Lyxor Asset Managenent has listed several new French-registered ETF funds on Deutsche Börse. The products include four funds which invest in publicly-traded real estate, and two which are focused on bonds. Among the real estate ETFs are one fund which invests in Europe (Lyxor ETF MSCI Europe Real Estate), one based on the United States (Lyxor ETF MSCI USA Real Estate), one focused on Asia ex Japan (Lyxor ETF MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Real Estate), and one based on global real estate markets, the Lyxor ETF MSCI World Real Estate (see Newsmanagers of 11 February 2010). The bond ETFs include one fund which invests in European government bonds rated AAA (Lyxor ETF Euro MTS AAA Government Bond) and one based on European investment grade-rated corporate bonds, excluding the financial sector (Lyxor ETF Euro Coporate ex Financials). With the new products, the number of funds listed on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform from Deutsche Börse comes to 617.

Natixis Asset Management announced on 24 March that it has launched the FCP Natixis Absolute Multistratégies fund, which offers preferred access to multi-asset class strategies selected from an international universe, and which has two drivers of performance, one fundamental, and the other quantitative. Natixis Absolute Multistratégies aims for annual returns 2% above the Eonia, capitalised for I-class shares, over a recommended investment duration of 2 years. The investment is aimed primarily at institutional and business clients. Natixis Absolute Multistratégies has a very broad investment universe. It invests in all asset classes (equities, bonds, money markets, currencies, commodity indices, etc), and in all geographical regions (developed and emerging countries). To achieve its performance objectives, the management team uses a wide range of strategies: directional positions (long and short) and arbitrage positions on all investment horizons, short-term and long-term. The portfolio is mostly invested in liquid supports (ETFs, futures contracts).

Robert L. Duncan, a hedge fund manager who posted years of solid results even during the turbulent fourth quarter of 2008, admitted to two of his investors that he had been faking his performance numbers since at least 2006, according to a complaint filed in court on Friday and people familiar with the situation. Victims in the case include an Atlanta trust and two well-known Atlanta investment managers who had invested client money with Mr. Duncan and his fund, Seaside Partners Fund LP, says the Wall Street Journal.

With the Multigest Select Alpha, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers (EDRIM) has launched a fund of multi-strategy hedge funds compliant with UCITS III, which itself takes the form of a French-registered FCP fund aimed at retail and institutional investors. The product offers weekly liquidity, and invests in underlying funds, two thirds of which which themselves offer weekly liquidity, while the remainder offer daily liquidity. Michel Saugné, co-manager of the Multigest Select Alpha fund, says that in order to earn returns of 6-8% with volatility of under 8%, EDRIM will focus on UCITS hedge funds which may use a pure strategy and whose performance is not negatively affected by an «onshore» replication of their strategies within the UCITS III format. Products included in the portfolio of 15-30 positions, selected from a universe of about 200 funds, will include regulated, liquid, transparent and diversified funds. This will exclude replications of less liquid strategies, but will allow managers to select the best replications and the best management talents for funds in strategies such as long/short equity (60%), CTA (15%), global macro, and also statistical arbitrage, emerging markets, and event-driven equities. Characteristics Name: Multi Select AlphaISIN code: FR0010854539 (C class), FR0010855015 (I class)Subscription commission: 2% maximumManagement fees: 1.70% maximum (C class); 1.10% maximum (I class)Performance commission: 10% of performance exceeding the Eonia capitalised annuallyMinimal initial subscription: 1 C-class share; EUR100,000 (I class)Initial value of shares: EUR100 (C class); EUR10.000 (I class)

