La société britannique de capital-investissement négocierait son entrée au capital de Lucien Barrière, le groupe d’hôtels et de casinos dont l’introduction en Bourse a échoué fin septembre. Accor, qui en détient une part de 49%, avait répété après cet échec que ses parts n'étaient pas stratégiques et que d’autres options que la Bourse étaient ouvertes.
Le Bundestag a voté un texte qui permettra aux autorités de réorganiser des banques en difficulté et leur passif. Dans ce cadre, les porteurs de dettes subordonnées pourraient être mis à contribution. Le projet de loi doit encore être validé par le Bundesrat pour entrer en vigueur début 2011.
Le groupe de distribution Auchan a émis un nouvel emprunt obligataire de 500 millions d’euros à 7 ans. Le livre d’ordres a été clos en moins d’une demi-heure avec plus de 2 milliards d’euros de demande, indique Obliginfos. Le prix a été fixé dans le bas de la fourchette indicative avant l’émission, soit un spread de 48 points de base au-des taux midswaps.
Technip annonce une émission d’obligations à option de conversion et/ou d'échange en actions nouvelles ou existantes (Ocane) à échéance 1er janvier 2016, d’un montant initial d’environ 450 millions d’euros.Ce montant est susceptible d'être porté à environ 500 millions d’euros en cas d’exercice en totalité de la clause d’extension de 11,11% et à environ 550 millions en cas d’exercice en totalité de l’option de surallocation.
Le déficit commercial de la France a légèrement reculé à 4,683 milliards d’euros en septembre après 4,975 milliards (révisé) le mois précédent, selon les données CVS/CJO publiées mardi par les Douanes.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Michael Clark in London will be the manager of the new Luxembourg-registered product Fidelity European Dividend Fund, launched on 2 November, whose portfolio will invest in equities in European firms which already pay attractive dividends, or which are likely to increase their dividends significantly in the future. So far, the investment team is preferring businesses in the consumer goods, utilities, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications sectors, with stable business models and strong competitive positions. The benchmark index is the MSCI Europe. In addition to this new fund, Clark has also been the manager of the Fidelity Income Plus Fund since 2008, and of the Fidelity Enhanced Income Fund since 2009. CharacteristicsName: Fidelity European Dividend FundISIN codes: LU0353647737 A-Acc Euro capitalisationLU0353647653: A-Euro distribution LU0353648032: Y-Acc-Euro capitalisationManagement commission: 1.5%
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that Michael McManus is joining Kima Capital to serve as chief financial officer, after previously working for Kima Capital as an accountant. He will report to Michael Gallagher, CEO of the hedge fund management firm.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Dominic Rossi, who has left his job as chief investment officer (CIO) at Gartmore, has joined Fidelity Investment Managers as global CIO for equities. He will report to Robert Higginbotham, Investment Week reports. In his new position, Rossi will be responsible for the equities unit, including portfolio management, research, derivatives, trading and corporate finance.
Gartmore has entered a phase of strategic reflection with the assistance of Goldman Sachs, the asset management firm has announced, at a presentation of its interim results. Meanwhile, Gartmore will take measures to strengthen its firepower and improve its financial situation, with the deployment of a GBP10m per year cost reduction program.The Gartmore star manager Roger Guy is leaving the firm. As a result, Gertmore will be merging its teams dedicated to European equities (large cap and all-cap) into a single team, which will be led by John Bennett. Guy will continue to serve at the firm for the next few months in order to ensure a smooth transition. Guy’s large cap team managed GBP3.5bn as of 30 September, of which GBP1.3bn were in hedge funds, GBP0.5bn in mutual funds and GBP1.7bn in discretionary mandates.Gartmore has also announced the departure of Dominic Rossi, chief investment officer, who will take a new position at Fidelity. Until a successor can be appointed, Jeffrey Meyer, CEO, will serve in this role in the interim. Brian Mitchell, currently head of trading, has been appointed chief operating officer for the investment unit.Assets under management at Gartmore increased 4% in third quarter, from GBP19.9bn as of 30 June to GBP20.7bn as of 30 September. Positive market and performance effects were partially offset by net outflows of GBP700m. As of 31 October, assets under management totalled GBP20.9bn, despite net outflows of GBP300m in October. The group has also received GBP500m in redemption demands, of which GBP200m are for European large caps, and will be honoured by the end of the year.
