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10/11/2010

CalPERS announces net returns of 13.3% for the year to 30 June

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Californian pension fund CalPERS (California Public Employees’ Retirement System) on 9 November announced net return on investments of 13.3% for the year to 30 June 2010, an improvement of nearly 20 percentage points over initial estimates. The market value of CalPERS’ assets under management totalled USD200.5bn, USD500m higher than the figure announced in July, and a gain of over USD40bn since its low point in March 2009. As of 22 October this year, its market value totalled USD2018.2bn. Performance objectives were exceeded in all asset classes except real estate. Growth for the year to the end of June was 20.35% for fixed income, 23.88% for private equity, and 14.42% for equities. Real estate limited its losses of 10.76% compared with an initial estimate of over 37%. As of 30 June, average annualised returns for the past 20 years totalled 7.65%.
10/11/2010

The Hartford returns to profitability

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Hartford Financial Services Group has announced net profits for third quarter 2010 of USD666m, compared with losses of USD220m for the corresponding period of last year, bringing total net profits in January-September to USD1.06bn, compared with losses of USD1.44bn. In wealth management, net profits in July-September totalled USD320m, compared with losses of USD335m, while assets totalled USD301bn as of 30 September, up 6% compared with second quarter and 3% compared with third quarter 2009.
10/11/2010

Savings unit at Natixis gains 7% in third quarter

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In third quarter 2010, pre-tax profits for the Savings unit of Natixis, which includes asset management, life insurance, private banking and private equity for third parties, totalled EUR116m, up 7% compared with third quarter 2009, on revenues up 12% to EUR431m. Revenues for asset management are up 12% (+5% at constant exchange rates), compared with third quarter 2009, at EUR350m. Assets totalled EUR527m as of 30 September 2010 (+3% at constant exchange rates) compared with the end of June 2010. In Europe, assets totalled EUR321bn, up 1% for the quarter. Outflows were largely from money market supports (-EUR3.7bn). Excluding money market funds, inflows were positive to the tune of EUR1.1bn, driven largely by life insurance products. In the United States, assets totalled USD279bn, up 7% compared with 30 June 2010. Inflows were positive, at USD0.9bn. The Natixis group has confirmed its recovery, with net profits of EUR305m in third quarter, and EUR1.29bn in the first nine months of the year, while it had losses of EUR2.23bn in the first nine months of 2009.
10/11/2010

API pension fund sues BNY Mellon

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } ICFA Online reports that the Swedish pension fund Första AP-fonden (AP1) has filed suit against BNY Mellon in the Commercial Court in London. The pension fund accuses the bank of being responsible for a loss of USD35.5m due to investment decisions taken in 2008, which AP1 maintains did not correspond to the investment principles defined by the pension fund. The bank made investments in bonds issued by Sigma Finance, which was placed in legal administration in October 2008.
10/11/2010

Assets at Hugau Gestion up 28% since the beginning of the year

Currently, assets at Hugau Gestion total over EUR900m, which represents an increase of EUR220m, or 28% since the beginning of the year, of which about EUR200m are net subscriptions.99% of these funds come from French institutional investors, of whom none have contributed more than 6% of assets, while the management firm now has over 80 subscribers. “The next step,” explains Eric Le Maire, CEO, “will be to capture French corporates, and then to consider possibly exploring foreign markets.” The important thing for Hugau Gestion is to “find loyal clients, who understand what we are doing, which implies that we also need to understand what they are doing. That is the doctrine we have followed for three years.”Management of the six mutual funds from Hugau, overseen by Catherine Huguel (including the Hugau Moneterme fund, with EUR450m, and Hugau Obli 1-3, with EUR335m), is highly transparent: 40-45 positions of direct investment, with no leverage, on large caps. Funds in the bond range have virtually no positions on government bonds.The results are encouraging, at least for the two major products under the brand name, as the Moneterme fund shows returns as of the end of October of 1.56% since the beginning of the year, compared with 0.34% fo rthe benchmark index (capitalised Eonia), while Obli 1-3 has gained 3.27%, compared with 1.32% for the EuroMTS 1-3 years.
10/11/2010

Mutual Funds Against Cancer becomes Expect Miracles Foundation

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Mutual Funds Against Cancer (MFAC) initiative has adopted the new name Expect Mircales Foundation – Financial Services Against Cancer, on the occasion of its end-of-year charity event (7th Annual Expect Miracles Wine & Spirits Charity Event in Boston). The founder and president of the foundation, Frank Strauss, says that the change comes because now, after five years, mutual funds are no longer the only ones to be contributing to the fight against cancer, which is now being taken on by the financial sector more broadly.
10/11/2010

Superfund lays off one third of staff

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to fondsprofessionell, the Austrian hedge fund management firm Superfund has laid off about one third of its personnel this year as part of a cost-reduction campaign to stem losses. It has also considerably reduced its sponsoring activities, and lowered its management fees by 20%. Assets are currently reported to total EUR880m, compared with over EUR1bn one year ago, and EUR1.5bn five years ago.
10/11/2010

