L’AMF a publié la déclaration de franchissement de seuil par Equis Gestion (fiduciaire), qui détient 7,76% du capital et 7,52% de Belvédère, rapporte L’Agefi. Dans le cadre du contrat de fiducie, Equis Gestion s’engage à voter en faveur des résolutions présentées par le groupe et contre celles présentées par Nicolas Miguet.

À compter de ce lundi, Natixis AM a modifié la limite maximum de détention d’instruments de titrisation hors CDO (collateralized debt obligations), en direct ou via des OPCVM de son fonds Natixis Crédit Euros 1-3. Celle-ci est désormais réduite à 10 %, alors qu’elle était de 25 % auparavant.Les investisseurs concernés sont porteurs des parts du fonds : I(C) : FR0011068642, I(D) : FR0011071273, R(C) : FR0011071778)

State Street fait face à deux plaintes aux Etats-Unis arguant qu’il a conservé une « part exorbitante » des revenus de prêt de titres, ce qui s’est traduit par des « pertes massives » de « centaines de millions de dollars » pour les investisseurs, rapporte le Financial Times Fund Management. Les plaignants sont the Retirees of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company Health Care Trust et the Glass Dimensions Inc Profit Sharing Plan and Trust. State Street estime ces accusations sans fondement et a annoncé vouloir se défendre contre elles.

Gary Withers, le managing director de First State Investments pour l’Europe, le Moyen-Orient et l’Asie, a quitté la société. Il sera remplacé par Chris Turpin, qui a rejoint la société en 2003 et qui est actuellement responsable mondial produits, un rôle qu’il conserve.Parallèlement, Kanesh Lakhani a été nommé responsable de la distribution, EMEA & relations avec les consultants à l’échelle mondiale. Il est actuellement responsable de l’activité institutionnelle et wholesale dans la région. Il a rejoint la société en 2011.Les deux sont basés à Londres. Michael Stapleton est par ailleurs devenu managing director Asie Pacifique, un poste nouvellement créé, alors que Joanna Davison, managing director pour l’Australie et la Nouvelle Zélande a quitté la société. Micheal Stapleton est actuellement managing director régional pour l’Asie et le Japon, depuis 2009. Il est basé à Hong Kong.

L'écossais Aberdeen Asset Management va instaurer des droits d’entrée de 2% à compter du 11 mars 2013sur les fonds Aberdeen Global – Emerging Markets Fund (15,5 milliards de dollars d’encours) et Aberdeen Global – Emerging Markets Smaller Companies Fund (2,7 milliards de dollars) «comme prochaine étape, afin de réduire les flux dans ces fonds».Dans un contexte de taux d’intérêt faibles, l’intérêt des investisseurs institutionnels et privés pour les marchés émergents demeure élevé avec de nouveaux flux attendus sur la classe d’actifs. Il en résulte qu’en dépit des efforts d’Aberdeen pour ralentir les flux sur ses produits actions marchés émergents globaux, le gestionnaire a constaté une nouvelle augmentation de ces flux. Afin d’éviter une progression future, la décision a été prise d’appliquer des droits d’entrée.Les droits d’entrée de 2% seront acquis au fonds concerné, au bénéfice de l’ensemble des porteurs de parts. Les frais de gestion annuels relatifs aux fonds demeurent inchangés.

Selon le dernier Pridham Report de Fundscape relayé par Investment Week, les trois premiers gestionnaires d’actifs par les souscriptions nettes du retail l’an dernier sur le marché britannique ont été M&G (2.637,6 millions de livres), devant Standard Life Investments (SLI, avec 2.535,1 millions) et BNY Mellon avec 2.038 millions. BlackRock et Threadneedle se classent quatrième et cinquième avec respectivement 1.969,2 millions et 1.569,4 millions. Axa IM arrive en huitième position, avec 1.042,6 millions de livres.

