As part of its investment strategy for 2010, unveiled yesterday at a press conference, Allianz Global Investors predicted that several positive influences will affect equities markets in 2010, including the effects of stimulus packages, and continued restocking. Current valuations are not excessive, says Allianz GI, and several investment themes are interesting: exposure to emerging markets, the environment and green technologies, and research into returns from value strategies. Shares in the luxuries, spirits, rail, energy, and financial services sectors also provide Europe with exposure to emerging markets. In the environmental theme, Allianz GI observes that ‘green’ investments will occupy a significant place in government stimulus packages. As an illustration, “green tech” represents 15% of total investment, while the amounts allocated by the Chinese stimulus plan to these areas is high (USD221bn out of USD267bn in Asia-Pacific). Lastly, in the area of returns, Allianz GI observes that “the services sector has ambitious investment plans.” Meanwhile, the telecom sector offers high returns, but not growth, while health and agribusiness offer a good combination of yield and returns.

The crisis has not slowed the ETF sector. Quite the contrary: investors, who have become much more vigilant about their compensation risks, increased requirements in terms of transparency, liquidity troubles, and use of derivatives and structured products, have naturally turned to ETFs. According to a commentary by Barclays Global investors, on the basis of data from Thomson Reuters, net sales of ETFs have totalled slightly over USD270bn, while mutual funds excluding ETFs have seen a negative net balance of USD117.1bn. Last year, there were 2,926 firms which made use of one or more ETF funds. The countries which made the most use of these products, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain, and Switzerland, represent 83% of the total. Since 1997, the number of firms using ETFs has risen 1,673%, an annual growth rate of nearly 30%. Investment advisers, who, in the terminology of BGI, include all firms which manage assets on behalf of private clients or establishments, are the largest clients for ETF products, representing 73.5% of all institutional clients, far ahead of hedge funds (15%), a class of clients which is nonetheless growing by more than 42% per year (compared with 31.1% for investment advisers). The use of ETFs remains concentrated in Switzerland, with more than 2,000 firms using these products, ahead of the United Kingdom, where 120 institutions have assets invested in ETFs, Canada, and Switzerland.

On the basis of statistics from the CNMV, Funds People has found that since the beginning of the year, BBVA and Santander are the two management firms to have placed three funds each in the top five products for net subscriptions since the beginning of the year, including the top bond fund and second place for diversified funds. This also is an indication that equities funds have been comparatively neglected by investors, where the best net inflows, to the Mutuafondo Bolsa fund, totalled only slightly under EUR80m. In fact, the five equities funds at the top of the rankings have registered net subscriptions of EUR263.6m, while the top five bond funds have nearly EUR2.89bn, and the top five diversified funds have posted net subscriptions of about EUR2.44bn. The product which drew the largest net subscriptions was the bond fund BBVA Dinero IV (EUR872.8m), followed by the Banesto MX RF 90/10 from Santander, with EUR853m.

Occam Asset Management, the management firm created by the founder of Thames River Capital, Jonathan Hughes Morgan, is planning to launch a UCITS III-compliant absolute returns fund next month dedicated to Asia, Investment Week reports. The vehicle will be managed by Mark Williams and Fabiana Fedelli, and will be an addition to the Asia Focus long-only fund. The two long-only funds from the firm, Occam Asia Fund and Occam Europe Focus, managed by former Threadneedle manager Phil Cliff, have both considerably outperformed their respective benchmarks.

Thames River Capital has raised more than USD200m for its two funds launched last month, Credit Select and Global Credit, Investment Week reports. Credit Select, managed by Stephen Drew and Mehrdad Noorani, focuses on A grade corporate bonds from developed markets, while the Global Credit fund invests both in cvorporate bonds from developed markets and from businesses in emerging markets rated investment-grade, with an average rating of BBB. Since the beginning of the year, Thames River has taken in gross subscriptions of USD5.2bn as of the end of October.

Raj Rajaratnam, president and founder of the alternative management firm Galleon, has rejected accusations by the SEC that he has been involved in insider trading of shares in Intel, AMD, Google, and Hilton Hotels (among others), Handelsblatt reports. In addition, the Sri Lankan manager has filed a lawsuit against the US regulatory authority in which he accuses them of spying on him by illegal means.

