Union Investment or Metzler AM, are launching new protected-capital funds, which are relatively costly, but correspond to investor demand.
06/05/2009

Hedge funds: France wants stricter regulations

On Tuesday, France put pressure on its European partners to impose stricter regulations on hedge funds, despite warnings from Sweden that stricter regulations would not provide a guarantee that the crisis would not happen again, the Financial Times reports. The French government feels that the regulations proposed by the European Commission do not go far enough.
06/05/2009

France opposed to passport for offshore funds

Ignites reports that some member states of the European Union are putting pressure on the legislative body to amend the Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) directive. France is particularly opposed to the idea of creating a European passport for offshore funds.
06/05/2009

Swiss Life CFO resigns

Thomas Müller has resigned ?for personal reasons? from his position as CFO and head of risk management at Swiss Life, and will be leaving the company at the end of June. He will be replaced by Bruno Pfister, CEO, who will simultaneously hold all three positions, Le Temps reports.
06/05/2009

Gottex acquires a US alternative management firm

The Swiss alternative management firm Gottex on Tuesday announced that it has acquired a majority stake in the US specialised management firm SJC Capital Partners, and that it is launching products to add to its range of asset-based lending funds of funds, Le Temps reports.
06/05/2009

CalSTRS demands a say in management pay scales

CalSTRS has sent a letter to 300 companies in which it holds investments to ask them to revise their pay policies and to allow investors to advise them about the way in which top management is remunerated, the Financial Times reports. The second-largest pension fund in the United States argues that high-risk behaviour and excessive pay scales contributed to the current economic crisis.
06/05/2009

France - BNP Paribas: EUR8.8bn in inflows for asset management

The Investment Solutions unit at BNP Paribas has posted net subscriptions of EUR13.4bn in first quarter, better than all inflows in 2008 put together (+EUR10.6bn). In asset management, net inflows total EUR8.8bn, ?largely to money market funds, due to the continued high levels of aversion to risk on the part of investors,? says a press statement.These inflows, combined with positive currency effects, have contributed to an increase in assets under management of 1.3% compared with 31 December 2008, to EUR510bn.Revenues for the unit are down 9.2% compared with first quarter 2008, at EUR1.147bn. They have been affected by a decrease in the valuation of assets under management (-6.9% as of 31 March 2008), and of transaction volumes, by a concentration of inflows on short-term products with lower levels of added value, and by write-downs on the equities portfolio in insurance. Excluding this last effect, the decline in revenues comes to only 3.8%, BNP Paribas explains.Due to savings plans underway in all areas, management fees have fallen 3.0% to EUR820m, the bank adds.Pre-tax earnings total EUR302m, compared with EUR430m in first quarter 2008.
06/05/2009

Legg Mason losses trigger fall in share price

Shares in Legg Mason lost 20% in trading on Tuesday after the management firm posted a net quarterly loss of USD325m, 30% higher than one year previously, and cut its dividends heavily, the Financial Times reports. Over the quarter, investors withdrew USD43bn from funds at the firm, and assets have fallen to USD632bn, from over USD1trn in 2007.
06/05/2009

United Kingdom - Aberdeen posts net outflows

As of the end of March, assets at Aberdeen Asset Management had declined to GBP96.3bn, from GBP107.3bn one year previously, and GBP111.13bn as of the end of September 2008. Net outflows in the half to the end of March totalled GBP8.52bn, compared with net subscriptions of GBP0.5bn in the half to the end of March 2008.Earnings fell to GBP192.2m from GBP201.5m, and profits before exceptional items and amortisation of intangibles contracted to GBP33m from GBP47.3m.
06/05/2009

Spain - Strategic alliance of Allfunds and Visual Trader announced

The fund platform Allfunds, a joint venture from Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo, has concluded a strategic cooperation agreement with Visual Trader, an affiliate of Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME), to improve services and develop internationally, Expansión reports. The agreement will make it possible for institutional clients of Allfunds to use Visual Trader to operate on the major markets of the world at no added cost, through the BME affiliate’s network of more than 1,000 brokers. In addition, Allfunds clients will have access to integrated information on their funds and equities.
06/05/2009

Germany - Losses at AWD in Q1

In first quarter, revenues for the German financial services provider AWD fell 21% to EUR130m. AWD posted the heaviest losses in Great Britain and Austria, two markets which have been particularly heavily affected by the financial crisis, says Swiss Life, the 100% owner of AWD. Earnings at AWD in Germany also contracted by 11%, to EUR85m.Due to these falling earnings, the AWD group has posted a loss before interest and taxes of EUR6m. ?facing a persistently difficult market environment and a deteriorating economic situation, AWD has taken measures to improve the situation in terms of revenues and profits,? says Swiss Life.
06/05/2009

Germany - Stephan Krummer quits as head of 3i Germany

3i Deutschland has announced that the group partner and managing director for the German-speaking countries, Stephan Krümmer, has leaft his job as director ?for personal reasons? as of 30 April. He will be replaced by Ulf von Haacke and Peter Wirtz, both group partners in the area of buyouts.
06/05/2009