Pimco, Axa et BlackRock sont les trois sociétés de gestion ayant enregistré en 2012 plus de 10 milliards d’euros de souscriptions nettes en Europe, alors que le secteur dans son ensemble collectait 185,9 milliards d’euros nets, selon les dernières statistiques de Lipper.Pimco se classe largement en tête avec des entrées nettes de 35,1 milliards d’euros, profitant de la ruée des investisseurs sur les fonds obligataires. Ces derniers ont en effet enregistré en 2012 des souscriptions nettes de 225,2 milliards d’euros, soit le plus fort montant jamais enregistré.Axa arrive ensuite avec 24 milliards d’euros, tandis que BlackRock engrange 14,8 milliards d’euros.Face au succès des fonds obligataires, les fonds actions ont accusé des rachats nets de 8,8 milliards d’euros, tandis que les fonds monétaires ont vu sortir 44,5 milliards d’euros.Lipper note enfin que les fonds transfrontières ont enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 220,7 milliards d’euros en 2012 (hors fonds monétaires) et représentent désormais 45 % des actifs des fonds européens.

En attendant la nomination d’un managing director «définitif» pour l’Allemagne et l’Autriche, Jon Skillman, managing director, Continental Europe, assure l’intérim à la tête de Fidelity en remplacement de Christian Wrede, qui a démissionné au bout de cinq ans à son poste «pour relever d’autres défis professionnels», rapporte Fonds Professionell.Parallèlement, Claude Hellers devient directeur de la distribution pour l’Allemagne. L’intéressé, qui compte 15 ans d’ancienneté chez Fidelity, était en dernier lieu responsable de la distribution dans les pays du Benelux.

COO pour la gestion d’actifs et la division products & sales ainsi que head products pour le développement et la fourniture de tous les produits du groupe suisse J. Safra Sarasin, Mils Ossenbrink a été nommé par le conseil de surveillance président du directoire de la filiale allemande Bank Sarasin AG.Selon un communiqué de l’entreprise, cette nomination souligne l’importance du marché allemand pour le groupe J. Safra Sarasin.

En attendant la nomination d’un managing director «définitif» pour l’Allemagne et l’Autriche, Jon Skillman, managing director, Continental Europe, assure l’intérim à la tête de Fidelity en remplacement de Christian Wrede, qui a démissionné au bout de cinq ans à son poste «pour relever d’autres défis professionnels», rapporte Fonds Professionell.Parallèlement, Claude Hellers devient directeur de la distribution pour l’Allemagne. L’intéressé, qui compte 15 ans d’ancienneté chez Fidelity, était en dernier lieu responsable de la distribution dans les pays du Benelux.

F&C Investments prévoit de supprimer la marque Thames River en renommant chacun de ses fonds sous la bannière F&C, révèle Fundweb. Ces changements devraient intervenir autour du 6 avril. Cela concerne une vingtaine de fonds.

Le board du trust SVM Global Investment a confié un mandat de gestion à Henderson Global Investors, rapporte Investment Week.Le portefeuille, dont la gestion était assurée jusqu’ici par SVM Asset Management, est pris en charge par Ian Barrass, responsable des fonds de fonds de private equity de Henderson, et Paul Craig, membre de l'équipe de multigestion.

Helene Williamson, qui dirige l'équipe de gestion obligataire émergente chez First State, a été chargée de gérer un fonds de dette émergente en monnaie locale qui aura des classes de part en livres sterling et en euros.Le portefeuille sera investi à la fois en obligations d’entreprises et en titres d’Etat.

Boaz Weinstein, ancien trader pour compte propre de la Deutsche Bank, et Reservoir Capital, la société de gestion alternative de Dan Stern, soutiennent une nouvelle société de hedge funds spécialisée dans le crédit appelée Camares Capital, selon Financial News. Elle a été fondée par un ancien protégé de Boaz Weinstein.

Présent en France depuis plus d'une vingtaine d'années, State Street Global Advisors continue de développer ses activités dans l'Hexagone et en Europe à partir de Paris. Dans un entretien à Newsmanagers, Marco Fusco, son PDG en France et responsable de l’Europe du Sud, décline ses priorités stratégiques et ses projets pour 2013.

