The Morgan Stanley director Zoee Cruz has announced to investors that she will be closing the hedge fund Voras Capital Management, which she launched two years ago, due to disappointing returns and a lack of popularity with investors, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources familiar with the matter. Her firm, based in New York, never raised more than USD200m.

Natixis yesterday evening presented its results for first quarter 2012, with an increase in revenues for the Savings unit of 8% compared with the corresponding period of last year, to EUR512m. Investments in asset management have also results in revenues up 12% (+9% at constant exchange rates), to EUR411m. These good results were driven by strong performance in the United States, the firm says.Assets under management totalled EUR562bn as of 31 March 2012, compared with EUR544bn as of 31 December 2012. Net inflows were negative by -EUR2.2bn. However, excluding net outflows of EUR6.8bn from money market products, net inflows were positive to the tune of EUR4.6bn.In Europe, assets total EUR312bn, up 2% compared with 31 December 2011. Outflows (-EUR5.1bn) have been concentrated on money market instruments, Natixis notes. Excluding money markets, net inflows were positive to the tune of EUR1.6bn.In the United States, assets totalled EUR327bn, up 8% compared with 31 December 2011. Quarterly net inflows totalled EUR3.2bn, largely driven by Loomis and Harris Associates.In private banking, assets under management have been holding out well at EUR19.5bn, driven by the favourable evolution of the stock markets. Earnings are up 3% compared with first quarter 2011, at EUR26m.

Tesco and the Pension Fund Trustees are establishing an in-house investment team to manage their pension scheme and increase net returns. Tesco has one of the largest private sector pension schemes in the UK, with over 170,000 employees part of its defined benefit scheme and investment assets worth over GBP6bn. The new in-house investment team will reduce dependence on external providers whilst governance will continue to be provided by the Trustees.A separate company, Tesco Pension Investment, has been set up and is now operational, having been granted FSA approval on 26th March 2012. The Pension Trustees will remain responsible for the long-term investment strategy and management of the Scheme’s assets. The new team will be led by Steven Daniels, Chief Investment Officer, while Tesco’s Group Pensions Director Ruston Smith will oversee the team. Daniels was Group Chief Investment Officer at Liverpool Victoria for 14 years.

F&C Asset Management has seen net redemptions of GBP1.715bn in first quarter 2012, despite net subscriptions of GBP13m to retail funds. Outflows were driven by strategic partners, who accounted for GBP972m.Despite this, due to positive market effects, the British asset management firm saw an increase in its assets under management of GBP1.7bn, to GBP101.8bn as of 31 March.F&C also states that the results of the second phase of a review of the group’s strategy currently underway will be presented on 15 May.

The hedge fund management firm Man Group on 8 May announced the appointment of Douglas Greenig as chief risk officer at AHL, and a member of the board of directors in the quantitative unit specialised in managed futures. Greenig previously worked at RBS Greenwich Capital and Fortress. Matthew Sargaison, currently chief risk officer, has been appointed as chief investment officer at AHL.

Oddo Asset Management is offering the Oddo Haut Rendement 2017 fund, a target-date fund investing in corporate and convertible bonds, to allow investors to benefit from growth opportunities on bond markets until 2017, for sale unilt 20 November 2012.The investment universe for the fund prefers securities estimated to have the strongest potential from the high yield bond universe (ratings of less than BBB-), or bonds with no rating. The target portfolio is composed of about 70 to 90 holdings, and can offer both sectoral diversification (all sectors of activity may be represented) and geographical diversification (may invest up to 50% outside Europe), a statement says. Gross annual returns at maturity are expected to be 7.52% as of 2 May 2012, barring default.Oddo Haut Rendement 2017 is managed by Xavier Hoche, Muriel Blanchier and Anne-Claire Daussun, who will be reinforced by the arrival of a new manager, Laure Desbrosses.CharacteristicsISIN codes: A class shares: FR0011237684/D class shares: FR0011249382/Part B FR0011237676Front-end fee: Maximum 4% including taxes on net assets not paid into OPCVMManagement fees: A and D share classes: maximum 1.4% including all tax on net assets; B class shares: maximum 0.6% of net assets including all taxesPerformance commission: 10% of outperformance exceeding 6 annual performance including all taxesBenchmark:: none

The US firm Van Eck Global added the Emerging Markets High Yield Bond ETF (acronym HYEM) from its Market Vectors line to trading on NYSE-Arca on 9 May. The fund claims to be the first ETF listed in the United States to focus solely on the non-government high yield bond segment in emerging markets denominated in US dollars.HYEM aims to replicate the BofA Merrill Lynch High Yield US Emerging Markets Liquid Corporate Plus Index (EMHY).The TER for the new product is capped to 0.40% until at least 1 September 2013.