UBS cuts ties to Raoul Weil

UBS has confirmed that it has definitively separated from Raoul Weil, chairman and CEO of UBS Global Wealth Management & Business Banking (GWM/BB), who is wanted in the United States for aiding high net worth clients to commit tax fraud (see Newsmanagers of 13 November 2008). Weil has been considered a ?fugitive? by the United States Department of Justice since mid-January. He decided to leave his job two months previously, till the case would be resolved.
06/05/2009

Ingo Gefeke or Axel Schwarzer to be made new director of DWS

The announcement of the appointment of the new head of DWS (Deutsche Bank) has already been postponed twice. This may be a sign that Kevin Parker, head of asset management at the Deutsche Bank group, is himself in uncertain waters, Handelsblatt suggests. The two favourites for the position at DWS would both be returning to the firm: Ingo Gefeke, who was COO, and who is now chief administrative officer in the asset management division at Deutsche Bank; and Axel Schwarzer, who was head of distribution at DWS in Frankfurt, before being transferred to the United States to aid in the revival of Scudder.
06/05/2009

Aspecta LV takes on board Marathon from Franklin Templeton

Life-insurer Aspecta Lebensversicherung has become the first Franklin Templeton partner to offer the management firm’s ?Marathon? strategy, which it is making available from its Aspecta IQ (Investment Qualität) policies. This includes the Franklin Templeton Global Fundamental Strategies Fund and Franklin Templeton Global Equity Strategies Fund sub-funds of the Luxembourg Sicav FTIF, which are known as the Marathon I and II strategies (see Newsmanagers of 2 September 2008). The first of these invests in the strategies of two international equities funds and a bond fund, while the second synthesizes the strategies of the Templeton Growth Fund, a global equities fund of the Mutual Series, and a global emerging markets equities fund which are available only in the United States.
06/05/2009

Europe - Niall Bohan leaves his job at the European Commission

Ignites Europe reports that Niall Bohan has quit his job as director of the asset management unit of the European Commission. He will be replaced in June by Ugo Bassi, who works in the office of the director of public markets. Didier Millerot will occupy the position in the interim.
06/05/2009

Swine flu infects ETCs

ETF Securities announced on Tuesday that trading volumes for ETCs trading in lean swine rose last Tuesday by 207% compared with their historic average, and the ETFS Short Lean Hogs (SLHO) has gained 9% since 24 April. This is a sign that a growing number of investors are predicting a contraction in demand for lean swine due to the swine flu (A/H1N1) epidemic.Bans on the import of pork from the United States have been declared in Russia, China, the Philippines, Serbia, Kazakhstan, and South Korea since the end of last week.
06/05/2009

China - American Century opens an office in Hong Kong

American Century Investments (USD70bn in assets) announced on Tuesday that it has appointed Tony Archer to the newly-created position of business head, Asia Pacific. Archer joins the firm from Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM), where he was managing director for Asia sales and head of the institutional advisory group for Asia Pacific.American Century, a specialist in active management of equities, has also announced that it is opening a sales office in Hong Kong. In other words, all activities in the area of management properly speaking will continue to be provided by teams at American Century based in New York, Kansas City and Mountain View.
06/05/2009

comdirect offers 20 funds with no front-end fee

comdirect bank (Commerzbank group) has announced that it will now be offering 20 funds without an entry fee, so long as the client subscribes for a savings plan. The offer includes 10 profiled wealth management funds from BlackRock, Veritas Investment Trust, Ethna Capital, Sauren, DWS, Sal. Oppenheim, Cominvest, and GS&P.The other ten funds are three Sauren Zielvermögen target-date funds and seven Target Click funds from Fortis Investments.
06/05/2009

AmpegaGerling launches a fund that complies with the rule of Saint Francis

On 22 April, AmpegaGerling launched a German-registered ethical fund which invests in keeping with the rule of the Franciscan Order, entitled terrAssisi Renten I AMI P. The portfolio is composed primarily of bonds with a maximal residual maturity of 24 months, or which may be redeemed periodically within the remaining time to maturity at least every 24 months. The choice of investments, of course, is made on the basis of ecological, environmental, and sustainable development criteria, taking account of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) criteria on an equally-weighted basis. The fund is managed by Bernd Feldhaus, and AmpegaGerling requires a minimal subscription of EUR500. Front-end fee and management commission are a maximum of 1% and 0.6%, respectively, but the manager currently charges fees of 0.5% and 0.455%.
06/05/2009

Banif Inmobiliario sells Plenilunio for less than book value

The real estate fund Santander Banif Inmobiliario has sold the Plenilunio shopping centre in Madrid to Orion Columba for EUR235m, although it bought the property for EUR275m from Riofisa in 2005. At the last extraordinary audit, Cinco Días reports, the property was valued at EUR279.4m. Meanwhile, Banif Inmobiliario has sold the Parque Empresarial Las Rozas office building, also in Madrid, to Orion Carina for EUR27.5m.
06/05/2009

