Pour la deuxième année consécutive, Vincent Passa, directeur de la distribution en France, Monaco et Benelux, se félicite de ses résultats commerciaux. L’objectif d’un encours de 1 milliard de dollars pour le marché français n’est plus si loin. A l’origine de cette évolution dans un environnement de remontée potentielle des taux, l’intérêt très marqué des investisseurs français et plus généralement européens pour les actions américaines. La stratégie Clearbridge US Aggressive Growth de Legg Mason, commercialisée en Europe au format Ucits, a augmenté de plus de 1 milliard de dollars dans la région entre octobre 2012 et et octobre 2013. La France a contribué pour environ 25% à cette croissance sur un an, soit quelque 250 millions de dollars, souligne Vincent Passa. «C’est le fonds le plus vendu en France et Benelux actuellement et le fonds le plus important en termes d’actifs sous gestion pour le bureau parisien», précise le responsable.Il faut dire aussi que cette stratégie, qui fête cette année ses 30 ans, a de quoi séduire, notamment pour un investisseur de long terme. Le fonds, dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à quelque 22 milliards de dollars, affiche une performance annualisée de 12,03% depuis son lancement en 1983. Depuis le début de l’année jusqu’au 8 novembre, la stratégie a dégagé une performance de près de 30% contre 21,75% pour l’indice Russell 3000 GrowthLa stratégie se démarque aussi très nettement de la gestion growth et investit dans des actions sur le très long terme, les titres restant en portefeuille pendant cinq ou dix ans. En outre, les entreprises sélectionnées sont notamment issues du secteur des technos, - mais pas du genre Apple, absent du portefeuille depuis toujours-, dans des secteurs d’avenir, le stockage de données ou encore le cloud computing entre autres.L’autre secteur clé est la santé, avec une surpondération des entreprises de biotechnologies de premier plan axées sur l’innovation, qui visent des marchés potentiels importants à l'échelle mondiale.

Lancé le 29 octobre 2013 à Londres, le fonds coordonné de droit irlandais Baring European Opprtunities Fund a été agréé la semaine dernière en France. Ce nouveau produit est confié à Nick Williams et Colin Riddles, qui le géreront de la même façon que leur Baring Europe Select Trust, un fonds dont l’encours dépasse le milliard d’euros. Le portefeuille comportera en moyenne une centaine de lignes sur un univers de 7.000 entreprises.Pour la part A, la souscription minimale s’élève à 3.500 euros et les frais de gestion annuels à 1,5 %. Une part institutionnelle sera également disponible.Selon nos informations, le Baring European Opportunities Fund, dont l’indice de référence est le MSCI Europe Smallcap Index, démarre avec 150 millions d’euros apportés par deux investisseurs institutionnels, un britannique et un allemand. Le nouveau produit devrait bénéficier d’une forte demande du fait que les quatre principaux produits concurrents ont désormais soit déjà suspendu les souscriptions soit pratiquement atteint leur limite de capacité.Depuis le début de l’année, les souscriptions nettes de Barings en Europe sont estimées à environ 1,4 milliard d’euros, tandis que le gestionnaire a subi une décollecte de l’ordre de 400 millions d’euros en Asie depuis mai.

L’ancien secrétaire au Trésor Timothy Geithner a été recruté comme president & managing director par le capital-investisseur Warburg Pincus, rapporte The Wall Street Journal. Subordonné directement aux deux co-CEO, Charles Kaye et Joseph Landy, l’intéressé assumera à plein temps des fonctions opérationnelles dans l’établissement de la stratégie et de la gestion du groupe, les relations avec les investisseurs et les questions liées aux investissements.