According to Financial News, Fidelity Investment Managers has decided to cut its UK staff by 500 to 1,500 over the next five years, due to a less welcoming approach by UK regulatory authorities, higher income tax, and deteriorating prospects for new business. It will not be making anyone redundant, adds the website.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Since the beginning of this year, Aberdeen Asset Management has raised about EUR1bn in France, including mandates, meaning that assets under management for French clients at the UK management firm now total about EUR6bn, of which about EUR4bn are from Credit Suisse products, and EUR1bn for real estate products and mandates, while the remainder is net inflows, Frédéric Lejeune, head of business development for France and Monaco, explains. The Scottish management firm is not the only one to have posted highly respectable inflows this year, as Brice Anger, director of development for M&G Investments in France recently announced that the firm had already attractd EUR500m in net inflows in France (see Newsmanagers of 5 November), putting assets now above EUR1.2bn. Year-to-date net subscriptions at Schroders in France, according to information obtained by Newsmanagers, lie somewhere between the figures for the firm’s two British rivals.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) has announced two appointments. Guillaume Héraud will now serve as director of settlement services. He will continue to develop the range of settlement services from SGSS, for transactions on equities on traditional markets and multilateral trading platforms (MTF), on the one hand, and on the other, for all other types of assets subject to clearing processes, according to a statement. Héraud will report to Alain Closier, director of securities professions at Société Générale, and will also join the international steering committee of SGSS. Jeanne Duvoux has been appointed deputy CEO of SGSS S.p.A. And legal representative of SGSS in Italy. She will report to Massimo cotella, deputy director of SGSS S.p.A. One of Duvoux’ major responsibilities will be to support projects to optimise the range of services, including those intended to respond to new market requirements, and to foster the integration of new clients.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The former head of the Paris office of BlackRock, until October 2009, Sandrine Toulouse, has created the third-party marketing (TPM) firm Aloha Finance with Gilbert Nguyen, sales manager for distributor clients of BlackRock from September 2007 to October 2010. The new company offers services to asset management firms seeking to establish themselves or strengthen their position on the French market, provided that they have a license from the French regulator AMF. Aloha Finance develops the sales strategy for fund management companies it represents, designs sales and communication tools, and distributes financial investment products to French professional investor clients. Pending three more partnerships which are expected to be signed in the next few weeks and months, the new TPM will start with agreements with Wegelin (Lux) Funds SICAV), the European fund platform for the Swiss bank Wegelin & Co. Banquiers Privés, and with the French hedge fund manager Orchidée Finance.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The equities team at Franklin in Frankfurt has recruited two sell-side analysts from Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), Robert Mazzouli and Tim Burkhardt. In addition, the management firm has recruited Anne Friedrich, also as a research analyst, but she joins the firm from a venture capital firm, Creathor Venture Management. The team now includes eleven people, who will report to Uwe Zöllner. Meanwhile, Michael Clements, who was co-portfolio manager for the Franklin European Growth Fund, was appointed in October as lead portfolio manager for the fund, while Ed Lugo, who previously held these duties, remains as portfolio manager for the product.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As Pierre-Yves Cahart told Newsmanagers on 23 April 2010 (see interview on that date), Wegelin Asset Management, the unit dedicated to institutional clients at Wegelin & Co. Private Bankers, on 8 November announced the launch of its international equities strategy in France. The strategy, known as Active Indexing, combines active and index-based management and is available in three different UCITS III-compliant funds, which received licenses from the French financial market authority (AMF) on 27 July 2010: Active Indexing Europe, Active Indexing World and Active Indexing All Country World. The range is managed by Daniel Leveau, director of the quantitative management team at Wegelin Asset Management. The strategy involves market picking: the management team invests in the most attractive sectors and countries out of a given universe, as a function of their position in the valuation cycle.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British management firm Schroder announced on 8 November that it has received a sales license for its Luxembourg sub-fund Schroder ISF Small Cap Energy Fund in Austria (see Newsmanagers of 7 October).
