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05/10/2009

La clientèle privée jugée à tort trop volatile

Selon L’Agefi suisse, la clientèle retail de l’alternatif, qui l’an dernier a déclenché des remboursements rapides et non prévisibles sans lien avec les performances des géranst, apparaît comme trop volatile. Alors que les institutionnels sont considérés comme stables. A tort selon des experts. «Le problème ne vient pas du client, mais de la banque où le turnover des effectifs peut parfois être extrêmement rapide. Des équipes de gestion mettent en place une stratégie et choisissent des gérants. Quelques mois plus tard, l’équipe change et ses remplaçants modifient la stratégie. Cela donne lieu à des remboursements massifs qui n’ont rien à voir avec les performances», explique Dariush Aryeh, partenaire de la société de conseil Fundana. Dans ce processus, les clients n’interviennent pas. C’est la banque qui modifie son allocation d’actifs sans que le principal bénéficiaire soit même au courant, dans certains cas, poursuit-il. Les clients privés qu’il conseille n’ont d’ailleurs pas demandé des retraits massifs.
05/10/2009

Sovereign fund to lobby

Anne Kvam, global head of corporate governance at NBIM, the affiliate of the Bank of Norway that manages the Government Pension Fund - Global (GPFG), has announced that the pension fund will kick off a campaign to demand that the US firms Harris Corporation, Clorox Company, Parker Hannifin and General Health separate the positions of president and CEO, Responsible Investor reports. The sovereign fund will also join initiatives to require directors of UK companies to be subject to re-election every year. GPFG owns British publicly-traded shares worth GBP32bn.
05/10/2009

Santander beefs up distribution of Luxembourg funds

Dolores Ybarra, CEO of Santander Asset Management, has told Expansión that the firm’s goal is to offer Latin American equities and bond funds for sale in Luxembourg, which is complicated as institutional investors require that these products have high volumes of assets before investing. The affiliate of the Spanish bank has had a Luxmbourg Sicav since 1993; it now has 23 sub-funds and assets of only EUR750m. Santander has now decided to boost sales of shares via its Spanish network in order to boost volumes to a high enough level for institutional investors to be interested. Net subscriptions since the beginning of the year have totalled EUR180m. Meanwhile, Santander Asset Management has registered its funds in the United Kingdom and has begun the process of doing so in two Asian countries as well.
05/10/2009

Microfinance funds to be exempt from subscription tax

The Luxembourg investment fund association (ALFI) late last week welcomed a proposal by the Luxembourg government to exempt microfinance investment funds from subscription tax. The proposal, which is a part of the 2010 budget, follows a recommendation by ALFI “which has long held that an exemption from subscription tax will encourage the development of this type of fund in Luxembourg.” The Grand duchy’s ambition is to “become a leading place of domicile for Microfinance Investment Vehicles.” 45% of assets in known microfinance investment vehicles worldwide are based in Luxembourg.
05/10/2009

Sources of capital drying up for private equity

Net inflows to the 79 funds from private equity firms which underwent a final closing in third quarter 2009 totalled USD38bn, down 55% from their total in April-June, and 68% less than in the corresponding period of last year, according to a report from Previn. This is the lowest level recorded since fourth quarter 2003, when the total was USD37bn. The record was set in second quarter 2007, with a total of USD208bn. According to Preqin, 90 private equity funds this year called off plans to raise capital, up from 30 last year and 15 in 2007. This month, there were 1,574 funds in active fund-raising, nearly 100 fewer than at the beginning of the year. In addition, these funds are aiming for USD754bn in inflows, while a total of USD900bn in capital was aimed for in first half. In these conditions, the average duration of fundraising until the final closing has lengthened to more than 18 months, from 15 months in 2008, 12 months in 2007 and 9 ½ months in 2004. Eight funds which had a final close in July-September raised over USD1bn, of which the largest is Hellman & Friedman VII, with USD8.8bn, though it had iniitally aimed for USD13bn. The TA XI fund from TA Associates attracted USD4bn.
05/10/2009

Madoff scandal has taken a bite out foreign fund product range available to Spanish investors

