On the basis of results for 2,380 funds available as of 20 April, BarclayHedge calculated that hedge funds posted an average gain of 0.33% in March, and 1.94% in first quarter. Seven sub-indices out of 17 finished the month of March in the red, with the heaviest losses for the seven equity short bias funds, at 1.85%, and 1.17% for the 69 Pacific Rim funds. Emerging markets funds (373 funds) posted the strongest returns of the month, with gains of 2.33%.In January-March, equity short bias has lost 5.63%, and global macro (138 funds) has lost 0.39%. All other strategies show gains, with the largest for convertible arbitrage (29 funds) with 4.20%, and 3.58% for distressed securities (43 funds).
The New York-based First Trust Advisors, which already manages USD2.8bn in 16 dynamic ETFs of the AlphaDEX range, has announced the launch of 13 new products in the line on NYSE Arca, including nine international funds (FPA First Trust Asia Pacific Ex-Japan AlphaDEX Fund, FEP First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund, FLN First Trust Latin America AlphaDEX Fund , FBZ First Trust Brazil AlphaDEX Fund, FCA First Trust China AlphaDEX Fund, FJP First Trust Japan AlphaDEX Fund, FKO First Trust South Korea AlphaDEX Fund, FDT First Trust Developed Markets Ex-US AlphaDEX Fund and FEM First Trust Emerging Markets AlphaDEX Fund). The asset management firm has also listed four ETFs of US small and midcaps (two growth and two value): FNY First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund, FNK First Trust Mid Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund, FYC First Trust Small Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund and FYT First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund. As of 31 March, the range of ETFs from First Trust represented assets of USD7.4bn.
According to statistics from the Austrian VÖIG association of asset management firms, retail investors withdrew EUR593.3m from open-ended securities funds in January-March, while high net worth private clients redeemed nearly EUR372m from “Großanlegerfonds.” However, institutional investors subscribed for EUR917.8m in shares in Speziafonds, so that the balance for businesses in the industry overall (24 asset management firms) is negative for first quarter to the tune of EUR47.7m.According to recent statements by Hans Bednar, president of the VÖIG association, reported by Wirtschaftblatt, there are several causes for these net redemptions: the disaster in Japan, the debt crisis in the European region, revolutions in Arab countries,and outlooks for an increase in capital gains tax (KESt). However, Gerhard Aigner, a board member at RCM estimates that a considerable proportion of the redemptions are due to profit-taking.Total assets, for their part, have fallen to EUR143.9m as of 31 March, compared with EUR145.1m as of the end of February. They totalled EUR145bn as of 31 December 2010. The top four actors as of the end of first quarter were Raiffeisen Capital Management (RCM), with EUR29.06bn (20.2% market share), followed by Erste Sparinvest (EUR26.19bn and 18.2%), Pioneer Investments Austria (EUR18.94bn and 13.7%), and Allianz Invest (EUR10.73bn and 7.5%).
Bill Gross will manage a new actively-managed ETF for Pimco, the Financial Times reports. The fund, entitled Total Return ETF, will invest at least 65% of its assets in US government debt and corporate bonds. It may invest up to 10% in high yield debt, and up to one fifth of assets may be denominated in foreign currencies.
Among the 150 European institutional investors with EUR926.1bn in assets in total who responded to a survey by Allianz Global Investors in March and April, 96% estimate that the increase in interest rates presents a risk to achieving their financial objectives, and nearly one quarter estimate that in the next 12 months risk will be highest. The survey was conducted before the recent increase in the interest rate by the European Central Bank last week.Insofar as a long duration in such an environment does not guarantee a satisfactory return, investment strategies need to be adapted. According to respondents to the survey, this will require more active management, with a shorter duration, and investments in equities and in commodities and real estate, says Thomas Wiesemann, chief market officer at Allianz Global Investors Europe Holding GmbH.
According to a study by German Capital Management (Gecam), covering 9,404 equities, bond, money market, diversified and funds of funds distributed in Europe, only 71% of all products have a correlation of 0.7 with their benchmark index, compared with 86% in 2008. For equities funds, the average correlation has held stable since 2007, at more than 0.9 (currently 0.92), while since the crisis it has fallen to 0.68 for mixed funds, and 0.69 for bond funds, compared with levels of near 0.8 in 2007 and 2008.Gecam also notes that, despite a correlation of 0.96 with the MSCI Germany index, 87% of German equities funds have managed to outperform that index in the past three years, compared with 14% in 2007. The surprising fact is that it was mostly larger funds which beat the MSCI Germany index, while in the past that outperformance was the province of small and midcaps funds. The top five German equities funds, on average beat the index by about 9%, with lower volatility than the index.However, only 24% of global equities funds outperformed their index, compared with 33% in 2007. Among the top decile of funds with the most assets, 48% outperformed their benchmarks, compared with 70% in 2007.
