Michael Schütt a été recruté comme head of wholesale business de WestLB Mellon Asset Management KAG mbH (WMAM KAG) à Düsseldorf. Il sera responsable de la distribution de toutes les stratégies de WMAM ainsi que de tous les produits de BNY Mellon Asset Management auprès des clients wholesale.Assisté d’une équipe de cinq personnes, il est subordonné directement à Volker Kurr, CEO de WMAM, qui est une coentreprise à 50/50 entre la WestLB et BNY Mellon.L’intéressé était en dernier lieu head of sales German banks chez Invesco à Francfort.

Le gestionnaire munichois KanAm a annoncé que la liquidation de son fonds immobilier offert au public US-grundinvest (DE0006791817), le seul produit allemand de sa catégorie à être libellé en dollars, avait vendu à la fin de l’exercice au 31 mars la quasi-totalité de ses actifs et que les deux derniers immeubles ont déjà fait l’objet d’une promesse de vente (lire notre article du 1er octobre 2010). Le processus de liquidation a pour date butoir le 31 mars 2012.En l’espace de moins d’un an, le gestionnaire a été en mesure de céder 15 des 17 actifs du fonds avec une décote limitée à 3,8 % par rapport à la dernière valeur d’expertise. Le deuxième versement aux souscripteurs, après celui de 250 millions effectué il y a quatre mois (lire notre article du 16 décembre 2010) aura lieu comme prévu courant juin.Depuis le lancement le 20 mai 2003, la performance totale du fonds est ressortie à 20,1 %. En revanche, sur un an - au 31 mars - la perte ressort à 15,3 %.

Pour janvier-mars, le bénéfice net de Morgan Stanley a plongé à 968 millions de dollars contre 1,78 milliard au premier trimestre 2010. Il marque cependant une hausse de 16 % sur les 836 millions d’octobre-décembre.La gestion de fortune (global wealth management group) affiche pour le premier trimestre des recettes nettes de 3,44 milliards de dollars contre 3,35 milliards le trimestre précédent et 3,1 milliards pour la période correspondante de l’an dernier, tandis que son bénéfice avant impôt ressort à 348 millions de dollars contre respectivement 390 millions et 278 millions. Morgan Stanley précise qu’au 21 mars les actifs totaux de la clientèle représentaient 1.700 milliards de dollars dont 501 milliards sur des comptes assujettis à commissions (fee-based accounts). Les rentrées nettes du premier trimestre ont porté sur 11,4 milliards de dollars et celles concernant les comptes soumis à commissions se sont situées à 17,8 milliards.En ce qui concerne la gestion d’actifs, les recettes nettes ont baissé à 626 millions de dollars pour janvier-mars contre 858 millions pour octobre-décembre et 653 millions de dollars pour le premier trimestre 2010 ; parallèlement, le bénéfice avant impôt de cette activité se situait à 127 millions de dollars contre 356 millions au quatrième trimestre 2010 et 174 millions pour janvier-mars de l’an dernier.Au 31 mars, les encours sous gestion ou contrôle représentaient 284 milliards de dollars contre 262 milliards un an auparavant, à la fois en raison d’un effet de marché positif et de souscriptions nettes au profit principalement des fonds monétaires. Les souscriptions nettes ont porté sur 1,4 milliard de dollars contre des sorties nettes de 6,8 milliards pour janvier-mars 2010.

Afin d’alimenter leurs efforts croissants dans le domaine des produits alternatifs, les gestionnaires américains recrutent. 69 % d’entre eux emploient au moins un product manager pour l’investissement alternatif, 46 % ont au moins un professionnel du marketing dédié à ces produits et 42 % disposent d’au moins une personne pour la vente de ces mêmes produits, rapporte Mutual Fund Wire.L'étude Retail Alternative Products and Strategies 2011 de Cerulli Associates, que citent également Investment News et alphametrix, fait ressortir que dans 67 % des cas, les gestionnaires produisent davantage de livres blancs pour leurs produits alternatifs que pour leurs produits traditionnels tandis que 58 % organisent des téléconférences plus fréquentes pour l’alternatif que pour les fonds classiques.Cerulli estime qu’il a été lancé l’an dernier 65 mutual funds alternatifs contre 45 en 2009 et que ces fonds ont enregistré un gonflement de 60 % de leur encours, contre une hausse de 16 % pour toutes les autres catégories de mutual funds. Les actifs totaux de ces mutual funds alternatifs représentent 201 milliards de dollars ou 2,6 % de l’encours total des mutual funds de long terme, contre 1,9 % fin 2009.

