Chaque jeudi, L’Agefi livre ses indicateurs clés de crédit pour suivre l'évolution des marchés. Cette semaine : la dette non financière.

L’UFC-Que Choisir a assigné la société de gestion juste avant l’annonce de sa nouvelle marque, Ostrum AM, qui acte son changement de stratégie et sa dépendance à Natixis IM.

La sortie en capital se trouverait fortement limitée, sauf pour les petits contrats.

Dans le cadre de sa participation aux Coupoles Distrib Invest 2018, Stéphane Corsaletti (photo), président d’ABN AMRO Investments Solutions, détaille la nouvelle stratégie de la société en matière d’architecture ouverte. Une stratégie reposant notamment sur le développement de sa plateforme de délégation de gestion et se concentrant sur la mise en place de fonds de mandats. Au total, la société conseille 45 milliards d’euros au travers de sa sélection de fonds classique et 15 milliards d’euros via sa plateforme de délégation de gestion.

L’AFG (Association Française de la Gestion financière) et France Invest (Association des Investisseurs pour la Croissance) ont publié les résultats de l’enquête annuelle France Invest - AFG sur le niveau et la nature de la collecte réalisée en 2017 par les gestionnaires de FCPI (fonds communs de placement dans l’innovation) et de FIP (fonds d’investissement de proximité), instruments dédiés au financement des entreprises innovantes et des PME régionales.

L'UFC-Que Choisir a déposé une assignation en justice via une action de groupe dans le cadre de l'affaire des fonds à formule pour laquelle Natixis Asset Management avait été sanctionnée par l'AMF.

Une enquête a été ouverte en Afrique du Sud sur des accusations de trafic d’influence dans le cadre des relations entre l’ancien président Jacob Zuma, poussé à la démission le 14 février, et les trois frères Gupta, de puissants hommes d’affaires sud-africains d’origine indienne, a annoncé mercredi le vice-président de la Cour constitutionnelle Raymond Zondo. Une commission d’enquête, conduite par l’ancien contrôleur général Terence Nombembe, a entamé ses travaux préliminaires le 1er mars, a-t-il précisé à la télévision. A l’issue de ses travaux, cette commission pourra présenter des recommandations au parquet en vue de possibles mises en examen.

A compter du 1er mai 2018, le fonds Chom Capital Active Return Europe UI, ouvert tant aux investisseurs institutionnels que privés, ne sera plus accessible aux nouveaux investisseurs, a annoncé le 6 mars Universal Investment dans un communiqué. «Avec ce soft closing, nous restons fidèles à notre philosophie de privilégier les intérêts de nos investisseurs et de ne pas donner la priorité à des objectifs tels qu’une forte croissance des actifs sous gestion. Notre stratégie est de sélectionner un nombre limité d’entreprises pour notre portefeuille indépendamment d’un indice et sur la base d’une analyse des fondamentaux», commente Christoph Brenner, cofondateur de Chom Capital, cité dans le communiqué.

Le groupe d’assurances japonais Nippon Life pourrait prendre une participation dans DWS, dans le cadre de l’entrée en Bourse de la filiale de gestion du groupe Deutsche Bank, rapporte le quotidien financier allemand FAZ. Selon le quotidien allemand, cette participation pourrait approcher la barre des 10%. Des sources financières contactées par le site spécialisé Finanz-Szene ont confirmé l’information de l’entrée au capital mais précisé que la participation serait nettement inférieure à cette barre des 10%. Le site rappelle que Deutsche Bank va coter seulement 25% du capital et, dans ce contexte, une participation de 10% environ ne serait pas bonne pour la liquidité des titres.Selon la FAZ, cette entrée au capital s’accompagnerait d’un accord commercial qui ouvrirait plus largement les portes du marché asiatique à la filiale de Deutsche Bank.

