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04/05/2009

IFAs less averse to risk

According to a study undertaken in London in mid-April by Schroders, which surveyed distributor clients such as private banks, platforms, independent financial advisors, and others, high-risk assets are once again attracting interest from financial advisors. From a sample of more than 80 professionals, the study finds that about 45% of them are planning to increase the weight of high-risk assets in their allocations in second quarter. By the end of the year, 80% of respondents are planning to modify their asset allocations in favour of high-risk assets. The change is important as most of them are still underweight in high-risk assets at present (equities, commodities, and corporate bonds). Schroders has registered a positive net inflow since the beginning of the year of nearly EUR800m, much of it invested in the firm’s range of tax/credit funds, which include the Schroder ISF EURO Corporate Bond. The fund has seen its assets septuple since the beginning of the year, for a total of EUR1.75bn as of the end of April.
04/05/2009

Citadel recruits a team from Merrill Lynch

The alternative management firm Citadel Investment Group (USD11bn in assets) is extending its investment banking activities, with the recruitment of three specialists from Merrill Lynch, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal. The recruitments include Todd Kaplan, a specialist in leveraged financing, who will head of the new entity, and will report to Rohit D"Souza, also formerly of Merrill Lynch, who is the CEO of Citadel Securities. Brian Maier and Carl Mayer join the firm as head of industry groups and head of leverage finance, and will also report to Kaplan.Since Merrill Lynch’s acquisition by Bank of America, Citadel has recruited more than a dozen Merrill specialists.
04/05/2009

Sagent recruits two top brass from UBS

Sagent Advisors has announced that it has recruited Anthony Martino and Gregg Newman as co-heads of its alternative capital markets division. They will be in charge of structuring and placing new products, and providing advice to businesses on a vast range of capital structuring questions. The two new recruits worked together previously to direct the entire capital markets group at UBS; they will be based in New York. The two will be joined at Sagent by Chris Sweet, one of their former colleagues at UBS, who becomes an ?associate.?Since the beginning of last year, Sagent Advisors has recruited 11 senior bankers, increasing its senior executive personnel by 40%. The investment bank has also opened offices in Chicago, Charlotte, and San Francisco.
04/05/2009

Warren Buffett's portfolio hit by recession

Les Echos reports that operating profits for Warren Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, have fallen by 12% from USD1.9bn to USD1.7bn. The value of assets in the portfolio are down 6% in first quarter. The publication of complete results for first quarter has been delayed until 8 May, the newspaper reports.
04/05/2009

Colony Capital negotiates investment in Orco

The real estate promotion firm Orco Property, traded in Paris, has entered exclusive negotiations with the fund Colony Capital, Les Echos reports. The investment fund ?may subscribe to a reserved capital increase of EUR25m before the end of second quarter 2009, and for an added amount of up to EUR140m after safeguarding procedures,? the newspaper reports.
04/05/2009

Profits up at Morningstar

In first quarter, Morningstar Inc has reported a decrease of 6.9% to tis revenues to USD116.7m, a decrease in operating profits to USD34.6m, and an increase of USD25m (51 cents per share) in net profits, from USD23.1m (47 cents) previously. Excluding acquisitions and negative currency effects of USD5.9m, revenues declined by 7.1%.Revenues generated by the investment information division declined 0.3% to USD96.2m, while revenues for the investment management division fell 29.2% to USD20.5m. Revenues in commissions on advised assets fell, as these assets totalled USD63.3bn as of 31 March, compared with USD66.8bn as of the end of December, and USD95.8bn one year earlier.Morningstar, which reduced its spending and cut bonuses by USD7.3bn in January-March, states that its liquidity as of 31 March totalled USD286m, compared with USD297.6m as of 31 December.
04/05/2009

United States - Who will succeed Buffett?

