p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The board at T. Rowe Price Group Inc (USD391.1bn in assets as of the end of June) on Wednesday evening authorised the buyback of a further 15 million shares, bringing the total of 22.4 million shares. Currently, the asset management firm has about 262 million shares in circulation.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } OFI Asset Management on Wednesday, 8 September announced the arrival of Jean-Philippe Dorp as a member of its research and credit analysis teams. Dorp will be in charge of a transversal, multi-sector credit research team which will include 6 people, a statement says. Since 2006, Dorp worked at Solent Capital Partners (London), where he was a credit manager and head of credit analysis.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 3 September, Janus ETF Trust and Janus Capital Management applied to the SEC for an exemption allowing them to launch open-ended actively-managed ETFs which would invest in equities or bonds traded in the United States or abroad, in repo and reverse-repo operations, or in other ETF funds. The funds would, however, not be authorised to invest in options, futures, or swaps.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The arrival of François Carlotti at Métropole Gestion as deputy CEO and director of development (see Newsmanagers of 06/09/10) – while Eric Boutchnei becomes deputy CEO and director of strategy at the managemetn firm – is a clear means for Métropole Gestion, the management firm led by François-Marie Wojcik, to realise its international ambitions. “Our goal,” he explained at a press conference on 8 September, “is to become the European management firm of reference in value management.” To achieve this, Métropole Gestion has engaged the services of the former chairman of the board at Sal. Oppenheim France and former manager of Franklin Templeton Investments, who the firm says is a global leader in value management. Eight more people will also soon be added to the sales team. The firm has already set up shop outside France, and international investors now represent 15% of the total, with regular presence in London as well as activities in Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg, which are operated from Paris. In addition, this year saw the opening of an office in Germany with three people, which will aim to cover the German-speaking countries, including Austria and German-speaking Switzerland. Sweden is also on the agenda for the management firm, as well as the Middle East. In the next two to three months, Métropole Gestion is also planning to open an office in Milan, Italy. The firm’s goal is to attain assets under management of EUR3bn by 2012, and EUR5bn by 2015. When asked about the products the firm is planning to offer abroad, Wojcik confirmed that the market would ultimately decide. Clearly, equities funds will represent the firm’s foremost offerings, but multi-management wealth funds and corporate bond funds (Métropole MM Convictions Patrimoine and Métropole Corporate Bonds) may also be part of the selection.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } DWS Investments on Wednesday announced the recruitment of Michael Hughes as director and senior account manager. He will be in charge of relations with banking and broker-dealer clients in the United States, national and regional. Hughes will be based in Chicago, and will report to Michael Woods, managing director, CEO and US head of distribution at DWS Investments Distributors Inc. Hughes was executive director in national accounts at Van Kampen, a retail asset management firm which was sold off in late October by Morgan Stanley to Invesco (see Newsmanagers of 20 October 2009). He had responsibility for the same activities which he will now direct at DWS.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } FundStrategy reports that FMG Investments is planning to launch a UCITS-compliant long-only fund dedicated to emerging markets, which will be domiciled in Luxembourg, and which will invest in six countries or regions for which the firm already has funds (China, India, Russia, Africa, Iraq, and the Middle East and North Africa). It will be a “plain vanilla” equities fund, which will not use short-selling, but which may be permitted to invest in real estate via publicly-traded equities in that sector.

Paulson & Co, the world’s third-largest hedge fund manager, has seen another painful month, according to the Financial Times. The firm’s USD9bn Advantage Plus fund, its largest, lost 4.26 per cent in August, wiping out gains made in July. The fund is down 11 per cent so far this year.

