CamGestion, filiale de BNP Paribas, a annoncé, sur son site, qu'à compter du 1er juillet 2013, le commissaire aux comptes du fonds CamGestion Oblicycle Inflation allait changer. Son mandat, d’une durée de six exercices, arrivant à échéance le dernier jour de Bourse de Paris du mois de juin 2019, il sera remplacé par le commissaire aux comptes Deloitte & Associés, indique la société de gestion .

Le régulateur espagnol CNMV a accordé son agrément de commercialisation en Espagne à Legg Mason Global AM pour les fonds d’actions Legg Mason ClearBridge Tactical Dividend Income et Legg Mason ClearBridge US Equity Income et pour le fonds obligataire Legg Mason Brandywine Income Optimiser.Funds People note que, selon Bernardo Rivero de Aguilar, co-head of sales de Legg Mason pour l’Espagne, ces trois produits ont comme caractéristique commune de servir des revenus réguliers «mais pas à n’importe quel prix».

En seulement six mois, CVC Capital Partners a reçu des engagements de plus de 14 milliards d’euros de la part des investisseurs, rapporte le Financial Times. Dans le détail, la société de capital investissement a levé 11,8 milliards d’euros dans le cadre de son nouveau fonds pour un premier closing attendu mi-juillet et 2,5 à 4 milliards supplémentaires pour un closing final en fin d’année.

La grande majorité des professionnels de la finance français ne sont pas inquiets pour leur emploi. Une récente enquête d’eFinancialCareers montre que 75 % d’entre eux ne craignent pas de perdre leur poste. Cette confiance tranche avec leur avis sur la situation de leur entreprise, considérée avec moins d’optimisme. Plus d’un tiers des professionnels de la finance français (36%) considèrent que les performances de leur employeur s’est détériorée au cours des six derniers mois. Le droit du travail français est une des explications de la relative tranquillité d’esprit des sondés français. «La législation française, connue pour les coûts élevés qu’elle génère pour l’employeur, est aussi très ferme sur la sécurité de l’emploi. Néanmoins, l’impact de la crise de la zone Euro se fait sentir puisque notre étude révèle que les professionnels de la finance ne seraient pas sereins s’ils devaient trouver un nouvel emploi. En effet, un quart des répondants ne sait pas du tout s’ils pourraient trouver un emploi similaire en 6 mois, tandis que 3 sur 10 estiment que cette hypothèse est improbable», commente James Bennett, directeur général d’eFinancialCareers.

Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs a annoncé avoir clôturé fin mai la souscription de son deuxième fonds crédit non noté à échéance Fédéris Core Euro Crédit 2019 (cf. Newsmanagers du 24 avril), avec un encours de plus de 330 millions d’euros.

Avec les JB Industrial Metals Funds sur l’aluminium, le cuivre, le nickel et le zinc, Swiss & Global Asset Management vient de lancer selon finews une série de fonds à nantissement physique sur les métaux industriels. Les parts sont disponibles en francs suisses, en euros, en livres sterling et en dollars. Les fonds s’adressent aux investisseurs avertis.Le nantissement physique évite aux souscripteurs les pertes sur le roulement des positions. De plus, le règlement interdit le prêt des métaux, de sorte que les investisseurs ne sont pas exposés à des risque d'émetteur ou de contrepartie.

Selon fondsweb.de, Franklin Templeton a décidé de fermer aux nouveaux investisseurs, à partir du 28 juin 2013, son produit actions Templeton Frontier Markets Fund géré par Mark Mobius depuis le 14 octobre 2008. Les porteurs actuels de parts peuvent continuer à investir.Ce «soft-closing» est destiné à protéger la performance au profit des souscripteurs existants en permettant à l'équipe de gestion de poursuivre la mise en œuvre d’une stratégie value.Au 31 mars, le fonds, de droit luxembourgeois, affichait un encours de 1.836 millions de dollars.

