L’enquête de la BCE rend compte d’une stabilisation des conditions de prêt au quatrième trimestre 2010 malgré la crise irlandaise

Le Royaume-Uni devrait rester comme l’an dernier le principal pays cible dans la région, juge Hervé Mangin, gérant actions d’Axa Framlington

Les gouvernements européens devraient finalement s’orienter vers une hausse de la capacité de financement du fonds de soutien et le rendre plus flexible, indique le quotidien qui cite un entretien avec le commissaire européen aux affaires économiques, Olli Rehn. En revanche, la garantie de 440 milliards d’euros des Etats de la zone euro ne devrait pas être augmentée.

L’agence de notation Moody's a évoqué jeudi une éventuelle mise sous perspective négative de la note Aaa dans ce délai

Citigroup entend prendre le contrôle d’EMI plus rapidement prévu. Le groupe ne respectera pas ses objectifs à fin mars selon le quotidien, et Guy Hands, à la tête de Terra Firma, ne sera pas capable de lever les 200 millions de livres nécessaire pour satisfaire aux exigences de la banque. Cette dernière prendra alors la barre. Citigroup cherche déjà un repreneur. Surprise, Guy Hands lui-même figure parmi la liste des candidats potentiels, aux côtés d’un fonds de pension canadien, le CPP Investment Board. Blackstone ou les concurrents d’EMI, Sony Music, Universal Music ou Warner Music seraient également à l’affût.

La chaine britannique spécialisée dans les produits surgelés pourrait être mise en vente par son actionnaire majoritaire. La valorisation d’Iceland Foods pourrait atteindre selon le quotidien 1,5 milliard de livres, l’équivalent de 1,74 milliard d’euros. La société est détenue à 67% par le gestionnaire des actifs de la banque islandaise Landsbanki.

Le Fonds de restructuration du secteur bancaire espagnol émettra un emprunt de 3 milliards d’euros, dont la mise à prix se fera à 220 points de base au-dessus de la courbe des swaps, a déclaré jeudi un chef de file à Reuters. Le spread indicatif était de 200 à 225 points de base. La mise à prix doit intervenir dans le courant de la journée. Le livre d’ordres approchait des 3,5 milliards d’euros en milieu de matinée. Citigroup, HSBC, RBS, Santander et SG CIB dirigent le placement. Le Frob est noté Aa1/AA/AA+ respectivement par Moody’s, S&P et Fitch.

Eurostat, l’office statistique de l’Union européenne, publie jeudi une décision sur l’enregistrement des opérations de la Facilité européenne de stabilisation financière (EFSF). Les fonds levés par l’EFSF devront être enregistrés dans la dette publique brute (au sens de Maastricht) des Etats membres de la zone euro, au prorata de leur part en tant que garant dans chaque opération d’émission de dette. Cette part est d’environ 21% pour la France. Eurostat considère notamment que l’EFSF n’est pas une institution financière internationale.

L’agence de notation Standard & Poor’s a abaissé d’un cran la note de la dette à long terme du Japon, de AA à AA-. Elle est affectée d’une perspective stable. Il s’agit de la première dégradation de la note de l’Archipel depuis 2002. L’agence explique que le pays manque d’un plan cohérent pour gérer une dette en forte hausse. La note de S&P est un cran en dessous des notes attribuées par Fitch et Moody’s.

