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31/03/2009

Switzerland - Boris Collardi to take over as head of Julius Baer

The board of directors at the Banque Julius Baer & Cie SA has appointed COO Boris F. J. Collardi to take over as CEO. He will succeed Johannes A. de Gier on 1 May 2009. Collardi joined the Banque Julius Baer as COO in early 2006, following the acquisition by Julius Baer, in late 2005, of three private banks and GAM from UBS.
31/03/2009

Germany - BaFin extends naked shorts prohibition

The German financial surveillance authority BaFin announced on Monday that it is extending its prohibition of short-selling of shares to which the vendor does not have direct access, or naked short selling, until at least the end of May, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The prohibition applied to shares in Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Allianz, Deutsche Börse, Munich Ré, Hannover Rück, Hypo Real Estate, AMB Generali, Aareal Bank, Postbank and MLP.
31/03/2009

United States - Managers highly optimistic about bonds

Russell Investments has announced that for the first time since the data series began about five years ago, the quarterly Investment Manager Outlook survey has found that managers surveyed are more optimistic about bonds than equities. 67% of respondents are bullish on corporate bonds, while 61% have a positive outlook on high yield bonds, compared with only 57% (compared with 72% in December) for large cap equities.
31/03/2009

United Kingdom - First State launches a Latin America fund

First State Investments on Monday announced the forthcoming launch (probably in mid-April, pending approval form the FSA) of the Latin America Fund, an equities product with 30-40 positions which will be managed by Jonathan Asante and Millar Mathieson, with the assistance of Alan Nesbit. Minimal subscription will be GBP1,500, while front-end fee and management commission will be set at 4% and 1.75%, respectively.For the fund, managers will apply the stock-picking methodology already employed for the Asia-Pacific and global emerging markets funds, with a focus on Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.
31/03/2009

Spain - AlphaPlus launches its third fund

AlphaPlus Gestora on Monday announced the launch of a third product, following the Alpha Plus Dinero (money market) and Alpha Plus Diversificación (diversified) funds on 2 February: it is the absolute performance fund Alpha Plus Rentabilidad Absoluta, which will invest in equities, bonds, and derivatives; it may be up to 50% exposed to currency risks, and managers are authorised to place up to 20% of the portfolio in emerging markets. The objective is to outperform the Eonia by at least 300 basis points, and to limit volatility to less than 8%, with a combination of derivative, market neutral, global macro, and long/short strategies. Management commission is set at 1%, while performance commission is 9%.
31/03/2009

United Kingdom - Fourth consecutive month of net subscriptions

In February, funds domiciled in the United Kingdom have posted net subscriptions of GBP2.28bn, of which GBP1.19bn were for retail products, and GBP1.09bn for institutional funds, compared with GBP1.81bn, GBP1.19bn, and GBP623m in January, the Investment Management Association (IMA) reports. Richard Saunders, CEO of the association, points out that this is the fourth consecutive month of net subscriptions, while bond funds have continued to be the preferred category for investors, who for the moment do not appear disposed to invest their money in equities funds. In February 2008, net subscriptions totalled GBP775.3m.Funds domiciled abroad, for their part, saw net redemptions of GBP19.8m, compared with net inflows of GBP66.6m in January, and net outflows of GBP236.1m one year previously.Meanwhile, total assets at the end of February totalled GBP339.2bn for funds domiciled in the United Kingdom, and GBP13.7bn for funds domiciled abroad, compared with GBP355.2bn and GBP15.2bn as of 31 January. One year earlier, assets under management totalled GBP442bn and GBP16.2bn, respectively.
31/03/2009

Germany - Prestigious recruitment for Vontobel

Vontobel has announced that it has recruited Maximilien, prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein, as head of private banking in its wholesale distribution team in Germany. He will report to Matthias Klein, CEO of asset management for the German market. The prince is leaving the Fortis group, where he managed assets on behalf of Fortis Investments and Fortis Merchant Banking in Germany.
31/03/2009

Germany - DVAG posts record profits despite the financial crisis

The financial products distribution network Deutsche Vermögensberatung AG (DVAG) has posted record profits in 2008, up 18.1% to EUR149m, on revenues up 21.9% to EUR1.22bn. DVAG recruited 180,000 new clients in the second half of the year, bringing the total to 5.2 million.The IFA network of DVAG last year mediated net subscriptions of EUR1.2bn, compared with EUR900m in 2007 for DWS, bringing total subscriptions provided to the Deutsche Bank group to EUR6.2bn (+8%).
31/03/2009

