Hui Xian Real Estate Investiment Trust, appartenant à l’homme d’affaires Li Ka-shing, pourrait lever à Hong Kong jusqu’à 11,2 milliards de dollars (1,17 milliard d’euros) dans ce qui constituera la première introduction en Bourse réalisée dans la devise chinoise hors de Chine continentale.

Rachid Medjaoui, directeur adjoint de la gestion de La Banque Postale AM

Marie Giraud, gérante taux chez Groupama AM

La Banque populaire de Chine va permettre les transactions entre le yuan et un éventail plus étendu de devises, alors que la devise a atteint un plus haut

La Commission européenne, la Banque centrale et le FMI veulent boucler le programme d’ajustement avant le 16 mai

Les banques devront dépasser un ratio core tier one de 5%. Sa définition plus restrictive que celle de l’an dernier pénalisera les banques régionales allemandes.

Réunis en Hongrie pour un sommet informel, les ministres européens des Finances ont élaboré des recommandations visant à limiter les positions spéculatives sur les marchés de matières premières. Ils ont par ailleurs discuté des modalités de l’aide financière apportée au Portugal.

L’indice risque de marquer une pause dans sa remontée à 4.170 points puis à 4.550 points

Une proposition en ce sens a été entérinée samedi par les ministres européens des Finances. La Commission européenne travaille sur le sujet

Elisabeth Cassagnes, responsable taux directionnel courbe chez UFG-LFP

Les offres reçues par la banque italienne pour Pioneer, valorisé l’an passé entre 3,5 et 4 milliards d’euros, se seraient révélées trop basses

Frédéric Penel, responsable de la gestion taux chez CCR AM

Le Brésil ne fera pas pression sur la Chine pour qu’elle réévalue sa devise, selon le journal chinois qui cite Alessandro Teixeira, ministre de l’industrie et du commerce brésilien. Le ministre, qui doit prochainement signer plusieurs accords de coopération entre les deux pays, a ajouté que son pays n’était pas en guerre commerciale avec l’Empire du Milieu.

S’appuyant sur un taux de dépôt toujours en territoire négatif, la Chine devrait procéder à une nouvelle hausse de ses taux directeurs afin de lutter contre la hausse des pressions inflationnistes, selon le China Securities Journal qui cite des propos de Xia Bin, conseiller auprès de la banque populaire de Chine. La banque centrale pourrait en outre utiliser ses réserves de change pour accroitre ses réserves d’or.

La Banque du Japon a déclaré ce matin compter sur la croissance des exportations, alors que le taux de change s’approche des 85 yens pour un dollar

Christophe Besson, directeur des gestions chez CM-CIC Asset Management

Des limites de positions pourraient bientôt être imposées aux intervenants sur les marchés des matières premières, selon une proposition qui doit être endossée d’ici samedi par les ministres européens des Finances, indique Reuters. Le document qui doit recevoir le soutien politique des Vingt-Sept lors de la réunion informelle du conseil Ecofin qui se tient vendredi et samedi en Hongrie, insiste sur la nécessité d’accroître la transparence sur les marchés des matières premières et des dérivés de matières premières.

L’Autorité bancaire européen, ABE, vient de préciser le critère sur lequel seront testées les banques européennes d’ici juin prochain. Il s’agit du ratio Core Tier 1 dont l’ABE a détaillé la composition. Il se basera sur la définition du Tier 1 faite par l’Union européenne, déduction faite des participations dans les institutions financières et des instruments hybrides tels que les actions de préférence. Le seuil a été fixé à 5 % des actifs pondérés du risque. La composition du Core Tier 1 de chaque banque, et son évolution depuis décembre 2010, seront rendues publiques.

Le premier courtier américain Jefferies a annoncé le 7 avril l’acquisition de Prudential Bache pour environ 430 millions de dollars. Jefferies accélère ainsi son développement dans les activités de «futures» et renforcer sa présence sur le négoce des matières premières.La nouvelle société issue de l’opération, qui s’appellera Jefferies Bache, emploiera plus de 400 personnes à New York, Chicago, Londres, Hong Kong et Hambourg.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management a recruté l’ancien responsable du crédit de Gartmore, John Anderson. Il rejoint la société en tant que gérant de portefeuilles dans l’équipe fixed income, sous la responsabilité de la responsable du crédit, Lisa Coleman. Il reprendra la gestion de son fonds Sterling Corporate Bond.

The German press reports that the board of directors at Deka (the central management firm for the German savings banks) on 7 April decided not to renew Walter Groll’s contract beyond 30 June. Groll, a board member in charge of corporates & markets, is clearly paying the price for an error which led to a one-time write-down of EUR50m last year (in which German equities held by foreign citizens were taken on the books of pension funds), though Deka nonetheless posted record profits in 2010. A successor to Groll will need to be found, though his counterpart in charge of real estate investment, Matthias Danne, has been confirmed in his position for a further five years.