The divorce between the German management firm versiko and its Luxembourg affiliate Ökoworld Lux, on one hand, and Fortis Investments on the other, has now been completed (see Newsmanagers of 26 June). On Tuesday, versiko announced that, from 1 November, central administration of (SRI) funds from Ökoworld would be taken over by Hauck & Aufhäuser Investment Gesellschaft. H&A not only enjoys a good reputation, but, versiko adds, its fees are considerably lower, and commissions will probably be reduced by an average of 50%.

A survey of sustainable development funds by Feri EuroRating Services (see Newsmanagers of 26 June) has found that in rankings of sustainable investment providers by resopndents in a survey of 560 professional investors, Sarasin bank leads the firms considered most competent in fund management, ahead fo SAM, another Swiss actor, Ökoworld (the Luxembourg affiliate of Versiko), and Pictet. All four earn a total rating between 2 (very good) and 3 (good). For management firms with whose funds respondents had had better experiences, Pictet places far ahead of Sarasin and Swisscanto, two other Swiss specialists, while BlackRock Merrill Lynch follows in the rankings, ahead of SAM.

Foreign actors won all the top places in the new rankings of the best management firms in Germany at the Feri EuroRating awards, the Börsen-Zeitung reports, in a supplement dedicated to the prizes. Fidelity Luxembourg was the best overall fund provider, while the British firm M&G Investments won the prize for best equities manager, and the Austrian Raiffeisen Capital Management (RCM) won out as best equities [sic] manager. The British firm Barclays Global Investors (BGI) was awarded the prize for best ETF manager. The only consolation for German firms is that the best specialist manager was DJE Investment, which is registered in Luxembourg, but which has its roots in Munich. However, DWS placed first for German equities, and Aberdeen won out for emerging markets.

The European parliament is siding with the European Commission in controversy over European regulation of hedge funds, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. The reporter on the proposed legislation, Jean-Paul Gauzès, has called for a limit to the amounts of leverage these funds should be permitted to use. He also recommends that hedge fund managers themselves engage to respect a limit to their use of external financing, and that they declare this limit to the regulatory authority. In addition, the future European regulatory authority should, the reporter says, have the power to impose an even stricter limit in exceptional cases.

Asian Investor reports that Tom Daniel, a specialist in electronic trading previously at the Australian Macquarie group, last week joined CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets as head of electronic trading, in Hong Kong, replacing Bruce Benson. His mission will be to deploy the algorithmic trading platform for the region.

Kelly capital has launched the first ETF funds with 100 times leverage, entitled Daily Nasdaq 100 Bull 100x Shares (Soar) and Daily Nasdaq 100 Bear 100x Shares (Sink), the Börsen-Zeitung reports.

Claudia Quiroz, who was previously a member of the Industries of the Future team at Henderson, has been put in charge of management for a multi-asset class fund dedicated to climate change which will be launched in December by Cheviot Asset Management, Investment Week reports. The British-registered product will carry a management commission of 1.5%, and a minimal subscription of GBP1,000. The fund will have 50 to 60 positions, and will invest in bonds, commodities and equities worldwide in the areas of energy, food, health, natural resources, and water.

In a long article dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the launch in Germany of open-ended retail real estate funds, Financial Times Deutschland notes that the average performance of the 26 products in this category has fallen from 5.6% in early 2008 to 2.2% as of the end of September, while three funds show losses, namely, the Inter Immoprofil and Euro Immoprofil funds from iii Investments (HypoVereinsbank), and the P2 Value from Morgan Stanley Real Estate (which has lost 12%). Currently, real estate funds which have been closed to redemptions for more than 12 months have about EUR4.5bn in assets for 200,000 subscribers, equivalent to 5.2% of assets in the sector (EUR87bn). None of the frozen funds has succeeded in amassing sufficient liquidity through sales of these assets, which suggests that valuations are far higher than the market realities. It may also be related to the fact that the four frozen funds (DEGI Europa, P2 Value, TMW Weltfonds and KanAm US grundinvest) do not have retail banking distribution networks.