Deux sociétés de gestion britanniques, Hermes Investment Management et Jupiter Fund Management, ont publié ces derniers jours leur rapport « gender pay gap » concernant l’écart salarial entre les hommes et les femmes. Chez Hermes, les femmes sont payées 30,2 % de moins que les hommes, tandis que chez Jupiter, cet écart est moindre, de 25 %. Les deux sociétés reconnaissent qu’elles doivent faire davantage pour combler cet écart. « Nous reconnaissons que pour combler notre écart salarial entre les hommes et les femmes de 30,2 %, nous devons augmenter la représentation des femmes à des postes à responsabilité au sein de la société, notamment dans la gestion et dans le développement », indique Hermes dans son rapport de 6 pages. Chez Jupiter, le directeur général, Maarten Slendebroek, reconnait que la société « peut et doit faire mieux » dans ce domaine. « Nous avons trop peu de femmes salariés qui travaillent à des niveaux élevés dans nos équipes de gestion de fonds et dans nos équipes commerciales – qui sont les raisons principales derrière l’écart de rémunérations entre hommes et femmes ». Jupiter peut toutefois se targuer d’avoir un nombre égal d’hommes et de femmes au conseil d’administration. Le gouvernement britannique exige désormais que les employeurs de plus de 250 personnes dévoilent chaque année le différentiel de rémunération entre les hommes et les femmes ou « gender gap pay ». Pour l’heure, seules quelques sociétés de gestion ont publié leur rapport avant la date butoir du 5 avril. Franklin Templeton a annoncé un écart de 31,4 % et Standard Life et Aberdeen Asset Management, d’environ 31 %.

Désirant renforcer son offre en Impact Investing, Degroof Petercam a décidé de nouer un partenariat avec Quadia, gérant d’actifs en Suisse spécialisé en Impact Investing. Dans ce cadre, Degroof Petercam prend une participation minoritaire dans le capital de Quadia, indique un communiqué. Quadia va ainsi mettre son expertise en Impact Investing au service de Degroof Petercam afin de lui permettre de proposer de nouvelles opportunités d’investissements et de services à sa clientèle privée et institutionnelle. Degroof Petercam et Quadia envisagent de lancer un close-end fonds diversifié et européen en Impact Investing au cours de 2018. « Par cette prise de participation stratégique, Degroof Petercam s’allie à une équipe de grande réputation qui a joué un rôle historique dans le développement de l’Impact Investing en Europe. Le groupe se positionne ainsi comme un acteur de premier plan dans la finance responsable, avec une offre complète et à la pointe en matière d’investissements socialement responsables, d’Impact Investing et de philanthropie», commente Philippe Masset, CEO de Degroof Petercam. Fondée en 2010 à Genève, Quadia s’est spécialisée dans les investissements impact directs en capital et en dette. Elle cible des entreprises qui ont positionné dans leur développement stratégique des produits et des services qui participent directement à une économie régénératrice, en particulier dans les domaines de l’alimentation et de l’efficience énergétique. Depuis sa création, Quadia a financé une trentaine d’entreprises, projets et fonds d’impact situés dans toute l’Europe pour un montant total de près de 170 millions de dollars. La société est basée à Genève et emploie actuellement 10 personnes.

On 1 February 2018, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued recommendations and good practices for liquidity risk management for open-ended funds. Against this backdrop, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) continues its efforts to update the French framework. It invites management companies to consider the option of introducing, in their regulatory documents, the ability to use redemption gates to manage liquidity crises in the interest of unit-holders or shareholders.Liquidity risk is the risk of an excessive mismatch between the liquidity of the assets in which a fund has invested and the redemption terms for investors. In the context of a sharp rise in assets under management worldwide and the growing share of regulated open-ended funds, the report published by IOSCO on 1 February 2018 aims to supplement the standards published in 2013 on liquidity risk management, taking into account the January 2017 recommendations of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). These documents strengthen the overall framework for liquidity risk management tools, while giving the national authorities broad discretion to select the tools that are made available to operators.Against this backdrop, in early 2017 the AMF authorised the use of redemption gates and also published an instructional guide on stress tests. Additional regulatory changes will take effect in the coming weeks. The industry has been awaiting these changes, which will further expand the range of tools available to French funds. The framework applicable to the following tools will be clarified: - the establishment of subscription and/or redemption notice periods, which give fund managers more flexibility to execute orders on certain markets that might be less liquid (for example, the small-cap or high-yield bond markets) and therefore prevent portfolio distortion, in the interest of the fund’s unit-holders or shareholders; - redemptions in kind, i.e. directly in portfolio assets, when certain professional investors request them and certain conditions are met; and - the full or partial closing of subscriptions (soft or hard close), for example when a fund becomes too big for its reference market. The funds affected by the update to the regulatory framework for liquidity risk management are as follows: UCITS, retail investment funds, funds of alternative funds, professional investment funds and employee investment undertakings.

