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03/01/2011

Bill Miller pumps for large caps

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } 2011 may be an excellent year for equities, many managers predict. The question, of course, is which ones. There is no agreement on this subject. Several major US managers are sticking by their picks, despite criticism from their peers, Bloomberg reports. The chairman and chief investment officer of Legg Mason, Bill Miller, estimates, that 2010 was the right time to buy large caps. He persists and claims that 2011 will be a year to bring that prediction to fruition, despite 2010 having given it the lie. His flagship fund, dedicated to large caps, the Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust, with about USD4bn in assets, gained 6.6% in 2010, less than 98% of funds in the same category, according to Bloomberg statistics. However, Miller’s fund dedicated to midcaps (USD2bn), the Legg Mason Capital Management Opportunitey Trust, has gained 17%. Donald Yacktman, who in 2000 predicted that US equities would gain ground in the next ten years, is also backing large caps. His fund, the Yacktman Focused Fund (USD1.9bn), did less well than 75% of similar funds. “In 40 years, I have rarely seen a situation where so many large and profitable multinational companies were selling at such low prices,” Yacktman says.
03/01/2011

Laffitte Capital Management aims for EUR250m in assets in 2011

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Laffitte Capital Management (LCM) now manages EUR85m, equally divided between institutional, retail and multi-management clients. According to La Tribune, the management firm is aiming for EUR250m by the end of 2011. The firm is also studying the possibility of developing managed accounts. The arrival of a new manager is also planned.
03/01/2011

One out of four Italian managers outperforms benchmark

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In 2010, only one quarter of Italian managers succeeded in outperforming their benchmarks, compared with 43% in 2009, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. The two fund categories which suffered most were money markets and short-term bonds, with only 10.7% and 9.1% outperforming their benchmarks. Most funds analysed (60%) had returns 0% to 2% higher or lower than their benchmarks. Only 10% were more than 5% away from the index (13 in a positive and 34 in a negative direction).
03/01/2011

Assets in funds down by more than 15% in 2010

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to statistics from VDOS Stochastics, Spanish funds as of 24 December had assets of EUR144.54bn, 15.35% less than at the end of 2009. In December, assets under management were down by EUR324m, due to the fact that gains of over EUR1.59bn were not enough to offset net redemptions of nearly EUR1.92bn.
03/01/2011

Islamic finance stagnating in Switzerland

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi Switzerland reports that the private banking sector in Switzerland is seeing limited demand for Sharia-compliant financial products. Pictet & Cie launched a thematic fund based on the methods of Islamic finance two years ago, and closed it last year. “There is an inexplicable scepticism on the part of Geneva private banks about giving a mandate to a consulting firm specialised in Sharia-compliant investment. As of now, no major institution of this type which is respected internationally is yet established in Switzerland, though they are in London and Luxembourg,” says John Sandwick, independent manager in Geneva, cited by the newspaper.
03/01/2011

Gold gained nearly 30% in 2010

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Gold gained nearly 30% in 2010, on the basis of its closing price on Friday, 31 December, after a fifth consecutive month of rising value in December. The metal has turned in its best annual performance since 2007, the news agency Reuters reports. The gold fixed spot price was USD1,410.25 per ounce on Friday morning, compared with USD1,405.50 at the previous fixing on Thursday afternoon. On the basis of these fixings, the price of the metal has risen 29.7% over the year, compared with gains of 28.7% on the free spot market.
03/01/2011

Pension fund sues Wells Fargo

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The School Employees Retirement System of Ohio, a pension fund with USD9.7bn in assets, is seeking a total of Usd24m, which it lost on operations related to securities lending, from Wachovia, and therefore Wells Fargo, which acquired the firm, the Wall Street Journal reports. The pension fund says the bank reinvested the cash collateral in transactions which were not a part of the mandate it had been assigned, particularly with Sigma Finance, a structured investment vehicle.
03/01/2011