L’américain First Trust Advisors poursuit son offensive en Europe. Après avoir lancé trois premiers ETF en avril dernier (lire Newsmanagers du 11/04/2013), First Trust envisage de proposer deux nouveaux produits de la gamme AlphaDEX, l’un dédié à la zone euro, l’autre à aux actions internationales à fort dividende, d’ici au mois de septembre, voire un peu plus tard, a indiqué à Newsmanagers Martin Molère, responsable des ventes de First Trust pour l’Europe continentale. L’ETF à dividende offrira des distributions trimestrielles. Domiciliés en Irlande et cotés à Londres, les ETF déjà lancés par First Trust sont actuellement disponibles au Royaume-Uni, en Irlande et en France. La Suisse et le Benelux devraient suivre.Pour mémoire, tous ces ETF négociés en Bourse utilisent la méthodologie exclusive AlphaDEX de First Trust, conçue pour sélectionner une combinaison d’actions de croissance et de valeur fondamentalement attrayants. Cette méthodologie sélectionne des actions à partir d’un univers de base et les sépare en lots de croissance et de valeur. La pondération des actions détenues dans les ETF ne se fonde pas sur la capitalisation boursière, mais sur leurs scores AlphaDEX.Lesdits scores pour les actions de croissance se fondent sur trois mesures : l’appréciation du prix sur trois, six et douze mois, la croissance des ventes et leur ratio cours/vente. Les scores des actions de valeur se fondent sur trois mesures également : le ratio cours/valeur comptable, le ratio cours/flux de trésorerie, et le rendement de l’actif.Au 21 juin, les ETF sous gestion s’inscrivaient à 12 milliards de dollars contre 8,1 milliards de dollars au début de l’année. Sur ce total, la gamme AlphaDEX représente actuellement 5,8 milliards de dollars.

Sous réserve de l’approbation des autorités de régulation, John Misselbrook a été désigné CEO par intérim d’Aviva Investors (274 milliards de livres fin décembre 2012) en remplacement de Paul Abberley, qui reprend ses fonctions de head of investments avec effet immédiat.L’intéressé était jusqu’à présent administrateur non exécutif d’Aviva Investors et il a exercé des fonctions de direction opérationnelle dans le secteur des services financiers, entre autres comme COO de Barings.

Le gestionnaire espagnol Bestinver (groupe Acciona) a décidé d’ouvrir un bureau de représentation commerciale et d’analyse à Londres. Ce nouveau bureau s’ajoutera aux deux autres centres d’analyse et d’investissements déjà existants à Madrid et Shanghai. Durant les deux prochaines années, le directeur général et gérant-vedette de la maison, Francisco García Paramés, dirigera personnellement le bureau de Londres, en consacrant la majorité de son temps à l’analyse.Du point de vue de l’activité commerciale, cette décision marque une nouvelle étape de la stratégie de diversification géographique des investisseurs de Bestinver. «Cette stratégie, initiée il y a quatre ans, a permis qu’à ce jour, un tiers du total de l’encours soit d’origine internationale, garantissant ainsi une meilleure stabilité dans nos investissements», indique dans un communiqué Beltrán Parages Reverter, directeur commercial de Bestinver Gestión.En matière de gestion, le bureau de Londres doit permettre à Bestinver, selon Beltrán Parages Reverter, d’être plus proche des sociétés dans lesquelles il investit principalement et d’améliorer, en général, son accès aux informations sur les entreprises «qui sont, ou qui pourraient être des lignes d’investissements. Londres est le principal centre financier et d’investissements européens, et nous pensons que cette localisation nous aidera dans notre activité de gestion, compte tenu que 80% du patrimoine géré par le groupe Bestinver est investi en sociétés européennes», souligne le directeur commercial.