Fear of inflation is seizing the hedge fund industry, and managers are increasingly turning to gold as a part of their investment strategies. Even leaders in the sector such as Tudor Investment, Paulson & Co and Greenlight Capital are finding a taste for gold. The head of Greenlight, David Einhorn, has long been critical of the Fed’s lax monetary policy, and Paulson & Co is launching a fund based on gold. Hayman Advisors and Eton Park Capital are also said to have sizeable investments in gold, which partly explains why assets in the tracker fund SPDR Gold Shares have exploded this year. A survey of fund of fund managers by Moonraker has found that 20 out of 22 hedge fund managers surveyed had bought gold as a personal investment.

In the fiscal year ending on 31 October, Eaton Vance has posted a decline in operating profits of 36% to USD233.2m, while net profits have contracted 34% to USD130.1m. Assets have risen by USD31.81bn in the twelve-month period under review, to total USD154.9bn. Net subscriptions to long-term funds totalled USD32bn, and market effects were positive to the tune of USD11.16bn. The management firm states that net subscriptions from institutional investors and high net worth private clients represented USD7.91bn, in addition to which USD4.83bn came from new institutional or high net worth private clients. Retail managed accounts posted net inflows of nearly USD2.12bn, of which more than USD2.03bn came from new clients.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Europanel Research and Alternative Asset Management’s (ERAAM) asset manager rating to ‘M2-' from ‘M2' for its fund of hedge funds (FoHF) investment activities. The downgrade reflects ERAAM’s diminishing profitability as a result of declining assets under management (AUM), which may prove challenging in the context of ERAAM’s corporate independence. Like many FoHF managers, ERAAM experienced large investor redemption pressures between October 2008 and March 2009, which saw its AUM decline by 50% from EUR850m at end-September 2008, says Fitch. This has created some investor concentration and undermined the company’s profitability. The firm has adequate liquidity to face short-term pressure and is expecting to report a small profit for 2009. The deterioration in profitability may nevertheless prove challenging in the context of ERAAM’s corporate independence and restoring AUM growth momentum while improving financial performance are key challenges for ERAAM in 2010.

The Swiss bank Mirabaud has signed an agreement to buy a minority stake in venture Finanzas, a Spanish firm specialised in brokerage, analysis, management and sales of investment funds. The investment, whose total amount has not been disclosed, allows the Swiss firm a point of entry into the Spanish market. “Spain is an important European market for our strategic activities,” says Thierry Fauchier-Magnan, partner and chairman of the executive board at Mirabaud. “Our development priorities for the next five years are domestic private clients, institutionals, brokerage and corporate finance, and product distribution,” he adds. The minority investment is only a first step, as Mirabaud is planning to increase its stake so as to become a majority stakeholder by mid-2010. The goal is to integrate the Venture Finanzas product range (which consists of several funds and Sicav products). “Our aim is for Venture’s activities to be conducted under the Mirabaud brand name by the middle of next year,” says Antonio Palma, managing partner and member of the executive board at the Swiss firm.

On Tuesday, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) announced the recruitment of James Taylor as investment director, government bonds. Taylor, who was previously head of fixed income portfolios at Gulf International Bank UK, will report to Graeme Caughey, head of government bonds. SWIP has made several recruitments in the past few weeks, including Robert Webb as investment director, corporate bonds, who joins from Aviva Investors, where he was head of credit portfolio management. Andrew Tunks has been appointed director of fixed income at SWIP. He was previously head of fixed income and global macro.

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) on Tuesday announced a campaign to promote good governance and improve the management of pension funds. As part of this campaign, in the next few months, the regulator will provide updated directives on internal controls, and publish an up-to-date document on the knowledge which trustees should have. Trustees will be offered an e-learning resource covering topics in risk management. The campaign will also include a range of consultations on proposed new legislation on record keeping and updated rules for the liquidation of pension funds.

