Récemment, Aberdeen Immobilien KAG annonçait le départ au 31 août de Roger Weltz, membre du comité de direction (lire notre article du 30 août). A présent, le gestionnaire allemand de fonds immobiliers rapporte que la fonction de global head of research à l'échelon du groupe Aberdeen va être centralisée à Londres et confiée à Andrew Smith, qui a été nommé global head of property voici trois mois (lire notre article du 26 mai). Il sera ainsi à la tête d’une équipe d’environ 600 spécialistes de l’immobilier, dont 15 analystes répartis sur huit pays européens (3 à Francfort) et Singapour.Cela signifie concrètement que le poste de patron de la recherche de la filiale allemande est supprimé. Donc Thomas Bayerle, qui occupait cette fonction d’abord chez DEGI, puis chez Aberdeen Immobilien après l’acquisition, quittera l’entreprise au 31 décembre. En mars, Aberdeen Immobilien s'était séparé aussi de Bärbel Schomberg (lire notre article du 2 mars), qui avait été sa présidente du comité exécutif et qui a été remplacée par Michael Determann. Le nouvel homme fort du groupe Aberdeen pour l’Allemagne est le directeur général Hartmut Leser, un ancien de Feri Institutional Management. Harmut Leser est aussi membre du comité de direction d’Aberdeen Immobilien. L’encours total du groupe Aberdeen dépasse les 200 milliards d’euros, dont environ 25 milliards d’euros pour les fonds immobiliers.
Mardi 31 août, Aviva Investors a confirmé la nomination de Jean-Francois Boulier au poste de directeur général d’Aviva Investors Europe (lire notre article d’hier). L’intéressé reste basé à Paris et demeure président du directoire d’Aviva Investors France, fonction qu’il exerce depuis septembre 2009.Dans le cadre de ses fonctions élargies, Jean-Francois Boulier sera responsable du développement «d’une activité internationale et intégrée» en Europe continentale, comme le souligne Alain Dromer, directeur général d’Aviva Investors. Le nouveau promu «travaillera en étroite collaboration avec les autres membres de la direction pour accroître les infrastructures de vente et de marketing du groupe». Il sera également chargé des relations avec Aviva Europe et «veillera à ce qu’Aviva Investors bénéficie de la dimension et de la présence de sa maison-mère sur le marché», précise Aviva Investors.De son côté, Jean-François Boulier a fait part de son intention de poursuivre également à l'échelon européen le développement de la base de clientèle externe. Il a aussi indiqué à Newsmanagers qu’il compte rendre la sicav luxembourgeoise (5-6 milliards d’euros) «mieux adaptée et plus compatible», en complétant l’offre de produits sous l’angle des classes d’actifs et des stratégies disponibles. Par ailleurs, il compte étudier entre autres la possibilité de généraliser en Europe le concept des Tea-Time d’Aviva Investors pour les institutionnels et les clients Aviva.L’objectif général sera de distribuer partout en Europe les meilleurs produits, quelle qu’en soit l’origine géographique au sein du groupe, et de fournir à l’actionnaire et client principal qu’est Aviva, comme aux clients externes, la performance la plus élevée et constante possible.
La banque privée Clariden Leu (groupe Credit Suisse) vient de procéder à trois recrutements à Singapour, selon Asian Investor. Vincent Wang, précédemment chez Morgan Stanley, rejoint la banque en qualité de «head of treasury and execution» pour l’Asie tandis que Liew Chin Choy, ex-Merrill Lynch, sera responsable du middle office et Charles Yeoh, qui vient de la Deutsche Bank, a été nommé gérant de portefeuille senior.
Au bout de quatre ans de retards de construction et de dépassements de budgets, Citigroup vend son hypothèque sur le complexe hôtelier Viceroy Anguilla au gestionnaire de hedge funds Starwood Capital Group avec une très forte décote, rapporte The Wall Street Journal.La dette a une valeur faciale voisine de 300 millions de dollars mais, d’après Hubert Hughes, le chief minister d’Anguilla, Starwood ne paierait que 105 millions de dollars.
