Le Santander a retenu Merrill Lynch, Natiwis et BNP Paribas pour placer un emprunt à deux ans qui se passera de la garantie de l’Etat. Selon les milieux financiers cité par Expansión, le Santander compte sur un volume d’au moins 1 milliard d’euros et souhaiterait vivement qu’il atteigne les 2 milliards. La rémunération sera de 145 points de base supérieure aux midswaps ce qui est d’une quinzaine de points moins cher pour l'émetteur que la même opération garantie par le Trésor.
Le sondage mensuel d’avril effectué par Lipper auprès des 14 principales sociétés de gestion espagnoles montrent qu’en mars 53,85 % des sondés ont sous-pondéré les actions contre 61,54 % le mois précédent et que l’investissement moyen en actions se situe à 32,11 % du portefeuille contre 31,98 %, rapporte Cinco Días. La poche de liquidités s’est très légèrement dégonflée, à 33,87 % contre 34,65 %.
Quelques jours avant l’assemblée générale, les sociétés de gestion interrogées par le Handelsblatt considèrent que Daimler doit faire davantage d'économies. Henning Gebhardt, chez DWS, reconnaît que le groupe a déjà pris proactivement de premières mesures importantes mais qu'à moyen terme il sera inévitable de recourir à des mesures de restructuration qui iront au-delà du chômage partiel. Même si les gérants considèrent que Daimler est nettement mieux positionné que la plupart de ses concurrents et s’ils attribuent de bonnes notes au management, Georg Stürzer, chez UniCredit souligne que le groupe est obligé de venir financièrement en aide à ses sous-traitants, ce qui pèse sur ses liquidités. Jürgen Meyer, chez SEB Asset Management, reconnaît que si Daimler est plus solidement financé que ses concurrents étrangers, il possède aussi, contrairement à BMW, une activité camions qui est impactée beaucoup plus durement par la crise des ventes que celle des voitures particulières.
Le scheik Hamdan, vice-président des Emirats arabes unis, a confirmé à la Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung que des fonds souverains et des investisseurs privés des Emirats sont en mesure de prendre une participation dans Opel. Selon Die Welt, ce pourraient être des investisseurs d’Abou Dhabi. Récemment, le fonds souverain Aabar Investments de cet émirat a pris une participation de 9,1 % dans Daimler.
Afin d’obtenir le feu vert de la Commission européenne pour la seconde tranche du plan d’aide fédérale de 18,2 milliards d’euros, la Commerzbank serait prêt à se séparer de la totalité de ses activités en Europe de l’Est (11.000 salariés, 300 millions d’euros de bénéfice) et à vendre sa filiale de financement immobilier Eurohypo (1.900 salariés, 1,2 milliard d’euros de perte en 2008), rapporte le Handelsblatt. De fait, Berlin estime que la Commerzbank a besoin de son aide uniquement à cause de la crise financière tandis que Bruxelles suspecte que les difficultés de la banque proviennent d’une déficience de son business model.
Selon Les Echos, les banquiers suisses mettent en avant le contexte de guerre commerciale. Ils contestent la crédibilité de la liste de l’OCDE, et soulignent qu’il faudra plus de temps à la Suisse pour signer des accords qu’aux petits pays.
Selon le projet de directive établi par la Commission européenne et dont le Handelsblatt a obtenu un exemplaire, Bruxelles veut obliger les fonds de private equity, de hedge funds, de fonds immobiliers offerts au public et de fonds institutionnels dont l’'encours dépasse 250 millions d’euros à se faire enregistrer. Ce texte sera présenté le 21 avril à Bruxelles par le commissaire au Marché intérieur Charlie McCreevy, s’il a été approuvé auparavant par les autres commissaires. Il est prévu que cette directive entre en vigueur début 2011.En dehors de l’obligation d’enregistrement, le texte ne contient pas beaucoup de réglementations. Les autorités ne pourront pas intervenir sur la politique d’investissement et les ventes à découvert resteront autorisées. Néanmoins, la commercialisation des produits ne serait autorisée qu’auprès d’investisseurs professionnels. L’agrément ne serait délivré qu’aux fonds dont les gérants auront fourni des informations détaillées, qui afficheront un capital suffisant et qui auront donné des renseignements sur leur gestion du risque. Les dispositions concernant les fonds utilisant un fort effet de levier seront plus sévères. Les fonds prenant des participations importantes dans les sociétés devront aussi satisfaire à des obligations de transparence particulières.
