L’ampleur des coûts de reconstruction va peser sur la dette japonaise
Le gouvernement estime le coût de reconstruction entre 130 et 220 milliards d’euros selon le Nikkei. Un budget spécial pourrait être voté en avril
Le FMI souhaite concurrencer la Fed
Le Fonds monétaire international serait en train d’élaborer une proposition afin de devenir un prêteur plus important en devises en période de crise, partageant ainsi plus équitablement le rôle de prêteur en dernier ressort avec la Fed, indique le quotidien qui ne cite aucune source. L’institution fournirait ainsi en devises les banques centrales des pays en voie de développement quand elles en manqueraient.
Joaquin Almunia défavorable au modèle Deutsche Börse
Le commissaire européen à la Concurrence a exprimé ses doutes pour la concurrence concernant les schémas d’intégration verticale tels que celui qui résultera de la fusion entre Deutsche Börse et Nyse Euronext. Le nouveau groupe détiendra à la fois des marchés boursiers et des activités de post-marché (Eurex Clearing, Clearstream). «Du point de vue de la concurrence, j’ai tendance à préférer les modèles qui ne sont pas en intégration verticale», a déclaré Joaquin Almunia lors d’une audition au Parlement européen.
Le montant de l'intervention sur le yen se précise
Les pays du G7 pourraient avoir vendu un total de 530 milliards de yens (6,5 milliards de dollars) le 18 mars pour faire baisser la devise nippone, selon des statistiques monétaires publiées mardi par la Banque du Japon. S’il se confirmait, ce montant serait inférieur aux rumeurs de vente de 2.000 milliards de yens qui ont circulé sur le marché.
L'inflation britannique à un plus haut de 28 mois sur un an en février
L’inflation en Grande-Bretagne a progressé plus que prévu en février, pour atteindre son plus haut niveau depuis octobre 2008. Les prix à la consommation ont augmenté de 0,7% le mois dernier et de 4,4% sur un an, selon les chiffres publiés par l’Office national des statistiques (ONS).
22/03/2011
Axel Schwarzer resurfaces as head of asset management at Vontobel
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Axel Schwarzer, the man who turned around Scudder and who spent 22 years of his career at the Deutsche Bank group, with high-responsibility positions at DWS, will take over on 4 May 2011 as head of asset management at the Swiss Vontobel gorup (CHF119bn in assets as of the end of 2010). He left his job at DWS as head of strategic distribution partnershiops at the end of last year (see Newsmanagers of 30 December 2010).Schwarzer replaces Zeno Staub, who will take over as CEO, succeeding Herbert J. Scheidt, who will become chairman of the board of directors.
22/03/2011
Italian distributors pocket 80% of fund management fees
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a report on fees of Italian funds, undertaken by Plus24 with Interactive Data InvestOnline, asset management firms pay an increasingly large proportion of their revenues to distributors. In 2010, of EUR2bn in management fees, more htan EUR1.6bn were paid to distribution networks, which are often the owners of asset management companies. That represents 80%, a strong increased over the 71.4% observed in 2009 and 73.1% in 2008. Among the most generous with their distributors are asset management firms controlled by banks, the Italian weekly newsmagazine observes. Eurizon Capital, which is owned by Intesa Sanpaolo, pays an average of 82.4% of fees taken in, with peaks at 91.7% for some products. Amundi, for its part, takes the first three places in the rankings for highest proportion of commissions paid to networks in terms of products: 92.55% for the Amundi Pacific Equity fund, 92.11% for Amundi USA Equity, and 91.94% for Amundi Global Emerging Equity.
22/03/2011
Bank of Italy blocks sale of Pioneer
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to reports in Financial News, the Italian central bank, Banca d’Italia, has made an attempt to block the sale of Pioneer, the asset management firm of the UniCredit group, to a foreign group. It has proposed that the founders of UniCredit, who are shareholders with only a 12% stake in the bank, but have significant influence, should support the merger of Pioneer with Eurizon Capital, an affiliate of Intesa Sanpaolo.
22/03/2011
Aviva Investors launches two funds in Italy
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Aviva Investors has launched the Aviva Investors Global Convertibles Euro Hedged and Aviva Investors Global High Yield Bond Fund Euro Hedged funds in Italy. The products are available to retail investors either via IFAs or bank branches.
22/03/2011
MarketRiders launches an energy ETF portfolio
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } MarketRiders has launched an energy hedge fund comprised 100% of ETFs, aimed at investors seeking to protect themselves against rising energy prices, Hedgeweek reports. The MarketRiders Energy Hedge Portfolio, which includes over 300 shares affected by oil and gas prices, offers wider diversification in the energy sector, at about 5%, compared with an average of 1.5% for mutual funds investing in energy.
22/03/2011
Trader claims hedge funds should accept higher taxes in London
Hedge funds should accept higher taxes in London and stop threatening to move elsewhere, according to Michael Farmer, a Conservative party donor who runs the near-USD1bn Red Kite metals hedge funds. “If one is a citizen and your country’s having a tough time, you pay your taxes and that’s it – although rather reluctantly if they are not spending it wisely,” he told the Financial Times.