US economists create ethical code

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Les Echos reports that US economists at the American Economic Association (AEA) would like to give some support to their credibility by setting up an “ethical code” to smooth relations between Wall Street and academic circles. At the annual conference, which will be held in Denver on 6 January, the executive committee of the largest global organisation of economists (17,000 professionals) will propose a new charter for its members which would require economists to make their consulting activities publicly known. The initiative comes a few months after the release of a documentary entitled “Inside Job” by Charles Ferguson, which revealed the sometimes incestuous relations between Wall Street and certain university professors.
03/01/2011

Receiver for Petters' business seeks USD300m from J.P. Morgan Chase

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Douglas A. Kelley, the court-appointed receiver for the business of Tom Petters, has filed several lawsuits against J.P. Morgan Chase and its affiliate One Equity Partners, seeking USD300m on the basis that they knew, or should have known, that money seized from the accounts of the fraudster were the proceeds of fraud, the Wall Street Journal reports. The amount sought represents the millions of dollars in these accounts as well as commissions earned from the acquisition of shares in Polaroid in operations related to a Ponzi scheme.
03/01/2011

ESMA to stand up to national market authorities

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } ESMA, the new European market authority, will be created on 3 January in Paris, with the aim of harmonizing national regulatory frameworks, Les Echos reports. It will become a force to contend with for national market regulators, including the British FSA. To this end, it has new competences beyond those of its predecessor, the European Committee of Securities Regulators (CESR). The most important of these is the ability to declare technical standards applicable to all markets in Europe.
03/01/2011

Carlyle s’allège dans China Pacific Insurance

La société d’investissement américaine a vendu 215,8 millions d’actions au prix unitaire de 31,15 dollars de Hong Kong, selon un prospectus obtenu par Bloomberg. Au total, le montant de l’opération s’élève à 6,7 milliards de dollars (près de 650 millions d’euros). La banque suisse UBS a tenu le livre d’ordres.
03/01/2011

Le « Panel Allocation » se renforce en actions

Les gestions du Panel Allocation de L’Agefi consacrent désormais la moitié de leur portefeuille aux actions, au plus haut niveau depuis fin 2009. Ce mouvement s’est réalisé au détriment de l’obligataire, ainsi que du cash qui constitue plus que jamais une classe d’actifs de transition.
03/01/2011

DWS sur la piste de la gestion alternative

La filiale de fonds ouverts de Deutsche Bank, DWS Investment, va lancer au cours du trimestre en cours un fonds alternatif pour les investisseurs particuliers. C’est ce qu’a confié à l’édition dominicale du Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung à l’occasion d’un entretien le membre du conseil de direction du gestionnaire d’actifs Klaus Kaldemorgen.
31/12/2010

Axa poursuit son développement à l'Est

Le groupe Axa a annoncé le 30 décembre l’acquisition de 80% du capital du biélorusse B&B Insurance dans le cadre de la poursuite de son développement en Europe centrale et de l’Est. Le montant de la transaction n’a pas été rendu public.« L’acquisition de B&B est une excellente opportunité pour AXA d’entrer sur le marché biélorusse, qui se développe rapidement. Nous souhaitons réitérer ici le succès d’AXA en Ukraine où nous sommes devenus le premier assureur en trois ans, en nous appuyant sur les liens géographiques et culturels entre les deux pays », explique Cyrille de Montgolfier, directeur général d’AXA Europe centrale et de l’Est, cité dans un communiqué. Le marché biélorusse offre à l’assureur français un important potentiel de croissance puisque moins de 15% de foyers notamment disposent d’une assurance habitation. Deuxième assureur biélorusse par sa taille et premier assureur privé en Biélorussie avec une part de marché globale de 10%, B&B Insurance vend exclusivement des produits d’assurance dommages. Le montant des primes émises s’est élevé en 2009 à 29 millions d’euros.La finalisation de l’opération devrait intervenir dans le courant du premier trimestre 2011.
31/12/2010
Fonds

