Rasini Fairway Capital est la dernière société de gestion en date à avoir re-domicilié son fonds, Stafford SICAV Global Equity Fund, au Luxembourg dans un cadre Ucits, rapporte Investment Europe. Pour cela, la société basée à Zurich et Londres a utilisé la plate-forme Alceda Ucits. Précédemment, la Sicav était domiciliée dans les Iles Vierges britanniques.

KBL European Private Bankers (KBL epb) a annoncé le 23 mai la nomination officielle de trois nouveaux membres au Comité de Direction de la société : Frédéric Genet, CEO Professional Services, dont l’arrivée a été signalée par Newsmanagers le 28 février dernier ; Marc Lauwers, Chief Operating Officer et Yves Stein, CEO, Private Banking.Chacun de ces professionnels expérimentés de l’industrie financière, basé à Luxembourg, assume une responsabilité au niveau du Groupe, en renforçant ainsi la présence de la KBL epb dans neuf pays en Europe. En qualité de CEO, Professional Services, Frédéric Genet mettra l’accent sur le renforcement des services offerts par les departments Global Investor Services, Global Financial Markets, Assets & Liabilities Management et Credit du Groupe. Il a précédemment occupé le poste de CEO à la Société Générale Bank & Trust, deuxième plus grande banque au Luxembourg. Marc Lauwers, qui a travaillé récemment en qualité de Directeur de la division Banque de détail et commerciale de Belfius Bank en Belgique, a trois mandats principaux chez KBL epb : Operations, IT et Facilities & Logistics. Auparavant, il a occupé le poste de Chief Operating Officer de la Dexia Bank Belgique après avoir été CEO de Dexia Banka Slovensko, en Slovaquie. Dans son rôle stratégique de CEO, Private Banking, Monsieur Stein contribuera à la croissance du métier de base du Groupe, le Private Banking, en Europe et à l’international. Il a occupé auparavant le poste de CEO chez Union Bancaire Privée (Europe) à Luxembourg et précédemment, de Directeur Général, Private Banking, chez BNP Paribas (Suisse). Messieurs Genet, Lauwers et Stein rejoignent, au sein du Comité de Direction, Jacques Peters, Group CEO ; Olivier de Jamblinne de Meux, CEO, Luxembourg et Yves Pitsaer, Chief Finance and Risk Officer.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As part of the EUR2.5bn Renewable Energies & New Technologies (RENT) investment programme by its parent company Munich Re, the German asset management firm MEAG has announced that it has acquired three wind farms from Eolus Vind AB which are already connected to the Swedish power grid. The units have a total power generation capacity of 30 megawatts. Eolus will continue to be responsible for the operation of the installations. The sale price has not been disclosed.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Property Business division of Henderson Global Investors (HGI), whose assets total about GBP12.7bn, has recruited Tony He as director of property, China consultancy. He had been chief financial officer at Tesco Property China.He will be primarily based in the HGI office in Beijing, and will work in close collaboration with the real estate team at the British asset management firm for the Asia-Pacific region.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss bank Neue Helvetische Bank founded two years ago by Thomas Matter and Daniel Hefti, two former bankers from Swissfirst, has posted a loss of GBP695,000 for 2012. By March 2014, the directors of the firm are hoping to publish balanced books The Corporate Finance activity is primarily contributing to earnings, while wealth management and wealth management advising activities are less satisfactory than expected, Finews reports. In order to bring new dynamism to these two activities, NHB will soon launch new offers for clients.As of the end of 2012, the bank has CHF642m in assets under management. Currently, the newspaper estimates that assets are about CHF800m. NHB hopes to top CHF1bn during the year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Societe Generale Securities Services in Italy (SGSS S.p.A.) has been appointed by Rinascimento Sicav to act as its local transfer agent in Italy, providing it with paying agent and investor relations management services with reference to investors located in Italy. SGSS in Italy offers a complete range of securities services, including settlement, custody and trustee services, fund administration, liquidity management and transfer agent services. Rinascimento Sicav is a Luxembourg-registered open-ended collective investment fund.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Banca Generali has recruited Elisa Feliciani, former director of the branch of Banca Albertini Syz in Rome, Bluerating reports. Last year, the bank had recruited Ernestina Anceschi from Banca Albertini Syz.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As part of a two-year campaign, BNY Mellon Wealth Management is planning to increase its sales personnel by 50%, and also to recruit private bankers, mortgage specialists, portfolio managers, and sales support personnel, the group has announced. This may result in the creation of 100 jobs.As a partner in this recruitment drive in the United States and worldwide, BNY Mellon has selected Futurestep, an affiliate of Korn/Ferry International Company.As of the end of March, assets in the wealth management unit of BNY Mellon totalled USD188bn for retail clients.