Selon Fondsnieuws, le conglomérat nippon Orix serait sur le point d’annoncer l’acquisition du néerlandais Robeco. Seuls les détails seraient encore à négocier. Il semble clair que Roderick Munsters demeurera CEO. En outre, Rabobank, l’actuelle maison-mère, conserverait la distribution des OPCVM pour les Pays-Bas, selon les proches du dossier.Robeco préparerait actuellement une invitation à une conférence de presse sur l’opération.Orix a déjà acheté en 2010 la majorité dans l’américain Mariner Investment Group, un gestionnaire alternatif dont l’encours se situe à 12 milliards de dollars, tandis que Robeco est nettement plus important, avec un encours de 186 milliards d’euros fin septembre 2012.A la fin du trimestre au 31 décembre, Orix a déjà réalisé 90 % de son objectif de bénéfice net pour l’exercice au 31 mars, de sorte que cet objectif a été révisé à la hausse de 10 % à 110 milliards de yen, contre 83,5 milliards pour les douze mois à fin mars 2012.

En Europe, les professionnels de l’investissement prévoient d’augmenter leur allocation moyenne dans les matières premières en 2013. A la suite d’une enquête menée auprès de 350 décideurs, interrogés sur leurs prévisions pour cette année par le promoteur d’ETP, ETF Securities, il ressort que plus de 40% d’entre eux prévoient d’allouer entre 8 et 10% de leurs portefeuilles dans les matières premières. Dans le détail, l’enquête a montré qu’au Royaume-Uni, en Italie et en Allemagne, les investisseurs privilégient les métaux industriels, en particulier le cuivre. A ce titre, les ETC d’ETF Securities physiquement adossés au cuivre ont attiré quelques 28 millions de dollars d’afflux nets au cours de la semaine du 14 au 21 janvier dernier. Soit, les entrées de capitaux hebdomadaires les plus élevées depuis sa cotation, le 10 décembre 2010. L’enquête a également relevé que 40% des investisseurs utilisent actuellement les ETP (Exchange Traded Products) comme méthode principale d’exposition aux matières premières, suivis par 20% en actions et le reste au travers de swaps et de contrats à terme. «La croissance mondiale affiche des signes de reprise, tirée par les Etats-Unis et la Chine», a indiqué Nicholas Brooks, directeur de la stratégie d’investissement d’ETF Securities. «En outre», a-t-il insisté, «la politique monétaire des principales économies développées devrait rester très accommodante». De fait, ces deux facteurs sont favorables aux actifs cycliques, notamment les matières premières. «Cependant, a toutefois précisé le responsable, l’or devrait rester prisé par les investisseurs préoccupés par les risques liés à la dette souveraine en Europe et aux Etats-Unis».

La société de gestion William Blair a demandé à Citi de lui fournir des services d’administration offshore pour ses sicav domiciliées au Luxembourg, selon Hedgeweek.Les actifs sous gestion des sicav de William Blair domiciliées au Luxembourg s’inscrivaient à 1,6 milliard de dollars à fin décembre 2012.

La société de gestion américaine First Trust Advisors cherche à pénétrer le marché européen avec le lancement de sa famille d’ETF « intelligents », rapporte Fund Web. La société, qui gère déjà 9,3 milliards de dollars dans ses ETF basés aux Etats-Unis, cherche à faire approuver trois de ses ETF AlphaDEX au trimestre prochain. L’objectif est de proposer la plupart de ses 39 ETF.

