La Banque Postale AM vient d’annoncer l’arrivée de Laurent Jacquier-Laforge en tant que directeur de la gestion actions à compter du 1er octobre 2012. A ce titre, il devient également membre du comité de direction de LBPAM.Laurent Jacquier-Laforge prend ainsi la responsabilité d’une équipe de quinze gérants-analystes et d’un encours de près de 12,5 milliards d’euros, dont 74% sont investis sur des actions européennes, et tout particulièrement de la zone euro, indique un communiqué.Depuis 2008, le nouvel arrivant était chez SCOR Global Investments où il occupait la fonction de directeur de la gestion actions. Auparavant, gérant actions senior sur le marché européen des large caps chez Fortis Investments et ce, depuis 2002.

Filiale à 100 % du groupe financier hong-kongais Oriental Patron, OP Investment Management, présidée par Benoît Descourtieux, a lancé au travers d’Edmond de Rothschlid Investment Advisors, un fonds de droit luxembourgeois conforme à la directive OPCVM IV, le China Organic Growth Fund.Ce produit a bénéficié d’un amorçage de 35 millions d’euros apporté par la maison mère, par Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild Europe ainsi que par certains clients et le président lui-même. Ce dernier a entamé à Paris le 5 octobre une tournée de présentation de ce fonds qui se veut la concrétisation d’une approche «d’investissement de qualité».L’équipe de gestion (12 personnes à Hong-Kong) suit un univers de 350 entreprises liquides sur le marché de Hong-Kong, dont 29 figurent dans le portefeuille, avec en ligne de mire une surperformance de 10-15 % par an par rapport au MSCI Zhong Hua. L’écart de suivi rétropolé se situe aux alentours de 7 %.Dans cette optique, les investissements sont concentrés sur les entreprises «de qualité», celles dont les bénéfices comptables et en numéraire évoluent en parallèle. Benoît Descourtieux estime d’ailleurs que le ralentissement de la croissance chinoise pourrait s’avérer salutaire parce que les sociétés vont freiner leurs investissements productifs alors que la consommation continue d’augmenter.Le fonds est absent des grandes capitalisations, des industries lourdes comme la sidérurgie, le ciment, la pétrochimie ou les banques. En revanche, l’équipe de gestion privilégie des segments porteurs comme la pharmacie, les loisirs, l’agro-alimentaire, l’habillement, l’équipement de la maison, l’hygiène, les technologies, le luxe… et aussi l’exportation.CaractéristiquesDénomination: China Organic Growth FundCodes Isin : LU0814892542 (part I)LU 814890843 (part A)Commissions de gestion : 1,50 % (part retail A)1 % (part institutionnelle I)Commission de performance: 15 % sur la surperformance par rapport à l’indice MSCI Zhong Hua

Au troisième trimestre, le bénéfice net de Charles Schwab Corp s’est accru de 12 % à 247 millions de dollars, les recettes des commissions de gestion augmentant elles aussi de 12 %, à 524 millions de dollars, rapporte the Wall Street Journal

La guerre des prix reprend au pays des ETF : BlackRock, le plus gros gestionnaire de ce type de produits a annoncé lundi qu’il envisage de réduire les commissions sur quatre ETF d’actions et deux ETF obligataires de la marque iShares, de lancer quatre ETF à frais minimes (trois d’actions internationales et un obligataire), de réorganiser sa force de vente (avec un triplement à 275 personnes) et de lancer sa première campagne de publicités télévisées ciblant les investisseurs particuliers, rapporte The Wall Street Journal.Cette initiative vise clairement le concurrent Vanguard dont les ETF à prix ultra réduits ont rogné la part de marché de BlackRock.Mark Wiedman, global head de iShares, a refusé d’indiquer combien ces initiatives vont coûter au total à BlackRock.

Quatre des dix principaux actionnaires de State Street réclament le départ du directeur général ou du directeur financier de la banque, alors que la stagnation du cours de Bourse et le rythme des réductions de coûts génèrent une frustration croissante, rapporte le Financial Times.

Oddo & Cie vient ainsi de sortir de son activité historique de tenue de marché sur les dérivés listés, Oddo Options, rapporte L’Agefi. La banque a annoncé la semaine dernière à ses contreparties qu’elle avait cédé le portefeuille de trading de la structure, précise le quotidien indiquant que Oddo Options revendiquait en 2011 une part de marché de 10,1% sur les options sur actions françaises (contre 12% en 2010). La vingtaine de professionnels qui y travaillent seront reclassés en interne pour la majeure partie .