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } T. Rowe Price has announced that it has filed an application with the SEC for a new series of eleven target date funds, the T. Rowe Price Target Retirement Funds. The new funds are designed based on an investment of 42.5% in equities before the retirement date, compared with 55% for existing retirement funds, which as of the end of March had assets of USD88.1bn. The new range will be available from 22 August 2013.The Target Retirement Funds are aimed at investors seeking a strategy which places less emphases on long-term income flows as well as investors seeking to reduce long-term volatility at the time of their retirement, or who are seeking only moderate growth potential.For these new products, T. Rowe Price has selected Jerome Clark and Wyatt Lee as co-managers, who are rexpectively principal portfolio manager and associate portfolio manager for the Retirement Funds series.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US firm Morgan Creek Capital Management will acquire the fund of fund activity of the alternative asset management firm Signet Capital Management, the New York Times reports. Assets under management in this activity total about USD700m. Senior asset management teams at Signet, as well as the founder of the firm, Robert Marquardt, and its CEO and co-head of management, Serge Umansky, will join Morgan Creek. The transaction is expected to be completed during second quarter.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNP Paribas Securities Services has appointed Annalisa Winge Bicknell as regional head of sales and relationships with institutional investor clients, Hedgeweek reports. Bicknell had previously worked at SEB, where she had been head of customer services for the Scandinavian countries, Luxembourg and Germany.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Thomas de Saint-Seine, head of equities, CEO and founding partner of Reyl Asset Management, is planning to launch a second emerging market fund at the end of June, Citywire Global reports. The fund will have a larger capacity than the existing Reyl Emerging Markets Equities fund, which will be closed with about USD2.5-3bn. It will also invest in larger cap sizes than the first fund, and its strategy will be slightly different.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } 11 out of 13 Edhec-Risk alternative strategies showed gains in the month of April. The best strategy in the month under review was CTA Global, which gained 2.08%. Strategies dedicated to equities posted gains compatible with their model, at +0.65% for long/short equity, 0.00% for equity market neutral, and 0.82% for event-driven.The short-selling strategy, however, showed losses, with negative performance of 2.90% for the month.The fund of fund index did well, with gains of 0.70%, continuing its positive orientation early in the year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to the third annual Global Fund Investor Experience report by Morningstar, foreign funds in sale in Spain are more costly than Spanish funds, except for money markets funds, Funds People reports. In other words, foreign funds drive up the average price of products sold in Spain.On average, the TER for diversified funds is 0.95% for funds domiciled in Spain, and 1.64% for all diversified funds, including foreign funds. For bond funds, the TER is 1.01% for Spanish funds and 1.31% for all products in the class. The difference is minimal, however, for equity funds, with 1.88% for Spanish funds and 1.90% for all funds overall.For money markets, the overall average is 0.40%, while the average TER for Spanish money market funds is 0.51%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Last week, the US authorities issued subpoenas to four top directors of the alternative asset management firm SAC Capital Advisors as part of an investigation into insider trading, the Wall Street Journal reports.The individuals belong to the inner circle of Steven A. Cohen, CEO and founder: they are the chairman of SAC, Thomas Conheeney, Steven Kessler, head of compliance, Solomon Kumin, COO, and Philipp Villhauer, head of trading.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } One day after launching on NYSE Euronext Paris, Lyxor Asset Management has listed the Lyxor ETF Unleeraged S&P 500 VIX Futures Enhanced Roll fund (ISIN code: FR0011376565), which replicates the S&P 500 VIX Futures Enhanced Roll Index combined with the federal funds effective rate, on the XTF segment of Xetra (Deutsche Börse). Depending on the volatility observed, the proportion of the VIX portfolio may vary between 50% and 100%. The fund charges fees of 0.40%.The XTF segment now lists 1,020 ETFs.