The private equity fund Trenne Capital Partenaires, whose assets under management total over EUR450m, is continuing to develop its health care unit, with the arival of Julie Rachline as chief investment officer. Julie Rachline has nearly ten years of experience in health care in various and complementary professions. She was most recently at L3S Partnership, an executive search agency dedicated to the recruitment of directors in the area of health care (major groups, SMEs, startups, medications, medical equipment and sevices) or scientific direcftors at instituitons, including ANSM (formerly AFSSAPS).
Assets at Henderson Global Investors on the French market continued to increase in 2013. As of the end of June, assets under management totalled about EUR1.6bn, after being solidly beneath EUR1bn in 2012. As of the end of August, inflows were positive to the tune of about EUR200m, and the trend remains positively oriented, Patricia Kaveh, director of development for Henderson GI in France, Monaco and Geneva told Newsmanagers on 20 Spetember at an investors’ conference. Kaveh also states that development in this market, recently cited by the CEO of Henderson GI, Andrew Formica (see Newsmanagers of 09/09/2013), is expected by the end of the year to bring the opening of an office in Geneva. A planned joint venture in real estate with the pension fund TIAA-CREF, announced at the end of June 2013 (see Newsmanagers of 06/25/2013) is expected to be completed in early March 2014.
US money market funds have returned to France this year, but banks are still seeking to wean themselves off this source of financing after being caught out by its sudden withdrawal during the euro zone crisis, the Financial Times observes. Last year, exposure to French banks has risen 255%, according to Fitch.
Nordea is in the process of building a range for special clients (or family offices) within its private banking unit, the website Realtid.se is able to reveal. The firm will compete with SEB, Handelsbanken and Swedbank, which are already present in this segment.For this project, two people have been recruited: Jacob Brögger and Johanna Pettersson.
The asset management firm Fidelity Worldwide Investment is warning 400 businesses in which it invests that they need to reform their compensation policy, the Financial Times reports. If they do not do it, businesses will be required to face a vote against their pay scales at general shareholders’ meetings. In particular, Fidelity would like businesses to increase the period for which executives hold shares in the firm from three years to five years before they are allowed to sell them. This is intended to encourage them to work for the long term.
A decision by the US Federal Reserve to maintain its exceptional support for the economy, which was more or less anticipated by institutional investors, drove the S&P 500 to new peaks, favouring unprecedented inflows to equity funds.The week ending 18 September saw equity funds take in a net USD25.94bn, eclipsing the old record set in late third quarter 2007, according to statistics from EPFR Global.US equity funds in particular attracted a net total of nearly USD17bn, Actively-managed funds posted modest subscriptions to small and midcaps funds, while large caps funds stood out with a significant turnover from growth towardsa value funds. Inflows to ETFs, which are responsible for most subscriptions for the week, mostly went to large and midcap funds. Bond funds posted outflows for the eighth consecutive week, while money market funds have posted modest inflows, and subscriptions to Japanese and European funds have largely offset redemptions from US money market funds.
A joint venture of Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo, Allfunds Bank, in May received a sales license for Switzerland from the Swiss regulator Finma for Allfunds International Switzerland Ltd, Funds People reports. The affiliate is led by Stig Harby, who joined Allfunds three years ago.The opening of an office in Zurich marks a new step in the expansion of Allfunds in Europe, after Madrid, Milan, London and Luxembourg.The volume of assets intermediated by Allfunds totals EUR100bn. The platform serves 380 institutional clients in 25 countries, and offers 35,000 funds from 450 asset management firms.
The Swiss firm Dynapartners has recruited Kaisa Paavilanen as an addition to its Investment Management & Client Advisory team, Finews reports. Paavilainen had previously worked in London at Barclays, and at UBS as a controller.
Roman Gaiser, head of high yield fixed income at Pictet Asset Management and former star manager at Threadneedle and F&C, on Friday in Paris announced that the Pictet-EUR Short Term High Yield fund ( LU0726357444) now has assets of EUR1.785bn, and that it has posted net inflows of EUR649.09 since the beginning of the year.The fund currently includes shares from 98 issuers and a total of 158 positions, with a turnover rate of about 40%. That makes it a “buy and hold” product, meaning that one of its unique characteristics compared with competing funds is that it invests in securities with a firm maturity of 0-4 years, which allows for effective management of duration at about 1.2 years.In general, Gaiser remains confident in the asset class, since carry remains attactive, since the quality of issues has improved, and the market has priced in a default rate of 25% for the next five years, while in reality it is about 2% per year.