Standard Life Investments on 24 March announced plans to buy a 75.1% stake in the fund of hedge fund management firm Aida Capital, based in London. The client base at the firm includes high net worth private investors, wealth managers, and institutional investors based in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Aida currently manages the Aida Open-Ended Fund, an investment vehicle listed in Guernsey, and the Aida Closed-Ended Fund, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Assets under management at MAN Group are expected to total about Usd39.1bn as of 31 March 2010, at the end of its 2009-2010 fiscal year. This figure compares with assets of USD42.4bn as of 31 December, and USD46.8bn as of 31 March 2009. Man announces in a statement that its gains in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year from mandates in multi-management activities total USD1.5bn, which will go on the books as new assets under management in the coming quarters. Pre-tax profits for the group totalled USD510m, compared with USD743m in the previous year. The board is planning to recommend a final dividend payment of 24.8 cents per share, which would put total dividends at an unchanged level of 44 cents for the fiscal year.

Les Echos reports that the Spanish presidency of the European Union and Strasbourg representatives will meet today in Brussels to reach agreement over their positions on a draft directive regulate the activities of hedge funds. The questions to be settled include the problem of a “European passport” which would allow managers based outside Europe to offer their funds throughout the European Union, under certain conditions, as soon as they are authorised for sale in any one of the member countries.

“We hope that the AIFM directive will be passed by the end of June,” Emil Paulis, director, Financial Services Policy & Financial Markets for the European Union, has announced at a conference held by the Luxembourg association of investment funds (ALFI). He added that the core of the problem currently is not the idea of the European passport, but rather the conditions under which it will be possible to obtain it.

In 2009, DekaBank, the central asset management firm for the German savings banks, has announced “economic” profits (profits by IFRS accounting standards, before taxes, and with valuation of financial instruments not included in results), for a record total of EUR661.8m, compared with EUR71.5m in 2008. The asset management/securities (Asset Management Kapitalmarkt, or AMK) division has earned economic profits of EUR330.3m, compared with EUR241.5m in the previous year. Due to net outflows of EUR5.4bn from money market funds, net redemptions totalled EUR2.5bn, compared with net subscriptions of EUR520m in 2008, while assets as of the end of December totalled EUR130.1bn, compared with EUR123.5bn (+5.3%). For the asset management/real estate (Asset Management Immobilien, or AMI) division, net subscriptions totalled EUR2.5bn, compared with EUR1.4bn, and economic profits, including exceptionals, came to EUR60.8m, compared with EUR105.1m in 2008.

Although a majority of German institutional investors (82%) agree that emerging markets will play a crucial role this year, only 44% of them have given them a major place in their portfolios, Schroders has found in a recent study. This divergence may continue to be large, Schroders states. Only 51% of respondents say they are planning to increase their exposure to emerging markets in the nest 24 months. Schroders also notes that equities have returned to the portfolios of pension funds, insurers and banks in Germany. While in January, heads of allocation at German institutional investors had an average of 47% of their portfolios invested in equities, 69% now say equities have strong potential this year, the study finds. From a regional perspective, 53% are plannign to make strong investments in European equities in the nest 24 months. Interest in US equities is more moderate (21%).

The Spanish management firm from the British Barclays group, Barclays Wealth Managers, has begun a sales campaign for the Barclays Multi Alpha fund, a fund of funds which invests in 30 UCITS III format hedge funds worldwide, Funds People reports. The fund, which has assets of EUR85m, was launched in August 2009, following the conversion of the Barclays Selección. The performance objective for the fund is the Euribor plus 350 basis points. As of the beginning of March, the portfolio was 29.5% invested in relative value strategies, 22.5% in global macro, 21% in long/short equity, and 13.25% in CTA, while the remainder was held in cash.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is probing bets made against stocks before new offerings, in inquiries focused on hedge funds including Appaloosa Management and Carlson Capital, says the Wall Street Journal.

The British management association (IMA) has welcomed the decision of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to work closely with professionals in the sector to amend the stamp duty regime. The tax, which applies to funds which are licensed for sale in the United Kingdom, may be discontinued. The tax also applies to British funds investing in other funds, although these funds may not invest in British equities. This is the area in which the tax may be discontinued, which would allow funds domiciled in the United Kingdom to once again become competitive with offshore funds. The British government has also announced plans to set up a working group to consider the possible establishment of a tax-transparent contractual fund vehicle. The government is also considering making improvements to the new regime for funds investing in unregulated offshore funds.

