Selon Money Marketing, T. Bailey envisage de lancer au début de l’année prochaine un fonds de fonds qui ne proposera que des produits passifs (ETF, trackers) mais qui seront gérés activement. Le fonds devrait afficher un taux de frais sur encours (TFE ou TER en anglais) parmi les plus bas du marché dans le secteur des fonds de fonds. Selon Philippa Gee, responsable du marketing et de la communication de T. Bailey, la nouvelle offre constitue une solution intéressante pour les conseillers en gestion de patrimoine (IFA) qui veulent privilégier l’investissement passif mais qui reconnaissent la nécessité d’une allocation d’actifs active.
F&C Private Equity, la division de fonds de fonds de capital investissement de F&C Asset Management, a annoncé le premier closing du fonds Aurora à 30 millions d’euros. Ce fonds est spécialisé principalement dans l’acquisition sur le marché secondaire de fonds de private equity européens et dans les co-investissements. La première acquisition d’Aurora a été bouclée le 22 octobre. F&C Private Equity a ainsi acquis pour le compte de ses clients les activités de private equity de la banque islandaise Landsbanki. Dans le détail, cela couvre la totalité du Landsbanki Private Equity Fund I et une partie importante du Landsbanki Private Equity Fund II, soit plus de 65 millions d’euros d’engagements initiaux. Landsbanki Private Equity Fund II continuera à être géré par Landsvaki, la branche de gestion d’actifs de NBI en partenariat avec F&C. Les participations du fonds de private equity de Landsbanki représenteront le portefeuille initial d’Aurora Fund.
Deux anciens gérants de New Star, Stephen Whiattaker et Phil Roantree, quelque 50 années d’expérience à eux deux, ont décidé de faire cause commune pour lancer une boutique spécialisée en gestion d’actifs d’ici au premier trimestre 2010, selon Investment Week. Ils envisagent en tout cas de déposer leur dossier auprès de l’autorité des marchés britannique, la FSA, avant Noël.Le nouveau fonds pourrait être consacré à 50/50 aux placements actions et obligations mais ces proportions pourraient évoluer en fonction des conditions de marchés.
L’introduction des actions Gartmore Group s’effectuera finalement sur la base de 220 pence l’action ordinaire de 0,5 penny. Le placement portera sur un total de 154,54 millions de titres, dont 127,3 millions d’actions nouvelles et 27,3 millions d’actions existantes, sachant qu’UBS en tant que «stabilising manager», s’est vu ménager une option de surallocation (greenshoe) de 23,18 millions de titres. L’opération devrait générer environ 340 millions de livres, hors greenshoe. Initialement, Gartmore avait espéré lever environ 440 millions de livres.
Selon Les Echos, plusieurs firmes de capital-investissement sont actuellement à vendre. La société de gestion SG Capital Europe, en charge des fonds de capital-investissement de la Société Générale, vient d'être reprise par son équipe d’investissement. AGF Private Equity a été mis en vente par Allianz. Barclays préparerait une scission de Barclays Private Equity. Et le groupe Natixis est en train de réorienter sa filiale de «private equity» vers la gestion pour compte de tiers. Les nouvelles règles prudentielles des banques et des compagnies d’assurances redonnent de l'élan à un mouvement déjà largement engagé.
La banque d’affaires internationale Nomura a annoncé le 14 décembre son admission au sein de ICE Clear Europe, en tant que membre chargé d’assurer la compensation sur les CDS. Nomura est à ce jour la seule institution financière d’origine asiatique membre de l’institution. Depuis le lancement de ses services de compensation en juillet 2009, ICE Clear Europe a compensé pour plus de 1.140 milliards de dollars de CDS en valeur notionnelle.
L’allemand Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE, groupe Union investment, banques populaires) a annoncé l’acquisition de deux nouveaux actifs. Il s’agit d’une part du projet de centre commercial «K» (33.290 mètres carrés et 20 appartements) situé à Courtrai (Belgique) et destiné au fonds immobilier offert au public UniImmo: Europa, de l’autre du complexe de bureaux Rund Vier (21.000 mètres carrés) de Vienne (Autriche) qui sera affecté au portefeuille du UniImmo: Deutschland. Dans les deux cas, les parties sont convenues de ne pas divulguer le montant de la transaction.
Après les 205,54 milliards de dollars de fin octobre, les ETF en Europe ont inscrit un nouveau record d’encours à fin novembre, avec 216,78 milliards de dollars, soit un gonflement de 52 % par rapport à fin 2008. BlackRock indique dans son dernier bulletin mensuel que l’on recensait au 30 novembre 812 ETF de 32 émetteurs cotés 2.315 fois sur 18 Bourses. D’après Lipper FMI, les rentrées nettes des ETF domiciliés en Europe pour les neuf premiers mois de l’année se sont établies à 28,6 milliards de dollars tandis que celles de tous les autres mutual funds totalisaient 177,7 milliards de dollars.Avec 168 ETF et 83,02 milliards de dollars d’encours, iShares est demeuré le numéro un européen, devant Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale), avec 123 fonds et 44,68 milliards de dollars, et db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), avec 116 produits et 36,42 milliards de dollars. Ces trois émetteurs totalisaient à eux seuls 75,7 % de parts de marché.