According to sources familiar with the matter cited by the Wall Street Journal, the Advantage Plus hedge fund from John Paulson suffered losses in August of 4.3%. It has continued to suffer from premature bets on an economic recovery. In the first eight months of the year, cumulative losses total 11%. However, the Gold Fund from Paulson has posted performance of 9% in August.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } HSBC Global Asset Management has added to the range of hedge funds in its Luxembourg Sicav, with the launch of the HSBC GIF European Equity Alpha and HSBC GIF Global Emerging Markets Equity Alpha, two absolute return UCITS III funds. The objective of the HSBC GIF Absolute Return Equity Alpha fund is to earn regular absolute returns higher than those of its benchmark index, with low correlation to the returns produced by European equities. The HSBC GIF European Equity Alpha fund, managed by a team of four people led by Vis Nayar, invests in a universe of nearly 700 securities, and will invest in about 80 of them, with 45 short positions, to diversify risk, and 35 long positions. The team will aim to profit from anomalies in the fundamental valuation of equities, using quantitative and qualitative strategies in complement to each other. The HSBC GIF GEM Equity Alpha fund, for its part, will aim to earn regular absolute returns higher than those of its benchmark index, decorrelated from the returns produced by emerging markets equities. The fund is managed jointly by Omar Negyal and Nick Timberlake, and invests in a universe of about 700 securities, selected from the countries of the MSCI Emerging Market index and some countries of the MSCI Frontier Markets index. HSBC GIF GEM Equity Alpha will then invest in 70 shares with 35 long positions and 35 short positions. The objective will be to generate alpha on both halves of the portfolio.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } After two years without a sale of assets, Allianz Real Estate (ARE) has granted Richard Ellis a mandate to sell real estate assets for about EUR1bn, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The objective is to optimise the portfolio with a sale of small properties and acquisitions of new ones in better locations, in major cities, with stable revenue flows. Currently, EUR17bn are invested in properties and land, but the portfolio may rapidly grow to EUR25-30bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Charles J. Pridgeon, who has previously served as CEO of Aareal Asset Management, will join Allianz Real Estate (ARE) this month as chief investment officer (CIO). He will be in charge of investment decisions for ARE’s global platform.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Bank Linth LLB on 8 September announced the appointment of Luc Schuurmans as a new member of its board, effective from 1 January 2011. On this date, the new director will take over as head of the newly-created Private Banking sector, with a team of five advisors. The direction of the four regions, 23 affiliates and four teams of client advisors will continue to be assured by David Sarasin, with the new title “private and business clientele.” Schuurmans previously worked at BNP Paribas (Switzerland) SA from 2002 to 2009.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Pioneer, the asset management unit of the UniCredit group, is said to have 25 suitors, according to reports in the Italian newspaper Il Messagero. None of the candidates is Italian, and only 5 of them are interested in acquiring the entirety of the asset management firm. The newspaper names GAM and Invesco as among the candidates to acquire the firm.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that Paul Rubens has left the Singapore-based hedge fund Black Horse to join Franklin Templeton in New York. In his new role, Rubens will assist Templeton’s investment teams in Asia, including joint ventures in China with Sealand Securities and China Life Insurance, as well as entities in Japan, India and South Korea. He will also assist in other regions, including Latin America.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Despite the downturn in the last week of August, the HFS UCITS hedge fund index has posted growth of 0.43% for the month of August as a whole, Hedgeweek reports. Eight strategies out of eleven finished the month with positive returns, with the best results for fixed income (+2.24%), credit and multi-strategy (with +1.83% each). The three strategies which showed losses were L/S equity (-0.49%), arbitrage (-0.27%), and convertibles (-0.20%).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to estimates by TrimTabs Investment Research and BarclayHedge, hedge funds in July saw net outflows of USD2.9bn, equivalent to 0.2% of their assets, Hedge Week reports. This is the second consecutive month of net redemptions, and funds have seen net outflows in three of the past four months. Assets in the sector have seen their third consecutive monthly decline, to a total of USD1.53trn, their lowest level since November last year.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets in the major funds of hedge funds were down 0.6% in first half, according to the most recent statistics from InvestHedge Billion Dollar FOHF Club, reported by Hedgeweek. This development is in line with the average performance of funds of funds in the same period. Assets in the largest funds of funds, those with assets under management of over USD1bn, totalled USD595bn in first half. The top ten funds saw an increase in their assets of USD6.4bn during the period.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The BarclayHedge hedge fund index of 835 funds which had published results as of 8 September reveals an average loss of 0.16% in August, and performance of 1.82% in the first eight months of the year. The largest gains in August were for the 6 equity short bias funds, with 2.23%, and the 16 convertible arbitrage funds, with 1.43%. However, the 93 equity long bias funds lost an average of 2.52%. In January-August, the 25 FI arbitrage funds finished on top, with performance of 8.35%, followed by the 16 convertibles arbitrage funds, which gained 6.77%. Equity long bias, however, has lost 2.25% in the first eight months of the year.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } UCITS funds in second quarter 2010 posted a net outflow of EUR28bn, compared with inflows of EUR48bn in first quarter, according to statistics from the European asset management association (EFAMA). Long-term UCITS funds, excluding money market funds, finished second quarter with net inflows of EUR23bn, compared with EUR86bn in first quarter. This development is probably related to investor concerns over the Greek crisis. Net outflows from money market funds increased in second quarter to EUR51bn, compared with EUR38bn in first quarter. The total value of assets in UCITS funds was down 0.5% in the quarter under review, to EUR5.606bn as of the end of June. Equities funds saw the largest decline (EUR76bn), followed by money market funds (EUR45bn). Assets in non-UCITS funds, for their part, increased 2.6% to EUR1.888bn as of the end of June.

