The Scottish asset management firm Aberdeen Asset Management has won a USD200m mandate to manage emerging market bonds for the Danish pension fund PKA, Citywire reports. The mandate will be managed by the emerging market debt team at Aberdeen. Assets under management at PKA total USD34.5bn.

Hedge fund launches totaled 275 in third quarter 2012, an increase from 245 in the prior quarter, bringing total launches in the trailing twelve months to 1,094, slightly below the 2011 launch total of 1,113 fund openings, according to data released by HFR. Meanwhile, hedge fund liquidations increased to 211 in third quarter, an uptick from the 192 liquidations in second quarter, bringing total liquidations to 825 in the past trailing 12 months, slightly ahead of the 2011 total of 775 fund closings. Assets under management reached a record level of USD2.2trn in third quarter, while the number of single-manager hedge funds also reached a record level of 7,867 funds. The total number of Funds of Hedge Funds (FOF) in existence declined to fewer than 1,900, a level not seen since 1Q05. Launches in both Macro and Relative Value Arbitrage (RV) strategies exceeded launches in Equity Hedge for the first time in 3Q12, with over 100 new Macro funds and over 70 new RV funds launching in 3Q12, compared to 60 launches in Equity Hedge. Steady fund performance by RV strategies over the past four years has continued to attract new investor capital, with total assets in RV increasing to USD586 Billion, equaling the amount of capital invested in Equity Hedge strategies. Lastly, the industry-wide average management and incentive fees both declined as of 3Q12, with the average management fee falling 1 bps to 1.56 percent and the average incentive fee falling 14bps to 18.62 from the prior quarter.

ING Investment Management has announced the merger of the Emerging Markets fund with the Emerging Markets High Dividend fund, which will result in the creation of EUR190m in assets under management, Investment Europe reports.

Patrick Crowley, country executive at ABN Amro Private Bank in Jersey, has been recruited as vice president of the New Markets Group at Lombard Odier, Investment Europe reports. Crowley, based in Dubai, will report to Christophe Lalandre, head of UAE & Oman. Crowley will be responsible for assisting retail clients and important families as well as institutional clients in the Gulf Co-operation Council region.

EFG Asset Management would like to quadruple its assets under management in Asia in the next three years, with several recruitments planned to that end, Asian Investor reports. Assets under management in the region currently total about USD1bn. EFG began asset management activities in Asia about 18 months ago.

On the basis of research by Efficient Capital Management, Stoxx Limited is launching the iSTOXX Efficient Capital Managed Futures 20 Index, which includes 20 of the largest Commodity Trading Advisors (CTA) by asset volume. This may be used as an basis for financial products.

Heads of investor relations at a publicly-traded business are increasingly important. 65% of the time, this head reports directly to the chief financial officer, and 26% of the time to the CEO, according to an international survey of 140 heads of investor relationships undertaken by CA Cheuvreux, in partnership with investor relationship associations in France and Germany, CLIFF (the French investor relationship association) and DIRK (Deutsche Investor Relations Verband). Communications about sustainable development and management of relationships with bond investors/analysts are the primary current concerns of heads of investor relationships. The survey also finds that less than one out of every two investor relationship teams is responsible for sustainable development communications. Heads of investor relationships at mid-sizes businesses more often serve in complementary roles than their counterparts at larger market caps, primarily those of chief financial officer, head of management controls or communications. 85% of the time, heads of investor relationships are present at some meetings with the board of directors. However, only 12% participate in all meetings, and 3% are members of the board. 9 times out of 10, heads of investor relationships estimate that the importance of their role is duly recognised by the CEO and CFO as well as by financial analysts and investors. However, the responses are more nuanced for the auditing and advisory boards. Lastly, only one third of firms say they use social networks as communication tools. Twitter was the most frequently-cited, more often than LinkedIn.

As Newsmanagers reported last week, Philippe Couvrecelle has officially launched PTH-Conseil, his own asset management consulting firm. The former chairman of the board of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EdRAM) will collaborate with Jean Maunoury, previously head of strategy and a fund of funds manager at EdRAM. In practice, PTH-Conseil, the announcement of whose launch coincides with that of the 2013-2016 strategic plan at La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild (see elsewhere in Newsmanagers), «will provide strategic guidance to both local and global asset managers, with a particular emphasis on European, American and Asian markets. In light of the challenges and changes facing the asset management industry, they are poised to step in with a differentiated approach to help companies to re-think and re-shape their business architecture,» a statement says.

In November, assets at Legg Mason, Franklin Templeton, Invesco and AllianceBernstein increased to a total of USD31bn.As is frequently the case, Franklin Templeton has posted by far the largest increase in its assets, which in November increased by USD14.9bn to a total of USD768.8bn. This time, however, this largely reflects the firm’s acquisition of K2 Advisors and of USD8.7bn which came in as an addition to hybrid assets of USD118.9bn. The volume of assets in bond products increased by USD6.6bn to USD341.9bn.At AllianceBernstein, total assets in November increased by USD7bn to a total of USD426bn, largely due to fixed income products, while at Invesco, an increase of USD6.4bn to USD683.8bn went to various sectors (equities, fixed income, mixed, money markets and alternative).Lastly, at Legg Mason, an increase of USD2.7bn, to USD648.3bn, resulted in an increase of USD6.6bn only for money market funds.

