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09/09/2009

Nordea adds to distribution team

On Tuesday, Nordea Funds Service GmbH announced the recruitment of Thomas Marner, effective September 1, as director of distribution. Marner was previously senior client relationship manager, specialised in institutional investors “at an asset management firm in Frankfurt.” Along with Christian Betzel, he will be in charge of development of institutional clients and large banks.
09/09/2009

Investors choosing high-risk assets

L’Echo reports that investors have regained confidence in outlooks for the markets. “Investors feel that the global economic recovery, driven by stimulus measures, will last, and are betting on assets considered higher-risk, such as equities,” says Chris Lafakis, on the Moody’s research site, Economy.com. Analysts at Credit Suisse are recommending that investors prefer equities to bonds and money markets, and are predicting 12% gains for European equities by mid-2010, the newspaper adds.
09/09/2009

Vontobel AM selects RBC Dexia for fund administration

RBC Dexia Investor Services has been selected by Vontobel Asset Management, an affiliate of the Swiss firm Bank Vontobel, to provide depository banking, fund administration, transfer agency, and record-keeping services for its Swiss-registered funds.
09/09/2009

SLI recommends very wide diversification of portfolios

In the most recent edition of its publication “Global Perspective,” Standard Life Investments (SLI) estimates that investors would do well to diversify their portfolios further at this time, though equities have recently proven to bring in better returns than government bonds and cash. SLI experts estimate that wider diversification of portfolios to combine equities, commercial real estate, and government bonds, is likely to generate the best returns for investors in the decade to come. The difference in performance between asset classes is expected to decrease, reflecting the observation that the structural declines in inflation and interest rates, which were the determining elements in returns in the 1980s and 1990s, are now coming to an end. Now, outlooks for global economic growth and therefore of cash flows at businesses will be likely to remain less robust than they have been historically, which will influence the performance of equities. However, following a period of volatile and weak returns, equities will be likely to be the best-performing asset class in the coming decade, which will provide investors with good inflation-adjusted returns, says Richard Batty, global investment strategist at SLI.
09/09/2009

Bankinter offer aims to win over clients from competitors

Until 15 January 2010, Bankinter is offering subscribers to funds from other asset management firms a 1% supplement to the total amounts they transfer to funds it offers, Funds People reports. The offer is valid for transfers of at least EUR3,000, and is limited to a total supplement of EUR1,000 per client. In addition, participating investors must agree to keep their money in Bankinter funds until at least 15 January 2012.
09/09/2009

Julius Baer announces placement of shares in Artio Global Investors

The Swiss asset management firm Julius Baer Holding announced on Wednesday that its US affiliate Artio Global Investors Inc. (parent company of Artio Global Management LLC) has placed 23.4 million ordinary class A shares on sale ahead of a listing on the stock exchange, with a greenshoe option totalling 3.51 million shares. The proceeds of the placement will be used to buy 21 million ordinary class C shares, corresponding to 50% of the stake held by Julius Baer Holding, and the two lots of 1.2 million ordinary shares held by Richard Pell and Rudolph-Riad Younes, respectively. The new shares will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ART).
09/09/2009

PAI Partners may scale back size of a fund

Investors in PAI Partners will meet on Wednesday to discuss the fate of the private equity firm, as a battle for control rages. Some large investors told the FT that they would push for a reduction of 30-50% reduction in its new EUR5.4bn fund, raised last year.
09/09/2009

Strong growth for asset management affiliates of Banque Postale

In first half 2009, the asset management affiliates of La Banque Postale performed very well. The Banque Postale benefited from the “sustained development” of its affiliates, the group says in a statement. Net inflows to La Banque Postale Asset Management in the half show net inflows of EUR4.24bn. As of 30 June 2009, La Banque Postale Asset Management managed EUR118.1bn, compared with EUR109bn as of 31 December 2008, an increase of 8.35%. This puts it in sixth place among management firms on the French market. According to statistics from Europerformance, the OPCVM market share for La Banque Postale was up to 4.23% as of the end of June 2009, from 3.93% at the end of 2008. La Banque Postale states that, following a record year in terms of net inflows to OPCVM funds in 2008, with more than EUR6.5bn, activities serving institutional investors have been particularly dynamic in first half. Net inflows have exceeded EUR4.6bn, compared with EUR1.5bn in first half 2008.
08/09/2009

