Actualités Asset Management : infos et décryptages. Page 3506

02/04/2013

Assénagon launches a corporate bond fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The new fund from the Munich-absed firm Assénagon Asset Management (which manages ETF portfolios for Source), Assénagon Credit Selection, is an institutional, Luxembourg-registered, UCITS-compliant fund, which aims to generate revenues from interest 3.5 percentage points higher than the Euribor 3-month, while avoiding currency and interest rate risks.The new product is managed by Michael Hünseler, CEO of Assénagon since 1 August 2012 (and formerly of Bayerische HypoVereinsbank, of the Unicredit group, and of Deka), and the fund will start up with assets of over EUR100m.The portfolio is invested largely in corporate bonds and CDS. In order to avoid concentration risks, the fund uses no benchmark index, and is focused on issuers rated at least B- (Fitch and S&P) or B3 (Moody’s). Currently, the fund is primarily allocated to positions on European industrials.CharacteristicsName: Assénagon Credit SelectionISIN code: LU0890803710Front-end fee: maximum 2.5% for P (retail) share classManagement commission:0.70% (I, industrial, share class)1.20% (P share class)Performance commission: 15% of performance exceeding the hurdle rate (Euribor 3 month) + 350 basis points per year.

02/04/2013

Maximum draw-down for absolute return funds declines with age

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Over five years of crisis, the 498 UCITS-compliant absolute return funds on sale in Germany (including 210 hedge funds) as of the end of December have posted average gains of 0.78% per year, compared with losses of 2.89% for the HFR Global Hedge Funds Index, and of 9.74% for Euro Stoxx 50 return funds, the Frankfurt-based asset management firm Lupus alpha reports.Only 64.9% of these funds, with assets as of the end of December representing EUR95.9bn, show positive returns, compared with 58.8% as of 30 June 2012. Lupus alpha has extended its analysis this year to include all absolute return funds, including hedge funds, as soon as they come into compliance with UCITS III (see Newsmanagers of 13 February 2012).Of 168 absolute return funds analysed over five years, only 34% show a positive Sharpe ratio over five years, and they range from 1.48 to -1.61.The average maximum draw-down (MDD) for the period under review (2008-2012) comes out to 14.22% also with a wide range form -0.31% to -87.6%. The study also finds that the verage MDD for funds whose track record is 0 to 3 years long stands at 5.65%, while it is 4.59% for those with 3-5 years in existence. For funds over 5 years old, the average MDD is only 3.19%.

02/04/2013

New head for Southern Europe at Fidelity

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Paolo Federici, country manager for Italy at Fidelity, has been appointed as head for Southern Europe and Latin America at the US asset management firm, Bluerating reports. He will be responsible for Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, Israel and South America, in addition to Italy. Last year, assets under management by Fidelity in Italy increased by about USD3bn.

02/04/2013

Oddo launches a high yield fund

TD P { margin-bottom: 0in; }P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Oddo Asset Management is adding to its bond range, with the launch of the Oddo Bonds High Yield Europe fund, an open-ended fund investing primarily in European high yield corporate bonds. The new fund is an immediate successor to successful horizon bond funds, partly investing in high yield, for which Oddo am has received over EUR1.4bn in investments since 2009. The new fund will be managed by Alain Krief, who joined the firm in October 2012 as head of fixed income management at Oddo AM. The portfolio will be invested primarily in bonds and other securities from Europe, primarily denominated in euros and issued by businesses most of which are rated beneath BBB-. The new fund is a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Oddo Funds. Investors may subscribe in euros, dollars and Swiss francs. The licensing process for the sale of the funds in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium has been initiated, and will be completed in the next few weeks. As of 26 March 2013, Oddo Bonds High Yield Europe had assets of EUR50m. Assets under management in high yield total EUR500m, nearly 15% of bond assets overall.

02/04/2013

Lyxor lists a new ETF on NYSE Euronext

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } NYSE Euronext on 28 March announced that from the same date, a new ETF for Lyxor will be listed on NYSE Euronext in Paris: the Lyxor ETF USAC, whose underlying index is the MSCI USA Net Total Return.

02/04/2013

Amin Snehal leaves Theleme Partners

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } One of the largest new hedge funds created since the 2008 crisis, Theleme Partners, has lost its second in command. Amin Snehal, former head of US research at TCI, has decided to leave the firm to found his own investment firm, FTfm reports. Theleme Partners was founded by Snehal and the Frenchman Patrick Degorce, a former partner at TCI, following their departure from the activist firm led by Chris Hohn in 2009. Theleme Partners last year earned returns of 20%, compared with an average of less than 7% for hedge funds overall.

