Natixis AM a annoncé hier sur son site qu'à compter du 29 mars 2013, des modifications interviendront dans la gestion du fonds Natixis Impact Aggregate Euro et de ses OPCVM nourriciers. La détention maximale d’obligations convertibles qui pouvait représenter, auparavant, 25% de l’actif du portefeuille, ne pourra représenter que 15%. Par ailleurs, la détention maximale en titres de créance d’émetteurs dont la notation est inférieure ou égale à BBB- (Source S&P, Fitch) / Baa3 (Source Moody’s) qui pouvait représenter, auparavant, 20% de l’actif du portefeuille ne pourra représenter que 15%. En outre, la notation « inférieure ou égale » à BBB- (Source S&P, Fitch) / Baa3 (Source Moody’s) passera à «strictement inférieure» . Enfin, la mention précisant que le fonds est investi jusqu’à 75% maximum en émetteurs autres que Etat et assimilés est supprimée.
A fin février, M&G a dépassé en France la barre des 4 milliards d’euros d’encours, a annoncé le directeur de la société en France, Brice Anger, lors d’une conférence mardi. La société de gestion britannique, qui s’est implantée à Paris il y a un peu plus de 5 ans, franchit ainsi un nouveau palier de son développement dans l’Hexagone. A fin 2012, elle était à 3,6 milliard d’euros d’encours après avoir collecté 1,7 milliard d’euros sur l’ensemble de l’année. Fin 2011, les actifs ressortaient à 1,5 milliard d’euros.Brice Anger a par ailleurs annoncé que la gamme en France allait s’enrichir avec l’éligibilité au PEA de deux fonds actions britanniques, le M&G UK Growth Fund et le M&G Recovery Fund.Enfin, un nouveau site Internet sera lancé fin avril, a anticipé Benjamin de Frouville, responsable distribution de M&G en France.
Avec le Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Income Fund (acronyme : NMIIX), le gestionnaire Neuberger Berman (205 milliards de dollars d’encours fin décembre) vient de lancer un fonds dont la performance totale est explicitement secondaire. Le portefeuille confié à James Iselin et Blake Miller a pour ambition prioritaire de préserver le capital et de générer des revenus élevés «fiscalement efficaces» grâce à une sélection de valeurs adéquate.L’objectif consiste à tirer le revenu le plus élevé possible qui soit exonéré de l’impôt sur le revenu fédéral ainsi que des impôts sur le revenu de l’Etat de New York et de la municipalité de New York. La duration moyenne sera comprise entre trois et sept ans.Avec leurs 14 analystes et traders, les deux gérants mettent en œuvre une stratégie active pour gérer au total 11 milliards de dollars sur des stratégies exonérées d’impôt pour le compte d’investisseurs institutionnels et de particuliers.
Les principaux hedge funds américains ont tiré parti de l'échec des lancements de fonds alternatifs intervenus l’an dernier en Europe, rapporte Prohedge. Les fonds américains n’ont eu aucune difficulté à recruter les talents européens dans un secteur qui offre une grande stabilité et des infrastructures solides.Pine River, Millenimum, SAC figurent parmi les noms évoqués qui auraient réussi à attirer les spécialistes de certains nouveaux hedge funds qui n’ont pas réussi à décoller, entre autres Edoma, le fonds de Pierre-Henri Flamand, Benros ou encore Portman Square, soit pour cause de performance insuffisante soit tout simplement parce qu’ils n’ont pas réussi à lever suffisamment de capitaux. Pine river aurait ainsi réussi à attirer deux collaborateurs d’Edoma, ainsi que Paul Godfrey de Portman Square. Un revers pour le secteur européen des nouveaux hedge funds qui végète depuis environ cinq ans.
Les cadres bancaires observent très activement les offres d’emploi, dans l’espoir de changer de poste. Selon la dernière édition du baromètre RH Michael Page, 59% d’entre eux exercent une «veille active» en vue de détecter de nouvelles opportunités. Ils étaient 53 % il y a un an. Dans la perspective d’un changement de poste, les motivations principales sont la rémunération (80 % des réponses), la mission et les responsabilités liées au poste (65%) et les perspectives d’évolution (51%). Les cadres bancaires sont moins impressionnés par la solidité de l’entreprise, son image, sa dimension internationale ou encore son engagement social. Ces critères recueillent tous moins de 20% de réponses, précise Michael Page.En attendant un éventuel nouveau poste, les cadres du secteur bancaire continuent de se former en interne. 57% des cadres interrogés ont suivi une ou plusieurs formations sur des thèmes réglementaires tels que Bâle III, la directive MiFid ou encore la gestion des risques. Seuls 22% disent avoir suivi une formation au management, «un pourcentage particulièrement bas pour une population de cadres», analyse le baromètre.