The Spanish Inverco association of management firms on Tuesday unveiled its first “savings barometer,” a survey undertaken between 5 and 22 October of 2,500 savings investors, of whom only 1,900 said they were able to save, Cinco Días reports. 24% thus consider that they have no way in their current circumstances to set aside savings. 71.7% of respondents say that liquidity is the most important characteristic in a financial product, above security, transparency, and performance. Returns are the most important quality only for investors aged under 40 and are the least important aspect for those aged over 55.

Certains membres ont fait part de leurs inquiétudes sur un maintien trop prolongé des taux bas

Selon Deutsche Bank, à peine la moitié des 1.200 milliards d'euros de titres éligibles au repo respecterait les nouvelles exigences annoncées vendredi

Depuis cinq mois, les prix remontent. Malgré l’extension des mesures de soutien, le chômage et les saisies pourraient encore peser sur le marché

Selon l’Echo belge qui cite des calculs réalisés par les quotidiens De Standaard et Het Nieuwsblad, les fonds d'épargne pension défensifs performent encore un peu mieux que les indices boursiers. Cela s’explique principalement par le fait que les plus défensifs ont moins chuté en 2008 et ont donc, cette année, moins de retard à rattraper. Tout le contraire des fonds dynamiques, qui, s’ils ont augmenté en moyenne de plus de 20% en 2009, avaient perdu en moyenne plus du quart de leur valeur en 2008.

La Tribune rapporte que des appels à la grève ont été lancés pour ce mardi 24 novembre à la Société Générale et chez HSBC France. Du côté de LCL, les réunions des instances du personnel ont été suspendues. En cause, des revalorisations salariales proposées jugées insuffisantes par le personnel des établissements.

Midi Capital, la société de capital investissement filiale du Groupe Caisse d’Epargne vient d’annoncer le lancement de Mezzano, un fonds d’investissement de proximité (FIP) qui concerne des PME du grand sud (PACA, Aquitaine, Midi Pyrénées et Languedoc Roussillon).D’une durée de placement de cinq ans (prorogeable deux fois par ans sur décision de la société de gestion), le fonds est composé d’obligations convertibles non cotées qui assure chaque année, le versement d’un coupon. «Les obligations convertibles du FIP Mezzano, sont une alternative à l’augmentation de capital, permettant un renforcement du bilan sans dilution des actionnaires», précise un communiqué de la société de gestion. «En pratique, l’entreprise émet des obligations à 5 ans, assortis d’un coupon entre 8% et 9 % et d’une prime de non conversion de 4% à 5%."Caractéristiques Code Isin : FR0010787283 Frais d’entrée : 5 % max Frais de gestion : 3,5 % max Montant de la part : 500 euros Montant minimum à la souscription : 1 part

Selon Les Echos, Rio Tinto négocie actuellement la cession des produits usinés d’Alcan, qui emploient quelque 10.000 personnes. Un accord d’exclusivité a été signé avec le fonds Apollo, indique-t-on de source proche du dossier. Le Fonds stratégique d’investissement envisagerait de participer à la transaction, en prenant 10% du capital d’Alcan Engineered Products, une société qui regroupe une partie des anciennes usines Pechiney, celles qui fabriquent des produits en aluminium pour l’aéronautique, la défense, l’automobile, etc.

Crédit Agricole Private Equity a lancé la semaine dernière un fonds commun de placement dans l’innovation (FCPI), LCL Innovation 2009. LCL Innovation. Il sera commercialisé jusqu’au 21 décembre 2009.Par ailleurs, le quota destiné aux entreprises innovantes au sein du FCPI CAAM Innovation 10, commercialisé jusqu’au 23 décembre auprès de la clientèle de particuliers des Caisses régionales du Crédit Agricole a été confiée à Crédit Agricole Private Equity. Dans les deux cas, les fonds investiront dans les secteurs en développement tels que l’électronique, les télécoms, les logiciels, les services internet, les biotechnologies ainsi que dans le secteur des technologies propres (Cleantech). Caractéristiques de LCL Innovation 2009 Code Isin : FR0010786400Valeur de la part : 100 eurosSouscription minimale : 10 parts soit 1 000 eurosDroits d’entrée : 4% Frais de gestion : 3,3% nets de taxesDurée de placement : 6 ans minimum, pouvant aller jusqu’à 10 ans Caractéristiques de CAAM Innovation 10 Code Isin : FR0010784199Valeur de la part : 100 eurosSouscription minimale : 10 parts soit 1 000 eurosDroits d’entrée : 4% Frais de gestion : 3,2% Durée de placement : 8 ans minimum, pouvant aller jusqu’à 10 ans