Dow Jones Indexes and SAM have announced the launch of its European sustainability index series. The Dow Jones Sustainability Europe indexes complement the global Dow Jones Sustainability index series and include broad benchmark as well as blue chip indexes for Europe and the Euro zone. The new indexes are designed to serve as benchmarks and to underlie index-linked investment products such as funds, exchange-traded funds, structured products, futures and options.



p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } GAM has announced the launch of its first market neutral credit fund, which is managed by the US firm CDI LLC, and is entitled GAM Star Diversified Market Neutral Credit. The UCITS-compliant product, which has been listed on the Irish stock exchange since 2 July, aims for absolute returns with low correlation to bond markets, investing in a highly diversified long/short portfolio of undervalued credit, most of it investment grade. DCI uses quantitative methods to determine default risks, and to precisely value credit issues. The management firm then constructs risk-adjusted and diversified long/short portfolios to exploit inefficiencies.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } An extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting of the Romanian compensation fund Fondul Proprietatea has confirmed a management mandate awarded to Franklin Templeton Investment Management Limited (FTIML; see Newsmanagers of 1 March), Fonds Professionell reports. Mark Mobius, chairman of the Templeton Emerging Markets Group, says that the decision opens the way for fund listings in Bucharest. FTIML has recently opened an office in the Romanian capital, with 17 employees. The fund has assets of EUR2.7bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Laura Hamilton has left AIG Global Real Estate to join the institutional real estate team at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) as of 1 September. She will report to Jon Bailey, investment director. The Scottish management firm also reports that Graham McPhail (ex-Stockland) and Lucy Duncan (ex-Schroders) have also been recruited for the institutional real estate team, and will report to Peter Lillington, head of institutional real estate. The fourth recruitment is that of Ewan Cameron, who joins the SWIP Property Trust Team from Stockland, and who will report to Kerri Hunter, deputy fund manager. Kerry Lees has also been transferred to the SWIP Property Trust team as an asset manager; she was previously in the research and strategy team. Farida Manata has accepted a permanent position in the research team. As of 30 June, SWIP managed about GBP5.9bn in real estate, of which GBP2bn were for the SWIP Property Trust, whose size has doubled in 15 months.

According to the Financial Times, Goldman Sachs is facing a fine thought to be near GBP20m from the Financial Services Authority. The UK’s regulator opened its investigation into the bank in April after the SEC charged Goldman with misleading investors in a complex mortgage-backed security known as Abacus.

Des données statistiques contradictoires et la forte baisse des rendements sur l’obligataire poussent la volatilité à la hausse

Les fonds ouverts ont subi une décollecte de 28 milliards d’euros au deuxième trimestre, contre une collecte de 48 milliards d’euros sur le précédent

Le Credit Suisse a annoncé le 7 septembre la nomination de Osama Abbasi en qualité de chief executive officer pour la région Asie-Pacifique. Il devient membre du directoire de Credit Suisse Group AG et de Credit Suisse AG. Directement subordonné à Brady Dougan, il sera chargé de mettre en œuvre la stratégie de la banque et aura la responsabilité de la performance tant au niveau de la division qu'à celui des différents pays.Le groupe annonce par ailleurs que Kai Nargolwala devient chairman de Credit Suisse Asie Pacifique. C’est une nouvelle fonction non exécutive. A ce titre, M. Nargolwala conseillera et soutiendra le Senior Management de la région, y compris le nouveau CEO, en mettant l’accent sur la stratégie et les relations avec les clients importants. Osama Abbasi restera basé à Hong Kong, tandis que Kai Nargolwala sera transféré à Singapour. Les deux nominations sont effectives à compter du 1er octobre.

Selon Asian Investor, Janus vient de créer la fonction de chief operating officer (COO) pour la région Asie-Pacifique avec l’objectif de proposer un meilleur service à la clientèle institutionnelle. Janus a nommé à cet effet un ancien de BGI, Fred Horsey, qui aura la responsabilité des opérations, de la conformité et du reporting client ainsi que la coordination des responsables régionaux pour le développement des stratégies et des produits.

HSBC continue d’étoffer sa gamme d’ETF avec le lancement d’un ETF dédié à la zone Pacifique hors Japon, le MSCI Pacific ex Japan ETF coté à la Bourse de Londres. Cet ETF, qui porte à dix le nombre de produits de ce type, offre aux investisseurs une exposition à la performance de l’indice MSCI Pacific hors Japon, soit les marchés développés de la zone, à savoir l’Australie, Hong Kong, la Nouvelle-Zélande et Singapour.

Amundi ETF a annoncé mardi 7 septembre la cotation sur le marché italien de quinze ETF supplémentaires, ce qui porte le nombre total des produits disponibles sur Borsa Italiana à 60. Dans le détail, il s’agit de : - 6 ETF actions élargissant les possibilités d’exposition géographique avec AMUNDI ETF FTSE MIB, AMUNDI ETF S&P 500 et AMUNDI ETF NASDAQ-100.- 8 ETF obligataires répliquant les indices EuroMTS Eurozone Government Broad et permettant de se positionner sur la courbe de taux - les maturités vont de 3 mois à 15 ans - de la zone euro. A noter que parmi les nouveaux ETF figure AMUNDI ETF EX AAA GOVT BOND EUROMTS, un produit offrant une exposition à un portefeuille de titres émis par les gouvernements des Etats membres de la zone euro ayant au moins une notation inférieure à « AAA » ou un rating inférieur équivalent chez une des agences de notation S&P, Moody’s et Fitch. - 1 ETF monétaire, AMUNDI ETF EONIA offrant une exposition au taux de référence du marché monétaire de la zone euro.