The new Chinese fund from Martin Currie, the Martin Currie China Fund, is now available to British investors. The vehicle, managed by James Chong, director, is a multi-capitalisation portfolio of 40-60 positions, representing the best investment ideas of Martin Currie for China and Hong Kong. The benchmark index is the MSCI Zhong Hua. Front-end fees are 5%, while annual fees are 1.5% for retail and 1% for institutional share classes.

Hedge Week reports that the British HSBC group on 24 March launched an ETF fund, the HSBC MSCI Japan ETF, which will provide investors a means of exposure to the performance of Japanese large and midcaps. The fund will initially be listed on the London stock exchange, and then on other European markets. The total expense ratio (TER) for the fund has been set at 0.40%.

Global index provider Dow Jones Indexes today announced the launch of the Dow Jones UAE 25 Index, which reflects the performance of the 25 largest and most liquid shares traded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Dow Jones UAE 25 Index will also form the basis for the first ETF in the United Arab Emirates, from the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD). The Dow Jones NBAD OneShare UAE 25 ETF will be listed on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange at the end of March. At the end of February, the five largest shares in the index by the volume of publicly traded capital (float) were Emirates Telecommunications Corp, First Gulf Bank PJSC, Emaar Properties PJSC, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC and Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC. The percentage of total capital represented by each share by traded volume is limited to 8% of the index, while companies which represent 5% or more of the index must together make up no more than 40% of the total index.

The asset management group UFG-LFP and Siparex, a French independent specialist in capital investment in small businesses, announced on Wednesday, 24 March that they have entered exclusive negotiations over an operational integration of UFG Private Equity into the Siparex group. The firm, whose activities are dedicated to capital investment, has assets under management of EUR320m, which are largely in proximity investment funds (FIP) or innovation common investment funds (FCPI), according to a statement from the establishment. The firm’s investment portfolio, which includes 30 mid-sized companies in a variety of sectors, would put the Siparex group over EUR1bn in assets under management, and would bring expansion to its “technology small businesses” and “proximity capital” units, a statement from the firm says.

A general meeting of the Portuguese association of investment funds, pension funds and wealth management (APFIPP) has elected José Veiga Sarmento, executive director and head of asset management at Grupo BPI, as its new president for 2010-2011. Sarmiento replaces Fernando Coelho (ESAF), who will remain a member of the board of directors. The APFIPP includes 41 asset management firms with assets of EUR106bn.

La Tribune reports that the US investment fund KKR has announced a sale of 4.4% of its stake in Legrand. Wendel, a co-shareholder in the firm, did not wish to participate in the operation, the newspaper adds.

The financial services provider BNY Mellon has been selected by the financial services group (including brokerage and asset management) Renta 4 Servicios de Inversion S.A. (Renta 4), as depositary bank for its ADR (American Depositary Receipt) program.

La Caixa, aware that its growth will not be in consumer mortgage lending in the next few years, has decided to strengthen two activities with strong potential for growth: insurance, which includes SegurCaixa, and private banking. In January 2008, before the acquisition of the Morgan Stanley private banking operations (EUR9bn in assets), La Caixa Banca Privada had 8,000 clients with EUR16.6bn in assets; as of the end of 2009, assets under management totalled EUR41bn, Expansión reports. La Caixa Banca Privada has 300 specialised managers and 31 centres in the network, serving 30,000 clients with disposable wealth of EUR500,000 or more. Within this division, La Caixa has created the Altium segment, which focuses on clients with more than EUR10m: this segment includes 265 clients, with assets of EUR5.71bn. La Caixa Banca Privada this year launched a new product aimed at high net worth clients: the Albus investment fund, for which minimal subscription is EUR1m. It is aiming for stable growth in its capital in the mid-term, and has already attracted EUR355m.