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The ETF provider Lyxor Asset Management is adding to its physical replication range, adopting this mode of replication for seven UCITS ETFs which replicate EuroMTS Investment Grade indices. Lyxor thus strengthens its presence in two strategic priority areas: the development of its range of physical replication ETFs and of its bond offerings.“For each underlying index, Lyxor has defined the fund structure which optimises investment performance compared with the index,” a statement from Lyxor says.Each fund will invest directly in investment grade government bonds with varying maturities issued in the euro zone which constitute the respective EuroMTS Investment Grade Government indices, without the use of sampling techniques, in order to achieve the highest possible correlation with the performance of the index.The management process will exclude all securities lending operations, as these will not bring sufficient improvement in returns on investment to justify counterparty risks. Lyxor aims to offer clients the solution which offers the best risk/reward profile.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Russell Investments is now offering the new Russell Absolute Return Bund Fund (ticker: RARBF), a sub-fund of its Irish Sicav, in France. According to a statement, the US asset management firm is aiming to “capture a wider range of opportunities than traditional bond funds” with the product, by using complementary strategies to generate absolute returns while also generating “solid” risk-adjusted returns.The management team will use a range of active strategies on fixed income markets (developed and emerging countries), currencies and credit, combined with long/short strategies. “Unlike a traditional bond fund, which would be long duration, and consequently exposed to the risk of interest rate increases, the RARBF is constructed to take short positions in order to maximise gains for investors,” Russell states. The primary characteristics of the fund are available as an attachment.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Quilvest & Partners, the private equity activity of the Quilvest group, on 23 May announced that it has closed fundraising for three funds: QS PEP 2012, QS REP II and QS Capital Strategies, with totals of USD150m, USD300m and USD230m, respectively. QS PEP 2012 and QS REP II have exceeded their fundraising objectives, while QS Capital Strategies has been oversubscribed and subjected to a hard cap. The USD80m committed by investors to QS Capital Strategies may be complemented by an additional USD150m, via Small Business Administration (SBA) debt financing in the United States. However, this supplementary financing is subject to the issuance of a license by the US authorities.Meanwhile, Quilvest & Partners has announced the launch of QS PEP Core, a four-year investment programme in private equity funds worldwide, which succeeds the annual Quilvest flagship programme, QS PEP. Quilvest aims to raise up to USD400m for the first generation of QS PEP Core. The fund will concentrate on the core strategy of Quilvest & Partners, which is to identify the best private equity funds from small and mid-sized LBO and capital development firms, with a selection process to select about 10 funds per year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Italian financial market authority, Consob, has levelled pecuniary administrative sanctions against seven representatives of BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Management Italy Sgr, and the firm itself, totalling EUR148,000, Bluerating reports. The Italian regulator accuses the individuals of “late and inadequate” planning for management of funds aimed at retail investors, and poor management of conflicts of interest.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Zug-based wealth management firm Partners Group on 22 May announced that it has issued mezzanine financing for a real estate construction project in the United Kingdom. The loan will be used for renovation and development of the residential and commercial site Heyford Park in Oxfordshire. The site, on which 800 people reside and which has 1000 employees, includes 1.4 million square metres of commercial space and 312 housing units, a statement says. Dorchester Group acquired the site in 2009 and will continue to administer it. The objective is to renovate the existing homes and to create 750 new homes, as well as to lease out commercial space.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Korea Teachers Pension Fund (KTPF) has appointed Park Min as chief investment officer, Asian Investor reports. The Asian website reveals that this is the first time that the pension fund has filled the position through an internal promotion. Assets under management by the pension fund totalled slightly over USD11bn as of the end of December 2011, according to available statistics.