Indosuez Wealth Management has announced that it is significantly expanding its local footprint and employee base in Spain with the opening of new offices in Seville and Barcelona, bringing its number of offices in the country to six. The Group’s offices in Madrid and Valencia have bolstered their teams with hires of experienced executives and managers. Iñigo Calderón has been named Head of Central Region of Indosuez Wealth Management [Spain] and will lead the Wealth Managers team in Madrid. He previously worked at Deutsche Bank and will be joined in Madrid by Diego Rosillo, Letizia Beca, Enrique Revuelta, Andrés Francoy and Ignacio Guzmán. The newly opened office in Seville will be led by Carlos Gálvez, who joins Indosuez as Regional Director of Andalusia and Extremadura, and Juan Gómez Millán, who joins the company as Senior Wealth Manager. In Barcelona, Carlos Sensat, as new Regional Head, and Javier de Andrés as well as Jordi Solsona have joined the team, and Indosuez’s Valencia office added David Nogués as new Regional Head and Manuel Martínez.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; } Benny Buchardt Andersen, former chief investment officer for the Danish pension fund Pensam, has become a partner at the private equity firm Greystone, AMWatch reports, citing Børsen. At the same time, Henrik Heideby, former CEO of PFA, has resigned from the private equity firm.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; } A commercial offensive deployed by VP Bank last year has borne fruit. The private bank based in Liechtenstein, which last year recruited 24 senior client advisers, last year made net inflows of CHF1.9bn, while net inflows as of the end of 2016 totalled only CHF7m, according to a statement released on 6 March. The positive impact of markets and currencies has contributed CHF2.7bn to growth in assets. As of the end of December 2017, assets under management at the private bank totalled CHF40.4bn, compared with CHF35.8bn as of the end of 2016, an increase of 13% year on year. Net profits at the group totalled CHF65.8m, up 13.4%, for operating profits up by nearly 10%, to CHF300.1m. The cost/income ratio improved by 4.2 percentage points to 64.2%. VP Bank indicates that it plans to continue its commercial drive in 2018, and is planning to recruit a total of 75 client representatives by the end of 2019. Personnel grew last year by 8.3%, and VP Bank as of the end of December had 800 full-time employees.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; } The venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners on 6 March announced that it has led a round of flinancing for EUR4m at Micropep Technologies, a biotechnology firm which develops biological alternatives to agricultural chemical products. Sofinnova Partners becomes the largest shareholder in the firm, alongside the funds IRDInov and Toulouse Tech Transfer, a statement says. Financing from Sofinnova Partners has come from its recent fund dedicated to the ecological transition in the chemical industry, Sofinnova IB I, which, with assets of EUR125m, is now the largest fund in Europe dedicated to this new and fast-growing field, a statement says. Micropep Technologies, which is developing a new generation of non-OGM bioherbicides and biostimulants, is the third investment for the fund Sofinnova IB I, dedicated to industrial biotechnologies.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; } La Française now manages over EUR2.5bn in commercial real estate throughout Europe, according to a statement released on 6 March. The asset management firm “estimates that it is making a place for itself as an expert in this segment,” where it has been developing since 2012. That year, La Française, via its asset management affiliate La Française Real Estate Managers (REM), created a department dedicated to management of commercial property in France, led by Thierry Molton, director of real estate asset management at the company. Six experts, distributed by geographical region and led by Loïc Jardin, director of commercial asset management, manage nearly EUR1.7bn in assets, representing nearly 460 properties, over 800,000 square metres, and EUR98m in rent annually. The real estate assets managed by La Française REM cover all of France, with 50% in Paris and the Paris region, and 50% in the major provincial capitals. The properties include commercial spaces on the ground floors of buildings (42%), retail centres (27%) and supermarkets (29%). The remaining 2% is invested in commercial centres. In addition to these EUR1.7bn, La Française also manages EUR800m in commercial real estate properties via its affiliates La Française Real Estate Partners, an entity dedicated to the acquisition and management of realty, particularly under mandates for institutional clients, and La Française Real Estate Partners International, an entity dedicated to managing realty properties located outside France.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; } The residential services specialist Nemea on 6 March announced that it is making changes to its capital structure, with the entry of Arkea Capital, BNP Développement, Grand Sud-Ouest Capital and Crédit Agricole Aquitaine Expansion, which jointly control about 40% of securities. This capital increase will allow Nemea to consolidate its tourism activity (60% of its earnings), and to add to its business and student branches. With 22 Appart’Etud residences in major student areas, and seven new locations opened in 2017, Nemea has set the objective of opening seven to 12 locations per year, for 44 Appart’Etud locations by 2020. Nemea will soon move and enlarge its headquarters, but will continue to be based in Mérignac, to make space for all of the personnel necessary for growth.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; } Geolid, a digital marketing platform for SMEs, mid-sized businesses and brand networks, has announced a capital increase of EUR15m, subscribed to by Idinvest. The fundraising will allow Geolid to accelerate its commercial development serving brand networks and to continue the development of its platform. Idinvest has about EUR9bn in private equity assets under management.

Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited (“Elliott”) has an interest in ordinary and saving shares of Telecom Italia. The position in ordinary shares is such that it does not exceed, as of today, the thresholds mandating disclosure under applicable Italian laws.As an investor in Telecom Italia, Elliott has spent significant time and resources in recent months analysing the company and its strategic alternatives. In Elliott’s view, Telecom Italia’s governance, valuation, strategic direction and relationships with Italian authorities would be improved by replacing certain members of the board with new, fully independent and highly qualified directors. Accordingly, Elliott is considering taking steps towards achieving that goal.Although Elliott may further increase its interest in Telecom Italia (in which event it will disclose any threshold being crossed in compliance with applicable Italian laws), it is not seeking to and will not seek control of Telecom Italia.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; } From 1 May 2018, the Chom Capital Active Return Europe UI fund, open both to institutional and to private investors, will no longer be available to new investors, Universal Investment announced in a statement on 6 March. “With this soft closing, we remain faithful to our philosophy of privileging the interests of our investors, and not giving priority to objectives such as strong growth in assets under management. Our strategy is to select a limited number of businesses for our portfolio independently of an index, on the basis of analysis of fundamentals,” says Christoph Brenner, co-founder of Chom Capital, cited in the statement.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; } The British asset management firm Winton has signed a new distribution agreement with Allfunds Bank for a launch of the Winton Diversified Fund (Ucits) on the European platform. The agreement will allow Italian institutional investors to gain long-term access to the Diversified Program at Winton. The Winton Diversified Fund, launched in July 2017, tracks the multi-strategy approach of Winton, offering weekly liquidity. Winton is a systematic investment company.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; } Schroders has added to its range of funds eligible for the Italian individual savins plan, with the launch of Schroder ISF Multi-Asset PIR Italia, Bluerating reports. The strategy invests in primarily Italian equities and bonds. The fund is managed by the multi-asset investment team at Schroders, with Ugo Montrucchio as head of asset allocation and risk management. For the equity portion, Montrucchio will benefit from the assistance of the European equity team, and Hannah Piper, manager of the first PIR fund from Schroders, Schroder ISF Italian Equity. Anthony Earnshaw and the Advanced Bond Beta team will be responsible the Italian corporate bond allocation.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; } Syz AM, the institutional asset management firm of the Syz group, has made two of its Italian equity funds eligible for the individual savings plan (piano individuale di risparmio, or PIR), Funds People Italia reports. The Oyster Italian Opportunities and Oyster Italian Value funds are managed by Alfredo Piacentini and Alessandro Pacchiani, respectively.