The DSGV association of savings banks and credit unions on 7 April announced that the savings banks have become the sole proprietors of DekaBank (EUR160bn in assets), with an acquisition of the 50% stake held by the Landesbanken. The agreements were signed on Thursday in Frankfurt, after all the regional savings bank associations granted approval for the transaction.The acquisition will take place on the basis of a price of EUR2.3bn, of which EUR1.3bn will come from the savings banks, and EUR1bn from the reserves of DekaBank itself.

Il Sole – 24 Ore reports that UniCredit is calling off plans to sell its asset management unit Pioneer. The three candidates to acquire the business (Amundi, Natixis and Resolution) and their advisors are reported to already have been informed by the management of the Italian bank of their decision. The heads are said to have informally told them that Pioneer will remain in the group, and that it will not be merged or sold, as the bids received were not considered adequate. he formal decision will be presented to the board of directors in the next few days, the Italian newspaper reports. Pressure from the Italian minister of the economy and the Bank of Italy, which were unfavourable to a sale of Pioneer to a foreign firm, may also have played a part.

According to Italian financial industry sources, UniCredit is said to have opened talks with the Santander group in the past few days, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. The Spanish group is reportedly interested in the private banking activities of the asset management firm.

Two developments are signs of the importance of the German market in the international development strategy of Edmond de Rothschild AM, which has announced a number of initiatives in recent years, opening new locations in Hong Kong, Chile, Spain, and most recently, Belgium.“In the next five years, Germany will become one of our largest markets in Europe, after France. We would like to set up a complete activity in the country,” the chairman of the board at EdRAM, Philippe Couvrecelle, announced on 7 April in Frankfurt. More precisely, the firm is hoping to achieve a level of assets under management of EUR3bn to EUR5bn in the meanwhile.Efforts are not only concentrated on the sales team, which has recently begun work following registration in Germany of 26 house funds, but also extend to the development of areas of excellence in Frankfurt in emerging markets for EdRAM.Thomas Gerhardt, previously head of the emerging markets equities team at DWS, has joined EdRAM with the mission of strengthening the emerging markets and commodities team with the addition of at least three managers in Frankfurt in the next few months, as addition to the four managers based in Paris and six managers specialised in Asian equities based in Hong Kong.“Our objective in the German-speaking countries is to develop our activities in parallel serving institutional investors and sales intermediated by platforms and wealth managers,” the head of the Frankfurt office, Rupert Hengster, says, adding that the firm is planning to enter the Austrian market by the end of summer.Hengster estimates that the entry into the German market comes at a favourable time.Did EdRAM wait too long to enter the German market, as many competitors have already invested in that market? “Our arrival on the German market is not related to what competitors do,” responds Couvrecelle. One does not enter such a large and competitive market without all the advantages one can assemble on one’s side.Among these, teams have been strengthened, and highly significant new investment expertise has been added, including EUR10m in investment in IT system integration. “With a complete and competitive range of funds, we are now well-positioned to accelerate our foreign development, especially in Germany, where we have high hopes,” says Hengster. When asked if double-digit staff numbers are expected by the end of this year, Hengster responds with a smile that clients will decide the pace of growth.

La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild is emphasizing the Asia region. The French bank has set up a sales team for all of the bank’s professions, which will be largely dedicated to asset management. The Asia sales team will be led by Denis Lefranc, former CEO of Société Générale Asset Management (SGAM) for Asia-Pacific. He will be based in Hong Kong. Two former SGAM partners will round out the team: Anson Tay as Asia chief marketing officer, and Douglas Hsu, who has been appointed head of sales in Taiwan. LCF Rothschild has also increased its stake in the capital of its joint venture Zhonghai Fund Management, based in Shanghai, from 15.4% to 25%. “We are basing a lot of our hopes on the Asian region, and we would like to see it contribute significantly to the group’s results in the future. A local sales presence appeared essential to us,” says Marc Samuel, deputy CEO of La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild.

RAB Capital has revealed that 79% of investors will withdraw from its Special Situations fund, when it reopens in October, following a three-year suspension, Investment Week reports. Subscribers voted in favour of a lock-in in 2008, in order to allow the fund time to restructure. The asset management firm has admitted that it made mistakes in the period leading up to the crisis.

Financial News reports that Edouard Salet, a manager at Deephaven Capital Management, has founded his own firm, and is preparing to launch a hedge fund. He has teamed up with Daniel Goldstein, former head of equity flow sales of BNP Paribas in London, who will be CEO of the new firm.

Deane Donnigan, manager of the health and biotech funds of Axa Framlington, has left the asset management firm, after 13 years, Money Marketing reports. Gemma Game will take over management of the health fund (GBP262.5m), which she co-manages, and the biotech fund (GBP38.5m) for which she is assistant manager.

PSigma is launching a global equity fund, which will be managed by the group’s New York-based partner for equities, Centre Asset Management, Investment Week reports. The fund will be launched in the United Kingdom in June, with GBP20m in seed capital. It will be managed by Jing Sun and James Abate.