World - Investors maintain confidence in hedge funds

According to an IRC Conferences/Terrapinn survey of 273 institutional investors, hedge fund managers and financial services providers worldwide, 80% of professionals surveyed still believe that hedge funds can generate good performance in the long term. Only 20% say that the financial turbulence has caused them to lost confidence in hedge funds.Responses also reveal that the various categories of respondents virtually unanimously consider it time to act to improve transparency, risk management, compliance, auditing, and market actors’ preference for self-regulation over regulatory legislation. The only disagreement is in the area of commissions, which are considered very important to improve confidence by 43% of investors, compared with only 14% of managers.Lastly, a majority of hedge fund managers are hoping for an improvement in net subscriptions in the second half of 2009, while most investors do not see it happening before next year.
31/03/2009

Germany - Credit Suisse releases an SRI fund

Credit Suisse has been granted a license in Germany to release the Credit Suisse (Lux) Global Responsible Equities fund, an SRI equities sub-fund of the firm’s Luxembourg Sicav, which may also invest in funds (up to 10%) and money market instrments. The product, denominated in Euros, was launched on 15 January 2009, and is managed in Zurich by Markus Mächler (see Newsmanagers of 24 March). Shares are selected on the basis of international environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, which comply with the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI). Respect for the expense books is monitored by Global Ethical Standard Investment Services, and the benchmark index that has been selected is the Dow Jones Sustainability World TR index in Euros. Front-end fees are 5%, and management commission is 1.92%.
31/03/2009

World - Pioneer Investments signs up to Principles for Responsible Investment

Pioneer Investments (UniCredit group), which manages EUR160bn in assets worldwide, and which has 2,300 employees in 31 countries, announced on Monday that it has signed up to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI), a list of six ?best practices? in the areas of environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.
31/03/2009

France - Blackstone sets up shop in Paris

The private equity investment firm Blackstone Group on Monday announced the opening of an office in Paris and the appointment of Jean-Michel Steg as senior managing director. For the past five years, Steg has been director of the banking unit at Citigroup in France and Belgium.The French management team will be a branch of the firm’s European head office in London. The opening of the Paris office will strengthen the global presence of the restructuring and merger and acquisition consulting unit of Blackstone, which now has 190 employees in the United States, Asia, and Europe.
31/03/2009

Europe - According to Gecam, funds have become slightly more active

The annual survey by German Capital Management (Gecam) of 7,548 funds and funds of funds on sale in Europe shows this year that the percentage of funds which have replicated more than 70% of their benchmark index in the past three years has fallen since 2008 to 75% from 86%. The most active managers are in charge of funds of funds and diversified funds, with 41% of products replicating less than 60% of their benchmark. This percentage falls to 21% for bonds and less than 1% for equities funds.Ultimately 36% of equities funds have succeeded in outperforming their benchmark indices, compared with 33% for funds of funds/diversified funds, and 12% for bond/money market funds. Of equities funds, 87% of small and midcap products have outperformed their benchmarks, by an average of 7 percentage points.
31/03/2009

United States - Launch of a hedge fund ETF

IndexIQ, a firm based in New York and specialised in the development of quantitative investment strategies, has launched an ETF fund which will aim to replicate the performance of the hedge fund sector, the Financial Times reports. The IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF is listed on the NYSE.
31/03/2009

United States - Merrill Lynch required to reimburse Refco victims

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Monday sentenced Merrill Lynch to pay a total of USD39.8m in damages and interest to the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund of Utica, New York, for having advised the endowment to invest in the Sphinx Managed Futures Index Fund from Refco, the Wall Street Journal reports. Refco collapsed in 2005, following the announcement that its CEO hid USD430m in loans of doubtful quality from bookkeepers at the business.
31/03/2009

France - AFG to publish a new transparency code for SRI funds

La Tribune reports that the French financial management association (AFG) will publish a new version of its transparency code applicable to retail socially responsible investment (SRI) funds. The code will be put in place ?once ratified by the board of directors of AFG, in second quarter,? the newspaper reports. Novethic will create a label by the end of the year to distinguish SRI funds with particularly rich reporting of extra-financial information.
31/03/2009

United States - Direxion seeks to eliminate distortions for inverse leveraged ETFs

To correct the distortions that may appear in the performance of inverse leveraged ETFs as far as possible, Direxion is introducing a new range of ETFs in the United States which uses the monthly evolution of the indices as an underlying, Das Investment reports. The configuration aims to avoid results such as a performance of 29.4% in January for the triple-inverse Russell 1000 Financial Services index, which in fact should have gained 62.7%, as the index lost 20.9%. The distortion was due to high day-to-day fluctuations in the price of banking sector shares.
31/03/2009

