Appel d’offres en vue de l’attribution de plusieurs mandats de gérants de portefeuille pour le compte de la SICAV-FIS du FDC Le Fonds de compensation a lancé en date du 30 septembre 2011 un appel d’offres en vue de l’attribution de plusieurs mandats obligataires et d’actions à gestion active. Suite à la décision d’adjudication par le conseil d’administration du Fonds de compensation lors de sa séance du 25 avril 2012, ledit marché est attribué : pour le lot 1 FDC SICAV Obligations Monde - Actif 3 («hedged»), 2 mandats (1 mandat portant sur un montant indicatif d’actifs d’EUR 375 000 000 et 1 mandat de réserve): Wellington Management International Limited et Natixis Asset Management (mandat de réserve); pour le lot 2 FDC SICAV Actions EMMA - Actif, 3 mandats (2 mandats portant sur un montant indicatif d’actifs d’EUR 112 500 000 chacun et 1 mandat de réserve): Dimensional Fund Advisors Limited, Alliance Bernstein Limited et Baring Asset Management Limited (mandat de réserve); pour le lot 3 FDC SICAV Actions Monde - Actif 3, 2 mandats (1 mandat portant sur un montant indicatif d’actifs d’EUR 400 000 000 et 1 mandat de réserve): ING Investment Management B.V. et Kleinwort Benson Investors Limited (mandat de réserve).
Le doublement du plafond du Livret A de 15.300 à 30.600 euros proposé par le nouveau président français, pourrait accroître la demande pour les emprunts d’Etat indexés sur l’inflation, rapporte L’Agefi. La rémunération du Livret A étant fonction de l’inflation française, pour se couvrir, les fonds d'épargne qui gèrent la majorité de la collecte au sein de la Caisse des dépôts, ainsi que les banques, ont intérêt à acheter des OATi, la dette indexée sur l’inflation française. Selon une hypothèse prudente de Barclays Capital, dans une note publiée le 4 mai, cette mesure serait à l’origine d’une collecte de 41 milliards d’euros, précise le quotidien. Et pour BarCap, l’OATi 2017 est la mieux placée pour bénéficier du doublement du plafond.
The Sustainable Finance Geneva (SFG) association on 8 May presented its sustainable investment principles, which are based on three slogans: “I know, I apply, I share,” Agefi Switzerland reports.Finance professionals who pledge to respect the principles will be required to gain awareness of the impact of their investments (“I know,”) to put practical solutions in place to optimise these financiallly and for sustainability (“I apply,”) and to share their experiences (“I share.”)Jean Laville, director of Ethos and vice president of SFG says that “the goal of the principles is not to moralise but to encourage the conception and diffusion of best practices.”
At a time when SEB Asset Management has recently announced the liquidation of the SEB ImmoInvest fund, the central asset management firm for the German savings banks, DekaBank, has announced that its open-ended real estate funds (Deka-ImmobilienEuropa, Deka-ImmobilienGlobal and WestInvest InterSelect) posted net subscriptions in the first four months of the year of EUR660m, compared with EUR205m in the corresponding period of last year.
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%
The proportion of revenues originating from securities lending by ETF operators varies from 5% to 50%, a Financial Times study finds. BlackRock made USD164m with this activity for ETFs listed in the United States by its iShares franchise last year. BlackRock kept USD57m, or 35%, in fees. State Street retains 15% of revenues generated by securities lending by its unit SPDR. Vanguard states that it pays 95% to its investors.
Hedge funds lost 0.36% in April, according to statistics released on 9 May by Hedge Fund Research (HFR). This decline follows gains of 4.79% in first quarter, the best results since 2006. The Hedge Fund Intelligence Global Composite index lost 0.03% in April, but shows gains of 3.34% for the first four months of the year. Performacne in the month under review have been mixed, with relative value arbitrage, fixed arbitrage, volatility arbitrage making positive contributions to the performance of the index, and equity hedge, macro and event driven strategies pulling it down. Funds of funds lost 0.26% in April, the first monthly losses since the beginning of the year, and the second consecutive month of outperformance of the HFRI FOF index compared with single managers n the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite index.
The most recent Feri rankings as of 31 March confirm that the British asset management firm Threadneedle remains in pole position in seven European countries in which the German agency maintains rankings of the percentage of funds with top ratings (A or B), out of all funds rated. Threadneedle ranks top in Germany, Austria, Italy, France and the United Kingdom. It is in second place in Switzerland, and among companies with only 8 to 24 funds rated in Sweden.BlackRock, Fidelity and Schroders also place well in at least six of the seven countries considered (BlackRock does not appear in the Swiss rankings).In France, Lazard AM is the only local asset management firm to place in the leading group, in second place.Among companies with 8 to 24 funds rated, Carmignac ranks in the leading group in four countries: it takes second place in France, fifth in Italy, and ninth in Germany and Switzerland.
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.
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%.
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).
Olivier Chabrier on Wednesday joined Palatine Asset Management. He will handle commercial relationships with distributors (private banks, funds of funds, family offices) and independent fniancial advisers. Chabrier had previously been at Aviva Investors France, where he was head of external distribution. Previously, he had worked at East Capital.
Xavier Horasse, emerging market equity manager at Carmignac Gestion, says that emerging markets are the most promising markets in the long term. In the short term, he is more prudent about India, which is “rightly” rated BBB, investment grade, he says in Agefi Hebdo.“We are also overweight on equities from countries such as Indonesia, or countries known as “frontier” markets: Colombia, Peru, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia, which have low levels of debt, significant reserves, and robust growth outlooks,” he adds.Carmignac Gestion prefers countries in which the interest rate hike cycle has been completed, such as Brazil, and countries where monetary policy is beginning to loosen again, such as China.
OFI Asset Management is planning to increase its investments in Egypt by up to 20%, according to Mena FM. Astrid Fredericksen, manager of the OFI Multiselect Brica Fund, whose assets under management total about EUR70m, says that she hopes to dedicate more cash to Egypt in the near future.The OFI Multiselect Brica fund was originally launched as a traditional BRIC fund, whose perimeter was adapted in November last year to include Africa and the Middle East.“Currently, we are still prudent, as there are presidential elections in Egypt next moth. Currently, we have 15% exposure to Egypt, but we are prepared to increase our allocation, as we are highly interested in opportunities in the country. Consumer spending in particular is an investment opportunity,” Fredericksen explains.
BNP Paribas will pay its employees nearly EUR490m in bonuses for 2011, half the amount it paid last year, according to an updated reference document published by the French bank on 7 May. 3,479 emplpoyees at the bank will share EUR488.67m in bonuses, an average of EUR140.465 each. Last year, BNP Paribas paid EUR1bn in bonuses. The finance and investment bank (BFI) gets the largest slice of the pie, with total bonuses of EUR464.5m. The French firm says in its reference document that 2011 bonuses will be paid half in the form of shares in the firm and the other half in cash. As regulations require, two thirds of bonuses will be subject to deferred payments between September 2012 and September 2015.
Agefi reports that China may authorise hedge funds to buy assets directly on its markets. So far, hedge funds seeking access to the Chinese market have had to pass through brokers who use their own QFII quotas to buy equities and bonds for the funds.
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.
Le gouvernement de Hong Kong va étudier la possibilité d’augmenter les loyers des logements publics de 10%, selon le journal qui ne cite pas ses sources. Une étude du gouvernement aurait révélé que les bénéficiaires de logements publics gagnent en moyenne 10% de plus qu’en 2009, ce qui motiverait cette hausse des loyers, selon le journal.