Dans une déclaration du 18 septembre à la CNMV, la sicav Breixa Inversiones de Rosalía Mera Gozenechea (l’ancienne épouse d’Amancio Ortega, président fondateur d’Inditex) a changé de statut pour devenir gestionnaire de fonds de hedge funds. La société avait été constituée le 29 mai 2001. Le gérant de la sicav sera JPMorgan Asset Management et elle investira au minimum 60 % de son encours dans 15 à 30 hedge funds espagnols ou étrangers aucun d’entre eux ne pouvant dépasser 10 % de l’encours. L’objectif est d’obtenir une performance annualisée de 5-7 % avec une volatilité également comprise entre 5 et 7 %.

D’après Cotizalia, le BBVA réalise une plus-value de 800 millions d’euros sur la cession pour 1,2 milliard d’euros de la plupart de ses agences à RREEF, filiale de fonds immobiliers de la Deutsche Bank, allié à Banca March et à Area. La transaction comporte un taux de rendement estimé de 7 %.

La société de gestion Alpha Plus a été créée avec 25 millions d’euros d’encours en octobre 2008, donc au pire moment pour le secteur, par Emilio Recoder (président), Javier Amo Fernández de Ávila (administrateur délégué) et une équipe de quatre gérants (Javier Montoya, Francisco Esteban, Edwin Voerman et Daniel Alonso-Pulpón). Selon Cotizalia, elle compte atteindre les 100 millions d’euros à la fin de cette année, du fait qu’elle a profité des remboursements massifs des fonds d’investissement et qu’elle a produit des performances attrayantes dues à sa capacité de combler le vide entre la gestion traditionnelle et celle de performance absolue. La gamme compte trois fonds correspondant à des profils de risque : le plus prudent est le AP Renta Fija Euro Corto Plazo (anciennement AP Dinero), l'équilibré est le AP Rentabilidad Absoluta (un fonds diversifié actions, obligations, devises et matières premières, avec quatre stratégies) et le plus dynamique est le AP Diversificación.

Vendredi, le BBVA a indiqué qu’il réalise une plus-value brute de 830 millions d’euros sur la cession pour un peu plus de 1,15 milliard d’euros de 948 agences à Tree Inversiones Inmobiliarias, une société gérée par RREEF, filiale de gestion immobilière et alternative de la Deutsche Bank. Il s’agit d’une opération de sale-and-lease back qui permet de surcroît au BBVA de permuter à sa discrétion jusqu'à 27 % des locaux concernés. RREEF a obtenu pour cette opération le soutien financier de Banca march et d’Area.

A fin août, Gesbankinter gérait 56 sicav de plus qu'à fin juillet 2007, tandis qu’Invercaixa avait gagné 58 de ces véhicules utilisés par les grandes fortunes espagnoles grâce à l’acquisition des activités de banque privée de Morgan Stanley. Urquijo Gestión, pour sa part en a gagné 30 dans le même temps, mais elles lui ont été transférées par sa maison-mère, le Sabadell, rapporte Expansión. Si BBVA patrimonios et Santander Gestión ont perdu respectivement 27 et 17 sicav dans la crise, soit respectivement 23 % et 25 % de leur encours, UBS et Banif (la banque privée du Santander), pourtant les plus éprouvées par les scandales financiers, ont gagné pour leur part 22 et 10 sicav, même si leurs actifs sous gestion ont diminué de 6,54 % et 17,66 %.D’une manière générale, le nombre de sicav a augmenté de 107 unités pour atteindre 3.255, mais l’encours a fondu de 18,5 % à 26,63 milliards d’euros.

En cinq jours, la demande a été suffisamment importante pour que le BBVA double à 2 milliards d’euros le montant de son émission d’obligations obligatoirement convertibles destinées aux particuliers, a indiqué la banque espagnole dimanche matin.Les titres à cinq ans et garantis sont assortis d’un coupon de 5 % et le BBVA souligne que cette opération lui permet de disposer de 2 milliards d’euros de capital à tout moment entre la fin de la première année après l'émission et jusqu'à la fin de la cinquième.

Selon un communiqué réglementé diffusé par la Bourse suisse, Carsten Maschmeyer, fondateur du prestataire allemand de services financiers AWD, a vendu sur les deux dernières semaines des actions Credit Suisse pour 35 millions de francs suisses. Néanmoins, sa participation reste supérieure à 5 %. Elle avait atteint au plus haut plus de 7 %.