In a statement released on 20 April, the German financial services provider MLP confirmed that it has acquired the remaining 43.4% of Feri Finance for EUR50.6m. MLP first acquired 56.6% of Feri in autumn 2006.Arnd Thorn, a board member at Feri since 2005 and a member of the executive board at MLP since 2009, has been appointed as vice-chairman of the board, with an extended 5-year term. Next month, he will become chairman of the board, replacing Michael Stammler, who has announced that he wants to retire from day-to-day management of the firm, but will remain as an advisor to the management of Feri.Helmut Knepel, a board member at Feri, will retire in September, but will remain as chairman of the supervisory board at the ratings agency Feri EuroRating.The terms of the board members Heinz-Werner Rapp (asset allocation and investment strategy) and Matthias Klöpper (finance) have also been extended for five years, and “virtually all” partners at Feri have announced that they plan to stay with the company.
Now that the sale of BHF-Bank to LGT has fallen through, Deutsche Bank will have a lot of work to do, as it will need to completely restructure the affiliate, Fitch Ratings says, reported by Handelsblatt. On the one hand, Deutsche Bank already has two private banking brands; on the other, BHF also has other divisions and some inefficient structures.The ratings agency estimates, however, that BHF is well-protected within the Deutsche Bank family, as its default risk rating (IDR) has been raised to A, from A- previously.
On 15 October 2010, the British asset management firm M&G Investments obtained a sales license for the Netherlands for 14 of its open-ended funds (M&G American Fund, M&G Asian Fund, M&G Global Basics Fund, M&G Global Leaders Fund, M&G Global Growth Fund, M&G Japan Smaller Companies Fund, M&G Pan European Fund, M&G European Corporate Bond Fund, M&G Global Convertibles Fund, M&G European Strategic Value Fund, M&G Pan European Dividend Fund, M&G Global Emerging Markets Fund, M&G Global Dividend Fund and M&G Optimal Income Fund). A team of three people based in Frankfurt will now actively distribute the products. The team is led by Volker Buschmann, managing director and head fo Northern Europe sales, assisted by Andrea Below, business development manager, and Helen Oeij, sales support.The targets will be managers of funds of funds, wealth managers, family offices, insurers and banks. Since 2005, M&G has focused on institutional clients in the Netherlands, particularly pension funds.The British asset manager says that of EUR40.8bn in assets in its retail funds. EUR7.96bn, or 19.5%, come from continental Europe.
In first quarter, the number of funds launched in Spain by Spanish management firms increased 68%, to 46. 60% of these products are guaranteed funds, according to figures from VDOS Stochastics, reported by Expansión.However, foreign management firms in that time registered 98 funds with the CNMV. They largely added emerging markets bond funds (20), international bonds (18) and emerging markets equities (16) funds to their ranges. The most active were JP Morgan, MFS International, BNP Paribas, Schroders, and UBS.
Santander Asset Management UK has announced the launch of two funds. The Global Emerging Equity fund, a fund of funds, will be managed by the multi-management team, led by Tom Caddick. The Dividend Income fund will be managed by Hak Salih, also manager of the Santander Equity Income fund, and will invest as a top priority in UK and European equities.
The F&C Group is to launch a UCITS III fund which will bring together its scale and pedigree in emerging market investments with the absolute return expertise of Thames River, the boutique asset manager acquired by F&C in 2010. The Thames River Global Emerging Markets Absolute Return Fund will have daily liquidity, access to the full range of UCITS III investment powers and will contain a mix of long and short positions. The Fund, which is planned to launch on 1 June, will be managed by Kristof Bulkai and Hugo Rogers, co-managers of the Thames River Water & Agriculture Absolute Return Fund and Thames River Isis Fund, a global emerging markets long/short fund. Bulkai and Rogers will join the F&C Emerging Equities team led by Jeff Chowdhry.
Source and Nomura announced on 20 April 2011 that they have launched an ETF, the Nomura Voltage Mid-Term Source. Its objective is to replicate the Nomura Voltage Strategy Mid-Term 30-day USD TR index. The ETF adopts a tactical approach to volatility, in order to gain from peaks in volatility, while attenuating the costs of hedging related to holding a systematically risk-short position. The launch of the new fund brings the number of ETF and ETC products available from Source dedicated to equities, bond and commodities indices to 91. Characteristics ISIN : IE00B3LK4075 Currency of the fund and listing: USD Location of listing: London Stock Exchange Annual management fees: 0.30%
Following the recent launch of the db Physical Gold GBP Hedged ETC (see Newsmanagers of 18 April), db X-ETC on 20 April announced that it has listed three more currency-hedged ETCs in pounds sterling on the London Stock Exchange: the db Physical Silver GBP Hedged ETC, db Brent Crude Oil Booster GBP Hedged ETC, and db Agriculture Booster GBP Hedged ETC.The physical gold fund charges 0.69%, while the physical silver fund has a TER of 0.85%, and the oil and agriculture funds, which use synthetic replication, charge fees of 0.45%.Assets in ETCs on the db X-ETC platform as of 19 April totalled EUR1.4bn.
