Pour environ 104 millions d’euros, Union investment Real Estate (UIRE) a revendu à LaSalle Investment Management le centre commercial Luisencenter de Darmstadt (19.000 mètres carrés) qu’il avait acheté en décembre 2003. La gestion de ce centre commercial continuera d'être exercée par ECE.Selon le communiqué, UIRE a profité d’une occasion intéressante pour céder cet actif qui appartient à une catégorie actuellement très recherchée par les investisseurs.

La Deutsche Börse a annoncé le 2 avril que quatre ETF de droit allemand de la marque iShares ont été admis à la négociation sur le segment XTF de sa plate-forme électronique Xetra. La cote du XTF comporte ainsi désormais 956 références.Trois des nouveaux fonds répliquent des indices S&P de producteurs de matières premières tandis que le quatrième suit un indice MSCI de valeurs industrielles CaractéristiquesDénomination : iShares S&P Commodity Producers GoldCode Isin : DE000A1JS9D8Indice de référence : S&P Commodity Producers Gold IndexTFE : 0,55 %CaractéristiquesDénomination : iShares S&P Commodity Producers Oil & GasCode Isin : DE000A1JS9C0Indice de référence : S&P Commodity Producers Oil & Gas Exploration & Production IndexTFE : 0,55 %CaractéristiquesDénomination : iShares S&P Commodity Producers AgribusinessCode Isin : DE000A1JS9B2Indice de référence : S&P Commodity Producers Agribusiness IndexTFE : 0,55 %CaractéristiquesDénomination : iShares MSCI ACWICode Isin : DE000A1JS9A4Indice de référence : MSCI All Country World IndexTFE : 0,60 %

Après trois ans de crise, la banque privée allemande Sal. Oppenheim, qui a été sauvée par la Deutsche Bank, a réussi à être bénéficiaire en 2011, a indiqué son président du directoire Wilhelm von Haller dans une interview à Reuter relayée par le Handelsblatt.L’objectif est maintenant de recruter de nouveaux clients (quelques centaines ont été gagnés chacune de ces deux dernières années) et d’augmenter les encours (60 milliards d’euros).Il faut aussi améliorer à moyen terme le coefficient d’exploitation à 75 % contre un peu moins de 100 % actuellement. Depuis 2009, les coûts ont été réduits de 50 % et l’effectif a été ramené de 2.400 à 900 personnes (100 collaborateurs ont rejoint Macquarie lors de la vente des activités de banque d’investissement).

A son tour, DWS Investment (groupe Deutsche Bank) se trouve obligée de geler les rachats de parts de son fonds de fonds immobiliers ImmoFlex Vermögensmandat, d’un encours de 101,5 millions d’euros. Cinq autres fonds de ce type ont déjà dû faire de même, car huit fonds immobiliers offerts au public sont dès à présent en cours de liquidation tandis que six autres sont en passe d’annoncer qu’ils prorogent le gel des remboursements.Comme le DWS ImmoFlex Vermögensmandat est largement investi en fonds immobiliers offerts au public dont les rachats sont suspendus, les liquidités disponibles ne sont plus suffisantes pour faire face aux demandes de remboursement, sauf à brader les actifs et à pénaliser les porteurs.Au total, le DWS ImmoFlex Vermögensmandat est investi dans 10 fonds immobiliers offerts au public qui détiennent environ 500 immeubles dans 20 pays.

Par un communiqué de neuf lignes, la fédération DSGV des caisses d'épargne allemandes a annoncé le 2 avril la destitution avec effet immédiat de Franz S. Waas de ses fonctions de membre et de président du directoire de DekaBank la deuxième société de gestion allemande.Il faut rappeler que, désormais, les caisses d'épargne contrôlent la totalité du capital l'établissement, dont les Landesbanken ont détenu la moitié jusqu'à l’an dernier. Cette décision-éclair, prise juste à la veille de la conférence de presse-bilan de Deka, est motivée officiellement par le fait que «la nécessaire relation de confiance n’existait plus à cause d’un litige sur des bonifications supplémentaires exigées par l’intéressé au titre de son premier mandat pour les années 2008 et 2009".Le conseil d’administration de DekaBank a donc nommé Oliver Behrens président du directoire à titre intérimaire.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory has sought to put a figure on the consequences of the UCITS IV directive on the six major Italian (or Italian-registered) groups, which manage a total of EUR231bn at 42 asset management firms affiliated to them, Plus24, the wealth supplement of Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. This represents 1,101 funds, of which 21% are Italian-registered, 54% are Italian but registered abroad, and 25% are foreign. PwC finds two potential outcomes. One is that six group will retain one asset management firm each in Italy or abroad. There would then be an 83% reduction in the number of asset management firms, from 42 to 7. In the second case, the six groups might merge asset management firms in countries of reference and specialist centres (Luxembourg and Ireland). Then, the reduction in the number of asset management firms would be 50%. This development would take place over three years, and PwC predicts that there would be a parallel reduction of 30% in the number of funds, from 1,010 to 731.

