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13/02/2012

"Un gérant qui fait de l'arbitrage sectoriel pour battre un indice prend un risque énorme"

CM-CIC AM est une société de gestion qui fait peu parler d'elle. Et pourtant, elle développe un mode de gestion actions très personnel, notamment pour une filiale d'un établissement à réseau. Avec de bons résultats à la clé, Christophe Besson, le directeur des gestions, regrette qu'en dépit de sa simplicité, sa transparence et du travail qu'elle exige, celle-ci souffre d'un manque d’identification auprès des investisseurs. Le responsable revient pour Newsmanagers sur les grands principes de cette gestion, sur son organisation et ce que l'on peut en attendre...
13/02/2012

Holger Kerzel promu à la direction générale de MEAG

A compter du 1er avril 2012, Holger Kerzel, qui était déjà l’un des cadres dirigeants de l’entreprise depuis 12 ans, entrera à la direction générale de MEAG Munich Ergo KAG. Il y sera chargé de la gestion des portefeuilles actions et «autres placements de fonds propres» pour Munich Re, Ergo et la clientèle externe au groupe. Le président exécutif de la société est Thomas Kabisch, qui fait en même temps fonction de CIO.MEAG gère actuellement 210 milliards d’euros, dont 10 milliards pour les clients particuliers et institutionnels hors groupe.
13/02/2012
Fonds

Warburg Invest lance un fonds de smidcaps allemandes

Christoph Gebert a été désigné pour gérer le nouveau fonds Warburg - D – Fonds Small & Midcaps Deutschland qui se spécialisera sur les petites et moyennes capitalisations allemandes, une classe d’actifs qui a affiché une performance moyenne de 8 % sur chacune des dix dernières années contre 1 % pour les grandes capitalisations. De plus, l’univers est nettement plus large que pour les valeurs vedettes puisque 95 % des valeurs allemandes sont des «smidcaps».Le portefeuille est constitué uniquement par sélection de valeurs (bottom-up) à base d’actions de tous secteurs qui sont équipondérées. L’indice de référence est composite : 50 % MDax, 50% TecDaxCaractéristiquesDénomination : Warburg - D – Fonds Small & Midcaps DeutschlandCodes Isin : DE000A0RHE28 (parts R)DE000A0LGSG1 (parts I)Droit d’entrée 5 %Commission de gestion :1,40 % (parts R)0,60 % (parts I)
Fonds
13/02/2012

Forte progression de la collecte à la Banque cantonale de Zurich

La Banque cantonale de Zurich a bouclé l’exercice 2011 sur un bénéfice net de 769 millions de francs suisses, en progression de 5,6% par rapport à 2010.La collecte nette s’est élevée à 12,3 milliards de francs contre 12 milliards l’année précédente. La part de la clientèle institutionnelle dans la collecte représente 9,5 milliards de francs, la part retail 2,8 milliards de francs. Les actifs sous gestion ont ainsi progressé de 11,5 milliards de francs à 176,6 milliards de francs.
13/02/2012
Fonds

Les hedge funds ont gagné 2,51 % en janvier, selon Hennessee

L’indice Hennessee des hedge funds a affiché pour janvier une performance de 2,51% après une perte de 4,6 % en 2011. Toutes les stratégies ont terminé l’année dans le vert. «L’industrie des hedge funds aborde 2012 de manière très positive», a souligné Charles Gradante, co-fondateur de Hennessee Group.
Fonds
13/02/2012