Following a change in the structure of the private bank, Lombard Odier will not merge with Pictet, which has made the same decision. The bank does not have any plans to launch an initial public offering either. “If we were considering an IPO, we would have chosen the legal format of limited partnership, and not direct partnership,” says Anne-Marie de Weck, a partner at Lombard Odier, in an interview published in Le Matin Dimanche». The partners remain responsible, liable, for the future firm, and for the financing of the bank.”De Weck admits that in a direct partnership company, the partners would no longer guarantee the firm with their entire net worth, but merely with their capital investment. “That does not play a role in our case. Our private wealth is invested in the bank,” she says.

Assets under management at the Cantonal bank of Zurich (ZKB) rose to CHF14.8bn in the year 2012, at CHF191.4bn, according to statistics released on 8 February. Net inflows last year totalled CHF8.3bn, compared with CHF12.3bn in 2011. The bank has reported profits for the past year of CHF594m, down 23% year on year due to a one-time charge of CHF150m.

Asian Investor relays reports in Nihon Keizai Shimbun that the Chinese asset management firms China AMC and CSOP are planning to list physical replication RQFII ETF funds in Japan from 27 February, as depositary receipts. They would be the first products of their type to be listed outside Hong Kong.RQFII ETFs are ETFs which invest directly in Chinese A-class equities. The products concerned will be listed in yen, while in principle they are traded in yuan or Hong Kong dollars.

Assets in Spanish funds as of 31 January totalled EUR129.210bn, according to VDOS, compared with EUR126.805bn at the end of December. EUR1.0463bn of the 1.9%, or EUR2.4048bn, increase was due to net subscriptions, while EUR1.3585bn were due to market effects.At the major asset management firms, Santander posted an increase of 1.28% in one month to its assets under management, to EUR21.4124bn, due in part to EUR87.6m in net subscriptions, while BBVA posted an increase of 0.8% to its assets, to EUR19.3146bn, but with net outflows of nearly EUR7.6m. At CaixaBank, volume increased 2.4% compared with the end of December, to EUR17.5593bn, with EUR211.9m in net inflows.

Regional managing director EMEA, Gary Withers, has left First State.He will be replaced by Chris Turpin who is currently the global head of product at First State. He is responsible for the strategic development and on-going product management of First State’s investment capabilities globally and the firm’s approach to responsible investment. Turpin has been with the business since 2003 and will continue to be responsible for these global functions. Kanesh Lakhani has also been appointed head of distribution, EMEA & global consultant relationships. Lakhani has over 25 years of experience in the asset management industry and is currently responsible for First State’s institutional and wholesale business in EMEA and joined the business in 2011.Separately, Michael Stapleton has been appointed to the newly created role of managing director Asia Pacific, while regional managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Joanna Davison, has left the firm. Michael Stapleton will now be responsible for institutional relationship management, consultant relationships, sales activities and institutional marketing and communications in Australia and New Zealand. Stapleton will continue to oversee the firm’s business development and sales activities in Asia and Japan.Stapleton has been with First State since 1998. Since joining First State, he has held a variety of roles. He is currently the regional managing director for Asia and Japan, a role he has held since 2009. Prior to that he was the head of business development in the UK and started his career at First State in the institutional business development team in Australia in 1998. These appointments are effective immediately. Mr Stapleton will continue working from the First State Hong Kong office. Mr Turpin and Mr Lakhani will continue working from the First State London office.

Pimco, Axa and BlackRock are the three asset management firms to have posted net inflows of over EUR10bn in Europe in 2012, at a time when the sector as a whole posted net inflows of EUR185.9bn, according to the most recent statistics from Lipper. Pimco takes a clear lead, with net inflows of EUR35.1bn, profiting from a wave of popularity with investors of bond funds. These funds posted net subscriptions in 2012 of EUR225.2bn, their highest level ever recorded. Axa is next with EUR24bn, while BlackRock had inflows of EUR14.8bn. Victims of the success of bond funds, equity funds saw net redemptions of EUR8.8bn, while money market funds saw outflows of EUR44.5bn. Lipper notes, lastly, that cross-border funds posted net subscriptions of EUR220.7bn in 2012 (excluding money market funds), and now represent 45% of assets in European funds.

