Jupiter is planning to convert its European Income fund into a global vehicle entitled Jupiter Global Equity Income, Investment Week reports. Sebastian Radcliffe and Gregory Herbert will become co-managers, succeeding Cédric de Fonclare, who will dedicate himself exclusively to European equity mandates. Subscribers to the fund will vote on the subject on 19 December.

GLG Partners will reopen its Japan CoreAlpha range, managed by Stephen Harker, Neil Edwards and Jeffrey Atherton, Investment Week reports. The funds, based in the United Kingdom and Ireland, were closed to new subscribers in March in order to protect existing investors against potential liquidity risks. GLG Japan CoreAlpha had GBP1bn in assets before its closure.

The DSGV association of German savings banks has announced that DekaBank will take control of the asset management firm LBB-Invest, which will be spun off from the Landesbank Berlin (LBB), as will Berlin Hyp, which will become an independent real estate financing organism, Fondsprofessionell reports. LBB itself will be downgraded to the status of a large savings bank for Berlin under the name of Berliner Sparkasse.DekaBank, the central asset management firm for the savings banks, will also take over the securities trading activities of LBB.The complete plan will be unveiled in Berlin on 12 December.

The pension fund for employees of the Netherlands public sector, Stichting Algemeen Pensioen Fonds Aruba (APFA), has contracted for custody of its assets of about USD1bn with State Street Corporation.

The Frankfurt-based independent asset management firm Lupus alpha on 6 December announced that the previous evening it launched the Lupus Alpha Dividend Champions fund, which focuses on European high yield equities in the universe of small and midcaps. The managers are Marcus Ratz and Markus Herrmann.Götz Albert, a partner at Lupus alpha and director of management of smidcaps portfolios, says that the objective is to select a concentrated sample of 30 shares with a convincing track record in terms of dividends, and whose returns from dividends in the future are expected to continue to average 3% to 4%. Volatility must be lower than that of the Stoxx Europe TMI Small Net Return in euros, and beta must be “considerably lower” than 1.CharacteristicsName: Lupus alpha Dividend ChampionsISIN code: DE000A1JDV61Front-end fee: maximum 5%Management commission: 1%Performance commission: 20% of performance exceeding the Stoxx Europe TMI Small Net Return index with high watermarkMinimal initial subscription: EUR10,000Initial value of shares: EUR100

In Austria, the fund industry is gradually returning to its all-time highs. The investment fund market is recovering, and for the first time since 2006, is showing positive inflows, with EUR8.8bn in net subscriptions since the beginning of 2012 as of the end of October. This increase represents 6.5% of assets, which now total EUR126bn.Raiffeisen Capital Management, which has published the figures, has posted net subscriptions of about EUR1bn as of the end of October. Market effects accounted for EUR1.5bn. Assets managed by the Austrian asset management firm now total EUR27.8bn, up 0.3% since the beginning of 2012.

With the Ultra Short-Term Bond Fund (ticker: TRBUX), T. Rowe Price is launching a bond fund for very short-term investment in public or private investment grade bonds with a residual time to maturity equal to or less than 1.5 years.The portfolio is managed by Joseph K. Lynagh, and the TER is 0.35%. Minimal subscription has been set at USD2,500 (or USD1,000 for retirement savings plans or gifts to minors).

The BlackRock Public-Private Investment Fund, founded in October 2009 as part of the Legacy Securities Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP), has reimbursed its investors, the US Department of Treasury and its private clients, a total of 1.74 times their initial investment, corresponding to an internal rate of return of 23.5%.The Treasury will have received a net USD917.1m on its investment of USD528.2m, with profits totalling USD388.9m.

The average coverage rate for the liabilities of US corporate pension funds rose to 74.4% in the month of November, up 0.8 percentage points compared with the previous month, according to estimates by BNY Mellon. In the month under review, assets in pension funds increased 0.7% due to the strength of stock markets, while liabilities fell 0.3%. The actualisation rate rose 4 basis points to 3.76% for businesses rated Aa. Despite the rebound in November, the average coverage rate for liabilities in the first eleven months of the year are down by 0.9 percentage points.

Banca Generali has posted net subscriptions in November of EUR51m, bringing net inflows since the beginning of the year to EUR1.5bn, Bluerating reports. Of this total, EUR1.41bn is due to collective management.

Nicolas Deblauwe, country head Benelux at J.P. Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM), has announced “to clients and partners” that from 3 December, Antonio Grieco has joined his team as senior sales manager for Belgium and Luxembourg in partnership with Tom Vermeulen. He replaces Arnaud van der Elst, who in October joined J.P. Morgan Private Bank.Grieco had previously been head of institutional business at Dexia Asset Management in Luxembourg.

