p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Next month, Romain Boscher will join Amundi, the asset management affiliate controlled 75% by the Crédit Agricole group and 25% by Société Générale, in January, as global head of equities, a newly-created position, Amundi, according to different sources. Boscher, whose departure from Groupama Asset Management was announced earlier this week, will be based in Paris, and will oversee all equities management operations worldwide (London, Paris, Tokyo, Singapore, and Hong Kong). As of 30 September 2010, assets under management in equities totalled EUR95.7bn. In Paris, equities management will continue to be overseen by Eric Turjeman, former head of equities management at SGAM, before its merger with Amundi.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Vatican on 30 December announced that it has published a decree creating a Financial Information Authority (AIF) to combat money-laundering and financing for terrorism, and to ensure compliance with European legislation of the Vatican’s transactions. The publication of the decree, signed by the Pope, comes three months after an investigation was opened in September by the Italian financial authorities into two directors of the Vatican Bank (IOR). The investigation began with the seizure of EUR23m in an account belonging to the establishment. The president of the bank and its CEO are suspected of violations of money-laundering laws. “Peace is unfortunately threatened today by improper use of the market and the economy, and the terrible and destructive violence of terrorism,” Pope Benedict XVI regrets in the preamble to his law (“motu proprio”) creating the financial information authority (AIF). The Vatican says the move is a sign of “transparency, honesty and responsibility,” its spokesman, father Federico Lombardi, explained to the press. In an “apostolic letter” laying out the motives for the law, the Pope says he “approves the engagement of the international community to prevent and combat the phenomenon of money-laundering and financing for terrorism.” “The Holy See plans to make these rules its own,” Pope Benedict XVI adds.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the wake of approval from the Chinese authorities for the insurance firm Sino-Life to create an asset management affiliate, the consulting firm Z-Ben Advisors estimates that the way has now been cleared for new initiatives in the insurance sector, Asian Investor reports. The insurance supervisory authority, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, has granted permission for Sino-Life, which is the eighth-largest insurer in China, to make preparations for the creation of an asset management affiliate.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Financial Times reports that Steven Rattner, former automotive industry advisor to Barack Obama. Has agreed to pay USD10m to settle a dispute with the State of New York over a corruption scandal. Rattner was accused of paying bribes in 2007 to obtain a USD150m by the state’s pension fund in the Quadrangle fund, which he co-founded and directed. The New York authorities were seeking at least USD26m and a permanent ban of Rattner from the state’s financial activities. They ultimately got USD10m and a five-year ban on any contact with the New York pension fund. The payment comes in addition to the USD6.2m which the former advisor to Obama had already agreed to pay the previous month in order to settle SEC lawsuits.
Un juge fédéral a rejeté hier une plainte déposée par dix hedge funds qui accusaient le constructeur automobile allemand d’avoir verrouillé le marché des actions de Volkswagen et qui lui réclamaient deux milliards de dollars de dommages et intérêts. Le juge a estimé que les fonds n’avaient pas qualité pour agir, évoquant un précédent juridique américain qui avait restreint la capacité des plaignants américains à lancer des poursuites dans le cadre d’affaires impliquant des parties non américaines devant la justice des Etats-Unis.
Le fabricant espagnol de canettes a indiqué que les sociétés de private equity américaine et espagnole ont convenu de formuler une offre ferme donnant le signal d’un management buy out (MBO) du groupe. Aucun détail financier n’a été communiqué, si ce n’est la volonté de la part de Dinamia d’acquérir pour 9,5 millions d’euros au maximum une part pouvant aller jusqu’à 5% du capital de la maison-mère de Mivisa, Sofamen XXI.
L’ancien responsable des gestions de Groupama Asset Management occupera une fonction nouvellement créée au sein du premier gérant français. Il chapeautera l’ensemble des bureaux actions à travers le monde, supervisant ainsi 96 milliards d’euros d’encours.
Le Premier ministre espagnol, José Luis Zapatero, a affirmé hier qu’il mènerait à bien les réformes et que le pays «respectera ses engagements de réduction du déficit budgétaire en 2010 et 2011». Madrid compte réduire son déficit public de 9,3% en 2010 à 6% en 2011 puis 3% en 2013. En octobre, celui-ci a chuté de moitié à 2,71 milliards d’euros.
Selon Reuters, les actifs sous gestion du hedge fund spécialisé sur l’Asie Central Asset Investments (CAI) devraient passer la barre des 200 millions d’ici au mois de janvier, contre environ 70 millions de dollars à la fin 2009.Cette très forte progression de l’encours sous gestion est liée à la performance de 47% en 2010 du fonds multistratégie CAI Global Fund, dont la commecialisation aux Etats-Unis vient de commencer, la clientèle de CAI étant jusqu’ici essentiellement européenne et asiatique.