02/04/2013

Credit Suisse sells off JO Hambro

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The financial holding company Utilico, whose headquarters are located in Bermuda, has acquired the British firm JO Hambro (CHF5.5bn in assets) from Credit Suisse, finews.ch reports, relaying information in Citywire.JO Hambro Investment Management was acquired by the Swiss group in 2000. It has 100 employees, including 20 portfolio managers.

02/04/2013

New head for Asia appointed at Martin Currie IM

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Martin Currie Investment Management has appointed Andrew Graham as head for Asia, following the previously announced departure of Jason McCay. McCay will be leaving his position during summer 2013, to “take a significant career break,” after 15 years at Martin Currie. Graham is co-manager with McCay of Martin Currie’s two Asian strategies. McCay will be replaced at the helm of the two funds by chief investment officer Paul Danes.

02/04/2013

iShares opens in Belgium

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } A total of 31 iShares ETFs have been registered in Belgium. They give investors in the country access to equity and bond products (government, corporate, inflation-linked), emerging market funds, and vehicles focused on commodities.The products which are now available include the iShares Euro Stoxx 503 ETF, the iShares MSCI World4 ETF and the iShares Barclays Captial Global inflation-linked bond fund. Investors also gain access to the Belgian government bond market through the iShares Belgium Treasury Bond ETF.iShares in Belgium is led by Charles Symons.

02/04/2013

Renaissance AM acquired by Kazimir Partners

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Russian asset management firm Renaissance Asset managers, which has USD3bn in assets under management, has been acquired by its counterpart and competitor Kazimir Partners, with USD400-500m under management, at a price which has not been disclosed.The structure born of the merger of the two emerging market specialists (with a hedge fund bias in the case of Kazimir) will be independent, and owned by its management and employees, including a stake of about 25% for the management of RAM.Previously, Renaissance AM had been nearly 90% controlled by Renaissance Group, while the remainder was in the hands of management. Its acquisition by a smaller firm may be surprising, but Adrian Harris, head of distribution and investor relationships at RAM, explains to Newsmanagers that Kazimir, a firm based in Moscow, had accumulated a lot of cash through its success in recent years, and now has about USD100m in capital, which may be invested in funds. The Renaissance group, the major shareholder in RAM, meanwhile, has had trouble recently, and had already sold its investment bank in November last year.The attraction for Renaissance, therefore, is to become an independent firm, and to receive additional capital for its funds. For its part, Kazimir will make use of the Luxembourg Sicav launched by Renaissance in 2010, with 10 sub-funds, for a European deploymentA new product range will be organised, and Russian equity and bond funds from the two firms will, logically, be expected to merge. Lastly, Renaissance AM will change names in second half, Harris says.

02/04/2013

Fidelity Contrafund reduces exposure to Apple

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } As of the end of February, the Fidelity Contrafund (USD92bn, or EUR71.76bn) had reduced its exposure to Apple to 10.43 million shares (which corresponds to USD4.6bn), from 11.56 million shares as of the end of December, Expansión reports. The Apple position, the largest for the fund, now equates to 5.2% of assets, down from 8.2%, making it smaller than its stake in Google, which represents 5.8% of assets under management.

02/04/2013

Invesco AM finishes 2012 with inflows in France

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } At a press conference held by Invesco AM on Thursday, 28 March in Paris, Nicolas Bouët, deputy CEO, announced that the asset management firm had posted gross subscriptions in France of USD1.6bn in 2012, and about USD700m in net subscriptions. By comparison, gross inflows as of the beginning of December totalled about USD1.2bn, of which more than half were net inflows. At the end of last year, global assets totalled EUR3.5bn, while as of the end of May 2012, they stood at EUR2bn. Since the beginning of this year, “the trend remains the same, just a little bit short,” the director says.

02/04/2013

Considerable increase in assets at Swiss Life Banque Privée

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } At a press conference about investment strategy, Swiss Life Banque Privée (SLBP) has revealed a few figures about its activities in France. The structure, founded in 2007, has EUR1.6bn in assets, resulting from the acquisition of Wargny from Fideuram, and then of Arpège, which as of the end of December had assets under management of EUR3.2bn, including EUR248m in net inflows in 2012, says Tanguy Polet, CEO.The portfolio is 15-20% ventilated to open-ended funds, and 25% to structured products, primarily fixed income, while the remainder is in mandates, primarily for equities. SLBP serves both as a private bank for clients with over EUR250,000 in financial savings, and as an expertise-sharing resource for products and services of the insurance company’s network. In addition, the firm has entered the depositary business for funds and general assets of the insurer, and has about EUR20bn under custody. The structure, which has 111 employees in Paris, has also recently created a “transverse” private banking/insurance management. The company covers four business units: financial management, wealth management, corporate finance and real estate.