The hedge fund firm TCI has seen a fall of 60% in its net profits for the period to the end of February, at slightly over GBP17m, according to its most recent results cited by Financial News. But returns have improved.

The head of British equity management at Jupiter, Anthony Nutt, also a significant shareholder in the firm, will transfer the management of his retail portfolios next year, ahead of his departure from the firm in 2014, Investment Week reports. Nutt, who will be 60 next year, has been working at Jupiter since 1996, and has managed by Jupiter Income Trust, whose assets under management total about GBP2bn, since 2000.

The alternative asset management firm Man Group on 6 December announced the appointment of John Rohal as executive chairman for North America, a new position at Man group, which is seeking new areas for growth outside the United Kingdom. Rohal will begin on 1 January, and will work to develop distribution of Man products in North America, and to strengthen commercial relationships with institutional clients. He previously worked at Makena Capital Management, where he supervised equity investments.

The head of multi-asset class funds at Aviva Investors, Yoram Lustig, will be leaving the firm, Investment Week reports. Jonathan Abrahams, a senior analyst on the team, has also left.

Apson, a hedge fund boutique which received seed capital from Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital Management, has announced that it will be closing 18 months after its launch, Financial News has learned. The firm was not able to make money in an environment characterised by “a lack of trends and low volatility.”

Lyxor Asset Management has appointed Arnaud Llinas as global head of ETF & index-based solution activities. He will begin in the new role on 1 January 2013, and will report to Inès de Dinechin, CEO of the asset management firm. Llinas also becomes a member of the board of directors at Lyxor. Llinas, who will be based in Paris, will work with Clarisse Djabberi, deputy head of ETF & indexing, Raphaël Dieterlein, head of Portfolio management, and François Millet, head fo business line in charge of development for indices. Llinas will help to develop Lyxor’s expertise in the area of index-based management, in order to offer innovative solutions appropriate to the needs of investors, Lyxor notes. Alain Dubois, chairman, will remain in contact with market authorities in relation to innovative ETFs (including “smart beta”). In a statement, the asset management firm says that Llinas joined Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking in 2004, and for four years served as head of trading for market products including market making and ETF structuring, which allowed him to participate in the development of Lyxor ETFs.

The hedge fund Diamondback Capital Management on Thursday told investors that it will be closing up shop and liquidating its funds after receiving redemption demands representing more than one quarter of its assets, which would leave only USD1.45bn in assets, the Wall Street Journal reports. “Rather than continuing to manage the capital of investors while restructuring the firm to manage this lower level of assets, we have decided that the more prudent course is to liquidate the fund and reimburse investors,” the founders say in a letter to investors. The move comes at a time when a former Diamondback manager is facing trial for insider trading.

Via a mutual fund launched in partnership with Arden Asset Management (USD7.5bn in assets), Fidelity is allowing clients of its advisory service (minimal investment: USD50,000) access to a universe of hedge fund managers, the Wall Street Journal reports. Fidelity has given Arden USD700m for the fund, which is already invested in nine alternative managers, including Chilton Investment, Jana Partners and York Capital Management.The fund aims for “high” average performance “in one or low two digits,” over a five-year period. Management commission is set at 2.3%.Since its launch in 1993, the flagship fund from Arden has generated annual returns of 8%, compared with an average of 5.4% for the fund of hedge fund sector, but 8.25 for the S&P 500 with dividends reinvested.

Asset management firms are bringing out a wave of funds investing in short-term bonds, in an effort to retain investors who are steering clear of money market funds, the Financial Times reports. The new vehicles are presented as a means to earn higher returns than money market funds, with only slightly higher risk.

The Munich-based asset management firm iii-investments (UniCredit group, via HVB) on 6 December announced the launch of what it claims is the first institutional real estate fund to invest in bonds in compliance with the German investment law. It has received a mandate for the debt fund of EUR200m from a German pension fund.The fund will begin to acquire real estate loans from banks in first quarter 2013. The unit size of the corresponding financing will range from EUR20m to EUR40m.Reinhard Mattern, MD of iii-investments, is also planning to be able to announce the first closing of a pool fund based on the same concept soon.

FRM, an affiliate of MAN Investments, forecasts in a study that investors will return to the quest for returns in 2013, which will work to the advantage of hedge funds, which are in a favourable situation from two points of view, since they are not handicapped by the financial problems of 2008, and the risk levels in their portfolios are exceptionally low, Funds People reports.FRM predicts that next year hedge funds will continue to increase in 2012 due to positive market effects and net subscriptions. But the increase in flows to the largest hedge funds will be a problem because it will drag down returns. Meanwhile, FRM is predicting the trend of falling commissions to continue.

