Matrix Asset Management has appointed Rebecca Ledlie as head of products and marketing, with the objective of deploying the firm’s growth strategy, HedgeWeek reports. Ledlie, who previously worked at Gartmore as head of products, has a profound knowledge of the hedge fund universe, which she acquired largely at her former employer. Matrix has also announced that the Candela Fund, which was previously managed by Olympus Capital LLP, has been taken back in-house at Matric, and has been renamed as the Matrix Pan-European Equity Fund, in “further evidence of the firm’s desire to develop a range of first-class hedge funds,” according to Angus Wollhose, CEO of Matrix AM.
The French management firm DNCA Finance has opened an Italian branch office in Milan, on Via Broletto. The new office, opened on 19 September, is part of the French asset management firm’s straegy to develop on the Italian market, where since 2008 it has offered sub-funds of its Sicav DNCA Invest, via distribution agreements with IFA and private banking networks, a statement released in Italy says. DNCA Finance already had a sales team in Italy, which was located at the offices of its former majority shareholder, the Italian business bank Banca Leonardo. With the sale of nearly all of the latter’s stake to TA Associates, the opening of a branch office became necessary. The Italian team at DNCA is composed of two people who report to Enrico Trassinelli, who previously worked at Mellon Global Investments and ING.
Brevan Howard, the second-largest hedge fund firm in Europe by assets under management, with USD32bn in assets, will pay back USD2bn to its clients, in order to keep the size of the fund below USD25bn, the Financial Times reports. The firm had always promised investors that it would limit the size of the fund.
The head of European equities at F&C, Paras Anand, will be leaving the firm in the next six months to join Fidelity as head for pan-European equities, Investment Week reports. He will continue to manage F&C’s European Assets fund for the interim.Fidelity has also recruited Richard Lewis, former co-head of New Star Institutional Managers. Lewis will begin in his new position in November, and will lead the international equities and international emerging markets equities management teams.
The flagship fund from GAM, the GAM Star China Equity Fund, with total assets under management of about GBP1.5bn, is now once again available to interested investors, Investment Week reports. The fund, launched in July 2007 and domiciled in Dublin, was closed to new investors in November last year, after assets rose to USD1.4bn, or nearly GBP900m. The fund is one of the best in its sector (China/Greater China), with outperformance over three years of 67% compared with other funds in its class.
The Financial Times reports that the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) will publish draft proposals early next year for new ETF regulations. The global regulatory authorities may circumbscribe the amount and quality of collateral which ETF providers are permitted to use. Funds may also be required to disclose more information about counterparties and techniques they use to match the indices which funds are meant to replicate.
The French financial market authorities, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) and the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel (ACP) on 20 September published an update to their list of websites and entities which are not authorised to invest in the currency (forex) markets. On 7 July, the AMF and ACP issued a warning over such investment offers, and published an initial blacklist. The updated blacklist adds more websites and entities which have been more recently identified as parties that illegally offer such products in France. However, websites and entities which have complied with French law have been removed from the list, either because they have discontinued all activities on French soil, or because the investment offerings featured on their websites are now offered via intermediaries which are licensed to provide investment services in France. The updated list is as follows: - www.bforex.com / BFOREX Limited - www.gcitrading.com / GCI Financial Limited - www.nordfx.com/fr / Nord Group Investments Inc - www.fxcast.com / Surplus Finance SA - www.instaforex.com/ InstaForex Companies Group - www.finanzasforex.com / Evolution Market Group Inc - www.youtradefx.com / International Youtrade Investments MA Ltd - www.ikkotrader.com / Ikko Investments Ltd - www.trader369.com / IP International Service The AMF and ACP also point out the risks specific to retail forex products. The document may be viewed at http://www.amf-france.org/documents/general/10067_1.pdf.
According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, relaying reports in the Wall Street Journal, the SEC has launched a wide-ranging investigation into hedge funds and brokerage firms in relation to transactions preceding the lowering of the credit rating for the United States by S&P.The US regulator, assisted by FINRA, is seeking to identify exceptionally large bets that share prices would fall, made by actors who are not accustomed to make such investments. No firms have been named so far.
