Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers vient de recruter Laurent Minvielle et Christina Wilgress, les deux anciens gérants du fonds Turquoise de la Société Générale, dans son équipe de multigestion alternative qui représente 1,6 milliard d’euros et se compose de 8 personnes.Laurent Minvielle est nommé directeur de la multigestion alternative sous la responsabilité d’Olivier Neau, directeur des gestions et vice-président du comité exécutif d’Edrim. Diplômé de l’Ensae, l’intéressé avait rejoint le groupe Société Générale en 1988 en tant qu’économiste. Il était devenu en 2000 responsable de la sélection des gérants de hedge funds et du suivi des risques de Lyxor AM, avant d’exercer, de 2003 à 2009, la fonction de gérant de fonds de fonds au sein de SGCIB (Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking). Christina Wilgress, de son côté, va assurer la coordination de la sélection et du suivi des fonds alternatifs et prendre en charge l’analyse des risques et de la performance des portefeuilles chez Edrim. Elle avait rejoint le groupe Société Générale en 1994 à la Direction des risques, où travaillait également depuis 1993 Laurent Minvielle. En 2001, elle prend en charge le développement produits au sein du département Equity de SGCIB avant de prendre la responsabilité, de 2003 à 2009, de l’équipe de gestion de fonds de fonds au sein de cette même entité.Les deux personnalités se connaissent bien puisqu’elles ont géré ensemble le fonds Turquoise, un fonds de fonds alternatifs lancé par la Société Générale en juillet 2002 comme une activité propriétaire au sein de sa banque d’investissement.

Le directeur général de l’Autorité monétaire de Singapour, Heng Swee Keat et l’ambassadeur de France à Singapour, Olivier Caron, ont inauguré, mercredi 26 janvier, le siège asiatique d’EDHEC-Risk Institute, indique un communiqué. A cette occasion, Noël Amenc, directeur d’EDHEC-Risk Institute a souligné que “l’influence croissante des marchés et investisseurs asiatiques exige que soit menée, depuis cette region du monde, une recherche académique tournée vers les besoins de l’industrie financière.De fait, EDHEC Risk Institute–Asia adaptera les six programmes de recherche d’EDHEC-Risk Institute aux spécificités asiatiques, développera des travaux sur deux nouveaux programmes thématiques consacrés à la gestion des fonds souverains et à l’inflation, et étudiera régulièrement les pratiques de gestion des risques et des investissements dans le contexte d’une nouvelle initiative, Le Centre Asiatique d’Etude et de Promotion des Meilleures Pratiques d’Investissement, » a-t-il précisé.Enfin, Frédéric Ducoulombier, directeur d’EDHEC Risk Institute–Asia a profité de l’ouverture officielle du site pour annoncer la signature de nouveaux partenariats de recherche : " Depuis la présentation de notre projet asiatique en avril dernier, une série d’institutions ont rejoint la Deutsche Bank, partenaire de la chaire de recherche «Gestion Actif Passif et Gestion des Fonds Souverains». Il s’agit d’Amundi ETF, d’AXA Investment Managers, de Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking, et d’Eurex, qui soutiennent des travaux consacrés aux produits indiciels et à la gestion passive, aux systèmes de retraites hybrides, aux stratégies structurées actions, et à l’utilisation des produits de volatilité en gestion de portefeuille.»

Aviva Investors va pouvoir proposer des services de gestion de fonds à Singapour à une clientèle de particuliers et d’investisseurs institutionnels, via des mandats, des fonds dédiés et des fonds ouverts. La société de gestion, présente dans le pays depuis 2007, vient en effet d’obtenir une licence «Capital Markets Services» en gestion de fonds de la part de la Monetary Authority of Sinagore.Aviva Investors ne sera ainsi plus limitée en termes de nombre et de type d’investisseurs avec lesquels elle peut travailler.

La société de gestion britannique M&G vient de nommer Manuel Pozzi en tant que «business development manager» en Italie. Il travaillera à Milan et sera placé sous la responsabilité de Matteo Astolfi, directeur des ventes de M&G en Italie (sales director). Il sera chargé de développer les relations avec les distributeurs retail, privés et les promoteurs des fonds M&G. Manuel Pozzi, âgé de 35 ans, rejoint M&G après avoir travaillé comme gérant de portefeuilles senior auprès de Banco di Desio e della Brianza. Précédemment, il était gérant de portefeuilles obligataires chez Banca Passadore.