Alain Pitous, head of diversified investments at Amundi, maintains a favourable strategic opinion of equities, even though he has reduced exposure to them to 62% in January, and 54% in February, Agefi reports. In this environment of rising appetite for risk and improving momentum for profits at businesses, the head is maintaining the themes of returns and growth through targeted selections. For fixed income, Pitous remains favourable to credit markets. Carry remains attractive, he explains. Meanwhile, the emerging market theme is being strengthened with investments in local currencies.

After a turbulent beginning to the year, equity funds have continued to attract investors, but at a more modest pace. The remarkable fact of the first few days of February is that investors once again appear to be showing an appetite for French equities, which had become less popular through most of 2012, and which have posted their highest inflows since third quarter 2011, EPFR Global reports.European equity funds overall finished the week to 6 February will outflows, of a modest USD264m, however, according to estimates by EPFR Global. Worldwide, equity funds finished the week to 6 February with net inflows of USD6.56bn.Emerging market equity funds continued to attract significant inflows with a market interest in Chinese and siversified funds, as well as certain niche markets, such as Colombia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.Another centre of investor interest is real estate funds, which continued to attract investors in early February, and which have posted net inflows of nearly USD4bn since the beginning of the year.Bond funds attracted a further USD1.08bn. Diversified bond funds did well, with cumulative net inflows since the beginning of the year of nearly USD6bn.

In Europe, the default rate for businesses rated speculative grade came to 1.4% in January, compared with 1.8% in December, and 3.3% in January 2012, according to statistics from the financial ratings agency Moody’s.In the United States, the default rate fell back to 3% in January from 3.3% in December 2012, and 2.3% in January 2012.Worldwide, the default rate for businesses rated speculative grade, which at the end of January stood at 2.5%, may come out to 2.7% by the end of the year, a level which would be well below the average of 4.3% observed since 1983, according to Moody’s.

Italian funds are returning to the favours of Italian retail investors, 10% of whom would now like to own investments of this type, compared with 2% at the end of October 2012, a new study by the Anima-Eurisko observer released in early 2013 notes. In particular, they would like to invest in bonds and bond funds (12% to 16%). This comes to the detriment of government bonds, which have fallen from 36% to 22% in investors’ preferences. 8% would like to keep their money in current accounts or other liquid investments.

The International Organisatino of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) on 8 February published a consultation document, which proposes a series of recommendations to protect client assets. The principles proposed by IOSCO include a number of means for regulators to improve supervision of intermediaries who hold assets for clients, clarifying the roles of intermediaries and the regulator in the protection of these assets. The consultation will remain open until 25 March.

Credit Suisse has appointed Neil Harvey as its vice chairman for the asset management unit in the Asia-Pacific region, Asian Investor reports. He remains as co-CEO for Greater China and CEO for Hong Kong. The appointment was announced internally on 8 February.

The Asian hedge fund sector finished the year 2012 very well, with 7.5% growth in capital invested, according to estimates published in the HFR Asian Hedge Fund Industry Report. Assets invested in the Asian sector totalled USD88.25bn, their highest level since 2007. Assets under management increased by USd3.9bn in fourth quarter 2012, due to net inflows of USD1.17bn, which were concentrated on emerging Asia. The HFRX China index posted returns of 8% in fourth quarter, and 9.4% for the year as a whole. The HFRX India index, for its part, gained 4.3% in fourth quarter, and 27.6% over the year as a whole. The total number of Asian hedge funds rose 5.3% in 2012, to 1,150, nearly one third of which (31.7%) were domiciled in China. Hedge funds based in Japan and India also increased, while the population of funds based in Singapore and Australia declined.

The board of the SVM Global Investment trust has awarded a management mandate to Henderson Global Investors, Investment Week reports.The portfolio, which had hitherto been managed by SVN Asset Management, will be taken over by Ian Barrass, head of private equity funds of funds at Henderson, and Paul Craig, a member of the multi-management team.

F&C Investments is planning to discontinue the Thames River brand name, and rename each Thames River fund as F&C, Fundweb reports. The changes will take place on about 6 April. They will affect 20 funds.