Le Musée du Louvre dont les encours sous gestion s'élèvent à 120 millions d’euros vient de sélectionner deux nouveaux gérants sur les actions et les obligations, pour un montant total investi de 60 millions d’euros. 18 millions d’euros seront alloués sur les actions internationales (2/3 du montant avec pour indice le MSCI World) et émergentes (1/3 du montant) et 42 millions concernent les obligations de la zone euro (avec une gestion indicielle). Les sociétés de gestion sélectionnées sont les suivantes : BlackRock (actions internationales et émergentes) Vanguard (obligations de la zone euro)
The private bank Clariden Leu (Credit Suisse group) has made three recruitments in Singapore, Asian Investor reports. Vincent Wang, previously of Morgan Stanley, is joining the bank as head of treasury and executions for Asia, while Liew Chin Choy, formerly of Merrill Lynch, will be responsible for middle office, and Charles Yeoh, who joins from Deutsche Bank, has been appointed senior portfolio manager.
After four years of construction delays and budget overruns, Citigroup is selling its mortgage on the Viceroy Anguilla hotel complex to the hedge fund management firm Starwood Capital Group at a heavy loss, the Wall Street Journal reports. The debt has a face value of about USD300m, but according to Hubert Hughes, chief minister of Anguilla, Starwood is paying only USD105m for it.
Scipion Capital, a specialist in Africa, has selected Centaur Fund Services as administrator for its funds, replacing BISYS, ICFA magazine reports. Nicolas Clavel, CEO of Scipion, says that the strategy of Centaur (USD1bn in assets under administration) is better suited to Scipion.
Investment Week reports that the British management firm Marlborough has added to its range of funds with the acquisition of the UK division of Sun Life Financial of Canada (SLFC). The acquisition of SLFC Investment Managers UK brings five new funds to Marlborough, giving it a range of 24 funds and total assets under management of over GBP1bn. The funds which will be taken over by Marlborough are the Marlborough Cash trust and the Income & Growth trust, managed internally, the Emerging Markets trust, managed by Ignis, the European trust, managed by Mirabaud, and the North American trust, managed by Emerson Capital Partners.
Investment Week reports that net inflows at Royal London Asset Management have fallen 85% in first half, to a total of GBP1.1bn, compared with GBP7.5bn in first half 2009.
Investment Week reports that net inflows at Royal London Asset Management have fallen 85% in first half, to a total of GBP1.1bn, compared with GBP7.5bn in first half 2009.
Recently, Aberdeen Immobilien KAG announced that Roger Weltz, a member of the board of directors, was to depart on 31 August (see Newsmanagers of 30 August). Now, the German real estate fund management firm has announced that the position of global head of research for the Aberdeen group will be centralised in London, and given to Andrew Smith, who was appointed global head of property three months ago (see Newsmanagers of 26 May). He leads a team of about 600 real estate specialists, including 15 analysts in eight European countries (three in Frankfurt), and Singapore. This means, in concrete terms, that the position of head of research for the German affiliate has been eliminated. Thomas Bayerle, who previously held this position, first at DEGI, and then at Aberdeen Immobilien after the acquisition, will be leaving the firm on 31 December. In March, Aberdeen Immobilien also parted ways with Bärbel Schomberg (see Newsmanagers of 2 March), who had been chairman of the executive board, and who was replaced by Michael Determann. The new strong-man of the Aberdeen group for Germany is CEO Hartmut Leser, formerly of Feri Institutional Management. Leser is also a member of the board of directors at Aberdeen Immobilien. Total assets at the Aberdeen group are over EUR200bn, of which about EUR25bn are in real estate funds.
Only 17% of hedge fund managers say they are optimistic about the evolution of the S&P 500, according to Hedgeweek, based on the most recent Trim Tabs/BarclayHedge survey. About 47% of the 104 hedge fund managers surveyed last week said they were pessimistic about equities, compared with 33% in July.
The hedge fund management firm Elliott Management on Tuesday dropped its legal action in reaction to one of its letter to investors being published by Absolute Return + Alpha on 26 August which divulged details of the fund’s positions. The Wall Street Journal reports that the case was emblematic insofar as it was an unprecedented attempt to prevent publication of positions mentioned in letters to investors. Elliott Management claimed that the publication of the details caused it financial disadvantage, and hurt its competitive position. Absolute Return + Alpha had announced that Elliott had earned returns of 5.3% in first half, at a time when the S&P 500 had lost 6.6%, but also that the asset management firm had undergone losses due to arbitrage trades on Pacific Century Premium Development and Epicor Software.
