Il est assorti d’un accord douanier temporaire pour le Royaume-Uni.

Konstantin Leidman aurait quitté Schroders, le deuxième gestionnaire d’actifs britannique, pour rejoindre Wellington Management, avec plus de 1 milliard d’actifs, selon des sources proches du dossier, citées par Bloomberg. Il a quitté Schroders le mois dernier, et va rejoindre le gestionnaire d’actifs américain à Londres. Déjà en septembre, le gestionnaire de fonds Michael Scott avait quitté Schroders pour Man GLG (Man Group). Daniel Pearson et Peter Harvey ont repris l’activité de gestion de fonds assurée par Konstantin Leidman chez Schroders.

Natixis Investment Managers a annoncé hier le recrutement d’une équipe de gérants thématiques seniors : Arnaud Bisschop, Frédéric Dupraz et Nolan Hoffmeyer, tous les trois issus de chez Pictet Asset Management. «Deux gérants supplémentaires les rejoindront début 2019», précise le gestionnaire d’actifs dans un communiqué. L’an prochain, les nouveaux arrivants «lanceront une nouvelle gamme de fonds thématiques en commençant par les stratégies liées aux thèmes de l’eau, de la sécurité, de l’intelligence artificielle et de la robotique», ajoute NIM.

Le fonds de pension suédois AP4 a annoncé avoir rejoint le Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge, une initiative lancée cette année par une ONG en collaboration avec l'ONU, afin de favoriser les désinvestissements dans le secteur du tabac.

A la suite de l’acquisition en mai 2018 de deux hôtels à Milan, Swiss Life Asset Managers, Real Estate France a acquis deux immeubles tertiaires en octobre à Milan, en Italie pour le portefeuille assurances de Swiss Life en France et en Allemagne, et un fonds immobilier Swiss Life domicilié en France. Ces actifs immobiliers étaient détenus par AREEF 1 - SICAF gérée par Prelios SGR, pour le compte de Ardian Real Estate European Fund SCS, géré par Ardian. Ces deux actifs sont situés Via Giorgio Washington 70 et Corso Italia 13, d’une superficie locative brute d’environ 23 500 m². Ces actifs ont été rénovés et sont vendus à 97% loués avec un mix de locataires locaux et internationaux renommés. JG.

La société de conseil AtonRâ Partners (AtonRâ) et Taurus Group (Taurus), firme spécialisée dans les actifs numériques, ont annoncé une collaboration stratégique dans le domaine de la gestion d’actifs et de la recherche d’actifs numériques.

La société de gestion canadienne Manulife Asset Management, branche de gestion d’actifs du groupe Manulife, a nommé Morten Simonsen en tant que managing director et responsable de la distribution pour l’Europe du Nord. Cette nomination est effective depuis le 1er octobre, Manulife AM étant désireux d’introduire ses expertises sur les marchés publics et privés auprès de la clientèle wholesale et institutionnelle d’Europe du Nord. Morten Simonsen rapporte à Marco Zanuso, responsable de la distribution pour l’Europe, le Moyen-Orient et l’Afrique de Manulife AM. Avant de rejoindre la société canadienne, il officiait chez Pimco en qualité de directeur général au Danemark et responsable de la distribution pour les pays nordiques. Il a également été responsable des pays nordiques chez Pinebridge Investments. Au 30 septembre 2018, les encours de Manulife AM s'élevaient à 339 milliards d’euros.

La société Swiss Life REIM France vient d'annoncer l'arrivée de Denis François, ancien président de CBRE Valuation Advisory France, en tant que Senior Advisor. Il a pris officiellement ses fonctions depuis début octobre.

AQA Capital, une société de gestion basée à Malte, a recruté une équipe commerciale en Italie, où elle va s’installer. Les six professionnels recrutés sont Franco Quartero, branch manager et conseiller financier, Cristiana Brocchetti, business developer et conseiller financier, Antonio Midolo, conseiller et business developer pour les institutionnels étrangers, Alessandro Peluso, conseiller financier, Roberto Riolo, conseiller financier et Paolo Vicentini, analyste financier. La société veut recruter 10 banquiers privés supplémentaires d’ici à fin 2019. En Italie, AQA est dirigée par Christian Manicaro, CEO.