«Les salaires des dirigeants de sociétés moyennes sont plus que raisonnables», a déclaré hier Pierre Godet, président de l’association technique de cabinets d’audit et de conseil ATH qui présentait la première étude réalisée pour sa collection l’Observatoire de l’information financière. Premier thème choisi, la rémunération des dirigeants des sociétés cotées sur la base d’un échantillon de 176 sociétés Eurolist, hors CAC 40, SBF 120 et banques et assurances, sélectionnées de manière aléatoire parmi celles qui avaient déposé leur document de référence 2008 à l’AMF entre le 1er janvier 2009 et le 15 juillet 2009. Premier constat, la rémunération moyenne d’un dirigeant de PME est loin d'être scandaleuse. En effet, 51% des dirigeants ont une rémunération totale (fixe, variable, exceptionnelle, avantages en nature et jetons de présence) inférieure à 300.000 euros. Ce qui correspond aux conclusions d’une étude de l’Insee qui indiquait que le salaire net moyen d’un dirigeant d’une entreprise de plus de 1.000 salariés s'établissait en 2007 à 302.000 euros.Il est vrai que cette valeur médiane est à relativiser en fonction du compartiment de la société. Si 74% des dirigeants des sociétés du compartiment C et 53% des dirigeants du compartiment B ont une rémunération inférieure à 300.000 euros, ils ne sont que 19% du compartiment A à se trouver dans cette situation.L'étude montre par ailleurs que les niveaux de rémunération constatés sont globalement corrélés avec les niveaux de chiffre d’affaires des sociétés et avec leur capitalisation boursière. Les rémunérations moyennes totales ‘un dirigeant de l'échantillon s'établissement à 975.000 euros pour le compartiment A, 386.000 euros pour le B et 227.000 euros pour le C. Près des deux tiers des dirigeants ont bénéficié d’une rémunération variable représentant respectivement 42%, 26% et 20% de la rémunération totale pour les dirigeants des compartiments A, B et C. En complément de cette rémunération totale, 31% des dirigeants ont bénéficié d’actions de performance ou d’options de souscription ou d’achat d’actions pour un montant total d’un peu plus de 53 millions d’euros. L’association ATH relève que les scandales à répétition liés aux rémunérations des dirigeants de grandes sociétés ont entraîné une inflation de textes, 8 réformes législatives en dix ans. Cette multiplication de textes assure une meilleure transparence de l’information sur les sociétés cotées mais s’accompagne aussi d’une complexité et d’une lourdeur administrative pour l’ensemble des sociétés. L’association estime que l’information proposée, généralement très respectueuse des exigences de la règlementation, est riche mais hétérogène. Elle pourrait être améliorée et surtout simplifiée. Une évolution du cadre législatif et réglementaire semble nécessaire afin notamment de préciser et d’harmoniser les concepts, de rendre homogènes les périmètres des dirigeants concernés, d'éviter les duplications d’information, de supprimer certaines obligations plus vraiment utiles et d’adapter certaines exigences au contexte des valeurs moyennes."Il ne s’agit de refondre les dix tableaux proposés par l’AMF qui constituent une réelle avancée. Le problème est plutôt autour», a estimé Pierre Godet. «Ce sera un travail de longue haleine», a-t-il ajouté. L’association ATH, qui regroupe une vingtaine de cabinets représentant un chiffre d’affaires de 220 millions d’euros, ne compte pas s’arrêter là. Avec l’objectif d'éclairer les décideurs économiques, les institutionnels, les entrepreneurs sur les grands sujets d’actualité, l’association se propose notamment d’actualiser l'étude sur les rémunérations peut-être tous les deux ans, et d’aborder aussi d’autres thèmes porteurs comme le développement durable ou les passifs sociaux.