Le groupe suisse Julius Baer a confirmé le 25 septembre son calendrier de scission en deux unités indépendantes, l’une dédiée à la gestion de fortune, l’autre à la gestion institutionnelle. La scission effective des deux entités devrait intervenir le 30 septembre prochain, la cotation sur la bourse suisse SIX de Julius Baer Group d’une part et de GAM Holding d’autre part, étant programmée pour le 1er octobre.Comme annoncé précédemment, Julius Baer Group se concentrera sur la seuls gestion de fortune alors que Julius Baer Holding sera renommé GAM Holding, composé de GAM, Swiss & Global Asset Management et une participation dans Artio Global Investors.Le directeur général de Julius Baer Groupa a indiqué vendredi lors d’une présentation que l'établissement visait désormais un Tier One de 12% contre 19% actuellement après la cotation le 24 septembre d’Artio Global à New York, ce qui a permis de lever 650 millions de dollars. Boris Collardi a précisé que le groupe ne prévoyait pas de rachat de titres et qu’il envisageait des acquisitions. Le groupe a enregistré au premier semestre 2009 un afflux d’argent frais de 3,8 milliards de francs suisses et vise une croissance annualisée de 4% à 6% d’ici à 2012. Les actifs s'élevaient à fin juin 2009 à 142 milliards de francs suisses contre 148 milliards un an plus tôt.Les perspectives semblent plus mitigées pour GAM. David Solo, directeur des activités de gestion d’actifs, a expliqué dans une présentation séparée que la rentabilité des actifs demeurait sous pression en raison de l’engouement des investisseurs pour les produits à revenu fixe, de la stagnation de la demande pour les fonds alternatifs et des pressions accrues des grands distributeurs. Les revenus de 2010 devraient se maintenir à leur niveau du premier semestre 2009. La participation de 32,2% dans Artio est qualifiée de non-essentielle («non-core») et peut être considérée comme une réserve de capitaux dédiés à des objectifs stratégiques de moyen terme. Les actifs sous gestion s'élevaient au 30 juin dernier à 156,2 milliards de francs suisses, en recul de 27% par rapport au premier semestre 2008.

Début octobre, Pictet va lancer son nouveau Pictet (CH) Precious Metal Fund – Physical Gold, domicilié en Suisse, à destination des investisseurs suisses, rapporte Citywire. Le fonds, libellé en dollars US, va chercher à suivre le cours de l’or et va investir principalement dans des lingots de 12,5 kilos. Les investisseurs auront la possibilité d’obtenir de l’or physique lorsqu’ils vendront leurs parts.

At the beginning of October, Pictet will launch its new Pictet (CH) Precious Metal Fund - Physical Gold, domiciled in Switzerland and aimed at Swiss investors, Citywire reports. The fund, denominated in US dollars, will aim to track the price of gold, and will invest primarily in gold ingots of 12.5 kilos each. Investors will be able to receive redemptions in physical gold when they redeem their shares.

The IVG Immobilien group has sold eight properties located in major European cities to an institutional fund with EUR300m in assets, IVG Protect Funds, which is wholly subscribed to by five insurers and pension funds, while IVG itself supplies 20% of the capital, Handelsblatt reports. The participation is a sign of goodwill to show other investors that the assets in the portfolio are healthy. Additionally, there are clauses stating that the first EUR33m of any potential losses will be borne solely by IVG.

According to figures from the agency FWW, assets in funds of funds primarily sold in Germany had fallen at the end of March to EUR54.21bn, from EUR57.80bn at the end of December, and a peak of EUR62.2bn at the end of 2007. The number of products of this type fell in the three-month period to 964 as of 31 March, from 998 as of 31 December. The BGF World Gold Fund from BlackRock was the most popular active fund with fund of funds managers: it featured in the portfolios of 137 fund of funds managers, ahead of the Axa Immoselect (in the portfolios of 122 funds of funds) and the JPM Highbridge Statistical Market Neutral fund, found in the portfolios of 121 funds. Among passively-managed funds, the most popular remained the db x-trackers II Eonia Total Return ETF, in 116 portfolios, compared with 119 in fourth quarter 2008. Lastly, FWW states that the main managers of actively-managed target funds are Deka (savings banks) with a market share of 29.9%, compared with 32.3% previously, followed by DWS-Deutsche Bank, with 6.95 of the market, and Union-Investment (co-operative banks) with 5.4%. For index-based target funds, the largest player is Barclays Global Investors with 40.8% of the market, followed by db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), with 36.3%, and Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) with 14.3%.