La société de gestion immobilière Fimit – Fondi Immobiliari Italiani va fusionner avec sa concurrente First Atlantic Real Estate. Cette union va donner naissance à «la première société de gestion immobilière indépendante en Italie», appelée IDeA Fimit et gérant plus de 8 milliards d’euros d’encours, selon un communiqué de presse. Fare sera intégrée au sein de Fimit.

Le holding financier de la famille Agnelli, Exor, a récemment repris les parts de l’assureur FonSai, portant sa position de 9,5 % à 14,6 % du capital de Gruppo Banca Leonardo, rapporte Les Echos. Et le holding est actuellement en négociation avec des minoritaires pour monter à 20 %, voire davantage à moyen terme, ce qui ferait de lui son premier actionnaire devant la CNP d’Albert Frère et Eurazeo (19,4 % chacun). Par ailleurs, selon plusieurs sources, Banca Leonardo devrait apporter ses activités de courtage, concentrées en Italie, à Kepler Capital Markets, qui cherche à grandir et lève, parallèlement, du capital. Un tour de table d’une cinquantaine de millions d’euros est en cours de constitution, auprès de la Caisse des Dépôts et d’un fonds du Crédit Mutuel, précise le quotidien.

Le groupe de gestion d’actifs alternatifs américain Carlyle va racheter le néerlandais AlpInvest, qui gère 32,3 milliards d’euros d’actifs pour le compte de fonds de pension. Le montant de la transaction n’a pas été divulgué. «La transaction couvre 100% des parts du capital d’AlpInvest», propriété de deux fonds de pension néerlandais, APG et PGGM, ont indiqué le 26 janvier les deux sociétés dans un communiqué commun. «AlpInvest gardera un contrôle total sur toutes les décisions concernant les investissements», ont ajouté Carlyle et AlpInvest, selon lesquels la transaction, qui doit encore recevoir l’aval des autorités de tutelle, devrait être bouclée en mars. APG et PGGM, qui sont également les principaux clients d’AlpInvest, ont indiqué qu’ils confieront la gestion de 10 milliards d’euros d’actifs supplémentaires à AlpInvest sur la période 2011-2015.

Les actifs sous gestion du spécialiste suisse des fonds de fonds Gottex Fund Management Holdings Limited (Gottex) ont progressé de plus de 6% au quatrième trimestre à 8,26 milliards de dollars contre 7,76 milliards à fin septembre 2010.Les stratégies «Asset Based» ont terminé l’année dans le rouge (-8,5% à 1,59 milliard de dollars) tout comme les stratégies «Market Neutral & Directional» (-0,8% à 4,05 milliards de dollars), précise la société dans un communiqué publié le 26 janvier.Gottex indique par ailleurs qu’il entend développer ses activités en Asie. Dans cette perspective, Max Gottschalk, membre du conseil d’administration, va s’installer à Hong Kong.

L’Union Bancaire Privée a annoncé un bénéfice net consolidé de 216 millions de francs suisses pour son exercice 2010, soit le même montant qu’en 2009, année au cours de laquelle le résultat avait été divisé par deux par rapport à l’année précédente. Et ce, alors que les revenus de l’activité ont diminué à 766 millions de francs suisses pour l’année, contre 806 millions en 2009. Les encours sous gestion ont eux aussi baissé sur l’année, revenant de 75 milliards de francs suisses fin 2009 à 65 milliards au 31 décembre 2010. La banque explique ce repli principalement par «des effets de change négatifs». Elle ne précise pas en revanche l’ampleur des souscriptions et des rachats. On sait juste qu’au premier semestre, elle avait enregistré un solde positif de 3,4 milliards de francs. Et qu’elle a enregistré sur l’année «5,7 milliards de nouveaux apports bruts de clients privés». La marge d’intérêt est restée «quasi-inchangée» à 162 millions contre 166 millions en 2009, selon UBP. De plus, les «charges d’exploitation demeurent bien maîtrisées (-1 %) à 493 millions de francs suisses, compte-tenu des investissements effectués dans la réorganisation de la branche Asset Management». La banque a en effet procédé à de nombreux changements depuis l’arrivée de Richard Wohanka de Fortis Investments. Le total du bilan atteint 18 milliards de francs, et le rendement des fonds propres est de 12,8% sur l’exercice 2010.Pour conclure, UBP indique que «les objectifs de la division de Private Banking sont de développer les marchés en croissance comme le Moyen Orient, l’Asie, l’Europe de l’Est et l’Amérique latine, et de développer l’offre européenne onshore. La division Asset Management a lancé une nouvelle gamme de fonds de placement, avec une quinzaine de produits essentiellement gérés à l’interne et orientés sur les marchés émergents».