Janus Capital Group a déclaré le 21 avril un bénéfice net de 37,9 millions de dollars pour janvier-mars contre 65,9 millions pour le trimestre précédent et 31,3 millions pour la période correspondante de l’an dernier. La marge d’exploitation est ressortie à 32,1 % contre 34,7 % en octobre-décembre et 27,3 % pour le premier trimestre 2010.Au 31 mars, l’encours avait augmenté à 173,5 milliards de dollars contre 167,3 milliards fin décembre et 165,5 milliards un an auparavant. L’accroissement des actifs gérés au premier trimestre résultat d’un effet de marché positif net de 6,7 milliards de dollars, compensé partiellement par des remboursements nets de 2,7 milliards de dollars sur les fonds de long terme, avec des sorties nettes de 3,1 milliards pour les fonds d’actions et des souscriptions nettes de 0,4 milliard pour les produits obligataires.

Après 148,7 millions de dollars pour le premier trimestre 2010, le bénéfice distribuable de Blackstone pour janvier-mars 2011 s’est inscrit à 196,55 millions de dollars, ce qui représente un gonflement de 32 %. Aux normes US-GAAP, le bénéfice net est ressorti pour les trois premiers mois de cette année à 42,7 millions de dollars contre une perte de 121,4 millions pour la période correspondante de l’an dernier. Dans les deux cas, ces montants sont nets des charges de l’introduction en Bourse et des acquisitions.En ce qui concerne les encours assujettis à commissions, ils se situaient fin mars à 124,03 milliards de dollars contre 98,07 milliards un an auparavant (+ 26 %) pendant que l’ensemble des encours affichait un accroissemennt en glissement annuel de 43 % à 150 milliards de dollars.Dans les encours assujettis à commissions, les deux positions les plus importantes étaient fin mars celle du private equity (35,89 milliards, + 43 % en un an) et les hedge funds 35,85 milliards, + 24 %). L’immobilier et le crédit pesaient respectivement 26,45 milliards (+ 11 %) et 25,84 milliards (+ 28 %).

Pour le premier trimestre 2011, BlackRock a déclaré le 21 avril un bénéfice net aux normes US-GAAP de 568 millions de dollars contre 657 millions en octobre-décembre (- 14 %) et 423 millions pour la période correspondante de l’an dernier (+ 34 %).Les encours à fin mars se sont situés à 3.648,4 milliards de dollars, soit 2 % de plus que fin décembre (3.561 millions) et 8 % de plus qu’un an plus tôt (3.363,9 milliards). Sur ce total, les produits iShares et les ETP ont représenté 475 milliards de dollars pour la partie actions et 126,8 milliards pour la partie obligataire contre respectivement 448,16 milliards et 123,1 milliards trois mois plus tôt et 388,39 milliards/109,42 milliards un an auparavant.BlackRock explique que la hausse des actifs sous gestion de 87,5 milliards de dollars durant le premier trimestre s’explique par un effet de marché de 100 milliards de dollars et 34,7 milliards de souscriptions nettes pour les produits de long terme, qui ont été partiellement compensées par des remboursements nets de 24,4 milliards de dollars sur les produits monétaires et des sorties de 4,5 milliards de dollars sous forme de distribution. D’autre part, les sorties liées à des effets de fusion ont porté sur 18,4 milliards de dollars.Le gestionnaire américain précise qu’au 14 avril, les souscriptions nettes en préparation représentaient 82,4 milliards de dollars, dont 60,7 milliards de dollars pour des produits de long terme (55 % d’indiciels et 45 % d’actifs), 6,2 milliards pour le monétaire et 15,5 milliards pour les portefeuilles conseillés. Il faut aussi noter que la catégorie multi-classes d’actifs a vu son encours gonfler à 207,98 milliards de dollars au 31 mars, soit 12 % de plus que fin décembre et 34 % de plus qu’un an auparavant, l’augmentation de 22,4 milliards au premier trimestre provenant pour 6,8 milliards de rentrées nets de mandats fiduciaires ; dans les contributions définies, les rentrées nettes ont porté sur 16,8 milliards de dollars.Le CEO Larry Fink a aussi précisé que durant la période sous revue, BlackRock Solutions a gagné 12 mandats.