Résultats en progression pour la gestion de fortune de Barclays

Le pôle gestion de fortune du groupe britannique Barclays a dégagé un bénéfice avant impôts de 207 millions de livres au titre de l’exercice 2011 contre 163 millions pour l’année précédente. Le pôle Investment Management affiche pour sa part un bénéfice ajusté de 96 millions de livres contre 67 millions de livres, reflétant pour l’essentiel un dividende de 123 millions de livres (100 millions en 2010) sur la participation du groupe de 19,7% dans BlackRock.Les actifs sous gestion du pôle gestion de fortune s’inscrivaient à 164,2 milliards de livres fin décembre 2011 contre 163,9 milliards de livres un an plus tôt. La forte croissance de la collecte nette a été largement effacée par les effets marchés et devises négatifs. Le bénéfice imposable du groupe s’est inscrit à 5,9 milliards de livres, en recul de 3% par rapport à l’exercice précédent. Sur l’ensemble du groupe, les bonus ont diminué de 26% d’une année sur l’autre. Dans le banque d’investissement (Barclays Capital), la réduction atteint 35%.
13/02/2012

Hedge funds gained 2.51% in January, according to Hennessee

The Hennessee hedge fund index in January posted 2.51% returns, following losses of 4.6% in 2011. All strategies finished the year with gains. “The hedge fund industry is starting 2012 on a highly positive note,” says Charles Gradante, co-founder of the Hennessee Group.
13/02/2012

Holger Kerzel promoted to CEO of MEAG

From 1 April 2012, Holger Kerzel, who had already been a member of management at the business for 12 years, will join the board of directors at MEAH Munich Ergo KAG. He will be in charge of the management of equity portfolios and “other tier 1 investments” for Munich Re, Ergo and external clients of the group. The executive chairman of the firm is Thomas Kabisch, who also serves as its CIO. MEAG currently manages EUR210bn, of which EUR10bn are for retail and institutional clients from outside the group.
13/02/2012

Money market funds account for lion's share of inflows in January

For the first time this year, money market funds have accounted for the majority of inflows. Bond funds have also posted considerably lower net inflows, which cannot be said of funds investing in equities taken overall. This is the state of health of French-registered funds as of January 2012, according to Europerformance-SIX Telekurs. Money market funds took on EUR7.12bn, in assets, provoking a 2.16% increase in their assets. Bond categories all show net inflows. Funds investing in euro zone securities took on EUR790m, most of inflows to this asset class. The situation for equity funds is more mixed. In terms of inflows, three categories of funds have posted net outflows: funds investing in French equities (-EUR480m), those investing in Europe (-EUR260m) and Asia/Pacific (-EUR10m). All other categories show inflows: mutual funds investing in the euro zone (EUR30m), international (EUR340m) and the US market (EUR220m).
13/02/2012

Net increase in profits at Prudential Financial

Net profits for financial services at Prudential Financial in 2011 totalled USD3.53bn, compared with USD2.71bn then previous year, while adjusted operating profits for the asset management unit were up to USD659m, compared with USD587m. As of the end of the year, total assets under management were USD900.7bn, compared with USD784bn one year previously, of which USD619.1bn, compared with USD537.3bn were for the asset management unit. Prudential Financial states that net inflows (excluding money market funds) for institutional management totalled USD16.7bn, compared with USD28.6bn, while net subscriptions for retail (also excluding money market funds) fell to USD3.5bn from USD6.4bn.
13/02/2012

Assets and profits up at Gamco

As of 31 December, Gamco Investors Inc had assets of USD34.1bn, which represents an 8.8% increased over their levels on 30 September (USD31.3bn) and a 4.8% increased over USD32.5bn in assets as of the end of 2010. Although the asset management firm has seen net outflows o fUSD50bn in fourth quarter, it has posted net subscriptions of USD2.74bn for the year as a whole. Mutual funds of the Gabelli range finished the year with USD12.27bn in assets, compared with USD11.47bn as of the end of September, and USD11.25bn as of 31 December 2010. Net profits for the 2011 fiscal year totalled USD69.68m, up 1.3% compared with USD68.79bn the previous year.
13/02/2012