Insight Investment a recruté Philip Anker en qualité de responsable mondial de la distribution, une nouvelle fonction liée à la volonté de la société de développer ses activités à l’international, rapporte Investment Week.La responsable actuelle de la distribution, Sarah Aitken, quitte ses fonctions mais le recrutement n’est pas directement lié à ce départ, le nouveau poste ayant un périmètre mondial.Philip Anker, qui travaillait précédemment chez Paloma Partners, un hedge fund américain multi-stratégie, sera basé à Londres et intègrera les instances dirigeantes de la société.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } As of 31 May, according to the CSSF, net assets in Luxembourg OPC funds totalled EUR2.584009trn, of which EUR697.262bn are invested in FCP funds and EUR1.872609trn in Sicavs.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } NYSE Euronext and the Vigeo agency have announced that they are adding to their range of ESG indices with the launch of the Euronext Vigeo Benelux 20 Euronext Vigeo Eurozone 120 and Euronext Vigeo US 50 indices. The composition of the indices is established on the basis of the opinions of Vigeo and will be updated twice per year in May and November. The Euronext vigeo benelux 20, Euronext Vigeo Eurozone 120 and Euronext Vigeo US 50 indices include the largest market caps of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, the euro zone and North America, respectively. Businesses included in the three new indices are the ones which receive the best ratings for control of their social responsibility risk and contribution to sustainable development. Performance is evaluated with the Equitics® methodology developed by Vigeo. The ratings are established on the basis of 38 criteria which take into account environmental policy, respect for human rights, and valuation of human capital at businesses, relationships with stakeholders (clients, providers, shareholders, etc.), corporate governance and business ethics, the integrity of influence and anti-corruption practices, the prevention of social and environmental dumping in the supply and subcontracting chain, a statement says.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Hedge Week reports that BNP Paribas Securities Services has added to its range of collateral management services with Collateral Access, an all-in-one formula which aims to meet the needs of both buy-side and sell-side clients.Hélène Virello, head of collateral management, says that Collateral Access allows client to fully comply with new regulations with limited and short-term investments. It is an open model, connected to several counterparties, compensators, custodians and market structures. Collateral Access is a modular product available in stand-alone or as part of a multi-product range from BNPP SS.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Finews reports that with the JB Industrial Metals Funds for aluminium, copper, nickel and zinc, Swiss & Global Asset Management has launched a series of funds backed by physical deposit of industrial metals. Shares are available in Swiss francs, euros, pounds sterling and US dollars. Funds are aimed at qualified investors.Physical deposits prevent losses for investors from rolling positions. In addition, the articles of association forbid lending of metals, meaning that investors are not exposed to counterparty risks.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mandarine Gestion on Thursday, 27 June announced the arrival of Thomas Vlieghe on the asset allocation team led by Françoise Rochette, who currently manages the flexible portion of the Mandarine Reflex fund. Vlieghe previously, since 2011, worked on Rochette’s team at EdRAM, managing the fund from EdRAM.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) in South Africa has won a mandate from Trifecta Capital Services to provide custodial services. These services are initially provided in South Africa, and will later be offered in other countries in which Trifecta Capital Services is present, a statement from SGSS says. SGSS has been selected by Trifecta Capital Services “for its recognized expertise as a provider of securities service in South Africa, as well as for its presence and development in sub-Saharan Africa. SGSS, which has been providing local securities services to domestic client for more than 20 years, has also been selected for its international reach and the extensive range of its international services, which includes services which have recently become available in Mauritius, Ghana and Tunisia.”

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Béatrice Belorgey is succeeding Sofia Merlo in the position of director of BNP Paribas Banque Privée France, BNP Paribas announced on Thursday, 27 June. In her new role, she will report to Marie-Claire Capobianco, a member of the executive board at the group, and director of networks for France, and Sofia Merlo, co-CEO of Wealth Management, a statement says. Belorgey, deputy director of private banking for France since March 2012, becomes a member of the executive board for retail banking in France (BDDF) and wealth management. She will aim to continue to develop private banking activities in France to strengthen the firm’s position as a market leader, with EUR73bn in assets under management. For her part, Merlo will continue to develop this strategic activity for the Group, dedicating herself entirely to new challenges on domestic and international retail banking markets (retail banks of the group outside the euro zone), where she will more particularly be responsible for France, Belgium, Italy, the United States, Turkey, Germany, Morocco, and others. Belorgey, a graduate of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris and a financial analyst (CEFA), began her career at BNP Paribas in 1986 as a credit analyst at the France retail bank. In 2009, she was head of investor relations and financial information for the group, and since 2012, she has been deputy director of BNP Paribas Banque Privée France.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } TwentyTwo Real Estate on Thursday, 27 June announced that it has acquired a residential real estate portfolio valued at about EUR1bn from LBO France and Deutsche Asset and Wealth Management. This is the first transaction for TwentyTwo Real Estate founded by Daniel Rigny in 2012 previously a partner at Perella Weinberg Partners. The operation has been undertaken for a consortium of investors involving capital managed by Massena Partners and Farallon Capital Management.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Petercam has selected Caceis as a provider of Asset Servicing for its Luxembourg Sicav range. “The range of services from Caceis meets all the current needs of Petercam, particularly in terms of custody, depository banking, fund administration and transfer agency,” Caceis says in a statement. Caceis has been selected for the effectiveness of its range of services. It also has the experience to assist Petercam in the deployment of its development strategy for institutional management, which aims to increase its proximity with clients, by increasing locations in continental Europe. Hugo Lasat, a partner and member of the board of directors at Petercam, says: “After an in-depth analysis of various bids, we selected the bid from Caceis, which had the advantage of including the required added-value services to support our management capacities in a constantly-evolving financial environment.”