L’UMR (10,2 milliards d’euros) cherche un investisseur qui pourrait prendre une participation majoritaire dans son capital alors que la MGEN a décidé de réduire ses 70 %, rapporte IPE.com. Par la suite, un directeur général permanent sera nommé. Charles Vaquier, directeur général du fonds, indique que la récente nomination de Christian Oyarbide en tant que remplaçant est temporaire.
La société d’investissement immobilier cotée Gecina a annoncé en début de semaine avoir acquis la Tour Mirabeau auprès d’Aberdeen, agissant pour le compte dufonds allemand DEGI International (qui doit être liquidé au 14 octobre 2014). Le montant de la transaction avoisine les 186 millions d’euros hors droits, précise un communiqué. Le taux de rendement net immédiat de cet investissement ressort à un niveau légèrement supérieur à 7%, et progresserait à plus de 8% sur la base d’un taux d’occupation de 100%, l’immeuble étant occupé à 88% - principalement par des entités publiques. La tour est localisée sur les quais de la Seine dans le 15ème arrondissement de Paris.La valeur liquidative du DEGI International a été révisée à la baisse de 15 cents le 25 mars, à 34,85 euros, soit un repli d’environ 0,4 %, en raison de l’actualisation à la baisse des valeurs vénales de deux immeubles du portefeuille situés en Roumanie.
Le néerlandais ABN Amro a confié à Eric Buckens, qui vient du pôle gestion de fortune, la gestion de son premier fonds d’impact investing qui est doté initialement de 10 millions d’euros et qui a vocation à prendre des participations de 20 à 50 % dans des entreprises établies aux Pays-Bas et qui doivent combiner un rendement social avec un rendement financier, rapporte Fondnieuws.Le ABN Amro Social Impact Fonds ne sera pas ouvert pour l’instant à la clientèle, mais pourrait être commercialisé s’il s’avère un succès. Le portefeuille comprendra à terme jusqu'à 15 participations et le fonds fera partie de la division développement durable d’ABN Amro
With the Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Income Fund (ticker: NMIIX), Neuberger Berman Group LLC, has introduced a fund that seeks high current income exempt from federal income tax and New York State and New York City personal income taxes.Total return is a secondary goal : the fund seeks to add value through security selection with a focus on capital preservation and high tax-effective income. The fund invests predominantly in intermediate maturity securities, and will normally maintain an average duration of between three and seven years.The fund is managed by James Iselin et Blake Miller, helped by 14 analysts and traders. In total, the team manages over USD11bn in tax-exempt strategies for institutions and individuals.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fundweb reports that Resolution reported pre-tax operating profits in 2012 of GBP274m, compared with EUR681m the previous year, a decline which is due to EUR404m in exceptional elements in 2011.Assets in the heritage division as of the end of 2012 fell to GBP68.7bn, compared with GBP70.8bn one year previously, while assets at the UK division increased to GBP19.7bn, from GBP16.9bn.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The hedge fund which refers to itself as The Children’s Investment fund, or TCI, is putting an end to the charitable activities which distinguished it in previous years in the world of alternative management, FINalternatives reports. TCI has decided no longer to pay a part of its commissions, of about one third, to the TCI Foundation, an organisation into which it has been paying money since its debut in 2004. It is also discontinuing its donations of 0.5% of its assets under management when the fund earns returns of over 11%. According to one source, TCI has decided to discontinue the practice “largely because the foundation has achieved sufficient size.” The TCI Foundation was thought to have about GBP2bn in assets under management as of August 2011. It has paid slightly under 2% of this amount to charitable causes.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Schroders denies that the departure of one of its most experienced managers, Richard Buxton, is related to the acquisition of Cazenove Capital, the firm announced on Monday. Philip Mallinckrodt, head of Schroders Private Banking at the group, has told FTfm that “Richard was not aware of the merger when he decided to leave.”