Pour le deuxième trimestre de l’exercice au 30 septembre, Raymond James Financial a déclaré un bénéfice net de 80,92 millions de dollars, soit une diminution de 1 % sur les 81,72 millions d’octobre-décembre et un gonflement de 45 % sur les 55,63 millions de la période correspondante de 2009-2010. Sur le premier semestre (au 31 mars), le bénéfice net opère un bond en avant de 65 %, à 162,64 millions de dollars.A fin mars, les encours sous administration comme ceux sous gestion ont atteint de nouveaux record. Pour les actifs sous administration, le total est ressorti à 275 milliards de dollars contre 262 milliards trois mois plus tôt et 242 milliards un an auparavant.Quant aux actifs gérés, il se se sont situé à 35,6 milliards de dollars contre 33,4 milliards fin décembre et 29,3 milliards fin mars 2010. La hausse est attribuée tant à l’effet de marché qu’aux souscriptions nettes.La gestion d’actifs a contribué pour 30,82 millions de dollars au bénéfice avant impôt des six premiers mois de l’exercice (qui est ressorti à 256,75 millions) contre 23,3 millions pour la période correspondante de 2009-2010.

L’association européenne des fonds immobiliers non cotés, l’Inrev, annonce trois nominations à son directoire. Christian Delaire d’AEW a été nommé CEO de l’association, Matthew Ryall d’Allianz Real Estate devient head of indirect investment, et enfin, Neil Harris de GIC Real Estate International sera le nouveau senior vice president, responsable de l’asset management de l’association.

«UniCredit informs that, following an in-depth analysis of the benefits of various options open to its Asset Management arm, it has concluded that the best solution is for Pioneer Investments to focus on its organic growth, also in light of the market evolution of the last twelve months».The Italian bank confirmed on Thursday that it was calling off the sale of Pioneer.Three groups wanted to buy the asset management arm of UniCredit : Amundi, Natixis and Resolution. The Italian government also tried to merge it with Eurizon, the asset management business of Sanpaolo Intesa."Pioneer Investments has been growing organically for sometime now - its strong financial performance in 2010 reconfirms this. The business is in much better shape than it was when the review process was launched. Profits and revenues were up 13% from 2009 while Assets under Management grew from EUR176 billion in 2009 to EUR187 billion in 2010. In addition, there was consistent improvement in investment performance across the main ranges with a number of standout strategies», says a press release.The Italian bank adds : «A focused strategy which will further enhance the quality of Pioneer Investments’ product offering while maintaining focus on delivering an outstanding level of client service is being finalised».

James Giddens, the court-appointed recevier for Lehman Brothers, has received agreement from JP Morgan Chase to transfer USD861m in cash and securities belonging to Lehman, which will now be redistributed to victims of the bankruptcy in September 2008, Handelsblatt reports. In order for the transaction to be valid, however, a court must still give its approval.

The European association for investors in non-listed real estate funds, Inrev, has announced three appointments to its board: Christian Delaire from AEW has been appointed CEO of the association; Matthew Ryall from Allianz Real Estate becomes head of indirect investment; and lastly, Neil Harris of GIC Real Estate International will be the new senior vice president, in charge of asset management.

At the 11th global clean technologies conference in New York, Jefferies has announced the results of a survey of investors in the sector. About two thirds of investors are expecting a complete recovery in IPOs of clean tech businesses by first half 2012, and more than three quarters expect that the major companies will begin to concentrate in clean tech in 2012 or later. For 2011, investors have identified as the most important investment themes, in order: intelligent/efficient energy networks; solar photovoltaics; energy storage; LED/lighting; and electric vehicles. The decisive element for growth in the sector is the stability of government support and regulations, as it was in the Jeffries Clean Technology Investor Survey for 2010. Respondents say North America, Europe and China will lead the movement to set up the necessary infrastructure for intelligent networks, while the Jefferies survey last November predicted that Europe, and later North America, would be the pioneer in this area.