Details of an aluminium ETF are being finalized by Swiss commodity supplier Glencore International and Credit Suisse Group, says the Wall Street Journal. If the product gets the regulatory go-ahead, Glencore, will need to buy aluminum as physical backing for the fund. The potential timing of the launch remains unclear.

Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE) has bought the A4C office building on the south bank of the Seine in Paris from Standard Life Investments for EUR177m. The 25,400 square-metre property is wholly leased; the largest tenant is Natixis, whose headquarters are located there. The A4C building will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended retail fund UniImmo: Deutschland. Karl-Joseph Hermanns-Engel, a member of the board of directors, says the property marks the beginning of the return of UIRE to the Parisian real estate investment market. Since the beginning of the year, UIRE has made acquisitions totalling about EUR1bn.

The British management firm Man Investments has received permission from the CNMV to release the Man AHL Trend fund in Spain. The trend-following product complies with the UCITS III directive, Funds People reports. This is the first time that a fund from AHL (USD20.4bn in assets as of 30 June), the futures management affiliate of Man, has been released on the Spanish market.

From this Monday, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) will list nine new iShares ETFs from Barclays Global Investors, including four non-financial sector fixed income products, and five capitalisation version of equities funds. The new listings bring the number of bond ETFs from iShares on sale in Europe to 40; these funds carry a management commission of 0.20%, Investment Week reports. The new funds include the iShares Barclays Euro Corporate Bond ex-Financials, Barclays Euro Corporate Bond ex-Financials 1-5, Barclays Euro Corporate Bond 1-5 and iBoxx Corporate Bond ex-Financials. The five equities products replicate the MSCI Emerging Markets, S&P 500, MSCI World, MSCI Europe and MSCI Japan indexes.

The largest UK hedge fund manager, Brevan Howard (USD27bn in assets), has launched a search for an office large enough for at least 100 people in Geneva or Nyon, which could be the first sign of a massive exodus of financial groups from London, the Sunday Times reports. In June, the CEO of Brevan Howard claimed that the planned European hedge fund directive would make it impossible for them to continue their activities in London. In addition, moving to a country with lower taxes would save them millions. Brevan Howard has 100 employees in Switzerland, out of 240 total personnel.

The board at Avalon Acquisitions, a new firm controlled by funds from Permira Advisers, and the independent directors of Just Retirement Holdings, on Friday agreed to the terms of a takeover agreement by which the private equity firm will acquire the pension fund. The transaction will be undertaken at a price of 76 pence per share, or one share in Avalon for ten shares in Just Retirement. This represents a premium of 9.4% over the closing price for the shares on 24 September; the acquisition price totals EUR229.6m. Avalon has additionally agreed to increase capital in Just Retirement by GBP25m. If shareholders in Just Retirement universally participate in the share exchange program, they will control about 31.3% of Avalon, before the capital increase, while the remainder would continue to be held by Permira funds.

Money Marketing reports that the co-founder of Nucleus, Philip Martin, has been appointed “head of proposition” for retail activities at F&C. Martin was director of development at Nucleus, the investment platform for independent financial advisers (IFAs) which he co-founded in 2006 and left this June.

Simon Blundell, head of investment grade credit at Fortis Investments/ABN Amro Asset Management, has been recruited as a senior portfolio manager at Aviva Investors. He will join the active bond fund management team, and will be in charge of several portfolios of corporate bonds. He will report to Mark Wauton, head of credit.

On Friday, the BBVA announced that it would earn gross capital gains of EUR830m on its sale of 948 branch locations for EUR1.15bn to Tree Inversiones Immobiliarias, a firm managed by RREEF, the real estate and alternative management affiliate of Deutsche Bank. The sale-and-lease-back operation will additionally allow BBVA to change up to 27% of the locations concerned at its discretion. For this transaction, RREEF has obtained the financial support of Banca March and Area.

Goldman Sachs will hire up to 200 staff across all regions in an attempt to establish a dominant position as one of the world’s leading asset managers, said Marc Spilker to the Financial Times in his first interview since being appointed co-head of the bank’s investment management business in June 2008. Goldman has USD820bn under management.

Brian Beades, a spokesman for BlackRock, has told Mutual Fund Wire that the question of the new name after its acquisition pf Barclays Global Investors has been confronted. Rather than BlackRock Global Investors, the directors of the firm have chosen to retain the name of BlackRock, in order to avoid confusion with the BlackRock Global Funds line of products. However, BlackRock will retain the iShares name for ETFs developed at the offices of BGI.