The structure born of the merger of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management and Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers, which now represents the unified asset management unit for the Edmond de Rothschild group, has set itself the goal of increasing its assets from EUR24bn to a total of EUR35bn by 2016, Christophe de Backer, CEO, has announced, presenting the group’s 4-year strategic plan on Wednesday. The merger of the two French asset management firms resulted in the loss of 66 jobs out of 250, de Backer confirms. These layoffs were largely in support roles, marketing, and sales, where the overlaps were, says Marc Samuel, head of the bank in Paris. The resulting structure, which will have a new head in first quarter, and which will be known as EdRAM, will become the core of asset management at the group, with EUR50bn worldwide and a target of EUR70bn by 2016. The profession overall, in several geographical regions, will also undergo some rationalisation. This will include a consolidation of the product range, so as to have funds with over EUR1bn in assets, Samuel explains to Newsmanagers. “We are seeing that inflows in Europe are going to large funds,” he says. However, he has not said what the target is in terms of the number of funds. He also says the bank is considering options for fund domiciles, between Paris and Luxembourg. In addition to these cost reductions, gathering forces in asset management also response to a desire to position the group as a major player in Europe and to develop internationally, which is also intended to be a driver of asset growth. The group is particularly targeting Switzerland, where it has a presence primarily in private banking, its other core profession, and “two enormous and virtually unexplored markets: the United Kingdom and Germany,” de Backer says. In order to increase assets, de Backer has not ruled out external growth, through small operations. These objectives come as part of an overall plan to increase assets under management at the Edmond de Rothschild group from EUR125bn to EUR158bn by 2016, to lower the cost/income ratio from 85% to 66%, and to offer returns for shareholders of 11%, up from 5% currently. This will involve a 10% reduction in costs by 2016.

The board of directors at Janus Capital Group (JCG) has decided to pay a quarterly dividend of 6 cents per share on 31 December, to shareholders registered as of closing on 21 December. This replaces a payment which would have come in January 2013.As of the end of September, assets under management at JCG totalled USD158.2bn.

Franco-Belgian group Dexia announced on Wednesday it had signed an agreement to sell Dexia Asset Management to Hong Kong based GCS Capital for EUR380 million.The scope of the transaction includes the full perimeter of Dexia Asset Management, and it falls within the context of the plan for the orderly resolution of the Dexia Group undertaken in October 2011.Finalisation of this transaction could take place in the first quarter 2013.

From 1 January 2013, Fidelity Investments will be slashing the TER for eight tracker funds of its Spartan range. The minimal subscription for the 14 Spartan funds will also be lowered from USD10,000 to USD2,500 for investor share, and USD100,000 to USD10,000 for advantage shares. Minimal subscription for the other eight Fidelity funds will be reduced to USD2,500 from USD10,000.

According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, in early 2013, Natixis Asset Management (NAM) will release a UCITS-compliant fund which already has comfortable seed capital for active sale in the long/short segment. It is a highly actively managed credit arbitrage fund, which uses the resources of the quant and credit teams, and aims to earn returns 250 basis points higher than the Eonia, although the portfolio currently in incubation is generating far higher returns.The portfolio, which will be highly actively managed, uses pair trade and directional trade techniques. It is active in all fixed income segments, and uses options on CDS.

The German federal finance ministry has announced plans to place all investment fund managers and funds under the supervision of the government, including open-ended real estate funds, hedge funds and private equity funds, Handelsblatt reports. The new law would come as part of a transposition into German law of an EC directive.Steffen Siebert, spokesman for the German government, emphasized that the bill will also apply to closed fund managers on “grey” capital markets. The bill would also disallow hedge funds from being sold to retail investors; foreign hedge funds will be available only to professional or semi-professional investors.

The former CEO of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) until January 2012, Hector Sants, will on 21 January join Barclays Plc as head of compliance & government & regulatory relations. He will report directly to Antony Jenkins, group chief executive.In this newly-created position, he will be responsible for all compliance issues at the Barclays group worldwide. In other words, this means that for the first time, all personnel in the area of compliance will all report to a single person, and will act independently of their profession and regional heads.

The Chinese sovereign fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) is about to buy a significant stake in the Canadian forestry firm Timberland LB, the SWF Institute reports. Timberland LB is an affiliate of the asset management firm Brookfield Asset Management.

The alternative asset management firm Gottex Fund Management is expecting a considerable improvement in second half compared with the first half of this year, with a return to operational profitability despite an accounting loss, according to a statement released on 12 December. The firm has also announced that it is well-positioned in its equity repurchase programme.Approximately 566,000 shares were repurchased on 11 December as part of the equity repurchase programme, Gottex says in a statement.As of 30 September 2012, fee-earning AUM at Gottex totalled USD7.6bn. For fourth quarter 2012, Gottex states that it has won mandates totalling over USD125m, but also reports that one of its clients will be closing a separate account for relative value and event-driven strategies, totalling USD525m.