Ainsi que nous l’annoncions voici un mois, ETFlab, filiale de Deka (caisses d'épargne) a lancé son premier ETF «short». Le ETFlab DJ EURO STOXX 50® Short réplique à l’inverse l’indice Euro Stoxx 50 (lire notre article du 16 novembre). Il s’agit d’un produit de droit allemand (DE000 ETFL334) chargé à 0,4 %. Ce produit s’adresse à des investisseurs expérimentés. Pour la première fois, ETFlab utilise un mode de réplication synthétique au moyen d’un swap complémentaire au lieu de la réplication physique totale.
L'état-major de Hauck & Aufhäuser Asset Management GmbH HAAM), filiale de Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers, comptera bientôt un nouveau membre, responsable des produits de performance absolue : Eckhard Cornehl, qui exerce les mêmes fonctions chez le suisse Zulauf Asset Management à Zoug rejoindra au 1er janvier 2010 les deux autres directeurs généraux, Jörg Scholl et Claus Weber. Le nouvel arrivant sera chargé de développer l’activité performance absolue tant pour les fonds offerts au public que pour les produits destinés à la clientèle institutionnelle.
Hermes Fund Managers, owned by the BT Pension Scheme, has purchased a majority interest in Sourcecap International, a London-based investment business specialising in managing high-alpha European equity portfolios for institutional clients, run by Andrew Parry and James Rutherford. The new business will be called Hermes Sourcecap. This acquisition provides Hermes with the expertise to develop further a specialist investment partnership focused on a core European equities capability, with Hermes owning the majority share and its partners and employees having a stake in the long-term profitability and enterprise value of the business. The CalPERS Manager Development Program II will retain its existing stake in the company through Legato Capital Management Ventures LLC. The BT Pension Scheme will be making an investment of GBP200 million into a segregated account and a UCIT III vehicle which will replicate the European Alpha product. This investment will bring the total assets under management of Hermes Sourcecap to USD1.1 billion. Hermes has GBP25.7bn under management.
From January 1, 2010, the real estate activities of the Swiss alternative management firm Partners Group will become independent of the private capital department, and will instead become a division in its own right, led by Pam Alsterlind in San Francisco, and Claude Angéloz in Zug. Alsterlind will also join the executive board of the firm. Stephan Schäli will remain head of private equity and a member of the executive board. Meanwhile, Kurt Brichler, who was previously chief financial officer (CFO), will become head of a new operations division, whose head offices will be located in Zug and Singapore. Lastly, Partners Group has announced that its beta alternative strategies division will be spun off. The team led by Lars Jaeger will own a significant stake in the new entity. The Swiss asset management firm has also announced that its senior vice presidents Roland Käslin, head finance, and Denis O’Malley, head Guernsey, have been appointed as managing directors.
Le spécialiste du trading et de l’investissement en ligne Saxo banque a annoncé le 14 décembre le lancement d’un nouveau produit CFD, basé sur le prix d’ECX EUA des émissions de carbone. Les investisseurs pourront désormais acheter acheter ou vendre des tonnes métriques de CO2 via la plate-forme de trading Saxo Trader.Saxo Banque, qui propose déjà de nombreux CFD sur matières premières, va continuer d'étoffer sa gamme dans les prochaines semaines avec le gasoil, le platine, le bétail vivant, les graines de colza et le jus d’orange.
In November, Austrian funds saw net redemptions of EUR447.5m, compared with net subscriptions of EUR206.7m in October, bringing net outflows since the beginning of the year to EUR690.7m. Assets nonetheless came out to a total of EUR137.5bn, compared with a total of EUR135.4bn at the end of October, the sector association VÖIG reports. Since their low point in March of this year (EUR121.3bn), assets under management have increased by 11.87%; the increase since the end of December totals 7.7%. However, in April and May 2008, assets stood at a total of EUR152bn.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has for the first time published new harmonised European statistics for UCITS mutual funds domiciled in the Euro zone. “Compared with the quarterly statistics published previously, these new statistics provide fully harmonised, exhaustive, detailed and rapidly available information, on a monthly basis,” the ECB says in a statement. In third quarter 2009, the Euro zone UCITS investment fund sector grew by 10.6% compared with second quarter, from EUR4.3trn to EUR4.7trn. This development was largely a result of measurable increases in the value of assets owned by UCITS funds, and to a lesser extent, of large-scale net subscriptions to UCITS funds (net inflows related to transactions). Assets invested in shares in non-money-market UCITS funds in the Euro zone totalled EUR4.73trn as of the end of September 2009, up from EUR4.277trn in June 2009. In the same period, assets invested in shares in money market UCITS funds in the Euro zone totalled EUR1.256trn, up from EUR1.272trn.