Dustin Lewellyn, who was head of ETFs at Northern Trust until the firm pulled out of the sector after one year, has been recruited by Charles Schwab to direct its new ETF activities. The first product was launched in January, and replicates the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market index. In July, Charles Schwab launched three ETF funds based on FTSE indexes (Developed ex-U.S., Developed Small Cap ex-U.S. Liquid, and All-Emerging), and six funds that track Dow Jones indexes for the United States (Broad Stock Market, Large Cap Total Stock Market, Large Cap Growth Total Stock Market, Large Cap Value Total Stock Market Mid Cap Total Stock Market and Small Cap Total Stock Market), according to ETF Data Base. According to ETF.com, Charles Schwab has since applied for licenses to launch nine more index-based ETF funds.

Allianz Global Investors (AGI) on Friday announced that James Dilworth, director for the EMEA region at Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM), will become CEO of Allianz Global Investors Deutschland. As head of distribution, he will also be part of the European executive committee. Thomas Wiesemann will remain co-CEO of AGI KAG, and will also assume the newly-created position of chief market officer on the European executive committee of AGI Europe Holding GmbH. In this role, he will be in charge of product strategy and marketing throughout Europe, and will ensure that the expertise of asset managers is optimally employed in line with the needs of retail and institutional investors in each country. As of the end of June, AGI managed EUR412bn in Europe. Horst Eich, who was previously co-CEO of AGI Deutschland and CEO of AGI product solutions, will from October dedicate his efforts to the development and provision of products as part of a global initiative: as a global product expert, he will assist the global corporate centre. There are plans to assign him a senior management position at the Allianz group.

The advising firm Kommalpha, based in Hanover, has announced that it will be extending its range of services to provide advising to institutional investors on requests for proposals (RFPs) for administrative processes (depository banking, Master KAG services, etc). Kommalpha will also offer its services for requests for proposals in financial IT services to institutional investors, asset management firms, and banks.

The ING group announced on 25 September that it has sold its wealth management and life insurance activities in Australia and New Zealand to its partner ANZ. By the terms of the agreement, ING will sell its 51% stakes in ING Australia and ING New Zealand to ANZ, which will become the sole owner of these activities. The proceeds of the operation total EUR1.1bn, putting the net profits for ING as estimated by the firm itself at EUR300m. The debt ratio for the firm will thus be improved by 345 basis points. ING will continue to be present in Australia via ING Direct, ING Investment Management, ING Wholesale Banking and ING Real Estate, which are not affected by the operation.

Les Echos reports that the banking giant HSBC has made a huge step in the direction of Asia, with the transfer of its CEO, Michael Geoghegan, to Jong Kong. “There is a major movement [in the global economy] from west to east,” explained Stephen Green, president of the bank, on Friday. “The crisis is accelerating this movement.” HSBC will continue to be domiciled in London.

In January 2010, the initiators of the Sustainable Value Creation Initiative (SVC) will publish the results of a questionnaire-based survey of governance and sustainable creation of value at the 100 largest firms traded on the Nasdaq OMX market in Stockholm, and the 74 businesses of the Oslo Børs Benchmark Index. The survey is a part of the SVC project, which is now supported by a group of 13 Swedish investors with assets of SEK3.8trn, and by 9 Norwegian investors with NOK2.5trn in assets. It was officially launched on 8 September. The Swedish underwriters of SVC are Andra AP-fonden (AP2), DnB NOR Asset Management, Fjärde AP-fonden (AP4), Folksam, Första AP-fonden (AP1), Meta Asset Management, Nordea Investment Funds, SEB, Skandia Liv, SPP, Swedbank Robur, Church of Sweden and Tredje AP-fonden (AP3). The Norwegian sponsors are Alfred Berg, DnB NOR/Vital, Folketrygdfondet, KLP, Nordea, the ministry of industry, Odin, Statoil Kapitalforvaltning and Storebrand.

With interest rates at very low levels, Spanish banks are mostly dropping their campaigns to promote savings accounts, which are now too costly, Expansión reports. By the end of the year, they will begin making efforts to capture client savings with investment funds. The pioneers in this area are Ibercaja, La Caixa, Banif and GesBankinter. In two years, about EUR90bn have been withdrawn from funds and placed in savings accounts. But since the beginning of the year, withdrawals from savings accounts have totalled EUR10bn, and in August, funds saw net subscriptions of EUR282m.