Sam Vecht et Henry Wigan sont chargés de gérer un nouveau fonds marchés émergents de performance absolue pour BlackRock Royaume-Uni, rapporte Investment Week.Le portefeuille de ce produit long/short comportera au total entre 40 et 70 actions de sociétés d’une capitalisation supérieure à un milliard de dollars et sa référence sera le libor en dollar 3 mois. La commission de gestion est fixée à 1 %.

Aberdeen Immobilien KAG a annoncé le 21 janvier que son fonds DEGI Europa, qui doit être liquidé pour le 30 septembre 2013, procèdera le 25 janvier à son cinquième remboursement. Il sera versé 0,6 euro par part.Le prochain versement semestriel aura lieu en juillet. La décision de liquider ce fonds immobilier offert au public a été prise le 22 octobre 2010.

Le japonais Mizuho Financial Group a failli confier en fin d’année dernière jusqu’à 500 millions de dollars à SAC, révèle The Wall Street Journal. Mais la banque a renoncé à le faire, alors que la société de gestion américaine fait face à une enquête concernant d’éventuels délits d’initié. SAC subit d’importants rachats. Ce trimestre, la société devrait rembourser 1 milliard de dollars. Un investissement de Mizuho aurait permis de compenser ces retraits et aurait permis d’attirer d’autres investisseurs asiatiques.

Une collecte nette de 4,5 milliards d’euros en 2012 permet à Carmignac Gestion de porter ses actifs sous gestion nettement au dessus de la la barre des 50 milliards d’euros fin décembre, à 53,7 milliards d’euros contre 45 milliards douze mois auparavant. La société de gestion tire ainsi un trait sur les mauvais chiffres de l’année 2011, lorsqu’elle avait enregistré des sorties nettes de plus 6 milliards d’euros, dont 2,5 milliards d’euros sur le seul fonds Carmignac Patrimoine – le produit phare de la maison. La progression de l’encours en 2012 inclut l’effet marché qui, à titre d’exemple, porte l’actif sous gestion de Carmignac Patrimoine à 28 milliards d’euros, avec un gain de 5,42 %. Pour sa part, Carmignac Emerging Patrimoine, qui pesait 230 millions fin 2011 affiche douze mois plus tard un actif sous gestion de 1,8 milliard d’euros après avoir réalisé une performance de 14,43 %.

Avec le DB Platinum Energy & Metals (code ISIN: LU0820952413), db-X funds (groupe Deutsche Bank) vient d’entamer la commercialisation d’un fonds énergie et métaux industriels dont l’indice de référence est le DB Platinum Energy & Metals, lequel reproduit les prix des matières premières sous-jacentes au moyen de contrats à terme. Cet indice se compose à 60 % de métaux industriels (aluminium, cuivre, zinc, nickel et plomb), les 40 % restants se répartissant sur le pétrole Brent, l’essence, le gazole et le gaz naturel. Les pondérations sont actualisées chaque mois.La période de souscription est ouverte jusqu’au 28 janvier. Selon le prospectus daté de septembre 2012, la commission de gestion serait de 1,20 % par an et le droit d’entrée de 5 % maximum.db-X funds précise qu’elle gère déjà onze fonds de matières premières pour un encours total de 1,4 milliard d’euros.

Après l’ouverture récente à Bruxelles et Amsterdam par Pictet Asset Management (PAM) de bureaux de représentation dédiés à la vente de fonds, Hervé Thiard, directeur général en charge du marché institutionnel de Pictet en France, prend également la direction de la zone Benelux. Les encours de Paris se situaient à 3,1 milliards d’euros au 31 décembre 2012.Les nouveaux bureaux viennent compléter les services de marketing existants de PAM à Luxembourg, siège de la banque du groupe Pictet dans l’Union européenne. Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, Hervé Thiard s’appuiera sur Bruno Hellemans, qui a depuis 2007 la responsabilité opérationnelle du marché des fonds d’investissement dans les Etats du Benelux.PAM ne communique pas le montant de ses encours dans le Benelux qui, selon nos informations, seraient supérieurs à ceux de Paris.