AXA Real Estate Investment Managers, with over EUR42 billion of assets under management as at June 2012, announces that it has created a new business unit to manage and grow the EUR750 million of Alternative real estate assets it manages on behalf of clients, while consolidating its expertise in this sector. AXA Real Estate aims to increase its current portfolio of 78 assets under management in seven countries to over EUR1.5 billion over the next three years. AXA Real Estate expects to achieve this through new third party mandates and by launching a second pooled investment vehicle.The new Alternative Real Estate Business Line, which will be headed by Dan Bowden, the fund manager for AXA Real Estate’s first alternative real estate fund ‘APIV’, has been established in response to increasing investor demand for products targeting assets such as healthcare, student accommodation and more diverse assets such as police stations, according to a press release.

BNY Mellon is profiting from the expertise of its boutique Insight Investment (USD300bn), which already manages USD727m in corporate emerging market debt, and at the end of January launched an Irish-registered fund in its own name, BNY Mellon Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Fund (see Newsmanagers of 6 March), with about USD60m in assets, including USD40m in strategic seed capital provided by Insight. The product is now available for sale in France.The manager, Colm McDonagh, told Newsmnanagers during a visit to Paris that the fund is long-only, and may invest both in local currencies and in strong currencies. However, currently, positions in local currencies represent only 2% of the total, but rules give the management team (four portfolio managers, fifteen credit analysts) the necessary flexibility to increase this type of exposure where appropriate. At any rate, the portfolio is not invested in issues of less than USD300m. Currently, the product is not invested in countries on the European periphery, but privileges Asia and Latin America.However, McDonagh states that the fund has no exposure to China, and that “managers do not aim to track down every slight opportunity for gain down to the last penny, regardless of risk: the objective is to outperform the benchmark, the JPMorgan Corporate EMBI Broad Diversified index, over the long term.”The Absolute Insight Emerging Market Debt fund (about USD560m), also managed by McDonagh, however, is a UCITS-compliant long/short absolute return fund with 50-70 holdings, which aims to beat the Libid 3-month in pounds sterling. The fund, launched in February 2007, is the flagship product from the emerging markets desk at Insight, with USD2.2bn in assets.

“Currently, only two assets classes are posting large net subscriptions: emerging markets and high yield,” Ece Ugurtas, director, fixed income & currency at Barings, explained on Friday. As a result, most recent fund launches, be they from BNPP IP in emerging market debt (see Newsmanagers of 12 October), or from Aviva Investors and Threadneedle in high yield (see Newsmangers of 25 September) show strong net inflows for products of this type.Keith Bachmann, head of US & Global High Yield at Aberdeen Asset Management (whose global high yield bond assets total USD1.5bn), adds that the strategy has attracted about USD150m in the past 12 months, and that the Luxembourg-registered fund Aberdeen Global II – US Dollar High Yield Bond Fund has gone from USD60m to USD190m in five months.At Barings, assets in the High Yield Bond Fund, a “global” bond fund which stands out from the competition with a strategy which is both top-down and bottom-up (rather than focusing on stock-picking), has grown from USD562.6m at the end of December 2011 to about USD1.3bn currently. This is due to very strong inflows, as performance has been “only” 14.2% in the first nine months of the year.For both managers, high yield currently “overcompensates” for the risks assumed by investors, due to an effective default rate of less than 3%: the current spread, of about 600 basis points, has considerable room to fall, as it pays a default rate of 5% of slightly more, Ugurtas notes. Bachman adds, for his part, that between coupon and spread, high yield can count on returns of 14% this year.

The German firm Fidelity Worldwide Investment (EUR23.2bn in assets as of the end of June) on 15 October announced that it is combining its client communications for Germany and Austria under the leadership of Marion Dreßler, while internal communications and corporate social responsibility will from 15 October be led by Kathrin Schweykart. Schweykart will also take over the responsibilities assumed since July by Dreßler (see Newsmanagers of 9 July). Schweykart had most recently been head of communications at Standard Life Insurance in Frankfurt. Dreßler is now head of the Corporate & Communications Germany & Austria department, which includes internal communications, press relations, corporate social responsibility, relations with authorities (public policy) and client relations for Fidelity and its affiliate FFB, a fund platform. She is also responsible for managing and developing the brand.

Matthias Wittenburg has been appointed to the managing board at HSH Nordbank, from Commerzbank Hamburg. From 1 January 2013, he will be responsible for products and capital markets at the German bank for three years, Fondsprofessionell reports.

