National Australia Bank et Axa discutent, rapporte la Tribune. Selon la presse australienne, le directeur général de National Australia Bank (NAB), Cameron Clyne, s’est rendu en France pour la mise en oeuvre de son offre de rachat de 11,5 milliards de dollars sur sa filiale de Sydney, Axa Asia Pacific Holdings (APH).
Selon Mutual Fund Wire, Global X Funds a fait enregistrer par la SEC quatre ETF sur les métaux, Copper Miners, Gold Miners, Platinum Miners et Silver Miners, qui seront gérés par Bruno del Ama et José Gonzalez.Pour sa part, First Trust a annoncé la lancement prochain de ses cinquième et sixième ETF, le First Trust Develope International Markets AlphaDEX Fund et le First Trust Emering Markets AlphaDEX Fund, qui seront tous deux gérés activement.
L’américain State Street Corporation et le fournissseur canadien spécialisé dans les services d’agent de transfert IFDS ont annoncé le 8 février avoir été sélectionnés par Wellington West Asset Management, Inc. pour fournir à leur groupe une gamme de services d’investissement.State Street fournira des services de comptabilité et d’administration de fonds, des services de garde et des services fiduciaires à l’occasion du lancement par Wellington West d’un groupe de nouveaux fonds. Fondée en 1993, Wellington West est devenue l’une des plus importantes sociétés indépendantes de placements de plein exercice au Canada et l’une de celles qui connaissent la croissance la plus rapide, avec près de 8,8 milliards de dollars canadiens d’actifs administrés.
Le 29 janvier, BlackRock a notifié à la SEC son intention de lancer d’ici au 7 mars sept ETF-pays de la marque iShares répliquant des indices MSCI, mais le taux des commissions n’a pas encore été fixé.Il s’agit des produits iShares MSCI USA Index Fund, MSCI Brazil Small Cap Index Fund, MSCI Egypt Capped Investable Market Index Funds, MSCI Ireland Capped Investable Market Index Fund, MSCI Russia Capped Index Fund et MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index Fund.
Selon Hedge Week, une enquête récente réalisée par TKS Solutions indique que 10% des fonds alternatifs ont envisagé de changer d’administrateurs au cours des douze derniers mois en raison de problèmes liés notamment à l’exactitude du reporting. Certains administrateurs de fonds utilisent encore des procédures manuelles, souligne l’enquête, sources de surcoûts et d’erreurs.
L’emprunt d’ETF européens par les vendeurs à découvert a plus que doublé en 2009, selon les données de Securities Lending Yearbook de Data Explorer citées par le Financial Times Fund Management. L’ETF qui a été le plus vendu à découvert a été l’iShares FTSE 250, avec en moyenne 79 millions de dollars d’actions prêtées pendant l’année.
Selon L’Agefi suisse, GAM a annoncé le lancement d’un nouveau fonds UCITS III, GAM Star Global Rates. Il s’agit d’une version onshore de sa stratégie de change et de taux d’intérêt global macro gérée par Adrian Owens. Le fonds se targue d’une corrélation faible avec les marchés actions. Le produit investira dans les devises et les obligations d’Etat «afin d’exploiter les dysfonctionnements du marché et privilégiera les marchés matures offrant une liquidité satisfaisante».
Barclays Capital (Barclays Cap) a rejoint BofA Merrill Lynch, Citi et Rabobank comme participant à la plate-forme ETF Exchange (ETFX) lancée par ETF Seucrities (ETFS). ETFX propose 21 ETF d’actions sur les ressources naturelles ainsi que des produits à double effet de levier et des ETF «short doubles».
Pour le quatrième trimestre, l’UBS affiche un bénéfice net de 1.205 millions de francs contre une perte de 564 millions au troisième. Sur l’ensemble de 2009, le groupe accuse une perte de 2.736 millions de francs suisses contre 21.292 millions pour 2008.Toujours pour octobre-décembre, les sorties nettes d’argent frais se sont élevées à 33,2 milliards de francs suisses pour la division Wealth Management & Swiss Bank, à 12 milliards pour Wealth Management Americas et à 11 milliards pour Global Asset Management.Les actifs investis se sont montés à 2.233 milliards de francs suisses au 31 décembre 2009, soit une progression de 3 % en rythme annuel et un repli de 1 % par rapport au 30 septembre (2.258 milliards). La baisse s’explique à la fois par les remboursements nets et des pertes de change, compensés en partie par l’effet de performance.Pour le quatrième trimestre, la division Global Asset Management affiche un bénéfice avant impôt de 284 millions de francs suisses contre 130 millions pour juillet-septembre, la diminution des charges de personnel ayant surcompensé la baisse des recettes.
