p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedge Week reports that Frontier Investment Management has announced that it has added to its range of multi-asset class funds with the launch of the IFDS Frontier Map Cautious Fund. The new fund, which will be launched on 8 February, will include eight asset classes, including global equities, international bonds, emerging markets equities, emerging markets bonds, international real estate, commodities, hedge funds, and managed futures. The allocation of the fund will offer investors lower volatility in returns than the diversified fund. The proportion of the Cautious fund to be invested in the bond asset class will consequently be higher.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss asset management and investment fund sector has developed well in 2010, and is now looking to the future with optimism. “This year will be a good time to resolutely roll out new improvements to guiding conditions,” the Swiss Funds association says in a statement. As of the end of 2010, the statement says, 7,191 collective capital investment funds were authorised for public sale in Switzerland (6,502 the previous year), of which 1,400 (previously 1,343) were Swiss-registered funds. “The Swiss investment fund and asset management market has recovered nicely from the financial crisis, and is now in good health. But it still has room to grow, which is all the more marked as investor confidence has not yet fully recovered. But Switzerland is well-equipped to brilliantly face these challenges in the future,” says Martin Thommen, president of the SFA, cited in a statement. The number of members of the association rose by another 10% in 2010, to 171 companies. Among the new active members are Aberdeen AM Switzerland, Dexia AM Luxembourg SA, Geneva, Jabre Capital Partners SA, Geneva, LGT Capital Partners SA, Pfäffikon, Partners Group, and Reyl AM SA, Geneva.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Of EUR6.94bn in assets under management, the Danish asset management firm Sparinvest had about EUR700m in its bond strategy as of 31 January. Its main fund in this category, the High Yield Value Bonds fund (LU0232765429), launched on 16 November 2005, between the beginning of 2010 and the beginning of February 2011 grew from EUR365m to EUR475m, with returns of 22% in 2010 and net subscriptions of about EUR80m. It is a fund with 80 positions, which aims to have about 100 positions, while competing products often have between 150 and 300 positions. The default rate is only 1%, compared with 4% for the peer group.The net debt to equity ratio (excluding the financial sector) for the portfolio stands at 88.9, compard with 399.35 for the benchmark index, the ML Global High Yield in euros, hedged for currency risks. 5-year performance totals an annual average of 8%, compared with 7.79% for the benchmark, while the duration of the portfolio comes to 4.35 years, compared with 3.80 for the index. The average rating is BB-, compared with B+.Klaus Blaabjerg, chief portfolio manager and manager of the fund, explains to Newsmanagers that the concept is simple: apply the risk/return principles used for value equities management, the trademark of Sparinvest, to the area of high yield bond management. In other words, Blaabjerg and Sune Højholt Jensen, senior portfolio manager, focus above all on the net debt to equity ratio (except in the financial sector), and to all the signs of financial strength, even for small caps and issuers in emerging markets, who are penalised unfairly for exceedingly low ratings compared with their real health. The goal is to protect the capital invested by clients by seeking the lowest possible risk of loss, Jensen adds. “We choose solid companies with cheap bonds.”Currently, the High Yield Value Bonds fund is highly overexposed (36%) to energies (particularly Norwegian shares), and to the financial sector (30%), including “tier 1” German, Dutch, Spanish (BBVA) and French (Groupama, BPCE, BNP) institutions.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } “The socially responsible investment (SRI) process, particularly the selection of ‘best-in-class’ type shares, sometimes struggles to demonstrate its impact on environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices at businesses,” says Dominique Blanc, head of research at Novethic. For this reason, some investors and management firms are turning to shareholder engagement practices, which involve an investor “taking a stand on ESG challenges, and demanding that target companies improve their practices over time,” according to the definition provided by Novethic in its study of shareholder engagement, which surveys the state of these practices, which are worth EUR1.5trn in Europe. Shareholder engagement practices, “when they are carried out methodically and consistently, may lead to significant changes at businesses,” Novethic says. The firm says that “it would seem coherent to complement a socially responsible investment approach with engagement activities. Businesses which are open to dialogue and which are proactive on ESG questions may legitimately be privileged for investment, while those which refuse to take better control of their extra-financial risks in the face of demands from their shareholders may a priori be removed from portfolios.”