The Swiss banking group Syz & Co has announced a significant increase in revenues and profits in 2009. Earnings are up to CHF284.8m from CHF245.6m in 2008, while net profits have also increased strongly, from CHF32.6m in 2008 to CHF81.6m in 2009. Traditional management represents 80% of assets under management by the group, a 38% increase over 2009, while net inflows account for 62% of this increase. However, assets in alternative management suffered from a globally unfavourable environment for this asset class, a statement says, with total assets under management up slightly, from CHF18.3bn to CHF19.0bn. In parallel with Swiss private banking, in 2010, Syz & Co is planning to orient itself to domestic markets in other countries “with attractive growth outlooks,” either through its Oyster funds, which are already registered in nine European countries, or through its offices in Austria, London, Spain, and especially Italy, where Banca Albertini Syz & Co has seen strong capital inflows as a result of a tax amnesty offered by the Italian government, the firm notes.

The restructuring of the financial sector is attracting a growing number of investors in Spain, Expansión reports. José Mosquera and Rupesh Taylor, both former heads of the trading desk at Barclays in London, on 15 March launched the Luxembourg hedge fund Breogan Global Financial Fund, which in the next few days may receive a sales license for Spain from the CNMV. The UCITS III-compliant fund, with EUR30m in assets, is operated by the firm Auriga Securities, and is aiming for assets of EUR150m. The two founders are hoping to make use of their experience in buying and selling of financial sector assets to profit from the restructuring that will be required of banks and insurers due to toughening regulations (such as Basel III) and the need to pay back public aid money. The Breogan Global Financial Fund will aim for annual performance of 15%. It is a multi-asset class product (equities, CDS, short positions, convertible bonds, preferred stock, etc.)

Following the recent departure of Filip Weintraub from his position as a manager at Skagen (see Newsmanagers of 10 March 2010), the management firm has announced on its website the arrival of Søren Milo Christensen, a Danish manager who has been based in Singapore for several years. He will work largely with the team of analysts at Skagen Global Management. Milo previously served as a portfolio manager at the Danish bank BankInvest, where he was specialised in Asia and emerging markets.

Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking vient d’annoncer la nomination depuis le 22 mars de Sébastien Domanico à la fonction de responsable mondial de l’origination sur les marchés de capitaux de dette auprès des institutions financières. Basé à Paris, il sera rattaché à Demetrio Salorio, responsable mondial des marchés de capitaux de dette. Auparavant, Sébastien Domanico travaillait chez HSBC où il occupait la fonction de responsable européen de l’origination sur les marchés de capitaux de dette auprès des institutions financières.

«Les règles du jeu ont changé dans la gestion d’actifs», a déclaré mercredi Fathi Jerfel, responsable des solutions d’investissement pour la division réseaux retail d’Amundi, lors des journées de l’Association luxembourgeoise des fonds d’investissement (Alfi).Selon lui, la crise est certes derrière nous, mais les défis qu’elle a soulevés demeurent. Ainsi, en 2009, malgré la remontée des encours, la rentabilité des sociétés de gestion a baissé. En cause : des investisseurs qui se détournent des fonds actions et se dirigent désormais vers des produits obligataires ou des ETF, moins margés. Parallèlement, les clients deviennent plus exigeants et réclament des produits et des services plus personnalisés ainsi que davantage de clarté. «Le secteur va devoir vivre avec davantage de contrôles et moins de marges», résume Fathi Jerfel. Les sociétés de gestion doivent donc maintenant trouver un équilibre entre la baisse des coûts de production et la fourniture de produits et services adaptés aux besoins des clients. L’une des solutions a justement été la fusion de Crédit Agricole Asset Management et de Société Générale Asset Management pour créer Amundi. La nouvelle structure chapeaute des sociétés de gestion pour chaque réseau de distribution, explique Fathi Jerfel. Un modèle qui attire d’autres banques, elles aussi confrontées à ce nouveau contexte. Des discussions ont d’ailleurs lieu entre elles et Amundi.Par ailleurs, Fathi Jerfel a indiqué qu’Amundi fonctionnait avec une plate-forme luxembourgeoise pour les fonds dédiés à l’international, à la banque privée et aux institutionnels. Mais pour les particuliers, la société de gestion conserve des fonds de droit locaux.