Credit Suisse vient de recruter Dan Draper, l’ancien managing director et responsable mondial des ETF de Lyxor Asset Management. Il rejoindra au printemps l’activité gestion d’actifs de la banque suisse en tant que managing director et responsable des ETF. Il sera basé à Londres et placé sous la responsabilité d’Oliver Schupp, responsable des stratégies beta dans le domaine de la gestion d’actifs et co-responsable du comité de direction des ETF de la banque. Cette nomination reflète la volonté de Credit Suisse de développer sa plate-forme ETF.
Credit Suisse has announced that Dan Draper, formerly a managing director and global head of exchange traded funds (ETFs) at Lyxor Asset Management, will join Credit Suisse in its Asset Management business as managing director and head of ETFs. He will start later this spring, be based in London and report to Oliver Schupp. This appointment reflects Credit Suisse’s commitment to the expansion of its ETF platform.
In fourth quarter, UBS has posted anet profits of CHF1.205bn, compared with a loss of CHF564m in third quarter. For 2009 as a whole, the group has seen losses of CHF2.736bn, compared with CHF21.292bn in 2008. In October-December of last year, net outflows of new money totalled CHF33.2bn from the Wealth Management & Swiss Bank division, CHF12bn from Wealth Management Americas, and CHF11bn for Global Asset Management. Invested assets totalled CHF2.233trn as of 31 December 2009, an increase of 3% in annual terms, and 1% lower than as of 30 September (CHF2.258trn). This decline is due both to net redemptions and negative currency effects, which were partly offset by performance effects. In fourth quarter, the Global Asset Management division posted pre-tax profits of CHF284m, compared with CHF130m in July-September, as a reduction in personnel costs has more than offset the decline in revenues.
According to a study which has recently been published by Vontobel, investors tend to underestimate the potential of the Asian (ex Japan) region in the area of sustainable investment. Assets under management in investments related to sustainable development may rise from approximately USD20bn currently to about USD4trn by 2015. The figure of USD20bn represents only 0.4% of assets under management in sustainable investments worldwide, the study points out. On the basis of information received and evaluated, “for the first time, we are giving investors a way to reliably identify factors for success in sustainable investment in Asia,” the author of the study, Falko Paetzold, says.
Borrowing of European ETFs by short sellers more than doubled in 2009, according to Data Explorers’ Securities Lending Yearbook. The most shorted ETF was iShares FTSE 250 tracker, which, on average, had USD79m of stock lent out throughout last year.
Barclays Capital (Barclays Cap) has joined BofA Merrill Lynch, Citi, and Rabobank as a participant in the ETF Exchange (ETFX) platform launched by ETF Securities (ETFS). ETFX offers 21 equities ETF funds focused on natural resources, as well as double-short ETFs.
Hedge Week reports that a recent study by TKS Solutions has found that 10% of hedge funds have sought to replace their administrators in the past 12 months, due to troubles related in large part to the accuracy of reporting. Some fund administrators are still using manual procedures, the study finds, which is a source of excess cost and errors.
Hartmut Leser, one of the directors of Aberdeen Asset Management Deutschland, has confirmed to the Börsen-Zeitung that the value of the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund DEGI Global Business (EUR358m as of the last reporting) has been revised downward by 21.6%. The fund, which has encountered liquidity problems, was obliged to suspend redemptions in mid-November 2009.
As of the end of December, assets under management at fund management firms which provide statistics to the BVI association of management firms totalled EUR1.7012trn, compared with EUR1.5063trn one year earlier, of which EUR725.6bn, up from EUR641.7bn, were in institutional funds, while EUR650.2bn, up from EUR575.8bn were in open-ended funds, and EUR325.5bn, up from EUR288.9bn, in mandates. Only EUR2.1bn of the total increase of EUR74.4bn in assets under management in open-ended funds came from net subscriptions. In other words, ETF funds, which posted net inflows of EUR10.3bn, were a strong sustaining force for the sector, which was hit by EUR30bn in outflows from money market funds. In total, equity and mixed funds attracted a net total of EUR14.6bn and EUR6.4bn, respectively, while hedge funds posted net inflows of EUR3.2bn, the same amount as open-ended real estate funds. Finally, bond funds saw net redemptions of EUR0.9bn.
After the acquisition of iShares, BlackRock holds nearly EUR9bn in Spanish equities, making it the largest shareholder on the Spanish market, dethroning Goldman Sachs, Cotizalia reports. In the past few days, the US-based management firm has informed the CNMV that it controls 4.77% of Santander, which represents about EUR3.6bn at current share prices, as well as 4.45% of BBVA, or EUR1.6bn. In addition to this, it holds stakes of 3.76% in Telefónica, and 3.53% in Repsol. BlackRock also holds a 4.195 stake in Abengoa and 3.99% in Técnicas Reunidas, as well as 9.01% of Gamesa (EUR203m). In the United States, BlackRock controls 5.6% of Apple, 5.9% of Google, 5.2% of Microsoft and 6.3% of HP, as well as 5.76% of Exxon Mobil.