The Swedish asset management firm East Capital, a specialist in emerging markets, has received a sales license for France and Germany for two Chinese equity funds. The two products, East Capital (Lux) China East Asia Fund and East Capital (Lux) China Fund, have been added to the Luxembourg Sicav from the Scandinavian firm, following the acquisition of an asset management firm specialised in China, AGI, in 2010. The first of these, launched in 2005, is invested primarily in Chinese businesses listed on the Hong Kong or continental Chinese stock exchanges (65.9% of the portfolio as of 30 March), in Korea, Singapore, Australia, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand. It currently has EUR223m in 50 holdings. The second fund, the China Fund concentrates on China (94.7% of the portfolio, with 5.3% invested in Taiwan). The fund, launched in 2007, now has EUR18m in 43 holdings. The two products are managed with a long-term approach and on fundamental analysis of businesses, like the Central and Eastern Europe funds from the product range at East Captial. They have been managed since their creation by Gustav Rhenman, who relies on a team of four analysts and one economist, based in Stockholm and Shanghai, and one consulting committee led by Karine Hirn, co-founder of East Capital, who has been based in China since 2010.At a presentation of its new fund to investors on Wednesday, Hirn and Kristina Sandklef, a macroeconomist specialised in Asia, sought to dispel a number of common misconceptions about China. They claim that they are not concerned about a slowdown of the Chinese economy, which was “desired and orchestrated by the government,” and are thus not concerned about a “hard landing.” Inflation is not a concern either, nor is dependence on exports, which is untrue, says Hirn. In the real estate sector, the founder of East Capital does not see speculation, and emphasizes that “it is so important that the government cannot let it slip.” She also points out that the government has been making efforts to stimulate the equity markets. China is facing some challenges related to its size, however, notes Sandklef, such as demographic issues, agriculture and the environment.

Bankia, the fourth-largest Spanish bank, which saw heavy losses on its high exposure to the real estate sector, yesterday evening requested nationalisation, according to a statement from the Bank of Spain, Les Echos reports. It is the eighth intervention by the Spanish authorities since the beginning of the financial crisis (after Banco de Valencia, CatalunyaCaixa, and others), but the largest by far: the Madrid-based bank has over EUR300bn in assets, 10 million clients and 400,000 shareholers, and controls 10% of Spanish savings deposits.

Legg Mason Global Asset Management has recruited Michele Giarrizzo as sales manager on its Italian team, led by country head Marco Negri, Bluerating reports. He will primarily handle professional investors. Before joining Legg Mason, Giarrizo was distribution client relationship manager at Axa Investment Managers in Italy.

Franklin Templeton and Allianz Global Invetors have registered one fund each in Italy, Bluerating reports. In the case of Franklin Templeton, the fund is the FTIF Templeton Emerging Markets Balanced, a fund which invests in equities and bonds from emerging markets. Allianz Global Investors, for its part, has registered the Allianz RCM Renminbi Currency fund, which allows investors to benefit from a rising renminbi against the US dollar.

The Pioneer Fondi Italia range has gained three new bond sub-funds with half-yearly distribution, Bluerating reports. The Pioneer Euro Covernativo Medio Termine invests primarily in bond and money market securities issued by European governments with a duration of over 2 years, while the Pioneer Obbligazionario Corporate America concentrates primarily on US corporate bonds with an investment grade rating. Pioneer Obbligazionario Globale High Yield is composed of bond issued by international businesses and governments with a rating below investment grade. Meanwhile, Pioneer is launching the Pioneer Obbligazionario Sistema Italia, a fund specialised in Italian government and corporate bonds.