Laurent Gorgemans, head of multi-management at Dexia Asset Management in Luxembourg, is leaving the firm where he has spent six years. The reports in Citywire Global have been confirmed to Newsmanagers by a spokesperson for the asset management firm. “Laurent Gorgemans, who has had a fruitful collaboration with us for over 6 years, has chosen to leave Dexia Asset Management for personal reasons,” an official statement says. “The decisions of our multi-management strategists will not be affected by the departure. It remains in line with our principle of having dedicated and specialised teams which are responsible for decisions. The multi-management team, with 12 analyst/managers including 4 senior managers for fund selection and management of traditional funds of funds, continues to report to Fabrice Cuchet, global head of alternative investments,” the statement adds. Gorgemans arrived at Dexia AM in September 2005, according to his LinkedIn profile. He had previously been head of funds of funds at Fortis Investments. The departure from Dexia AM comes a few days after the announcement of the departure of Frédéric Buzaré, who since 2007 had served as global head of equities and then as equity strategist, before joining the Singapore sovereign fund GIC.

Proposées par les BFI, et dans une moindre mesure par les asset managers, les options de couverture des risques permettent de réduire l’exigence de fonds propres. La Sham a étudié des scénarios où un risque important se matérialise sur ses actifs. Elle souhaite construire elle-même (avec l’aide d’un consultant en finance) des stratégies de couverture, « mais nous ne les avons pas encore mises en ??uvre car aujourd’hui tout le monde cherche à se protéger contre les mêmes risques (baisse brutale du marché actions, hausse brutale des taux obligataires ), ce qui rend les couvertures très chères » note Dominique Godet, le directeur général de la Sham. Sur les produits structurés, les asset managers proposent des offres proches de celles des BFI. Ces produits financiers effrayent certains investisseurs : « Des banques ou des asset managers nous proposent des produits structurés qui sont moins consommateurs en fonds propres que les actifs sous-jacents, décrit Dominique Godet. Ce type de produits ne m’intéresse pas car le risque intrinsèque demeure. Si un sous-jacent me coûte trop cher en fonds propres, je préfère y renoncer. »

Of EUR60bn taken on by the European fund sector in 2011, EUR32bn were paid out to distributors, a significant increase over the previous year, according to a study by Cerulli Associates (2012 European distribution dynamics), cited by Financial Times Fund Management. Cerulli finds that 69.2% of gross commissions paid out for European money market funds were paid back to distributors. The proportion is 58.2% for bond funds, and 54.1% for equity funds.

JP Morgan and Source on 2 April announced the launch of the J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR Source ETF. The fund, denominated in euros, aims to allow qualified investors exposure to volatility in a financially advantageous way. This is the second ETF of the J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge range, which already includes the J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge US TR Source ETF fund, launched in February, whose assets under management now total over USD200m. The J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR Source ETF is listed on the London Stock Exchange, in euros. It is licensed for sale in Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland and Italy (for institutional investors only), Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge indices seek not only to profit from increases in volatility during periods of market tension, but also to generate positive performance when market conditions are less agitated. The J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR adopts long and short positions on the volatility of US equities, depending on market conditions. But in cases of extreme tension on the US market, there is also a way to take 25% exposure to the volatility of European equities. Major characteristics of the product Name of product J.P Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR Source ETF ISIN code IE00B675BN95 Bloomberg code MHDU LN Trading currency of fund EUR / EUR Management fees 0.25% per year* Listed on London Stock Exchange (LSE) Name of index J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR Bloomberg ticker for index JPMZMHHT Index UCITS status Yes Domicile Ireland