In a context of all-time low interest rates, institutional invetors are seeking returns outside their home countries. According to a survey of European, Asian and American institutional investors by Pyramis Global Advisors, 43% are planning to increase their exposure to global bond strategies in the coming years. In Europe, 38% of respondents say they would like to seek bond strategies likely to provide added returns in other countries. This trend is even more marked in Asia, where 54% of respondents are planning to do so. Worldwide, 24% of investors say that they are planning to increase their exposure to emerging market debt n the next few years. In Asia, 37% of respondents would like to increase their allocation to emerging debt denominated in hard currencies, while 33% prefer emerging market debt in local currencies.

The Swiss financial market will in the next few years need to become a leader in asset management, according to a study by the Swiss Bankers’ Association (ASB) published on 6 December. The association has created a working group with the Swiss Fund Association (SFA) to show how to achieve this goal. Asset management should form one of the pillars of the sector, alongside wealth management, retail banking and business banking the ASB says in a statement. At a time when Switzerland is largely known internationally for wealth management, asset management, a major provider of products and services for private and institutional investors, is largely overlooked in Switzerland and abroad. Although a large proportion of Swiss banks have asset management activities, they are rarely considered activities in their own right. According to a study by the ASB and the agency Boston Consulting Group, scaling up asset management activities would bring up gross revenues by GBP1.8bn by 2015. The study targeted eight areas for action, which would allow for the establishment of this strategy of the creation of the necessary underlying conditions. These objectives include establishing asset management as a brand, guaranteeing surveillance of the sector. Improving access to the market, developing infrastructure, creating an optimal fiscal environment, and offering adequate training. A majority of these initiatives may be put in place by financial establishments, the study funds. But regulation, access to the market and taxation depend on the policies of the authorities, who should “add their brick to the structure.” Asset management products and services may be demanded by private as well as institutional investors. Unlike traditional activities such as credit and insurance, asset management has more limited systemic and reputational risks. It is thus “less capital-hungry,” the study says. The plans “should make Switzerland a top actor” in asset management, the chairman of the ASB, Claude-Alain Margelisch, says in a statement. “We would like the federal administration and the surveillance authorities also to support this project. If we want to offer the financial market a larger basis, let’s minimise systemic risks and seize opportunities for the future,” he added.

Credit Suisse et Sberbank auraient renoncé à lancer un fonds de private equity d’un milliard de dollars destiné au marché russe, faute d’intérêt de la part d’investisseurs, rapporte Bloomberg. La banque suisse et son homologue russe prévoyaient d’abonder le véhicule à hauteur de 100 millions de dollars chacune. Sberbank avait annoncé ce projet en avril 2011.

L’Institute of International Finance (IIF), qui rassemble les principales banques et compagnies d’assurance du monde, s’est dit optimiste sur le succès de l’offre de rachat de dette grecque. L’opération vise 66 milliards d’euros de dette nominale et doit permettre à la Grèce de réduire sa dette d’environ 20 milliards en net en déboursant 10 milliards pour les rachats. Les créanciers doivent donner leur réponse cet après-midi. La participation des banques grecques et des fonds de sécurité sociale du pays, qui détiennent autour de 22 milliards de dette, garantirait quasiment le succès du plan.

La Bundesbank a révisé à la baisse vendredi ses prévisions de croissance du produit intérieur brut (PIB) allemand pour 2012 à 0,7%, contre 1,0% précédemment, et pour 2013 à 0,4%, contre 1,6% jusqu'à présent. Cette initiative intervient au lendemain de la révision à la baisse des prévisions de la BCE, justifiée par la dégradation des perspectives en Allemagne, en France ou aux Pays-Bas. «La Bundesbank ne s’attend pas à un ralentissement prolongé mais anticipe au contraire un retour rapide à la croissance», ajoute la banque centrale allemande, avec une hausse de 1,9% du PIB en 2014. Elle prévient toutefois qu’il n’est pas impossible que l’Allemagne entre en récession, définie par deux trimestres consécutifs de contraction, «au dernier trimestre 2012 et au premier trimestre 2013».

Les investisseurs chinois ainsi que les banques britanniques appellent la BoE à mettre en place un «swap» de change avec son homologue chinoise

Le rapport rédigé en vue du sommet des 13 et 14 décembre veut un cadre pour la recapitalisation directe des banques au premier trimestre

L’agence de notation Standard & Poor’s anticipe une poursuite de la hausse du taux de défaut des entreprises européennes de catégorie spéculative pour l’an prochain. L’environnement économique fragile devrait continuer de peser sur les marges des entreprises de la zone euro.