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01/12/2009

Jacques Perold devient patron de la gestion d'actifs chez Fidelity

Fidelity Investments a annoncé que Jacques Perold, COO of asset management depuis fin mai, a été nommé asset management chief en remplacement de Michael Wilens qui succède lui-même à Scott David comme patron de la filiale spécialiste des plans d'épargne retraite 401(k) en tant que head of workplace investing client management organization.Avant de revenir chez Fidelity pour y diriger à la fois FMR, Pyramis et Strategic Advisers, Jacques Perold a été president de Geode Capital Management depuis que cette dernière avait été filialisée par Fidelity en 2001.
01/12/2009

MSIM confie un important mandat de services à State Street

Une centaine de salariés de Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) seront transférés à State Street Corporation parce que cette dernière a obtenu de MSIM le mandat de règlement des transactions, d’administration de portefeuille, de reporting et de réconciliation pour environ 300 milliards de dollars d’encours sous gestion.
01/12/2009
Fonds

Claymore met la clé sous la porte de quatre ETF trop maigrichons

Quatre des ETF de Claymore Securities représentant seulement au total environ 35,7 millions de dollars d’encours sur les 2,5 milliards gérés en ETF par le groupe vont être fermés et liquidés, a indiqué Christian Magoon, président de la société. Ces produits, «trop peu suivis» Claymore/Morningstar Manufacturing Super Sector Index ETF, Claymore/Morningstar Information Super Sector Index ETF, Claymore Services Super Sector Index ETF et Claymore U.S.-1 - The Capital Markets Index ETF cesseront d'être cotés à la clôture du 11 décembre sur la plate-forme Arca du New York Stock Exchange.
Fonds
01/12/2009

Vanguard reopens US Futures Fund

On 24 November, Vanguard reopened the Vanguard US Futures Fund, a sub-fund of the Vanguard Investment Series (UCITS). The fund was closed in December 2008 to protect subscribers from the diluting effects additional investments would have had on the value of ABS and corporate bonds in the portfolio. In conjunction with its reopening, the fund has changed its bond strategy, and will now focus on very short-term bonds, with an average maturity of less than six months. The bond manager has also been changed: the new manager is David Glocke. But the objective is still to earn pre-tax returns in line with those of the S&P 500 index. With this in mind, the fund is invested primarily in exchange traded futures and other equities-based derivatives.
01/12/2009

Steady net inflows for open-ended pension funds

In third quarter 2009, Italian open-ended pension funds posted net inflows of EUR218.1m, compared with EUR203.4m in second quarter and EUR218.9m in the corresponding period of last year, Assogestioni reports. Since the beginning of the year, net inflows have totalled EUR693.4m. Assets as of 30 September represented nearly EUR5.8bn, compared with nearly EUR4.66bn at the end of 2008, and EUR4.58bn at the end of September last year. The three largest actors in the sector by assets as of the end of September 2009 are Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, with more than EUR1.4bn and net subscriptions of EUR30.9m in third quarter, Arca, with nearly EUR846m and EUR40.9m in net inflows in July-September, and Allianz, with EUR398.3m and EUR17.2m in in net inflows.
01/12/2009

Thomson Reuters acquires Asset4

Thomson Reuters has acquired the Swiss firm Asset4 AG, based in Zoug, for an amount which has not been disclosed, but which is thought not to be terribly high due to the presumed financial difficulties of the target firm. Asset4 claims to be one of the world’s leading providers of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data to professional investors and business executives. Thomson Reuters says the transaction marks a further step in its integration of ESG criteria into its mainstream research. Among the existing clients of Asset4 are Banque Sarasin, Storebrand and Société Générale.
01/12/2009

Northlight Capital hedge fund unveils new business model

Northlight Capital, a hedge fund which is being set up by a team of traders including Cyril Armleder, former head of GLG’s credit fund, aims to draw attention to its launch with a shake-up of the traditional operating model. Half of its annual performance fees will be reinvested into the fund and will remain locked in until clients withdraw their capital.
01/12/2009

Michael Sieghart leaves DWS

According to Citywire, Michael Sieghart is to join Ithuba Capital in his native Vienna after spending twelve years at DWS in Frankfurt. He was managing the DWS Invest European Equities and the Gottlieb Daimler Aktienfonds DWS funds.
01/12/2009

