p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A council of ministers of the Federal government will pass a law this 22 September to strengthen investor protection and improve the functioning of capital markets, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The proposed legislation imposes a two-year minimal investment duration for investments in open-ended real estate funds, except withdrawals of up to EUR5,000 per month per subscriber. The new rules would impose 5% and 10% withdrawal penalties in the third and fourth years. In addition, it relaxes rules for sales of properties in the portfolio.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } DWS Investments on 21 September announced the launch of the DWS Top Dividende fund (ISIN code: DE0009848119) in France. The DWS Top Dividende fund proposes a global equities strategy, accompanied by an opportunity for regular returns. The fund invests in equities likely to offer higher dividends than the market average. The portfolio aims for returns from dividends of 4.5%. The DWS Top Dividende fund was launched by DWS Investments in 2003 in Germany, and has posted excellent returns, regularly outperforming its benchmark (MSCI World High Dividend Yield Index) over 1, 3 and 5 years.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Since the financial crisis has driven investors from the equity markets, assets in bond ETFs have exploded: they now total over USD130bn, compared with USD20.5bn at the end of 2006, according to statistics from Morningstar, reported by the Wall Street Journal. In this segment, iShares continues to dominate, with a market share of 70%, but the competition is intensifying, with the arrival of products from State Street and Vanguard, among others, often with lower fees. Among the new actors, there are also PowerShares (Invesco) and Pimco, the latter of which has an actively-managed bond ETF which has already attracted USD349m. In total, more than 30 bond ETFs are available, but iShares (BlackRock) is the provider which offers the most complete range by far, a spokesperson for the firm points out.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On the evening of 20 September, Eaton Vance Management, an affiliate of Eaton Vance Corp., announced the launch of the mutual fund Eaton Vance Global Macro Absolute Return Advantage Fund, managed by the bond group at the management firm, which is responsible for USD11bn (as of 31 August). The fund, which aims for absolute returns, will in normal periods invest in bonds, currencies and sovereign fixed income issuers, as well as in corporate bonds, equities, municipal bonds and investments related to commodities. At least 40% of its assets will be invested abroad. Michael Cirami, co-manager of the portfolio, says that it is a country picker fund, which seeks to identify divergences between the fundamentals of a country and the valuation of assets on its markets. Compared with the Global Macro Absolute Return Fund, the Advantage has two major differences: on the one hand, lower exposure to frontier markets, and on the other, higher performance objectives, coupled with acceptance of a higher performance volatility.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } ML Capital Asset Management (ML Capital) on 20 September announced that the first management firm to use the Irish-domiciled, UCITS-compliant Montlake platform will be Clareville Capital Partners, the hedge fund founded by David Yarrow. The fund on offer, a UCITS-compliant version of the Pegasus Fund (long/short UK equities strategy), launched 13 years ago, which will be available from 1 October, will be co-managed by David Yarrow and Angus Donaldson.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The New York-based alternative management firm Sandell Asset Management is planning to launch a UCITS-compliant merger/acquisition arbitrage fund in early October, Citywire reports. The fund, Castlerigg Merger Arbitrage, will be managed by the Swedish Tom Sandell, who founded the eponymous fund in 1998. The fund, domiciled in Ireland, will deploy a strategy which Sandell has been using for more than 12 years for its flagship hedge fund, Castlerigg International. The fund, which will invest in announced merger and acquisition transactions, aims for annualised returns of 10% to 12% over the long term. Assets under management at Sandell total about USD1bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The team from Fortis Investments which recently joined J.P. Morgan Asset Management (Pierre-Yves Bareau, Alain Defise, Didier Lambert and Michal Wozniak; see Newsmanagers of 19 April 2010) has already made its mark. Assets under management total roughly USD1.5bn, including a special fund for the Spanish market (USD100m), a mandate for a US client (60% equities, 40% corporate bonds) worth USD268m, and corporate bond allocations from emerging markets teams for other funds. The most recent fund from the team is the sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav JP Morgan Funds (JP Morgan Funds -Emerging Market Corporate Bond Fund, which has no AMF license so far), with seed capital of EUR15m, launched on 22 July in Luxembourg (and already licensed in Germany), for which the portfolio managers are Bareau and Defise. The fund invests solely in US dollar-denominated debt, though there are also Euro-hedged shares available. The benchmark index is the JPMorgan Corporate Emerging Markets Bond Index (CEMBI) Broad Diversified.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The CNMV has issued a license for sale of the Credit Suisse Solutions (Lux) Prima Multi-Strategy fund in Spain. It is a UCITS-compliant multi-strategy fund of hedge funds, which replicates a non-UCITS III-compliant product. Assets in the product, launched in July, total EUR121m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The asset management industry in Italy has posted net inflows of EUR3.5bn in second quarter 2010, according to the most recent statistics from Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset managers. Inflows to collective management totalled EUR12m. In the first six months of the year, the industry raised more than EUR26.6bn. Assets under management in the industry now total EUR993.4bn.