An allocation of 5% to 10% to commodities can improve the efficiency of a long-term portfolio, J.P.Morgan finds in a recent study on commodities. The conclusion was based on a case study by the Strategic Investment Advisory Group, of a hypothetical portfolio of USD1bn, 30% invested in bonds, 55% in equities, and 15% in alternative investments (hedge funds, private equity and real estate), using a model which is intended to better appreciate the risk of losses related to market anomalies, which, though rare, occur more frequently than many models provide for. Instead of tracking error, conditional value at risk was used, defined as the real average losses (or gains) in the 500 worst-case scenarios. This result differs depending on the portion of the portfolio which is dedicated to commodities (via the S&P GSCI index) as well as the portion which is chosen to be replaced by these assets. An allocation of 5% to commodities with a corresponding reduction of the exposure to hedge funds would theoretically increase returns by USD20m without altering the risk. If these 5% were transferred from the private equity allocation, the expected returns from the portfolio would be lower than for the initial base portfolio, but the level of risk would be lower. There is a point at which allocation to commodities becomes counterproductive. An allocation of over 15% (and 5% in some cases) cannot result in better results than those initially predicted, due to much higher volatility.

Michael Schütt has been recruited as head of wholesale business at WestLB Mellon Asset Management KAG GmbH (WMAM KAG), in Düsseldorf. He will be in charge of distribution for all of WMAM’s strategies, and all products from BNY Mellon Asset Management, to wholesale clients. With a team of five people, Schütt will report directly to Volker Kurr, CEO of WMAM, which is a 50/50 joint venture of WestLB and BNY Mellon. Schütt was most recently head of sales German banks at Invesco in Frankfurt.

In March, the British asset management firm Charlemagne Capital launched the Magna New Frontiers Fund (IE00B65LCL41), a UCITS-compliant version of the offshore products Charlemagne Frontiers Fund. The new fund carries a management commission of 1.95% for retail shares (R class, from EUR5,000), and 1.25% for institutional shares (N class, from EUR1m), with a 20% commission on performance exceeding the MSCI Frontier Markets index.The manager, Stefan Böttcher, says that the volume of the fund will be limited to EUR100m, and that the new fund differs from other frontier products in that it aims to invest particularly in countries that are not part of the MSCI emerging markets index, which leaves a universe of over 100 countries of various sizes, such as Argentina and Uruguay in the Americas, most of the African countries, the Middle East, the Baltic and Balkan countries of Europe, and several Asian markets, such as Pakistan, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.Böttcher says in his management notes that frontier markets have underperformed emerging markets, and that most of these markets, with the notable exception of Sri Lanka, are still below 2008 levels. They are thus not highly correlated to developed countries or to emerging markets, but their lack of development means that a selective approach is necessary. Currently, the manager is avoiding Venezuela and Vietnam, due to political and economic risks, and steering clear of North Africa until the situation there clarifies. The cash allocation currently represents 290% of assets. The preferred countries are Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Romania.Böttcher’s favourite shares are currently Fondul Proprietates (Romania), Bank of Georgia, Mongolian Mining Corporation, Bulgartabac Holding, Mouwasat (Saudi Arabia), and Tau Capital (Kazakhstan).

In January-March, net profits at Morgan Stanley fell ot USD968m, from USD1.78bn in first quarter 2010. This is an increase over the USD836m figure recorded for October-December, however.The global wealth management group in first quarter shows net revenues of USD3.44bn, compared with USD3.35bn in the previous quarter, while pre-tax profits comred to USD348m, compared with USD390m and USD278m. Morgan Stanley states that as of 21 March, total client assets came to USD1.7trn, of which USD501bn were in fee-based accounts. Net inflows in first quarter totalled USD11.4bn, and inflows to fee-based accounts totalled USD1.78bn. For asset management, net inflows fell to USD626m in January-March, compared with USD858m in October-December, and USD653m in first quarter 2010; meanwhile, pre-tax profits for the operation totalled USD127m, compared with USD356m in fourth quarter 2010, and USD174m in January-March last year. As of 31 March, assets under management or supervision represented USD284bn, compared with USD262bn one year previously, due both to positive market effects and to net subscriptions, largely to money market funds. Net subscriptions totalled USD1.4trn, compared with net outflows of USD6.8bn in January-March 2010.