La société GSD Gestion est devenue récemment actionnaire majoritaire de la société Republic AM. Elle détient désormais 66 % du capital, le solde étant contrôlé par la société de média financier MonFinancier SA (www.monfinancier.com). Interrogé par Newsmanagers, Thierry Gautier, directeur général de GSD Gestion a mis en avant la complémentarité de sa maison avec Republic AM. «Tout d’abord, a-t-il indiqué, cette société dispose d’un OPCVM de type absolute return que nous ne possédons pas dans notre gamme. En outre, a-t-il relevé, nous allons pouvoir développer son activité de conseils boursiers ainsi que celle de gestion sous mandats.» Quant à GSD Gestion, elle aura accès à une plateforme médiatique via l’autre actionnaire de Republic AM, lui permettant ainsi de toucher un plus large public. «L’entrée au capital de Republic AM va permettre de combiner le savoir-faire B2B de GSD et B2C de Republic AM, en développant de nouvelles offres de services communes, à destination des CGP et de la clientèle privée», résume un communiqué de GSD Gestion. En chiffres, GSD Gestion qui intègre le gérant de l’OPCVM «Absolute Return» de Republic AM dans ses effectifs, affiche un encours d’environ 100 millions d’euros. De son côté, Republic AM dispose d’un encours d’environ 12 millions d’euros. La petite société de gestion s'était signalée au cours de l'été dernier par l’intermédiaire de l’un de ses associés-gérants d’alors, Matteo Novelli, qui avait, entre autres, utilisé le réseau social professionnel LinkedIn, pour mettre sa maison en vente. L’intéressé précisait que son activité comprenait à la fois de la gestion collective et sous mandat, pour un montant sous gestion de 21 millions d’euros, et invitait les personnes intéressées à lui laisser leurs coordonnées téléphoniques «pour les contacter avant la fin de la semaine et leur fournir plus d’informations».

The Swiss Federal Council on 13 February announced that it has set the date of 1 March for the introduction of the revised law on collective investments, which also aims to guarantee access to the Swiss financial market to the European market. Switzerland urgently had to close loopholes in its regulations to prevent some financial actors restricting access to European markets. The European Union is planning to introduce the AIFM directive in July this year. The revised ordinance, which provides for a tax hike and fees charges by the financial regulator (Finma), will also cone into effect on 1 March. Reservations expressed by those affected have been taken into consideration, the government says. Two new clauses in the law will come into effect on 1 June. One of these concerns qualified investors. According to the definition adopted by Parliament, all parties who sign a wealth management contract are considered “qualified investors,” unless explicitly stated otherwise in writing. The law will only protect “unqualified” investors. The other clause related to key investor information. Investors will receive a written record of information exchanged when they subscribe to a fund.

Irving picard, the court-appointed trustee for Bernard L. Madoff Inestment Securities, has asked a US Federal judge for permission to pay out another USD505m to victims of the fraud, the Wall Street Journal reports. If the judge grants the request, 2,178 investors will begin to receive checks totalling USD5.428bn, shortly after a hearing scheduled for 13 March. Of this total, more than 1,110 people will receive all of the principal they lost in the scandal. The payments will be up to USD458,000 per Madoff victim.

An investigation by the US authorities into suspected insider trading at the hedge fund management firm SAC Capital Advisors has been extended to take in 4 to 6 more stocks, the Financial Times reports, citing sources familiar with the mtter. The investigation is at a preliminary stage, and may not result in formal charges, the newspaper reports.

With the Rainbow Fund, an international large cap equity fund, Turgot Asset Management is releasing what it claims is the first gay-friendly fund on 21 February. The portfolio will consist of companies whose range of goods and services is identifiably aimed at the gay population, and/or which have set up anti-discrimination measures, particularly with regards to the gay population. A study by Turgot Am finds that “companies which have signed an equality or sexual identity charter have considerably superior results, partly due to a more contented workforce.” The Rainbow Fund, created by Benoît Suquet at Coutainville Finances, is managed by Sandrine Cauvin and co-managed by Marion Casal. It invests with a bottom-up approach, selecting firms which offer prospects of growth. The fund is 60% to 100% exposed to international equities, and may be up to 20% exposed to emerging markets, and 20% to small and midcaps. The portfolio will include shares such as Barclays, Apple, Sodexo, Christian Dior, McDonalds, etc. Characteristics Name: Rainbow Fund ISIN code: FR0011343805 Management fees: 2.5% Benchmark index: MSCI World (dividends reinvested)