BES launches an ethical and solidaristic fund

The asset management affiliate of Banco Espirito Santo (Bes) has registered the ES Etico y Solidario fund with the CNMV, a global ethical and solidaristic product, all of whose investments will comply with principles and values corresponding to the social doctrine of the Catholic church, Funds People reports. This means that the management team will exclude shares in companies involved in the manufacture of weapons, alcohol, tobacco, and all products detrimental to health. It will also abstain from investment in the capital of companies which do not recognize the rights of workers, or which inflict damage on the environment. In government bonds, the ES Etico y Solidario will invest only in debt issued by countries that have signed the Kyoto protocol, and which have laws to prevent child labour and promote equality. In addition, the manager will contribute 0.25% of assets to charities which apply the social doctrine of the Catholic church and which respect human dignity. Currently, the charities are Cáritas Española and La Bruixa D’Or.
08/09/2009

ATIC acquires Chartered

The Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), which is wholly owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, has announced its acquisition of Charered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Chartered) for SGD2.68 per share, which represents about SGD2.5bn (USD1.8bn). The amount of the transaction, which is expected to be concluded during fourth quarter, is about SGD5.6bn, or USD3.9bn, when outstanding debt is included. The agreed price represents a markup of 14.2% over the trading price in the past 30 periods on the Singapore stock exchange (SGX), and of 44.6% over its trading price in the past six months. Currently, Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek owns 62% of Chartered. The acquisition of Chartered will allow ATIC to exploit synergies with the Global Foundries platform, a joint venture created in March with AMD. Pending the necessary regulatory approval, Doug Grose, CEO of Global Foundries, would become CEO of the business born of the merger, while Chia Song Hwee, CEO of Chartered, would become COO, with particular responsibility for overseeing the integration process.
08/09/2009

Schroders reportedly offers to recruit Prince Andrew

The Telegraph claims to have information that Schroders has contacted Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, to offer him a potential role as ambassador for its international activities, particularly in its interactions with sovereign funds. The prince is the special representative of the British government for international commerce and development.
08/09/2009

Brooks Macdonald group makes its first acquisition

The British wealth management firm Brooks Macdonald Group on 7 September announced its acqusition of the Canterbury-based business Lawrence House Fund Managers Limited. This is the first external growth operation undertaken by Brooks Macdonald, the group says in a statement. Assets under management at Lawrence House total about GBP60m, distributed between an OEIC with three sub-funds and a number of dedicated portfolios. These funds will be integrated into Brooks Macdonald Asset Management, the management firm of the group specialised in assisting independent financial advisors. As a part of the transaction, two members of staff will move to the offices of the business recently opened in Tunbridge Wells: Alan Stokes, who will be a fund manager, and Carol Evans, as a member of the new activities development team. The former parent company of Lawrence House, the independent financial advisory firm Pharon Independent Financial Advisers Limited, is not included in the transaction and will remain independent. But Pharon will form a strategic alliance with Brooks Macdonald Asset Management to provide management services to its clients. Assets under management at the Brooks Macdonald group, which has offices in London, Manchester, Winchester and Tunbridge Wells, totalled nearly GBP1.4bn as of the end of June 2009, an increase of 17% in twelve months.
08/09/2009

Head of equities at SWIP departs

A shake-up at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership has led to the departure of Graham Wood, the chief investment officer of equities, Scotland on Sunday reports. He will be temporarily replaced by Dean Buckley, managing director of SWIP.
08/09/2009

Tough times for money market funds

Where is the best place to stash one’s money? In the past, money market funds were the best solution. But now, money market rates are below 1%, and partly for this reason, Germans withdrew EUR19.4bn from money market funds in the first seven months of the year, Financial Times Deutschland reports. After fees, these funds are not highly lucrative, and money market ETFs are not any better. Werner Hedrich, director of fund research for Morningstar Germany, says that investors now have a reason to take advantage of promotional offers from retail direct banks of savings accounts: Santander Direkt Bank is offering 2.25%, and ING Diba is paying 1.5% interest on deposits. DWS (Deutsche Bank) is the largest manager of money market funds in the country, with more than EUR20bn in assets. But it is cutting back its product offerings: at the end of the year, the DWS Geldmarktfonds and the DWS Vario Rent will be merged with the DWS Geldmarkt Plus. These products will disappear as, with 0.6% annual management fees, they are too expensive considering the current level of returns. The DWS Geldmarkt Plus charges fees of 0.37%.
08/09/2009