Profits and assets down at The Hartford

For the year 2011 as a whole, net profits at The Hartford have fallen 61% to USD662m, of which USD127m (-79%) were in fourth quarter. The insurance group does not provide annual data for wealth management profits, but says that net profits for the unit were USD112m for October-December, compared with USD340m for the corresponding period of last year.Total wealth management assets as of the end of December totalled USD193.8bn, compared with USD216.9bn one year previously, which represents an 11% contraction. This decline reflects bot net outflows and negative market effects, which brought a 16% decline in individual annuity assets and 14% in non-proprietary mutual funds. The Hartford has recently signed a sub-advisory agreement with Wellington Management Company (see Newsmanagers of 12 December). Wellington is now the sole sub-advisor for non-proprietary mutual funds at The Hartford, which amount to 45 products out of 77 in The Hardford’s range.
13/02/2012

Mixed results for Putnam in 2011

According to results published by its parent company, Great-West Lifeco, Putnam Investments has posted an increase in its earnings to USD28.1bn, compared with USD24.1bn the previous year, but its assets as of the end of the year totalled USD116.7bn, compared with USD121.2bn as of the end of 2010, although they bottomed out at USD113.9bn at the end of September.Putnam did not earn any significant performance commissions in third and fourth quarters, and its management commissions were down to USD126m in October-December, compared with USD1.33m in third quarter 2011 and fourth quarter 2010. They totalled USD141m in April-June 2011, compared with USD136m in January-March.Putnam’s ROE for the year totalls 0.9%.However, net profits for the Great-West Lifeco group last year rose 25% to USD2.02bn.
13/02/2012

Tokyo plans to create a sovereign fund to combat strong yen

The Japanese government has announced plans to create a sovereign fund, one of whose missions would be to contain the growth of the Japanese national currency by investing in assets in foreign currencies. Prime minister Yoshihiko Noda has stated before Parliament that he is prepared to approve the plans. The prime minister would not like to see the current national pension fund requisitioned in an effort to combat a strong yen. The Government Pension Investment Fund, which with EUR1.2trn represents the largest pension fund in the world, currently invests very prudently, with two thirds of its assets in Japanese government bonds.
13/02/2012

Europe threatens survival of British pension funds

In a joint letter sent on Monday to top European Commissioners, the directors of the National Association of Pension Funds, the CBI and TUC say that European plans in the area of pensions may have disastrous consequences for businesses and employees, the Financial Times reports. If passed, the proposals to strengthen the financial condition of corporate retirement plans (with the adaptation of Solvency II requirements) would be a death sentence for defined-benefit plans, and may lead to the bankruptcy of many businesses.
13/02/2012

Wealth management profits up at Barclays

The wealth management unit of the British Barclays group has earned pre-tax profits of GBP207m in the 2011 fiscal year, compared with GBP163m the previous year. The Investment Management unit, for its part, has earned adjusted profits of GBP96m, compared with GBP67m, largely reflecting a dividend of GBP123m (GBP100m in 2010) on the group’s 19.7% stake in BlackRock. Assets under management in the wealth management unit totalled GBP164.2bn as of the end of December 2011, compared with GBP163.9bn one year earlier. Significant growth in net inflows were largely offset by negative market and currency effects. Pre-tax profits for the group totalled GBP5.9bn, down 3% compared with the previous fiscal year. For the group as a whole, bonuses were down 26% year on year. In the investment bank (Barclays Capital), the decline is as much as 35%.
13/02/2012

Reyl AM launches two long/short funds

Reyl Asset Management in December launched two long/short funds complying with UCITS IV standards: the Reyl Long/Short European Equities fund of European equities, and the Reyl Long/Short Emerging Markets equities fund of emerging markets equities. The two products, co-managed by Thomas de Saint-Seine, Maxime Botti and Emmanuel Hauptmann, have recently been licensed for sale in France. They aim for returns of 8% to 12% per year, with long-term volatility of 6% to 8%. The Reyl Long/Short European Equities fund replicates the Reyl Absolute Return fund based in the Cayman Islands.
13/02/2012