An analysis of the European asset management market by Morningstar has found that the traditional rankings of the top management firms have been upset in the “white year” which was 2010, with heavy outflows from money market funds, which is dangerous for the French asset management industry, compensated by inflows to higher-risk assets. Counting ETF funds, the industry overall saw inflows of over EUR30bn.Three firms form a strong group of leaders with high inflows (Franklin Templeton, with EUR31.62bn, Pimco, with EUR21.29bn, and Carmignac, with EUR17.04bn), while three other ones did poorly, with significant net redemptions (JPMorgan, at EUR11.34bn, BNP Paribas with EUR9.96bn, and Natixis, with EUR9.09bn in outflows).By assets, the top asset management firm, despite net outflows, is JPMorgan (EUR190.62bn), followed by UBS (EUR134.67bn), Crédit Agricole (EUR114.01bn), BNP Paribas (EUR113.9bn) and BlackRock (109.54bn). Two other firms have over EUR100bn in assets: DWS (EUR105.85bn), and Fidelity (EUR104.68bn).The past year was characterised by high subscriptions to the higher-risk assets which are most lucrative for managers (global equities, emerging market debt, high yield bonds), and a marked reallocation to emerging markets, to the detriment of the Euro zone and Europe. Morningstar also observes that ETFs and thematic allocation (high alpha) management have gained momentum, to the detriment of benchmarked management with low tracking error.The agency also points out that there has been significant progress for specialised independent management firms (Franklin Templeton, Schroders, Fidelity, Vanguard, Carmignac, Comgest, and others) which have achieved the all-around triumph of inflows in all asset classes, while the major generalist networks have lost places in the overall rankings, and have seen outflows in all asset classes.There has also been an increasingly clear transformation of the sector towards a genuine European asset management market, with a growing presence of Anglo-American management firms (Franklin Templeton, Pimco, BlackRock, BNY Mellon, and others) which have a pan-European product range (Luxembourg or Irish-registered), to the detriment of banking-insurance groups which often rely on domestic funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that Harvest Global Investments (in which Deutsche Bank holds a stake) has recruited Choy Peng Wah as vice chairman and CEO of Harvest in Hong Kong, from 14 February. Wah is currently deputy CEO of Fullerton Fund Management in Singapore.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Santander has announced net profits for 2010 down 8.5% compared with 2009, at EUR8.18bn, and a 1.6 point deterioration in its cost/income ratio to 43.3%, from 41.7%. Core capital totalled 8.8%, up from 8.6%.Net profits in the insurance and asset management division increased 15.2% to EUR462m.Assets under management in investment funds, for their part, increased in one year by 7.9% to EUR113.51bn, while assets in pension funds fell 3% to more than EUR10.96bn (see Newsmanagers of 5 February 2010).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi Switzerland reports that a study by the consulting firm Etops seeks to combat the prevalent idea in Europe that Geneva is the most attractive location for hedge funds in Switzerland. To the contrary, the firm claims that with the cities of Zug and Pfäffikon, the Zurich region “is far ahead of Geneva” as a financial centre of choice for asset managers and hedge funds. The Zurich region accounts for about 40% of Swiss investors likely to invest in hedge funds, compared with 30% in Geneva, the consulting firm, itself based in Pfäffikon, claims.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US hedge fund Elliott Associates (USD17bn in assets) has called for the resignation of the president and CEO of Actelion, a Swiss biotech firm in which it is the largest shareholder, the Financial Times reports. In a letter to directors on Thursday, of which a copy was obtained by the newspaper, the hedge fund is severely critical of the management of the firm.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi Switzerland reports that Martin Gut has become the new director of institutional activities at BlackRock for Switzerland. He was previously head of relations with major institutional clients in Switzerland at Credit Suisse, where he previously spent ten years as director of Credit Suisse Bond Trading activities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The activist investor Edward Bramson has won his battle for control of the UK asset management firm F&C, in which he controls 17% of capital via his firm Sherborne Investors. His resolutions to install himself as head of the management firm were massively approved by shareholders at an extraordinary general shaoreholders’ meeting on 3 February, held at his request. 65% of shareholders voted in favour of the departure of Nick MacAndrew, chairman and director of the firm, and 61% voted for the departure of Brian Larcombe from his position as director. 70% of shareholders voted in favour of the appointment of Bramson as director, and he was then appointed the new chairman of F&C. 54.7% and 70.8% of shareholders, respectively, chose to appoint Ian Brindle and Derham O’Neill as members of the board of directors. Total votes on the fice resolutions represented more than 80% of capital issued by F&C. Back in August, Sherborne Investors, which defines itself as an investment company specialised in recovery at troubled businesses, announced its acquisition of a 5% stake in F&C. The stake was then increased, up to the present level of about 17%. At the end of December, Sherborne called for an extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting to replace the current management of the firm.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The French asset management firm PhiTrust Active Investors, a specialist in shareholder engagement, would like to propose an environmental resolution with the support of other shareholders at the general shareholders’ meeting for Total on 13 May 2011. The move would be in partnership with Greenpeace France and the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental defence organisation based in the United States. The resolution would ask the French oil company to publish more information on the environmental and social risks connected with its plans to exploit oil tar sands in Canada and their long-term financial impact. According to a Novethic report on shareholder engagement, this would be the first environmental shareholder resolution in France. The PhiTrust initiative echoes the campaign “Tar sands: counting the costs,” which was led by the British NGO FairPensions in 2010, and which brought two resolutions asking Shell and BP to publish data on the environmental, social and financial risks related to their plans to exploit Canadian tar sands.