The M&G group infirst quarter became the top British asset management firm in termsof assets under management, overtaking Perpetual, according to themost recent Pridham report published by Fundscape.Assets under managementat M&G totalled GBP41bn, as the firm continued to benefit fromits expertise in bonds to attract new inflows.M&G has postedgross inflows in first quarter of GBP3.15bn, putting it ahead ofBlackRock, with subscriptions totalling GBP1.87bn. Net inlfows at M&Gtotalled GBP1.38bn, putting it far ahead of Standard LifeInvestments.GroupGross retail sales (£m)M&G3,153.50BlackRock1,876.50Invesco Perpetual1,716.50Fidelity1,235.40Threadneedle1,179.10Standard Life1,146.20BNY Mellon1,131.00Jupiter915.3Schroders839.5HSBC732.Top ten managers by net retail sales in Q1 (£m)GroupNet retail sales (£m) M&G1,386.40Standard Life 483.5Threadneedle472.1BNY Mellon469BlackRock314.2Kames306HSBC273.2Cazenove271.2Investec200.8AXA 196.8

Helen Lam, senior portfolio manager, announced in Paris on 9 May that asstes in the Allianz RCM Renminbi Currency fund (see Newsmanagers of 7 December) have already topped USD200m. The Luxembourg-registered fund, specialised in savings in Hong Kong yuan (CNH) has sold well to wealth managers, distributors and funds of funds, says Holger Wehner, product specialist. Lam says that savings deposits at 10 banks (rated at least single A) must have a maturity of over 90 days, and the objective is to keep them within a 1-2 month range. Since the fund was unveiled in France in early December (when the fund had USD80m in asstes), sales arguments have balanced out: the “currency gain” component has lost its charm, but the returns portion has become more convincing.

Funds People reports that Groupama Asset Management has received a license from the CNMV to release its dynamic asset allocation fund Groupama Risk Premium (formerly known as DPA Gestion Privée, see Newsmanagers of 28 November 2011) in Spain. The asset management firm states that in the first four months of the year, the fund has generated returns of 4.%, with volatility of 9.05%, while the MSCI EMU index has gained 4.1% with volatility of 15.46%.

With effect from 9 May, the German asset management firm db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank group) has merged two of its Luxembourg-registered ETF funds specialised in the British market, the Sonia Total Retuan Index ETF ((LU0321464652, GBP15.74m) and the db x-trackers II Sterling Cash ETF (LU0321464652, GBP22.3m). The merger/absorption aims to “allow for a better economic efficiency for shareholders.”

At a meeting in Paris, Paul Read, manager of the Invesco Euro Corporate Bond Fund (LU02343958047), has announced that the six-year-old Luxembourg product (EUR2.45bn, 186 holdings and 109 issuers) has delivered substantial outperformance of the benchmark index (Mstar GIF OS EUR Corporate Bond) with 39.71% over five years to 30 March, compared with 15.76% for the benchmark.“We seek to generate the maximum possible returns, while maintaining the lowest possible duration,” explains Read, while adding that the fund is managed cautiously: “Currently, our cash allocation represents about EUR260m, to which we might add EUR70m in bonds maturing within two months. This high proportion in cash is used to meet potential redemptions, as the fund has daily liquidity, and to buy bonds at bargain prices when the environment becomes difficult.There is still value in the segment, though many managers are facing difficulty. For the Invesco Euro Corporate Bond Fund, “we currently have a marked predilection for banks, which represent slightly over 45% of the portfolio. 27 points of that are senior debt, largely in the 1-3 year range, and 19 points are subordinated debt».

Henderson Global Investors has announced the launch of the Henderson Horizon Total Return Bond fund, a UCITS-compliant sub-fund of the Luxembourg-registered Sicav Henderson Horizon. The product invests in international bond assets: government bonds from developed and emerging markets, corporate bonds, secured credits (loans and ABS) and liquidity.The long-term objective is to earn total returns higher than an actively-managed investment grade type portfolio.The fund is managed by the bond investment strategy committee at Henderson, led by CIO David Jacob.Characteristics:ISIN: LU0756065164 (retail accumulation share class)Annual management fees: 1% (retail accumulation share class)Front-end fee: Maximum 5%

After net subscriptions of USD65.4bn in first quarter (of which USD16.2bn were in March), ETPs in April posted only USD0.6bn in net inflows, meaning that assets as of the end of April were down by USD12bn in one month, to USD1.716trn, while they were still up by USD191bn compared with the end of December 2011.The BlackRock Institute also states that since the beginning of the year, 285 ETPs have been launched (for a total of 4,490 products), and these products had inflows of USD5.4bn, of which USD665m went to the Pimto Total Return ETF and USD319m to the iShares Barclays US Treasury Bond Fund.However, in absolute terms, the strongest net subscriptions were to the Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (with USD7.04bn), the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond Fund (USD3.99bn), and the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond Fund (USD3.02bn).