In first quarter, BNY Mellon earned net profits of USD625m, compared with USD690m in October-December, and USD601m in the corresponding period of last year.Assets under custody, administration and management set a new record as of the end of March. For custody and administration, assets totalled USD25.5trn as of 31 March, which represents a 2% increase since the end of December, and 14% year on year.Assets under management, for their part, totalled USD1.2trn as of the end of March, 5% more than at the end of 2010; the increase since 31 March 2010 comes to 11%. This increase is a result of both net subscriptions and market appreciation.
BlackRock has announced the arrival of Jack Chandler as global head of real estate. He will report to Matthew Botein, head of the alternative investors division at the US management firm, and will be in charge of all real estate investments, in the form of equities or bonds. Chandler was previously global chief investment officer and executive chairman for Asia at LaSalle Investments.
Asset management is becoming increasingly strategic for Generali, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. In 2010, the business made operating profits of EUR354m, 10% of the total, which remains modest compared with Axa and Allianz (20-25%). But Giovanni Perissinotto, CEO of Generali, is planning to increase operating profits from asset management by 25% per year in the next few years, largely due to Asia and Russia. In China, the Italian group would like to increase its stake in the asset management firm Guotai from 30% to 50%. And it is planning to create a joint venture with the same entity in Hong Kong.
Moody’s Investors Service a confirmé mercredi la note Baa3 que l’agence attribue à la dette souveraine islandaise en dépit du référendum par lequel la population de l'île a rejeté l’accord Icesave. Le «non» l’a emporté pour la deuxième fois en Islande début avril lors d’un référendum sur l’accord conclu par le gouvernement pour rembourser la Grande-Bretagne et les Pays-Bas à la suite de la faillite en 2008 de la banque en ligne.
Selon les chiffres de la Fédération des agents immobiliers américains (NAR), les reventes de logements aux Etats-Unis ont dépassé les attentes en mars, rebondissant de 3,7% sur un mois après une contraction de 8,9% (révisé de 9,6%) en février. Elles ont atteint 5,1 millions d’unités le mois dernier après 4,92 millions (révisé de 4,88 millions) le mois précédent.
Le bénéfice de Nasdaq OMX Group, qui a lancé avec ICE une offensive sur Nyse Euronext pour contrer l’offre amicale de Deutsche Börse, a bondi de 70% au premier trimestre porté par l’activité en Europe et sur les dérivés. Nasdaq OMX Group a dégagé 104 millions de dollars de profits au premier trimestre, soit 57 cents par action, contre 61 millions de dollars (28 cents) sur la même période de 2010. La hausse des coûts d’exploitation de 12% a été compensée par une progression de 26% des revenus liés aux transactions. Le chiffre d’affaires a augmenté de 15% à 415 millions de dollars. L’opérateur s’attend à des coûts opérationnels de 895 à 915 millions de dollars cette année. Le PDG, Robert Greifeld, a fait savoir que Nasdaq OMX Group était disposé à se battre pendant encore un an si nécessaire et a précisé qu’une nouvelle offre était envisageable si les états financiers du groupe cible lui étaient dévoilés.
La Banque centrale du Brésil a relevé mercredi d’un quart de point son taux directeur, à 12%. L'établissement a pris cette décision en tenant compte de l'évaluation des risques d’inflation qui a atteint 5,9% en 2010, bien au-dessus de la prévision officielle de 4,5%, du rythme encore incertain de l’activité domestique et de la complexité de l’environnement international.
D’après une enquête conduite par Allianz Global Investors Europe auprès de plus de 150 investisseurs institutionnels européens, près d’un sondé sur quatre estime même que la hausse des taux constitue le risque le plus significatif qui devrait peser sur les 12 prochains mois. L’enquête a été réalisée en mars et en avril de cette année, avant la hausse anticipée du taux directeur de la Banque Centrale Européenne (BCE).
La BoE pourrait être tentée de jouer le statu quo monétaire pour quelques mois encore, les minutes de mars n'ayant pas fait évoluer le rapport de force
Les minutes du dernier comité de la banque centrale n’ont pas fait évoluer le rapport de force entre partisans d’une remontée des taux ou du statu quo, en raison de données économiques mitigées et de mesures d’anticipations d’inflation stables en mars.