22/03/2011
UK government to make acquisitions of British firms more difficult
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Takeover Panel in the UK is planning to make the publication of commissions received by bankers and business lawyers compulsory, Les Echos reports. The proposal was published on 21 March in a 172-page document. The proposals are open to consultation until May, after which time the law will be changed, most likely during summer. “Shareholders should receive all the information about the sums spent by businesses in acquisition bids, and consulting commissions represent a significant portion of those amounts,” the Takeover Panel says. Commissions paid by the predator and the target businesses to bankers, lawyers, consultants and communication advisers are included.
22/03/2011
Matteo Pardi joins board at HSBC Global AM/EMEA
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Following the recent appointment of Andy Clark as director of wholesale distribution (see Newsmanagers of 9 March), HSBC Global Asset Management has added to its distribution team for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) with the promotion of Matteo Pardi as head of wholesale for continental Europe. Pardi joined HSBC 10 years ago, and was most recently head of fund distribution for southern Europe.The CEO of the British asset management firm for the EMEA region (1,100 employees, USD250bn in assets as of the end of December) since 1 October 2010 is Rudolf Apenbrink, who is also CEO of HSBC GAM for Germany, based in Düsseldorf. His objective will now be to develop the activity in emerging markets, where HSBC GAM has about USD145bn under management, with 200 specialists in 20 locations.
22/03/2011
Source offers a range of 18 diversified sectoral trackers
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Source is offering a range of publicly-traded index-based products including 18 optimised sectoral trackers, La Tribune reports. The funds are entitled Stoxx 600 Optimised Sectors, and are managed with a methodology which was developed for Source by the index promoter Stoxx. The objective is to offset a lack of liquidity in some shares, and to avoid allowing some of them to have too large a weight in the index. For reasons of safety, Greek and Irish bonds, as well as 50 other assets which are more difficult to trade, have been removed from the investment universe.
22/03/2011
Santander AM extends product range in Portugal
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Santander now offers 39 UCITS-compliant funds for sale in Portugal, with a sales license issued to Santander AM Sociedade Gestora de Fundos de Investimento Mobiliário to offer five funds, three of which are profiled funds of the Santander Gestão Private range (Liquidez, Obrigações, Prudente, Equilibrado and Acçoes), one of which is already on sale, and four more products of the Santander Gestão Premium line (Liquidez, Conservadoàr, Moderado and Valor Acçoes), Funds People reports.Minimal subscription for the former products is EUR75,000. For the latter, the minimum is EUR10,000.
22/03/2011
Enhanced Short Maturity ETF from Pimco tops USD1bn
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mutual Fund Wire relays reports in Daily Markets that the Enhanced Short Maturity Fund, launched in November 2009 by Pimco (Allianz Global Investors group) has become the first actively-managed ETF to top USD1bn in assets, with USD1.18bn.
22/03/2011
SRI: top asset management firms all lost ground in 2010
According to statistics from ThomsonReuters in the 2011 edition of the European Fund Review, the top 10 European groups in the area of SRI management had assets as of the end of 2010 of EUR45.59bn, compared with EUR49.41 twelve months earlier, while total assets were up to EUR92.66bn from EUR88.78bn as of the end of 2009, despite net outflows of EUR2.02bn.The top two firms in the rankings are the French Natixis, with EUR9.78bn, compared with EUR11.97bn, and Amundi, with EUR9.23bn, compared with EUR9.05bn. KBC is in third place, with EUR4.29bn, compared with EUR4.55bn, and BNP Paribas, with EUR4.06bn, compared with EUR4.83bn.In terms of net subscriptions, the Norwegian firm Storebrand comfortably takes the top spot with EUR1.14bn, followed by the Swedish SEB (EUR265.2m) and the British Aviva (EUR232.9m). The only two French management firms among the leaders are Crédit Agricole (7th, with EUR154.4m) and AG2R, with EUR133.9m.
22/03/2011
Pan-European real estate funds show returns of 5%
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi reports that IPD has created a new index which tracks the performance of pan-European private real estate funds. The overall yield for 2010 totals 5%, compared with -17.2% in 2009. The sample on which the index is calculated includes 18 funds, with assets of EUR11bn, the newspaper says.
22/03/2011
Odey planning to launch a UCITS III format global macro strategy
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The management firm Odey Asset Management is planning to launch a hedge fund for the macro strategist Tim Bond, Investment Week reports. Bond manages a pilot portfolio which will probably be structured as a UCITS III format global macro hedge fund. Bond hopes to be able to offer the strategy to investors in third quarter, for a launch that could take place in early 2012.
22/03/2011
Appointments to international consulting committee at Edhec Risk Institute
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Edhec Risk Institute has announced the appointment of three new members of its international consulting committee. They are Tomas Franzen, chief investment strategist at AP2 – Andra AP-fonden, Jaap van Dam, managing director in charge of investment strategy at PGGM, and Stuart Lewis, chief credit officer and deputy chief risk officer at Deutsche Bank.