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BlueCrest Capital Management, the US hedge fund whose assets under management total about USD14bn, lost 8.3% in the month of June, according to a note from investors obtained by Bloomberg. The hedge fund BlueTrend has lost 9.2% since the beginning of the year until 21 June. The hedge fund has earned average annual returns of 12.9% since its launch in 2004, and has never shown losses for a calendar year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Insight Investment has recruited Philip Anker as global head of distribution, a new position arising from the firm’s desire to develop its activities internationally, Investment Week reports. The current head of distribution, Sarah Aitken, is leaving his job, but the recruitment is not directly related to his departure, as the new position has global reach. Anker, who previously worked at Paloma Partners, a US multi-strategy hedge fund, will be based in London and will join the management bodies at the firm.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Citywire db x-trackers Emerging Markets Sentiment Indicator (SEMI) was unveiled on 27 June. It aims to be the first predictive indicator in Europe of capital flows to emerging markets. It is calculated independently by Citywire, and is sponsored by Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM). The sentiment indicator reflects the opinion of fund management professionals about emerging markets, and is based on the results of a Citywire quarterly survey of 101 managers focused on emerging markets, with total assets of about EUR200bn. The most recent survey was carried out in March and April 2013.In detail, the EMSI is established on the basis of manager sentiment concerning ten markets: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Taiwan. For equities, bonds and diversified portfolios, Citywire asks managers about their current sentiment concerning markets as well as the evolution they expect for markets in the next twelve months, on one hand, and on the weighting of portfolios on a six-month horizon, on the other.The EMSI (base 1000) came out at 1009, which reflects a predominantly optimistic attitude. Among the markets under review, managers are preferring China and India for the next six months: 34% of managers are planning to increase allocation to China in their funds by at least 5% in the next 6 months, and the percentage stands at 32% for India.As a complement, Citywire is asking respondents how the MSCI Emerging Market Index will develop compared with the MSCI World Index. For the first edition of the EMSI, 49% of managers predict that the MSCI EM will outperform the MSCI World, while 31% hold the opposite opinion.Institutional investors may access the report for free upon request at the address http://www.etf.db.com/DE/DE/sentiment-indicator

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Following changes to the emerging market debt team at ING Investment Managers (ING IM), 20 members of which have joined Neuberger Berman, Danske Bank has decided to reallocate a USD1.6bn mandate for emerging market debt to a team led in London by Samuel Finkelstein at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), Citywire reports.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Manulife Asset Management is in the process of adding to its team in charge of asset allocation in Asia, in the expectation of a “great rotation” in an environment of low interest rates and an ageing population, Asian Investor reports. The firm, with more than USD100bn in assets under management in allocation strategies with total assets under management of over USD250bn, last year installed a team of two people in Hong Kong, and is planning more recruitments during the quarter.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to fondweb.de, Franklin Templeton has decided to close its equity product Templeton Frontier Markets Fund, managed by Mark Mobius snce 14 October 2008, to new investors from 28 June, 2013. Current shareholders will be allowed to continue to invest. The soft closing aims to protect performance for existing subscribers, to allow the management team to continue to deploy a value strategy. As of 31 March, the Luxembourg-registered fund had assets of USD1.836bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The US firm First Trust Advisors is continuing its offensive in Europe. After launching its first three ETFs in April this year (see Newsmanagers of 11 April 2013), First Trust is planning to offer two new products in the AlphaDEX range, one of them dedicated to the euro zone, and the other to international high dividends equities, by September or slightly later, Martin Molère, head of sales at First Trust for continental Europe, has told Newsmanagers. The dividend ETF will offer quarterly liquidity. The ETFs already launched by First Trust, which are domiciled in Ireland and listed in London, are currently available in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France. Switzerland and Benelux are expected to follow. All ETFs listed use the exclusive AlphaDEX methodology from First Trust, which is designed to select a combination of growth equities and attractive fundamental value. This methodology selects equities from a base universe, and separates them into growth and value categories. The weighting of equities held in ETFs is not based on market capitalisation, but on their AlphaDEX scores. The scores for growth equities are based on three measurements: price appreciation over three, six and twelve months, growth in sales, and their price/sale ratio. The scores for value equities are also based on three measurements: the book price/value ratio, their price/cash flow ratio, and returns on assets. As of 21 June, ETFs under management had USD12bn in assets, compared with USD8.1bn at the beginning of the year. Of this total, the AlphaDEX range currently represents USD5.8bn.