United Kingdom - NewAlpha invests USD30m in Melchior European

NewAlpha Advisers has announced that it has signed an incubation partnership with Dalton Strategic Partnership, with an investment of USD30m in its Melchior European fund. Dalton Strategic Partnership, based in London, is an independent portfolio management firm founded in 2002 by Andrew Dalton and Magnus Spence, two veterans of Mercury Asset Management. The entity manages a range of traditional and alternative equities funds, with the objective of delivering absolute returns.The Melchior European fund invests in European companies of all cap sizes with a long/short strategy. Since its launch in October 2006, the fund has posted returns of +18.4% (of which +6.3% was in 2008); its assets total USD70m.The fund is managed by a team of four analysts, led by Leonard Charlton, who began his career at Goldman Sachs as an equities trader, before joining GLG in 2002.This is the twelfth incubation partnership for NewAlpha Advisers, created by ADI in 2003 and now part of OFI. The structure now advises about USD350m in assets.
06/05/2009

United Kingdom - Swine flu infects ETCs

ETF Securities announced on Tuesday that trading volumes for ETCs trading in lean hogs rose last Tuesday by 207% compared with their historic average, and the ETFS Short Lean Hogs (SLHO) has gained 9% since 24 April. This is a sign that a growing number of investors are predicting a contraction in demand for lean hogs due to the swine flu (A/H1N1) epidemic.Bans on the import of pork from the United States have been declared in Russia, China, the Philippines, Serbia, Kazakhstan, and South Korea since the end of last week.
06/05/2009

Germany - okoVision Classic assets fall to EUR250m

The German socially responsible investment advising firm versiko announced on Tuesday that the SRI fund ÖkoVision Classic from its Luxembourg affiliate Ökoworld Lux is celebrating its thirteenth birthday. The fund, which topped EUR500m in assets in 2007, now has only EUR250m, but remains one of the largest SRI funds on sale in Germany. The fund invests worldwide in small and midcaps, with one third of the fund’s assets invested in large caps. The fund excludes investments in companies involved in nuclear activities, arms, chlorates, experimentation on animals, and violation of human rights. The performance of the fund over 10 years is 2.72%.
06/05/2009

Harewood AM launches a fund themed on dividends

Harewood Asset Management, a management firm wholly owned by BNP Paribas, has launched the FCP Harewood Euro Long-Dividends, which offers exposure to expected and actual dividends from businesses of the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 index.The French-registered, UCITS III-compliant fund ?is based on a systematic strategy developed by research teams at BNP Paribas CIB and put into action by Harewood Asset Management, which allows for direct exposure to dividends (and not to the equities which pay the dividends),? explains a press statement.Exposure to dividends is obtained in the following manner: ?The fund systematically concludes ‘dividend swaps’ on shares of the Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50® index. In order to avoid concentrating exposure on dividends from a single year, the swaps have different maturity dates, spread over the next four years. These are regularly renewed, as soon as they mature,? Harewood AM continues.?These dividend swaps make it possible to both profit from the difference between the purchase price of the expected dividend and the actual dividend in a single year, and to profit from appreciation in the anticipated dividend over that time period,? the statement says.The maximum front-end fee for the fund is 4%, while the maximum exit fee and management fee are 1%. There is no performance commission.
06/05/2009

France - CM-CIC AM launches a protected capital fund

CM-CIC Asset Management is launching the French-registered diversified FCP fund Union Platinum 2017. The fund offers a protection on capital at maturity, on 19 May 2017, covering 90% of invested capital. In addition, a high watermark sets in at every 5% above the original asset value. This, ?each time the net asset value reaches another 5 Euros above the initial base net asset value as of 15 May 2009 (at levels of EUR105, EUR110, EUR115, etc), the capital guaranteed at maturity will be raised by EUR5 (to EUR95, EUR100, ERU105, etc.),? according to the simplified prospectus of the fund.The fund is an OPCVM-type fund of funds, invested more than 50%, and up to 100%, in shares in other OPCVM funds. The underlying funds are selected from among the product range from the management firm. The portion of the fund’s assets representing assets not at risk will be composed of ?Euro money market? OPCVM funds. For fees, the Union Platinum 2017 will charge a management fee of a maximum of 1.20% TTC per year. Front-end fees are a maximum of 3%, and exit fees are a maximum of 1% applied to the net asset value on 12 May 2017 inclusive), and will not be charged after 19 May 2017.
06/05/2009

Claws out in conflict between Horlick and Tchenguiz

The battle between Bramdean Alternatives, the management firm led by Nicola Horlick, and Vincent Thenguiz, its largest shareholder, with a 28.7%, stake, has taken a turn for the worse, as Tchenguiz has been demanded by the firm to reveal which shareholders supported his proposal to dismiss the board of directors, the Financial Times reports.

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