In its periodical column dedicated to the “perfect fund portfolio,” Expansión says that investment professionals on its panel are now recommending liquidating positions in government bonds and increasing exposure to equities from developed markets for the remainder of second quarter (to the detriment of emerging markets). They also recommend increasing allocation to corporate bonds, particularly high yield.Their preferred products are currently: Invesco Euro Corporate Bond fund, JB Absolute Return Bond Fund, M&G Optimal Income, Robeco US Premium, M&G Global Basics and Templeton Global Total Return.

Dick Weil, CEO of Janus Capital Group, announced on 21 April that its chief financial officer (CFO), Greg Frost, has resigned, and will be leaving the business around 1 August. The next CFO will be Bruce Koepfgen, who will join Janus at the beginning of June. Koepfgen worked at Allianz Global Investors (AGI) from 2003 to 2009, partly as CEO of Oppenheimer Capital, an affiliate of Allianz, and as chairman of Allianz Global Investors Fund Management. With Weil, he was also a member of the executive board at Allianz Global Investors.

For first quarter 2011, BlackRock on 21 April announced net profits by US-GAAP accounting standards of USD568m, compared with USD657m in October-December (-14%), and USD423m in the corresponding period of last year (+34%).Assets as of the end of March totalled USD3.6484trn, 2% more than at the end of December (USD3.561trn), and 8% more than one year earlier (USD3.3639trn). Of this total, iShares and ETP products represented USD475bn for equities and Usd126.8bn for bonds, compared with USD448.16bn and USD123.1bn three months earlier, and USD388.39bn/USD109.42bn one year previously.BlackRock explains that the increase in assets under management of USD87.5bn during first quarter is due to a net market appreciation of USD100bn, and USD34.7bn for long-term products, which were partially offset by net redemptions of USD24.4bn from money market products, and outflows of USD4.5bn in dividends. Outflows related to IPO or merger-related totalled USD18.4bn.The US asset management firm says that as of 14 April, net subscriptions in the pipeline totalled USD82.4bn, of which USD60.7bn were for long-term products (55% index-based and 45% actively-managed products), USD6.2bn for money markets, and USD15.5bn for portfolios advised.The multi-asset class category also saw an increase in assets to UDS207.98bn as of 31 March, 12% more than as of the end of December, and 34% more than one year previously, while USD6.8bn of the increase of USD22.4bn in first quarter come from net inflows to fiduciary mandates; for defined contributions, net inflows totalled USD16.8bn.The CEO, Larry Fink, also says that in the period under review, BlackRock Solutions won a net 12 mandates.

For the second quarter of the fiscal year ending 30 September, Raymond James Financial has announced net profits of USD80.92m, which represents a decline of 1% compared with the USD81.72m in October-December, and an increase of 45% over the USD55.63m of the corresponding quarter in 2009-2010. For first half (to 31 March), net profits have risen 65%, to USD162.64m. As of the end of March, assets under administration and assets under management both set new records. For assets under administration, the total came to USD275bn, compared with USD262bn three months earlier, and USD242bn one year previously. Assets under management, for their part, totalled USD35.6bn, compared with USD33.4bn as of the end of December, and USD29.3bn as of the end of March 2010. The increase is due both to market effects and to net subscriptions. Asset management contributed USD30.82m to pre-tax profits in the first six months of the fiscal year (which totalled USD256.75m), compared with USD23.3m in the corresponding period of 2009-2010.