Le conseil d’administration de la Banque cantonale de Thurgovie (Thurgauer Kantonalbank/TKB) a nommé Thomas Koller comme membre de sa direction générale, rapporte l’Agefi suisse. Le banquier de 42 ans, qui a quitté Raiffeisen, s’occupera des nouvelles affaires «clients privés».

Avec effet au 25 janvier 2011, la DZ Privatbank luxembourgeoise, institut central des banques populaires allemandes dans la banque privée issu de la fusion des activités de la DZ Bank et de la WGZ Bank ainsi que de la DZ Bank Suisse (lire notre article du 15 septembre 2010), a pris le contrôle complet d’Union Investment (Schweiz), la filiale zurichoise du gestionnaire d’actif central des banques populaires allemandes Union Investment. La nouvelle filiale est rebaptisée IP Concept (Schweiz). Il est prévu d’utiliser la marque IP Concept pour lancer de nouveaux fonds de droit suisse ou pour obtenir le passeport suisse pour des fonds de la plate-forme luxembourgeoise IP Concept filiale de DZ Bank International.

Selon L’Agefi suisse, la Banque cantonale argovienne (Aargauische Kantonalbank/AKB) lance une plateforme de négoce boursier en ligne entièrement électronique, «5trade», adaptée au négoce international. Avec un tarif de courtage de base de 5 francs pour la Bourse suisse, cette plateforme est de loin la meilleur marché en Suisse, affirme la banque.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Munich-based management firm TMW Pramerica Property Investment has announced that a freeze on redemptions for its open-ended real estate fune TMW Immobilien Weltfonds (EUR761.94m in assets as fo the end of December) has been extended for a maximum of one year. Redemptions have been suspended since 8 February 2010. Since then, it has not been possible to sell a sufficient number of properties to raise the necessary liquidity to reopen redemptions.However, on 26 January 2011, the fund sold one property at a price above its market value. The property is the Dundas Edwards Center office building in Toronto, which was sold for CAD103m, 16% above its most recent expert valuation.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 15 November 2010, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) launched the Market Access III Kenmar Liquid Commodity Index Fund, a sub-fund of its UCITS-compliant Luxembourg Sicav Market Access III (see Newsmanagers of 17 November). The distribution of the product in Germany will now be provided by Fundmatrix and RBS.The fund replicates the Kenmar Liquid Commodity Index (KLCI), which includes a diversified portfolio of managers relying on various strategies related to commodities markets. The objective for the fund is to generate capital gains whether the commodities markets are rising or falling, with volatility lower than long-only indices such as the S&P Goldman Sachs Commodity IndexTM Total Return, or the Rogers International Commodities Index. Manager selection is undertaken by Kenmar Group.CharacteristicsName: Market Access III Kenmar Liquid Commodity Index FundISIN Codes: LU0521861962 (institutional share class in US dollars) ; LU 0521862424 (institutional share class in euros, hedged for currency risks)Commission for index provider: 1.50%Management commission: 0.15%Performance commission: 5% above high watermarkLiquidity: bi-monthlyMinimal subscription: USD250,000

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The global sales team at Alken Asset Management, led by Isabel Ortega, has been enlarged with the addition of a newly-created position for Jaime Mesía, who was previously director of sales at Gartmore Investment Management España, in charge of southern Europe, Funds People reports. At Alken, Mesía will assist Ortega in developing the markets of southern Europe, with the additional mission of sales for Alken funds in Latin America and Scandinavia.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US asset management group Carlyle is to acquire the Dutch firm AlpInvest, which manages EUR32.3bn in assets for pension funds. The acquisition price has not been disclosed. “The transaction includes 100% of shares in the capital of AlpInvest,” which is currently owned by two Dutch pension funds, APG and PGGM, the two firms announced on 26 January in a joint statement. “AlpInvest will retain total control of all investment decisions,” Carlyle and AlpInvest added. The deal, which is still pending approval from the supervisory authorities, is slated for completion in March. APG and PGGM, which are also the largest clients of AlpInvest, have announced that they will contract the firm to manage a further EUR10bn in assets in the 2011-2015 period.