Despite risks associated with aggressive quantitative easing on the fixed income classes (inflation, bubbles and thin returns), EPFR global-tracked bond funds have posted their second biggest weekly inflow year-to-date during the week ending October 10, with USD8.22bn, which took year to date inflows up USD348bn mark.However, EPFR Global continues, equity funds saw USD1.23bn flow out. Money market funds took in USD2.6bn, as flows into Europe money market funds offset redemptions from their US counterparts.

Funds People reports that the Swiss firm Syz & Co has received a sales license for Spain from the CNMV for the Luxembourg-registered fund Oyster US Selection, which is managed by the US firm Scout Investment.

The CNMV has granted sales licenses for four physical replication ETFs from iShares exposed to German equities, including the iShares Dax, the largest ETF on the market, with assets of EUR12.815bn, Funds People reports. The other three are the iShares DivDax, iShares MDax and iShares TecDax.

The Spanish affiliate of Deutsche Bank has announced the launch of the Renta Fija Europea 2018, a bond savings plan which will invest in cédulas hipotecarias (protected mortgage-backed bonds), within OECD countries. The product, which will mature in 2018, invests largely in French (33%) Spanish (18%), Netherlands (16%), and German (12%) securities, Funds People reports. The average rating of securities in the portfolio will be AA but most of the bonds wil be rated AAA.

The ten most successful funds in 2012 (to the end of July) have attracted 31% of all net sales across 21,916 equity, bond and mixed asset funds, according to Lipper.While the overall trend is broadly of an increasing concentration of sales into the best-selling funds (from 13% in 2003 to 31% this year) it is worth noting that in 2007, 2008 and 2011 the industry suffered net outflows so the best-selling funds would have stood out even more.Showing the ten best-selling funds as a proportion of all funds with inflows in each respective year the trend revealed is of an increasing domination of the most successful funds between 2006 and 2010 (from 4% to 11%) but, unlike for the comparison with all funds, this dominance has dropped back in 2011-2012 (8% this year). The proportion of funds that have managed to attract positive inflows each year is also shown and the general trend here is of a declining proportion of funds with annual inflows (from 50% in 2003 to 37% in 2012). If the proportion of funds achieving inflows in 2012 rises to 50% this will equate to more than 11,360 funds – 2,865 more than have enjoyed inflows so far this year (the 2012 proportion is currently 37%).

Allianz Global Investors on 9 October received a sales license for a Luxembourg-registered “defensive” version of the Allianz Euro High Yield Fund (FR0010032326), managed in Paris by Alexandre Caminade, CIO for credit. The fund, the Allianz Euro High Yield Defensive (LU0788519535), has already attracted about EUR50m since launch.The German asset management firm is also preparing to launch a Luxembourg-registered version of another flagship fund, the Concentra (DE0008475005), an equity product investing primarily in Germany, with EUR2.02bn in assets, managed since October 2007 by Matthias Born. Launch is expected on 22 October.

Fitch Ratings says in a European equity funds update that 30% of European equity funds managed to attract net new assets over the past 12 months, amid overall negative net new money for the whole European equity funds universe. Two-thirds of total AUM is concentrated with just 30 companies. The three largest asset managers (Fidelity, Amundi and BNP Paribas) jointly manage 17.3% of European equity funds’ assets. European equity funds’ assets under management (AUM) totalled EUR330bn at end-August 2012, fairly steady for the year-to-date, as outflows have been offset by the good market performance.The style of European equity funds has shifted toward a multi-cap bias, while also drifting towards a more growth profile. This move is consistent with Fitch’s analysis a year ago, which highlighted the search for quality companies in a low growth environment.Fitch finds that more than half of the funds delivered zero or negative alpha, with a relatively high proportion of large negative alpha generators.

M&G has registered the M&G Global Real Estate Securities Fund (GB00B2Q7GD31) for sale in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg.The fund, with 40 to 60 holdings, which is managed by Gillian Tiltman, invests in international equities issued by real estate investment trusts (REIT), while the remainder is invested in other types of realty firms.As of 31 July 2012, the portfolio was 70% composed of REITs, 13% of promoters, and 18% of real estate firms. As a guide, the United States will represent about 40% of overall assets, Hong Kong 10%, and France 2.5%. The fund has assets of about EUR90m.

From 1 October, Berenberg Bank (EUR26bn in assets) has reduced its management commission for its money market fund Berenberg Euro Money Market (SGB), ISIN codes LU0321158700 (retail shares) and LU0321158882 (institutional shares) from 0.29% to 0.20%. The move comes due to a persistently low interest rate environment in the euro zone. This reduction applies both to retail and institutional share classes. Metzler did similarly one month ago (see Newsmanagers of 13 September). Administration of the fund will be undertaken by Universal-Investment. Total assets are about EUR800m.