Emerging market debt funds’ performance has been heterogeneous and shows a lack of persistency, according to Fitch Ratings. Only 11% of funds stay in first or second quartile performance in both the periods 2005-2008 and 2008-2011. Worse, around 20% of funds moved from top quartile to bottom quartile (and vice versa) over the same periods. «The lack of consistency in performance reflects fund managers’ difficulties in adapting style and exposure to changing market regimes: EMD funds investments remain a beta play,» says Manuel Arrive, senior director in Fitch’s Fund and Asset Manager Rating team. Flows to emerging market debt funds have been solid in 2011 attracting USD28bn (and USD13bn for the first two months of 2012), pushing the sector’s assets under management to USD279bn as at the end of February 2012, according to Fitch. Local currency funds attracted about 64% of the flows in 2011. Emerging market debt benchmarked funds dominate the sector, with absolute return funds representing just 3% of total assets under management. Fitch expects to see more multi-strategy funds (absolute return or blended currency) or specialised corporate funds being launched in the next few months.

According to the most recent statistics from Morningstar, long-term funds domiciled in Europe in February posted net inflows of EUR15bn. Bond funds attracted the largest net subscriptions, with EUR12.54bn, the largest inflows for funds of this type since January 2010. Asset allocation and convertible bond funds also posted significant subscriptions, with EUR1.8bn and EUR68m, respectively. Equity funds have seen net redemptions of EUR189m, while money market funds had outflows of EUR13.36bn. Morningstar says investors are showing some pessimism about the markets, avoiding equity funds specialised on markets perceived as a risk (Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States), while the most popular equity funds are those focused on emerging markets and Asia. As of the end of February, BlackRock leads the rankings of the 10 largest asset management firms in terms of assets under long-term management, with EUR133bn, followed by UBS (EUR132bn) and Franklin Templeton (EUR109bn).

A survey of 354 fund buyers (186 global fund selectors in Europe and South Africa, and 168 wealth managers in the United Kingdom) by Market Intelligence Citywire on behalf of SPDR ETF (State Street Global Advisors) in November 2011 finds that 51.7% of respondents use ETFs to obtain tactical exposure to specific markets, while 21% use them as modular core/satellite allocation blocs, and 16.8% see them as core portfolio instruments. 17% of fund selectors have over 20% of their assets invested in ETFs, while only 16% are not invested in ETFs.

Socially responsible investment remains a niche, and is not yet becoming mainstream, Financial Times Fund Management claims in an article on the subject. “There is a gap between the walk and the talk,” says Raj Thamotheram, president of the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets. One of the telling signs is a lack of sell-side research that integrates environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. Will Oulton, European head of socially responsible investment at Mercer, says one of the major challenges asset management firms face is getting consistent high quality ESG data on companies or sectors that is useful for investment decisions.

For new structured bank notes from BNP Paribas, Morningstar is providing three Ultimate Stock-Pickers indices, the Ultimate Stock-Pickers, Ultimate Stock-Pickers Target Volatility 7 and Ultimate Stock-Pickers Target Volatility 10, for which the French bank has acquired a license.Morningstar in April 2009 began to study quarterly portfolios, purchases and sells by 26 star managers, the “ultimate stock-pickers.” The shares selected are then subjected to independent research by Morningstar in order to determine a conviction score; the shares with the best results are added to the index.The volatility 7 and 10 indices are constructed in the same way, but with an effort to control volatility by transferring from and to positions on cash in order to maintain standard deviations at 7 and 10, respectively. These indices are rebalanced on a monthly basis.

The CNMV on 30 March issued a license for the BBVA Solidez XVI BP fund, a product which is set to mature on 28 December 2015, and which guarantees a redemption of 110.473% of its net asset value as of 27 April 2012, which represents an annual return of 2.75%.Subscriptions are open until 27 April; returns are lower than for the BBVA Solidez XV, which pays 3%.CharacteristicsName: BBVA Solidex XVI BP, FIISIN code: ES0110017003Minimal subscription: EUR50,000Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 0.85%Penalty for early withdrawal: 1%

Tradewinds Global Investors, an affiliate of Nuveen Investments, has seen a further setback with the departure of its chief investment officer, David Iben, Pensions & Investments reports. Fundamentals improved at Tradewinds last year, thanks to a net inflow of USD13bn. But with the departure of Iben, Nuveen will have a lot of trouble putting an exit strategy at Tradewinds into practice, as the firm has debts of over USD4bn, after an LBO in 2007.

Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking (SG CIB) on 2 April announced a reshuffle and apopintments which particularly affect Lyxor Asset Management, which is now directly under the direction of SG CIB. This development allows Lyxor Am to “continue its development as a top-raking asset management firm in the areas of alternative management, ETFs, structured and quantitative management,” a statement says, adding that Inès de Dinechin, CEO of Lyxor AM, is joining the extended executive committee at SG CIB. Richard Paolantonacci, head of the newly-created Management of Rare Resources department, Vincent Mortier, CFO, and Sylvie Préa, director of human resources, are also newly-appointed. The Financing and Investment Bank will continue to be organised around its three major professions: investment banking, financing, and market activities. In these three divisions, SG CIB is making the following changes and appointments, effective from 2 April: In the Client Relations and Investment Banking division, led by Thierry Aulagnon and his deputy, Diony Lebot: two new departments are created, including Primary Equity Capital Markets and Merger and Acquisition Advising activities, and dedicated to client segments. A department of Corporate Finance, led by Thierry d’Argent, offers major clients of the bank a complete range of services from origination to execution. Luis Vaz Pinto and Olivier Buttier are appointed as deputies. A Financial Institutions department, led by Pierre-Yves Bonnet, will include a ream of bankers serving financial institutions. In the Global Finance division, led by Pierre Palmieri and his deputies, Slawonir Krupa and David Coxon: an organisation oriented to distribution and favouring synergies. Creation of a Financing professional area, led by Matthew Vickerstaff. This professional area includes Infrastructure and Asset Financing, Expore Financing and Debt Optimisation. Creation of an Energy and Natural Resources professional area, co-directed by Federico Turegano and Jonathan Whitehead. The professional area includes the Financing activities in the Energy sector, Commodity Trading, Metals and Mines, and will work closely with the team in Commodities Markets in the Market Activities division. Creation of a Capital Markets professional area, led by Patrick Ménard and his deputy, Jean-Marc Giraud. This professional area includes the Capital Markets Finance (securitisation and capital structuring) activities, Capital Debt Markets, Ratings Advising, Leveraged Financing and Media & Telecom, Strategic Acquisition Financing and Financial Engineering. In the Market Activities division, led by Dan Fields: Fixed Income activities are scaled up. Creation of a Fixed Income & Currencies professional area, created by merging the Fixed Income, Treasury and Fixed Income and Currency Derivatives, led by Danielle Sindzingre. For commodity market activities, Jonathan Whitehead has been appointed Head of these activities in the Market Activities division, assisted by François Combes and Jean-François Maurey.

Activity has been lively in March, but for first quarter as a whole, initial public offerings have raised only USD16.2bn, the lowest amount observed since 2009, according to statistics from Bloomberg. In fourth quarter 2011, IPOs represnted a total of USD28.8bn, and in first quarter 2011, total IPOs measured USD48.4bn. Renaissance Capital observes that expected IPOs in the United States are close to their highest level in over 10 years. However, in recent weeks, some interest in activity in the United States, Asia and Europe has returned. In the United States, nine companies raised USD1.4bn in the week to 30 March.

The board of directors at DekaBank (central asset management firm for the German savings banks) on 2 April appointed Georg Stocker as a board member. He will be responsible for distribution to savings banks and treasuries, and succeeds Hans-Jürgen Gutenberger, who is retiring. From 2004, Stocker had been a member of the board at the Frankfurter Sparkasse, and became its vice president in 2009.

On 2 April, BNP Paribas Germany announced that Stefan Hartl, head of external distribution at BNP Paribas Investment Partners in Germany, has been promoted to the position of managing director of the wealth management-key clients unit at BNP Paribas.Hartl, who had previously worked at Schroders, where he had been responsible for German institutional clients, replaces Pascal Gundrich, who is now in charge of assisting wealth management key accounts at BNP Paribas in Luxembourg.