BoA and PNC offer BlackRock shares at USD163

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A secondary offer of 43.57 million ordinary shares in BlackRock being resold by Bank of America Corporation (BofA) and 7.5 million ordinary shares held by PNC (see Newsmanagers of 4 November) will take place at a price of USD163 per share, BlackRock announced on Monday evening. The closing price of shares in the firm on 8 November was USD169.09.The asset management firm says that BofA has granted the market makers (BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital) a greenshoe option of 5.2 million ordinary shares. In addition, in parallel with the completion of this transaction, BofA is planning to directly sell 2.45 million BlackRock shares to an institutional investor, at the secondary offer price. The placement agents for this second deal are BofA Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. In total, the shares placed by BofA and PNC will represent a total of Usd8.33bn, in addition to which may come USD849.2m corresponding to the greenshoe option.
10/11/2010

SIG calls in Tom Marsico for an international equities mandate

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Skandia Investment Group (SIG) on 8 November announced its decision to award Tom Marsico and Marsico Capital Management a mandate for GBP46m in international equities, previously granted to Martin Currie. The decision to change the manager for the mandate from the Global Best Ideas Fund (GBP310m in assets) is not related to a loss of confidence in Martin Currie, but to better adaptation of Marsico’s approach to the current environment, SIG says in a statement. SIG has also parted with Roger Guy, who is leaving Gartmore (see Newsmanagers of 9 November), who was one of nine managers of the European Best Ideas Fund. The change will cost Gartmore a GBP32.8m mandate. In the same vein, Hargreaves Lansdown is recommending that its clients withdraw from the Gartmore absolute return fund, which was previously managed by Guy.
10/11/2010

Assets under management at Barclays Wealth up 5% in nine months

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Since the end of 2009, assets under management at Barclays Wealth have gained 5%, to stabilise at GBP158bn, Pre-tax profits in the first nine months of the year totalled GBP122m, up 9% compared with the corresponding period of 2009. The increase was driven by activities in the high net worth segment. Pre-tax profits for the Investment Management unit, for their part, totalled GBP55m, compared with GBP2bn last year, largely due to dividends on its 19.9% stake in BlackRock. As of 30 September, the value of this stake was recorded on the books as GBP4.061bn, compared with GBP3.60bn as of 30 June.
10/11/2010

Retail portfolios remain underweight in emerging markets

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to an analysis of MSCI data by Baring Asset Management, the proportion of global capitalisation in emerging markets has increased by one percentage point per year since 1999. It now accounts for 16% (as of 30 September 2010), compared with 14.06% twelve months previously, and 3.97% at the end of 1998. However, according to statistics from the Investment Management Association (IMA), British retail investors allocate only 1.9% of their portfolios to global emerging markets, compared with 1.6% at the end of June 2008. Exposure to Asia-Pacific ex Japan, for its part, has increased from 4% to 4.8%. James Syme, head of global emerging market equities at Barings, says that this shows that global emerging markets are “seriously” underrepresented in retail portfolios in the United Kingdom, despite robust fundamentals and valuations which remain highly attractive, even regardless of the fact that the MSCI emerging markets index has posted performance of 20.93% on one year, while the MSCI World Index Free in the same period gained only 9.03%.
10/11/2010

Schroders results looking up

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British asset management group Schroders has earned pre-tax profits for the first nine months of the year of GBP282.7m, compared with GBP79.9m for the corresponding period of 2009. Net inflows totalled GBP21.5bn, compared with GBP8.7bn one year earlier. Assets under management as of 30 September totalled GBP1815bn, or over EUR210bn, compared with GBP138.9bn as of 30 September 2009. Inflows continued following the end of third quarter, Schroders says in a statement presenting the interim results. Pre-tax profits for the asset management unit in third quarter totalled GBP85.9m, compared with GBP54m one year earlier, on earnings of GBP232.7m, compared with GBP172.7m one year earlier. Over nine months, the asset managemetn unit earned pre-tax profits of GBP263.2m, compared with GBP108.1m previously. Net inflows totalled GBP19.4bn, compared with GBP8.6bn between January and September 2009. Pre-tax profits for the private banking unit totalled GBP2.9bn in third quarter 2010, compared with GBP6.3m in third quarter 2009, on earnings of GBP24m, compared with GBP23.6m. On nine months, pre-tax profits totalled GBP9.5m, compared with GBP20m. Net inflwos in the first nine months of the year totalled GBP2.1bn, compared with GBP0.1bn as of 30 September 2009. For the quarter to 30 September, net inflows totalled GBP5.4bn, of which GBP3.7bn were from institutional clients, GBP800m in intermediated inflows, and GBP900m from private banking. Of the GBP21.5bn in net inflows over the nine months, 79% came from clients outside the United Kingdom.
10/11/2010