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Austrian-German asset management firm C-Quadrat Investment has reported net profits for first quarter 2013 of EUR1.93m, compared with EUR0.68m for the corresponding period of last year, which partly reflects the first consolidation of the asset management firms BCM (London/Geneva) and APM (Vienna).The acquisition of 50.01% of Kepler-Chevreux by QC Partners (EUR160m, an affiliate of C-Quadrat), in partnership with Q-Advisers and the management of the firm, was completed at the end of April.Over twelve months, the increase in assets at C-Quadrat totalled 47%, to EUR4.47bn as of the end of March.Revenues from management commissions totalled EUR11.68m, compared with EUR10.38m for first quarter 2012, while performance commissions totalled EUR2.28m, compared with EUR0.2m.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } UK-based F&C has announced the recruitment of Nick Woodwart, who will become a structurer in the liability-driven investment (LDI) team, and Kristy Barr as director, sales & client relationships. The two will be added to the institutional team.Woodwart had been head of modelling and head of LDI in the investment advisory team at KPMG, while the second had been founding partner and head of marketing & investor relations at Callanish Capital Partners.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For the fiscal year ending on 31 March, Investec has reported net inflows of GBP4.9bn, of which GBP4.1bn are for the asset management unit, and GBP0.8bn for the Wealth & Investment unit (to which Williams de Broë was transferred in August).Assets increased to GBP69.8bn, compared with GBP61.6bn for asset management, and GBP40.4bn compared with GBP34.8bn for Wealth & Investment. Overall, assets under management for third parties increased by 14.4% to GBP110.7bn as of the end of March, compared with GBP96.8bn twelve months previously.Operating profits increased 4.8% to GBP140.2m for asset management, and 30.9% to GBP50.7m for the Wealth & Investment unit.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Dan Vaughan, the head of British small caps at Threadneedle Investments, has left the firm for an “extended sabbatical leave,” Citywire reports. His return date is not known.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British bank Lloyds Banking Group, which was bailed out by the British government during the 2008 financial crisis, has sold part of its stake in the wealth management firm St James’s Place for about GBP450m (EUR526m), according to a statement released on 23 May. The website Fundweb had previously reported an amount of GBP500m (Newsmanagers of 23 May). Lloyds Bnaking Group has announced that it has sold 77 million shares at a price of GBP.580 per share, as part of a placement to investors. The gross proceeds of the placement are about GBP450m, the group has said in a statement, adding that its net capital gains will be about GBP40m. The operation will allow the bank to increase its tier 1 common equity ratio by about GBP500m, or 16 basis points. After the sale, the bank will still control 21% of capital in the firm.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } With the Wellington Opportunistic Emerging Markets Debt II, Wellington Management is now offering an opportunistic strategy based on emerging market debt, in a Luxembourg-domiciled vehicle available to institutions which are subject to the German insurance surveillance law (VAG), including insurers and retirement institutions. The portfolio may be invested in government and corporate bonds, “hard” currencies and local currencies. “On average, the ratings of securities in the portfolio is at the crossover limit. Securities are hedged for currency risks, and reporting is adapted to the requirements of VAG regulations,” Absolut Report states. Characteristics Name: Wellington Opportunistic Emerging Markets Debt II ISIN code: LU0629164780 Management commission: 0.65% Total expense ratio: maximum 0.90%

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } US-based asset management firm Harbor Funds (USD74bn as of 31 March) has announced that it has selected the US affiliate of the Scottish firm Baillie Gifford (USD142bn) to take over management of the Harbor International Growth Fund (ticker: HAIGX), whose assets total about USD220m, as sub-advisor. Since 1 March 2004, the sub-advisor for the fund had been Marsico Capital Management.The sole manager of the fund at Marsico had been a former Goldman Sachs manager, James Gendelman. He will be replaced by a team of four portfolio managers at Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited, composed of Gerard Callahan, Iain Campbell, Joe Faraday and Paul Faulkner. Callahan is chair of the international focus portfolio construction group and head of UK equities at Baillie Gifford.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Rasini Fariway Capital has become the most recent asset management firm to move the domicile of its fund, Stafford SICAV Global Equity Fund, to a UCITS-compliant Luxembourg format, Investment Europe reports. For this, the Zurich and London-based firm is using the Alceda UCITS platform. The Sicav had previously been domiciled in the British Virgin Islands.