L’allemand Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE, groupe Union investment, banques populaires) a annoncé l’acquisition de deux nouveaux actifs. Il s’agit d’une part du projet de centre commercial «K» (33.290 mètres carrés et 20 appartements) situé à Courtrai (Belgique) et destiné au fonds immobilier offert au public UniImmo: Europa, de l’autre du complexe de bureaux Rund Vier (21.000 mètres carrés) de Vienne (Autriche) qui sera affecté au portefeuille du UniImmo: Deutschland. Dans les deux cas, les parties sont convenues de ne pas divulguer le montant de la transaction.
After a total of USD205.54bn at the end of October, assets in ETFs in Europe set a new record at the end of November at USD216.78bn, an increase of 52% over the end of 2008. BlackRock states in the most recent edition of its monthly bulletin that as of 30 November, there were 812 ETF funds on sale from 32 providers, listed 2,315 times on 18 stock exchanges. According to Lipper FMI, net inflows to ETFs based in Europe in the first nine months of the year totalled USD28.6bn, while inflows to all other types of mutual funds totalled USD177.7bn. With 168 ETF funds and USD83.02bn in assets, iShares remains the top European ETF provider, ahead of Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale), with 123 funds and USD44.68bn, and db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), with 116 products and USD36.42bn. These three issuers together account for a 75.7% share of the total market.
With a corporate bond issuer in the United States defaulting every ten days in 2009, the total number of corporate defaults worldwide now stands at 260, the highest number since statistics began in 1981, according to the most recent figures from Standard & Poor’s (Global Corporate Default Update, 11 December 2009). The previous record of 229 defaults was set in 2001, during the last recession. The agency observes that this year’s total of 260 represents more than twice the number of defaults in all of 2008. A breakdown by region reveals that the United States lead for defaults, with 188, far outstripping Europe (20 defaults) and emerging markets (36). In the next twelve months, Standard & Poor’s predicts a default rate of 6.9% for corporate issuers in the speculative category, compared with a default rate of 10.8% in September 2009. The agency points out that a heavy fall in financing costs, the recovery of bond markets, and lower volatility are all factors that may lead to a decline in refinancing costs, even for less well-rated issuers.
Asian Investor reports that the new chairman and managing director of BlackRock for the Asia-Pacific region, Rohit Bhagat, is not planning to prioritize growth in size for the firm in Asia. Instead, the aim is to make use of the entity’s already large size to offer custom products and investment ideas to clients who are developing in different regulatory environments. This does not mean getting involved in mass production, even though the most apparent consequence of the acquisition of Barclays Global Investors (BGI) is a large scale that could provide some advantages, says Bhagat. The new dimensions of the business could help to make it stand out in terms of product range. In addition to a diversification in expertise and a larger capacity for exchange of information, the internationalisation of clients’ corporate activities demands a coordination of services in multiple jurisdictions. Additionally, economies of scale may be possible for some trading, research and compliance platforms. As of the end of September, assets under management for clients headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region totalled USD244.9bn, making BlackRock the largest international asset management firm in the region.
As Société Générale implied on 4 December, the day it dismissed him and simultaneously announced the acquisition of MetWest by TCW, Jeffrey Gundlach has founded his own asset management firm in Los Angeles. The firm is entitled DoubleLine LLC, and Oaktree Capital Management LP will take a majority stake in the venture. Oaktree will also provide logistical support for the startup of DoubleLine. The new firm is directed by the former CIO of TCW (who is also the largest shareholder), and a longstanding colleague, Philip Barach. A statement says the firm will employ “more than 30 former employees” of TCW; DoubleLine adds that this number will be likely to increase. Gundlach also says that the cooperation with Oaktree promises to be a fruitful one, as DoubleLine will specialise in core fixed income and mortgage-backed strategies, while its partner is more oriented to active bond management and alternative investments.
Gartmore Group, which is newly floated, is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial News can reveal. «The SEC is investigating short selling undertaken by Gartmore Investment Limited, on behalf of a fund, in advance of a public offer of a New York Stock Exchange-listed security», according to Gartmore’s prospectus.
L'état-major de Hauck & Aufhäuser Asset Management GmbH HAAM), filiale de Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers, comptera bientôt un nouveau membre, responsable des produits de performance absolue : Eckhard Cornehl, qui exerce actuellement les mêmes fonctions chez le suisse Zulauf Asset Management à Zoug rejoindra au 1er janvier 2010 les deux autres directeurs généraux, Jörg Scholl et Claus Weber. Le nouvel arrivant sera chargé de développer l’activité performance absolue tant pour les fonds offerts au public que pour les produits destinés à la clientèle institutionnelle.