Astorg et Axa Private Equity, parmi les fonds plus performants du monde

Selon le Top 10 mondial des acteurs du private equity les plus performants, établi par HEC Paris et l’agence Dow Jones. Astorg Partners pointe à la deuxième place, gagnant un cran par rapport à l’année dernière, et AXA Private Equity arrive en dixième position, indique La Tribune. On retrouve trois acteurs américains (Leonard Green & Partners, Hellman & Friedman et Lincolnshire), trois britanniques (BC Partners, Permira et TowerBrook Capital), un allemand (Waterland) et un suédois (Nordic Capital).
Fonds
31/12/2010

Wellcome Trust to remain opportunistic

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Wellcome Trust, which finances medical research in the United Kingdom and developing countries, now manages over GBP14.5bn, the Financial Times reports. Its chief investment officer, Danny Truell, would like to remain faithful to an opportunistic allocation, in order to achieve performance objectives of 6% per year set by the fund. While more than 40% of returns in the past three years are the result of investments in distressed private equity funds, Truell says good opportunities are becoming scarce, particularly in Europe and the United States. Truell is now turning to distressed debt funds and direct investment in currencies.
31/12/2010

MiFID directive: CESR publishes a vademecum on publicly traded equities

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR), which on 1 January will become the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), on 30 December published a series of rules and a practical guide for the publication of certain information related to publicly traded equities to fulfil transparency requirements laid out in the MiFID directive. In the guide, the CESR details the various information to provide about equities, and the calculations to undertake, and indicates that the results of all these efforts will be made public. In order to respond to the requirements of the directive, the CESR has also set up a dedicated database on its website.
31/12/2010

AFG working group on competitiveness to publish conclusions

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The working group on competitiveness of French regulations created by the French financial management association (AFG), chaired by Arnaud Faller, will complete its work in early 2011, the AFG has announced in its December 2010 newsletter. The working group has met several times since September 2010, and its first conclusions have already formed the basis for talks with the AMF and the Treasury in relation to products, financial management, and the creation of fund managers in France, the letter states. A final report will be released in early 2011.
31/12/2010

Encouraging end of year for hedge funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedge funds posted inflows of USD13.7bn in November, compared with USD10.6bn in October, according to estimates by TrimTabs Investment Research based on a survey of nearly 995 hedge funds. This is the fifth consecutive month of inflows, and the highest total since February. Inflows to funds of funds totalled USD1.2bn in November. In the past five months, funds of funds have attracted only USD5.9bn, compared with USD41bn for hedge funds, and USD12.7bn for CTAs. In the boom times for hedge funds between 2004 and 2007, funds of funds attracted half of new capital invested in hedge funds. In terms of strategy, the Equity Long/Short strategy attracted USD2.6bn in November, while emerging markets funds attracted USD1.9bn, and bond funds, which saw negative returns for the first time in six months, still attracted USD1.8bn. Inflows remained modest in December and January due to redemption demands at the end of the year, but allocation modifications are expected to be favourable for hedge funds. Pension funds will not be able to greatly increase their exposure to equities, due to the increasing age of their subscribers, though bond returns remain at near-zero levels. In other words, the quest for returns calls for the use of hedge funds.
31/12/2010

Axa continues development in eastern Europe

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Axa group announced on 30 December that it has acquired an 80% stake in the Belorussian firm B&B Insurance, as part of its effort to develop in central and eastern Europe. The acquisition price has not been disclosed to the public. “The acquisition of B&B is an excellent opportunity for AXA to enter the Belorussian market, which is growing rapidly. Here, we would like to reproduce the success of AXA in Ukraine, where we have become the largest insurance provider in only three years, by relying on the geographical and cultural ties between the two countries,” Cyrille de Montgolfier, CEO of AXA central and eastern Europ, explains in a statement. The Belorussian market offers the French insurer major potential for growth, as less than 15% of households now have home insurance. The second-largest Belorussian insurer by size, and the largest private insurer in Belarus, with an overall market share of 10%, B&B Insurance offers exclusively damage insurance products. Premiums issued in 2009 totalled EUR29m. The operation will be finalised in first quarter 2011.

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