According to Bill Miller, chairman and chief investment officer at Legg Mason Capital Management, who is writing an article in the Financial Times, «US large capitalisation stocks represent a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity to buy the best quality companies in the world at bargain prices». The last time they were this cheap relative to bonds was 1951, he recalls.
The Wall Street Journal reports that, according to sources familiar with the matter, J.P. Morgan Chase has notified 20 traders at its commodities trading desk in London that they will be laid off. Following the passage of the Dodd-Frank law and the Volcker rule, which place limits on speculative proprietary trading by banks, J.P. Morgan has decided to discontinue all activities of this type.
Xavier de Laforcade has been appointed, from today, 1 September, as director and head of financial management at Rothschild Patrimoine, the private management arm of Rothschild Cie Gestion. De Laforcade, 36, had since 2005 been head of the “Major Client” mandated management unit and portfolio manager for “Major Clients Private Clientele” at Neuflize OBC Investment (ABN Amro).
The acquisition announced on Tuesday of the Banque d’Orsay by Oddo & Cie will be completed by the end of the year. The operation, for an amount which will be slightly less than the total amount of owners’ equity at the WestLB affiliate – EUR112m – will initially result in a merger of the two banks, and then a merger of Oddo Asset Management and Orsay Asset Management. With EUR2.5bn in assets under management and 100 employees at the Banque d/Orsay, Oddo & Cie will now represent a group with EUR21bn in assets, and nearly 900 employees. Oddo says that it is planning to retain all employees at the acquisition target firm. In terms of product ranges, a working group will be created to consider future direction. Banque d’Orsay has 40 mutual funds, and Oddo has 120 investment vehicles. The acquisition will aim in particular to extend the group’s product offerings, an Oddo spokesman says. It gives the firm an opportunity to develop in alternative management. The operation will also bring Oddo above its objectives in terms of inflows. Last year, the group posted net subscriptions of EUR600m, and it was seeking to double that total this year. In first half, EUR800m had already flowed in, of which EUR200m were from international clients.
Carmen Cires, who for the past two and a half years has served as head of institutional clients for the Iberian peninsula at Vontobel Asset Management, has been appointed a product specialist and portfolio analyst for commodities products at the Swiss asset management firm, Funds People reports. Cires moves from Madrid to Zurich from 1 September.
VP Bank has announced group-wide profits for first half of CHF16.1m, down 40% from first half 2009. Profits to be paid out to shareholders are down to CHF14.5m, compared with CHF25m previously. The Liechtenstein business has reported net outflows in first half of CHF300m, compared with CHF1bn one year earlier, meaning that the negative trend observed last year has not quite reversed itself, even though in international wealth management activities, the bank posted net inflows of CHF100m. Assets under management totalled CHF28.4bn as of 30 June, compared with CHF29.5bn as of 31 December 2009. In this difficult context, the bank has already responded with a cost reduction program. But due to the “profound” reversals on the market, the bank has decided to take on a new, lighter structure. From 1 September 2010, Group Executive Management will include only three members, down from five previously: Roger Hartmann, CEO, as chairman; Fredy Vogt, CFO, as head of the Corporate Center, and Jürg Sturzenegger as head of service units in the new Wealth Management Solutions & Services unit. Ernst Näf and Gerhard Häring, who were members of the executive board, will be leaving the VP Bank group. The firm is also planning to launch growth initiatives throughout the group. The heads are planning to extend the client base in key markets (in addition to Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Germany), and in emerging markets. The teams of advisors in Singapore and Zurich will be added to as planned, and will focus largely on Asia and central and eastern Europe. Expertise in international tax law will also be developed.
Peter Lindgren joined Amundi as deputy general manager for the Nordic region in July, according to IPE.com. He is based in Helsinki. Most recently, he served as managing director of alternative sales at Credit Suisse Asset Management.