Natixis taille dans ses équipes de banque transactionnelle et d’informatique et supprime également des postes en France en marchés actions et recherche, a appris L’Agefi de sources syndicales. La banque transactionnelle, qui regroupe les activités de trésorerie (cash management, tenue de comptes, trade finance...), sera la plus touchée, qui perdra 36% de ses effectifs, soit 175 emplois sur 486. Les systèmes d’information paieront également un lourd tribut, avec la disparition de 129 postes sur 1.355, soit environ 10%. Dans la BFI, la couverture des grands clients français (coverage) va perdre 55 collaborateurs sur les 331 du pôle «relations clients et conseil» (17%). Le cash actions et les dérivés actions seront amputés de 19 et 8 salariés en France, sur un total de 203 (13%), et la recherche de 16 économistes et analystes financiers de marché sur 101 (16%, plus une assistante). 52 suppressions de postes (10%) sont par ailleurs prévues chez Eurotitres (services titres pour les réseaux de BPCE).L’information des élus du personnel débutera en décembre pour de premières mutations ou départs à partir d’avril ou mai, précise le quotidien.

La Société française des analystes financiers (SFAF) a annoncé à la veille du week-end la nomination de Hubert de Charsonville au poste de secrétaire général l’association. Rattaché à la Présidence, il aura pour mission de mettre en œuvre la stratégie, d’assurer le pilotage financier ainsi que le développement des activités de la SFAF (Centre de formation, accompagnement des sociétés cotées, mission de « Think tank » et services aux membres de l’association).Au préalable, il a été directeur administratif et financier et membre du directoire de Global Investment Services (compagnie financière cotée sur Alternext), poste qu’il occupa pendant près de huit ans après treize années passées en tant que responsable des départements d’ingénierie financière de Oddo & Cie (2000 – 2005) et de Banque CPR (1992 – 2000). Auparavant, il avait été durant cinq ans market marker et spécialiste en valeurs du Trésor à la banque CGM. Hubert de Charsonville, âgé de cinquante ans, est diplômé d’un Executive Master de HEC et titulaire d’un MBA de l’Université de Hartford (USA). Il est par ailleurs enseignant vacataire à HEC Paris.

Selon L’Agefi, le fonds Pershing Square est entré au capital des deux groupes de refinancement de crédits immobiliers, qu’un nombre grandissant d’investisseurs jugent sous-évalués. Selon un document transmis à la SEC vendredi, Pershing détient respectivement 9,77% de Freddie Mac et 9,98% de Fannie Mae. Cette prise de participation représente près d’un demi-milliard de dollars. Elle intervient après l’annonce la semaine dernière par Fairholm Capital Management de son intention d’acheter, avec d’autres investisseurs, Freddie Mac et Fannie Mae avant de les recapitaliser.

Petercam Asset Management a lancé un fonds d’obligations d’entreprises à haut rendement libellées en euros, Petercam L Bonds EUR Corporate High Yield, qui sera géré par Thierry Larose et Bernard Lalière.Le duo s’occupe actuellement de deux fonds high yield, Petercam L Bonds Higher Yield et Petercam L Bonds EUR High Yield Short Term.Le fonds, de droit luxembourgeois, a été lancé le 23 septembre 2013. Il sera composé de 60 à 80 titres en portefeuille et aura pour objectif de battre l’indice de référence, le Barclays Euro High Yield 3 % Capped ex Fin, de 0,75 (par an et net de frais à sur trois ans).

John Reynolds, CEO de KBC Bank Ireland a annoncé jeudi 14 novembre qu’il allait quitter la banque pour mener d’autres projets. Le Conseil d’administration a nommé. Wim Verbraeken, CFO/COO actuel de KBC Bank Ireland, au poste de CEO, en attendant l’approbation de la Banque nationale irlandaise.John Reynolds a passé 29 ans chez KBC, dont quatre ans comme chief executive. KBC a également décidé de renforcer le comité de direction d’un membre supplémentaire en scindant la fonction CFO/COO en deux fonctions distinctes. Les successeurs de Wim Verbraeken au poste de COO et CFO seront nommés le plus rapidement possible. Ce dernier a rejoint KBC Bank Ireland en juillet 2013 et a succédé à Ian Black.