Mapfre is set to launch a co-investment real estate vehicle to invest in prime offices in a number of Europe’s main markets. The objective is to achieve returns of between 4% and 6% annually, while at the same time diversifying the portfolio against other types of financial assets, said a press release. This move is part of the company’s strategy to gradually increase its portfolio of alternative investments.Mapfre has partnered with real estate expert GLL to invest up to 300 million euros in prime office space in the Eurozone’s key markets within two or three years. The investment focus will be large cities in Germany and France, as well as other nearby markets such as Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan and Luxembourg.The vehicle, which is open to other institutional investors from the insurance world, will be managed by GLL, which is one of the main investors in office buildings for insurance companies. The company has an asset volume of €7 billion, and a team of more than 110 professionals, with offices in 12 countries.Mapfre already has a portfolio of unique real estate properties in Spain, such as Plaza de la Independencia in Madrid, Torre Mapfre in Barcelona, and other emblematic buildings in different countries, such as Torre Mapfre , in the Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City, and One Winthrop Square building in Boston

Two British asset management firms, Hermes Investment Management and Jupiter Fund Management, have in the past few days released their “gender pay gap” report, describing the difference in pay between men and women.At Hermes, women are paid 30.2% less than men, while at Jupiter, the gap is smaller, at 25%.The two firms admit that they need to do more to reduce the gap. “We recognise that to reduce the pay gap between men and women of 30.2%, we need to increase representation of women in senior positions at the firm, including management and development,” Hermes says in its 6-page report. At Jupiter, the CEO, Maarten Slenderbroek, admits that the firm “could do better” in this area. “We don’t have enough women employed and working at top levels on our fund management teams and in sales teams, which are the main reasons for the gap in pay between men and women.”Jupiter, however, does have an equal number of male and female representatives on the board of directors.The British government is now requiring employers with over 250 employees to disclose the pay gap each year between men and women. So far, only a few asset management firms have published their report have published their report ahead of the 5 April deadline. Franklin Templeton has announced a 31.4% gap, while Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management have announced figures of about 31%.

Le fonds souverain norvégien, qui gérait fin 2017 quelque 880 milliards d’euros, estime qu’il pourrait perdre plus de 40 % de sa valeur en une seule année si les marchés plongeaient et que la couronne norvégienne se renforçait dans le même temps, montre un rapport sur les rendements et les risques publié mardi par l’investisseur.Dans ce rapport, le fonds indique que l’allocation d’actifs est le principal risque du fonds. Le mandat du fonds est d’investir entre 50 % et 80 % de son portefeuille en actions ; cette poche a graduellement augmenté entre 2007 et 2009, passant de 40 % à 60 %. Le fonds souverain norvégien, dont les ressources sont issues de la vente de pétrole par la Norvège, a gagné 13,7 % en 2017, ce qui représente 1.028 milliards de couronnes norvégiennes ou 106 milliards d’euros. Il s’agit de la troisième meilleure performance annuelle du fonds en pourcentage et la plus forte jamais enregistrée en couronnes depuis le lancement du fonds.

L’assureur Mapfre a annoncé qu’il allait lancer un véhicule de co-investissement dans l’immobilier pour investir dans des bureaux de premier ordre («prime») sur plusieurs des principaux marchés européens. L’objectif est d’atteindre des rendements compris entre 4% et 6% par an, tout en diversifiant le portefeuille par rapport à d’autres types d’actifs financiers. Cette démarche s’inscrit dans la stratégie de la société d’augmenter progressivement son portefeuille d’investissements alternatifs.Mapfre, connu en France pour être récemment entré au capital de La Financière Responsable, s’est associé avec l’expert immobilier GLL pour investir jusqu'à 300 millions d’euros dans des surfaces de bureaux de premier ordre sur les marchés clés de la zone euro d’ici deux ou trois ans. L’accent sera mis sur les grandes villes d’Allemagne et de France, ainsi que sur d’autres marchés proches comme Amsterdam, Bruxelles, Milan et Luxembourg.Le véhicule sera ouvert à d’autres investisseurs institutionnels du monde de l’assurance. GLL gère déjà 7 milliards d’euros et compte une équipe de plus de 110 personnes, avec des bureaux dans 12 pays.En Espagne Mapfre possède déjà quelques biens immobiliers comme la Plaza de la Independencia à Madrid, Torre Mapfre à Barcelone, et d’autres bâtiments emblématiques dans différents pays, tels que Torre MAPFRE, sur le Paseo de la Reforma à Mexico, et l’immeuble One Winthrop Square à Boston.