The group of German co-operative banks on Tuesday opened the first German branches of DZ Privatbank in Hanover, Munich and Stuttgart on Tuesday. The institution will, as its name indicates, offer private banking services. It is an affiliate of DZ Bank, the central banking institution for about 1000 co-operative and savings banks (Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken). DZ Privatbank also has locations in Luxembourg, Zurich, and Singapore. The firm aims to eventually have about 200 client advisors in Germany.
The German “green” financial services company versiko on Tuesday announced profits of EUR1.5m in first half, compared with EUR0.46m in January-June 2009. It has also announced that its partnership with BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP) will conclude on 31 December. versiko is planning to buy up, and subsequently cancel (at least partly) the ordinary and preferential shares controlled by BNPP IP (which had been acquired by Fortis Investments in 2005), representing 25.12% of its capital. The transaction will be proposed at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on 5 October 2010. The acquisition will be at a price not to exceed EUR3.03 per ordinary share and EUR3.23 per type B preferential share; capital will then be reduced. In Luxembourg, versiko controls the asset management firm Ökoworld Lux, which offers exclusively sustainable development investment products.
Sources familiar with the matter say that Volker van Rüth, managing partner at the private bank Hauck & Aufhäuser (EUR20bn in assets) is about to resign, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. He is said to be considering the move due to disagreements with the other managing partner, Michael Schramm, who joined H&A from Berenberg in May 2006.
Le groupe suisse Valartis (banque privée, asset management et banque d’investissement) a annoncé le 31 août un bénéfice net de 7 millions de francs suisses au titre du premier semestre contre 45,5 millions de francs au premier semestre 2009.Les actifs sous gestion s’inscrivaient à 6,46 milliards de francs suisses au 30 juin contre 6,37 milliards à fin décembre 2009. La collecte nette du semestre s’est élevée à 202 millions de francs suisses. Valartis prévoit des afflux de fonds supplémentaires dans les prochains mois en raison du recrutement de nouveaux chargés de clientèle en Autriche, au Liechstenstein et en Suisse.
The board of directors at Vontobel will propose to its general shareholders’ meeting on 3 May 2011 to elect CEO Herbert J. Scheidt, 58, as successor to Urs Widmer as chairman of the board of directors of Bank Vontobel AG. Widmer will be completing his term, and will be above the age limit defined by internal company regulations. The new CEO will be named by the board of directors in spring next year. Shares with voting privileges in Vontobel Holding are listed on the Swiss stock exchange (SIX); the Vontobel family and the Vontobel foundation control the majority of shares and voting rights. As of the end of June 2010, assets at Vontobel totalled about CHF116bn.
The Swiss hedge fund management firm Harcourt Investment Consulting, part of the Vontobel group, has announced that its assets as of the end of June totalled USD4.7bn, which represents an increase of USD200m in first half. Most subscriptions have come from institutional clients. In first half, Harcourt launched a newcits fund, the fund of hedge funds Vonda (CTA and macro). In partnership with AC Investment Management, it also launched Belmont Community Trading, a fund of funds specialised in commodities.
On Tuesday, BNY Mellon Broker-Dealer Services announced the appointment of John Vinci as head of global product management and strategy, and Andrew Demko as business manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Both are newly-created positions, and the new appointees will both report to James Malgieri, CEO of BNY Mellon Broker-Dealer Services. Vinci was previously head of relationship management group in New York, while Demko was head of global sales, a position which he will retain despite his transfer to London.
The independent alternative management firm Olympia Capital Management announced on 31 August that it is taking over management of hedge funds from Sal. Oppenheim (France), including the Altipro range of French-registered FCP funds. The operation was approved by the AMF on 23 August 2010. The chairman of the Olympia group, Laurent Dupeyron, says “this operation contributes to the development strategy of the group, and will enrich our alternative management range. We are glad to be able to integrate these four French-registered funds, among other assets, into our range at a time when our clients are demanding more transparency and regulation. We are also proud to have been chosen as the best candidate to manage these funds in the best interest of clients. We will continue to explore consolidation opportunities of this type when they appear.” As of 30 June this year, assets under management at Olympia Capital Management totalled USD2.2bn.