Coverage rates continue to rise for pension funds

Rising equity markets in the United States and the rest of the world in January contributed 1.7 percentage points to rising coverage rates for US pension funds, BNY Mellon Asset Management reports. Coverage rates now stand at 74.1% as of January, compared with a corrected level of only 70.1% in September 2011.
13/02/2012

Fidelity calls for revision of terms for Glencore-Xstrata merger

Fidelity Worldwide Investments has joined a growing chorus of Xstrata shareholders calling for a change to the terms proposed by Glencore for a merger of the two firms, the Financial Times reports. Fidelity is one of the ten largest shareholdres in Xstrata, with 1.5% of capital, and owns 2.3% of Glencore. “We support the deal in principle, but we think that the terms need to be revisited,” Fidelity says.
13/02/2012

Good results for BlackRock and Franklin Templeton in 2011

In 2011, BlackRock has been the firm to post the largest net inflows in Europe, with EUR14.3bn in assets excluding money market funds, Lipper reports. But excluding ETFs, Frankling Templeton takes the top spot, with EUR12.6bn, most of it in bond funds. The two groups stand out at a time when the European fund sector has seen net redemptions of EUR69.3bn last year. This is the second negative result in 10 years, as the last negative bottom line was in 2008, when outflows totalled EUR298bn. Only 12 markets of the 33 monitored by Lipper posted net inflows. Among them are the United Kingdom (+EUR13.1bn) and Switzerland (+EUR9.8bn). Norway and Sweden are also among the countries that stood out in 2011. However, France is deep in the red, as is Italy. In terms of investment universes, global funds were the most popular in 2011, both for global bond funds (+EUR16.4bn) and global equity funds (+EUR6.3bn). This theme also extended to balanced funds, as flexible funds able to invest in the full spectrum took on EUR12bn.
13/02/2012

Warburg Invest launches a German smidcap fund

Christoph Gebert has been appointed to manage the new Warburg -D – Fonds Small & Midcaps Deutschland fund, which will specialise in German small and midcaps, an asset class which has earned average returns of 8% in each of the past ten years, compared with 1% for large caps. In addition, the universe is considerably larger than for large caps, with 95% of German equities falling into the smidcaps category.The portfolio is composed entirely through bottom-up stock-picking, from equally-weighted equities in all sectors. The benchmark index is composite: 50% MDax, 50% TecDax.CharacteristicsName: Warburg – D – Fonds Small & Midcaps DeutschlandISIN codes:DE000A0RHE28 (R share class)DE000A0LGSG1 (I share class)Front-end fee: 5%Management commission:1.40% (R share class)0.60% (I share class)
13/02/2012

80% of absolute return funds have kept their promises

In the three years to the end of December 2011, more than 80% of the 214 absolute return funds in the Lipper database analysed by the Frankfurt-based firm Lupus alpha have posted gains, and the average returns are 2.63%. 60% of funds have a positive Sharpe ratio, but with a rather wide range, from +1.76 to -2.36, a sign of rising divergences between the quality of the various absolute return strategies, according to Ralf Lochmüller, CEO of Lupus alpha.However, 2011 was a difficult year for absolute return funds, which lost an average of 3.02%, with a maximal dispersion ranging from +20.07% to -49.06%. About 30% of products have managed to generate positive results.Lupus alpha emphasizes that absolute return funds have performed better than equity markets in Germany and Europe, as the Dax and Euro Stoxx 50 lost 14.69% and 14.54%, respectively, last year. Hedge funds have lost nearly 9%, according to the HFRX index.In addition, 99.42% of absolute return funds have seen a maximum draw down of an average of 7.35%, compared with 33.26% for European equities, 33.62% for German equities, and 10.59% for hedge funds.Lupus alpha says that there are now 375 absolute return funds in Germany, with assets of EUR63.8bn.
13/02/2012