According to statistics from the VÖIG association of asset management firms, assets in Austrian funds as of the end of August were down to EUR138.1bn, compared with EUR142.6bn as of the end of July.This total is EUR6.9bn, or 4.76% lower than the total as of the end of December (EUR145bn), which in turn was higher than the EUR136.7bn total as of the end of 2009 and EUR126bn as of the end of 2008. As of the end of 2007, assets under management totalled EUR163.7bn.However, assets had increased to EUR145.1bn as of February 2011.
Under the title “Sombre month for hedge funds in August,” Edhic-Risk sums up the situation well, observing in its monthly newsletter that most strategies were negatively affected by the drop on the equities markets. Of the 13 categories of hedge funds regulatory monitored, only dedicated short bias, which made an average of 6.97%, and CTA Global, which gained 0.27%, had positive results.However, long/short equity and distressed securities made losses of 4.07% and 4.08%, respectively.Eight strategies out of 13 were in positive territory for the first eight months of the year, with dedicated short bias leading the pack at 5.2%, followed by fixed income arbitrage (+3.8%). Categories showing a loss for the year were led by emerging markets (-3.7%) and long/short equity (-3.2%).
The index provider Dow Jones Indexes on 20 September announced the launch of eight new indices, a sign of the firm’s interest in Europe. The products are focused on dividends and real estate, and come as additions to the new European indices launched by the firm on 13 September (Dow Jones Europe Volatility Risk Control Indexes and Dow Jones Eurozone Volatility Risk Control Indexes), and two large caps indices launched on 20 June (Dow Jones Europe Titans 80 Index and Dow Jones Eurozone Titans 80 Index).The new products are as follows:• Dow Jones Europe Select Dividend 30 Index,• Dow Jones Eurozone Select Dividend 30 Index,• Dow Jones Europe Select Dividend 30 Distributing Index,• Dow Jones Eurozone Select Dividend 30 Distributing Index,• Dow Jones France Select Dividend 20 Distributing Index,• Dow Jones Germany Select Dividend 20 Distributing Index• Dow Jones Europe Developed Markets Select Real Estate Securities Index and. Dow Jones Europe Developed Markets Select REIT Index.
Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) on 20 September announced that it has been granted a mandate by Deutsche Bank AG as sub-custodian for its own and its clients’ assets in Egypt, following an extended due diligence process. The migration of assets to SGSS was successfully completed on 11 September 2011. The SGSS custody platform in Egypt will provide Deutsche Bank with a range of services centred on custody, settlement and delivery. The platform benefits from the experience of the Société Générale group in the country, via its affiliate NSGB< which for over 30 years has been providing custody services to domestic clients. “The new mandate from an international client in Egypt is recognition of the expertise of SGSS in the region, and illustrates its continued engagement in North Africa. SGSS is already one of the major sub-custodians for international clients in Morocco,” SGSS says in a statement.
Le Fonds de Pension de Ford Motor Company Belgique (85 millions d’euros) est actuellement en train de conduire une étude ALM pour revoir sa stratégie d’investissement. Le consultant en actuariat Conac assiste le Fonds de Pension dans cette démarche. Le Fonds a aussi décidé de réduire, à court terme, son exposition aux actions passant de 45/50% à un maximum de 30%. En début d’année, alors que le Fonds de Pension a perdu de son volume à cause de nombreux départs à la retraite de ses bénéficiaires, l’allocation d’actifs était composée de 80% en obligations et 20% en actions. L’actuelle composition de portefeuille est de 45% en actions, 55% en obligations et 5% en immobilier.