The question of who will succeed Warren Buffett, 78, as head of Berkshire Hathaway is the subject of speculation, the Financial Times reports. At a general shareholders’ meeting on Saturday, the investor declared that there were three internal candidates to replace him as CEO, and four candidates who may come from inside or outside the firm to take over as CIO.
04/05/2009

Fund managers affected by national cultures

Les Echos reports that a study comparing the attitudes and behaviours of fund managers in four countries - the United States, Germany, Japan, and Thailand - finds that managers do not escape the effects of the culture, values, and norms in their home countries. These influence their investment decisions, and have effects on organisation and work styles.
04/05/2009

First increase in assets in Spanish funds after 23 consecutive months of declines

At the end of April, assets in securities funds on sale in Spain totalled EUR162.35bn, which represents an increase of EUR1.08bn, or 0.7%, compared with the end of March. This is the first increase in assets under management in two years, following 23 consecutive months of falling assets, and the increase comes despite net outflows of EUR624m, the lowest level since August 2007. The largest net outflows were from Santander Gestión de Activos, at EUR444m, and Ahorro Corporación Gestión, at EUR209.2m, The largest net subscriptions were for Invercaixa Gestión, at EUR174.6m.The two largest management firms in terms of assets are BBVA Asset Management with EUR32.81bn as of the end of April, followed by Santander Gestión de Activos, with EUR30.29bn. The third-largest is Invercaixa Gestión with EUR11.88bn.
04/05/2009

Union Investment launches a reverse convertibles fund

Since 29 April, and until 12 June, Union Investment (co-operative banks) is offering the UniAktienAnleihen fund for sale in Germany. The product invests in reverse convertible bonds based on Euro zone equities indexes, including the DJ Euro Stoxx 50, and directly in equities, a strategy which may be replicated through the use of derivatives. The size of the fund makes it possible to enter a reverse convertibles portfolio with custom characteristics to which access is generally not available to retail investors. Payments of coupons for the UniAktienAnleihen will be converted with a distribution objective for the first year (2009-2010) of at least 8% of the initial price of the share.The fund will be launched on 15 June, and will mature on 31 March 2013. Redemptions are permitted at any time. Union will charge a front-end fee of 3% and a management commission of 0.90%.
04/05/2009

Spectrum range attracts GBP185m in one year

Skandia UK has announced that its Spectrum range of six multi-managed funds has attracted subscriptions of GBP185m in its first twelve months of existence, up to 28 April. The issuer claims that this is a sign of strong demand for funds with risk objectives on the part of financial advisors. The Spectrum funds are managed by Skandia Investment Group (SIG), who says that the products are the only family of risk-budget products investing both in existing retail funds (funds of funds) and in mandates (managers of managers). Four funds were removed from the portfolio in fourth quarter: M&G Property, due to a reduction in the group’s exposure to real estate and a re-examination of its asset allocation; BlueBay Emerging Market Bond, due to uncertainties over the future of BlueBay; Henderson Liquid Asset, following a reduction in allocation to cash; and GSAM Sterling Liquid Reserve, for the same reason. However, the Fidelity MoneyBuilder Income was added to the portfolio, as asset allocation called for an increase in exposure to UK bonds.
04/05/2009

Lyxor offers simplified access to corporate bonds

The ETF Euro Corporate Bond, listed on NYSE Euronext since only 7 April, has already attracted more than EUR150m (EUR153.47m as of 30 April), which Lyxor considers a sufficient volume to justify an official introduction of the product to investors on Thursday evening.The French-registered FCP fund, with a management commission of 0.20%, is the ninth product in the bond ETF range from Lyxor, which has about EUR5.3bn in assets under management. The fund synthetically replicates the Markit iBoxx EUR Liquid Corporates index, which includes the 40 most liquid Euro-denominated corporate bonds (with a minimal issue size of EUR750m, and a minimal duration to maturity of 1.5 years), with the same diversified sector weighting as the larger index of 1,200 bonds. The underlying portfolio weighs banks at 45.6%, the automotive industry at 12.1%, telecommunications at 9.5%, and utilities at 8.4%. The index is updated every three quarters.
04/05/2009