The Global Convertible Bond team at RWC, headed up by Davide Basile, has taken over the RWC Cautious Absolute Rate and Currency fund.The fund will be renamed RWC Core Plus and it will be co-managed by Basile and Lakshman Harendran. The objective of the fund will be to generate strong real returns with low volatility. The fund will have a core portfolio of convertible bonds that will be complemented by the use of other asset classes and hedging.Basile’s team currently manage $1.8bn in long only convertible bonds funds having seen net inflow of $595m this year. The approach and asset allocation framework currently used by the team will be extended to RWC Core Plus. It is expected that the new strategy will have many of the benefits of a traditional convertible bond fund but it will have additional flexibility to express the macro views of the team to reduce downside volatility and enhance returns.The fund is a UCITS IV Luxembourg SICAV. It is registered for sale in a number of European countries.

GLG Partners has unveiled the GLG Undervalued Assets fund, Fund Web reports. The new product has received GBP40m in capital, and is expected to be launched on 15 November. Henry Dixon will manage the new portfolio, which will be invested predominantly in British equities with an emphasis on undervalued securities.

Petercam Asset Management has launched a high yield corporate bond fund, Petercam L Bond EuR Corporate High Yield, which will be managed by Thierry Larose and Bernard Lalière. The two are currently responsible for two high yield funds, Petercam L Bonds Higher Yield and Petercam L Bonds EUR High Yield Short Term.

The private banking and wealth management unit at the Arbuthnot Banking unit has opnened an office in Dubai in order to develop its activities in the region. Meanwhile, Arbuthnot Latham has recruited four senior bankers for the new unit, Paul Donovan and Kieran McDonnell, previously of Coutts, as directors, as well as Giles Hanson and Peter Casey of HSBC and Barclays, respectively, as associate directors, Clare Doyle, Frances White and David Smith have been appointed as private banking executives.

Aberdeen AM will probably today sign off on the purchase of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) from Lloyds Banking Group, to create the first independent publicly-traded fund management firm in Europe, Agefi reports, citing the Sunday Times. The price of about GBP500m (nearly GBP600m), paid in shares, will allow Aberdeen to manage about GBP250bn in assets. Life insurance activities at Scottish Widows will continue to be housed at Lloyds.

Edmond de Rothschild will launch a merchant banking business in London this week, to make the City its largest centre after Paris, Geneva and Luxembourg, the Fiancial Times reports. The group, led by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild, has recruited 20 senior advisers to launch its private banking and corporate finance business, alongside its existing asset management activity. The group now has 100 employees in London, but is planning to increase this number. Christophe de Backer, CEO of Edmond de Rothschild, has told the Financial Times that the private banking and asset management group may put up to 150 employees at its Mayfair offices, and that it is planning to expand if necessary.

The asset management firm SEB Asset Management, an affiliate of the Swedish banking group SEB, which has been present in France for several years via its funds, is seeking to develop its presence serving French independent financial adviser (IFA) clients. To achieve this, it has recruited Adil Benmakhlouf, previously of Morgan Stanley, as salesperson for France dedicated more partiuclarly to these clients. He is based in London, like all of the team covering France, but regularly travels to France. He works with Laurent Farcy-Briant, head of sales for France and French-speaking Switzerland. In order to win over French IFAs, SEB AM is playing the Scandinavian card, which currently has a favourable image, to the fullest. The range on offer to these clients thus naturally includes three Scandinavian equity funds from SEB which are already registered in France. These are the SEB Nordic Fund, a Scandinavian equity fund managed by Tommi Saukkoriipi, formarly of Nordea, the SEB Nordic Small Cap Fund, a fund specialised in Scandinavian small caps, and the SEB Nordic Focus Fund, a fund based on the best ideas from Scandinavia managers at the firm. This range will soon be complemented by other products, including the Asset Selection (CTA) fund and a quant-managed global equity fund, which will also be made available to institutional investors. Opening to IFAs will allow SEB AM to continue its development in France, which began a few years ago, and which has hitherto been focused on professional clients (fonds of funds, insitutionals). Laurent Farcy-Briant, who joined the firm two and a half years ago to cover the French markte, says that at the time, SEB AM had only EUR12m under management for French clients, who were primarily invested in the SEB Asset Selection fund. These assets now total nearly EUR100m, distributed over a wide variety of products, and a more diversified range of clients.