Selon les Echos, l’ancien directeur général de la Caisse des Dépôts, Philippe Lagayette, a quitté son poste de vice-président au niveau européen fin janvier, après 12 ans dans la banque à Paris. Agé de 67 ans, il reste administrateur de Renault, Fimalac et PPR. Il est par ailleurs président de l’Institut des hautes études scientifiques (IHES), de la fondation pour la recherche sur la maladie d’Alzheimer et de la French American Foundation. Il est également très actif auprès de l’Université Saint Joseph, à Beyrouth.

Avec le Multigest Select Alpha, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers (EDRIM) vient de lancer un fonds multistratégies de hedge funds au format OPCVM III, un FCP de droit français destiné aux particuliers comme aux institutionnels. Ce produit à liquidité hebdomadaire investit dans des fonds sous-jacents offrant eux-mêmes, pour les deux tiers, une liquidité hebdomadaire et, pour le tiers restant, une liquidité journalière.Pour réaliser une performance de 6-8 % avec une volatilité inférieure à 8 %, comme l’indique Michel Saugné, co-gérant du Multigest Select Alpha, EDRIM se focalise sur des fonds alternatifs coordonnés qui peuvent mettre en œuvre une stratégie pure et qui ne perdent pas en performance, et en substance, à la réplication «onshore» sans modification majeure dans le corset OPCVM III.Les produits entrant dans le portefeuille de 15 à 30 lignes sur un univers d’environ 200 fonds doivent être à la fois réglementés, liquides, transparents et diversifiés. Cela exclut d’emblée de l’univers du fonds la réplication de stratégies peu liquides mais permet aux gérants de choisir en priorité les meilleures réplications et les meilleurs talents offerts par des fonds comme des long/short actions (pour 60 %), des CTA (15 %), des global macro, mais aussi des produits d’arbitrage statistique, de marchés émergents, voire des événementiels (event-driven) actions.Une due diligence exigeanteLa priorité de gérants est de sélectionner des gérants établis et expérimentés, que les équipes d’EDRIM connaissent pour la plupart déjà, en éliminant les «faux» gérants alternatifs et les gérants long-only qui déguisent leurs produits en fonds de performance absolue. De fait, 80 % des gérants retenus pour le Multigest Select Alpha figurent déjà dans les portefeuilles de la gamme ARIA 3 Multi Alternatif dont l’investissement dans les sous-jacents du nouveau fonds s'élève à 210 millions d’euros.Parmi les fonds dans lesquels le Multigest Select Alpha est investi on peut citer le Gartmore European Absolute Return géré par Guillaume Rambourg et Roger Guy, un fonds de GLG Partners géré par John White, un fonds devises de Brevan Howard ou le Blue Trend, un CTA suiveur de tendance de chez Merrill Lynch Global Funds géré par Leda Graga.La création de ce fonds de fonds répond à une double demande, celle articulée pour le compte de particuliers désireux de faire figurer un tel produit dans un contrat d’assurance vie, et celle d’investisseurs institutionnels recherchant un support de hedge funds domestiqués qui n’ampute pas leur ratio d’actifs contingentés, dérogatoires.CaractéristiquesDénomination : Multi Select AlphaCode isin : FR0010854539 (part C) FR0010855015 (part I)Commission de souscription : 2 % maximumFrais de gestion fixes : 1,70 % maximum (part C) ; 1,10 % maximum (part I)Commission de surperformance : 10 % de la performance au-delà de celle de l’Eonia capitalisé sur base annuelleMinimum de souscription initiale : 1 part C ; 100.000 euros part IValeur liquidative d’origine : 100 euros (part C) ; 10.000 euros (part I)