London is one of the financial centres which pays the highest bonuses, according to the most recent survey by eFinancialCareers of the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. In the UK, of the 654 bankers and finance professionals surveyed by the recruitment website, 49% said they received a higher bonus this year than last year, while 25% of respondents said their bonus had fallen. In all professions combined, bonuses in the industry increased by 5% in the UK, while the highest average bonuses were paid to hedge fund and trading professionals. By comparison, the average bonus fell 5% in the United States.Among the British bankers and finance professionals who saw increases to their bonuses, front-office professionals earned an average of GBP84,409 in bonuses (about EUR98,000). Middle office professionals got an average bonus of GBP31,705 (about EUR37,000), while back office professionals earned an average of GBP18,895 (about EUR22,000).By comparison, in the Asia Pacific region (Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia), while 59% of professionals surveyed saw an increase in their bonuses and 16% reported a decline, the average bonus is lower than in the United Kingdom. In the United States, while 56% of respondents said they received a higher bonus this year, and 19% reported a lower bonus, the overall average bonus fell by 5%.When the bonus is considered as a proportion of total pay, for the British, who saw rising bonuses, they account for 32% on average, compared with 28% in the United States and Asia.In addition, most respondents in the United Kingdom and Asia say they still receive all of their bonuses in cash. Only a minority (less than 10% in the United Kingdom) get more than 25% of their bonsues in other forms. 20% of British respondents say that they also have bonus guarantees.Front-office professionals working at banks in which the British government controls a majority stake receive bonuses equivalent to only one third of what their colleagues at the major independent investment banks receive.In all areas combined, satisfaction levels over bonuses earned this year are relatively high across the board, eFinancialCareers reports.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The results of the State Street Investor Confidence Index® for the month of January 2011, published by State Street Global Markets on Wednesday, 26 January, show a decline of 3.3 points from a corrected level of 104.2 for December 2010.Among the key developments this month, appetite for risk on the part of institutional investors in North America has declined 3.6 points in one month to 99.5 points, while in Europe the figure has fallen 3.9 points to 93.5.The decline in confidence observed for investors in Asia is comparatively steeper, a statement says; the Asian regional index is down 5.4 points to 97.5, compared with a corrected level of 102.9 for December.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at the Swiss fund of fund specialist Gottex Fund Management Holdings Limited (Gottex) have risen by more than 6% as of fourth quarter, to USD8.26bn, up from USD7.76bn as of the end of September 2010.Asset Based strategies finished the year in the red (-8.5%, at USD1.59bn), as did Market Neutral & Directional strategies (-0.8%, to USD4.05bn), the firm says in a statement published on 26 January.Gottex also states that it is planning to develop its activities in Asia. With this in mind, the chairman and CEO of Gottex, Joachim Gottschalk, will be moving to Hong Kong.

For the 2010 financial year, UBP’s consolidated net profit reached CHF 216 million (USD 230 million), identical to 2009. In 2009, it had been divided by half. Revenues were CHF 766 million (USD 816 million) for the year versus CHF 806 million for 2009. Interest income remained almost unchanged at CHF 162 million versus 166 million in 2009.As at 31 December 2010, assets under management came to CHF 65 billion (USD 69 billion), versus CHF 75 billion at the end of 2009. “These were mainly affected by negative exchange-rate effects”, said UBP. But the bank failed to give details of net inflows or outflows. Operating expenses remained under control (-1%) at CHF 493 million (USD 525 million). This figure takes into account the investment made in reorganising the Asset Management division. The Group’s consolidated cost/income ratio was 65%. The balance sheet total reached CHF 18 billion (USD 19 billion), and the return on shareholder equity for the 2010 financial year was 12.8%. UBP also said: «The aim of Private Banking is to develop growth markets, such as the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, and to grow its European onshore client base. Asset Management has launched a new range of in-house managed investment funds with around fifteen products, carefully tailored to meet client needs and with a particular focus on emerging markets».

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Effective from 25 January 2011, the Luxembourg firm DZ Privatbank, the central private banking institution for the German co-operative banks, created by the merger of the activities of DZ Bank and WGZ Bank with DZ Bank Switzerland (see Newsmanagers of 15 September 2010), has taken complete control of Union Investment (Schweiz), the Zurich-based affiliate of the central asset management arm of the German co-operative banks, Union Investment.The new affiliate will be renamed as IP Concept (Schweiz). It will use the brand IP Concept for the launch of new Swiss-registered funds, and to apply for a Swiss passport for funds from the Luxembourg platform IP Concept, an affiliate of DZ Bank International.