The Belgian asst management firm Petercam is expecting to receive a license from the CSSF for a new sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav, a fund of “sustainable” emerging market government bonds denominated in local currencies (at least one third in ‘hard’ currencies).Ophélie Mortier, SRI coordinator at Petercam, and Thierry Larose, portfolio manager, have explained to Newsmanagers that the universe for the new Emerging Markets Sustainable product includes 72 countries, yo which a normative filter is applied for democratic values, followed by a best-in-class allocation. By crossing data from the NGO Freedom House for liberty and the Economist democracy index, the asset management firm currently excludes 16 “not-free” and “authoritarian” countries from the initial universe, including China, the United Arab Emirates, and China.Initially, the two fund managers (Bernard Lalière is the co-manager) will retain a minimum of 40% securities issued by countries in the top quartile of the rankings produced by the filtering in the portfolio, which complicates the task of the managers, who may nonetheless also invest in securities from supranational entities to position themselves on difficult-to-access currencies (such as BIRD bonds for Colombia).The preliminary portfolio includes six countries in the top quartile, including Poland and Chile, ten issuers in the second and third quartiles (including Brazil and Turkey, and also Serbia, Ukraina, Ghana and Venezuela), and four from the bottom quartile (Indonesia, Zambia, Iraq, and Nigeria).

With the DB Platinum Energy & Metals (ISIN code: LU0820952413), db-X funds (Deutsche Bank group) has released an energy and industral metals fund whose benchmark index is the DB Platinum Energy & Metals, which reproduces the prices of underlying commodities via futures contracts. The index is 60% compose of industrial metals (aluminium, copper, zinc, nickel and lead), while the remaining 40% are distributed between Brent crude oil, petrol, diesel and natural gas. The weightings are updated on a monthly basis.The subscription period will remain open until 28 January. According to the prospectus dated September 2012, the management commission will be 1.20% per year, and the front-end fee is a maximum of 5%.db-X funds states that it already has eleven commodity funds under management, with total assets of EUR1.4bn.

According to an Absolute Report study relayed by the Börsen-Zeitung, assets in 933 UCITS-compliant hedge funds as of the end of 2012 totalled EUR148bn, compared with EUR124bn one year previously. 11 funds were created and 160 funds were liquidated or merged, and funds in the top quartile posted average returns of 12.4%, with gains of 14.7% for the best equity products. But 30% of funds posted losses, which average 5.3%.The best fund was the Antecedo CIS Strategic Invest, with returns of 76%, while the worse fund was Salus Alpha Managed Futures, with losses of 48%.

Edhec on 18 January published its estimate of the performance of hedge funds and funds of hedge funds in December and 2012 as a whole. Last year, only funds specialised in short-selling showed losses, of 3.94%. For 2012 as a whole, that strategy has lost 19.3%, while CTA has lost 2.3%. The S&P 500 index posted gains of 16% last year.However, the other categories all show gains, both for December and for the year as a whole, with the best results for 2012 as a whole for distressed securities and emerging markets, with respective perforamnce of 13.2% and 9.9%, followed by event-driven (+9.6%) and relative value (+9.2%).Overall, maximal return discrepancy last year totalled 32.5 percentage points. Edhec also states that since January 2001, distressed securities and emerging markets have posted average annual gains of 10.4% and 10.1%, while only dedicated short bias showed losses (of an average of 0.8%).The only strategy which shows a Sharpe ratio of higher than 1 is distressed securities (1.03), while two categories have a negative ratio: dedicated short bias (-0.35) and funds of funds (-0.09).

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has on January 21 published a review of 2011 IFRS financial statements related to impairment testing of goodwill - the value of intangible assets which has a quantifiable value - and other intangible assets. The review, which looked into the accounting practices of a sample of 235 European issuers from 23 countries, found EUR800bn (EUR790bn in 2010) worth of goodwill balances in the 2011 financial statements of issuers, with 5% (c. EUR40bn) of that amount recognised as impairment losses in 2011.The report shows that significant impairment losses of goodwill were limited to a handful of issuers, mostly in the financial services (EUR19.2bn) and telecommunication industry (EUR9.7bn). This therefore raises the question as to whether the level of impairment disclosed in 2011 financial reports appropriately reflects the difficult economic operating environment for companies. Although the major disclosures related to goodwill impairment testing were generally provided, in many cases these were of the boilerplate variety and not entity-specific. In order to improve the overall disclosure provided by issuers, ESMA recommends that issuers: • Better specify the key assumptions used in the impairment test;• Include sensitivity analyses with sufficient detail and transparency, especially in situations when indicators are present that impairment might have occurred;• Determine the growth rates used to extrapolate cash flows projections based on budgets and forecasts; and • Disclose specific discount rates for each material cash-generating unit rather than average discount.

Deka Immobilien has acquired a commercial real estate property under construction located in the avenue de France in Pars from Nexity. The property (7,200 square metres), which is slated for completion in September 2013, will be added to the portfolio of an institutional real estate fund.