Aviva Investors has announced that it has received a Capital Markets Services Licence in Fund Management from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The licence allows Aviva Investors to provide fund management services in Singapore to both retail and institutional clients, across segregated mandates, closed-ended and open-ended funds. The licence means that Aviva Investors will no longer be limited to the number and type of investors it can work with. Since first opening its office in 2007, it will now be able to offer a greater number of products to a larger number of clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The director general of the Singapore monetary authority, Heng Swee Keat, and the French ambassador to Singapore, Olivier Caron, on Wednesday, 26 January inaugurated the Asian headquarters of the EDHEC-Risk Institute, a statement says.On this occasion, Noël Amenc, director of the EDHEC-Risk Institute, announced that “the growing influence of Asian markets and investors require that academic research oriented to the needs of the financial industry be undertaken from this region of the world. The EDHEC Risk Institute-Asia will adapt the six research programs of the EDHEC-Risk Institute to the specifically Asian context, will develop two new thematic programs dedicated to sovereign funds management and inflation, and will regularly study risk and investment management processes in the context of a new initiative, the Asian Centre for the Study and Promotion of Better Investment Practices.”Frédéric Ducoulombier, director of the EDHEC Risk Institute-Asia, took the occasion of the official launch of the campus to announce that new research partnerships have been signed. “Since the unveiling of our Asian project last April, a series of institutions have joined Deutsche Bank, our partner for the research chair in “active-passive management and management of sovereign funds.” The new partners are Amundi ETF, AXA Investment Managers, Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking, and Eurex who are supporting research dedicated to tracker products and passive management, hybrid retirement systems, structured equities strategies, and the use of volatility products in portfolio management.”

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The UK asset management firm M&G has appointed Manuel Pozzi as its business development manager in Italy. He will be based in Milan, and will report to Matteo Astolfi, sales director for M&G in Italy. He will be in charge of developing relations with retail distributors, private clients and promoters of M&G funds. Pozzi, 35, joins M&G after working as a senior portfolio manager at Banco di Desio e della Brianza. He was previously a bond portfolio manager at Banca Passadore.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The real estate asset management firm Fimit – Fondi Immobiliari Italiani is to merge with its rival First Atlantic Real Estate. The merger will give rise to “the largest independent real estate management firm in Italy,” entitled IDeA Fimit, which will manage over EUR8bn in assets, according to a press release. Fare will be merged into Fimit.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The distribution team at Legg Mason in Germany has been reinforced with the recruitment of two people. Özlem Erdogan (ex Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment GmbH) becomes client relationship manager, while Claudia Müller, who has recently completed her studies, will become an assistant to the distribution team. The two women will be in charge of assistance to existing clients. They will report to Klaus Dahmann, head of sales Germany and Austria.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { } The German association of independent wealth managers Verband unabhängiger Vermögensverwalter Deutschland e.V. (VuV) announced on 26 January that information on members and their activities, updated daily, will now be available on the fondsweb.de website, at www.fondsweb.de/vuv. The VuV now has slightly over 200 members, with assets of EUR55bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at the Swiss fund of fund specialist Gottex Fund Management Holdings Limited (Gottex) have risen by more than 6% as of fourth quarter, to USD8.26bn, up from USD7.76bn as of the end of September 2010.Asset Based strategies finished the year in the red (-8.5%, at USD1.59bn), as did Market Neutral & Directional strategies (-0.8%, to USD4.05bn), the firm says in a statement published on 26 January.Gottex also states that it is planning to develop its activities in Asia. With this in mind, the chairman and CEO of Gottex, Joachim Gottschalk, will be moving to Hong Kong.

For the 2010 financial year, UBP’s consolidated net profit reached CHF 216 million (USD 230 million), identical to 2009. In 2009, it had been divided by half. Revenues were CHF 766 million (USD 816 million) for the year versus CHF 806 million for 2009. Interest income remained almost unchanged at CHF 162 million versus 166 million in 2009.As at 31 December 2010, assets under management came to CHF 65 billion (USD 69 billion), versus CHF 75 billion at the end of 2009. “These were mainly affected by negative exchange-rate effects”, said UBP. But the bank failed to give details of net inflows or outflows. Operating expenses remained under control (-1%) at CHF 493 million (USD 525 million). This figure takes into account the investment made in reorganising the Asset Management division. The Group’s consolidated cost/income ratio was 65%. The balance sheet total reached CHF 18 billion (USD 19 billion), and the return on shareholder equity for the 2010 financial year was 12.8%. UBP also said: «The aim of Private Banking is to develop growth markets, such as the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, and to grow its European onshore client base. Asset Management has launched a new range of in-house managed investment funds with around fifteen products, carefully tailored to meet client needs and with a particular focus on emerging markets».