Two former Galleon Group portfolio managers, Adam Smith and Michael Cardillo, pleaded guilty to trading ahead of corporate takeovers based on inside information, the Financial Times said. They agreed to co-operate with the government in its case against Raj Rajaratnam.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Morningstar on 26 january announced the launch of a research and ratings service for 30 closed-end funds. Morningstar is planning to cover 100 funds of this type traded in the United States by the end of first quarter, which represents about 45% of net assets in the US market, and all of the largest closed-end funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Munich-based management firm TMW Pramerica Property Investment has announced that a freeze on redemptions for its open-ended real estate fune TMW Immobilien Weltfonds (EUR761.94m in assets as fo the end of December) has been extended for a maximum of one year. Redemptions have been suspended since 8 February 2010. Since then, it has not been possible to sell a sufficient number of properties to raise the necessary liquidity to reopen redemptions.However, on 26 January 2011, the fund sold one property at a price above its market value. The property is the Dundas Edwards Center office building in Toronto, which was sold for CAD103m, 16% above its most recent expert valuation.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 15 November 2010, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) launched the Market Access III Kenmar Liquid Commodity Index Fund, a sub-fund of its UCITS-compliant Luxembourg Sicav Market Access III (see Newsmanagers of 17 November). The distribution of the product in Germany will now be provided by Fundmatrix and RBS.The fund replicates the Kenmar Liquid Commodity Index (KLCI), which includes a diversified portfolio of managers relying on various strategies related to commodities markets. The objective for the fund is to generate capital gains whether the commodities markets are rising or falling, with volatility lower than long-only indices such as the S&P Goldman Sachs Commodity IndexTM Total Return, or the Rogers International Commodities Index. Manager selection is undertaken by Kenmar Group.CharacteristicsName: Market Access III Kenmar Liquid Commodity Index FundISIN Codes: LU0521861962 (institutional share class in US dollars) ; LU 0521862424 (institutional share class in euros, hedged for currency risks)Commission for index provider: 1.50%Management commission: 0.15%Performance commission: 5% above high watermarkLiquidity: bi-monthlyMinimal subscription: USD250,000

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Thames River is adding to its team dedicated to real estate with the recruitment of Raymond Lahaut as manager of the long/short real estate fund of funds Longstone, Hedgeweek reports. Lahaut previously worked at Rabobank. He has been managing long/short portfolios since 2005. Since its launch in November 2007, the Longstone long/short fund has earned returns of 23.65% as of the end of December for its euro sub-fund, compared with gains of only 3.7% for the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Long/Short Equity Hedge Fund Index, and a decline of 32.4% for the EPRA index of publicly-traded European real estate.