Asian Investor reports that the sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has received a Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) quota from the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) of USD1bn, which, as reported (see Newsmanagers of 22 November) is a record total, beating the previous total of USD770m for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and Temasek Fullerton Alpha, an affiliate of one of the Singapore sovereign wealth funds. In practice, the quota is awarded to an affiliate of QIA, Qatar Holding. The most recent series of new QFII quotas brings the total to USD2.475bn for November. Hang Seng Bank and Korea Development Bank have received USD50m each, while Hai Tong Asset Management and Janus Capital Management have each received USD100m. The Ontario Pension Board has received an allocation of USD150m, while Macquarie Bank, Merrill Lynch International and HSBC Global Asset Management have each received USD200m. Lastly, Suva has received a quota of USD300m.As of 30 November, SAFE had awarded quotas totalling USD36bn in eleven months to 165 holders of QFII licenses.

The British group LV= has announced the launch of a GBP800m life insurance policy for the 5,000 members of its pension fund. The policy, which circumscribes the life expectancy risks of the pension fund, will be managed by Swiss Re.

F&C Asset Management is releasing a long/short equity fund which will aim to capitalise on inefficiencies in the pan-European real estate market, Citywire reports. The F&C Real Estate Equity Long/Short UCITS fund was launched with EUR63.4m, and will be co-managed by Maymond Lahaut and Marcus Phayre-Mudge.

The Scottish fund management firm Martin Currie has decided to close its Chinese hedge fund due to a conflict of interest between two clients which could not be resolved, and which resulted in fines from US and British regulators totalling USD14m, Asian Investor reports.Assets under management in the long/short equity strategy launched in 2002 most recently totalled approximately USD10m, off a peak of about USD200m in 2010, at a time when the fund was earning returns of over 16% per year.

The asset management firm Standard Life Investments has won a bond management mandate from a British local council, Cumbria City Council.The total amount of this corporate bond mandate is GBP130m, a statement from Standard Life Investments says.

Traders Magazine reports, as relayed by Mutual Fund Wire, that Fidelity has recently launched an anonymous trading platform, or dark pool, entitled Block Liquidity Opportunity Cross.The new service, part of the CrossStream trading system, is intended to allow institutional operators to buy or sell large blocks of shares using retail order flows.The beta version has been in testing since 1 October, and 15 Fidelity clients are already using it.

La banque centrale suisse a souligné sa détermination à plafonner le franc suisse à 1,20 pour un euro et a averti qu’elle pourrait prendre des mesures supplémentaires en cas de menace de dégradation de l’activité économique. «Le franc demeure à un niveau élevé. Une appréciation de notre monnaie menacerait la stabilité des prix et aurait de graves conséquences sur l'économie suisse», a averti la Banque nationale suisse, à l’issue d’une réunion trimestrielle.

La crise politique déclenchée en Italie par l’annonce de la démission du président du Conseil Mario Monti aura un impact limité sur sa note de crédit, a annoncé jeudi l’agence de notation Moody’s Investors Service.«Nous nous attendons à ce que l’agenda des réformes soit maintenu», a dit l’agence dans une note de recherche. Moody’s accorde actuellement un Baa2 à la signature transalpine, deux crans au-dessus de la catégorie spéculative, avec une perspective négative.

Afin de stimuler le marché actions local, les autorités taïwanaises ont adopté des mesures encourageant les investissements étrangers et notamment chinois en assouplissant les conditions d’introduction en Bourse d’entreprises étrangères. Les banques chinoises pourraient ainsi être autorisées à investir à la Bourse de Taïwan et le quota d’investissement maximum doublé à un milliard de dollars.

Le fabricant d’outillage industriel a offert 4 milliards de dollars pour racheter son concurrent Gardner Denver, selon des sources citées par Reuters, raflant la mise aux fonds Advent et KKR, ainsi qu’à un consortium composé de TPG Capital et Onex. D’après ces sources, l’offre est tellement alléchante que la direction de Gardner Denver n’a pas jugé nécessaire de mener un second tour d’enchères.

Le Parlement européen a donné son accord à une coopération renforcée entre onze Etats de l’Union pour mettre en place une taxe sur les transactions financières. L’avis du parlement a été adopté par 533 voix contre 91 et 32 abstentions. Cette étape obligée ne préjuge pas de l’issue du processus qui doit encore obtenir une majorité qualifiée au sein du Conseil. Il faut neuf pays pour lancer une coopération renforcée.

La plate-forme va racheter les activités relations avec les investisseurs, relations publiques et solutions multimédia de Thomson Reuters pour 390 millions de dollars en cash. Nasdaq OMX s’attend à ce que l’acquisition développe ses revenus non transactionnels, qui représentent déjà plus de 70% du chiffre d’affaires total.