Lancé le 22 janvier 1993 par State Street, le SPDR S&P 500 ETF, ou SPY selon le code NyseArca, célèbre ce mardi 22 janvier son vingtième anniversaire. Une célébration justifiée, selon IndexUniverse, dans la mesure où ce produit a été le premier ETF coté aux Etats-Unis et il est aujourd’hui le plus gros ETF du monde avec des encours de 125 milliards de dollars.SPY représente environ 9% des 1.403 milliards de dollars désormais investis dans les ETF. Il figure parmi les ETF les moins chers du marché, avec un total des frais sur encours (TFE) de 0,0945%, les TFE de ses concurrents directs, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF et iShares Core S&P 500 ETF étant de respectivement 0,05% et 0,07%.

Matthieu Laval a rejoint la Société Privée de Gestion de Patrimoine (SPGP) en qualité de gérant OPCVM actions pour les fonds RP Sélection aux côtés de Roger Polani, responsable de la gestion collective. Il a auparavant travaillé chez Covéa Finance en tant que gérant OPCVM actions européennes.

Pour 54 millions d’euros, Deka Immobilien a acheté à Nexity un projet d’immeuble commercial situé avenue de France à Paris. Cet actif (7.200 mètres carrés) dont l’achèvement est prévu pour septembre 2013, sera affecté au portefeuille d’un fonds immobilier institutionnel.

En avril, Oliver Reisinger rejoindra MainFirst comme head of fixed income, a annoncé à la Börsen-Zeitung Siegfried Jachinski, membre du directoire. L’intéressé était depuis 2011 head of sales & marketing chez HSH Nordbank.Mainfirst a l’intention de doubler en deux ans, à quarante personnes, l’effectif de son pôle obligataire.

Directeur de la distribution pour l’Allemagne chez Henderson Global Investors, Lars Albert rejoindrait dans les mêmes fonctions Baring Asset Management, croit savoir Das Investment.

Le 21 janvier, la cote du segment XTF de la plate-forme électronique Xetra a atteint les 1014 références avec l’admission à la négociation des cinq premiers ETF sectoriels en Europe sur les actions chinoises A, lancés par db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), rapporte la Deutsche Börse. Ce sont tous des produits luxembourgeois chargés à 0,50 % qui répliquent cinq sous-indices du CSI 300 de Shanghai.db x-trackers a déjà lancé un ETF sur le CSI 300 dont l’encours est passé de 272 millions fin juin à 620 millions au 14 janvier.Les cinq nouveaux produits sont les suivants :db X-trackers CSI300 Banks Index ETF (LU0781021877)db X-trackers CSI300 Consumer Discretionary Index ETF (LU0781021950)db X-trackers CSI300 Energy Index ETF (LU0781022172)db X-trackers CSI300 Health Care Index ETF (LU0781022339)db X-trackers CSI300 Real Estate Index ETF (LU0781022099)

Avec le DB Platinum Energy & Metals (code ISIN: LU0820952413), db-X funds (groupe Deutsche Bank) vient d’entamer la commercialisation d’un fonds énergie et métaux industriels dont l’indice de référence est le DB Platinum Energy & Metals, lequel reproduit les prix des matières premières sous-jacentes au moyen de contrats à terme. Cet indice se compose à 60 % de métaux industriels (aluminium, cuivre, zinc, nickel et plomb), les 40 % restants se répartissant sur le pétrole Brent, l’essence, le gazole et le gaz naturel. Les pondérations sont actualisées chaque mois.La période de souscription est ouverte jusqu’au 28 janvier. Selon le prospectus daté de septembre 2012, la commission de gestion serait de 1,20 % par an et le droit d’entrée de 5 % maximum.db-X funds précise qu’elle gère déjà onze fonds de matières premières pour un encours total de 1,4 milliard d’euros.

Après l’ouverture récente à Bruxelles et Amsterdam par Pictet Asset Management (PAM) de bureaux de représentation dédiés à la vente de fonds, Hervé Thiard, directeur général en charge du marché institutionnel de Pictet en France, prend également la direction de la zone Benelux. Les encours de Paris se situaient à 3,1 milliards d’euros au 31 décembre 2012.Les nouveaux bureaux viennent compléter les services de marketing existants de PAM à Luxembourg, siège de la banque du groupe Pictet dans l’Union européenne. Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, Hervé Thiard s’appuiera sur Bruno Hellemans, qui a depuis 2007 la responsabilité opérationnelle du marché des fonds d’investissement dans les Etats du Benelux.PAM ne communique pas le montant de ses encours dans le Benelux qui, selon nos informations, seraient supérieurs à ceux de Paris.

Odey Asset Management envisage de proposer une version coordonnée qui sera domiciliée à Dublin de sa stratégie alternative long/short européenne lancée il y a une dizaine d’années, rapporte Investment Week.Selon les données de Bloomberg, Odey European fund, dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à environ 1,8 milliard de dollars, a enregistré une performance de 24% en 2012. Depuis son lancement, le fonds affiche un rendement brut annuel de 13,4%.Odey envisage de lancer d’autres fonds au format Ucits dans les prochaines semaines, dont un fonds long/short equity.

