TIAA Henderson Real Estate (‘TH Real Estate’) a annoncé le 1er avril son lancement officiel. Issue du regroupement de l’immobilier de TIAA-CREF et Henderson Global Investors, la nouvelle entité, TIAA Henderson Real Estate, devient un acteur majeur de la gestion d’actifs immobiliers dans le monde avec une expérience en immobilier de près d’un siècle. Entièrement dédiée à l’immobilier, TH Real Estate n’interviendra pas sur d’autres classes d’actifs. «Nous sommes depuis longtemps convaincus qu’un développement à plus grande échelle et l’accès à de nouveaux capitaux bénéficieraient à l’activité immobilière d’Henderson et accélèreraient sa croissance. La formation de TH Real Estate répond à cette conviction et apporte une réponse concrète à la demande grandissante des investisseurs pour un alignement des intérêts. Ainsi TH Real Estate est en mesure de participer à des co-investissements et à des lancements de fonds. Et ce dans un esprit d’amélioration constante de la qualité de service global pour ses clients», explique Andrew Formica, président de Henderson Group plc. Cette nouvelle plateforme rassemble les activités immobilières de TIAA-CREF en Europe et celles de Henderson Global Investors en Europe et en Asie-Pacifique. Avec une présence mondiale au travers de multiples implantations locales en Asie et en Europe, TH Real Estate gère plus de 16.4 milliards d’euros d’actifs détenus via une cinquantaine de fonds et véhicules dédiés. TIAA-CREF détient une participation de 60% dans TH Real Estate et Henderson Global Investors de 40%. Simultanément, TIAA-CREF a finalisé l’acquisition de 100% de l’activité immobilière nord-américaine de Henderson Global Investors (représentant 1,9 milliard d’euros d’actifs sous gestion). Cette activité, gérée de manière distincte, vient renforcer la plate-forme immobilière existante de TIAA-CREF en Amérique du Nord. TIAA-CREF continuera de gérer cette plateforme immobilière établie en Amérique du Nord qui comptabilise 35 milliards d’euros d’actifs sous gestion et qui investit dans des produits immobiliers sécurisés les fonds de TIAA General Account, des cotisants aux fonds de pension, et d’une clientèle d’investisseurs institutionnels et privés internationaux. TH Real Estate se positionne comme une organisation leader dans la gestion et l’investissement d’actifs immobiliers dans le monde. Ensemble, les plateformes immobilières de TIAA-CREF et de TIAA Henderson Real Estate forment l’un des plus grands acteurs de la gestion et de l’investissement en immobilier dans le monde, avec un total combiné d’actifs immobiliers sous gestion de 52 milliards d’euros.

La banque Coutts, qui abrite les activités de gestion de fortune du groupe RBS, a annoncé la nomination de Sophie Chapuisat au poste de directrice exécutive, responsable «Products & Services Strategy and Business Management» pour l’Europe, basée à Genève. Sa nomination est effective dès le 1er avril, précise un communiqué de la banque.Sophie Chapuisat est directement rattaché à Norman Villamin et Philipp Ackermann, co-directeurs de la division. Elle a 22 années d’expérience dans le secteur financier, à Genève et à New York.Elle travaillait précédemment chez Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) où elle était responsable de l’activité intermédiée.

F&C Investments a annoncé, le 1er avril, le recrutement de Scott Spencer qui rejoindra à compter de juillet 2014 son équipe de multi-gérants, dirigée par le tandem constitué de Rob Burdett et Gary Potter. L’intéressé arrive en provenance d’Aberdeen Asset Management où il officiait au sein de l’équipe dédiée aux solutions multi-classes d’actifs en tant que responsable de la gestion de plusieurs fonds multi-assets et «single country». Entre 2004 et 2009, Scott Spencer était gérant de portefeuille chez Credit Suisse Asset Manangement au sein de la division multi-gérants, fondée par Rob Burdett et Gary Potter qu’il va donc retrouver chez F&C.

Hermes Fund Managers vient de recruter Michael Russell en qualité de deputy manager sur le fonds dédié aux petites et moyennes capitalisations américaines, selon un communiqué publié le 1er avril.Michael Russell travaillait précédemment chez Nomura Asset Management. Il sera basé à Londres et rattaché à Mark Sherlock, gérant principal sur la stratégie domiciliée à Dublin.