22/03/2011
Tikehau Investment Management will soon take on a new partner
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The management firm Tikehau Investment Management (Tim) announced on Monday, 21 March, that Fabrice Damien will be arriving in the next few weeks as a partner at Groupe Tikehau. Damien will strengthen TIM’s presence in credit and Private Debt activities in particular, a statement says. Damien, 34, was previously Managing Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, in charge of corporate and leverage finance activities in France.
22/03/2011
EBITDA and assets up at Nuveen in 2010
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For the fiscal year ending on 31 December 2010, Nuveen Investments has announced an adjusted EBITDA of USD470.75bn, compared with USD379.73m. As of 31 December, assets totalled Usd196.98bn, compared with USD144.8bn twelve months earlier, due to USD27bn in asset acquisitions, USD13.56bn in net subscriptions, and USD11.44bn in positive market effects.
22/03/2011
Bruno Bernard leaves Pastel & Associés
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Bruno Bernard, who was director of commercial development at Pastel & Associés, has left the management firm. His clients will be taken over by Patrick Delaroque. Meanwhile, Valérie Salomon has joined the business to handle institutionals.
22/03/2011
Norwegian sovereign fund invests in Spain
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Government Pension Fund – Global (GPFG, formerly known as the Petroleum Fund), managed by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), an affiliate of the Bank of Norway, in 2010 invested about NOK258m (EUR33m) in bonds issued by the Spanish banking restructuring fund (FROB), Expansión reports. The fund holds more than 1.5% of capital in Telefónica, Santander and BBVA, and controls more than 3% of Ferrovial and Gamesa.The fund also has NOK37.8bn, or EUR4.8bn in bonds issued by La Caixa, Maja Madrid and other Spanish savings banks in its portfolios. The GPFG last year also doubled its exposure to participation shares in the Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo (CAM), to NOK1.5m.The fund’s portfolio of Spanish government bonds as of the end of 2010 includes NOK25.66bn, compared with NOK9.66bn one year previously.
22/03/2011
Standard Life Investment recruits a head of funds of funds
Standard Life Investments has appointed Bambos Hambi as head of fund of funds management. His previous roles have included head of multi-manager funds at both Gartmore Investment Management and Rothschild Asset Management. Reporting to Rod Paris, head of investments, Bambos Hambi will have overall responsibility for the portfolio management of the 15 funds in Standard Life Investments’ new MyFolio Funds offering. These are currently managed on an interim basis by Jacqueline Kerr, head of UK wholesale. Bambos Hambi will join Standard Life Investments on 28th March. Based in London, he will work alongside Alan Scrimger, who heads up the multi-manager research function.
22/03/2011
Former head of Liontrust to launch a new firm
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Nigel Legge, former head of Liontrust, is planning to return to the asset management sector with the launch of a management firm, Vinculum Fund Management, Investment Week reports.Vinculum will rely on a new investment process which will limit human error in stock-picking. Vinculum will offer a long-only OEIC fund based on the process, with additional strategies offering regional variations.
22/03/2011
Mercer strenghtens sustainable development team
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The investment advising firm Mercer has added to its expertise in sustainable development with the recruitment of Richard Fuller, previously senior investment analyst at Hesta Super Fund, with about AUD16bn, or about EUR11bn, in assets under management, Responsible Investor reports. Mercer has also recruited Ryan Police, who previously worked as a manager at the UN PRI.
22/03/2011
Edram Deutschland confirms arrival of Selina Sezen
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 21 March, Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management Deutschland confirmed the arrival of Selina Sezen (see Newsmanagers of 17 March), as director third party distribution. She will join the firm on 1 May, and will be responsible for developing distribution activities in Germany and Austria.In 2000, Sezen joined DWS Invesments as director of sales and co-director of development for the distribution unit. In 2003, she joined Axa Investment Managers, where she directed the sales team dedicated to IFAs, fund distribution platforms, and asset managers.
22/03/2011
BVI has a head of communications once again
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The German BVI association of management firms on 21 March announced the appointment of Rolf Drees as director of media and communication, effective from 1 August 2011, replacing Andreas Fink, who died in December of a heart attack, aged 47. Drees remains head of research and communication for capital markets at WGZ Bank. He previously spent 14 years at Union Investment.
22/03/2011
Record profits and assets at BayernInvest
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Munich-based asset management firm BayernInvest, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BayernLB, has announced that it finished 2010 with record assets of EUR33.1bn, compared with EUR29.4bn one year earlier, largely due to an increase of 13.1% in assets in institutional funds, to EUR26.2bn.Profits before transfer to the parent company increased 54%, also to a record level, though figures have not been disclosed.In 2011, BayernInvest is planning to develop its two main activities, asset management and Master-KAG services (fund administration and accounting for third parties), and also to enter the family office and multi-management markets.