Christian Dargnat, freshly elected as president of EFAMA, the European Fund and Asset Management Association, and also CEO of BNP Paribas Asset Management, has described to Newsmanagers the four priorities which will guide his two-year term, and that will be soon introduced to the board at the association.The first point is that asset management must appear as a long-term investment. “Today, we have an image problem with regulators and politicians. Asset managers are placed in a category with bankers and insurers. But we are different,” says Dargnat, at the Fund Forum International in Monaco. “We need long-term investment, and if there is an industry which can do that, it’s asset management,” he adds. He points out that in France, life insurance has hitherto served in this role. In order to achieve this mission, the EFAMA president would like to use three techniques: integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, with the ambition of finding a common definition of socially responsible investment for Europe, the creation of a long-term investment fund under UCITS 6, and the establishment of portable pensions.The second priority for Dargnat is to “demonstrate to our fellow citizens that asset management delivers added value.” He says that “if you want growth, you have to restart investments, you need savings.” Asset management comes to the rescue again. “Regulators are spending their time punishing us and considering us as bankers. We need to show them that thanks to the savings we capture, we are at the service of the economy,” he says.Pedagogy is a third core priority of the new EFAMA president. This means highlighting the interests of clients, restoring their trust and bringing them closer to professionals. That must involve a simplification of the message, as the client does not necessarily need to know everything that is under the hood of a fund. More concretely, he points to initiatives in Sweden and Italy, where the asset management professional associations send representatives to school to explain what the profession is.Lastly, Dargnat would like to make the voice of EFAMA better heard, at a time when regulations affecting asset management are increasing at a frenetic pace. To do that, he sees a need for more unity and the addition of more members, in order to strengthen the resources of the association.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Since the beginning of the year, the Vice Fund, which invests in shares in the alcohol, tobacco, weapons and gambling sectors, may have underperformed the S&P 500, with gains of only 9.47%, compared with 11.5% for the flagship indicator of the US market. But, El Confidencial remarks, over three years, the product from the asset management firm USA Mutuals has beaten the S&P 500, with gains of 16.5% compared with 10.6%.By way of illustration, an investment of USD10,000 in 2002 in the fund would as of 31 March 2013 have been worth USD27,691 for the Vice fund, compared with USD21,229 for the S&P 500.The Vice Fund is 15.6% invested in Altria, 5.6% in Philip Morris, and 4.7% in Lorillard, for tobacco, and 4.1% each in Las Vegas Sands and Galaxy Entertainment, for gambling.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } In the month to 24 June, the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has issued extensions for QFII quotas totalling USD900m, compared with USD680m in May.Legg Mason Investments (Europe) Limited, AEGON USA Investment Management, LLC, UBS Global Asset Management (Hong Kong) Ltd., ICBC Investment Management Company Limited and HSBC Global Asset Management (Taiwan) Limited have each received a license for USD100m, while the sovereign fund Korea Investment Corporation and the Swedish Andra AP-Fonden (AP2) have quotas totalling USD200m each.According to Z-Ben Advisors, the increase in volume for additional contingents is largely due to the fact that SAFE expects a decline in global liquidity due to a reduction in quantitative easing in the United States.