La boutique d’investissement Meriten Investment Management, qui appartient au groupe BNY Mellon, vient d’obtenir son agrément AIFM auprès de la BaFin, rapporte Fondsprofessionnel. «Une étape importante» dans la stratégie de croissance de la société et un «signal fort» à la clientèle sur sa volonté d’adaptation aux nouveaux défis réglementaires, souligne dans un communiqué Werner Taiber, porte-parole du directoire de Meriten IM. Les actifs sous gestion de Meriten s'élevaient fin 2013 à plus de 23 milliards d’euros.

Le conseil de surveillance d’Union Investment a décidé à l’unanimité de nommer Andreas Zubrod membre du directoire à compter du 1er juin 2014, selon un communiqué publié le 1er avril.Actuellement responsable de la division «Legal & Public Affairs», Andreas Zubrod aura la responsabilité au sein du directoire de cette même activité. Il devrait également superviser l’audit, la fiscalité, ainsi que le contrôle des investissements.

Le responsable des relations stratégiques avec les family offices chez Berenberg, Dominicus von Nerée, a décidé de quitter la banque privée pour rejoindre LBBW/BW-Bank, rapporte Das Investment. A compter du 1er avril, Dominicus von Nerée va renforcer les activités de gestion de fortune de LBBW auprès des family offices, des entreprises familiales et des clients haut de gamme.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Due to turbulence in Ukraine, funds from Michael Hasenstab, the star bond manager at Franklin Templeton, have seen outflows of USD5.5bn, Financial Times fund management reports. The manager holdd one third of international Ukrainian bonds denominated in US dollars. The Templeton Global Bond fund has seen redemptions of USD3.6bn since the beginning of the year, while Global Total Return has seen outflows of USD1.9bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Rathbone Brothers (Rathbones) is making a double play on the British asset management market. The British firm specialised in wealth management on 1 April announced that it has made two acquisitions totalling over GBP57m. Rathbones has spent GBP43.1m to acquire the activity dedicated to private clients and charities at Jupiter Asset Management. The operation will be carried out by Rathbone Investment Management, which will welcome 2 professionals to its team, and which is led by Andrew Clark, head of private clients at Jupiter AM. On 14 March 2014, the private client activity at Jupiter totalled GBP2.1bn in funds under management. Meanwhile, Rathbones has spent GBP14.3m to acquire from Deutsche Bank Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) a part of the wealth management and private client management activities of in London from Tilney Investment Management. The operation is also completed via Rathbone Investment Management, which is preparing to welcome a team composed of 5 professionals from Tilney, led by Jeremy Newman, who is joining Rathbones. As of 21 February 2014, the private client activity at Tilney in London has about GBP700m in assets under management. Through the double acquisition, Rathbones increases its assets under management by 12.7%, to GBP24.8bn on a pro-forma basis, compared with GBP22bn as of the end of December 2013, the wealth management firm has announced in a statement. These transactions are financed via a capital increase of GBP24m, placing 1.343 million new shares with existing institutional investors, at a price of 1.814 pence per share. Rathbones does not appear to want to stop halfway. “We are expecting to see other opportunities for acquisitions in the short or mid-term on private client segment,” says Philip Howell, CEO of Rathbones. “The capital increase will now give us the flexibility to continue to take advantage of similar opportunities which may arise on the market.”

Coutts has hired Sophie Chapuisat as executive director, head of products & services strategy and business management, Europe at Coutts, effective on April 1.In this new role, Sophie Chapuisat will be Geneva-based and report to Norman Villamin and Philipp Ackermann as Co-Heads of Products & Services Europe at Coutts. She will provide senior level strategic support focusing on the effective delivery of Products & Services in Europe.Sophie has 22 years’ financial services experience in Geneva and in New York. She joins Coutts from Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) S.A. where she was Head of the Global Intermediary (LPOA) Business.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Wells Fargo Asset Management is joining the Nordnet distribution platform on the Finnish market, on which 11 sub-funds from the Luxembourg Sicav Worldwide Fund UCITS will now be available to local investors, Investment Europe reports. Among the 11 funds concerned, there are 8 equity vehicles and 2 bond products. “The fund market in Finland is a dynamic industry, and it represents a significant part of our investment and our growth in Europe,” says Ludger Peters, managing director in charge of development for international activities at Wells Fargo AM.