Inflows at Azimut in January

The Italian asset management firm Azimut has posted net subscriptions in January of EUR119m, of which EUR113m were for collective management. Total assets under administration are EUR17.2bn, of which EUR15.2bn are assets under management.
13/02/2012

Asset management suffers from major competitiveness deficit

In his column in Monday’s Cinco Días, Juan Manuel Vicente Casadevall, former director of analysis at Lipper Thomson Reuters in Spain, says that the asset management sector is one of the least competitive in the Spanish economy, largely because it had no competition for years. It was long dominated by bank networks, meaning that it has always had a hermetic rather than open architecture. In addition, Spanish legislation did not favour opening it up. The results have been devastating. Based on Lipper data, in the past ten years, Spanish funds (pension funds and traditional funds) have seen an average performance lag in all categories of 1.5 to 3 percentage points per year compared with foreign funds.
13/02/2012

Wegelin bank absent from first hearing in New York

No representative of the Wegelin bank was present on Friday, 10 February as New York judge Jed Rakoff held a first hearing, Agefi Switzerland reports. The private bank has been accused by US prosecutors in a case that began on 3 February of helping high net worth clients to evade the US tax authorities. The bank explained that it was absent because “the legal conditions to open a penal case have not been satisfied.”
13/02/2012

“A manager who does sectoral arbitrage to beat an index is taking a huge risk”

CM-CIC AM is an asset management firm which is not often talked about. And it is developing a highly personal type of equity management, especially for an affiliate of a network establishment. With good results the main goal, Christophe Besson, director of management, regrets that despite its simplicity, its transparency and the work it requires, it is not being adequately recognised by investors.
13/02/2012

Feri rankings: Threadneedle sweeps the top spots

As on 30 September, Threadneedle has made a clean sweep of the rankings of managers with the largest proportion of funds rated A and B (the top ratings) as of 31 December 2011 from Feri EuroRatings Services (see attached). The British asset management firm places top in five of the seven countries covered by the German ratings agency, and finished third in Switzerland and 4th among “small” asset management firms (with 8 to 24 funds) in Sweden.Among the larger firms, BlackRock takes two second and two third places, while Fidelity finishes second in Italy, and third in France and Austria. The rankings are far more widely dispersed as of the end of December than at the end of September (see Newsmanagers of 8 November 2011). Among the smaller firms, Carmignac ranks second in Italy (75%), third in France (70%), and tenth in Switzerland (50%).
13/02/2012

Three top players account for all ETP inflows in January

Net subscriptions to ETPs (1,244 ETFs, 544 ETC and ETN products) in Europe totalled USD3.3bn in January, according to BlackRock.This total is exactly equivalent to the inflows to the top three players, as iShares (BlackRock) attracted USD1.7bn, db x-trackers/db ETC (Deutsche Bank) took on USD1.1bn, and Lyxor Asset Mangement (Société Générale) posted inflows of USD0.5bn.Assets at these three major actors were USD113.4bn, USD47.2bn and USD40.7bn, respectively, at the end of last month.
13/02/2012

French asset managers required to disclose SRI information

From 31 January, French asset management firms are required to disclose information about the way in which they integrate environmental, social and governance criteria into their investment policies, L’Essentiel de l’ISR publication from Novethic explains. Whether or not they are involved in SRI, asset management firms must describe their general policies for the integration of ESG criteria on their website by 31 Juy at the latest, and in their 2013 annual reports. This information requirement does not carry sanctions, the monthly periodical states.
13/02/2012

MF Global: bill rises to USD1.6bn

According to the New York court-appointed trustee James Giddens, the total amount of missing funds that need to be refunded to clients of MF Global is now estimated at USD1.6bn, the Wall Street Journal reports. A total of USD700m located in the United Kingdom have been added to the USD900m in commodities trading in the United States. These USD700m may be at the centre of legal battles with KPMG, which is in charge of overseeing the unwinding of MF Global’s division in the United Kingdom.

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