La société de gestion britannique Gartmore a annoncé vendredi matin qu’elle allait s’introduire sur le London Stock Exchange mi-décembre. Selon la presse britannique, le gestionnaire devrait lever jusqu'à 300 millions de livres en mettant entre 30 % et 50 % de son capital sur le marché, ce qui le valoriserait à environ 1 milliard de livres. Pour mémoire, il devait s’introduire en Bourse il y a deux ans pour un montant de 1,5 milliard de livres, mais l’opération avait été annulée en raison de la crise.Gartmore, qui gère environ 22 milliards de livres d’encours à fin septembre, est détenu à 52 % par la société américaine de private equity Hellman & Friedman, rappelle le Guardian.
Dean Cheeseman, le responsable des fonds de fonds de F&C, prévoit d’acquérir deux fonds d’immobilier commercial d’ici à la fin de l’année, rapporte Money Marketing.
Depuis le recrutement en début d’année de l’ancien directeur général de Nmás1 Patrimonios, Íñigo Susaeta, l’encours du multi-family office Arcano Investment Advisors a doublé à 1,2 milliard d’euros, rapporte Expansión. L’effectif a aussi été doublé, à six personnes, parce que le nouveau patron a fait venir de chez Nmás1 le nouveau responsable de l’exécution, Borja De Cruilles et promu Paolo Mezza comme responsable produits.Arcano Investment Advisors s’est également doté d’un comité de stratégie mondiale composé des associés du groupe Arcano ainsi que de trois membres externes. Le multi-family office a par ailleurs déposé une demande pour obtenir le nouveau statut d’EAFI (entreprise de conseil financier).
La nouvelle Rumasa a indiqué quatre fonds, dont des fonds souverains, ont indiqué être intéressés par la reprise des créances douteuses de l’ancienne Rumasa de la famille Ruiz-Mateos, rapporte Expansión.
Alfonso del Moral, qui avait rejoint Aviva Investors comme directeur général du bureau de Madrid et responsable des marchés espagnol et portugais,a été licencié parce que le groupe change de modèle opérationnel à l’intertational, rapporte Funds People. Cela fait suite au recrutement en juillet du nouveau directeur mondial du développement, Erich Gerth, qui a décidé de supprimer la fonction de directeur pays (country manager). Dès lors, Alfonso del Moral ne sera pas remplacé. On n’exclut pas d’autres départs du réseau européen d’Aviva Investors.
Selon VDOS Stochastics, 312 fonds ont été lancés ou relancés (dans le cas d’OPCVM à capital garanti) en Espagne depuis le début de l’année, dont 88 axés sur le marché espagnol et 212 sur l’international, rapporte Funds People.BBVA Asset Management a été le gestionnaire le plus actif avec 11 nouveaux produits sur l’Espagne, devant Santander Asset Management (7 fonds) puis Invercaixu Gestión et Caixa Manresa Inversió (6 chacun). A l’international JPMorgan se classe en tête avec 41 nouveaux produits, devant MFS International (23).
Les banques espagnoles centrent en cette fin d’année leurs efforts de promotion pour les plans d'épargne sur les produits garantis et elles se focalisent bien davantage sur le recrutement de clients d'établissements concurrents que sur de la collecte nouvelle, comme le souligne Rodrigo Galán, directeur d’Ibercaja Pensiones, rapporte Cinco Días.Pour récompenser les transfuges, les primes en numéraire gagnent progressivement du terrain sur les cadeaux en nature ou la bonification des plans. Axa offre une bonification de 1 % à condition que le client investisse aussi dans d’autres produits financiers de la maison, le BBVA promet une prime de 2 %, mais qui doit être investi dans le plan et le Popular offre 8 % de prime, mais contre une promesse de rester 8 ans.Certains établissements offrent plutôt en parallèle des conditions préférentielles sur les comptes de dépôt, avec des taux plus élevés que ceux du marché, voire, comme dans le cas de La Caixa, un versement des intérêts à l’avance.
Lundi matin, la Banque Sarasin a rejeté dans un communiqué les allégations du magazine allemand Focus selon lesquelles l'établissement suisse aurait subrepticement acheté des actions de Douglas Holding pour le compte du milliardaire Erwin Müller. La banque rappelle qu’elle a notifié le 22 juillet 2009 à la BaFin et à Douglas le fait qu’elle avait acquis pour compte propre 10,80 % du groupe de distribution.