To prevent future scandals similar to the Madoff scandal from polluting their reputations, Spanish private banks are moving from open architecture to controlled architecture, and the CEO of Pictet Funds for the Iberian peninsula and Latin America, Gonzalo Rengifo, predicts that the range of foreign products on offer from private banks will soon shrink to 15 providers, compared with 80 before the crisis, Expansión reports. Security is being preferred over profitability, as specialists focus on major management firms with high volumes and good reputations. This process has two other causes: on one hand, conducting fewer due diligences costs less, and on the other hand, redistributing capital among fewer managers produces larger soft commissions. Between the end of December 2007 and the end of August 2009, assets at foreign asset management firms in Spain fell from EUR50.04bn to EUR27bn; they totalled EUR25bn as of the end of June 2009. The major players are currently JPMorgan (EUR5.23bn), BNP Paribas (EUR2.17bn), Crédit Agricole (EUR2.08bn), Pioneer (EUR1.49bn), and Schroders (EUR1.16bn), followed by Fidelity and Société Générale with EUR1.07bn and EUR1.04bn. Deutsche Bank, BlackRock and Pictet follows with EUR934m, EUR803m and EUR718m.
05/10/2009

A profitable deal for RREEF

Cotizalia has calculated the actual profits to RREEF from a sale and lease back operation in which it will take over the BBVA bank branches from Deutsche Bank at 10-12%, above the announced 6-7%; the announced rate did not include rent revenues. The effects of strong leverage should also be taken into account, as RREEF financed 80% of the EUR1.2bn acquisition through loans. BBVA and RREEF have also agreed that the fund will have six months to find financing corresponding to 25% of the initial project, as not all the properties could be acquired in the recently announced operation (see Newsmanagers of 18 September).
05/10/2009

88% of equities funds have lost money since 2006

According to figures from VDOS Stochastics, 88% of Spanish equities funds have lost money in the past three years, while only 53 out of 439 showed positive returns. Among the funds specialised in Spanish equities, 24% have posted gains in this period, Cotizalia reports. Currently (as of September 2009), equities funds represent 7% of total assets in funds, compared with 39% for bond funds and 29% for guaranteed funds. In September 2006, equities funds accounted for 12%, while bonds and guaranteed funds accounted for 32% and 22% of the total.
05/10/2009

SEB Immoinvest tops EUR6bn in assets

The German firm SEB Asset Management announced on Friday that it has acquired the KPN Büroneubau building from OVG Real Estate for EUR98.5m. The 23,000 square metre property with 190 parking spaces, located in Amsterdam (Sloterdijk), is leased for 10 years to KPN Telecom BV. It will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund SEB ImmoInvest, whose assets currently total EUR6.1bn, with investments in 18 countries of Europe, North America, and Asia.
05/10/2009

Silk Invest launches frontier markets bond fund

Specialist boutique Silk Invest has launched a new fixed income fund focusing on frontier markets across Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, said Citywire. The Luxembourg-domiciled Silk Road Income fund will be run by former Renaissance Capital man John Bates.
05/10/2009

UBS SDIC launches a leveraged tracker fund

The Singaporian Marc Tan has been appointed as CIO of UBS SDIC, a joint venture in which UBS controls 49% and the Chinese State Development and Investment Corp (SDIC) controls the remaining 51%, Asian Investor reports. UBS SDIC is also launching a tracker fund which will be traded on the Shenzhen stock exchange. It will replicate the CSI300 index (the most actively-traded shares in Shenzhen and Shanghai) for 95%, while the remaining 5% will replicate the local inter-bank interest rate. The product, whose net asset value will be calculated once per year, will employ 1.6 times leverage.
05/10/2009

Blackstone may acquire Busch Entertainment

According to the Sunday Times, Blackstone, which owns Legoland and Madame Tussaud’s, is considering acquiring Busch Entertainment Corp, which operates ten amusement parks in the United States, from Anheuser-Busch InBev, for USD2.5bn-USD3bn.
05/10/2009

Legg Mason considering launching actively-managed ETFs

At a conference in Boston, Matt Schiffman, head of retail at Legg Mason, admitted that his business missed the boat on ETF funds, but that it may be planning to launch actively-managed ETFs, Mutual Fund Wire reports. A final decision has not yet been taken, however.
05/10/2009

RBC Dexia recruits a chief risk officer

RBC Dexia Investors Services has announced the appointment of Frank Van Hoornweder as chief risk officer, based in Luxembourg. He was previously CEO and general manager of Adinfo, a Belgian business which he joined in 2005, after leaving Dexia Bank.
05/10/2009