Oddo BHF Private Equity, filiale du groupe Oddo BHF Asset Management, a annoncé, ce 13 novembre, le premier « closing » de son fonds Oddo BHF Secondaries Fund pour un engagement total de plus de 160 millions d’euros. Ce montant inclut un mandat dédié à un investisseur institutionnel, précise la société de gestion. Ces capitaux proviennent essentiellement de clients institutionnels français et allemands. Le groupe Oddo BHF a également réalisé un investissement significatif dans le fonds, précise-t-il, sans dévoiler le montant investi. Le fonds Oddo BHF Secondaries Fund investit dans les marchés secondaires européens et nord-américains en privilégiant les transactions de petites et moyennes capitalisations allant de 5 à 50 millions d’euros. Ce fonds est spécialisé dans des actifs arrivés à maturité, qui sont essentiellement générateurs de « cash-flow », leaders sur leur marché et qui démontrent un engagement fort des équipes dirigeantes. Le second « closing » du fonds devrait avoir lieu au premier trimestre 2019, avec le soutien d’autres institutions, sociétés, entreprises familiales et clients privés français, allemands et européens. « Le fonds cible un montant de 300 millions d’euros, parallèlement au premier closing d’un fonds secondaire destiné aux particuliers qui devrait avoir lieu en décembre 2018 », précise Oddo BHF.

La société de gestion brésilienne Mauá Capital a recruté Sergio Goldenstein en qualité de gérant de portefeuille senior et associé en novembre, a appris NewsManagers. Il rejoint l’entreprise en provenance de Flag Asset, autre gérant basé à Rio de Janeiro, qu’il a quitté courant août et où il occupait les mêmes rôles depuis mai 2015. Il avait auparavant co-fondé Arsa Investimentos où il a travaillé comme stratégiste et gérant, responsabilités qui étaient également les siennes à Arx Investimentos de 2005 à 2008. Sergio Goldenstein, qui a été directeur des investissements du groupe financier Porto Seguro, a exercé plusieurs fonctions à la Banque nationale du Brésil entre 1994 et 2005 et aussi travaillé en tant qu’expert au Fonds monétaire international.

@page { size: 8.27in 11.69in; margin: 0.79in }p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent }TheUS investment fund KKR has sold offices and call centres located inFrance, mostly occupied by the telecommunications operator Orange,for over EUR100m, Eternam, the real estate affiliate of the Cyrusgroup, announced on 12 November. “These assets, located throughoutall of France, have a total area of over 86,000 square metres,”Eternam says in a statement, adding that the number of sites is about30. The offices and call centres have been sold to “privateclients,” the statement adds, but does not disclose their identity.Eternam has grouped the properties as part of a club deal. The sitesare “nearly all leased by Orange,” Eternam states, adding thatthe realty firm responsible for managing the assets, Etche, wouldretain responsibility, and a minority stake in capital.

Morningstar Investment Management Australia announced that Matt Wacher has been appointed chief investment officer for Morningstar Investment Management, Asia-Pacific, effective late January 2019. Wacher will be responsible for leading the investment management teams in Australia and overseeing the multi-asset and equity-managed funds and managed accounts capabilities. Wacher will be based out of Sydney and report to Daniel Needham, Morningstar Investment Management group’s president and global chief investment officer. Andrew Lill, who currently serves as chief investment officer, Morningstar Investment Management, Asia-Pacific, will continue to lead this area until Wacher has completely transitioned into the role. Following the transition of responsibilities in Australia, Lill will shift focus to his new role as chief investment officer, Morningstar Investment Management, Americas. Lill will be based out of Chicago and report to Needham.Wacher joins Morningstar from Cambooya Pty Limited, a large family office fund in Australia managing private assets, where he was appointed chief investment officer in 2015. Prior to Cambooya, Wacher served as portfolio manager at Qantas Super Ltd, a leading corporate superannuation fund. Wacher has an MBA qualification from Australian Graduate School of Management, Australian School of Business, and is a charterholder of the Chartered Alternatives Investment Association. As of Sept. 30, 2018, Morningstar’s Investment Management group was responsible for more than $207 billion* in assets under advisement and management across North America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific.

athenahealth, a leading provider of network-enabled services for hospital and ambulatory customers nationwide, Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which an affiliate of Veritas and Evergreen will acquire athenahealth for approximately USD5.7 billion in cash. Under the terms of the agreement, athenahealth shareholders will receive $135 in cash per share.Following the closing, Veritas and Evergreen expect to combine athenahealth with Virence Health («Virence»), the GE Healthcare Value-based Care assets that Veritas acquired earlier this year. The combined business is expected to be a leading, privately-held healthcare information technology company with an extensive national provider network of customers and world-class products and solutions to help them thrive in an increasingly complex environment.Following the close of that transaction, the combined company is expected to operate under the athenahealth brand and be headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts. The company will be led by Virence Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Segert and an executive leadership team comprised of executives from both companies. Following the completion of the transaction, Virence’s Workforce Management business will become a separate Veritas portfolio company under the API Healthcare brand.