Selon L"Agefi suisse, l"autorité de surveillance des marchés financiers (FINMA) peut faire connaître, depuis début avril, ses décisions quant à l"octroi, ou non, d"une licence bancaire aux négociants en devises agissant pour le compte de clients. En Suisse, quelque 150 intermédiaires financiers exercent ce type d"activité. Mais d"après l"autorité de surveillance, les demandes d"octroi se comptent sur le doigt d"une main. Parmi eux: GFX Group et Advanced Currency Market (ACM), à Genève, ainsi que MIG Investments, à Neuchâtel.
Citibank on Monday announced the appointment of Mike Corbat as CEO of Citi Holdings, a division which includes a significant proportion of the group’s activities in the areas of brokerage, asset management, consumer credit, and special assets. He had been interim CEO since 16 January.
The New York state prosecutor’s office on Monday filed a lawsuit against J. Ezra Merkin for fraud, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Andrew Cuomo accuses the financier of investing USD2.4bn with Bernard Madoff without informing his clients. It is claimed that he pocketed USD470m in the deal. Meanwhile, the market regulator for the state of Connecticut has filed a civil lawsuit against the fund management firm Fairfield Greenwich Group for neglect of its fiduciary duties when it invested USD7bn with Madoff without undertaking sufficient due diligence.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has learned that, to consolidate power in the hands of the management team at the bank, Kevin Parker, head of asset management at Deutsche Bank, is planning to impose a massive cost savings initiative. Restructuring will now also affect Europe, where the head of asset management was previously Stephan Kunze, who has recently resigned. Fund management in Europe may be concentrated in Frankfurt. The production of funds in Italy has already been abandoned, and the same may now occur in other European countries, such as Spain.
ETF Securities (ETFS) on Monday announced the forthcoming launch of ETF Exchange, which aims to become the world’s first multi-issuer ETF platform. The planned platform has been joined by 15 banks and asset management firms of global size, including the largest actors in the European financial centres (Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, southern Europe, Scandinavia), the United States, and Asia; it will aim to provide investors with ?highly liquid and creditworthy? exchange-traded products (ETP).
In March, mutual funds on sale in Italy saw net redemptions of EUR5.1bn, following redemptions of EUR2.9bn in February, according to the most recent statistics from Assogestioni, the Italian association of management professionals. All categories are in the red, particularly bond funds, which have seen outflows of EUR2.7bn for the month. Equities funds show net redemptions of EUR490m.Since the beginning of the year, mutual funds on sale in Italy have seen outflows of EUR12.4bn, confirming a trend which has continued for several months. Assets are down to EUR386bn, from EUR388bn in February.Among the leaders in the sector, Pioneer shows the heaviest net redemptions at EUR2.67bn, Mediolanum shows the largest net subscriptions at EUR145m.
At the end of 2008, assets at Meag, a management firm joint venture from Munich Ré and Ergo, had increased by 2% compared with their levels at the end of 2007, to a total of EUR184.7bn. The Börsen-Zeitung reports that this unusual development was the result of a prudent investment policy which led the firm to reduce its allocation to equities to EUR7.1bn, down from EUR24.4bn twelve months earlier. Now, says Robert Helm, CEO, Meag will work to take advantage of last year’s good results to win over new clients from outside the group.
In a market statement to the Deutsche Börse, MLP has announced that it was informed by Swiss Life on 1 April that its participation in the firm has passed below the 20% threshold, and now totals 15.90%. Meanwhile, the insurance firm Talanx (HDI group) announced to MLP on the same day that is now controls 9.89% of its capital.
Deutsche Börse announced on Monday in a market statement that the Boston-based asset management firm Wellington Management Company informed it on 3 April that it has acquired 3.05% of its capital. Recently, the alternative managers TCI and Atticus liquidated almost all of their participations in the capital of the stock market company.
According to a draft European Union directive which has been obtained by Handelsblatt, the EU is planning to require private equity firms, hedge funds, open-ended real estate funds and institutional funds with assets of over EUR250m to register. The proposed legislation will be unveiled in Brussels on 21 April by single market commissioner Charlie McCreevy, if approved by other commissioners. The directive would come into force in early 2011.Aside from the registration requirement, the bill does not include much new regulation. The authorities will not be allowed to intervene in investment policies, and short-selling will continue to be allowed. However, sale of the products will be restricted to professional investors. The license will be issued to the fund only once the managers have provided detailed information, after the fund has amassed sufficient capital and provided details of its risk management. Rules relating to funds using high levels of leverage will be more severe. Funds which take large stakes in companies will also be required to satisfy stricter transparency requirements.