The new Source Man GLG Continental Europe Plus et l’ETF Source Man GLG Asia Plus ETFs, which will be listed on the London Stock Exchange from 23 September 2013, is based on active management whose strategy is supervised by GLG Partners LP.According to Ted Hood, CEO of Source, these Irish-registered, long-only products (see attachment) which are based on beta plus strategies, use the same approach as the Man GLG Europe Plus (EUR700m), and aim to capture outperformance related to the investment recommendations of the best equity brokers, provided especially to GLG.These investment ideas are then used to create liquid and diversified equity portfolios. These strategies aim to improve returns from contributors, using several algorithms which detect trends in widespread ideas.
The US-based asset management firm Thornburg Investment Management is planning to add a fund to its UCITS product range within the next few months, Citywire Global reports.
With wealth estimated at USD20bn in September 2013, George Soros remains at the top of the rankings of the richest US hedge fund managers in the rankings of the 400 wealthiest Americans established by Forbes magazine. Like Soros, all the historic giants of the sector take the top places in the annual rankings.Ray Dalio, who manages the largest hedge fund in the world, Bridgewater (USD120bn in assets) is in second place, with wealth of USD12.9bn, followed by James Simons (USD12bn), John Paulson (USD11.4bn), and Steve Cohen (USD9.4bn).Hedge funds account for 7% of the 400 richest Americans. There are fewer of them than last year, with 28, down from 31, but 24 of them have seen an increase in their wealth year on year. To place in the Forbes rankings, minimal wealth is over USD1.3bn, an increase of USD200m over 2012.
SPDR ETF, the tracker platform from State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) on 20 September announced the launch of a new bond ETF on the Xetra segment from Deutsche Börse. The SPDR Barclays 0-5 Year US High Yield Bond UCITS (ticker: SYBK (EUR) offers access, in a single transaction, to US short-term, high yield bonds, on securities with a maturity shorter than five years.“Like businesses which have improved their balance sheets since the global fniancial crisis, the underlying fundamentals of credit markets remain robust, which results in an anticipation of lower default rates than their historic level of 4.9%,” says Olivier Paquet, director of SPDR ETF in France.53 SPDR ETFs are now available to investors in Europe. This launch follows the recent introduction of three new short-term bond ETFs on Deutsche Börse and the London Stock Exchange.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published before the week-end its Trends, Risks, Vulnerabilities (TRV) Report and a Risk Dashboard for the second quarter of 2013.In collective investments, the report observes that asset managers benefited from improved market conditions, mainly driven by bond, equity or alternative funds whereas money market fund assets decreased. Overall, leverage remained moderate but capital inflows were volatile reflecting a decline in investor sentiment.
A survey of 152 investment advisers, funds of hedge funds, family offices, charities and retirement savings plans carried out by Advent Software has determined a fairly precise cartography of the elements that investors expect from hedge fund managers as part of a “pitch.”It finds largely that two thirds of investors and consultants decide within the first half hour whether they are going to continue to study the case, and one quarter of these decide in the first ten minutes.The consensus finds that presentations should ideally consist of 10 to 20 slides, while fewer than 20 are preferable.More than half of the executives surveyed find that hedge fund managers are not sufficiently transparent about their investment policy. The most widespread error, according to three quarters of respondents, is that hedge funds managers are unable to specify what it is that sets their strategy apart, or to communicate on the real effectiveness of their fund.
The London-based hedge fund management firm Clive Capital, a macro commodity specialist, has announced that it will be closing its doors at the end of the moth, and that it will be reimbursing USD1bn to its shareholders, since “the market now offers only a limited number of adequate opportunities to profit on supply and demand,” the Wall Street Journal reports.At its peak, assets at Clive Capital (founded in 2007) reached USD5bn. But performance has deteriorated: after gains of 19.75% in 2010, the fund lost 9.92% in 2011, 8.81% in 2012, and 4.8% since the beginning of this year.