Dans les milieux de la gestion d’actifs, la fermeture aux remboursements du fonds immobilier DEGI International est principalement imputée à la Commerzbank, rapporte Die Welt. La Dresdner Bank est avec Allianz le principal partenaire de distribution des fonds DEGI. Depuis que la Dresdner Bank a été achetée par la Commerzbank, il aurait été conseillé avec insistance aux investisseurs de sortir des fonds DEGI pour se porter sur les fonds immobiliers de Commerz Real. Accusations que la porte-parole de cette dernière juge être une pure spéculation.
En raison principalement d’une forte baisse du taux d’actualisation à 5,29 % contre 6,40 % au deuxième trimestre et d’un net relèvement de 12 points de base à 2,43 % des perspectives d’inflation à long terme en juillet-septembre, les engagements des fonds de pension allemands se sont accrus de 18,9 % au troisième trimestre alors que la performance se limitait à 6,6 %, estime le cabinet de consultant Rauser Towers Perrin (RTP) dans la dernière livraison de son étude «German capital market update».Le taux de couverture des fonds de pension pour les sociétés du Dax a diminué à 58,2 % (contre 65,7 % au deuxième trimestre) tandis que celui pour les entreprises du MDax s’est contracté de 5,2 points à 43,3 %.RTP estime que, depuis le début de l’année, la performance des actions européennes dans le portefeuille des fonds de pension a été de 22,8 %, contre 17,8 % pour les actions internationales, 6,5 % pour les obligations, 1,7 % pour l’immobilier et 1,4 % pour le monétaire.
On the recommendation of the Council on Ethics of the Government Pension Fund - Global, the Norwegian finance ministry has decided to remove Norilsk Nickel from the portfolio of the pension fund, and in the two months to the end of October has sold off its shares, representing a value of EUR37m. The Russian group is the 31st company to be excluded from the pension fund on ethical grounds. The Ethical Council found that Norilsk’s pollution of the Taymyr peninsula in Siberia was extremely severe, particularly in the form of SO2, nickel and heavy metals, which endanger 200,000 residents near production sites. The Council has not yet evaluated Norilsk’s installations on the Kola peninsula.
VDOS Stochastics reports that 312 funds have been launched or relaucnhed (in the case of guaranteed funds) in Spain since the beginning of the year, Funds People reports. BBVA Asset Management was the most active management firm, with 11 new products focused on Spain, ahead of Santander Asset Management (7 funds), Invercaixa Gestión, and Caixa Manresa Inversió (6 funds each). For international funds, JPMorgan tops the list with 41 new products, ahead of MFS International.
Largely due to a heavy fall in the discount rate to 5.29%, compared with 6.40% in second quarter, and a net increase of 12 basis points in long-term inflation outlooks to 2.43% in July-September, German pension funds’ liabilities increased by 18.9% in third quarter, while performance was limited to 6.6%, the consulting firm Rauser Towers Perrin (RTP) estimates in the most recent edition of its “German capital market update.” The funding ratio for pension funds of Dax companies has fallen to 58.2% (compared with 65.7% in second quarter), while the ratio for MDax companies has contracted by 5.2 points to 43.3%. RTP estimates that, since the beginning of the year, the performance of European equities in the portfolios of pension funds has totalled 22.8%, compared with 17.8% for international equities, 6.5% for bonds, 1.7% for real estate, and 1.4% for money market funds.
In asset management circles, the freeze of the DEGI International fund to redemptions has been widely blamed on Commerzbank, Die Welt reports. Dresdner Bank and Allianz are the main distribution partners for DEGI funds. Since Dresdner Bank has been acquired by Commerzbank, it has been insistent in advising that its investors get out of DEGI funds in favour of real estate funds from Commerz Real. A spokesperson for the latter firm calls these claims mere speculation.
Van Eck Associates is planning to launch two ETFs covering Egypt and Kuwait, the Wall Street Journal reports. Market Vectors Egypt Index and Market Vectors Kuwait Index will track Egypt and Kuwait market indexes which include 25 shares each.
As we are in a low-growth market environment, investors would be well-advised to take advantage of the high dividend yield offered by shares in the utilities and telecom sectors, Bill Gross, head of Pimco, says in a recent statement. He estimates that these yields may range from 5% to 6%, which is far more attractive than the returns on bonds. In addition, their share prices are currently midway between their 2007 highs and their low point in 2008.