F&C Investments on April 1 announced the expansion of its multi-manager team with the hiring of Scott Spencer. He will join the team, led by Rob Burdett and Gary Potter, in July 2014.Scott Spencer joins from Aberdeen’s Multi Asset Solutions team where he was responsible for the management of several multi-asset and single country funds. Between 2004 and 2009, he was a portfolio manager within Credit Suisse Asset Management’s multi-manager division, founded by Rob Burdett and Gary Potter.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The UK asset management group Aviva Investors is seeking to add to its distribution team in Switzerland. The Swiss team had previously included five people, led by Fabio Ferra. At the beginning of the year, Ferra took on a more international role. As Global Head Financial Institutions, he now leads a team of 12 people. Aviva, largely known for its bond expertise, is now seeking to grow in absolute return strategies. The British firm is also hoping to build its presence in western Swtzerland and the wholesale institutional market. Aviva, which has been present in Zurich for three years, has CHF2bn in assets under management locally in Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain.

Hermes Fund Managers has hired Michael Russell as deputy portfolio manager of Hermes US Small and Mid Cap Equities. His most recent role has been senior portfolio manager of the Global Developed Markets Equity funds at Nomura Asset Management.Based in London, Michael Russell will report into Mark Sherlock, lead portfolio manager.

TIAA Henderson Real Estate (TH Real Estate) launched on 1 April 2014. The company is born from two organisations (TIAA-CREF & Henderson Global Investors) with a combined track record of over 90 years in global real estate. Its focus will be pure real estate."Henderson has long recognized that its property business would benefit from greater scale and access to capital to accelerate its future growth. The formation of TH Real Estate is a dynamic example of our response to investors’ increasing preference for alignment of interest, which TH Real Estate will be able to betterachieve via co-investment and seeded investment opportunities. The result will be superior service to clients on a global scale,» said Andrew Formicachief executive of Henderson Group.TH Real Estate consists of TIAA-CREF’s European real estate business and Henderson Global Investor’s European and Asia Pacific-based real estate businesses. It has a dedicated global presence with offices across Asia and Europe, managing EUR16.4bn of real estate assets across c.50 funds and mandates. TIAA-CREF owns a 60 percent interest in TH Real Estate. The remaining 40% is owned by Henderson.Simultaneously, TIAA-CREF has completed the acquisition of Henderson’s North American property business. This business (EUR1.9 bn) is being managed as a distinct, yet complementary operation within the existing TIAA-CREF North American real estate platform.TIAA-CREF will manage and service its existing EUR35billion real estate platform which invests on behalf of the TIAA General Account, retirement participants, and institutional and individual investors worldwide, focusing on the core real estate space.TH Real Estate intends to build «a world class sales, product development and client servicing organization» that will ultimately provide global coverage across the global platform. Together, the TIAA-CREF real estate and TH Real Estate platforms have a combined total of EUR52bn in real estate assets under management.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel has opened an office in London to advise activist hedge funds, the Financial Times reports, adding that it is a sign that US funds may intensify their assaults on businesses in the United Kingdom and Europe. Among the US clients of SRZ are major activists such as Barry Rosenstein at Jana Partners, Paul Singer at Eiliott Management, and Trian Partners, led by Nelson Peltz.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Total Return fund from Bill Gross was beaten by 94% of its rivals in March, accentuating pressure on the legendary founder of Pimco, the Financial Times reports. Figures from Morningstar reveals that the USD232bn bond fund is below its benchmark index by 40 basis points: it lost 0.57% in March, compared with a decline of 0.17% for the Barclays aggregate. The agency also estimates that US investors withdrew USD3.1bn from the Total Return fund in March, the 11th consecutive month of redemptions, which totalled USD52.1bn since April last year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Charles Stanley is continuing its geographical expansion. The British asset management firm on 1 April announced that it is opening a new office in Cardiff, the 34th entity of the group. The British branch is led by Andrew Stansfield, director of the Cardiff office, supported by Gail de’Claire and Richard Disley for investment management. The team also includes Gary Power, head of charity development.