Janus Capital on 21 April announced net profits of USD37.9bn in January-March, compared with USD65.9m in the previously quarter, and USD31.3m in the corresponding period of last year. The operating margin totalled 32.1%, compared with 34.7% in October-December, and 27.3% in first quarter 2010.As of 31 March, assets increased to USD173.5bn from USD167.3bn as of the end of December, and USD165.5bn one year previously. The increase in assets under management in first quarter is the result of a positive net market effect of USD6.7bn, partially offset by net redemptions of USD2.7bn for long-term funds, with net outflows of USD3.1bn for equities funds, and net subscriptions of USD0.4bn for bond products.

After USD148.7m in first quarter 2010, distributable profits at Blackstone in January-March 2011 toalled USD196.55m, which represents an increase of 32%. By US-GAAP accounting standards, net profits in the first three months of this year totalled USD42.7bn, compared with a loss of USD121.4m in the corresponding period of last year, both after costs related to the initial public offering and acquisitions.Fee-generating assets as of the end of March totalled USD124.03bn, compared with USD98.07bn one year previously (+26%), while total assets were up year on year by 43%, to USD150bn.The two largest categories within fee-generating assets as of the end of March were private equity (USD35.89bn, +43% in one year) and hedge funds (USD35.85bn, +24%). Real estate and credit respectively stood at USD26.45bn (+11%) and USD25.84bn (+28%).

In order to supply their increasing efforts in the area of alternative products, US managers are recruiting. 69% of them employ at least one product manager for alternative investments, while 46% have at least one marketing professional dedicated to these products, and 42% have at least one person in sales for these products, Mutual Fund Wire reports.The Retail Alternative Products and Strategies 2011 report from Cerulli Associates, which is also quoted by Investment News and alphametrix, finds that 67% of the time, managers produce more white books for their alternative products than for traditional products, while 58% hold teleconferences for alternative products more often than for traditional products.Cerulli estimates that last year 65 alternative products were launched, compared with 45 in 2009, and that these funds posted an increase of 60% in their assets, compared with 16% for all other categories of mutual funds. Total assets in these mutual hedge funds totalled USD201bn, or 2.6% of total assets in long-term mutual funds, compared with 1.9% as of the end of 2009.

With the Fidelity Patrimoine fund, a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Fidelity Funds, launched on 1 April, Fidelity has created a reactive asset allocation fund based on the formula of the FF Fidelity Gestion Equilibre, but with a wider diversification of eligible asset classes (with the addition of commodities), and more reactive management, in that risky assets may represent 0-60% of the portfolio. Prudent assets may vary from 40% to 100%. Expected relative outperformance due to tactical asset allocation of 1% to 2% is complemented by 0.5% to 1.5% from selection of underlying assets.The product is managed in Paris by David Ganozzi. CharacteristicsName: FF Fidelity PatrimoineISIN code: LU0080749848 – distribution (A) share classBenchmark index: 50% BofA ML Euro Large Cap / 15% MSCI Europe / 15% MSCI World ex Europe / 10% DJ UBS Commodity Index / 10% Euro 1w LibidFront-end fee: maximum 5.25% Management commission: 1.53%

Munich-based KanAm has announced that the liquidation of its open-ended real estate fund US-grundinvest ( DE0006791817), the only German product in its class denominated in US dollars, as of the end of trading as of 31 March had sold nearly all of its assets, and that the last two properties had already received sale commitments (see Newsmanagers of 1 October 2010). The liquidation process must be completed by 31 March 2012.In less than one year, the management firm has managed to sell 15 of the fund’s 17 properties, at a limited markdown of 3.8% off the most recent expert valuation. The second payment to subscribers, following USD250m four months ago (see Newsmanagers of 15 December 2010), will take place in June as scheduled.Since its launch on 20 May 2003, the fund’s total performance came to 20.1%. However, for the year to 31 March, losses come to 15.3%.

L’organisation estime qu’après 0,8 % en 2011, la croissance devrait atteindre 2,3 % en 2012. Mais elle s'alarme du « niveau critique » de la dette

La justice a décidé de modifier unilatéralement les termes de la dette subordonnée de la banque, une décision contestée par certains investisseurs

Depuis lundi, l’euro/dollar a rebondi de 3,5 % à un plus haut depuis novembre 2009 de 1,463

Depuis lundi, l’euro/dollar a rebondi de 3,5 % à un plus haut depuis novembre 2009 de 1,463