East Capital has promoted Tim Umberger to partner, alongside Albin Rosengren (Dubai), Jacob Grapengiesser (Moscow), Karine Hirn (Hong Kong) and Peter Elam Håkansson (Stockholm).Tim Umberger is based in Moscow and is deputy head of Eastern Europe, advising on the Balkan strategy and Eastern European mandates as well as member of the teams for the Global Frontier Markets and Sustainable Emerging Markets strategies. A Slovenian national, he has been with East Capital for more than a decade, beginning his career as analyst for the Balkans, before being promoted to senior analyst in 2010, to portfolio advisor in 2012 and to deputy head of Eastern Europe in 2015. In addition to taking in a new partner, East Capital has also created a program that will allow for some individuals, working with investment, investor relations and management, to be promoted to the title of principals and become shareholders in the group.

@page { size: 8.27in 11.69in; margin: 0.79in }p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent }Thebanking group EFG International has appointed Ranjit Singh as its newdirector of risk. He will begin in the role and will join theexecutive board from 1 January 2019, the group says in a statement.Chief financial officer Dimitris Politis will serve in the positionin the interim until the end of the year. Singh will succeed ThomasMueller, who on Saturday was elected to tbe board of directors atRaiffeisen, and who subsequently left his position as chief riskofficer at EFG.Singhhas worked as director of risk at several different groups, includingStandard Life Aberdeen in London and Edinburgh, Swiss Re in Zurich,and Allianz SE in Munich.

@page { size: 8.27in 11.69in; margin: 0.79in }p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent }Aconsultation document concerning the key information document (KID)to be required under PRIIPs regulations, published on 8 November bythe European supervisory authorities (ESAs), including the banking(EBA), insurance (Eiopa) and market (Esma) supervisers, does notanswer the questions of German managers. “With the proposals of theESAs, information shortfalls in the information documents forsubscribers to products covered by PRIIPs regulations are notresolved, and the two controversial issues are not addressed,” theGerman association of asset management professionals (BVI) says in astatement released on 12 November.Theconsutation document says nothing at all about the methods ofcalculating transaction costs, the BVI states. Scenarios (stressed,unfavourable, moderate, and favourable) used as a basis to calculateprojections of future performance also remain intact, while thetreatment of past data produces inaccurate results, the professionalassociation says. Consideration of a longer period will onlyaccentuate the observed tendencies, the BVI says.TheESAs have themselves admitted that the time periods are too short todevelop new calculation methods, the association says. Theassociation has renewed its calls to postpone the introduction of thePRIIPs-KID document, scheduled for January 2020, until January 2022.

Hedge funds posted declines in October as global equity markets experienced steep losses led by technology exposures. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index (FWC) fell -2.98 percent in October, the worst monthly decline since September 2011, as reported by HFR.The October decline brings down the YTD return of the HFRI FWC Index to -1.66 percent. Indicative of larger fund outperformance for 2018, the HFRI Asset Weighted Composite Index fell -2.71 percent in October, lowering the YTD return to -0.98 percent. Approximately one-quarter of hedge funds posted positive performance for the month, with the top decile gaining +6.6 percent while the bottom decile fell -13.7 percent. Global equity markets declined between -5.0 to -11.0 percent for the month.October declines were spread across all main hedge fund strategies, with the largest decline in equity market-sensitive strategies, as the HFRI Equity Hedge (Total) Index fell -4.25 percent, the worst monthly decline since January 2016. EH sub-strategies declines were driven by the HFRI EH: Energy/Basic Materials Index, which fell -8.0 percent, and the HFRI EH: Technology Index, which lost -4.7 percent. The HFRI EH: Equity Market Neutral Index returned the smallest decline for month at -0.6 percent, while the HFRI EH: Healthcare Index remained the leading area of EH sub-strategy performance thus far in 2018, with a YTD return of +10.55 percent.Macro strategies also declined in October, as the HFRI Macro (Total) Index fell -1.8 percent, though losses were partially offset by gains in fundamental, discretionary strategies.

@page { size: 8.27in 11.69in; margin: 0.79in }p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent }Spanishmutual funds have posted net outflows of EUR493m in October,according to statistics released by Inverco, the professionalassociation for asset management. The sector has reported a secondconsecutive month of net outflows, following EUR297m in net outflowsin September. Since the start of the year, net inflows now totalEUR11.36bn.Inthis setting, assets in common investment funds total EUR266.5bn asof the end of October, down by EUR6.18bn, or 2.3%, compared withSeptember. Since the start of 2018, assets have nonetheless increasedby EUR3.4bn, or +1.3%, compared with the end of December 2017.