James Senior, ancien responsable du marketing chez Ignis, a rejoint Henderson Global Investors en qualité de conseil sur les problématiques de marketing, rapporte Fundweb.James Senior avait quitté Ignis en septembre 2012.

Dans le cadre de son développement au Royaume-Uni, EFG Asset Management, filiale du suisse EFG International, envisage de lancer en avril un fonds multi-classes d’actifs (obligations d’Etats et d’entreprises, dette hybride, actions, hedge funds, immobilier, infrastructure et numéraire) ayant le statut d’OEIC qui sera géré par Hilary Wakefield, head of UK portfolio management, rapporte Investment Week. Ce fonds visera un rendement de 8 % et une volatilité de 4-7 % avec le Libor + 300 points de base comme taux butoir.

SEI Investments a annoncé la nomination de Kevin Bull en qualité de director, responsable du développement des alliances stratégiques, et Simon Pinner, en tant que directeur des ventes, de l'équipe de distribution du pôle UK Asset Management.Kevin Bull a travaillé précédemment chez Hearthstone Investments, Simon Pinner chez Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP). Simon Pinner sera notamment responsable d’un panel de quelque 50 firmes de conseil britanniques et accompagnera également l’expansion de l'équipe en Europe.

Les actifs des fonds de placement suisses s’inscrivaient fin décembre 2012 à 711,9 milliards de francs suisses, en recul de 6,1 milliards de francs par rapport au mois précédent, selon les statistiques communiquées par la Swiss Funds Association (SFA). Sur un an toutefois, les fonds suisses affichent une progression de 13%, soit un peu plus de 80 milliards de dollars.En décembre 2012, la collecte des fonds obligataires s’est élevée à 1,5 milliard de francs suisses, celle des fonds actions à 344,7 millions de francs, mais dans le même temps, les fonds monétaires ont subi une décollecte de 1,9 milliard de francs suisses.En 2012, UBS (22,74% de part de marché) et Credit Suisse (16,25%) sont restés les plus grands promoteurs de fonds du marché suisse, devant Pictet (6,99%), Swisscanto (5,83%) et Banque cantonale de Zurich (5,11%).

Partners Group a annoncé le 21 janvier que Charles Dallara, actuellement Managing Director de l’Institute of International Finance (IIF), devient partenaire de l’entreprise spécialisée dans le Private Equity. Charles Dallara reprendra la responsabilité de la région Americas en tant que président de cette entité. Il sera basé aux Etats-Unis.Lors de la prochaine assemblée générale de Partners Group, le 2 mai 2013, Charles Dallara sera proposé comme nouveau membre du conseil d’administration et comme son vice-président.

In its monthly report for January, the Bundesbank states that investment funds whose shares are primarily held by retail investor have a more pronounced tendency than other funds to use subscriptions to build a mattress of liquidity in order to be able to better confront redemptions in periods of increased tension.The German central bank also estimates that from the beginning of 2007 until the end of September 2012, institutional investors placed EUR237bn in new money in institutional funds (Spezialfonds), with insurers being the most active in this area.

According to various sources in the British media, the Swiss firm LGT Capital Partners has won a “multi-alternative” mandate on GBP280m in assets from the pension fund of Hertfordshire City Council. It is the largest mandate for alternative investment (nine asset classes) ever awarded by a British public pension fund.

David Driver, who has been network director for three years, has been promoted to the position of managing director of Standard Life Wealth, and will be responsible for discretionary funds, Fundweb reports. In his new role, Driver will report to CEO Richard Charnock.

The Japanese Mizuho Financial Group last year decided not to invest as much as USD500m with SAC, the Wall Street Journal reports. The bank made the decision at a time when the US asset management firm was facing an investigation into insider trading allegations. SAC has seen large redemptions. This quarter, the firm will have to redeem USD1bn. An investment from Mizuho would have made it able to compensate for these redemptions and to attract other Asian investors.

Net inflows of EUR4.5bn in 2012 allowed Carmignac Gestion to offset poor results in 2011, when the asset management firm based in the Place Vendôme in Paris posted net outflows of over EUR6bn, of which EUR2.5bn were from the Carmignac Patrimoine fund, the firm’s flagship product, alone. Assets under management at the firm have returned well above EUR50bn as of the end of December 2012, at EUR53.7bn, compared with EUR45bn twelve months previously.This increase includes market effects, which, as an example, bring assets in the Carmignac Patrimoine fund above EUR28bn, with gains of 5.42% last year. For its part, Carmignac Emerging Patrimoine, which had EUR230m as of the end of 2011, as of the end of 2012 had assets under management of EUR1.8bn, after gains of 14.43%.