It has been a challenging beginning to the year for Aberdeen Asset Management. The Scottish asset management firm on 1 April reported outflows of GBP3.9bn “accross all asset classes” after the first two months of the 2014 fiscal year. In March alone, Aberdeen estimates its net outflows at GBP200m.As a result, its assets under management are down sharply, to GBP186.5bn as of 28 February, compared with GBP193.76bn as of the end of 2013, down 4%. Aberdeen explains that this negative perofrmance is partly due to the “continued weakness of emerging markets.”In such a context, the asset management firm has announced plans to implement additional measures to reduce costs, some of them tied in with the integration of Scottish Widows Investment Partners (SWIP), an acquisition fully finalised on 31 March, bringing assets under management by the new group to GBP324.5bn as of the end of February 2014. “Conditions on merging markets remain difficult, and we have therefore identified and implemented cost saving measures beyond the expected synergies as part of the acquisition of SWIP,” says Martin Gilbert, CEO of Aberdeen AM, without disclosing any figures.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) is recruiting for its team dedicated to coverage for institutional clients in Asia-Pacific, with the appointment of two senior management figures, Asia Asset Management reports. Ken Tam has joined the German asset management firm, from JPMorgan Asset Management, to serve in the newly-created position of head of institutional clients in the «global client group» division for Asia-Pacific ex Japan. His mission will be to promote products and services from DeAWM to institutional clients throughout the region. Meanwhile, Rajan Raju has been appointed as head of intermediaries in the «global client group» team for Asia-Pacific (ex Japan). Raju has been present in the Deutsche Bank group since 2010, and is responsible for setting up sales and distribution strategies to intermediaries throughout the region.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Italian financial market authority (Consob) will this autumn launch a portal dedicated to financial education, Bluerating reports, relaying information from Giuseppe D’Agostino, deputy CEO at the regulator. In April, the authority will also launch a training cycle for consumer associations.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Bank of America Merrill Lynch has teamed up with Sandell Investment Services, an asset management firm based in New York, to found an alternative UCITS fund, Citywire Global reports. The fund, Merrill Lynch Investment Solutions – Castlerigg Equity Event and Arbitrage UCITS Fund, is launched via the Sandell affiliate Castelrigg Master Investments. It reflects the strategy of a fund managed by the Sandell asset management arm. The fund is registered for sale in France.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The investment service provider SEI has launched a series of tax-efficient ETF strategies aimed at financial advisers facing growing demand for low-cost strategies. The new range includes five strategies with various risk levels, conservative, moderate, market growth, aggressive and equity, which provide a way to better manage the impact of taxation while maintaining the performance/risk characteristics of a given portfolio.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } After laborious years, the hedge fund industry in South Korea appears to have taken off, as pension funds and other institutional investors diversify their allocation to alternative management. Assets under management in the sector may double by 2015 to a total of USD5bn, Asian Investor reports, stating that the country has about 24 hedge funds managed by 12 local asset management firms.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US hedge fund firm DE Shaw in mid-March recruited Stephen Michel, former head of non-core and legacy at UBS for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Financial News reports. He will work on credit investment opportunities.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The alternative asset management firm Ares Management on 31 March submitted an application for a forthcoming initial public offering, the news agency Reuters reports. This would be the first IPO for an alternative managemnet firm since the arrival of the Carlyle group on the market, two years ago.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The board of directors at Union Investment has unanimously decided to appoint Andreas Zubrod as a board member from 1 June 2014, according to a statement released on 1 April. Zubrod, currently head of the Legal & Public Affairs division, will be responsible for the same activity on the board. He will also oversee auditing, taxation, and investment controlling.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The investment boutique Meriten Investment Management, which belongs to the BNY Mellon group, has obtained its AIFM license from BaFin, Fondsprofessionell reports. “An important step” in the growth strategy of the firm, and a “strong signal” to clients about the desire to adapt to new regulatory challenges, Werner Taiber, spokesman for the board at Meriten IM, says. Assets under management at Meriten as of the end of 2013 totalled more than EUR23bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The head of strategic relations with family offices at Berenberg, Dominicius von Nerée, has decided to leave Berenberg private bank to join LBBW/BW-Bank, Das Investment reports. From 1 April, von Nerée will strengthen wealth management activities at LBBW serving family offices, family businesses and high net worth clients.

Threadneedle Investments on April 1 announced that it has entered into a promotion and referral agreement with South African investment manager Stanlib to introduce its clients globally to the latter’s Africa strategies. Stanlib will similarly offer African investors access to Threadneedle’s capabilities. The South African fund manager, which manages over USD45 billion for retail and institutional clients, specialises in South African and African investments across all major asset classes including property.The agreement follows the announcement in August 2012, that Stanlib had selected Threadneedle to manage in excess of USD800 million in Global and Emerging Market equity and Global Balanced portfolios as part of its offshore investment range. Today, Threadneedle manages in excess of USD1 billion on behalf of Stanlib.Strategies that Threadneedle will introduce include: Africa ex South Africa Equity, a strategy focusing on investment in Africa’s frontier markets, Global Emerging Market Property and Direct Property investment opportunities. The two partners do not hide that they want to tap the African market. “Collectively, Africa’s economy is around USD2.0 trillion and is expected to reach USD2.6 trillion by 2020,» observes Dylan Evans, head of International Business Development at Stanlib. “The outlook for 2014 is promising, with Africa’s GDP growth expected to grow by around 5.5% in 2014.”