On 21 January, the listings on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform reached 1,014, with the admission to trading of the first five sectoral ETFs in Europe of A-class Chinese equities, from db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), Deutsche Börse reports. They are all Luxembourg-registered products, which charge 0.50%, and replicate sub-indices of the Shanghai CSI 300.db x-trackers has previously launched an ETF for the CSI 300, whose assets have increased from EUR272m at the end of June to EUR620m as of 14 January.The five new products are as follows:db X-trackers CSI300 Banks Index ETF (LU0781021877),db X-trackers CSI300 Consumer Discretionary Index ETF (LU0781021950),db X-trackers CSI300 Energy Index ETF (LU0781022172),db X-trackers CSI300 Health Care Index ETF (LU0781022339) anddb X-trackers CSI300 Real Estate Index ETF (LU0781022099)

The Japanese Mizuho Financial Group last year decided not to invest as much as USD500m with SAC, the Wall Street Journal reports. The bank made the decision at a time when the US asset management firm was facing an investigation into insider trading allegations. SAC has seen large redemptions. This quarter, the firm will have to redeem USD1bn. An investment from Mizuho would have made it able to compensate for these redemptions and to attract other Asian investors.

Net inflows of EUR4.5bn in 2012 allowed Carmignac Gestion to offset poor results in 2011, when the asset management firm based in the Place Vendôme in Paris posted net outflows of over EUR6bn, of which EUR2.5bn were from the Carmignac Patrimoine fund, the firm’s flagship product, alone. Assets under management at the firm have returned well above EUR50bn as of the end of December 2012, at EUR53.7bn, compared with EUR45bn twelve months previously.This increase includes market effects, which, as an example, bring assets in the Carmignac Patrimoine fund above EUR28bn, with gains of 5.42% last year. For its part, Carmignac Emerging Patrimoine, which had EUR230m as of the end of 2011, as of the end of 2012 had assets under management of EUR1.8bn, after gains of 14.43%.

Bradesco Asset Management, the asset management affiliate of one of the largest banks in Brazil, has received a license to release its Luxembourg-registered Sicav Bradesco Global Funds in France, according to information received by Newsmanagers. The product range from the asset management firm, which is currently composed of three funds, is focused on its home market, Brazil. The largest product by assets (USD93.5m) is the Brazilian Equities Mid Small Caps, a Brazilian small and midcaps fund. Currently, its manager has a preference for shares which benefit from economic growth in the country. The second-largest fund by size if the Brazilian Hard Currency Bond Fund USD, a fund of Brazilian government bonds denominated in US dollars. “The choice of the US currency allows the fund to avoid a 6% tax on foreign investments in local bond funds,” Bradesco AM says. Lastly, the third fund is also a bond fund, but this one denominated in local currency. With assets of USD33.1m, the Brazilian Fied Income fund invests in Brazilian debt, issued by public and private issuers. It is also exempt from the 6% tax. With its first funds licensed for sale in France (two others will follow), Bradesco AM will be able to serve France from London, where the firm has constructed a team dedicated to international development. Ileana Salas, head for Europe and the Middle East, will be responsible for the French market. This effort in France comes as part of a foreign expansion by Bradesco AM. The funds have also recently been licensed for sale in the United Kingdom. The strategy was seeded in 2009 with the creation of the Luxembourg Sicav, and was followed in late 2010 by the opening of an office in London. The Sicav has about USD200m in assets, which is still a drop in the water compared with total assets under management by the Brazilian asset management firm, which had USD141bn as of the end of December, and has many pension funds among its clients.

James Senior, former head of marketing at Ignis, has joined Henderson Global Investors as consultant on marketing issues, Fundweb reports. Senior left Ignis in September 2012.

SEI Investments has announced the appointment of Kevin Bull as director in charge of development of strategic alliances, and Simon Pinner as director of sales, and the distribution team of the UK Asset Management unit.Bull previously worked at Hearthstone Investments, while Pinner was previously at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP).Pinner will be responsible for about 50 British consulting firms, and will also assist with the team’s expansion in Europe.

According to various sources in the British media, the Swiss firm LGT Capital Partners has won a “multi-alternative” mandate on GBP280m in assets from the pension fund of Hertfordshire City Council. It is the largest mandate for alternative investment (nine asset classes) ever awarded by a British public pension fund.

David Driver, who has been network director for three years, has been promoted to the position of managing director of Standard Life Wealth, and will be responsible for discretionary funds, Fundweb reports. In his new role, Driver will report to CEO Richard Charnock.