According to a survey by the Norwegian finance ministry reported in IPE, the Government Pension Fund - Global will refrain from investments in high-yield bonds and emerging market bonds which present undesired risks in times of economic downturn. Meanwhile, the fund is also giving itself a period of ?several years? to complete construction of a real estate portfolio to eventually account for 5% of assets.
Investors worldwide withdrew more than USD60bn from funds investing in developed markets in first quarter, while emerging markets saw inflows of a net total of USD3.2bn, according to statistics from Emerging Portfolio Funds Research, cited by the Financial Times.
SEB Asset Management has announced that on 30 April it will liquidate six of its funds (five of them registered in Luxembourg and one in Germany), whose assets do not allow for a profitable operation of the fund for the management firm or investors. Assets under management in the funds concerned range from EUR0.23m to EUR8.75m. SEB AM is offering subscribers a free transfer to four funds with similar objectives.
DekaBank has announced the launch of another guaranteed fund, the Deka-CapGarant 1, which offers full participation in the performance of the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index, up to a maximum of 37%, and a guarantee on full invested capital minus the front-end fee. The Luxembourg-registered fund has no fixed maturity date, but the counters will be reset to zero after six years, and Deka will charge a restructuring commission of 3% when that time has completed on 30 April 2015. Front-end fee and management commission are 4% and 15, respectively.
Uwe Bachert, who was formerly director of sales for Sauren Funds Services, has been appointed director of distribution (a newly-created position) at Neue Vermögen Asset Management, Das Investment reports.
The manager of the UK Growth Fund from New Star, Trevor Green, who joined New Star in June 2008 from Credit Suisse, has announced that he is planning to remain in his current position and also to join the UK equities team at Henderson Global Investors (HGI) when New Star is taken over by HGI, Investment Week reports. Roger Dossett, chief executive for real estate funds, has also decided to join HGI, where he will continue in the same position as at New Star. However, Stuart Webster, manager of the International Property fund and head of global property, has announced that he will not follow his colleagues to HGI, but will remain an advisor to the fund.
Management firms have a tendency not to place surveillance or risk management at the top of the list of priorities in their hierarchies, according to a survey by Copenhagen business school, in partnership with SimCorp StrategyLab, cited by Financial Times Fund Management. ?Risk management is considered an obstacle to be surmounted in an activity,? says Steen Thomsen, a professor at the Danish school.
The French minister of the Economy on 5 April published an announcement in the official journal dates on 2 April, which contains a summary of modifications to the general regulations of the AMF related to public calls for capital and prospectuses. Article 212-16 stipulates that ?when one or more investment services providers participate in an initial admission to a regulated market for the trading of capital securities and/or any public offers or the admission to trading on a regulated market for such securities in the three years after the first admission to trading of these capital securities, this provider or providers must confirm to the AMF that they have undertaken the professional diligence required and that the diligence has not found any imprecisions or significant omissions in the prospectus of a nature which would induce error in investors or mislead their judgment.?
A monthly survey by Lipper of 14 major Spanish asset management firms reveals that in March, 53.85% of these firms were underweight in equities, compared with 61.54% the previous month, and that average investment in equities measures 32.11% of the portfolio, compared with 31.98% the previous month, Cinco Días reports. Cash allocations have decreased very slightly, from 34.65% to 33.87%.
The Wall Street Journal reports that at least six potential buyers have expressed interest in the USD100bn in assets that AIG Investment manages on behalf of third parties. The potential buyers include four private equity investors, Ashmore Investment Management, Hellman & Friedman, Rhône Group and TA Associates, and two asset management firms, Franklin Templeton Investments and Southgate Alternative Investments. The offers range from USD400m to USD800m, while the price would normally be about USD1bn to USD2bn. The newspaper reports that AIG is planning to complete the sale by the end of May, but that the group may have to call off plans to sell the division if the offer price is too low. Alternative assets in the portfolio up for sale totalled about USD34bn at the end of February, of which USD26bn were in private equity and USD6.8bn in hedge funds. Since then, assets in hedge funds have been reported to be closer to USD5bn.
After already doubling the initially planned amount of its borrowing to EUR1bn last week, BASF on Monday raised a further EUR350m in capital, the Börsen-Zeitung reports.