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (Swip) annonce le recrutement de Kenneth Anderson au poste de directeur des investissements au sein de son équipe de stratégie mondiale, rapporte Fund Web. L’intéressé était auparavant co-directeur des actions Europe, Australasie et Extrême Orient et directeur des investissements pour les actions européennes de BlackRock.

Le distributeur britannique Tesco est en train de monter une équipe d’investissement en interne afin de gérer son fonds de pension de plus de 6 milliards de livres et ainsi réduire sa dépendance aux sociétés de gestion externes. Cette équipe sera logée au sein d’une structure dédiée, Tesco Pension Investment, qui vient de recevoir l’agrément de l’autorité britannique Financial Services Authority. La nouvelle équipe sera dirigée par Steven Daniels, nommé chief investment officer. Ce dernier, qui a rejoint Tesco en septembre 2011, a été le CIO de Liverpool Victoria (LV=AM) pendant 14 ans. Ruston Smith, le group pensions director de Tesco, fera office de superviseur. Et les administrateurs du fonds de pension resteront responsables de la stratégie et de la gestion à long terme des actifs.Selon IPE.com, Tesco a aussi recruté Ian King en tant que responsable des actions mondiales. Il travaillait précédemment chez Legal & General Investment Management où il était responsable des actions internationales. Tesco a l’un des fonds de pension les plus importants du Royaume-Uni avec 170.000 employés qui font partie du plan à prestations définies.

La société de gestion alternative Man Group a annoncé le 8 mai la nomination de Douglas Greenig au poste de chief risk officer d’AHL et membre du comité de direction du pôle quantitatif spécialisé dans les managed futures.Douglas Greenig a travaillé précédemment chez RBS Greenwich Capital et Fortress.Mattew Sargaison, l’actuel chief risk officer, a été nommé chief investment officer d’AHL.

Le groupe M&G est devenu au premier trimestre le premier gestionnaire de fonds britannique en termes d’actifs sous gestion, devant Invesco Perpetual, selon le dernier rapport Pridham publié par Fundscape.Les actifs sous gestion de M&G ont ainsi atteint 41 milliards de livres, la société continuant de tirer parti de son expertise sur l’obligataire pour attirer de nouveaux flux. M&G a enregistré au premier trimestre une collecte brute de 3,15 milliards de livres devant BlackRock avec des souscriptions pour un montant de 1,87 milliard de livres. En net, la collecte de M&G s’est élevée à 1,38 milliard de livres, loin devant Standard Life Investments. Collecte brute au premier trimestre (en millions de livres) Groupe Collecte brute M&G 3.153,50 BlackRock 1.876,50 Invesco Perpetual 1.716,50 Fidelity 1.235,40 Threadneedle 1.179,10 Standard Life 1.146,20 BNY Mellon 1.131,00 Jupiter 915,3 Schroders 839,5 HSBC 732,9 Collecte nette au premier tri:mestre Groupe Collecte nette M&G 1.386,40 Standard Life 483,5 Threadneedle 472,1 BNY Mellon 469 BlackRock 314,2 Kames 306 HSBC 273,2 Cazenove 271.2 Investec 200,8 AXA 196,8

Olivier Chabrier a rejoint mercredi Palatine Asset Management. Il va s’occuper des relations commerciales avec les distributeurs (banques privées, fonds de fonds, family office) et les conseillers indépendants. Olivier Chabrier était précédemment chez Aviva Investors France, où il était responsable commercial distribution externe. Auparavant, il travaillait chez East Capital.

Funds People rapporte que Groupama Asset Management vient d’obtenir l’agrément de la CNMV pour la commercialisation en Espagne de son fonds d’allocation d’actifs dynamique Groupama Risk Premium (l’ancien DPA Gestion Privée, lire Newsmanagers du 28 novembre 2011).Le gestionnaire précise que sur les quatre premiers mois de l’année, le fonds a généré une performance de 4,5 % avec une volatilité de 9,05 % alors que l’indice MSCI EMU gagnait 4,1 % avec une volatilité de 15,46 %.

