Citywire révèle qu’Aviva Investors a lancé un fonds Ucits III à performance absolue centré sur le Royaume-Uni. Appelé Aviva Investors UK Absolute Return, le produit est géré par Julius Lipner, qui vient de Magnetar.

Veritas Asset Management a nommé Farouk Abillama au poste de senior sales manager avec l’objectif de développer la clientèle du groupe et de renforcer les liens avec les investisseurs traditionnels comme les fonds de hedge funds, les fondations et les family offices.Farouk Abbilama était précédemment chez Dresdner Kleinwort, où il était vice president et levait des capitaux au Moyen Orient et en Europe pour le compte de hedge funds basés aux Etats-Unis ou en Europe.

Skandia International vient d’annoncer le lancement d’une gamme d’instruments de planification de portefeuille et de fonds, fournis par Morningstar, sur ses plateformes onshore. Ces outils sont accessibles sur les extranets de Royal Skandia et de Skandia Ireland afin d’aider les conseillers à faire des choix d’investissement judicieux dans des délais plus courts.

D’après une étude de Trucost et de Mercer pour le compte du WWF (http://www.trucost.com/CarbonRisksinUKEquityFunds.pdf), les gérants britanniques pourraient réduire considérablement l’empreinte carbone de leurs fonds par une sélection de valeurs plus rigoureuse, sans changer les pondérations sectorielles ou leur stratégie d’investissement.Après avoir analysé les portefeuilles de 118 fonds d’actions investis et représentant un encours total de 206 milliards de livres, Trucost estime que les 2.380 sociétés cotées dans lesquelles les fonds sont investis émettent plus de 10 milliards de tonnes de gaz à effet de serre par an dans le monde. Comme ces 118 fonds détiennent en moyenne 1,4 % de la capitalisation boursière de ces entreprises, ils sont responsables de 134 millions de tonnes d'émissions soit 22 % de la génération de gaz à effet de serre du Royaume-Uni.Par ailleurs, Trucost a effectué un double calcul. D’une part, sur la base de 12 livres par tonne, le prix de marché moyen des droits d'émission, l’exposition des fonds représenterait 1,6 milliard de livres ou 0,7 % du revenu des participations. D’autre part, sur la base du coût social du carbone tel qu'établi pour le rapport Stern, soit 57 livres par tonnes, les participations dans les sociétés concernées représenteraient plus de 7,65 milliards de livres, soit 3,2 % des recettes.L’empreinte carbone des portefeuilles analysés est de 582 tonnes par million de livres investi, moyenne de la fourchette allant de 209 tonnes à 1.487 tonnes par million de livres.Les principaux contributeurs à l’empreinte carbone des portefeuille sont E.On, RWE, International Power, American Electric Power Company et BP. Trucost note qu’E.On émet nettement moins de gaz à effet de serre que la plupart des autres entreprises de son secteur, mais que l’action du groupe allemand est de loin la plus répandue dans les portefeuilles des fonds analysés.

Selon Les Echos, le groupe d’information financière issu de la fusion de Thomson et de Reuters a obtenu hier l’approbation juridique nécessaire à la radiation du London Stock Exchange (LSE), mais aussi du Nasdaq. A partir du 10 septembre, les actions Thomson Reuters ne s'échangeront plus que sur le New York Stock Exchange (Nyse), aux Etats-Unis, et le Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE), au Canada.

Brevan Howard Asset Management, le plus gros gestionnaire de hedge funds en Europe avec 24 milliards de dollars, a créé deux fonds à l’île Maurice qui investiront en Inde pour le compte de son fonds vedette Brevan Howard Master Fund, rapporte le Wall Street Journal.

Thames River Capital annonce la nomination de Trygve Tøraasen en tant que gérant dans son équipe d’actions européennes. Il sera en charge du fonds Thames River European Fund, qu’il cogérera avec Carlos Moreno.Trygve Tøraasen était auparavant gérant chez Fidelity Investments du FMR Europe Fund et du European Dynamic Growth Fund.