We understand that Sébastien Barbe is leaving Rothschild & Cie Gestion, «legendary» head of the fixed income opération, who had been appointed partner ot the company a few days ago. He is reported to join a third party company with a wider task.His position will be modified so that the «Europe convertibles» he had in charge on top of fixed income will be integrated to the equity and balanced department under Didier Bouvignies and Philippe Chaumel, respectively CIO and co-head of Asset Allocation. For the convertibles opération, Krustell Agaesse, co-manager for the last four years, would take over for the management, and one person is about to be hired to reinforce the team. As far as fixed income is concerned, the team with Christophe Peyraud, Emmanuel Petit and Julien Boy are supposed to concentrate ont Euro govies, Euro credit and insurance mandates. In the meantime, until a replacement is hired for a new head of the fixed income and money market teams, these teams will report directly to Didier Bouvignies.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at the US asset management group Eaton Vance totalled USD188.7bn as of 31 December 2010, compared with USD185.2bn as of 31 October. Assets in equities increased to USD113.7bn, compared with USD109.1bn, while fixed income contracted to USD42.3bn, from USD54.2bn previously.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Richmond Park Capital (RPC), the parent company of Richmond Park Partners, will acquire the alternative multi-management firm Olympia, owned by Sagard Private Equity Partners and the employees and management of Olympia CM, a statement released on 4 February states. The personnel at the firm have agreed to remain in the group after the operation is completed, pending the approval of regulatory authorities.RPC says that it will help the management at Olympia CM, which currently manages about EUR1.5bn in assets, to develop its operations, foregrounding its strengths in the investment process, extending its product range, and adding to its marketing approach.The terms of the acquisition deal have not been disclosed.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Michael Böhm, director of capital market legislation on the executive team at the bank HSBC Trinkhaus & Burkhardt, was appointed on 1 January as a member of the executive board and chief operating officer at HSBC Global Asset Management (Deutschland). In this role, he will be responsible for legal affairs, compliance, controlling, IT, and projects. He will coordinate cross-border distribution of asset management products with the Paris and London offices.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Asset and Wealth Management (AWM) unit within the PCAM (Private Clients and Asset Management) division of Deutsche Bank in 2010 earned net profits of EUR3.9bn, up EUR1.2bn, or 4.6% over the previous year. Part of these gains (EUR646m) were related to the acquisitions of Sal. Oppenheim and BHF. For the year as a whole, AWM earned pre-tax profits of EUR100m, including a loss of EUR368m related to the Sal. Oppenheim and BHF acquisitions. In 2009, pre-tax profit totalled EUR200m. As of 31 December, assets under management in the AWM unit totalled EUR873bn, up EUR27bn from the end of September 2010.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } From 1 January, clients of the life insurer Allianz Lebensversicherungs-AG (Allianz Leben) may select sustainable development funds, products from external management firms, and ETFs for their unit-linked retirement savings accounts. The list was released on 3 February.In the first category is Allianz RCM Global Sustainability – A – EUR, a best-in-class product, and the SRI funds Allianz Euroland Equity SRI – A – EUR, Pioneer Funds Global Ecology A, Sarasin OekoSar Equity – Global – A – EUR and Sarasin Sustainable Bond EUR, which are managed according to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.Allianz Leben has also made available its range of three DWS funds (DWS Top Dividende, DWS Vermögensbildungsfonds I and DWS Deutschland) and the Aberdeen Global Emerging Markets Equity.The offer also extends to ETFs with the addition to the list of four ComStage products, the ComStage ETF DAX® FR, ComStage ETF EURO STOXX 50® FR, ComStage ETF S&P 500 and ComStage ETF MSCI World TRN.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } HSBC has recently registered two products with the CNMV: HSBC MSCI World ETF and HSBC MSCI Turkey ETF. The management firm has told Funds People that it is planning to release an additional series of ETFs in Spain that will replicate bond and equities indices.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to legal documents released yesterday by the legally-appointed trustee for Bernard Madoff, Irving Picard, JPMorgan Chase played a role in providing cover for the Madoff scandal, Les Echos reports. The allegations come as part of a legal action by the trustee against JP Morgan to recover USD1bn in profits and USD5.4bn in damages and interest. According to the lawsuit, filed on 2 December, but which had previously been kept secret at the request of the bank, “directors at JP Morgan had expressed serious doubts about the legitimacy of the Madoff investment firm, more than 18 months before the collapse of his Pomzi scheme, but they continued to do business with him.”