FRR supports initiative for transparency in mining industries

The French national pension fund, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR), on 7 September declared its support for the initiative for transparency in the mining industries (ITIE), in keeping with its investment strategy, adopted in April 2008. As signatories of the initiative, it joins other institutional investors, as well as several governments, including France, businesses, representatives of civil society and international organisations The ITIE aims to strengthen transparency and responsibility of actors in the mining industries through verification and complete publication of payments made by these businesses and revenues earned by governments from the exploitation of mineral, oil and gas resources. “By supporting the ITIE, the FRR invites all businesses in sectors directly or indirectly concerned in which it is currently a shareholder to participate, and those businesses who are already involved to suppose the inititative by taking an active role in putting it into action,” the Fund says in a statement.
08/09/2009

Barclays Wealth recruits a director in Dubai

Sahba Hadipour, Director, Private Equity and Wealth Management at CIC Holding (Invesco Holding), has been recruited by Barclays Wealth as director of its international private banking team in the Middle East, TradeArabia news Service reports. He will report to Fawaz Baba, managing director of the Dubai International Private Banking Office, and will be based in Dubai. He will be in charge of focusing on high net worth and ultra-high net worth client markets in the United Arab Emirates.
08/09/2009

Switzerland and India to revise taxation convention

L’Agefi Switzerland reported that Switzerland and India will soon conclude a revised double taxation agreement. Negotiations will begin by the end of the year. The ruling Congress Party in India is under pressure from the opposition to provide precise information about Indian holders of Swiss bank accounts.
08/09/2009

Mónica Vidal joins JPM Alternatives

Mónica Vidal is leaving her position as director of alternative asset management at the Spanish management firm N+1 to become commercial director for the Alternatives unit at JPMorgan Private Bank in New York, Funds People reports. She will be in charge of product placement (hedge funds, private equity, real estate) serving Latin American clients.
08/09/2009

Och-Ziff to bring back performance commissions

The hedge fund manager Och-Ziff is reportedly about to re-establish performance commissions on all of its assets, totalling USD2.17bn, Hedgeweek reports. The flagship fund from Och-Ziff, the Och-Ziff Master Fund, has gained 17.6% since the beginning of the year, which means that it has nearly offset all of its losses in 2008. Various sources estimate that Och-Ziff funds will now begin to show net inflows. The founder of Och-Ziff, Daniel Och, estimated last month that inflows to funds remained modest. “It will take a little time for them to gain size,” he added. In second quarter 2009, Och-Ziff made a net loss of USD88.3m.
08/09/2009

Rising Star recruits Beatrix Purchart

As its new head of product & sales, Beatrix Purchart becomes the new head of strategic development of distribution and products at the Swiss asset management firm Rising Star. She was previously head of institutional distribution in Germany and set up a distribution network in France for RMF Investments, since the acquisition of that firm by UK-based Man Group.
08/09/2009

New head at Commerz Real

Michael Bücker has been appointed as chairman of the board at Commerz Real (EUR43bn in assets), an affiliate of Commerzbank, from 1 October. He will replace Hubert Spechtenhauser, who was head of CommerzLeasing & Immobilien from 2002 to 2007, and then of Commerz Real since the merger in 2007 of CommerzLeasing with Commerz Grundbesitz. The appointment of Bücker who has been head of the corporate banking activities of Commerzbank in the Munich region since 2005, is related to a repositioning of Commerz Real being planned by the group, whose details will be revealed in the coming months.
08/09/2009

HSBC in bid to acquire private banking activities of ING

HSBC is reported to have offered more than GBP1bn to acquire the private banking activities of ING, according to the Sunday Times. The British group is reported to be one of five candidates to acquire the business, alongside the Singapore fund DBS and Julius Baer. The buyer will be selected in the next six days. In Asia, AUM for the business represent USD16bn, while in Switzerland, they total about USD15bn.
08/09/2009

Fund mergers gather pace

In the first seven months of the year, in Portugal, there were 13 mergers of funds, compared with 5 in 2008 and 2 in 2007, according to Negocios, relayed by Funds People. Since the beginning of the crisis in June 2007, assets in funds have declined by more than 50%, from EUR40.1bn to EUR14.9bn.
08/09/2009