Following a restricted request for proposals for the 1st lot of contract 2011FRR07 (thematic collective fund mandate – Global Universe), the French national pension fund, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR), has decided to select the bids from the following asset management firms: 1. BNP Paribas Asset Management SAS 2. Kleinwort Benson Investors The mandates will be awarded for a duration of four years, renewable for 1 year. The indicative total amount of funds placed for management may total EUR150m. The FRR on 21 September 2012 launched a restricted request for proposals for selection of investment service providers to manage transition operations. At the conclusion of the selection process, the FRR decided to select the bids from the following candidates: · Blackrock Advisors (UK) Limited · Goldman Sachs International· Russell Implementation Services The mandates are awareded for a period of three years, renewable for 1 year.

The German asset management firm publity Performance GmbH has selected Caceis to serve as its depository fr its open-ended real estate investment funds, according to a statement released on 14 November. The first real estate fund was successfully migrated to Germany by Caceis in April 2013. the migration of the second fund is planned for January 2014. Publity AG< the paent company based in Leipzig, invests largest in commercial real estate, as well as in office and residential properties located in German cities, such as Frankfurt-am-Main, Hamburg, and Munich. Publity Performance GmbH, an affiliate of publity AG, is an independent asset management firm (Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft).

The New York-based hedge fund Third Point has acquired USD150m in equities in the largest issue from the Turkish asset management firm Emlat Konut GYO, 49.3% controlled by the Turkish government, the news agency Bloomberg reports. According to sources familiar with the transaction, the acquisition of Third Point is its only investment in the Turkish market. Thid Point has increased its stake from slightly under 5%, the level at which a declaration is required in Turkey.

Amilton Asset Management has announced the recruitment of Thierry Crovetto as manager. The arrival responds to “the desire of Amilton Asset Management to strengthen its expertise in asset management, including the bond and absolute return asset classes,” a statement says. Since 2009, Crovetto was responsible for investment strategy at G&G Private Finance, an asset management firm based in Monaco. He previously worked for various asset management firms and banks, in Monaco and Luxembourg, including Société Générale. With assets of about EUR420m, and a wide range of products and services, Amilton Asset Management is present in private clients, institutional investmsnts, Family Offices and independent fianncial advisers.

Family offices in Hong Kong and Taiwan insurers are among the institutional investors who are showing increasingly marked interest in issues of socially responsible investment (SRI), the asset management firm Impax Asset Management, a specialist in socially responsible investment, claims, Asian Investor reports. Impax, which is 25% controlled by BNP Paribas Investment Partners, is working with the distribution platform of the French group to increase its Asian assets over the past five years. Currently, Asian assets under management from Impax total only GBP50m, half of which originates from australia, out of assets of GBP2.2bn. Several factors, however, militate in favour of this interest for sustainable investment, including a desire on the part of the Chinese government to take measures to combat pollution. But institutional type allocation to sustainable investment remains modest, totalling a maximum of about 5%.

BNP Paribas IP has recruited Tan Puay-Lit, formerly of BlackRock, as head of official Asia-Pacific institutions, and deputy CEO for Singapore, Asian Investor reports. The appointment became efective on 7 November. Puay-Lit previously spent five and a half years as director of institutional clients in Singapore for BlackRock.

Funds People reports that Banco Madrid, the Spanish affiliate of Banca Privada d’Andorra (BPA), has acquired the investment fund activity of Banco Mare Nostrum (BMN) for EUR20m, pending approval by the CNMV. With EUR500m in BMN funds on sale through Cajamurcia, Caja Granada and Sa Nostra, assets at Banco Madrid will total EUR4bn, The contract stipulates that Banco Madrid will be the exclusive provider of funds for the BMN network for 10 years.Banco Madrid previously acquired the asset management activities of Nordkapp and Liberbank.