In January, according to the results of a Europerformance study of assets in French-registered funds, assets under management rose by +1.22%, bringing total assets under management to EUR773.3bn. This increase in assets is partly due to positive performance effects and significant net inflows, both to treasury and to equity funds. In the former case, net inflows totalled EUR1.8369trn, and in the latter, EUR1.4419bn. However, bond funds overall have seen net outflows. Redemptions totalled EUR333.4bn. In terms of returns, the equity category has gained an average of 2.25%, while bonds lost 0.44%. Only funds investing in convertible bonds posted average gains of 0.9%. For equity funds, most net inflows went to funds investing in Europe (+EUR112.97306bn), far outpacing international equity funds (EUR35.69249bn), and funds investing in the US Market (EUR15.14747bn). Due to positive returns for all three categories (+3.01% for European funds, +1.64% for international equity funds, and 2.36% for US funds), their respective assets have risen by 3.6%, 3.33%, and 4.61%.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a call for evidence on the evaluation of the regulation on short selling and certain aspects of credit default swaps (SSR). This follows receipt of a formal mandate from the European Commission seeking technical advice on the evaluation of the effects of the SSR.In order to prepare its technical advice on the effects of the SSR, ESMA is inviting investors, market participants and any other interested stakeholders to provide responses to the questions outlined in the call for evidence by 15 March.

Assets under management in funds of hedge funds fell by USD44.3bn in 2012, to a total as of the end of December of USD501bn, according to statistics from Trim Tabs Investment Research, the New York Post reports. Assets in these funds have continually been on the decline since 2008, when they peaked at over USD800bn. Fund of funds generally underperform hedge funds, due to the added commission burden. They gained 4.5% last year, compared with 8.5% for hedge funds.

On the basis of a sample of 3,492 hedge funds, BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research estimate that investors withdrew a net total of USD14.2bn from hedge funds last year, after placing USD50.7bn in net subscriptions with them in 2011.Redemptions hit a 44-month high in December, at USD20.7bn, the two firms report, adding that the average performance of hedge funds was 8.5% in 2012, while the performance of the S&P 500 index was 13.4%. In the last three months of the year, hedge funds gained 2.46%, while the S&P 500 lost 1%.In January 2013, the BarclayHedge index, on the basis of results from 1,288 hedge funds as of 13 February, has earned 2.81%.

Several asset management firms have had a highly positive quarter in terms of subscriptions. As of the end of December, the Paris office of Franklin Templeton returned to record asset levels of about USD4.5bn, with a very strong acceleration of inflows from 15 December on. This dynamic has continued in early 2013, the CEO of the firm, Dominique de Préneuf, has told Newsmanagers. The office in Paris opened in 1994 with USD230m (not including CBOs).In the coming months, Franklin Templeton is planning to highlight its Asian and European small and midcaps products, and European equities, with the Franklin European Growth and Franklin Mutual Euroland. The latter has the advantage for IFAs of being eligible for PEA savings plans. The firm also plans to promote three emerging market equity funds managed by the team led by Mark Mobius, Templeton Asian Growth, Templeton Frontier Markets, and Templeton Africa, all of which are particularly well-suited to platforms. “Of course, in fixed income, the Templeton Glboal Total Return fund, managed by another start of the group, Michael Hasenstab,” will be «pushed».

The board of directors of Legg Mason (USD654bn of AUM as of the end of January) on February 13 announced that it has appointed Joseph A. Sullivan president and chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors, effective immediately.Since October 1, 2012, Mr. Sullivan has served as Legg Mason’s interim CEO, after the departure of Mark Fetting. He joined Legg Mason in 2008 as senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer and more recently, served as head of global distribution.In addition, the board of directors announced that Dennis M. Kass, a veteran leader in the asset management industry, will join the Legg Mason board, effective April 1, 2013. Mr. Kass retired in 2012 as CEO of Jennison Associates, an asset management company wholly‐owned by Prudential Financial, Inc., having served in this position since 2003. Previously, he had spent more than a decade with JP Morgan’s Investment Management unit, culminating in the position of vice chairman of JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management.