Selon Les Echos, une trentaine de particuliers, la Société Marseillaise de Crédit (SMC), pour 25% des parts, et Vivéris Management, un acteur majeur du capital-risque local pour 15%, viennent de créer un fonds d’investissement, Capital Provence Business Angels (CPBA), doté de 1,2 million d’euros de capital. Une première destinée à consolider l’offre d’amorçage.
La filiale de la Deutsche Bank dédiée à la gestion d’actifs, DWS, se dote d’une nouvelle structure de direction. Klaus Kaldemorgen quitte, de sa propre initiative, ses fonctions à la tête de la société pour se consacrer uniquement à la gestion d’actifs. Le nouvel homme fort de DWS est Wolfgang Matis, nommé nouveau porte-parole de la direction de DWS Investment et global CEO de DWS. Wolfgang Matis était précédemment responsable du pôle Global Markets Deutschland à la Deutsche Bank. Il est directement rattaché à Kevin Parker, Global Head Deutsche Asset Management. Klaus Kaldemorgen, déjà en charge des fonds DWS Vermögensbildungsfonds I et DWS Akkumula, prendra la responsabilité d’autres fonds, notamment de fonds de performance absolue. Asoka Wöhrmann devient, en qualité de CIO de DWS, responsable des pôles actions, obligations et multi-classes d’actifs, auparavant dévolus à Klaus Kaldemorgen. Deux autres mouvements sont à signaler : Ingo Gefeke, jusqu’ici membre de la direction de DWS, prend de nouvelles responsabilités au sein du pôle gestion d’actifs de la Deutsche Bank à New York tandis que Axel Schwarzer quitte DWS pour assumer de nouvelles responsabilités en dehors de la société.
Selon L’Agefi qui cite le Wall Street Journal, le fonds américain Blackstone aurait déposé une offre portant sur les actifs américains de Centro Properties Group, un géant australien de l’immobilier dont la survie est menacée par une dette astronomique. En cas de succès, il s’agirait du plus gros LBO depuis la crise.
Le US Census Bureau a indiqué que la valeur des actifs détenus par les 100 principaux fonds de pension publics aux Etats-Unis dépassait 2.500 milliards de dollars au 30 septembre dernier, rapporte L’Agefi. Soit un gain de 6,2% d’un trimestre à l’autre et de 5,2% par rapport à la clôture du troisième trimestre 2009.
Selon Hedgeweek, les dernières statistiques de Morningstar montrent que les hedge funds ont eu un mois de novembre difficile. L’indice Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund s’est ainsi replié de 0,8% en novembre alors que le Morningstar MSCI Composite cédait 0,1%. Sur les onze premiers mois de l’année, ces indices affichent des gains de respectivement 6,1% et 7,2%. C’est beaucoup mieux que la performance des indices boursiers internationaux mais moins bien que les performances enregistrées en 2009 sur la même période.Les stratégies sur les actions européennes ont été parmi les plus affectées en novembre. Le Morningstar Europe Equity Hedge Fund Index a ainsi perdu 3,5% en novembre, ce qui a fait chuter la performance des onze premiers mois de l’année en territoire négatif. Les stratégies évenementielles ont encore fait moins bien que les stratégies actions, le Morningstar Global Trend Hedge Fund Index accusant un repli de 3,9% sur le mois.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedgeweek reports that the most recent Morningstar statistics reveal that hedge funds had a tough month in November. The Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund index fell 0.8% in November, while the Morningstar MSCI Composite lost 0.1%. In the first eleven months of the year, these indices gained 6.1% and 7.2%, respectively. This is far better than the performance of international market indices, but much less than the returns posted in the same period of 2009. European equities strategies appear to have been the hardest hit in November. The Morningstar Europe Equity Hedge Fund Index lost 3.5% in November, which dragged down performance in the first eleven months of the year into negative territory. Event-driven strategies did even less well than equities strategies, with the Morningstar Global Trend Hedge Fund Index down 3.9% for the month.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Les Echos reports that 30 private investors, the Société Marseillaise de Crédit (SMC), with a 25% stake, and Vivéris Management, a major local private equity actor, with 15%, have recently created an investment fund entitled Capital Provence Business Angels (CPBA), with EUR1.2m in capital. This initial amount is intended to serve as seed capital.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the company formerly operated by Bernard Madoff, BLMIS, is under fire from US victims of the fraudster and the US Congress, Agefi Switzerland reports. The trustee has taken actions which contradict investor protection and bankruptcy laws, claims a member of the House of Representatives, who has recently proposed legislation which would indirectly limit the trustee’s manoeuvering room.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The College of the French financial market authority (AMF) will announce in January whether or not it will grant Hermès an exemption to the requirement to make a public bid to buy out the minority stakeholders in the luxury leather goods business, the secretary general of the AMF, Thierry Francq, has told Reuters. “The College will make its decision in January, after hearing the arguments of the various parties,” Francq says. In order to lock in capital in the face of the appearance and increasing presence of the hedge fund LVMH in its capital, the Hermès family decided in early December to create a holding company with control of over 50% of the capital in Hermès International. Legally, shareholders are required to make a takeover offer for the remaining stock if they increase their presence over one third of capital. But they may obtain an exemption from the AMF in some cases.