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Securities & Exschange Commission (SEC) on 8 November announced its decision to severely limit the use of stub quotes, a practice which involves issuing orders at irrational prices in relation to the market consensus. The decision is the result of investigations in the wake of the one-day crash of 6 May this year. Stub quotes contributed to a loss of more than 9% for the Doe Jones in the space of a few minutes. The US market regulator says in a statement that the limitation on stub quotes is essentially a pure and simple prohibition: “By prohibiting stub quotes, we are reducing the danger that market transactions may take place at irrational prices,” says Mary Schapiro, chairwoman of the SEC, cited in a statement. The new rules will come into force on 6 December.
Transparency is the leading concern institutonal investors share about the global hedge fund industry, followed by fees and managers’ pay, a report due to be released by Ernst & Young on Tuesday and cited by the Financial Times shows.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The global UCITS fund index calculated by Ucits Alternative Index gained 0.71% in the month of October, its fourth consecutive month of gains. Since the beginning of the year, the Global Index has gained 0.99%. The best returns of the month were for the Commodities Index (2.20%), CTA (1.45%) and the Emerging Markets index (1.34%). Since the beginning of the year, the Commodities Index and CTA Index have seen losses of 4.71% and 0.59%, respectively, while the Emerging Markets index has gained 2.56%. Event-driven strategies have gained only 0.13%, but are still among the best-performing strategies since the beginning of the year, with gains of 3.60%. Fixed income has continued to perform well, with gains of 0.44% for the month and 4.21% since the beginning of the year.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British management firm Aviva Investors has been granted a sales license in France, Germany and the United Kingdom for the UCITS-compliant absolute return fund Index Opportunities, managed by Iyad Farah and Ned Kelly, assisted by a team of seven managers and analysts, which follows up to 25 indices of Europe, North America, the Asia-Pacific region and emerging markets. The objective is to profit from inefficiencies and distortions related to the rebalancing of indices and therefore of passively-managed funds. This involves long positions on equities entering the indices and short positions on outgoing businesses. The fund, which was launched on 23 April, aims for returns 500 basis points higher than the Euribor 1 month, with ex ante volatility of less than 7.5%. Characteristics Name: Aviva Investors - Index Opportunities Fund AISIN code: LU0469930712front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 0.90%Minimal subscription: EUR2,000
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } European ethical and green retail funds have pulled out of their slump in a thus far disappointing year, with net inflows of EUR212.9m in August, according to the most recent statistics from Lipper FMI, collected on behalf of Responsible Investor. This category of fund, known as “RI extended,” includes exclusionary and normative funds, funds related to climate change and microfinance funds. “RI extended” assets totalled slightly over EUR22bn as of the end of August. Sales of funds which use filters for ESG criteria (“RI screened”), for their part, lost EUR192.3m in August. Only bond funds and money market funds remained highly positive. Assets in RI screened funds as of the end of August totalled EUR64.1bn.
Janus Capital International Limited, the international arm of Janus Capital Group Inc., has launched the Janus Global Investment Grade Bond Fund and the Janus Global High-Yield Fund, part of its Dublin-domiciled Janus Capital Funds plc range.The Global Investment Grade Bond Fund will invest primarily in fixed or floating rate Investment Grade bonds of issuers anywhere in the world and the Global High-Yield Fund will invest primarily in Debt Securities or preferred stock of issuers anywhere in the world which are rated either below investment grade or if unrated are of a similar quality to below investment grade. Both funds will be co-managed by Gibson Smith, who is the co-CIO of Janus Capital Management, and Darrell Watters. Both are co-PMs on all of Janus’ fixed income strategies. They will be supported by the fixed income research team based in Denver and London.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On the same day that Source listed funds on the SIX exchange, 8 November, db ETC AG (Deutsche Bank group) has listed 14 exchange-traded commodities (ETC) on the new ETP segment of the Swiss SIX exchange. Six of the products (Booster) use leverage, while eight do not. The market maker is Deutsche Bank, while the market maker for the Source ETPs will be Nyenburgh Holding BV. With the exception of the ETC based on physical gold, which charges 0.29%, the new products from db ETC all charge 0.45%. Ten of these ETCs replicate commodities indices, while four replicate indices of precious metals (gold, silver, platinum and palladium).
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } LGT Bank in Liechtenstein offered more than EUR300m to acquire the Deutsche Bank affiliate BHF bank, Agefi Switzerland reports, citing Dow Jones Newswires. The valuation of BHF is estimated at EUR600m.