Morgan Stanley on 13 February announced the appointment of Maximilien de Wailly as Managing Director, to direct Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI) in France, the real estate investment activity of Morgan Stanley IM on the French market. Before joining Morgan Stanley, de Wailly spent nine years (2004-2013) at RREEF Real Estate (Deutsche Bank), where he led real estate private equity fund activities investing in France. In this period, he was in charge of acquisitions and management of a portfolio of EUR4.5bn. He had previously worked at Morgan Stanley from 1999 to 2004. He was also chairman of the supervisory committee of the Le Printemps group. De Wailly will report directly to Brian Niles, head of MSREI Europe.

From USD98.36m in 2011, net profits declared by Morningstar Inc rose to USD108.08m last year. That represents an increase of 9.9%, and profits per share totalled USD2.10, compared with USD1.92.Joe Mansueto, chairman & CEO, points out that for the past year as a whole, revenues grew organically by 5%, with Morningstar Direct and Morningstar Data driving this growth. As of 31 December, the group had USD321.4m in cash, compared with USD470.2m twelve months previously.Assets under management or advisement contracted, as predicted, by 31.4% year on year, to USD94.3bn for the investment advisory services unit, while they gained 26.2% to USD47.2bn for retirement solutions, and rose 51.6% for Morningstar Managed Portfolios. Lastly, Ibbotson Australia has gained 13.8% in assets under management or advisement, to USD3.3bn.

Scor Global Investments, the asset management unit of the Scor group, has launched a website independent of that of its parent company. Agefi Weekly reports that the tool is intended to help the company grow, as it is planning to develop third-party activities. So far, results remain modest, as the firm has posted inflows of slightly over EUR100m. Without setting an overly ambitious objective, François de Varenne, chairman of the board, sees bigger. “If, in three to five years, I have the equivalent of 10% of assets from the Scor group under management for third parties, which would be EUR1bn to EUR2bn, I would be delighted,” he says. At this stage, activities are concentrated on continental Europe. Scor GI is targeting private banks, family offices and large institutional investors as its first priority.

The Investment Solutions unit of BNP Paribas last year posted a 5.6% increase in its assets under management compared with 31 December 2011, to EUR889bn (EUR842bn as of 31 December 2011). This increase is primarily due to favourable performance effects, driven by gains on the financial markets, particularly in second half. The firm recorded net outflows at -EUR6.1bn, penalised by the reinernalisation of a distribution contract by a fund management firm in third quarter. Excluding this effect, net inflows were +EUR5.2bn in 2012. Net inflows were positive to all professions in 2012, except asset management. Inflows to wealth management were good, particularly in the domestic and Asian markets, with good contributions from insurance outside France, particularly in Asia (Taiwan, South Korea), as well as from Personal Investors, particularly in Germany. Inflows to asset management in money market and bond funds, for their part, more than offset outflows from other asset classes. As of 31 December 2012, assets under management in Investment Solutions were distributed as follows: EUR405bn in asset management, EUR266bn in Wealth Management, EUR170bn in Insurance, EUR35bn in Personal Investors, and EUR13bn in Real Estate Services.

Gregory Molinaro will be leaving CPR AM at the end of February, after more than seven years at the asset management firm, an affiliate of Amundi. The professional is head of the beta allocation unit, and manager of the growth range, which has more than EUR850m in assets overall. A reorganisation of the management team will be announced in a few days, but it already appears tha Mark Haddouk, head of balanced management, will take over management of the funds which Molinaro had been responsible for.

Newsmanagers understands that Françoise Rochette, head of the asset allocation unit at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EdRAM), will in slightly over two months be joining French Boutique Mandarine Gestion, a firm for which she already externally manages asset allocation for the diversified FCP fund Mandarine Reflex (FR0010753608). The funds is officially managed by Marc Renaud and Joëlle Morlet-Selmer, with assets, according to Morningstar, of EUR195.05m as of 11 February.