Assets in emerging market bond funds swelled by 42% in 2009, rising from EUR44.5bn to EUR63.2bn, yet such growth pales beside activity over the first seven months of this year, with a further rise in assets of 53%, reaching EUR96.4bn by the end of July, according to Lipper. This is mainly driven by the performance of the underlying asset class. The scale of the performance impact can be seen with record-breaking sales of EUR25.2bn from European investors accounting for a quarter of asset growth in 2010. Stellar returns help to explain investor appetite for these funds, which prompts the resulting question — are flows about to dry up, asks Lipper? Over the past three months flows have accelerated, so there is no clear sign of investors reaching the bottom of the well just yet. The top emerging market bond group by assets is Pictet, with EUR7,699.9m, ahead of Shroders, Ashmore, Franklin Templeton and GAM Holding.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a survey by the rating agency Telos, 38% of German institutional investors are now planning to invest in funds before the end of this year. The survey covered 150 investors with a total portfolio of EUR340bn. The entities most interested in new engagements are corporate treasuries, charities and banks. On the subject of new mandates, specialists surveyed preferred absolute return strategies and German management firms. However, the choice of an asset management firm is made primarily as a function of the quality of risk management, products, and reputation. Telos says that in terms of size, the largest number of institutional funds (27%) had total assets of EUR100m to EUR500m, while 23% have between EUR1bn and EUR5bn, and 22% have assets under management of EUR500m to EUR1bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The alternative management firm Partners Group Holding SA announced on 21 September in a statement that it had concluded the largest direct investment program in its history, “Partners Group Direct Investments,” after the upper limit of EUR650m was reached. The program was launched in 2009. At the end of second quarter 2010, the portfolio included 19 investments.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Wealthbriefing reports that UBS has set up a new division, the Global Family Office Gruop, a joint venture of the ultra high net worth (UHNW) international segment and the investment bank. The new unit, announced in an internal memo, will be co-managed by Joe Stadler, also head of the UHNW segment,a nd Jerry Wattenberg, a former managing director from Goldman Sachs, who worked at JTW International before joining UBS. The memo, obtained by Wealthbriefing, says that UBS would like to concentrate primarily on the 250 most important clients or prospects, who represent about 2% of the high net worth client base at UBS worldwide. UBS will provide more details about its plans in this area in late October.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For the stock markets, the departure of Alessandro Profumo from the management at UniCredit will probably eventually result in a refocus on Italy for the bank, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. The newspaper also expresses doubts that the sale of Pioneer is a certainty, as it would cost the group a major source of commissions and would bring in EUR1.2bn that the bank doesn’t really need, as its capital ratios are already above the Basel III requirements.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asesores y Gestores Financieros, an affiliate of EFG International, has recruited three seniors, Funds People reports. They are Pablo Nuñez (ex Merrill Lynch Private Banking), Javier Irondo, director of a branch of Popular Banca Privada, and Rubén Ayuso (AllfundsBank).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The crisis has ravaged the portfolios of some Spanish high net worth families, and the real estate collapse has brought down some family offices, at least four of which have been obliged to seek the assistance of lenders to maintain liquidity, Cinco Días reports. The EAFI association of financial advisers, says that the situation of technical bankruptcy for some high net worth families is related to excessive leverage and to investments made without risk controls.