@page { size: 8.27in 11.69in; margin: 0.79in }p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent }TheSwedish pension fund AP3 has recruited Elena Westerdahl as seniorquantitative analyst for portfolio strategies. Westerdahl joins fromNordea, where she had been analyst in chief in Group Treasury ALM,Risk Analytics. She was also responsible for institutional clients atNordea Markets.

The Paris asset management industry is calling for a postponement of the extension of PRIIPs regulations to OPCVM vehicles, because the regulations have not been fully revised in all critical areas. “This regulation has the legitimate aim of better informing savings investors about their savings products, but since its partial implementation in 2018, it has found significant shortfalls, which work against informing clients well,” a statement says. The current OPCVM DICI document, which presents the key aspects of the product, will from 1 January 2020 be replaced by a new document, the PRIIPs KID, also used for certain insurance and banking products. “Professionals regret the inaction of the European Commission in this area, at a time when consumer and industry associations have reported fundamental problems presented by the PRIIPs document, repeatedly and in detail,” a joint statement by the AFG, AF2i, Anacofi, CNCIF, CNCGP and France Invest says. German asset management professionals (BVI) yesterday issued a similar statement (see separate article).“The PRIIPs information document, as used today, contains information which is extremely complicated for our clients to understand, requiring a high level of financial knowledge. The sophistication of the new methodologies prevents information being provided to clients which is clear, accurate, and not misleading,” a statement says. These points have been brought to the attention of the European Commission on several occasions. “After our repeated comments, and now aware of certain fault, the European financial authorities have announced a limited, urgent revision of the PRIIPs, which does not take into account the time necessary for full consideration to improve the text. Within this tight time frame, taking legislative procedures into account, actors would have only one or two months at the end of 2019 to come into compliance with the new PRIIPs standards, and to license thousands of affected products,” the statement explains.As a result, clients may not receive a key information document by January 2020, or worse, they may receive inaccurate documents. Paradoxically, the European authorities plan to simultaneously discontinue the most relevant document, the OPCVM DICI. This situation creates a risk of considerable disruption to the asset management industry, which would impact managers, distributors, investors, and savers. “We emphasize that we support the principle of the PRIIPs information document, which is intended to provide clients with consistent and comparable information about all savings products, and we do not want it to disappear. But we are today alerting the European authorities about two severe problems, namely, poor management of the timetable and the provision of inaccurate, unclear and misleading information which may discredit this European initiative,” the statement says.The attitude of the European Commission in this instance is “incomprehensible and regrettable,” although several concrete solutions which would be easy to implement have been proposed to avoid a worsening situation for consumers, the industry, and national regulators, the statement continues. “Ultimately, the wise decision we solemnly call on European regulators to take would be to postpone the extension of the PRIIPs KID until its faults can be corrected. Meanwhile, the OPCVM DICI document, which is satisfactory, would remain applicable.”

The sanctions commission of the French financial watchdog, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), on Thursday announced a fine of EUR250,000 against Keren Finance, and a separate fine of EUR650,000 fot its client Laurent Haegel, and a fine of EUR25,000 for manager Xavier Lagae. The commission accuses them of manipulating share price of the Compagnie du Cambodge, an affiliate of Bolloré, in 2015, a decision published on the AMF website says.Shares in Compagnie du Cambodge are listed on the A segment of Euronext Paris, where they are subject to a double daily fixing, with one fixing at 11:30 am (first fixing), and one at 4:30 pm (second fixing). According to the complaint, the Commission claims that “by introducing massive buy orders followed by massive sell orders (or the reverse) in the three sequences in question (between 10 April and 10 November 2015), in a market with limited liquidity, with these orders made ‘face to face’ in a concerted manner by Mr. Haegel and Keren Finance, had the sole objective of transferring shares in the Compagnie du Cambodge from one portfolio to another, without changing the beneficial owner, the suspects would have given false or misleading indications about the offering and demand for shares in Compagnie du Cambodge, which would constitute share price manipulation under the terms of clause 1° a) of article 631-1 of the AMF general regulations.”The market authority had levelled a fine of EUR450,000 against the asset management firm and its client, and EUR90,000 for the manager who had been responsible for the client’s portfolio of life insurance policies. The sanctions commission has adopted a more severe stance against Haegel, a retired individual, and softened its stance to Keren Finance. This is the second sanction against the asset management firm, which this year has already been sentenced by the AMF to pay EUR300,000 in fines for shortfalls in its obligations for projected posting of orders.