The US asset management firm First Trust Advisors looks to enter the European market, with the launch of its family of “intelligent” ETFs, Fund Web reports. The firm, which already has USD9.3bn in assets under management in its US-based ETFs, is applying to approve its AlphaDEX ETFs next quarter. The aim is to offer most of its 30 ETFs.

The asset management firm William Blair has asked Citi to provide it with offshore administration services for its Sicav domiciled in Luxembourg, according to Hedgeweek. Assets under management in the William Blair Luxmembourg Sicav domiciled in Luxembourg totalled USD1.6bn as of the end of December 2012.

Several macro hedge funds have made winning bets against the Japanese yen in the past few months, the Financial Times reports. Caxton Associates, the British-American fund managed by former Goldman Sachs partner Andrew Law, has gained 10% in the past three months, while Tudor Investment Corporation and Moore Capital have seen gains of 9% for their flagship funds.

The Swiss firm RepRisk on 13 February announced that it has signed a cooperation agreement with the Frankfurt-based AfU Investor Research to launch a “sustainable development” investment fund filtering product.Analysis is based on a methodology which uses the RepRisk methodology for each business in the portfolio, to determine a sustainability rating which reflects the Reputation Risk Indiator (RRI) for the fund concerned. The rating is weighted according to the size of each position in the portfolio of the fund in quesiton.A joint study by RepRisk and AfU IR undertaken in 2012 found that conventional funds have ratings virtually as good as funds which are designed specifically to take environmental, social and governance issues into account.The new joint product, which is aimed at asset managers, private banks, institutional investors and consultants, will provide clients with the average RRI rating for positions in the fund and their long-term evolution, the distribution of positions in the portfolio between various risk classes, an analysis of the peer group, and a comparison with the five best and worst funds in the same risk category.

Hermann Pfeifer, head of institutional ETF sales Germany & Austria at Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) since 2011, and previously head of European fund sales (North) at db x-trackers (Deutscche Bank), has been promoted to the newly-created position of head of Lyxor ETF Germany, Austria & Eastern Europe.He is responsible for overseeing the development of Lyxor’s activities on the German, Austrian and Eastern European markets. Germany is one of the largest ETF markets for the French asset management firm, whose Frankfurt office has five employees.

Assets under management at Banque Cantonale Vaudoise rose 6% in 3012, to CHF81.7bn, according to statistics released by the group on 14 February. Net inflows totalled CHF160m, due to an inflow of CHF1.2bn to onshore funds, and an expected withdrawal of CHF1bn from offshore funds.

Credit Suisse has launched an online resource for structured investment solutions, according to a statement released on 13 February. The website, aimed ta banks, external wealth managers and client advisers at the major bank, can trade structured products and custom securitised derivative products based on over 300 asets (equities, currencies and precious metals). The minimal investment for equity products is CHF20,000, and CHF50,000 for products related to currencies, the bank says.

S&P Dow Jones Indices reports that the range of S&P GIVI™ Shariah Indices which it is currently launching will be the first family of Sharia-compliant indices which combine low volatility and an alternative weighting schema, depending on the intrinsic value of the shares, rather than their capitalisation size.The first five Sharia-compliant indices, S&P GIVI Developed Shariah Index, S&P GIVI Emerging Shariah Index, S&P GIVI Europe Shariah Index, S&P GIVI Pan Asia Shariah Index et S&P GIVI United States Shariah Index, apply Sharia compatibility filters to shares from the S&P GIVI universe.

Funds People reports that Sabadell is offering a 1.5% rebate on transfers made by clients of other asset management firms to its own funds and discretionary management until 30 June, on the condition that the transferred amount is over EUR6,000. The corresponding payment will be made in two stages, 50% on 31 January 2014, and the remainder one year later.