Guernsey-based Gottex, which is listed on the Swiss stock exchange, experienced a loss for 2012. The operating loss amounted to USD4.1m vs a profit of USD0.7m for 2011. The company declares a net loss after minority interests of USD7.7m vs USD2.5m the year before, a press release says. The 2013 fiscal year has been starting promisingly.Like for the preceding two years, Gottex will not pays a dividend for 2012.AUM at end-2012 were down to USD7bn vs USD7.3bn twelve months earlier.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of February, M&G passed the threshold of EUR4n in assets in France, the director of the firm for France, Brice Anger, announced in a conference on Tuesday. The British asset management firm, which has been in operation in Paris for slightly over 5 years, thus enters a new phase in its development in France. As of the end of 2012, the firm had EUR3.6bn in assets, after inflows of EUR1.7bn for the year as a whole. As of the end of 2011, assets totalled EUR1.5bn. Anger has also announced that the product range in France will be enlarged as two British equity funds, the M&G UK Growth Fund and M&G Recovery Fund, become eligible for PEA.Lastly, a new website will be launched at the end of April, Benjamin de Frouville, head of distribution for M&G in France, has announced.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Banque Delubac et Cie on 26 March announced the arrival of Côme Jeanroy at Banque de Gestion Privée Delubac, the wealth management unit of the bank, and that it is offering a range of wealth management and investment solutions appropriate to family entrepreneurs. Jeanroy will report to Benjamin Le Moing, and will be responsible for developing entrepreneur clients, with the support of the investment bank, the asset management firm, and wealth and tax management experts at the bank. Jeanroy, 32, who holds a wealth management master’s degree from ESLSCA, joined Delubac & Cie in 2013. He began his career as a private banker at UBS, and then joined the wealth management teams at the Banque Privée 1818 and the Banque Cantonale de Genève.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Régis Bégué, head of research and equity management, has been appointed to the position of managing partner at Lazard Frères Gestion, according to a statement released on 26 March. The joins the college of managing partners at Lazard Frères Gestion, which is chaired by François-Marc Durand and which includes Jean-Jacques de Gournay, head of relations with institutional investors and distribution, Matthieu Grouès, head of collective and institutional management, Sophie de Nadillac, head of development for private management, François de Saint-Pierre, head of private management, and Gilles Trancart, head of operations. Bégué, who joined Lazard in 2005, had previously been an equity manager for the European region.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Rathbone Unit Trust Management is offering an absolute return fund, the Rathbone Heritage fund, a global value strategy based on stock-picking, Fundweb reports. The fund will be managed by Carl Slick, with Alan Dobble, quantitative analyst Elizabeth David, and analyst Kate Pettum. The fund, whose minimal subscription has been set at GBP1m, is primarily aimed at family offices, the high net worth client segment, and pension funds.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The publicly-traded real estate investment fund Gecina announced at the beginning of this week that it has acquired the Mirabeau tower in Paris from Aberdeen, on behalf of the German fund DEGI International (which will be liquidated by 14 October 2014). The sale price is approximately EUR186m, excluding fees, a statement says. The immediate net return on the investment is slightly over 7%, and will increase to over 8% on the basis of a 100% occupancy rate, as the building had bee 88% occupied, largely by public bodies. The tower is located on the banks of the Seine river, in the 15th district of Paris.The net asset value of DEGI International has been revised downward by EUR01.5 on 25 March, to EUR34.85, a reduction of about 0.4%, due to a downward update to the market values of two properties in its portfolio located in Romania.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The major US hedge funds have taken part in launches of hedge funds last year in Europe, Prohedge reports. US funds had no difficulty recruiting European talent in an industry which is highly stable and has solid infrastructure. Pine River, Millennium, and SAC are among the firms which are said to have succeeded in attracting specialists from some new hedge funds that failed to take off, either due to insufficient performance, or simply because they failed to raise adequate capital, such as Edoma, the fund by Pierre-Henri Flamand, Benros, and Portman Square. Pine River is reported to have succeeded in recruiting two team members from Edoma, as well as Paul Godfrey from Portman Square. This is a setback for the European industry of new hedeg funds, which has been stagnating for about five years.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }Assets in European long-term funds as of the end of February totalled EUR4.44trn, their highest level since 2007, according to statistics released by Morningstar. Inflows to long-term open-ended funds as of February totalled EUR35.09bn, compared with EUR47.1bn in January. Bond funds posted a net inflow of EUR11.46bn, compared with subscriptions of EUR9.24bn to equity funds. As a part of equity funds, allocation funds represented EUR9.91bn.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The European family office specialist Stonehage Group has appointed David McLellan as executive director in charge of the London office, Investment Europe reports. McLellan had previously been chief executive officer at Rothschild Trust Group, and a member of the executive board at Rothschild Private Bank & Trust.