TwentyFour Asset Management has been selected to manage a new bond mandate for the multi-mangement team at Aviva Investors, Investment Week reports. The management team at the firm consists of eight people, including founding partners Rob Ford, Ben Hayward, Gary Kirk and Eoin Walsh.
Aviva Investors has appointed Hassan Johaadien and Bruno Derdoura to co-manage the Diversified Asset fund and the Diversified Asset strategy, following the departure of Mirko Cadinale to Russell Investments, Financial News reports. Johaadien is responsible for tactical asset allocation research at Aviva. Sedoura is reponsible for strategic asset allocation for multi-asset class portfolios.
Skandia International, the offshore activity of Old Mutual Wealth, has reported spectacular growth of 430% snce 2006 in the percentage of bonds in its offshore trust portfolios. Skandia claims that investment adivsers, who have identified the advantages related to trusts, will continue to increase their use of this vehicle. In 2006, Skandia says, only 8.2% of bond portfolios from Skandia International were placed in trusts. In the wake of significant modifications in 2006 to the fiscal treatment of inheritance in trusts, the use of trusts has picked up in 2012, as bond portfolios from Skandia International were 43.2% used in trusts.
After GBP21m in 2011, Neptune Investment Management on Friday declared pre-tax profits of GBP12.8m, while assets as of the end of December totalled GBP5.8bn, compared with GBP6.3bn one year earlier, Fundweb reports.
Chelsea Financial Services and Albemarle Street Partners are planning to launch a fund ratings service in early 2014, aimed at retail investors and investment advisers, Investment Week reports. The joint venture which will be responsible for the activity, FundCalibre, will be based on the fund screening tool from Albemarle, whose results will be crossed with qualitative analysis from Chelsea. The ratings process will create an annual list of fund ratings, which will be reviewed on a monthly basis.
From the beginning of the year to the end of August, 2013, iShares has posted net inflows in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region of EUR11.6bn, according to Leen Meijaard, head of sales at iShares for the region at BlackRock. These inflows are higher than in the corresponding period of last year, and come with the objetive of increasing assets by 15% per year. To continue its development, iShares is working to increase the use of ETFs by new clients, markets and segments throughout Europe.
SPDR ETF, la plateforme de trackers de State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) a annoncé le 20 septembre le lancement sur Deutsche Börse, Xetra d’un nouvel ETF obligataire. Le fonds SPDR Barclays 0-5 Year US High Yield Bond UCITS (symbole : SYBK (EUR) offre l’accès, en une seule transaction, aux obligations américaines à court terme et à haut rendement, sur des titres d’une maturité inférieure à cinq ans.«Comme les entreprises ont amélioré leur bilan depuis la crise financière mondiale, les fondamentaux sous-jacents des marchés du crédit demeurent robustes, ce qui se traduit par une anticipation de la baisse des taux de défaut en-deçà de leur niveau historique de 4,9 %», selon Olivier Paquet, directeur de SPDR ETF pour la France.52 SPDR ETF sont désormais disponibles pour les investisseurs en Europe. Ce lancement fait suite à la récente introduction sur Deutsche Börse et à la Bourse de Londres de trois nouveaux ETF sur les obligations à court terme.Le nouvel ETF remonte à 1.010 le nombre total des ETF cotés sur le segment XTF de la plate-forme de négociation électronique Xetra.
Filiale conjointe du Santander et d’Intesa Sanpaolo, Allfunds Bank a obtenu en mai du régulateur helvétique, la Finma, un agrément de distribution en Suisse pour Allfunds International Switzerland Ltd, rapporte Funds People. Cette filiale est dirigée par Stig Harby, qui a rejoint Allfunds il ya trois ans. A présent, l’ouverture d’un bureau à Zurich marque une nouvelle étape de l’expansion d’Allfunds en Europe, après Madrid, Milan, Londres et Luxembourg.Le volume d’actifs intermédiés par Allfunds se situe à 100 milliards d’euros. La plate-forme sert 380 clients institutionnels dans 25 pays ; elle propose 35.000 fonds de 450 gestionnaires.