02/04/2013

HSBC GAM France appoints a successor to Laurent Tignard

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, HSBC Global Asset Management (France) is preparing to announce the arrival of a successor to Laurent Tignard as CEO of the asset management firm. He is Matteo Pardi, an insider who for the past six years has been responsible for retail clients in continental Europe, and who joined HSBC in 2001.Tignard joins the Edmond de Rothschild group as global head of the asset management operation, where he will work with Christophe de Backer, its CEO, with whom he collaborated at HSBC.

02/04/2013

Investors reduce exposure to Europe

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Uncertainty related to chaotic Italian elections and a bailout of the Cypriot banking sector have driven investors to reduce their engagements in funds exposed to Europe in the final days of March. Equity funds, money market funds and European bond funds have seen significant redemptions in the week to 28 March, as have emerging Europe and Russian equity funds, according to statistics released by SPFR Global.However, US equity funds have continued to post inflows, and for the first time since January, inflows to actively-managed funds have exceeded those to ETFs. Japanese equity funds have continued to attract investors, while inflows have for the first time toppe USD2bn in the space of a single week.Equity funds overall have posted net inflows of USD1.9bn, while bond funds have finished the week with net inflows of USD3.72bn. Money market funds have finished the week with losses, due to net outflows of USD9.3bn from European money market funds.For bonds, US funds took the lion’s share, but high yield bond funds finished the week with inflows of nearly USD1bn, while bank loan debt funds posted subscriptions totalling USD1bn for the eighth consecutive week.

02/04/2013

European investors remain very satisfied with ETFs

The annual EDHEC European ETF Survey 2012, which represents a comprehensive survey of 212 European ETF investors shows that ETFs remain the favourite choice of investors for passive investment, with consistently high satisfaction levels (equity ETF satisfaction rates have been consistently in the region of 90%). It also documents that there has been an increase in the use of ETFs for corporate bonds, infrastructure and real estate.The survey, which was conducted as part of the Amundi ETF research chair at EDHEC-Risk Institute on “Core-Satellite and ETF Investment» shows that demand for innovation is high in different asset categories, with 49% of respondents seeking development of emerging market equity ETFs, and there is also demand for new forms of indices, such as «smart beta» ETFs.It should also be stressed that the great majority of European investors think that ETFs should remain as beta-producing products (81% of respondents). However, 17% of respondents were of the opinion that ETFs should become actively managed, which is an increase from just 11% in 2011.Turning to regulation at large, ESMA recommendations of July 2012 have been warmly welcomed by investors, with 77% agreeing that the guidelines have achieved their stated aim of improving investor protection. And support for the ESMA recommendations is even stronger on the subject of revenues from securities lending. Investors are overwhelmingly in favour of the requirement to return securities lending revenue net of costs to the ETF investor, with 84% of respondents in agreement.The ESMA guidelines appear to have been informative and setting standards in the right direction. The overall issue of index transparency has been very positively viewed by investors.

02/04/2013

BVI wishes to channel ESMA index transparency initiative

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } In an interview with the Börsen-Zeitung, Rudolf Siebel, a member of the board at the German BVI association of asset management firms, wishes that recommendations of the European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) for index transparency should be frozen in the absence of regulations and centralised oversight of indices.These would actually mean that fund management firms would be required to ensure themselves that the purveyors of indices satisfy transparency standards, which would be far too costly, or impossible, when the index provider itself refuses to disclose confidential information.In the worst case, says Siebel, asset management firms would have to withdraw products from the market. They would thus fall victim to distortions of competition, as ESMA is explicitly targeting only funds, but certificates would not be affected. Additionally, the BVI would like to see asset management firms able to access information for free related to indices, when these are among the legally required items as part of reporting.

02/04/2013

Luxembourg funds: EUR62.1bn AUM increase in February

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } As of 28 February, net assets under management by collective investment organisms (OPCs) and specialised investment funds (SIFs) in Luxembourg totalled EUR2.46807trn, which represents an increase of EUR62.14bn compared with the end of January (ER2.40593trn), EUR29.32bn of which are attributable to net subscriptions, and EUR32.89bn to market appreciation, according to figures from the Financial Sector Supervision Commission (CSSF).The number of OPCs and SIFs products under consideration is 3,849, compared with 3,840 the previous month, while 2,472 entities have adopted a multiple sub-fund structure, with a total of 12,141 sub-funds. With the addition of 1,377 traditionally structured entities, a total of 13,518 entities are active on the financial market.In the month under review, 25 OPCs and SIFs entities were added to the official list, while 16 were removed.