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Effective from 25 January 2011, the Luxembourg firm DZ Privatbank, the central private banking institution for the German co-operative banks, created by the merger of the activities of DZ Bank and WGZ Bank with DZ Bank Switzerland (see Newsmanagers of 15 September 2010), has taken complete control of Union Investment (Schweiz), the Zurich-based affiliate of the central asset management arm of the German co-operative banks, Union Investment.The new affiliate will be renamed as IP Concept (Schweiz). It will use the brand IP Concept for the launch of new Swiss-registered funds, and to apply for a Swiss passport for funds from the Luxembourg platform IP Concept, an affiliate of DZ Bank International.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 26 January, Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) unveiled its new equities fund, Goldman Sachs N-11 Equity Portfolio, which invests primarily in shares from the “next 11” emerging markets (Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey, and Vietnam). The benchmark index for the new product will be the future MSCI GDP Weighted N-11 ex Iran Index, which is weighted according to the BNP of the countries in question. The fund may be made available in Germany, France, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Morningstar hedge fund index gained 4% in the month of December, and 10.4% for the year as a whole. The winning strategies in 2010 were distressed securities, with gains of 3.5% for the month and 24.5% for the year, and corporate event-driven, with gains of 4.6% and 19.4%. Hedge funds focused on US equities posted net inflows of USD1.5bn for the first eleven months of the year, compared with outflows of USD8bn between January and November 2009. The only other winning strategies were global non-trend (macroeconomic event-driven investments) and corporate equities. In the first eleven months of the year, these strategies attracted USD5.4bn and USD1.6bn, respectively. Inflows to hedge funds overall in the eleven-month period totalled USD2.7bn. Funds of hedge funds had another difficult year, with returns of only 4.1% for the year, more than 6 points lower than the results for hedge funds. A corollary of this evolution is that the year finished with outflows of more than USD10bn from these funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of December, assets at Legg Mason totalled USD671.8bn, compared with USD673.5bn as of the end of September, and USD681.6bn twelve months earlier. Of this total, equities funds represented USD184.2bn, compared with USD169.6bn three months earlier, and USD168.7bn as of the end of December 2009, while bond funds stood at USD355.8bn, compared with USD371.6bn and USD365.8bn. The remainder corresponds to money market funds, totalling USD131.8bn, compared with USD132.3bn and USD147.1bn.For 2010 as a whole, Legg Mason has seen net redemptions in all quarters, totalling USD96.1bn. Market effects were positive to the tune of USD53.6bn over this period.Legg Mason on 26 January also announced net profits of USD61.6bn for the third quarter of its fiscal year to 31 March, compared with USD75.3m in July-September, and USD44.9m in the corresponding period of 2009. For the first three quarters of the period now underway, net profits however increased to USD184.9m, compared with USD140.8m.

Laurent Minvielle and Christina Wilgress, the former managers of the Turquoise fund of hedge funds at Société Générale, have joined Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers’ funds of hedge funds team, which has assets under management of EUR1.6n. Laurent Minvielle is appointed head of funds of hedge funds at Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers. He will report to Olivier Neau, chief investment officer and vice-chairman of the asset manager’s executive committee.After graduating from ENSAE (Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique), Laurent Minvielle worked as an economist, first for IPECODE from 1984 and then for Société Générale from 1988. From 1993, he held various positions of responsibility in Société Générale’s risk management division before moving to Lyxor AM to be in charge of hedge fund manager selection and risk monitoring. From 2003 to 2009, he managed funds of funds at Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking (SGCIB).Christina Wilgress will coordinate hedge fund selection and monitoring and will be in charge of risk and portfolio performance analysis. She holds a masters in Bank-Finance-Insurance from the University of Paris IX Dauphine and joined the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignation in 1991 as a credit analyst. In 1994, she moved to Société Générale where she held various posts in the risk management division. In 2001, she was appointed head of product development in the Equity department at SGCIB and subsequently headed up its fund of funds team from 2003 to 2009.Laurent Minvielle and Christina Wilgress both managed the Turquoise fund, a fund of hedge funds launched by Société Générale in July 2002 as a proprietary activity in its investment banking division. Assets under management in the Turquoise fund peaked at more than USD3bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For the Scandinavian Nordea group, 2010 was a record year, with net inflows of EUR6.9bn for the first eleven months of the year. In other words, the firm, which is to announce its annual results on 2 February, may finish the year with inflows of over EUR7bn. At EUR6.9bn, Lipper has already ranked Nordea in the top 10 pan-European management firms by inflows.Inflows were significant in most European countries covered by Nordea, particularly germany, with EUR600m, Benelux, at EUR350m, and Italy, with EUR350m.In France, net inflows were slightly more modest than elsewhere in Europe, with a total of EUR150m. The French market was less dynamic than other European markets, as the most recent statistics from the AFG reveal (see Newsmanagers of 26 January).In 2011, Nordea, which is in the process of adding to its Luxembourg hub, will remain faithful to its multi-boutique approach, with two new partnerships, one of which will be announced in the next few weeks.