Hermes Fund Managers has announced that it has refocused and strengthened its UK institutional business development team with the appointment of Simon Cartwright as director, UK institutional and global consultants, and Jill Renwick as director, UK business development. In this newly created role, Simon Cartwright will concentrate on strategically developing consultant relationships, driving new business and further cultivating Hermes’distribution capabilities.Based in London, Simon Cartwright will report directly to Chris Goudie, Global Head of Business Development. With more than 19 years experience in investment management, he joins Hermes from AXA Investment Managers where he was Global Head of Consultant Relations.Jill Renwick will be responsible growing new business initiatives in the UK and managing consultant relationships, reporting directly to Simon Cartwright. Prior to joining Hermes, Jill spent over 10 years with Fidelity International, most recently as director EMEA Institutional Group, responsible for new business and client relationships.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 26 January, Van Eck Global announced that it has lowered the management commissions for two of its Market Vectors ETFs. The Indonesia fund (IDX) will now cost 0.60%, down from 0.68%, while the Poland fund (PLND) will charge 0.60%, rather than 0.65%. As of 31 December, Van Eck managed about USD20bn in its 29 Market Vectors branded ETFs.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } John Hancock Funds, the affiliate of John Hancock Financial specialised in mutual funds, on 25 January announced the launch of a new fund, the John Hancock Alternative Asset Allocation Fund, which offers investors a diversified allocation to asset classes and alternative strategies. Multi-management funds, which rely on heavyweights in the sector such as Pimco, Wellington Management and Deutsche AM, offer investors, who are usually underweight in alternative strategies and assets, a wide range of possibilities in real estate, commodities and long/short strategies.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The sixth hedge fund of the range from Armajaro Asset Management (USD1.8bn in assets) will be launched on 1 February, Hedge Week reports. The Armajaro Natural Resources Fund will be managed by Nick Glinsman, who has been the external advisor to Brevan Howard for natural resources for the past five years, and who will be joined by James Whitehead, ex Brevan Howard, as dedicated risk manager.The portfolio of the new fund will include metals, energy and agriculture, and will focus on macroeconomic trends, with positions on equities in firms related to these sectors, rather than direct investment in commodities or futures.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The China Construction Bank (CCB) has selected BNY Mellon Asset Servicing as international custodian for the QDII fund which it is to launch in China via Bank of China Investment Management Co., Ltd (BOCIM), a joint venture of Bank of China Co., Ltd and BlackRock, Inc. The fund, the BOC Global Strategic Fund (FOF), will be launched in March 2011.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 26 January, Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) unveiled its new equities fund, Goldman Sachs N-11 Equity Portfolio, which invests primarily in shares from the “next 11” emerging markets (Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey, and Vietnam). The benchmark index for the new product will be the future MSCI GDP Weighted N-11 ex Iran Index, which is weighted according to the BNP of the countries in question. The fund may be made available in Germany, France, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Morningstar hedge fund index gained 4% in the month of December, and 10.4% for the year as a whole. The winning strategies in 2010 were distressed securities, with gains of 3.5% for the month and 24.5% for the year, and corporate event-driven, with gains of 4.6% and 19.4%. Hedge funds focused on US equities posted net inflows of USD1.5bn for the first eleven months of the year, compared with outflows of USD8bn between January and November 2009. The only other winning strategies were global non-trend (macroeconomic event-driven investments) and corporate equities. In the first eleven months of the year, these strategies attracted USD5.4bn and USD1.6bn, respectively. Inflows to hedge funds overall in the eleven-month period totalled USD2.7bn. Funds of hedge funds had another difficult year, with returns of only 4.1% for the year, more than 6 points lower than the results for hedge funds. A corollary of this evolution is that the year finished with outflows of more than USD10bn from these funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The distribution team at Legg Mason in Germany has been reinforced with the recruitment of two people. Özlem Erdogan (ex Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment GmbH) becomes client relationship manager, while Claudia Müller, who has recently completed her studies, will become an assistant to the distribution team. The two women will be in charge of assistance to existing clients. They will report to Klaus Dahmann, head of sales Germany and Austria.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { } The German association of independent wealth managers Verband unabhängiger Vermögensverwalter Deutschland e.V. (VuV) announced on 26 January that information on members and their activities, updated daily, will now be available on the fondsweb.de website, at www.fondsweb.de/vuv. The VuV now has slightly over 200 members, with assets of EUR55bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The UK asset management firm M&G has appointed Manuel Pozzi as its business development manager in Italy. He will be based in Milan, and will report to Matteo Astolfi, sales director for M&G in Italy. He will be in charge of developing relations with retail distributors, private clients and promoters of M&G funds. Pozzi, 35, joins M&G after working as a senior portfolio manager at Banco di Desio e della Brianza. He was previously a bond portfolio manager at Banca Passadore.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The real estate asset management firm Fimit – Fondi Immobiliari Italiani is to merge with its rival First Atlantic Real Estate. The merger will give rise to “the largest independent real estate management firm in Italy,” entitled IDeA Fimit, which will manage over EUR8bn in assets, according to a press release. Fare will be merged into Fimit.