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US group Ameriprise Financial has reported net profits for fourth quarter 2010 of USD305m, compared with USD237m one year previously. For the year as a whole, net profits were up 55%, to USD1.1bn. Ameriprise says in a statement that in fourth quarter 2010, Advice & Wealth Management and Asset Management activities represented 54% of pre-tax operating profits, compared with 30% one year earlier. Assets under management in the Asset Management unit increased 88% over the year to USD457bn. This significant increased, related to the acquisition of Columbia Management and to positive market effects, was nonetheless offset by outflows. Threadneedle, whose assets under management rose 8% to Usd108bn, posted a significant inflow, even though net outflows ran to USD290bn in the quarter under review. In institutional assets, net outflows totalled USD5.7bn, of which USD4.7bn were from insurance portfolios. In the Advice & Wealth Management unit, retail client assets increased 12% year on year to USD329bn.

La Commission européenne a annoncé la réouverture aujourd’hui dans cinq pays des registres nationaux de permis d'émission de CO2, deux semaines après avoir suspendu les transactions spot sur ce marché en raison de vols. Les registres de la France, de l’Allemagne, de la Slovaquie, des Pays-Bas et de la Grande-Bretagne redémarrent leurs activités habituelles ce matin, a annoncé l’exécutif européen.

Le fonds d’investissement réfléchit à une vente cette année de l’enseigne française de déstockage discount qu’il a rachetée en avril 2007, a indiqué à Reuters Pascal Stefani, le gérant à Paris d’Advent International. L’enseigne avait atteint près de 165 millions de chiffres d’affaires en 2010 contre 83 millions en 2006. Advent International vient juste de vendre la chaîne allemande de mode Takko au fonds Apax Partners.

La société d’investissement américaine pense lancer la levée de fonds pour son prochain fonds immobilier, Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII, cette année. Le véhicule pourrait atteindre la mêmetaille que celui mis sur pied en 2008, soit dix milliards de dollars. Celui-ci, BREP VI, est actuellement investi à 70%.

Le Crédit Mutuel CIC a annoncé avoir fusionné ses trois filiales spécialisées dans le capital investissement au sein d’une entité unique, CM-CIC Capital Finance. La banque mutualiste explique que la nouvelle société, née du rapprochement de CIC Finance, CIC Banque de Vizille et IPO, conservera ses implantations en province à Lyon, Nantes, Strasbourg, Lille et Bordeaux, en plus de son siège à Paris. CM-CIC Capital Finance interviendra sur l’ensemble des métiers du financement en haut de bilan, à savoir le capital risque, le capital développement, le capital transmission, le conseil et l’ingénierie financière. La société pourra prendre des participations d’un à 100 millions d’euros au capital des entreprises. «CM-CIC Capital Finance compte plus de 2,6 milliards d’euros investis en France et à l’international», rappelle la banque.

Le gendarme financier américain a indiqué avoir lancé des poursuites à l’encontre de six consultants soupçonnés d’avoir alimenté des fonds alternatifs en informations privilégiées. Quatre d’entre appartiennent au secteur technologique, employés par Apple, AMD, Dell ou encore Flextronics.

Les discussions sur la capacité d'intervention du Fonds européen ne devraient pas aboutir lors du sommet d'aujourd'hui

Leur rationalisation prendra effet le 21 mars. Elle donnera naissance aux indices CAC Large 60 et CAC All-Tradable

La ministre des Finances organisera une réunion internationale sur le sujet dans le cadre de la présidence française du G20

Malgré des tensions à court terme, l'institution voit des prix stables à moyen terme