Bradesco Asset Management, the asset management affiliate of one of the largest banks in Brazil, has received a license to release its Luxembourg-registered Sicav Bradesco Global Funds in France, according to information received by Newsmanagers. The product range from the asset management firm, which is currently composed of three funds, is focused on its home market, Brazil. The largest product by assets (USD93.5m) is the Brazilian Equities Mid Small Caps, a Brazilian small and midcaps fund. Currently, its manager has a preference for shares which benefit from economic growth in the country. The second-largest fund by size if the Brazilian Hard Currency Bond Fund USD, a fund of Brazilian government bonds denominated in US dollars. “The choice of the US currency allows the fund to avoid a 6% tax on foreign investments in local bond funds,” Bradesco AM says. Lastly, the third fund is also a bond fund, but this one denominated in local currency. With assets of USD33.1m, the Brazilian Fied Income fund invests in Brazilian debt, issued by public and private issuers. It is also exempt from the 6% tax. With its first funds licensed for sale in France (two others will follow), Bradesco AM will be able to serve France from London, where the firm has constructed a team dedicated to international development. Ileana Salas, head for Europe and the Middle East, will be responsible for the French market. This effort in France comes as part of a foreign expansion by Bradesco AM. The funds have also recently been licensed for sale in the United Kingdom. The strategy was seeded in 2009 with the creation of the Luxembourg Sicav, and was followed in late 2010 by the opening of an office in London. The Sicav has about USD200m in assets, which is still a drop in the water compared with total assets under management by the Brazilian asset management firm, which had USD141bn as of the end of December, and has many pension funds among its clients.

Sam Vecht and Henry Wigan will be responsible for managing a new emerging market absolute return fund for BlackRock in the United Kingdom, Investment Week reports.The portfolio of the long/short product will include a total of 40 to 70 equity positions on firms with market capitalisations of over USD1bn, and its benchmark will be the Libor 3-month. The management commission is set at 1%.

Ian Spreadbury will be the manager of the new Fidelity MoneyBuilder Income Reduced Duration fund, an institutional product available with a minimal subscription of GBP1m. The fund, aimed at wealth managers, will be an OEIC master-feeder fund which complies with the UCITS IV directive, and which is slated for launch by the end of the month, according to various British media.The manager will be able to use swaps and futures as an overlay to reduce the duration of the benchmark portfolio to two years (7.8 years for the MoneyBuilder Income), which is estimated to be the neutral point on the return curve for risk.Like the MoneyBuilder Income (GBP3.3bn), of which it is an alternative version, and which is managed by the same manager, the new fund will charge a management commission of 0.8%, and will carry no front-end or withdrawal fees.

Aberdeen Immobilien KAG on 21 January announced that its DEGI Europa fund, which must be liquidated by 30 September 2013, will on 25 January issue its fifth redemption. It will be paid at a rate of EUR0.60 per share.The next semi-annual payment will take place in July.The decision to liquidate the open-ended real estate fund was taken on 22 October 2010.

Emerging markets equity and bond funds maintained their strong start to the New Year during the second week of January, absorbing another USD7.2 billion between them and taking their combined inflows for the first 16 days of 2013 over the USD18 billion mark. During the same period last year they had taken in just over USD4 billion, according to EPFR.The flows in emerging markets equity funds helped all EPFR global-tracked equity funds outgain their bond fund counterparts for the fifth straight week. The margin was, however, much slimmer than the previous week’s USD15.6 billion gap in favor of equity funds. Those funds took in a net USD7.19 billion during the week ending Jan. 16, with roughly 20% of those flows going to dividend equity funds versus 8% the previous week, while bond funds attracted a 10 week high of USD6.95 billion.Equity funds did attract retail money for the second week running, the first time that has happened since the second half of April, 2011.

Lars Albert, director of distribution for Germany at Henderson Global Investors, will be joining Baring Asset Management in the same role, Das Investment reports.

In April, Oliver Reisinger will join MainFirst as head of fixed income, Siegfried Jachinski, a board member, has told the Börsen-Zeitung. Reisinger had since 2011 been head of sales & marketing at HSH Nordbank.Mainfirst is planning to double the personnel in its fixed income operation in two years, to 40 people.

James Senior, former head of marketing at Ignis, has joined Henderson Global Investors as consultant on marketing issues, Fundweb reports. Senior left Ignis in September 2012.

SEI Investments has announced the appointment of Kevin Bull as director in charge of development of strategic alliances, and Simon Pinner as director of sales, and the distribution team of the UK Asset Management unit.Bull previously worked at Hearthstone Investments, while Pinner was previously at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP).Pinner will be responsible for about 50 British consulting firms, and will also assist with the team’s expansion in Europe.

BNP Paribas has agreed to spin off its private equity activity dedicated to green energies, the Financial Times reports. The team, which has adopted the name Glenmont Partners, will continue to have the bank as an investor in its EUR437m fund, raised in 2010. The bank has also agreed to sell the fund to its clients. Since 2007, the team at Glenmont Partners has invested over EUR1bn in 12 projects.

CalSTRS, the second-largest pension fund in the United States, has identified two more makers of arms in its portfolio, following the shooting in a US school last month, Financial Times Fund Management reports. They are Sturm & Ruger and Smith & Wesson. “These stakes represent less than 10% of our daily equity trades,” says Ricardo Duran of CalSTRS. They come in addition to 2.4% of Freedom Group, the maker of the weapons used in the massacre, which is in the process of being sold by its owner, Cerberus, due to pressure from CalSTRS.