Private bankers already talking about recovery

Clients at private banks are once again taking more risks in their investments. It appears that the worst has past and that assets at the various establishments have bounced back above their levels at the end of 2008, Cinco Días reports. This is the case at Banif (Santander), where assets under management have been above EUR30bn since July, after hitting bottom at EUR27.7bn at the end of March, down from EUR29.1bn at the end of December. The same trend has been observed at the private bank from Banco Madrid, at Altae, Merrill Lynch and Popular Banca Privada. However, if assets are increasing, that does not necessarily mean that results at banks will follow suit. It would appear that in this area the recovery is proving much slower. Commissions have fallen, as have profits per product and per client advised.
05/10/2009

Sal. Oppenheim: Barclays backs out of bidding

Following the Italian firm Mediobanca, the British firm Barclays has become the next bidder to back out of talks to acquire the investment banking division of Sal. Oppenheim, Handelsblatt reports. The only bidder still in the running is the Australian firm Macquarie, which is already in negotiations and which is conducting due diligence currently.
05/10/2009

EUR92bn in inflows to UCITS funds in 7 months

At the 15th annual Efama conference, Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, president of the association, has announced that in January-July, net subscriptions to European funds that comply with the UCITS III directive totalled EUR92bn, of which EUR38bn were in July, including EUR28bn for so-called long-term funds, which do not include money market funds. Assets in UCTIS funds, like non-UCITS funds, increased by 4% in July. In second quarter, net inflows to UCITS funds totalled EUR30.44bn, compared with EUR22bn in January-March. These two consecutive quarters of net inflows follow an 18-month period of net redemptions. In detail, Efama reports that only the money market and miscellaneous UCITS fund categories saw net outflows in January-June, with EUR25bn and EUR4bn in net outflows, compared with net inflows of EUR52bn and net redemptions of EUR13bn in first quarter. Net subscriptions to equities, diversified and bond funds totalled EUR23bn, EUR17bn, and EUR20bn, respectively, compared with net outflows of EUR4bn, EUR10bn, and EUR4bn.
05/10/2009

Jens Ehrhardt hands off management of a fund

Since the beginning of the month, Jens Ehrhardt has handed over his duties as lead manager of the DJE Alpha Global fund (EUR125m, 76.7% returns since its launch in 2003) to Eberhard Einberger, Citywire reports. Einberger will be assisted by Ulrich Kaffarnik and Jan Ehrhardt. This will allow Jens Ehrhardt to concentrate on other global and European funds. Growth in assets at DJE Kapital, which have icnreased from EUR1bn to EUR10bn in six years, have made a redistribution of fund management responsibilities necessary.
05/10/2009

Jens Ehrhardt hands over one fund

German fund manager Dr. Jens Ehrhardt has handed over the reins of one of the DJE - Alpha Global fund to Eberhard Weinberger, who will be lead manager, says Citywire. Dr. Jens Ehrhardt will concentrate on his other funds.
05/10/2009

Warburg Invest launches first German solar fund

Warburg Invest on Friday announced the launch on 1 October of the Photovoltaik Global 30 fund, which will be the first German equities fund of companies specialised in solar power. Its benchmark index is the Photovoltaik Global 30, launched by Deutsche Börse on 1 June 2009, but with changes due to the fact that the index is based purely on the criterion of capitalisation, while the management team reserves the right to overweight small caps, which have strong potential for growth. Characteristics Name: Warburg Photovoltaik Global 30 Fonds ISIN: DE000A0RHE51 (R share class, from EUR50/month), and DE000A0RHE44 (I share class, from EUR1m) Promoter: HWM GmbH Stuttgart Front-end fee: 5% Management commission: 1.7% (R class) 0.7% (I class)
05/10/2009

BNY Mellon concludes merger of Dutch affiliate into its Belgian bank

Having now received permission from regulators, BNY Mellon on 1 October proceeded with the absorption of its Netherlands affiliate BNY Mellon Asset Servicing BV into its Belgian bank, founded in May. The Belgian bank will take over all activities of the Dutch affiliate in London, Amsterdam, Breda, Luxembourg and Frankfurt. Staff will total about 1,400, of whom 500 are from the Dutch affiliate. The Belgian bank was founded in order to become the leading platform for the group in Europe for asset servicing. It has about EUR36bn in assets.
05/10/2009

