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16/03/2012

Outflows of GBP7.2bn from F&C

F&C Investments has seen net outflows in 2011 of GBP7.2bn, the firm has announced at a publication of its annual results. These outflows have come largely from strategic partnerships. Assets have fallen from GBP105.8bn as of the end of 2010 to GBP100.1bn as of the end of 2011, and underlying operating profits have fallen from GBP67.2m to GBP65.2m. Despite that decline, net revenues increased from GBP243.2m to GBP267m as of the end of 2011. F&C has also announced that the first phase of its strategic review has been completed, and that the second phase will begin in May 2012. A cost reduction plan for GBP33.2m will also be completed by the end of 2012. Alain Grisay, CEO of F&C, has confirmed that he will be leaving the group following its general shareholders’ meeting in May.
16/03/2012

Insurers granted concessions on Solvency II

According to the British MEP Peter Skinner, cited by Reuters, a last-minute agreement in the European Parliament will allow for the reinsertion into the Solvency II directive of clauses easing the capital requirements for insurers, Agefi reports.
16/03/2012

ESMA approves ratings practices for major markets

ESMA has announced that it considers the regulatory frameworks for credit rating agencies (CRAs) of the United States of America, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore to be in line with European rules. The EU Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies requires ESMA to assess whether the requirements of third-country CRA regimes are “as stringent as” the European ones.Today’s announcement allows European financial institutions to continue using for regulatory purposes credit ratings issued in these countries after 30 April 2012. ESMA’s assessment of third-country CRA regimes is an important tool for enhancing internationally consistent supervision of CRAs in the interests of protecting financial markets and investors in the EU.
16/03/2012

Vontobel appoints Georg Schubiger as head of Private Banking unit

Vontobel has appointed Georg Schubiger as the new head of its Private Banking business unit with effect from 1 September 2012. He will take over responsibility for the private clients business from Peter Fanconi, who has decided to pursue a new professional challenge outside the group. As a member of the Group Executive Management, Georg Schubiger will report directly to Zeno Staub, CEO of the Vontobel Group. Over the last 10 years, Georg Schubiger has held various senior management functions within the Northern European Danske Bank Group, where he was most recently a member of the executive board. In addition to this, he brings with him experience of conducting business in Eastern Europe and Russia, which are among the Vontobel Group’s focus markets.
16/03/2012

Fundinfo and Finesti team up to improve distribution of KIID

Finesti and fundinfo have announced that they are combining their respective expertise in investment fund data and documents to offer services intended to facilitate cross-border notifications and the dissemination of Key Investor Information Documents (KIIDs). The two companies will offer integrated solutions and packages to all fund groups and fund promoters who need to fulfil the requirements of the UCITS IV directive.
16/03/2012

Fidelity lance un fonds démographique

Fidelity a lancé un fonds démographique investi sur les sociétés dans le monde qui vont profiter des développement sociologiques de long terme, rapporte Money Marketing.Le Fidelity global deographics, de droit luxembourgeois, sera géré par Hilary Natoff et Nicky Stafford. Il s’agira d’un portefeuille sans contrainte de 50 et 80 valeurs, couvrant un univers de 1.000 entreprises.
16/03/2012

Flornoy & Associés Gestion founded

A new asset management firm has appeared on the French market. Flornoy & Associés Gestion received its business license a few weeks ago. The firm, founded by former employees of the Eurofin bank and Quilvest & Associés, is starting up with the support of a major player. La Française AM has acquired a 25% stake in the capital of the new asset management firm, which is primarily aimed at private clients, congregations and federations.The team at Flornoy & Associés Gestion is composed of five people, all of whom are partners in the capital of the firm: Olivier Flornoy, chairman, Didier Bouchard, CEO, Christophe Bonasse, head of sales, and Marc Antoine Brabant and Stéphane Le Rai, portfolio managers.The range on offer to clients includes two funds, Flornoy Valeurs familiales and Flornoy Allocation.
16/03/2012

Alma Capital acquires 51% of Q&A Gestion d'Actifs

The former Quilvest & Associés Gestion d’Actifs, currently known as Q&A Gestion d’Actifs, is now adopting the name Alma Capital & Associés, following an acquisition of 51% of its capital by Alma Capital, while two of its three founders, François Genovese and Florence Albaret, retain 40% and 9% of capital, respectively. The third founder, Thierry Bourgain continues to serve as a director of the firm, but has sold his stake.Alma Capital is specialised in private equity and distribution of unique niche products, to institutional investors. It launched a fund in November (Alma USD Convertibles), a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Alma Capital Investment Funds (ACIF), which is presently legally managed by a local affiliate of La Française AM. The product is managed under an outsourcing contract by Shenkman Capital Management, a specialist in convertible bonds in the “best part of high yield.”Q&A, for its part, is a portfolio management firm which has been licensed since 2005 by the AMF, and which offers personalised service mostly to high net worth individuals and families. Its assets, in private and collective management, total about EUR200m.
16/03/2012