The Lyxor Global Hedge Fund index gained 1.1% in November, bringing its performance since the beginning of the year to 5.5%, according to Hedge Week. Long-short equity managers generally earned honourable returns, as variable bias turned in gains of 0.7%, following losses of 1.70% in October. Statistical arbitrage and market neutral strategies continued to post negative results, of 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively. Special situations strategies finished the month with significant gains of 2.6%.
Although 2009 was already a record year for investments in commodities (USD60bn, 60% more than in 2008), institutional investors are planning to further increase their allocation to this asset class next year, according to the results of a survey of participants at the fifth annual commodities conference in the United States, held by Barclays Capital. Three quarters of respondents expect the average performance of commodities to be 10% or less in the next five years. However, though diversification remains the main reason for allocation to commodities, 60% of executives surveyed, more than twice as many as last year, say absolute returns represent the principal reason for their investment in this asset class. According to Barclays Cap, this suggests that investors are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and they will demand more developed outperformance strategies from their providers. Lastly, 40% of respondents say they will prefer active external managers. The instruments which have gained the most ground since last year are structured products and long/short index-linked strategies, while investors are less interested in long-only strategies.
Les Echos reports that many private equity firms are now up for sale. The asset management firm SG Capital Europe, which handles the private equity investments of Société Générale, has been taken over by its team, while AGF Private Equity has been put up for sale by Allianz. Barclays is preparing to spin off Barclays Private Equity, and the Natixis group is in the process of reorienting its private equity group towards management for external clients. New prudential requirements for banks and insurers have given new impetus to a trend which has been long underway.
La banque d’affaires internationale Nomura a annoncé le 14 décembre son admission au sein de ICE Clear Europe, en tant que membre chargé d’assurer la compensation sur les CDS. Nomura est à ce jour la seule institution financière d’origine asiatique membre de l’institution. Depuis le lancement de ses services de compensation en juillet 2009, ICE Clear Europe a compensé pour plus de 1.140 millairds de dollars de CDS en valeur notionnelle.
As of the end of November, assets in ETF funds worldwide set a new all-time record, at USD982.2bn, compared with a previous record of USD941.85bn one month earlier, BlackRock states in its monthly report (the previous edition was published by Barclays Global Investors). The increase of 4.3% this month brought the total number of products to 1,907, from 103 providers, listed 3,678 times on 39 stock exchanges. As of the end of December 2008, assets under management in ETF funds represented USD710.9bn, though the increase in the first eleven months of the year totalled 30.6%. BlackRock adds that net subscriptions to mutual funds (excluding ETFs) in January-September totalled USD13.3bn, while subscriptions to ETFs represented USD93.8bn, according to statistics from Strategic Insight. The top three providers of ETFs remain unchanged. iShares remains in first place, with 411 ETFs and USD471.60bn in assets as of the end of November, ahead of State Street Global Advisors (SsgA), which has 106 products and USD142.44bn, and vanguard, with 47 ETFs and USD87.96bn. These three asset management firms together account for 71.5% of the global market.
As announced in Newsmanagers a month ago, ETFlab, an affiliate of Deka (German savings banks) has launched its first short ETF. The ETFlab DJ EURO STOXX 50® Short provides an inverse replication of the Euro Stoxx 50 index (see Newsmanagers of 16 November). It is a German-registered product (DE000 ETFL334), with fees of 0.4%. the product is aimed at experienced investors. For the first time, ETFlab is using a synthetic form of replication via complementary swaps, rather than a total physical replication.
The alternative management firm Altamar Gestión Alternativa, an affiliate of the private equity investor Altamar Private Equity, has announced the launch of Senior Loans FIL, a Spanish-registered single hedge fund, Funds People reports. The president, vice president and deputy director of Altamar Gestión Alternativa are Claudio Aguirre, Mariano Olaso, and José Luis Molina, respectively.
As of the end of November, Expansión reports, one out of every two Spanish asset management firms shows net subscriptions since the beginning of the year, compared with one in ten only a year ago. After two and a half years of net outflows, the sector has posted net subscriptions between August and October, which has resulted in an overall increase of 2.15% in assets compared with their levels at the end of June. The blue ribbon for net inflows goes to Invercaixa, with EUR1.39bn, followed by Ibercaja (EUR711m) and Caixa Manresa (EUR417m), while last place goes to Santander AM with net outflows of EUR5.38bn. BBVA Gestión de Activos and Ahorro Corporación have seen net redemptions of EUR2.68bn and EUR2.8bn, respectively.