Pictet bets on growth large caps

Agefi Switzerland reports that Pictet estimates that hopes of a V-shaped economic recovery are in vain, and that a W-shaped recovery from the current economic downturn is to be expected. “We are on the upturn, but with contrary forces set to influence this in the future, such as the withdrawal of stimulus packages and the end of quantitative easing, which will lead to a slowing of growth,” Daniel Becker, manager of the Pictet US Equity Growth Selection fund at Waddell & Reed, explained on Friday. The fund is focused on the best-positioned growth large caps, which, from the manager’s point of view, will be likely to benefit from a recovery in growth in developed countries. This advantage is all the more appreciable when these firms may also benefit from a possible recovery of the weak US dollar. They will also be capable of maintaining strong organic growth, the manager claims, and these growth shares have not been valued accordingly - particularly tech stocks, which have suffered from a bear market for nine years, he says.
05/10/2009

Deutsche Bank wants at least 75% of Sal. Oppenheim

According to reports in Die Welt am Sonntag, Deutsche Bank will not settle for 45%, but is aiming to acquire a stake of at least 75% in Sal. Oppehmeim. The problem of the Oppenheim-Esch funds is reported to already be sorted out, with a fiduciary account to which the owning families will have access only when the funds are liquidated. The situation is reported to have caused significant losses at Sal. Oppenheim in first half, and the financial statement of the private bank has still not been released.
05/10/2009

Landesbanken want out of Deka

Heinrich Haasis, president of the federation of German savings banks (DSGV) has stated that several of the Landesbanken would like to sell their stake in the management firm Deka to the German savings banks, in order to free up owners’ equity, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Currently, Deka is half-owned by the savings banks, while the other half belongs to the Landesbanken, and the two camps have been divided for months over the strategic orientation of the asset management firm.
05/10/2009

Inflows to French money market funds off the European scales

In the first six months of the year, European co-ordinated funds have attracted EUR51.7bn in inflows, according to the sector association Efama. France leads with net inflows of EUR33.8bn, followed by the United Kingdom with EUR15.59bn. The performance of French funds is due to EUR34bn in net subscriptions to money market funds, despite outflwos of EUR7.3bn in second quarter. The poorly performing markets were Spain and Italy, with net outflows of EUR9.16bn and EUR8.68bn in first half.
05/10/2009

Promotions at Liontrust

As Rob Page will join Ignis in November, Liontrust has appointed Simon Hildrey, recruited in July 2008, to replace him as director of marketing and communication from 1 November; he was previously director of communication. Nick Pilkington, who has ten years of experience at Liontrust, has been appointed director of marketing. He was previously marketing manager and will now report to Hildrey.
05/10/2009

T. Rowe Price buys into UTI

The American management firm T. Rowe Price will pay USD125m-USD135m to acquire a 26% stake in the oldest management firm in India, UTI Asset Management, Mutual Fund Wire reports.
05/10/2009

Madoff family sued by trustee

Bernard Madoff’s two sons, brother and niece were on Friday sued for nearly USD200m by Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee, says the Financial Times. All of them held positions at Madoff’s firm. According to the trustee, if family members had been doing their jobs the Madoff Ponzi scheme might never have succeeded, or continued for so long. He also alleged that they have profited for years from Mr Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
05/10/2009

Switzerland: Signature of tax convention with Singapore postponed

Agefi Switzerland reports that a double taxation convention slated to be signed by Switzerland and Singapore in August is not to the liking of the cantons. At a consultation, the conference of cantonal finance directors were critical of the fact that the city-state of Singapore receives more than the cantons do in administrative exchange. Singapore has not agreed to make this assistance reciprocal. This means that Switzerland would be required to deliver up certain information which Singapore, for its part, refuses to disclose. This is the reason why Switzerland is undertaking negotiations with Singapore, a spokesperson for the federal taxation administration, Thomas Brückner, declared. Further talks will take place by the end of the year. Any agreement could only be signed after this has taken place.
05/10/2009

Lehman creditors have a chance to get their money back

Lehman Brothers Holdings’ hedge-fund creditors in London, with as much as USD16 billion tied up in the securities firm’s bankruptcy, will be asked on Monday to join in an unusual effort to break a yearlong logjam, says the Wall Street Journal. The administrator for Lehman’s operations in London plans to seek permission to remove the claims from U.K. courts and dole out assets directly to creditors, if enough hedge funds are willing to go along with the move.

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