Schroders suspends NAV reporting for fund invested in Dubai

On Friday, Funds People reports, Schroders was the first management firm in Spain to notify the CNMV that it will be suspending calculation of the net asset value of one of its funds invested in Dubai and registered for sale in Spain, for at least two days. The fund is the Middle East sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Schroder International Selection Fund (SISF).
01/12/2009

Hendry launches an absolute returns fund

Investment Week reports that the Eclectica fund from Hugh Hendry will launch an absolute returns fund on 31 December of this year. The fund, Eclectica Absolute Macro, will comply with the UCITS III directive, and will invest in international equities, international fixed income, commodities ETFs, and currencies. It will replicate the Hendry global hedge fund, and will aim for annualised returns of 10% compared with money markets. Front-end fees may total up to 5%, while retail commissions are set at 1.75%. For private clients, minimal investment is set at GBP5,000.
01/12/2009

Fidelity to launch two multi-asset class funds

Fidelity International is planning to launch two new products for Trevore Greetham, head of allocation and multi-asset specialist. Alongside the firm’s GBP238m strategic multi-asset class fund, the two defensive multi-asset class growth funds will invest in bonds, cash, commodities, equities, and real estate. The defensive fund will have a larger proportion of its assets invested in bonds and cash than the strategic fund, with an overall target of 50% invested in British bonds, 25% in cash, 15% in UK and international equities, 5% in international real estate, and 5% in commodities. The growth fund will invest more in equities, commodities, and real estate. The overall target allocation will be 20% in British bonds, 5% in cash, 50% in UK and international equities, 10% in international real estate, and 15% in commodities. Minimal investment for the two funds is GBP1,000, while front-end fees will be 3.5%, and other charges will be variable.
01/12/2009

Alternative Asset Management launches a protected capital fund

Alternative Asset Management has launched the A2m Lion Fund, a multi-strategy fund which takes advantage of decorrelations between currency markets and equities futures. Underlying managed accounts have total assets of over USD170m. The fund will only invest in proven strategies characterised by low volatility. Investors will be able to select the Lion Fund straight, the Lion Fund + with leverage of 2.5, or the Lion Fund + leverage + 100% capital protection. The firm, which offers managed accounts, is seeking investors in an effort to raise USD40m for the launch of its new fund.
01/12/2009

iii-investments will not close its troubled funds

Das Investment reports that the real estate fund management firm iii-investments (an affiliate of HypoVereinsbank or HVB, Unicredit group) has announced that it has no plans to liquidate its Euro ImmoProfil and INTER ImmoProfil funds in the near future. The funds sold 54 properties in early October for EUR1.4bn, and since then they have undergone net outflows of EUR1.1bn, bringing their total assets down to about EUR600m. The announcement follows an article in Die Welt online which claimed that HVB, which is the largest shareholder in the fund, was planning to close them down. The Euro ImmoProfil stands out with losses of 3.5% since the beginning of the year, due to a high proportion of older buildings in the portfolio (38% are more than 15 years old), and a high vacancy rate (13% as of the end of September).
01/12/2009

Outflows from money market funds still weighing down asset management firms

In October, money market funds underwent net redemptions of EUR1.87bn, bringing total net outflows to EUR24.67bn for the segment YTD. It is hardly surprising that since then, the German BVI association of asset management firms has preferred to foreground the fact that equities funds have seen their strongest net subscriptions since the year 2000, with EUR11.31bn. In the first ten months of the year, open-ended securities funds have seen net outflows of EUR3.16bn. Despite this, the sector has seen total net inflows of EUR10.63bn, compared with net outflows of EUR17.99bn, as institutional funds, which underwent net redemptions of EUR1.37bn in October, have posted net subscriptions of EUR11.27bn in January-October, compared with EUR11.36bn in the corresponding period of last year, and particularly since net redemptions from open-ended funds were limited to EUR640m, compared with nearly EUR29.45bn in the first ten months of 2008.
01/12/2009

Excluding Lyxor, ETF funds attracted EUR7.34bn in subscriptions in January-October

In the first ten months of the year, open-ended securities funds have seen net outflows of EUR3.16bn, according to statistics from the BVI association of asset management firms. However, the four largest promoters of ETF funds (excluding Lyxor Asset Management, Société Générale group) posted significant net subscriptions: Barclays Global Investors (BGI) attracted EUR326.56m for its iShares products, while Commerz Derivatives Funds Solutions attracted EUR1.12bn for its ComStage ETFs, db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) attracted more than EUR4.37bn, and ETFlab (Deka) placed EUR1.52bn worth of shares in its funds. Of the four major asset management firms, only DB/DWS (EUR134.16bn) has posted net subscriptions (of EUR1.93bn) in January-October, but only thanks to net inflows to db x-trackers. Deka (savings banks, EUR105.33bn) has posted net outflows of EUR6.4bn, while Union Investment (co-operative banks, EUR82.9bn) has seen net redemptions of EUR1.47bn. Lastly, Allianz Global Investors (AGI, EUR76.34bn) has seen net outflows of EUR2.06bn.
01/12/2009