Le groupe de gestion d’actifs UFG-LFP et Siparex, spécialiste français indépendant du capital investissement dans les PME, ont annoncé, mercredi 24 mars, être entrés en négociations exclusives, en vue de l’intégration opérationnelle au sein du groupe Siparex, d’UFG Private Equity. Cette société, dont les activités sont dédiées au capital investissement, affiche un actif sous gestion de 320 millions d’euros que l’on retrouve en partie au travers de Fonds d’investissement de proximité (FIP) ou de Fonds commun de placement dans l’innovation (FCPI), précise un communiqué de l'établissement. Composé d’une trentaine d’entreprises de taille moyenne dans divers secteurs d’activité, son portefeuille de participations permettrait au groupe Siparex de passer la barre d’un milliard d’euros sous gestion, et de renforcer son pôle «PME technologiques» et «capital de proximité», ajoute le communiqué de l'établissement. Interrogé par Newsmanagers, Patrick Rivière, directeur général d’UFG-LFP, a confirmé que cette opération n'était en rien un désengagement de son entreprise. «Nous avons développé UFG Private Equity autour de ce qui était initialement une clientèle de distribution, via des FIP ou des FCPI», a-t-il rappelé. «Après notre rapprochement avec La Française des Placements, notre clientèle s’est nettement équilibrée entre distribution et investisseurs institutionnels. Un rapprochement avec Siparex nous a alors semblé judicieux pour profiter de l’expérience de cet acteur majeur dans le private equity, à destination des institutionnels», poursuit-il. Le groupe UFG-LFP ne perd donc pas la main, dans la mesure où si UFG Private Equity devient une filiale commune détenue à parts égales par Sigefi - la société de gestion du groupe Siparex - le groupe UFG-LFP entrerait quant à lui dans le cercle des principaux actionnaires regroupés dans la holding Siparex Associés – sans remettre en cause l’indépendance du Groupe Siparex. De fait, la volonté de gagner un temps précieux en s’appuyant sur une société de gestion reconnue dans le secteur du private equity et, simultanément, «la conviction que ce marché exigeant du côté des institutionnels ne permet pas désormais à de nouveaux acteurs de s’implanter facilement», comme l’a noté Patrick Rivière, ont été autant d’arguments qui ont motivé la démarche du groupe UFG-LFP. Ce dernier devrait d’ailleurs continuer à déployer et à promouvoir auprès de sa clientèle individuelle et institutionnelle les activités de private equity du nouvel ensemble.

Les membres du conseil d’administration de l’Association «Finance Durable et Investissement Responsable» ont décidé à l’unanimité de prolonger, pour trois années supplémentatires, jusqu'à fin 2012, les activités de la chaire de recherche «Finance Durable et Investissement Responsable» (FDIR).Créée au printemps 2007, sous l’impulsion de l’Association Française de la Gestion Financière (AFG), et financée par une quinzaine de sociétés de gestion et deux institutions, cette chaire a pour objectif de faire émerger de nouvelles méthodologies de recherche afin de mieux identifier, mesurer, puis intégrer dans les analyses financières les critères extra-financiers à la base de la création de valeur dans les entreprises. Ces travaux visent à montrer qu’un développement de la finance durable et de l’investissement responsable est aujourd’hui capital et susceptible de contribuer à des propositions de sortie de crise. Première dans son genre au niveau mondial, la chaire FDIR est co-dirigée par Christian Gollier (Toulouse School of Economics) et Jean-Pierre Ponssard (Département d’économie de l’Ecole Polytechnique), et s’appuie sur les compétences d’équipes de chercheurs hautement qualifiés et jouissant d’une réputation internationale.