East Capital has temporarily closed one of its funds, the Baltikumfonden, which is a part of the Swedish defined-contribution pension system, known by the name PPM, IPE.com reports, relaying an article in the Swedish newspaper Pensionsnyheterna. The closure follows a sizeable wave of subscriptions last month, which managers were hard-put to place due to the limited size of the equities markets in the Baltic countries.
On 29 January, BlackRock notified the SEC that it plans to launch seven ETF country funds under the iShares brand by 7 March. These products will replicate MSCI country indices. The commission rates for the funds have not yet been determined. The iShares products are the MSCI USA Index Fund, MSCI Brazil Small Cap Index Fund, MSCI Egypt Capped Investable Market Index Funds, MSCI Ireland Capped Investable Market Index Fund, MSCI Russia Capped Index Fund and MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index Fund.
Mutual Fund Wire reports that Global X Funds has registered four ETF funds with the SEC based on metals. The products are the Copper Miners, Gold Miners, Platinum Miners and Silver Miners funds, all of which will be managed by Bruno del Ama and José Gonzalez. First Trust, meanwhile, has announced the forthcoming launch of its fifth and sixth ETFs, the First Trust Developed International Markets AlphaDEX Fund and the First Trust Emerging Markets AlphaDEX Fund, both of which will be actively managed.
ETF Securities USA has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to launch a U.S.-based ETF backed by a basket of physical gold, silver, platinum and palladium.The product will be named ETFS Physical PM Basket Shares.
China Investment Corporation, the Chinese sovereign wealth fund, is using exchange-traded funds to take positions on sectors ranging from healthcare to gold, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US. About a quarter of its US portfolio was in ETFs, many of them provided by BlackRock’s iShares division.
The American management firm State Street Corporation and the Canadian specialised provider of transfer agency services IFDS on 8 February announced that they have been selected by Wellington West Asset Management, Inc. to provide a range of investment services to their group. State Street will provide fund accounting and administration services, custodial services and fiduciary services for the launch of a new range of funds by Wellington West. Wellington West, founded in 1993, has become one of the largest independent investment firms practising in Canada, and one of the fastest-growing firms in the industry, with nearly CAD8.8bn in assets under administration.
HDF Finance on 1 January converted three long-only Aria funds of funds into UCITS III-compliant funds. The products are the HDF Global Equity, HDF Europe Equity, and HDF Emerging Markets Equity. The three funds aim to achieve outperformance by investing at least 60% of assets in long-only funds and a maximum of 40% in long/short funds, in their respective investment universes. The adaptation of the funds will allow HDF Finance to more effectively make these funds available to investors.
Liontrust Asset Management has appointed John Ions to the newly-created position of head of retail. The appointment aims to reconstruct the firm’s activities, following the resignations of the managers Jeremy Lang and William Pattison in early 2009, Money Marketing reports. For fourth quarter 2009, Liontrust has posted a net outflow of GBP131m, of which GBP33m came from the retail product range. Ions was previously chief executive of Tactica Fund Management, a position he held from the inception of the firm in 2005, and previously served as joint managing director at SG Asset Management.
Mahraj Mattoo, former head of Comas (the fund of hedge fund firm liquidated by Commerzbank), has founded Commonwealth Asset Management in London, not to be confused with the eponymous real estate fund management firm in the United States, efinancialnews reports. The new entity has taken on board the former directors of Comas, including Edward Hands (head of portfolio management) and Carol Barazzone (head of business development). The new firm will be operational by the end of third quarter.
Following several of its competitors (including BlackRock, Fidelity, and JP Morgan), Franklin Templeton has decided to launch its first offshore products on the Indian market. Asian Investor reports that Franklin Templeton is planning to offer a range of funds domiciled in Europe in the next three to six months, via feeder mutual funds. The future evolution of Indian legislation may work in favour of distributors of offshore products. However, Indian regulations still do not allow the use of derivative products in funds available to either retail or institutional investors. Franklin Templeton is therefore unable to offer its range of Luxembourg-domiciled mutual funds, which often contain derivative products, and will therefore be obliged to limit itself to traditional offshore funds, which do not necessarily have the best track records.
As of the end of December, assets under management at Chinese asset management firms totalled CNY2.6761trn, compared with CNY2.2477trn as of the end of September, and CNY2.007trn as of 31 March. Assets under management by local actors totalled CNY1.4909trn, compared with CNY1.2637trn three months earlier, and CNY1.1194trn at the end of first quarter, while assets under management at joint venture firms totalled CNY1.1851trn, compared with CNY984bn as of the end of September, and CNY887.6bn twelve months previously, according to figures compiled by Z-Ben Advisors.