Eaton Vance to launch Build America Bonds fund

Eaton Vance plans to launch a mutual fund - Eaton Vance Build America Bonds Fund -, which will invest mostly in Build America Bonds, taxable debt instruments which are part of the federal stimulus program, the Wall Street Journal reports.
08/09/2009

Leverage levels worry French bankers

Les Echos reports that central bankers on Sunday, 6 September agreed on new measures to strengthen supervision of banks, including the adoption by 2011 of a leverage limit, previously used primarily by US banks, which ties banks’ overall balance sheets to their levels of capital. French bankers have made two suggestions toward the new leverage rules: the inclusion in the numerator of assets not included on the balance sheet, which have previously not been included in the American ratio, and a clear definition of assets not included on the balance sheet on both sides of the Atlantic. .
08/09/2009

Deutsche Bank launches a multi-strategy fund with Millennium Global

DB Platinum, a platform from Deutsche Bank, has teamed up with Millennium Global, a manager specialised in currencies and alternative assets (USD11bn in assets) to launch the Millennium Global Systematic Alpha fund, a product which complies with the UCITS III directive and offers daily liquidity. The open-ended product aims to generate returns related to those of the Millennium Global Systematic Alpha program, which is based on a systematic diversified approach involving eight investment strategies including currencies, bonds, equities, and commodities. This fund management method combines market neutral and short-term directional approaches.
08/09/2009

Sarasin puts Land Securities and British Land at top of rankings for green real estate

Banque Sarasin has selected 64 real estate firms as eligible providers to its sustainable development criteria, out of a universe of 160 businesses in 17 countries. The study “Auf nachhaltige Gebäude bauen,” by Klaus Kämpf, a specialist in sustainable development research, has determined that the top two firms in the rankings are the British firms Land Securities and British Land. The French firms Gecina and Unibail-Rodamco also show above-average results, as does Mitsubishi Estate. However, says Sarasin, there are several firms which have received a lower-than-average sustainable development rating, particularly in the Americas and Asia, regions where environmental standards are based on voluntary compliance and certificates, while in Europe, the requirements are set by law.
08/09/2009
Fonds

L'ATIC acquiert Chartered

L’Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), qui appartient en totalité au gouvernement d’Abou Dhabi a annoncé l’acquisition pour 2,68 dollars de Singapour par action de Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Charterd), ce qui représente environ 2,5 milliards de Singapour (1,8 milliard de dollars américains). Le montant de la transaction, qui devrait être bouclée dans le courant du quatrième trimestre, se situe aux alentours de 5,6 milliards de Singapour ou 3,9 milliards de dollars américains. Le prix convenu représente une prime de 14,2 % sur le cours moyen des 30 dernières séances sur la Bourse de Singapour (SGX) et de 44,6 % sur celui des six derniers mois. Actuellement le fonds souverain Temasek détient 62 % de Chartered.L’acquisition de Chartered va permettre à l’ATIC d’utiliser les synergies avec la plate-forme de Global Foundries, une coentreprise constituée en mars avec AMD. Sous réserve des autorisations nécessaires, Doug Grose, CEO de Global Foundries devrait devenir CEO de l’entreprise issue du regroupement, tandis que Chia Song Hwee, CEO de Chartered, serait le COO avec la responsabilité plus particulièrement de diriger le processus d’intégration.
Fonds
08/09/2009
Fonds

Deutsche Bank lance un fonds multistratégies avec Millenium Global

DB Platinum, plate-forme de la Deutsche Bank, s’est associée avec Millenium Global, un gestionnaire spécialiste des devises et de l’alternatif (11 milliards de dollars d’encours) pour le lancement du fonds Millenium Global Systematic Alpha, un produit conforme à la directive OPCVM III offrant une liquidité jouranlière.Il s’agit d’un produit ouvert censé générer une performance liée à celle du programme Millenium Global Systematic Alpha qui repose sur une approche systématique diversifiée avec huit stratégies d’investissement couvrant les devises, l’obligataire, les actions et les matières première. Il s’agit d’une gestion combinant des approches market neutral et directionnelle court terme. Le taux de frais sur encours (TFE (voi ci-dessous) n’inclut pas des frais de 0,99 % à l'échelon du panier.
Fonds

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