Crisis was already shaping up in October for some real estate funds

Net subscriptions to open-ended real estate funds in Germany represented EUR2.52bn in January-October, compared with EUR487m last year. However, for October, statistics from the BVI association of asset management firms reveal net redemptions of EUR659.5m, compared with EUR81m in net subscriptions in September, and net outflows of EUR5.06bn in the corresponding month of 2008, a month in which a dozen funds were closed to redemptions. Three asset management firms have seen net outflows in the first ten months of 2009: they are iii-investments (HypoVereinsbank), with outflows of EUR1.16bn (assets in its two funds as of the end of October were down to EUR481.1m), as well as Aberdeen Immobilien and Axa IM, which saw net redemptions of EUR537.16m and EUR746.38m, respectively. Aberdeen later was obliged to reimpose a freeze on redemptions from its DEGI International fund (see Newsmanagers of 18 November), and was followed a few days later by Axa IM, whcih froze its Axa Immoselect fund (see Newsmanagers of 20 November). Aberdeen Immobilien and Axa IM at the end of October had assets of EUR4.96bn and EUR3.3bn, respectively, in open-ended real estate funds.
01/12/2009

Claymore closes down four skimpy ETF funds

Four ETF funds from Claymore Securities with assets totalling only about USD35.7m, out of a total of USD2.5bn managed in the group’s ETFs, will be closed and liquidated, Christian Magoon, president of the firm, has announced. The products, “too lightly followed” by investors, are the Claymore/Morningstar Manufacturing Super Sector Index ETF, Claymore/Morningstar Information Super Sector Index ETF, Claymore Services Super Sector Index ETF and Claymore U.S.-1 - The Capital Markets Index ETF; they will cease to be listed on the Arca platform from the New York Stock Exchange at the close of trading on 11 December.
30/11/2009

Asset manager for Italian co-operative banks to be sold off

The De Agostini group is in exclusive talks with the Italian co-operative banks to take control of Arca Sgr, an asset management firm with assets of about EUR18bn, whose major shareholders include Banco Popolare (28%), Ubi Banca (23%), Bper (20.18%), Popolare Vicenza (10.92%), and Popolare di Sondrio (5.8%), Il Sole - 24 Ore reports. The potential buyer is negotiating to acquire a majority stake in the asset manager, but only on condition that it be allowed to retain a distribution agreement for Arca products via branches of the banks which would remain as minority shareholders. It is also asking for the co-operative banks to include their own asset management firms in the sale along with Arca.
30/11/2009

Russell recruits a head of transition management

Russell Investments has announced the appointment of Chris Adolph as head of transition management for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. He will be part of the Investments division and will be based in London. After serving at a number of financial institutions, including First Quadrant and State Street, Adolph most recently held the position of head of transition management for the EMEA region at UBS in London.
30/11/2009

Gartmore to lock in manager shares

According to reports in Citywire, Gartmore, which is preparing for its IPO, will impose a lock-in period on shares held by key managers, including the European star manager Roger Guy. But managers will be allowed to sell one third of their shares each year at the time annual results are announced, beginning in 2011. Citywire, which has obtained a document prepared by one of the banks which is assisting with preparations for the initial public offering, reports that Guy is the largest shareholder among Gartmore employees, who own a combined total of 42% of the firm. The document points out that the manager, along with his co-manager Guillaume Rambourg, represent 44% of revenues for the firm, including performance commissions.
30/11/2009

Kim Winser to advise 3i

Kim Winser, the British fashion designer who transformed Pringle into a prestigious international brand name, has been recruited as a senior adviser by the private equity firm 3i, to advise it in the areas of retail and consumer goods. 3i also owns the lingerie brand Agent Provocateur and the Hobbs brand of women’s fashions and shoes, the Sunday Times reports. Winser may join the board of Agent Provocateur, and assist 3i in its future investments, but she will also retain the freedom to work with other private equity investors.
30/11/2009