United Kingdom - Skandia launches a multi-managed equities fund

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) on Monday announced the launch of the Skandia Global Dynamic Equity Fund, a global equities product managed by twelve management firms, with the MSCI AC World GDP Index as its benchmark. Selection of managers was made by the management team at SIG, which includes 45 professionals. The product will be offered by the British fund management firm Skandia Investment Management Limited (SIML) and initially reserved for IFAs and British retail investors. It will be the first Skandia fund to exploit both geographical asset allocation strategies and Skandia’s expertise in the area of manager selection.In the United States, SIG has chosen Epoch, Marsico, QMA and Acadia; in Europe, the management firms will be Argonaut, Allianz RCM and AllianceBernstein; for the United Kingdom, SIG has selected Schroders, and for Japan, it has selected FiNNex, while for emerging markets outside Asia, the firm has selected Gartmore.
31/03/2009

Blackstone s'installe à Paris

Le capital investisseur The Blackstone Group a annoncé lundi l’ouverture d’un bureau à Paris et la nomination de Jean-Michel Steg au poste de senior managing director. Ces cinq dernières années, l’intéressé a été directeur du pôle #banque# de Citigroup en France et en Belgique.L"équipe de conseil française dépendra du siège social européen de Blackstone à Londres. L"ouverture de ce bureau parisien renforce la présence mondiale du pôle conseil restructuration et en fusion-acquisition de Blackstone, qui compte à présent 190 collaborateurs aux Etats-Unis, en Asie et en Europe.
31/03/2009

Europe - Fortis : une facture de 10 millions d?euros pour les AG

Selon L"Echo, les neuf assemblées générales organisées par Fortis entre décembre 2008 et avril 2009 représentent pour le holding une facture globale de quelque 10 millions d’euros. A elle seule, l’AG du 11 février à Bruxelles, qui a débouché sur un «non» au deal avec BNP Paribas, a coûté plus d’un million.
31/03/2009
Fonds

Skandia lance un fonds multigérants actions

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) a annoncé lundi le lancement du Skandia Global Dynamic Equity Fund, un produit actions mondiales confié à douze gérants et dont l’indice de référence sera le MSCI AC World GDP Index. La sélection des gérants a été effectuée par l'équipe de gestion de SIG, qui compte 45 professionnels. Ce produit sera lancé par la société de gestion de fonds britannique Skandia Investment Management Limited (SIML) et réservé dans un premier temps aux CGPI et aux particuliers britanniques. Ce sera le premier fonds de Skandia à exploiter à la fois la stratégie d’allocation d’actifs géographique et le savoir-faire de Skandia en matière de sélection de gérants.Pour les Etats-Unis, SIG a retenu Epoch, Marsico, QMA et Acadian ; pour l’Europe, ce seront Argonaut, Allianz RCM et AllianceBernstein ; pour le Royaume-Uni, SIG a choisi Schroders tandis que pour le Japon il a jeté son dévolu sur FiNNex et que pour les marchés émergents hors Asie, il fait confiance à Gartmore.
Fonds
31/03/2009

Hermes transfère son private equity à Bridgepoint

Hermes, la société de gestion du fonds de pension de BT, a transféré son activité d"investissement direct dans le private equity à Bridgepoint, rapporte le Financial Times. Cela concerne une équipe de 10 personnes dirigée par Rod Selkirk, ainsi que HPEP II, un fonds de 250 millions de livres, et HPEP III, un fonds de 300 millions.
31/03/2009
Fonds

First State lance un fonds Amérique latine

First State Investments a annoncé lundi le lancement prochain (probablement à la mi-avril sous réserve de l’agrément de la FSA) du Latin America Fund, un produit actions de 30-40 lignes qui sera géré par Jonathan Asante et Millar Mathieson, assistés d’Alan Nesbit. La souscription minimale sera de 1.500 livres, tandis que le droit d’entrée et la commission de gestion s’inscrivent à respectivement 4 % et 1,75 %. Pour ce fonds, les gérants appliqueront la méthodologie de sélection de valeurs déjà employée pour les fonds Asie-Pacifique et marchés émergents mondiaux en se focalisant sur le Brésil, le Chili, la Colombie, le Mexique et le Pérou.
Fonds
31/03/2009

Oliver Kahn, figure de proue des fonds défensifs de DWS

Allianz Global Investors avait Günter Netzer ; à présent DWS (Deutsche Bank) s’est choisi comme icône l’ancien gardien de but de la Mannschaft Oliver Kahn, comme le rapporte Das Investment. Le footballeur, dont on cite le nom pour devenir entraineur de Schalke 04, personifiera les fonds garantis et obligataires de la gamme.
31/03/2009

Prestigieux recrutement pour Vontobel

Vontobel indique avoir recruté Maximilien, prince zu Sayn-Wittgenstein comme responsable des banques privées au sein de son équipe de distribution #wholesale# en Allemagne. Il sera subordonné à Matthias Klein, directeur général de la gestion d’actifs pour le marché allemand. L’intéressé quitte le groupe Fortis, où il a exercé des activités pour le compte de Fortis Investments et de Fortis Merchant Banking en Allemagne.

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