Since the beginning of the year, Amundi ETF has posted net subscriptions in Europe of EUR10.5bn, of which 60% were to equity products, and 40% to bond products. And the interesting thing is that this has resulted in a «great rotation» in the portfolios of clients, Laure Peyranne Rovet, head of customer relationships, tells Funds People.In 2014, Amunsi ETF is planning to focus on equity ETFs hedged for currency risks, and for bond ETFs, on funds which replicate high yield indices.

The CNMV has issued a sales license for Spain to three ETFs from Lyxor UCITS ETF, the SG Europe Quality Income, the CSI 300 A-Share- C-EUR and the BTP 10Y – MTS Italy Government Bond –C- Eur, Funds People reports.

After a slowdown in second half 2012, the Italian real estate sector has finished the first six months of the year with stable evolution, Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset management professionals, reports. Total activities are approaching EUR42bn, slightly up by 0.4% compared with second half 2012. Assets in the 209 funds counted in Italy totalled EUR25.6bn, and gross inflows totalled EUR701m, down compared with EUR981m in December. Redemptions totalled EUR439m. In first half, 9 funds were launched and the average duration for new products is 14 years. The range in the sector is 90% composed of funds reserved for institutional or qualified investors (188 funds for EUR2bn). The 21 retail funds have assets of EUR4.6bn.

The former secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, has been recruited as president and managing director by the private equity firm Warburg Pincus, the Wall Street Journal reports. Geithner will report directly to the co-CEOs, Charles Kays and Joseph Landy, and will serve full-time in the operational roles at the firm of strategy and management for the group, investor relations, and questions related to investments.

César Zeitouni has left the Exane Archimedes fund, Citywire reveals. The long/short equity specialist was co-manager of the EUR326m fund with Gilles Lenoir since its launch in December 2006. Zeitouni will now concentrate on new fund launches.

As head of Amundi, the largest European asset management firm by assets under management, Yves Perrier admits it: the significant outflows form networks in France, especially Crédit Agricole, has now become a major trend. Despite all this, Amundi is still showing good results since the beginning of the year. It owes this to its international activity, and activities serving institutional investors. Hence the firm's partnership strategy, buying stakes or making acquisitions guided by the firm to make it one of the players who count in the industry.

Schroder GAIA Sirios US Equity, the UCITS format USA long/short equity fund launched in February 2013, whose management is outsourced to a well-known asset manager, John Brennan at Sirios Capital Management, has clearly won over many investors. Due to the modest range of quality UCITS format USA long/short equity funds in Europe, the fund has taken in very strong subscriptions since its launch barely eight months ago, and now has total assets of over USD700m. The Schroder GAIA Sicav, specialised in liquid alternative strategies, adapted to UCITS IV format, now includes 7 specialised funds for different investment strategies (including 5 outsources to external managers and 2 managed internally), with overall assets of over EUR2bn.

The Irish-registered, UCITS-compliant fund Baring European Opportunities Fund, launched in London on 29 October 2013, was licensed last week in France. The new product will be managed by Nick Williams and Colin Riddles, who will manage it in the same way as their Baring Europe Select Trust, a fund whose assets exceed EUR1bn. The portfolio will include an average of 100 positions on a universe of 7,000 businesses.For A-class shares, the minimal subscription is EUR2,500, and annual management fees are 1.5%. An institutional share will also be available.According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, the Baring European Opportunities Fund, whose benchmark index is the MSCI Europe Smallcap Index, is starting up with EUR150m contributed by two institutional investors, one British and one German. The new product will be subject to strong demand due to the fact that the four main competing products now either have suspended subscriptions, or have nearly reached their capacity limits.Since the beginning of the year, net subscriptions to Barings in Europe are estimated at about EUR1.4bn, while the manager has seen outflows of about EUR400m from Asia since May.