02/04/2013

Les hedge funds asiatiques démarrent 2013 sur les chapeaux de roue

Les hedge funds spécialisés sur la région Asie-Pacifique ont enregistré des performances de 3,97% en janvier et de 2,18% en février, selon des chiffres communiqués par Preqin dans son dernier Hedge Fund Spotlight. Les hedge funds nord-américains et européens ont progressé de seulement 0,61% en janvier et de 1,24% en février. Sur douze mois, les hedge funds asiatiques affichent un gain de 10,71% contre 9,37% pour les hedge funds dédiés à l’Amérique du Nord et 6,88% pour les hedge funds européens. Sur toutes les stratégies et l’ensemble des zones, la performance des hedge funds est tombée à 0,39% en février contre 2,47% en janvier.

02/04/2013

Union Investment revend un actif à Prague

L’allemand Union Investment Real Estate a cédé pour 53,8 millions d’euros l’immeuble de bureaux Trianon de Prague (20.600 mètres carrés) à la société d’investissement Reico, une coentreprise de l’autrichienne Erste Bank et de la caisse d'épargne Česká Spořitelna. Cet actif du fonds immobilier offert au public UniImmo: Europa avait été acheté en 2005 pour 44,5 millions d’euros.

02/04/2013

Croissance décevante en Turquie

Sur les trois derniers mois de 2012, le PIB de la Turquie a augmenté de 1,4%, alors que le consensus Reuters tablait sur une hausse de 2,3%. Sur l’ensemble de 2012, la croissance est retombée à 2,2% contre +8,8% en 2011. Le moteur de la consommation est tombé à l’arrêt après le relèvement des taux par la banque centrale.

02/04/2013

Accélération de l'activité manufacturière aux Etats-Unis

L’indice PMI manufacturier est ressorti à 54,6 le mois dernier, contre 54,9 en première estimation («flash») et 54,3 en février, porté par la hausse des nouvelles commandes et des embauches, selon l’enquête Markit auprès des directeurs d’achats. A l’inverse, l’enquête de l’Institute for Supply Management montre une décélération, l’indice du secteur s'établissant à 51,3 contre 54,2 en février.

02/04/2013

3 grandes villes chinoises s'attaquent à la surchauffe immobilière

Pékin, Shanghai et Chongqing vont appliquer des mesures strictes dans le cadre du plan du gouvernement pour éviter une bulle du marché immobilier, selon la presse locale. Les célibataires habitant à Pékin se verront ainsi interdire l’achat d’un deuxième logement. Les prix de l’immobilier dans les cent plus grandes villes chinoises ont augmenté en moyenne de 1,1% en mars, à 9.998 yuans (1.254 euros) le mètre carré, selon le consultant CREIS.

02/04/2013

Chypre confirme les ponctions sur les gros déposants

Les titulaires de comptes chez Bank of Cyprus (BoC) vont perdre autour de 60% de leur épargne au-dessus de 100.000 euros, a confirmé samedi la banque centrale du pays, durcissant les conditions du sauvetage qui a évité à l'île la faillite. Le décret officiel confirme que BoC distribuera des actions correspondant à seulement 37,5% de leur épargne au-delà de 100.000 euros, et que 22,5% des dépôts de plus de 100.000 euros ne porteront pas intérêt. Les 40% restants continueront de porter intérêt mais ils ne seront versés que lorsque la banque se redressera. Les dépôts inférieurs à 100.000 euros continueront d'être garantis, alors que les avoirs de la Cyprus Popular Bank seront transférés à la Bank of Cyprus. Dans un entretien accordé au Financial Times, le président de la banque centrale, Panicos Demetriades, indique que les mesures de contrôle des dépôts doivent être levés progressivement dans les 7 à 14 prochains jours.

02/04/2013

KKR sur le point de s'offrir Maje, Sandro et Pierlot

Le groupe de capital investissement américain est entré en négociations exclusives pour racheter au moins 51% du capital de SMCP, qui regroupe les marques françaises de prêt-à -porter Sandro, Maje et Claudie Pierlot, selon Le Figaro. L’offre présentée valoriserait les trois marques à 650 millions d’euros, soit près de onze fois son excédent brut d’exploitation 2012.

02/04/2013

Les marchés s’inquiètent de l’entêtement de l’Argentine

La proposition faite vendredi par Buenos Aires aux fonds vautours une heure avant la limite fixée par la justice américaine de les rembourser à des conditions identiques à celles proposées lors de la restructuration de la dette en 2010 a entraîné une envolée des CDS du pays à un an de 718 points de base (pb) hier à 7.589 pb, un plus haut depuis mars 2009.

02/04/2013

Le Royaume-Uni devrait éviter une nouvelle récession

L’économie britannique devrait pouvoir éviter une nouvelle récession, les exportations devant lui permettre de connaître une reprise «modeste» cette année, selon la Chambre de commerce britannique (BCC). «L’économie reste faible par rapport à ses niveaux de long terme. En revanche, si elle reste sous sa moyenne durant un certain temps, la croissance devrait rester en territoire positif» estime David Kern, chef économiste de la BCC.