L’affaire Madoff a enrayé la belle croissance des fonds de fonds, en mettant en cause la «due diligence», la transparence et la liquidité de ces produits, observe le Financial Times Fund Management. Dans ce contexte, certains professionnels de la gestion d’actifs pensent que les investisseurs et les gestionnaires d’actifs vont s’intéresser davantage aux fonds de mandats. C’est le cas de Joanna Munro, CEO de la multigestion de HSBC Global Asset Management, qui estime que ces véhicules sont notamment plus contrôlables. Quoi qu’il en soit, pour l’instant, les chiffres de Lipper FMI ne montrent pas qu’il y a eu un transfert d’actifs des fonds de fonds vers les fonds de mandats.

Actuellement, BNY Mellon compte environ 150 collaborateurs à Hong-Kong, où se trouve la direction de ses activités pour l’Asie-Pacifique (16 bureaux dans 12 pays de la région). Le groupe américain a l’intention de recruter 50 personnes supplémentaires dans la Zone économique spéciale chinoise d’ici à fin 2010 afin de renforcer sa gestion d’actifs ainsi que ses activités de services dans les domaines des valeurs mobilières et de la trésorerie. Des locaux supplémentaires ont été loués au 14ème étage du Three Pacific Place, ce qui permettra de regrouper sur un même plateau les personnels de la gestion d’actifs.

La société de gestion allemande Deka Immobilien annonce avoir racheté à ING Real Estate Investment Management France pour 40 millions d’euros les bureaux «Le Triangle Part-Dieu» situés à Lyon. L’immeuble sera intégré au portefeuille du fonds immobilier Deka-SPropertyFund No. 1.

Selon les informations du Handelsblatt, Sal. Oppenheim aurait besoin de trouver un investisseur plus rapidement que prévu car ses 40 actionnaires familiaux ont financé à crédit le transfert d’actifs à leur société de portefeuille Sodalis, à savoir les activités de conservation de la BHF-Bank (qui appartient à Sal. Oppenheim) ainsi que les participations dans Arcandor et IVG de même qu’un fonds de fonds de private equity. Les crédits nécessaires pour ces opérations ont été fournis notamment par la BSI Bank de Lugano (groupe Generali) et par BGL (groupe BNP Paribas) ainsi que, pour une faible partie, par Sal. Oppenheim elle-même. L’augmentation de capital de Sal. Oppenheim aurait également été partiellement financée à crédit, entre autres par la BSI.

Depuis lundi, DWS Investments commercialise le fonds luxembourgeois DWS StepInvest BRIC Plus, qui démarre avec un portefeuille monétaire. En douze étapes, à compter de septembre 2009, l'équipe de gestion animée par Thomas Gerhardt augmentera progressivement la part d’actions BRIC (Brésil, Russie, Inde, Chine) pour atteindre fin août 2010 la même composition que le portefeuille DWS Invest BRIC Plus.Caractéristiques Dénomination DWS StepInvest BRIC Plus Code ISIN LU0418702907 Droit d’entrée 5 % maximum Frais forfaitaires 0,90 %

Le Français Olivier Catusse, qui avait rejoint le gestionnaire allemand de fonds immobiliers KanAm Grund en 2004, a été nommé membre du comité de direction de KanAm Grund KAG et de KanAm Grund Spezialfondsgesellschaft. Il sera responsable des activités de gestion de portefeuille et d’actifs. Jusqu'à présent, il était directeur de la gestion d’actifs.

The investor confidence index published by the research division of State Street Global Markets gained 3.5 points in the month of August, to a total of 122.9 points. This is its eighth consecutive monthly rise. Institutional investors continue to be the most confident class of economic actors, State Street says. However, the pace at which the index is rising has slowed, with the 3.5 point gains the smallest observed since March. Regional indexes even show a decline in confidence for investors in North America for the first time in five months. However, European institutional investors’ appetite for risk has increased, by 4.3 points for the regional index, to 109.2, compared with 104.9 the previous month.

Veritas Asset Management has appointed Farouk Abillama as senior sales manager; he will aim to develop the group’s client base and strengthen ties with traditional investors such as funds of hedge funds, endowments, and family offices. Abbilama was previously at Dresdner Kleinwort, where he was vice president and raised capital in the Middle East and Europe for hedge funds based in the United States or Europe.