Lors de la conférence Aberdeen du 20 septembre, Michel Manteau, Responsable de la gestion Taux de la CARMF s’est déclaré peu inquiet concernant une résurgence de l’inflation à court terme, sauf manifestation d’un risque systémique. Sur le moyen terme, l’inflation ne se décrète pas, ni la productivité, a rappelé Michel Manteau, citant Alan Greenspan qui, à son époque, ne craignait pas la hausse des prix sachant qu’il avait confiance dans la capacité productive de l'économie américaine. La question à laquelle il faudra répondre, selon Michel Manteau, est plutôt de savoir que vaut la monnaie dans un contexte de risque systémique? La CARMF gère ses actifs sur le long terme puisque l’horizon d’investissement est de 30 ans. Sur la thématique de l’inflation, la CARMF avait fait le choix d’investir sur des gestions benchmarkées sur des indices larges. Dans un souci de diversification, la CARMF a désormais introduit des gestions actives sur l’obligataire en privilégiant les stratégies de portage du fait de la hausse des taux réels. Les actifs réels tels que les matières premières (or, agriculture) sont aussi des composantes de l’allocation de la CARMF visant à protéger de la hausse des prix. Michel Manteau définit l’objectif de performance du portefeuilles d’actifs de la CARMF en prenant pour référence l’inflation + 3%. Le portefeuille global de la CARMF s’est élevé à 5,1 milliards d’euros en valeur boursière fin 2010, se répartissant de la façon suivante : les obligations, la trésorerie dynamique, l’indexé sur l’inflation 19,96 %, les actions 50,72 %, les obligations convertibles 11,38 %, les Sicav monétaires 11,60 % et la gestion diversifiée 1,18 %. L’alternatif représente 5,16 % (dont 1,89 % de gestion alternative actions).
Opcimmo, c’est la dénomination du premier OPCI grand public que lance à compter de ce mois Amundi Immobilier. Commercialisé dans les réseaux du Crédit Agricole et de LCL, il est éligible au comptes-titres et à l’assurance-vie. Selon Business Immo, Amundi Immobilier vise une collecte à terme de 500 millions d’euros.
L’Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et l’Autorité des marchés financiers ont mis à jour leur liste de sites proposant d’investir sur le Forex sans autorisation. Les deux instances tiennent à rappeler les risques spécifiques aux produits offerts au grand public sur le forex. Cette liste de neuf noms est consultable depuis le site de l’AMF.
La société private equity dédiée à l’investissement dans des sociétés mid-market européennes du secteur de la santé a clôturé son premier fonds G Square Capital I à 209 millions d’euros. Ce fonds investit dans des entreprises de tout segment du secteur de la santé au travers d’opérations de buy-out ou de capital développement. G Square Capital I a réalisé à ce jour trois investissements, en Espagne, en Suisse et en Allemagne.
La performance des fonds commercialisés en France a plongé en territoire négatif au mois d’août dans le sillage de la chute des marchés financiers et des inquiétudes accrues concernant la croissance mondiale et les finances publiques, selon les données compilées par Lipper, filiale de Thomson Reuters. Les 7.865 fonds commercialisés à la vente en France reculent en moyenne de 2,06% sur un an à fin août, contre un gain de 3,59% un mois plus tôt, les fonds actions (-2,35%), qui représentent 46% de l’univers étudié, pesant lourdement sur cette contre-performance.
Le rendement des obligations souveraines italiennes était en hausse mardi matin, ce qui se traduit par un creusement de l'écart avec leurs équivalentes allemandes, après que Standard & Poor’s a abaissé la note de crédit de l’Italie. Le rendement des obligations italiennes à dix ans augmentait de 13 point de base à 5,72%, le spread avec les Bunds allemands se creusant de 17 points de base à 397 pdb.
Le sentiment économique en Allemagne s’est dégradé un peu moins que prévu au mois de septembre, selon l’institut de recherche ZEW, mais il est tombé à son plus bas niveau depuis décembre 2008 en raison des inquiétudes autour de la crise de la dette. L’indice du sentiment des analystes et investisseurs est tombé à -43,3 points sur la période, après avoir chuté à -37,6 au mois d’août. Les économistes attendaient en moyenne -45,0 points. La composante des conditions actuelles a reculé à 43,6 points, après 53,5 en août. Elle était attendue en repli à 40,0 points. «La crise de la dette dans certains pays de la zone euro de même que la crainte d’un retournement économique mondial pourraient avoir affaibli les anticipations économiques», écrit l’institut dans un communiqué.
Le coût pour s’assurer contre un risque de défaut de l’Italie était en hausse mardi après que S&P a abaissé la note de crédit du pays. Le CDS à cinq ans sur l’Italie augmente de 27 points de base à 515 bps, selon des données Markit, ce qui signifie qu’il en coûte 515.0000 euros pour se prémunir contre 10 millions d’exposition aux obligations souveraines italiennes. Le CDS à cinq ans sur le Portugal augmente de 19 points de base à 1.120 bps. Ceux sur la France et l’Allemagne affichaient de leur côté chacun une hausse de quatre points de base.