Eurazeo results move into negative territory in 2011

Results at the French investment firm Eurazeo moved into negative territory last year, as predicted at a publication of half-yearly results, with a net loss for the part of the group of EUR97.5m, according to a statement released on 16 March. The firm earned profits of EUR134.6m the previous year, in adapted figures.Earnings in the 2011 fiscal year totalled EUR4.2bn, compared with EUR3.8bn in 2010. As of 8 March, reevaluated net assets totalled EUR57.2 per share, well above the share price of EUR38.33 as of Thursday evening.
16/03/2012

BlueMountain buys up Crédit Agricole assets

The US alternative management firm Blue Mountain has created a specialised vehicle, Alpine, which will be in charge of liquidating the derivatives portfolio acquired from Crédit Agricole, allowing the latter to reduce its risk-weighted assets by EUR14bn, the Financial Times reports, citing information from Jean-Yves Hocher, CEO of Crédit Agricole CIB. Alpine will be fed by existing BlueMountain funds and new subscriptions.The transfer will concern market-making activities in structured credit which Crédit Agricole shut down three years ago, leaving thousands of derivative contracts based on corporate bonds which will mature in the next six years. Crédit Agricole retains the counterparty risks.
16/03/2012

Qatar acquires 1% of capital in LVMH

The Qatar Holding fund, controlled by the oil-rich Gulf state, has acquired 1.03% in the capital of LVMH, Les Echos reports. The entry into the capital of the French firm took place in 2011, the reference document released by LVMH, and published yesterday by the French financial market authority, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), indicates. The stake is valued at about EUR680m. The new shareholder is required to declare to the group controlled by Bernard Arnault that it has entered its capital at the general ahareholders’ meeting on 5 April, as it has passed the statutory threshold of 1%.
16/03/2012

Luis Megías returns to BBVA AM

Two months after taking over as global head of BBVA AM, Paloma Piqueras has reshuffled teams and apointed Luis Megías as director fo Europe, after serving as head of Goldman Sachs Quartix for the Iberian peninsula in London, Funds People reports. Megías had been head of sales at BBVA AM until mid-2010.Eduardo García Hidalgo has been appointed as chief investment officer for Europe, replacing Olivier Asselin, who has left the business. Hidalgo was head of the Quality Funds unit (fund platform). He will be replaced by Belén Blanco, head of innovation and product development.
16/03/2012

BlackRock recruits a director from JPMorgan Private Bank (Asia)

Joseph Pacini, head of alternative investments at JP Morgan Private Bank (Asia), is joining BlackRock Alternative Investors (BAI) as head of the strategy group Asia-Pacific ex Japan, Hedgeweek reports. He will be based in Hong Kong, and will report to Mark McCombe, chairman of BlackRock Asia-Pacific, and Rick Arney, head of hedge funds in the strategy group at BAI.As of the end of December, alternative assets under management by BlackRock totalled USD105bn worldwide (hedge funds, private equity and real estate).
16/03/2012

Alliance Trust Investments recruits two managers

The global equities team led by Ilario Di Bon at Alliance Trust Investments has gained the addition of Adrien Bommelaer (formerly of Matrix Corporate Capital) and James Twyman (formerly of AllianceBernstein), Fundweb reports.
16/03/2012

Liontrust parts with Ian Furtado

According to reports in Investment Week, Liontrust Asset Management has made redundant Ian Furtado, director of sales at its new affiliate Occam, acquired in October. The other two sales personnel at the boutique, David Shephard and Edward Ford, remain at the firm, and will be in charge of international sales.
16/03/2012

Luxembourg becomes first country to regulate family offices

In order to protect retail investors who rely on the services of a family office, Luxembourg is preparing a law to determine which professionals are allowed to provide this service, making the Grand Duchy the first European country to regulate these activities, Funds People reports. The Bill on the activities of family offices explains in its preamble that creating these regulations will make Luxembourg a centre of excellence in this area.The bill was submitted on 1 December, and will soon have concluded its way thorough Parliament. It limits family office activities to credit institutions, investment advisers, wealth managers, certain lawyers, notaries, auditors and accounting experts, and creates a PSF Family Office license.
16/03/2012