Legal & General Group Plc on Tuesday said it has agreed to acquire the 75% share capital of Cofunds Holdings Ltd which it does not already own, for a cash consideration of GBP131m. The transaction will be financed out of L&G’s existing cash resources. The acquisition values Cofunds at GBP175m and is subject to regulatory approval. The transaction is anticipated to complete in H1 2013, and to be earnings accretive by the end of 2014. Cofunds and Investor Portfolio Service («IPS») will form a new business unit within the Savings division. According to L&G’s presse release, Cofunds is the UK’s largest investment platform for financial services and has over GGP50bn of assets under administration, and a share of 22% of the UK investment platform market.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Momentum Global Investment Management has recruited two members as additions to increase its presence on the British retail market, Fundweb reports. David Thomas, who had previously worked at Midas Capital Partners, is joining the firm has head of retail sales, and will be responsible for deploying a long-term growth strategy on the British retail market. Rebecca Nkoane, who joins the firm from Invesco Perpetual, will be responsible for relationships with independent financial advisers (IFA) and networks. Momentum has also finalised strategic partnerships with the Lighthouse Group and YourWealth.co.uk, to sell risk-weighted funds launched in November last year.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Richard Oliver, head of short-term interest rate trading at Morgan Stanley in London, will be joining Brevan Howard, Financial News reports. His role at the asset management firm in Geneva has not been specified.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Netherlands-based firm ABN Amro has appointed Eric Buckens, who joins from the wealth management unit, to manage its first impact investing fund, which will initially have EUR10m in assets, and which aims to acquire 20% to 50% stakes in businesses based in the Netherlands, which combine a social return with a financial return, Fondneiuws reports.The ABN Amro Social Impact Fonds will not be open to clients at present, but may be released if it is successful. The portfolio will eventually include up to 15 stakes, and will belong to the sustainable development division of ABN Amro.
The BaFin has given its green light to the sale of the Global SmartBeta Credit Bonds subfund from Axa IM’s Luxembourg sicav Axa WF in Germany. The fund is designed for institutional investors and managed by Damien Maisoniac in Paris (see Newsmanagers of Feb. 13th).The product belongs to the «buy & maintain» strategy which has some EUR200bn under management, out of the EUR300bn which Axa IM manages in the fixed income space.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } With the assistance of the Frankfurt-based firm Universal-Investment, sentix Asset Management, an affiliate of the behavioural finance consluting firm sentix, is launching the German equity allocation fund sentix Fonds Aktien Deutschland. The product allies traditional investments in German high-quality equities (Dax shares) with management of total exposure according to investor sentiment. Market exposure is managed actively via derivatives, and may range from 80% to 120%.In periods, such as the present, when investors are excessively calm and confident, allocation to equities may be reduced to 80%. If, however, investors appear preoccupied or fearful, sentix specialists will locate a point of entry and may increase exposure to equities up to 120%.The objective is to outperform the Dax by three percentage points per year, with volatility comparable to the benchmark index.CharacteristicsName: sentix Fonds Aktien DeutschlandISIN code: DE000A1J9BC9Front-end fee: currently 2% maximumManagement commission: currently up to 0.955%Performance commission: up to 10% of performance exceeding the Dax 30 TR (EUR); up to 2% of average assets in the fund during the period under review.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The financial ratings agency Fitch Ratings on 26 March announced that, as it does every year, it has updated its ratings criteria for money market funds. The changes, which the agency calls limited, include a racalibration of exposures allowed by the sponsor of a money market funds, which includes the concentration and maturity profile of both secured and unsecured exposures. The changes will not lead to any alterations to ratings within the portfolios of money market funds rated by Fitch.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US firm BNY Mellon has announced an addition to its global team in the area of derivatives clearing. It has recruited Gregory Chemin, who worked at HPC in France and Newedge in Germany, as head of this operation in Frankfurt.Mark B. Gonzalez (New York) is also appointed at COO for derivatives clearing in the United States, while Paul Dex in London and John Guthrie and Thomas Twomey, in New York, will be responsible regionally for identifying and developing activities in the area of listed and OTC derivatives.The men will report to Sanjay Kannambadi, global head derivatives clearing services.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Berlin-based quirin bank as of the end of December had assets of EUR2.4bn, compared with EUR2.3bn one year earlier, due to net subscriptions of EUR143m. Meanwhle, the firm, which operates solely on the basis of fees, in 2012 saw a loss of EUR0.9m, comapred with EUR4.9m the previous year.The number of clients has increased to 8,697, from 8,419.Currently, assets under management total EUR2.5bn, for about 9,000 clients.