Henderson portfolio manager increases stake in Gartmore

On Tuesday, it was revealed that Henderson Global Investors owns a 14.23% stake in Gartmore. The latter asset management firm, listed on the London stock exchange, is currently encountering some difficulties, following the departure of several star managers. As several rumours of an acquisition of Gartmore were circulating, the stake was acquired on behalf of Henderson clients.When asked about it, the UK management firm, which recently acquired New Star, referred to an article in Investment Week, which stated that its UK equities manager, Stephen Peak, has increased his stake in Gartmore to 14.23%, up from 11% in July, on behalf of several long-only funds. “ At the moment the valuation suggests the franchise is dead and there is no hope of future inflows. I believe those views will prove to be wrong ,” the fund manager tells this website.
10/11/2010

Morgan Stanley sort d’Invesco

La banque américaine a fait part de son souhait de céder les 30,9 millions de titres Invesco acquis en juin dernier dans le cadre de la vente de l’acticité de fonds réservés aux particuliers de Morgan Stanley. Les deux parties ont assuré que cette opération, de 717 millions de dollars au cours de clôture d’Invesco hier soir, n’avait pas vocation à remettre en cause leurs relations.
10/11/2010

Nouvelle flambée des matières premières agricoles

Le Département américain à l’Agriculture a revu une nouvelle fois en baisse ses prévisions de rendements et de stocks sur les matières premières, après un rapport d’octobre déjà très pessimiste. Les prévisions de l’USDA ont entraîné le prix de la livre de coton vers de nouveaux records et provoqué des hausses de 4,3% du prix du soja et de 1,8 % du blé à Chicago.
10/11/2010

HCA se prépare à verser un dividende

La chaîne américaine d’établissements de santé, acquise il y a quatre ans dans le cadre d’un LBO de 33 milliards de dollars, prévoit de verser un dividende de 2 milliards à ses propriétaires, dont les fonds KKR et Bain Capital. Une opération financée en partie par une émission obligataire à haut rendement de 1,53 milliard de dollars.
10/11/2010

L’AMF publie son instruction sur les ventes à découvert

Conformément à son engagement de mettre en œuvre rapidement la position définie par le CESR en mai 2010, l’AMF a modifié son règlement général pour introduire un régime complet de transparence des positions courtes nettes sur les actions. Cette modification entrera en vigueur le 1er février 2011, mettant fin à l’interdiction de ventes à découvert sur certaines valeurs financières.
10/11/2010

Deutsche Börse prend une part minoritaire d’ID’s

L’opérateur boursier allemand a annoncé l’acquisition d’une participation minoritaire dans ID’s (Investors Derivatives Solution), une société établie à Paris et spécialisée dans la fourniture de solutions technologiques en ligne dédiées aux acteurs sell-side et buy-side. L’accord prévoit le paiement d’un montant à un chiffre en millions d’euros.
10/11/2010

NiXEN Partners sort de Plastisud

La société de private equity, qui était entrée en 2004 via une opération de LBO dans le capital du concepteur et fabricant de moules de haute précision, a cédé sa participation au management, dont Laurent Buzzo, président et fils du fondateur du groupe de Castelnaudary. NiXEN indique réaliser à l’occasion de cet OBO (owner buy-out) un multiple de 2,6 fois sur son investissement historique.
10/11/2010

Pression outre-Rhin sur la dette subordonnée

Le Bundestag a voté un texte qui permettra aux autorités de réorganiser des banques en difficulté et leur passif. Dans ce cadre, les porteurs de dettes subordonnées pourraient être mis à contribution. Le projet de loi doit encore être validé par le Bundesrat pour entrer en vigueur début 2011.
10/11/2010

CVC Capital Partners aux portes de Lucien Barrière

La société britannique de capital-investissement négocierait son entrée au capital de Lucien Barrière, le groupe d’hôtels et de casinos dont l’introduction en Bourse a échoué fin septembre. Accor, qui en détient une part de 49%, avait répété après cet échec que ses parts n'étaient pas stratégiques et que d’autres options que la Bourse étaient ouvertes.
09/11/2010

Forte demande pour l’obligation Auchan à 7 ans

Le groupe de distribution Auchan a émis un nouvel emprunt obligataire de 500 millions d’euros à 7 ans. Le livre d’ordres a été clos en moins d’une demi-heure avec plus de 2 milliards d’euros de demande, indique Obliginfos. Le prix a été fixé dans le bas de la fourchette indicative avant l’émission, soit un spread de 48 points de base au-des taux midswaps.
09/11/2010

Technip émet de 450 à 550 millions d’euros d'Oceane à échéance 2016

Technip annonce une émission d’obligations à option de conversion et/ou d'échange en actions nouvelles ou existantes (Ocane) à échéance 1er janvier 2016, d’un montant initial d’environ 450 millions d’euros.Ce montant est susceptible d'être porté à environ 500 millions d’euros en cas d’exercice en totalité de la clause d’extension de 11,11% et à environ 550 millions en cas d’exercice en totalité de l’option de surallocation.

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