Following the recent opening of representative offices of Pictet Aset Management (PAM) in Brussels and Amsterdam dedicated to fund sales, Hervé Thiard, CEO in charge of the institutional market for Pictet in France, is also becoming director for the Benelux region. Assets in Paris totalled EUR3.1bn as of 31 December 2012.New offices come as additions to the existing marketing services of PAM in Luxembourg, the banking headquarters of the Pictet group in the European Union. In his new role, Thiard will be supported by Bruno Hellemans, who since 2007 has been operational head of the investment fund market in the Benelux countries.PAM has not disclosed its asset levels in Benelux, which Newsmanagers understands, is higher than its levels in Paris.

The Hong Kong-based asset management firm Pacific Group has decided to convert one third of its hedge fund assets to physical gold, Bloomberg reports. The firm, founded by a former PaineWebber trader, is betting on a rise in the price of gold due to accommodating moneary policy on the part of central banks.Pacific Group has bought USD35m worth of gold ingots.

Sam Vecht and Henry Wigan will be responsible for managing a new emerging market absolute return fund for BlackRock in the United Kingdom, Investment Week reports.The portfolio of the long/short product will include a total of 40 to 70 equity positions on firms with market capitalisations of over USD1bn, and its benchmark will be the Libor 3-month. The management commission is set at 1%.

Ian Spreadbury will be the manager of the new Fidelity MoneyBuilder Income Reduced Duration fund, an institutional product available with a minimal subscription of GBP1m. The fund, aimed at wealth managers, will be an OEIC master-feeder fund which complies with the UCITS IV directive, and which is slated for launch by the end of the month, according to various British media.The manager will be able to use swaps and futures as an overlay to reduce the duration of the benchmark portfolio to two years (7.8 years for the MoneyBuilder Income), which is estimated to be the neutral point on the return curve for risk.Like the MoneyBuilder Income (GBP3.3bn), of which it is an alternative version, and which is managed by the same manager, the new fund will charge a management commission of 0.8%, and will carry no front-end or withdrawal fees.

Emerging markets equity and bond funds maintained their strong start to the New Year during the second week of January, absorbing another USD7.2 billion between them and taking their combined inflows for the first 16 days of 2013 over the USD18 billion mark. During the same period last year they had taken in just over USD4 billion, according to EPFR.The flows in emerging markets equity funds helped all EPFR global-tracked equity funds outgain their bond fund counterparts for the fifth straight week. The margin was, however, much slimmer than the previous week’s USD15.6 billion gap in favor of equity funds. Those funds took in a net USD7.19 billion during the week ending Jan. 16, with roughly 20% of those flows going to dividend equity funds versus 8% the previous week, while bond funds attracted a 10 week high of USD6.95 billion.Equity funds did attract retail money for the second week running, the first time that has happened since the second half of April, 2011.

Lars Albert, director of distribution for Germany at Henderson Global Investors, will be joining Baring Asset Management in the same role, Das Investment reports.

In April, Oliver Reisinger will join MainFirst as head of fixed income, Siegfried Jachinski, a board member, has told the Börsen-Zeitung. Reisinger had since 2011 been head of sales & marketing at HSH Nordbank.Mainfirst is planning to double the personnel in its fixed income operation in two years, to 40 people.

BNP Paribas has agreed to spin off its private equity activity dedicated to green energies, the Financial Times reports. The team, which has adopted the name Glenmont Partners, will continue to have the bank as an investor in its EUR437m fund, raised in 2010. The bank has also agreed to sell the fund to its clients. Since 2007, the team at Glenmont Partners has invested over EUR1bn in 12 projects.

CalSTRS, the second-largest pension fund in the United States, has identified two more makers of arms in its portfolio, following the shooting in a US school last month, Financial Times Fund Management reports. They are Sturm & Ruger and Smith & Wesson. “These stakes represent less than 10% of our daily equity trades,” says Ricardo Duran of CalSTRS. They come in addition to 2.4% of Freedom Group, the maker of the weapons used in the massacre, which is in the process of being sold by its owner, Cerberus, due to pressure from CalSTRS.

California-based Hennesy Advisors has declared net profits for the quarter ending on 31 December of USD0.77m, compared with USD0.15m in the corresponding period of 2011, while assets at the end of 2012 totalled USD3.02bn, compared with USD780.9m one year previously. Asset increases largely come due to the acqusition of FBR Funds on 26 October.