Polaris awards a mandate to H2O AM

Polaris has selected H2O Asset Management to manage a sub-fund of its Luxembourg-registered Polaris fund, the Italian website Bluerating reports. The mandate is worth EUR100m, and is for a total return bond strategy.
16/03/2012

Fidelity launches a demographics fund

Fidelity Worldwide Investment has launched a Global Demographics Fund to tap into social trends such as the world’s population getting bigger, wealthier and older.Fidelity Funds Global Demographics Fund, managed by Hilary Natoff and Nicky Stafford, is an unconstrained portfolio of around 50-80 stocks where demographic trends are the dominant influence of the earnings power of a company. The universe of around 1,000 companies is currently weighted towards healthcare and consumer stocks where many companies are set to benefit from an ageing population and the emergence of middle classes in emerging markets. However, investment opportunities are not confined to these sectors, the fund managers have also identified ideas in other industries including IT, agriculture-related businesses, aerospace companies.The fund will invest in two types of company. The first are called the ‘winners of today’. These are primarily global leaders, dominant in their respective areas. The second type of company is described as the ‘winners of tomorrow’. These are typically leaders in new growth markets, or innovators bringing new products to market which will play directly into demographic themes with the potential for strong future growth prospects.Fidelity Funds Global Demographics fund is a Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV.
16/03/2012
Gestion d'actifs

La Carac compte doubler son exposition sur les obligations convertibles en 2012

Robert Gravil, directeur du patrimoine de la Carac dans Option Finance numéro 1164: Sur les 80% de titres obligataires que nous détenons actuellement, nous ne possédons plus aujourd’hui que 30% d’obligations souveraines, car nous préférons investir dans la dette de corporates européens ou même dans des obligations foncières. En 2011, nous avons remarqué que les fonds d’obligations convertibles ont bien joué leur rôle d’amortisseur en période de baisse des marchés. Nous comptons donc doubler cette année notre allocation en obligations convertibles. Nous avons fortement diminué notre poche actions qui est passée de 20% en 2007 à 7% en 2008, un niveau que nous avons maintenu depuis lors à cause de la forte volatilité de cette classe d’actifs.
Gestion d'actifs
16/03/2012

Les taux longs remontent aux Etats-Unis

Les espoirs de reprise se répercutent sur les taux des titres d’Etat américains qui ont pris près de 30 points de base en cinq jours. Certains analystes estiment que la Fed renoncera à toute forme de QE3 et reviendra sur sa politique de taux proches de zéro plus tôt que prévu.
16/03/2012

La Chine en chasse des actifs européens

«C’est le bon moment pour investir dans les actifs européens dépréciés et sous-évalués, la dette européenne et les obligations de la zone euro» a confié au quotidien Lee Kuan Yew, conseiller senior du fonds souverain singapourien GIC et ancien Premier ministre de la ville-Etat de 1959 à 1990. Et de rappler que « la Chine a 3.180 milliards de dollars de réserves de change ».
16/03/2012

Le LSE fait le tour du monde

L’opérateur de la Bourse de Londres entend poser son empreinte aux antipodes. Le London Stock Exchange est en pourparlers, dans le sillage de l’annonce de son projet de rachat de la chambre de compensation LCH.Clearnet, avec les opérateurs boursiers singapourien (Singapore Exchange) et australien (ASX) afin de mettre en œuvre des cotations croisées.
16/03/2012

Le Japon envisage un marché «offshore» pour le yuan

Le gouvernement japonais aurait réuni un groupe de travail visant à mettre en place un marché extérieur pour stimuler les échanges en yuan, sur le même modèle que le marché «offshore» de Hong Kong pour la Chine, selon le quotidien nippon. Une initiative qui fait suite à l’autorisation délivrée par Pékin au gouvernement japonais d’acheter pour 10,3 milliards de dollars d’obligations d’Etat chinoises.
16/03/2012

La Française AM et Flornoy & Associés Gestion signent un partenariat

Dans un communiqué, La Française AM a annoncé une prise de participation à hauteur de 25% dans le capital de Flornoy & Associés Gestion. Cette dernière est une société de gestion de portefeuille indépendante avec une majorité de son capital détenu par les associés fondateurs et des clients partenaires.
16/03/2012

Les inscriptions américaines au chômage à un plus bas de 4 ans

Selon le département du Travail, les inscriptions hebdomadaires au chômage ont diminué pour s'établir à un plus bas de quatre ans aux Etats-Unis lors de la semaine au 10 mars, à 351.000 contre 365.000 (révisé) la semaine précédente. Les économistes attendaient en moyenne 356.000 inscriptions au chômage.

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