According to a survey of more than 300 professional investors by iShares in Germany and Austria, three quarters of respondents are convinced that equities will perform as well or better than bonds in 2010, and 74% feel that emerging markets will be in a better position than developed markets at the end of the recession. More than two thirds of those surveyed feel that 2010 will be a year of inflation, compared with only one third who predict deflation. Nearly 60% of managers surveyed predict that the Fed will be the first to raise its prime rates, followed by the ECB and the Bank of England. Dirk Klee, CEO of iShares for Germany, says these results corroborate the popularity on the markets of ETFs covering certain asset classes. 64% of the EUR41bn which have gone into ETFs in the past twelve months went to equities products. ETFs focused on certain emerging markets attracted EUR2.2bn, while funds focused on developed markets attracted a net total of EUR1.8bn. In the past six months, meanwhile, ETFs specialised in inflation-linked bonds saw net subscriptions of EUR1.1bn.
M&G Investments has signed a distribution agreement with the Italian firm Banca Ifigest, according to which 24 funds from the British asset management firm will be available on the Fundstore.it platform, the Italian website Bluerating reports. The platform is the largest online fund distributor in Italy, offering more than 2,000 mutual funds from more than 60 management firms through current accounts, the online news site reports.
La Tribune reports that European MP Jean-Paul Gauzès, reporter for the planned AIFM alternative management directive, will release his report on Wednesday, with some alterations. The newspaper notes that the directive will apply to all asset management firms, with less strict requirements for smaller firms. The European passport for asset managers will be issued only to firms registered in the European Union (EU). For fund managers outside the EU, member states will remain free to authorise or disallow sales of offshore products. The proportion of investments for funds of funds aimed at retail investors in unregulated funds will be limited to 30%. Leverage will not be limited, but ex ante limits on leverage for each fund managed may be set out.
On Monday morning, Banque Sarasin issued a statement refuting allegations in the German magazine Focus that the Swiss firm surreptitiously bought shares in Douglas Holding on behalf of the billionaire Erwin Müller. The bank points out that on 22 July 2009, it notified BaFin and Douglas that it had acquired 10.80% of capital in the retail group on its own behalf.
Alfonso del Moral, who joined Aviva Investors as CEO of its Madrid office and head of Spanish and Portuguese markets, has been dismissed from this position as the group is changing its international operational models, Funds People reports. This follows the recruitment in July of a new global head of development. Erich Gerth, who made the decision to eliminate the position of the country managers. Del Moral will not be replaced, and other departures from the European network at Aviva Investors cannot be ruled out.
Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management has promoted Stephen Corry to the position of CIO for Asia, based in Hong Kong. He was previously a strategist, and in his new position replaces Tony Stanton, who has left the firm, AsianInvestor reports. Meanwhile, Wilson So has been appointed as chairman of the wealth management board for North Asia, succeeding Oh Eng Lock.
Columbia Management has announced that Bank of America (BofA) has decided not to sell its global wealth & investment management division along with the rest of its asset management activities to Ameriprise, the parent company of Threadneedle (see Newsmanagers of 1 October). Money market funds from Columbia will thus continue to be managed by Paul Quistberg, who will report directly to Colin Moore, CIO of Columbia, though at the closing of the sale, in Spring 2010, they will undergo a name change.
American International Group (AIG) is giving a new name to its asset management activities, which it is in the process of spinning off. The asset management arm, which manages over USD88bn in assets (as of 30 June), is now known as PineBridge Investments. It specialises in equities, fixed income, hedge funds and private equity, and employs about 900 professionals in 32 countries. Its headquarters are in New York.
The UK asset management firm Gartmore on Friday morning announced plans for an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in mid-December. According to the British press, the fund manager is expecting to raise up to GBP300m from an offering of 30% to 50% of its capital on the market, which would value the firm at about GBP1bn. The firm had planned a an offering two years ago for GBP1.5bn, but the deal was cancelled due to the crisis. Gartmore, which managed about GBP22bn in assets as of the end of September, is 52% owned by the US private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, the Guardian notes.
Spain has already signed tax information-sharing agreements with six of the 45 countries on the blacklist of tax havens established in 1991, including Luxembourg last week and now Andorra, Cinco Días reports. The other four are Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Barbados, and the Dutch Antilles. Spanish investors are urging the government to sign agreements with Hong Kong and Singapore in the near future, while industrials are eager to see an agreement signed with Panama.
The financier John Hirst, who has closed his fund, Gilher Inc, and who is suspected of defrauding about 150 British expats in Majorca of GBP20m, had previously been imprisoned for two and a half years in the 1990s for a similar fraud, the Sunday Times reports. In 1992, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison for selling fake Allied Dunbar investment policies for personal gain. Hirst’s lawyer says that his client has recently been released from several weeks of psychiatric treatment at a hospital, and that he is completely willing to assist authorities.