Permira acquires Just Retirement

On Friday, Permira announced that it has acquired Just Retirement, a pension fund management firm founded in 2004 which specializes in retirement savings for employees who are elderly or who have health problems, for GBP228m (EUR253.3m) in cash, Cinco Días reports. It is the second acquisition this year for the private equity investor, which in February acquired NDS, a pay-per-view television operator.
30/11/2009

Skandia adds BlackRock tracker funds to its range

The Skandia Investment Solutions (SIS) platform since last Friday offers access to 36 passively-managed funds. To satisfy demand from IFAs, this range has been enlarged by one fifth, with the addition of six BlackRock tracker funds, whose total expense ratios (TER) range from 0.22% to 0.29%. Skandia points out that with the addition of these new funds, its SIS platform is now able to offer passively-managed funds covering all the major markets. The addition of a seventh BlackRock fund, the Emerging Market Tracker Fund, is still being negotiated. The newly-added funds are: Name TER BlackRock Continental European Equity Tracker Fund 0.24% BlackRock Fixed Income Tracker Fund 0.22% BlackRock Japan Equity Tracker Fund 0.25% BlackRock North American Equity Tracker Fund 0.23% BlackRock Pacific ex Japan Equity Tracker Fund 0.29% BlackRock UK Equity Tracker Fund 0.22%
30/11/2009

British government increases stake in Royal Bank of Scotland to 84.4%

The Royal Bank of Scotland will not escape a nearly total nationalization, Agefi reports. The bank will issue GBP25.5bn (EUR28.5bn) in B-class shares without voting rights to the British Treasury. This will bring the British govenrnment’s stake in the group from 70.3% to 84.4%, while voting rights will remain at 70.3%. The Treasury may also provide an additional GBP8bn in urgent financing to the bank, if the core tier 1 owners’ equity ratio falls below of RBS falls below 5%, the newspaper notes.
30/11/2009

Carlyle teams up with Magnum to acquire Gas Natural assets

The American private equity investor Carlyle, which owns the Spanish certification organization Applus+ and the travel agency and tour operator Orizonia, has teamed up with Magnum, the fund founded by the former deputy CEO of Santander, Ángel Corcóstegui, to bid in an auction to provide service to 300,000 natural gas customers whom Gas Natural has to sell off in order to finalise its acquisition of Unión Fenosa, Expansión reports. The other potential buyers include Morgan Stanley, Macquarie, and CVC Partners. According to financial industry sources, the operation for over EUR500m is also expected to interest the Portuguese Galp group, as well as the infrastructure fund RREEF (Deutsche Bank).
30/11/2009

Systemic risks: 30 firms on regulators' watch list

Thirty global financial institutions make up a list drawn up by regulators under the auspices of the Financial Stability Board, in an effort to preempt systemic risks from spreading around the world in any future financial crisis, the Financial Times has learnt. The list includes six insurance companies – Axa, Aegon, Allianz, Aviva, Zurich and Swiss Re – and 24 banks from the UK, continental Europe, North America and Japan. Société Générale and BNP Paribas are part of the list.
30/11/2009

Michel Barnier becomes head of internal markets

Les Echos reports that José Manuel Barroso has appointed Michel Barnier the new French member of the European Commission, as head of internal markets, including financial services. The choice is being viewed as a victory for French president Sarkozy, who considers the decision a “triumph” for the French perspective on financial regulation. “The English are the big losers in the affair,” the French president told Le Monde.
30/11/2009

Pas d'emplois menacés chez BNP Paribas Fortis

Selon le quotidien belge l’Echo qui cite De Standaard du 27 novembre, les syndicats et la direction de BNP Paribas Fortis vont signer la semaine prochaine «un accord garantissant aux 18.000 travailleurs de l’ex-Fortis Banque leur emploi au moins jusque fin 2012, avec même une option supplémentaire pour un an.» En cas de changement de poste, salaires et avantages financiers seraient également maintenus. Interrogé par Newsmanagers, BNP Paribas n’a pas confirmé ni démenti cette information tout en rappelant qu’un «invester day» aura lieu le 1er décembre prochain à Bruxelles.
30/11/2009

Permira achète Just Retirement

Vendredi, Permira a annoncé avoir acheté pour 228 millions de livres (253,3 millions d’euros) en numéraire Just Retirement, une société de gestion de fonds de pension créée en 2004 et spécialiste de l'épargne retraite des salariés âgés ou ayant des problèmes de santé, indique Cinco Días. C’est la seconde opération cette année pour le capital-investisseur, qui avait acheté en février la société NDS (télévision à péage).

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