Helen Lam, senior portfolio manager, a indiqué le 9 mai à Paris que l’encours du fonds Allianz RCM Renminbi Currency (lire Newsmanagers du 7 décembre) a d’ores et déjà atteint les 200 millions de dollars d’encours.Ce fonds de droit luxembourgeois spécialiste des dépôts en yuans de Hong-Kong (CNH) s’est surtout bien vendu auprès des gestionnaires de fortune, des distributeurs et des fonds de fonds, a précisé pour sa part Holger Wehner, product specialist.Pour la gérante, les dépôts auprès d’une dizaine de banques (notées au moins «single A») ne doivent pas avoir une échéance supérieure à 90 jours, et l’objectif est de les maintenir dans une fourchette de 1-2 mois.Depuis la présentation du fonds en France début décembre (où le fonds pesait 80 millions de dollars), les arguments de vente se sont rééquilibrés : la composante «gain de change» a perdu de son glamour, mais la partie rendement est devenue plus convaincante.

La part des revenus issus du prêt de titres conservée par les fournisseurs d’ETF varie entre 5 % et 50 % montre une étude du Financial Times. BlackRock a dégagé 164 millions de dollars avec cette activité pour les ETF cotés aux Etats-Unis de sa franchise iShares l’année dernière. BlackRock a conservé 57 millions de dollars, soit 35 %, de commissions. State Street conserve 15 % des revenus générés par le prêt de titres de sa filiale SPDR. Vanguard indique reverser 95 % à ses investisseurs.

D’après les dernières statistiques de l’association allemande BVI des sociétés de gestion, les fonds de valeurs mobilières offerts au public ont enregistré pour le premier trimestre des souscriptions nettes de 868,5 millions d’euros, après des remboursements nets de 8,62 milliards en octobre-décembre et de 4,49 milliards pour la période correspondante de l’an dernier.Seules deux des grandes maisons affichent des souscriptions nettes durant la période sous revue : Allianz Asset Management, avec presque 4,54 milliards d’euros, et Union Investment (banques populaires) avec 825,6 millions. Cela signifie donc que tous les autres grands acteurs sont dans le rouge, avec des sorties nettes de 2,04 milliards pour Deka (caisses d'épargne) et de 460 millions pour les gestionnaires d’actifs du groupe Deutsche Bank.Même les promoteurs d’ETF subissent des remboursements nets, dont iShares (1,24 milliard), ComStage (410 millions), de même que db x-trackers (363 millions). En revanche, ETFlab (Deka) a enregistré des rentrées nettes de 173 millions d’euros.

Entre les 9 et 18 mai, l’allemand Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) Immobilien collecte les ordres de remboursement de parts de son fonds immobilier offert au public CS Euroreal (6 milliards d’euros au 31 mars), car le gel de remboursements sera levé le 18 mai au bout de deux ans. Le 21 mai, si les rachats n’excèdent pas les liquidités disponibles (les cessions d’actifs ces deux dernières années ont généré 1,5 milliard d’euros, soit 25 % de l’encours) les ordres seront exécutés. Sinon, aucun ordre ne sera exécuté et le fonds sera liquidé. Cette formule a été validée par la BaFin.Credit Suisse reproduit donc exactement le scénario qu’avait choisi SEB Asset Management pour son fonds ImmoInvest. Comme SEB AM, CSAM Immobilien précise que si les demandes de rachat n’excèdent pas les liquidités disponibles, le fonds poursuivra son activité, mais sous le régime de la nouvelle loi de protection des épargnants Anlegerschutz- und Funktionsverbesserungsgesetz (AnsFuG) qui ne ménage qu’une seule fenêtre de liquidité par an, au lieu d’une liquidité journalière.CS EUROREAL EUR ISIN: DE0009805002CS EUROREAL CHF ISIN: DE0009751404

F&C Asset Management a accusé des rachats nets de 1,715 milliard de livres au premier trimestre 2012, malgré des souscriptions nettes de 13 millions dans les fonds retail. La décollecte a été tirée par les partenaires stratégiques, à hauteur de 972 millions de livres.Malgré tout, grâce à un effet marché positif, la société de gestion britannique a vu ses encours augmenter de 1,7 milliard de livres à 101,8 milliards au 31 mars.F&C indique par ailleurs que le résultat de la seconde phase l’audit actuellement mené sur la stratégie du groupe sera présenté le 15 mai.