Citywire reports that Brevan Howard has launched a UCITS-format fund dedicated to emerging market currencies. The fund, launched with about USD110m in seed capital, will be internally managed, with Filippo Cipriani as lead manager. The announcement is significant insofar as the largest European hedge fund has often been criticised for previously recruiting an external team (which reports to Philippe Lespinard) to manage the Absolute Return Bond Plus fund, which was not popular with investors.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 21 September, Cazenove Capital announced that it has submitted an application to the FSA to authorise it to launch the Cazenove Diversity Income Fund, a multi-asset class, multi-managed fund managed by Marcus Brookes and Robin McDonald, who already manage the Cazenove Multi-Manager Diversity Fund. The product will be launched in fourth quarter, and aims for performance equivalent to the evolution of the consumer price index in the mid-term, with average income of 4% per year. It will invest 40% in equities and 40% in bonds and cash, while 20% will be allocated to alternative investments. Minimal initial subscription is set at GBP1,000. Front-end fee will be 5%, and management commission 1%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US multi-management firm Virtus Investment Partners has announced the launch of an international equities fund, the Virtus International Equity Fund. The new vehicle is advised by the London management firm Pyford International (Bank of Montreal), and proposes to invest in 15 to 20 developed and emerging markets. Stock-picking then follows a fundamental analysis process. As of 30 June 2010, assets under management at Cirtus totalled slightly over USD25bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Russell Investments on 20 September announced the recruitment of Kurt Zyla as CEO for publicly-traded derivatives. Zyla will be based in New York, and will be in charge of coordinating efforts to expand into new markets as well as expanding development and release of new products. Zyla previously worked for BNY Mellon as head of investment strategy for indices and ETFs at Mellon Capital Management.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The sales team at PIM Gestion France has recently made two additions. Florent Delorme joined the management firm as director of sales from 1 July this year. He previously served as director of institutional clients at Natixis Asset Management. Philippe Lorent joined PIM Gestion France on 9 August as head of commercial relations. Lorent, previously in charge of clients at the Paris office of Franklin Templeton, handled relations with multi-managers, private banks, and family offices. The arrivals follow the departures of their predecessors, including Thomas Couvret, who joined Uram, a management firm founded in 2007 by two managers specialised in natural resources, in Geneva.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that State Street Global Advisors (SsgA) is planning to launch more ETFs dedicated to Asia, following the successful launch of SPDR FTSE Greater China ETF, listed in Hong Kong, which invests mostly in Hong Kong-listed equities, and not “A” class shares (for Chinese domestic investors). The Greater China ETF was housed at an umbrella company to facilitate the launch of other products of the same type in the future.

European asset managers will need to restore investor interest in actively-managed investment products and strengthen the resilience of their business models if they are to improve performance post-crisis, says Fitch Ratings in a special report published on Tuesday. More than 50% of fund inflows in 2009 focused on corporate credit, emerging markets and commodities. In Fitch’s view, this reflects opportunistic allocation decisions to generate exposure to performing asset classes, rather than an active allocation to managed products. In other words, investors have looked to capture the “beta” rally of certain asset classes, rather than the “alpha” out‐performance generated by the manager. Because it has been opportunistically allocated, this new money is expected to be far less sticky and more easily substituted by exchange traded funds (ETFs). To address investors» lack of interest, Fitch recommends greater transparency on funds. «Transparency increasingly implies better access to decision makers — not just product specialists or marketing staff — to discuss positions, investment strategy and prices», says the agency. Also, regardless of whether it is retail or institutional, the right product will have to address investors’ changing perceptions of risk and return. Finally, Fitch suggests a tightening of the relationship between manager and investor. In order to improve the resilience of their business models, specialist managers will also require more flexible cost structures, which could be achieved via outsourcing, and lower break-even points. Generalist managers will need to increase critical mass on core or growing markets, diversifying the investors’ base and developing product mixes around all-weather products. Alternatively, they may deploy strong advisory capacities in order to keep assets in-house through market cycles, says Fitch. * European Asset Management: an industry under pressure

Asesores y Gestores Financieros, filiale d’EFG International, recrute trois seniors, rapporte Fund People. Il s’agit de Pablo Nuñez (ex Merrill Lynch Private Banking), de Javier Irondo, directeur d’une agence de Popular Banca Privada, et de Rubén Ayuso (AllfundsBank) qui rejoint le département gestion d’actifs.

La crise a occasionné de fortes douleurs au portefeuille de certaines grandes fortunes espagnoles, et l’effondrement de l’immobilier a plombé certains family offices, dont au moins quatre se sont vus obligés de solliciter le concours de créanciers pour faire face à la pénurie de liquidités, rapporte Cinco Días. A l’association EAFI des conseillers financiers, on souligne que cette situation de faillite technique de certaines grandes fortunes est liée à un effet de levier trop fort et à des investissements opérés sans contrôle du risque.

La CNMV a enregistré le Credit Suisse Solutions (Lux) Prima Multi-Strategy pour l’Espagne. Il s’agit d’un fonds de fonds alternatifs coordonné multistratégies qui réplique un produit non-conforme à la directive OPCVM III. L’encours de ce produit lancé en juillet se situe à 121 millions d’euros.