La société suisse Dynapartners a recruté Kaisa Paavilainen pour renforcer son équipe «Investment Management & Client Advisory», indique Finews. L’intéressée travaillait auparavant à Londres chez Barclays et chez UBS en tant que «controller».
La société de capital développementTurenne Capital Partenaires, dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à plus de 450 millions d’euros, continue de développer son pôle Santé avec l’arrivée de Julie Rachline comme directrice d’investissement.Julie Rachline bénéficie de près de dix années d’expérience dans la Santé au travers de métiers différents et complémentaires. Elle était dernièrement chez L3S Partnership, cabinet d’executive search dédié au recrutement de cadres dirigeants dans le domaine de la Santé (grands groupes, PME, start-up, médicaments, dispositifs médicaux ou services) ou de directeurs scientifiques auprès d’institutions, notamment l’ANSM (anciennement Afssaps).
Christian Oyarbide, nommé directeur général par intérim du fonds de pension français UMR en début d’année, verra son mandat prolongé jusqu’à l’année prochaine, rapporte IPE. Nommé en mai pour remplacer Charles Vaquier, il était à l’origine prévu qu’il demeure en poste jusqu’en août 2013. Il devrait en réalité rester un an de plus, croit savoir IPE.
Le spécialiste de la gestion durable active, Cedrus AM, a annoncé le 20 septembre l’arrivée d’Emmanuelle Hsu au sein de l'équipe commerciale et marketing en tant que responsable du développement commercial.Avec ce recrutement, Cedrus AM souhaite accélérer sa présence auprès d’une clientèle institutionnelle et de distribution.Emmanuelle Hsu travaillait précédemment chez GFS en tant que chargé du développement France et international auprès d’une clientèle d’investisseurs institutionnels et multigestion. Elle a aussi passé plusieurs années chez Threadneedle. Créée en 2012, Cedrus AM affiche plus de 350 millions d’euros d’actifs gérés et conseillés dont 52 millions d’euros d’encours gérés et 320 millions d’euros d’encours conseillés.
Les encours de Henderson Global Investors sur le marché français ont continué de croître en 2013. A fin juin, les actifs sous gestion s’inscrivaient à environ 1,6 milliard d’euros après s'être solidement installés au-dessus du milliard d’euros en 2012. A fin août, la collecte était positive de quelque 200 millions d’euros et la tendance reste bien orientée, a indiqué le 20 septembre à Newsmanagers Patricia Kaveh, directeur du développement de Henderson GI pour la France, Monaco et Genève, en marge d’une conférence investisseurs. Patricia Kaveh indique par ailleurs que le développement sur le marché, évoqué récemment par le CEO de Henderson GI, Andrew Formica (Newsmanagers du 09/09/2013), devrait se traduire avant la fin de l’année par l’ouverture d’un bureau à Genève.Par ailleurs, le projet de joint venture dans l’immobilier avec le fonds de pension TIAA-CREF, annoncé fin juin 2013 (Newsmanagers du 25/06/2013) devrait être bouclé début mars 2014.
Avec une fortune estimée en septembre 2013 à 20 milliards de dollars, George Soros reste en tête du classement des gérants de « hedge funds » américains les plus riches dans le palmarès des 400 Américains les plus fortunés établi par le magazine «Forbes». A l’instar de George Soros, tous les grands gérants historiques du secteur figurent aux premières places de ce classement annuel.Ray Dalio, qui gère le plus gros hedge fund au monde, Bridegewater (120 milliards de dollars d’actifs) figure au second rang avec une fortune de 12,9 milliards de dollars, devant James Simons (12 milliards de dollars), John Paulson (11,4 milliards de dollars) et Steve Cohen (9,4 milliards de dollars). Les patrons de hedge funds représentent 7 % des 400 Américains les plus riches. Ils sont moins nombreux qu’il y a un an, 28 contre 31, mais 24 d’entre eux ont accru leur richesse d’une année sur l’autre. A noter que, pour figurer dans le palmarès établi par Forbes, la fortune minimale a été fixée à plus de 1,3 milliard de dollars, soit une augmentation de 200 millions de dollars par rapport à 2012.