Les Echos reports that the financial information group born of the merger of Thomson and Reuters yesterday received the necessary legal permission to withdraw its shares from trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the NASDAQ. From 10 September, shares in Thomson Reuters will be traded only on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), in the United States, and on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) in Canada.

Skandia International has announced the launch of a range of portfolio and fund planning instruments, provided by Morningstar, on onshore platforms. The tools will be available through the extranets of Royal Skandia and Skandia Ireland, and will aim to assist advisors in making judicious investment decisions in the shortest time possible.

Statistics from the BVI association of asset management firms reveal that in first half, nearly all the major players suffered net redemptions, some of which were significant in size. The only two exceptions were producers of ETFs, such as db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank group), which attracted EUR2.97bn in assets in six months, and had assets of EUR21.37bn as of the end of June, and ETFlab (Deka group), which attracted EUR1.85bn. The DWS/DB ensemble as a whole (EUR127.25bn in AUM as of the end of June) has been the only group to post net subscriptions in the first six months of the year, with EUR2.8bn. However, Barclays Global Investors (BGI), historically a specialist in ETFs (it took over Indexchange) has posted net redemptions of EUR455.9m in January-June, bringing assets to EUR16.6bn at the end of first half.The heaviest net outflows were from Allianz Global Investors (EUR72.2bn), with EUR2.43bn (despite net subscriptions of EUR2.27bn for Pimco Europe) and Deka (EUR102.23bn in assets as of the end of June), with EUR2.89bn (ETFlab is not counted as a part of the asset management provider for the German savings banks).Pioneer (UniCredit), which as of the end of June had EUR10.3bn in assets under management, posted net redemptions of EUR876.6m in January-June. Lastly, Union Investment (co-operative banks) has posted net outflows of EUR820.7m, and assets as of the end of June totalled EUR77.26bn.

In January-June, only two fund management firms have posted net subscriptions in Germany of over EUR2bn: db x-trackers, with nearly EUR2.97bn, and Pimco Europe, with nearly EUR2.27bn, Kommalpha reports, adding that the two firms are both domiciled in Luxembourg. The next three promoters in the rankings are all German: ETFlab (Deka group) has more than EUR1.85bn, ahead of its parent company, which comes in with EUR1.6bn, and Union Investment Privatfonds (EUR1.41bn).The worst results were for five Luxembourg firms, four of which have undergone net outflows of over EUR2bn. They are Deka SA (EUR2.33bn), Union Investment Luxembourg (EUR2.24bn), IFM (EUR2.12bn), and Allianz GI Luxembourg (EUR2.11bn). For its part, cominvest SA has seen net redemptions of EUR1.12bn.

With the increasing number of complex products available, the average commission charged by ETFs in the United States, according to Citi, stands at 0.56%, compared with 0.40% as of the end of 2005. Currently, ETFs from State Street have average initial assets of USD5-10m, compared with USD20m a few years ago, the Wall Street Journal reports. As of the end of July, total assets in ETF funds totalled USD640bn, but 13 products had assets under management of over USD10bn each, and their spreads are under 0.09%. However, there are more than 200 ETFs whose spreads are over 0.5%, which is not acceptable, says Matt Hougan, director of ETF analysis at IndexUniverse.com. This would mean that an investor who buys and sells shares in the fund will lose 1% of his or her investment due to differences between the buy and sell price of the shares, which adds up to more than the commissions charged by most ETFs.

From Monday, DWS Investments has opened subscriptions to the Luxembourg-registered fund DWS StepInvest BRIC Plus, which will start out with a money market portfolio. In twelve stages, from September 2009, the management team, led by Thomas Gerhardt, will gradually increase the proportion of BRIC equities (Brazil, Russia, India and China) to achieve the same composition as the DWS Invest BRIC Plus portfolio by the end of August 2010. Characteristics Name DWS StepInvest BRIC Plus ISIN code LU0418702907 Front-end fee 5% maximum Charges 0.90%

The Madoff scandal has halted the growth of funds of funds, provoking questions about the due diligence, transparency, and liquidity of these products, Financial Times Fund Management observes. In this environment, some asset management professionals think that investors and asset managers will take more interest in managers of managers. One of them is Joanna Munro, CEO of multi-management at HSBC Global Asset Management, who estimates that these vehicles are easier to control. For the moment, at any rate, data from Lipper FMI do not show any transfer of assets form funds of funds to managers of managers.