Erste Sparinvest launches a corporate bond fund

Erste Sparinvest (EUR23bn in assets) is planning to launch a corporate bond horizon fund, which will aim for a distribution of at least 4.25% per year. The Austrian-registered product, ESPA Corporate Basket 2013, matures on 31 May 2012. The portfolio contains 100 positions, on investment grade bonds, with at least 50% of them rated BBB or better. Subscriptions will be open on 4 May, and closed permanently on 29 May. During the life of the fund, it will be passively managed. If the rating of a bond is altered, the bonds in the portfolio will not be changed, but rather retained until the fund matures. The fund is profiled so that a default rate of 0.85% per year in the portfolio will not affect the dividends targeted. If it is lower, then the distribution will be increased to up to 5%. If it is higher than this amount, the liquid value will be adjusted downward. Front-end fee and management commission are set at 2% and 0.40%, respectively. A penalty for early withdrawal of 2% will be applicable.
04/05/2009

Real estate fund commissions swallow up rental revenues

According to a report by the law firm Moreno-Luque, Spanish funds charge total management fees ranging from 1.6% (Segurfondo Inversión) to 3.4% (Santander Banif Inmobiliario), while their German counterparts as a general rule charge only 0.75%. These commissions swallow up the entirety of rental revenues earned by Spanish funds.The law firm states that in 2003-2008, the Santander Banif Inmobiliario earned commissions of EUR640m, which is equal to the total net amount of rental revenues.
04/05/2009

Money market funds receiving inflows but not benefiting from them

One of the few sectors in asset management to have had net inflows last year was money market funds, which now represent USD4trn in assets under management, the Financial Times reports. But firms which manage these funds do not benefit from these assets. Interest rates have fallen to nearly zero, and most funds have cancelled fees temporarily to allow investors to earn returns. Money market funds will also soon be subject to new regulations.
30/04/2009

Skandia IG recrute Marc Bulstrode

Directeur au sein du de l’activité de gestion de fortune de Barclays, Marc Bulstrode rejoint Skandia Investment Group (SIG, 53 milliards de livres) comme chief commercial and finance officer. Il sera subordonné à Jamie MacLeod, le CEO de SIG.
30/04/2009
Fonds

Baisse de 21% des actifs gérés en Europe en 2008

La crise financière a entraîné un recul d’environ 21% de la valeur des actifs gérés en Europe (gestion sous mandat et fonds d’investissement) à environ 10.700 milliards d’euros à fin 2008 selon les premières estimations de l’association européenne de la gestion d’actifs (Efama). Dans son deuxième rapport annuel (avril 2009), l’association précise qu'à la fin 2007, les actifs gérés en Europe s'élevaient à 13.600 milliards de d’euros, dont 49% pour la gestion sous mandat.
Fonds
30/04/2009
Fonds

Hedge funds : la consolidation sans effet sur la croissance de l?industrie

Selon L"Agefi suisse, la croissance à long terme de l"industrie des hedge funds reste intacte alors que 40% des acteurs risquent de disparaître d"ici l"année prochaine. Après des retraits de fonds de 152 milliards dollars au 4ème trimestre 2008 et de 103 milliards au 1er trimestre 2009, les actifs gérés pourraient se stabiliser aux alentours de 1000 milliards de dollars, avant de repartir à la hausse, notamment en termes d"afflux nets de capitaux.
Fonds
30/04/2009
Fonds

Sombre premier trimestre pour les fonds offerts au public

Pour janvier-mars, les sociétés de gestion communiquant leurs statistiques à l’association allemande BVI ont fait état de souscription nettes de 4,24 milliards d’euros contre des sorties nettes de 40,59 milliards en octobre-décembre et des souscriptions nettes de 18,86 milliards pour la période correspondante de l’an dernier. Cependant, le résultat n’est positif que grâce aux 5,32 milliards des fonds institutionnels (Spezialfonds), alors que les fonds offerts au public accusaient des remboursements nets de 1,07 milliard, parce que les fonds immobiliers ont drainé 1,03 milliard. Les fonds de valeurs mobilières ont subi des retraits nets de 2,1 milliards d’euros. Cela vaut pour les fonds d’actions (509,7 millions), les fonds obligataires (1,79 milliards, les fonds diversifiés (1,19 milliard) et les fonds monétaires (1,59 milliard). En revanche, les fonds hybrides et garantis ont enregistré des souscriptions nettes de respectivement 1,32 milliard et 682,9 millions, les fonds alternatifs recueillant 657,3 millions.
Fonds
30/04/2009
Fonds