In a nine-line statement, the DSGV federation of German savings banks on 2 April announced that it is immediately relieving Franz S. Waas of his responsibilities as a member and chairman of the board at DekaBank, the second-largtest German asset management firm. The savings banks now control the entirety of capital in the firm, in which the Landesbanken had held half until last year. The decision, taken the day before a press conference at Deka to announce results, is officially motivated by the fact that “the necessary relationship of confidence no longer existed, due to a lawsuit over additional bonuses filed by the party in relation to his first term in the position, in 2008-2009.” The board of directors at DekaBank has appointed Oliver Behrens as interim chairman of the board.

Florian Uleer, who had been head of banking and business clients for “A deposits” at Union Investment Institutional, has joined Schroders Germany as head of distribution for banks and funds of funds, replacing Alexander Prawitz.Prawitz has been transferred to the global financial solutions group Asia in Hong Kong, to assist international and local banking clients as well as strategic distribution partners.Uleer will report to Joachim Nareike, director of distribution at Schroders Investment Management GmbH.

Rob Jones, formerly of Threadneedle, who joined Union Bancaire Asset Management (UBAM), an affiliate of UBP, 20 months ago as co-head of European equity, has been appointed by the firm to manage the new UBAM Equity Europe Dividend +, which will pay an annual return of 10% over a sliding 5-year period, using a covered call strategy to reduce volatility and increase revenues, Citywire reports. The fund will have a concentrated portfolio of about 22 positions, on securities selected for the sustainability of their dividends. The objective will be to generate returns of 5% per year for the equity portfolio, while exposure to derivatives is expected to bring in a net gain of about 6%.

Last year, the Chinese asset management sector, affected by a 22% drop on the Shanghai stock exchange, underwent cumulative losses of over RMB500bn, or over USD79bn, Asian Investor reports. 28 asset management firms have posted losses of over RMB10bn, including AMC, with losses of over RMB43.7bn, E Fund (RNB34.7bn), and Harvest (RMB28.7bn). Statistics reveal that 812 mutual funds out of 970 finaished the year with losses, including equity funds (RMB314.7bn) and diversified funds (RMB152.3bn). The largest Chinese mutual fund, Harvest CSI 300 LOF, whose assets under management total slightly over RMB27bn (as of 29 March), has lost RMB7.35bn. Only money market and guaranteed funds posted gains last year, with cumulative gains of RMB5.8bn for the former and of RMB25.6bn for the latter.

The board of directors at the US pension fund and foundation council CII (Council of Institutional Investors) has elected Anne Simpson as a member of its board. Simpson has worked for the Californian pension fund CalPERS since 2009 as director of corporate governance. She worked to promote corporate governance at the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) and the World Bank. She is a visiting professor at Yale.

The Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild group has seen a decline in its net profits of 16.6% in 2011, to CHF125.1m, compared with CHF149.9m one year previously, according to a statement released on 3 April. Net inflows totalled CHF3.2bn, compared with CHF6.5bn in 2010. Due to the negative impact of markets and the weak US dollar and euro compared with the Swiss franc, assets under management nonetheless fell to CHF91.4bn as of the end of 201, compared with CHF92.7bn as of the end of December 2010.

The Valartis group, which last year continued to refocus its activities on wealth management for high net worth private clients and institutional investors, has reported a quadrupling of its net inflows to CHF862m, compared with CHF220m the previous year. Despite negative market and currency effects totalling CHF304m, assets under management have increased to CHF6.8bn as of the end of December 2011, compared with CHF6.3bn one year previously. Due to one-time elements related to the restructuring, the group has now finished the year with total losses of CHF17.2bn, Valartis, which reduced its costs by 7% last year, is planning to continue its efforts to rationalise its organisation in order to sustainably restore its growth model.

Thomas Henauer, director, head of sales financial institutions at Clariden Leu (a private bank which since 2 April has been integrated into the Credit Suisse group), has joined Janus Capital International as director of distribution for Switzerland. The US asset management firm is taking the occasion to open an office in Zurich.Henauer will now report to Thomas Döring, head of sales for German-speaking Europe.

The US auto maker general Motors now controls 7% of capital and 5.78% of voting rights in PSA Peugeot Citroën, the French financial market authority (AMF) reported on 2 April. The AMF reports that GM acquired the position via a subscription to 20.4 million shares in a capial increase at Peugeot, and an off-market acquisition on the same date, of nearly 4.4 million shares from the French auto maker. Peugeot announced in late February that it was forming a strategic alliance with GM, which would have called for an entry into its capital of 7% and a capital increase of EUR1bn.