Pour les marchés, le départ d’Alessandro Profumo de la direction d’UniCredit va probablement se traduire à terme par un repli de la banque sur l’Italie, rapporte Il Sole – 24 Ore. Par ailleurs, le journal doute aujourd’hui que la cession de Pioneer soit confirmée, étant donné que cela reviendrait à se priver d’un flux garanti de commissions alors que la vente rapporterait 1,2 milliard d’euros dont l’établissement n’a plus vraiment besoin vu que ses ratios prudentiels sont déjà supérieurs aujourd’hui à ce qu’ils devraient être sous le régime Bâle III.

Selon l’Agefi, l’Autorité des marchés financiers a expliqué à l’activiste franco-américain que la réglementation américaine était la seule en cause dans la défaillance des assemblées générales en France. Lors de l’AG de Lagardère du 27 avril dernier, rapporte le quotidien, Guy Wyser-Pratte avait remporté 23,7% des votes, mais une partie des votes par correspondance n’avait pas été prise en compte.

L’Agefi rapporte que la Société Générale vient de signer un accord de règlement à l’amiable avec les liquidateurs de Lehman Brothers dans le cadre de deux CDO (collateralized debt obligations) investis dans des titres adossés à de l’immobilier américain. La banque française versera un maximum de 445 millions de dollars (340 millions d’euros) à sa contrepartie, selon les termes de l’accord déposé pour approbation auprès du tribunal des faillites de New York. Les swaps ont été résiliés par anticipation en septembre 2008 après la faillite de la banque américaine, ce que cette dernière a aussitôt contesté. Tout le débat porte sur l’interprétation des clauses des swaps dans les contrats Isda, note le quotidien. Les deux parties ont finalement préféré un accord amiable.Le règlement interviendra en plusieurs étapes «et cette transaction aura un impact négligeable sur les comptes du groupe en raison des provisions précédemment passées», indiquait hier la Société Générale.

DWS Investments a annoncé le 21 septembre le lancement du fonds DWS Top Dividende (code isin : DE0009848119) en France. Le fonds DWS Top Dividende propose une stratégie en actions du monde entier, accompagnée d’une opportunité de rendement régulier. Le fonds investit en actions susceptibles d’offrir des taux de dividendes supérieurs à la moyenne du marché. Le portefeuille vise ainsi un rendement moyen en dividendes de 4.5%.Avec des taux d’intérêt très bas aussi bien sur le marché monétaire que sur celui des obligations d’entreprise, le contexte actuel offre une opportunité d’investissement unique dans les valeurs versant un dividende attrayant. Au-delà de l’environnement actuel, les fondamentaux d’une telle stratégie sont bien démontrés :- Les dividendes offrent un retour de liquidité aux actionnaires, ce qui crée de la confiance dans les performances de l’entreprise- Une politique de dividendes constante est un message de continuité et de fiabilité au marché- Les bénéfices après dividende sont généralement utilisés de façon plus efficace - Contrairement aux bénéfices, les dividendes sont rarement réduits et offrent un amortissement à la baisse.Après une analyse approfondie de l’univers d’investissement par un modèle multicritère, le fonds combine une approche « top down » et « bottom up » afin de créer un portefeuille d’entre 60 et 100 valeurs avec une pondération moyenne entre 1%-2%. Le fonds est géré par Thomas Schuessler, gérant senior, basé à Francfort, qui dispose de plus de 14 années d’expérience dans l’industrie et qui a rejoint l’équipe d’investissement chez DWS Investments en 2001. Le fonds DWS Top Dividende a été lancé par DWS Investments en 2003 en Allemagne et a enregistré d’excellentes performances, surperformant régulièrement son indice de référence (MSCI World High Dividend Yield Index) sur 1, 3 et 5 ans. Thomas Schuessler, gérant du fonds DWS Top Dividende estime que « la stratégie de dividende est adaptée aux investisseurs qui souhaitent augmenter leur exposition aux actions défensives. Les dividendes ont tiré le rendement des actions depuis plusieurs années et nous croyons que cette tendance est durable puisque les sociétés ont réduit leurs coûts, augmenté leurs marges et accumulé des liquidités qui doivent désormais être utilisées – idéalement sous forme de dividendes. »Olivier Renard, Managing Director chez DWS Investments en France, ajoute que « DWS Investments est convaincu de l’intérêt des stratégies ‘haut dividende’ depuis des années et nous sommes ravis de pouvoir proposer ce produit très performant aux investisseurs français. Ce fonds de plus de 4,5 milliards d’euros d’encours a connu un grand succès et devrait notamment intéresser les gestions sous mandats et les clients des banques privées. »