Malene Bason, l’ancienne responsable de la sélection de gérants et de fonds de Danske Bank, vient de créer une société dans le domaine de l’impact investing, rapporte le site danois AMWatch. La société s’appelle Future Impact et elle est basée à Copenhague.

Kumber Husain quitte Morgan Stanley après 14 ans passés dans le groupe américain pour rejoindre l’allemand DWS, détenu majoritairement par Deutsche Bank et qui gère 779 milliards de dollars. Il va prendre un poste nouvellement créé, pour gérer le capital investissement des Amériques. Il sera rattaché à Mark McDonald, le patron monde du private equity, arrivé l’an dernier de Credit Suisse Groupe, a annoncé hier DWS dans un communiqué. Kumber Husain travaillera sur les co-investissements directs et secondaires, dans lesquels les investisseurs achètent et vendent habituellement des parts dans des fonds d’acquisition.

Le gestionnaire d’actifs allemand DWS vient de lancer un nouveau fonds axé sur l’innovation dans les technologies industrielles, a appris Citywire Selector. Baptisé DWS Invest Smart Industrial Technologies, ce nouveau véhicule a été lancé officiellement le 2 novembre 2018. Il est géré par Marcus Poppe, déjà en charge du fonds DWS Global Value. Cette stratégie investit dans les futures technologies au sein de différents secteurs d’activités. Le fonds cible plus particulièrement l’automatisation, la robotique, la numérisation et les infrastructures. Son indice de référence est le MSCI World Industrial Net TR.

Deux anciens d’un family office viennent de créer une société de gestion de fortune dénommée Kidron Vermögensverwaltung, rapporte Private Banking Magazin. La nouvelle société sera dirigée par Carmen Bandt, qui a travaillé précédemment pendant six années pour Vertiva Family Office, une filiale de la Südwestbank. Franz Kaim a rejoint la nouvelle société, en provenance également de Vertiva Family Office, où il était gérant de portefeuille.

Le fonds de pension suédois AP3 a recruté Elena Westerdahl en tant qu’analyste quantitative senior, pour la stratégie de portefeuilles. L’intéressée vient de Nordea où elle a été entre autres analyste en chef au sein du Group Treasury ALM, Risk Analytics. Elle s’est aussi occupéz des clients institutionnels chez Nordea Markets.

La société suédoise East Capital vient de promouvoir Tim Umberger comme nouvel associé. Il rejoint ainsi Albin Rosengren (Dubai), Jacob Grapengiesser (Moscow), Karine Hirn (Hong Kong) et Peter Elam Håkansson (Stockholm). Tim Umberger est basé à Moscou où il est responsable adjoint de l’Europe de l’Est. Il conseille la société sur la stratégie Balkans et sur les mandats d’Europe de l’Est. Il est aussi membre des équipes des stratégies Global Frontier Markets et Sustainable Emerging Markets. Ce Slovénien d’origine travaille chez East Capital depuis plus de 10 ans. Il a commencé sa carrière comme analyste pour les Balkans, avant d’être promu analyste senior en 2010, conseiller de portefeuilles en 2012 et responsible adjoint pour l’Europe de l’Est en 2015. En plus d’avoir intégré un nouvel associé, East Capital a aussi lancé un programme qui permettra aux salariés de la société travaillant dans la gestion, les relations avec les investisseurs et la direction de devenir “principals” et d’être actionnaires de la société.

BNY Mellon Investment Management (BNY Mellon IM) a recruté Nick Thiem au poste de responsable des banques privées et des gestionnaires de fortune au Royaume-Uni, rapporte le site Investment Week. L’intéressé remplace ainsi Hugo Wheeler, qui a rejoint Muzinich & Co en septembre en qualité de responsable du segment « wholesale » au Royaume-Uni. Nick Thiem arrive en provenance de Coupland Cardiff Asset Management où il travaillait en tant que responsable de la distribution au Royaume-Uni. Au cours de sa carrière, il est également passé chez Aberdeen Asset Management, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership et Gartmore Investment Management (aujourd’hui Janus Henderson Investors).

Ed Rosengarten, jusque-là responsable des fonds au sein de Smith & Williamson, a quitté la société britannique où il évoluait depuis quatre ans, rapporte Investment Week. L’intéressé avait rejoint la société en avril 2014 en provenance de City Financial où il était responsable de l’asset management pour le Royaume-Uni jusqu’en septembre 2013. Auparavant, il a été responsable de l’asset management chez Eden Financial, dont la filiale de gestion d’actifs a été acquise par City Financial en 2012. Ed Rosengarten a passé 18 ans de sa carrière chez M&G Investments, dont neuf ans en qualité de directeur des actions.