Les ETF limitent les sorties nettes des fonds en janvier-mars

Pour le premier trimestre, les fonds de valeurs mobilières offerts au public ont accusé des sorties nettes de 2,1 milliards d’euros, selon l’association allemande BVI des sociétés de gestion d’actifs. Des grandes maisons, seul DWS/DB (Deutsche Bank) affiche des souscriptions nettes, pour 2,01 milliards d’euros, mais cela tient uniquement aux rentrées nettes de 2,2 milliards d’euros correspondant aux ETF de db x-trackers. Barclays Global Investors, avec iShares, a capté 96 millions d’euros et ETFlab (Deka, caisses d'épargne) a levé 169,36 millions d’euros. En revanche, même avec cominvest rachetée à la Commerzbank, Allianz Global Investors (AGI) subit des sorties nettes de 1,43 milliard d’euros, tandis quz Pioneer (UniCredit) et Union Investment (banques populaires) accusent des remboursements nets de 655 millions d’euros et 419 millions, respectivement. Mais les plus forts rachats ont été enregistrés par Deka, avec 2,62 milliards d’euros. En ce qui concerne les encours, DWS/DB arrive en tête avec 117,36 milliards d’euros au 31 mars, devant Deka (98,34 milliards), Union (74,4 milliards) et AGI (69,56 milliards).
Fonds
30/04/2009

Hésitations chez DWS

Initialement, DWS (Deutsche Bank) aurait dû annoncer mercredi matin qui aura son mot à dire dans la deuxième société allemande de gestion de fonds. Mais il a été retardé à probablement mardi en raison de consultations de dernières minute au sein du groupe et d’incertitudes quant au rôle mondial du patron de DWS au sein de la gestion d’actifs de la banque, selon les proches du dossier, rapporte le Handelsblatt. Pour le journal, une partie du problème tiendrait au fait que si la gestion d’actifs du groupe a perdu de l’argent (? 173 millions au premier trimestre et 525 millions pour 2008), DWS a réalisé un bénéfice à trois chiffres en millions d’euros et les pertes sont imputables aux mauvais investissements effectués ailleurs qu’en Allemagne sous la responsabilité de Kevin Parker, le patron mondial de l’asset management. Stefan Kunze qui dirigeait les activités européennes de DWS, a dû quitter l’entreprise en début de mois, apparemment parce qu’il refusait à Kevin Parker de faire les économies dans son secteur, au motif qu’il est bénéficiaire.
30/04/2009

HAIG confie un fonds à Mayr Investment Managers

Le gestionnaire de fortune munichois Mayr Investment Managers a obtenu le mandat de conseil du fonds WM Fund Sachwertportfolio qui a été lancé en avril par Hauck & Aufhäuser Investment Gesellschaft (HAIG)., rapporte Das Investment. Le fonds est investi dans des entreprises de secteurs relativement résistants aux crises et avec le moins de liens possible avec les financières. Il faut aussi qu’elles soient peu endettées, que leur valeur d’entreprise comporte des actifs matériels et que leur réserve de cash soit minime. L’objectif n’est pas la performance et la constitution d’un portefeuille susceptible d'être préservé en cas de crise économique et financière.
30/04/2009

Allianz anticipe une perte au premier trimestre

Selon La Tribune, Michael Diekmann, patron de l’assureur allemand Allianz, a déclaré mercredi lors de l’assemblée générale du groupe que les charges liées à la cession de son ancienne filiale, Dresdner Bank, allaient résulter en une perte pour Allianz au premier trimestre.

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