Reserve Primary Fund and its independent trustees filed a court brief on Friday, supporting the distribution of the fund’s remaining assets as soon as possible, the Wall Street Journal reports. The document states that subscribers may receive slightly more than expected: USD0.9875 per share, and perhaps as much as 99 cents.

The Global Top-Down Strategies Fund (EUR3.5bn in assets) has invested EUR150m since the end of May in 40 businesses in the renewable energies sector, including Areva, Westas Wind Systems, and ABB, Responsible Investor reports. The fund is managed by five people, including Frank Smudde, on behalf of APG Asset Management, an affiliate of the ABP pension fund for civil servants in the Netherlands (EUR180bn in assets).

In first half, EFG International has posted net profits of CHF20m, a 54% decrease compared with second half 2008 and of 89% compared with the same period of last year. These results were dragged down by a one-time charge of CHF33m, of which CHF18.8m were for an accelerated amortization of intangibles at C.M. Advisors, the fund of hedge fund activity acquired in 2008. As of the end of June, assets totalled CHF80.4bn, 7% more than at the end of December (CHF75.4bn), and 17% less than as of 30 June 2008. Net inflows in January-June totalled CHF2.2bn, as institutional hedge fund clients withdrew CHF2.5bn and retail investors brought in CHF4.7bn. In second half 2008, EFG International saw net outflows of CHF0.8bn, compared with net inflows of CHF14bn in first half of that year. The number of customer relationship officers (CRO) at the firm fell at the end of June to 674, despite 75 new recruitments.

The asset management unit at Natixis earned ongoing net results for the part of the group in second quarter up 20% compared with first quarter, to EUR55m, on net banking proceeds up 5% to EUR313m, largely due to rising management commissions.Natixis points out in a statement that the profitability of the activity has improved considerably, as the cost-income ratio has improved 3 points to 73%, largely due to the apparent stabilisation of charges.After three consecutive half-years of falling asset levels (as negative market effects offset inflows), assets have increased by EUR29bn (+6.5%) compared with first half 2009. In second quarter 2009, assets under management totalled EUR476bn (+6% compared with 31 March 2009). Net inflows in second quarter totalled EUR9bn. Market effects were positive to the tune of +EUR28bn, while currency effects were negative, at -EUR8bn.In Europe, assets under management totalled EUR311bn. Net inflows have progressed well, at EUR6.8bn, largely driven by money market products. Market effects are positive to the tune of +EUR9.2bn. In the United States, assets under management totalled USD230.9bn. Net inflows totalled USD2.4bn. Market effects are positive, at +USD25.9bn. The evolution of the product mix has continued, with an increase in the proportion of bonds, which now exceed 50% of assets under management.

The hedge fund firm Citadel Investment Group will drop the name Citadel Solutions for its fund administration division, which will instead become known as Omnium, the Wall Street Journal. The association with Citadel has kept some potential clients away.

Les Echos reports that the largest bank in Russia, Sberbank, has been the victim of a USD180m fraud, exceeding its quarterly results in size (USD160m in second quarter). The announcement of the fraud, which has been known of by the management of the public establishment since March, comes at a time when Dmitri Medvedev, the Russian president, has initiated a program to combat corruption in public institutions.

For first half, VP Bank has reported net profits of CHF26.9m, compared with CHF41m, due to a difficult and volatile market environment.Assets under management as of the end of June rose to CHF28.9bn, from CHF28.5bn; though positive market effects brought an increase of CHF1.4bn, net redemptions totalled CHF1bn. However, assets under custody increased in January-June by CHF4.4bn to a total of CHF11bn.

At a presentation of results for first half, VP Bank has announced that due to divergences over the group’s strategic orientation, Adolf E. Real has agreed with the board of directors to leave his job as CEO as of 30 September. He has served in the position for eleven years. Fredy Vogt, CFO, will serve as interim CEO.