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The asset management affiliate of Deutsche Bank, DWS, has a new management structure. Klaus Kaldermorgen is quitting, on his own initiative, from his position as head of the firm, in order to dedicate his time exclusively to asset management. The new top dog at DWS is Wolfgang Matis, who has been appointed as the new spokesman for the management of DWS Investment and global CEO of DWS. Matis was previously head of the Global Markets Deutschland unit at Deutsche Bank. He will report directly to Kevin Parker, Global Head Deutsche Asset Management. Kaldermorgen, who was already manager of the DWS Vermögensbildungsfonds I and DWS Akkumula funds, will take responsibility for several other funds, including absolute return funds.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Basel Committee early this week released a consultation document which will aim to improve the transparency of the banking sector in the area of remuneration. The measures laid out with the participation of the financial stability committee will notably require banks to explain how they tie the performance of their employee to the levels of pay they receive. They will allow the market “to evaluate the quality of practices at banks in the area of remuneration and policies they involve that may incite employees to take risks,” says Fernando Vargas, president of the remuneration working group of the Basel Committee, cited in the statement. Vargas adds that the new requirements “should also help to promote a larger convergence and more coherence in the information published about remuneration.” The consultation is open until 25 February.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For hedge fund managers, the recovery of the US economy appears to be beyond the shadow of a doubt. According to the TrimTabs/BarclayHedge survey undertaken in December, about 46% of hedge fund managers surveyed last week are betting on an increase in the S&P 500, while only 19% are pessimistic. About 54% of managers are pessimistic about the evolution of 10-year Treasury bonds, while 39% predict that the dollar will rise. “Managers are betting aggressively on economic recovery. Although in most of 2010, markets oscillated between excessive fears of a double recession and irrational exuberance about a V-shaped recovery, a consensus is shaping up that 2011 will be a year of inflationary growth,” says Vincent Deluard, executive vice president of TrimTabs, cited in a statement. Managers also predict that precious metals are overvalued. This comes as little surprise for Deluard, who remarks that statstical data suggest that bonds are much more overvalued than precious metals. “If there is a bubble that’s going to pop in 2011, we think bonds are the most plausible candidate,” says Deluard.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi reports, citing the Wall Street Journal, that the US fund Blackstone is said to have submitted an offer to acquire the US assets of Centro Properties Group, an Australian real estate giant whose survival is threatened by immense debts. If the bid is successful, it would be the largest LBO operation since the crisis.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opened an investigation into trading of shares in non-publicly traded internet companies such as Facebook and Twitter, whose value has more than doubled in the past few months, according to several US media reports, citing sources familiar with the procedure. The SEC has asked actors in these trades for information about the transactions, particularly the way in which the businesses in question were valued, the Wall Street Journal reports.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The senior Standard & Poor’s analyst Howard Silverblatt estimates in his annual study “S&P 500 Dividends: out of the night that covered me” that dividends in 2011 will remain an essential component of the profitability of investments in S&P 500 shares, as two thirds of companies in the index that pay dividends will be likely to raise them in 2011. This is good news for investors seeking stability in a context that remains unstable, as a growing number of businesses turn to a dividend policy, with 371 out of the S&P 500 doing so, including 12 who paid dividends for the first time in 2010. Last year, 255 businesses raised their dividends, compared with only 157 in 2009. Businesses spent USD20.6bn more on dividends than in 2009, which ended with a reduction of USD37.3bn. In the years 2008 and 2009, reductions in dividends, of which there were 140, meant that investors missed out on EUR88.7bn. In 2010, there are expected to be only four reductions in dividends, representing USD0.4bn. Continued tax breaks on dividends, which represent cumulative savings of USD274bn for the years 2003-2010, will allow investors to save a further USD74.5bn in the next two years. The only potential storm cloud on the horizon is that dividends will not return to their 2008 level immediately, despite favourable outlooks for 2011. For that, investors will need to wait until 2013.