Between 5 and 12 November, Investment Week reports, the Legal & General (Barclays) 500 Trust, Legal & General (Barclays) Worldwide Trust, Legal & General (Barclays) Market Tracker 350 Trust and Legal & General (Barclays) Combined Income Trust will be merged with the house funds Legal & General Investment Management Legal & General UK Smaller Companies Trust, Legal & General International Index Trust and Legal & General (Barclays) Combined Income Trust, respectively.Management commission will be raised to 1.5% from 1.25% for the former Legal & General (Barclays) 500 Trust, will be raised to 1.5% from 1% for the former Legal & General (Barclays) Combined Income Trust, and will be lowered to 0.7% from 1.25% for the former Legal & General (Barclays) Market Tracker 350 Trust.

As planned at the end of August (see Newsmanagers of 23 August), Liontrust Asset Management (GBP2.36bn in assets as of 24 September) on 10 October announced that it has taken over management of the CF Liontrust Macro Equity, CF Liontrust Macro UK Growth, and CF Lion Trust Macro UK High Alpha funds, and that the fund will lose the CF prefix, following the acquisition of Walker Crips Asset Managers in March.In addition, Liontrust will now offer institutional share classes for the first two products, which will continue to be managed by Stephen Bailey and Jan Luthman. The asset management firm is planning to merge the Liontrust Macro UK High Alpha Fund with the Liontrust Macro UK Growth, as the former does not have adequate assets.

Investment Europe reports that Oriel Asset Management has taken over management of the Williams de Broë WDB Oriel UK Fund, WDB Oriel European Fund and WDB Oriel Global Fund, whose assets total GBP90m. The transfer follows that of the two managers, Patrick Barton and Richard Scrope, who have left Williams de Broë Asset Management for Oriel, and who will continue to be responsible for the three products.

The Swiss firm Arecon AG has tasked the Frankfurt-based Universal-Investment with the launch of a euro-denominated, German-registered bond fund, Arecon Fixed Income Opportunities Fund UI, which will invest in government debt as well as corporate bonds worldwide, while allocation, currency risks, and positioning on the interest rate curve will be actively-managed. Securities will be primarily investment grade, but the team may add small quantities of high yield bonds.CharacteristicsName: Arecon Fixed Income Opportunities Fund UIISIN code: DE000A1JZK76Management commission: 1.20%Performance commission: 10% of performance exceeding the Eonia +200 basis points, with high watermark.

OP Investment Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong financial group Oriental Patron, led by Benoît Descourtieux, has launched a Luxembourg-registered, UCITS IV-compliant fund via Edmond de Rothschild Investment Advisors, entitled China Organic Growth Fund.The product has received seed capital of EUR35m from its parent company, from Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild Europe, some clients, and the chairman himself. The latter on 5 October held an event in Paris to unveil the fund, which is the realisation of an approach that “invests in quality.”The asset management team (12 people in Hong Kong) tracks a universe of 350 liquid businesses on the Hong Kong market, of which 29 are included in the portfolio, and aims for outperformance of 10-15% per year over the MSCI Zhong Hua index. Tracking error in backtesting comes to about 7%.With this in mind, investments are concentrated on “quality” businesses, whose profits on paper and in cash are rising in parallel. Descourtieux claims that a slowdown in Chinese growth may turn out to be positive as companies will rein in their productive investments while consumer spending will continue to increase. The fund is absent from large caps, heavy industries such as iron and steel, cement, and petrochemicals, and banking. But the asset management team privileges promising segments such as pharmaceuticals, leisure, agribusiness, clothing, household goods, hygiene, technologies, and luxuries... as well as exports.CharacteristicsName: China Organic Growth FundISIN codes:LU0814892542 (I share class)LU 814890843 (A share class)Management commission:1.50% (A retail share class)1% (I institutional share class)Performance commission: 15% on performance exceeding the MSCI Zhong Hua index

European fund distributors are “robbing” retail investors by offering high-priced products even when less costly alternatives are available, Financial Times Fund Management writes. Guillaume Prache, head of the European Federation of Financial Services Users, claims that banks, advisers and fund platforms are more concerned with the commissions they earn from asset management firms than in protecting the interests of clients. He cites the example og ING Direct, which offers French investors a passively-managed tracker fund, the ING Direct CAC 40, managed by Lyxor, with annual fees of 150 basis points, when a virtually identical fund is available for six times less.

As part of a campaign to highlight the brands of its various asset management affiliates, Legg Mason has announced that ClearBridge Advisors (USD58m in assets) will be dropping the name of its parent company from all of its US mutual funds. In addition, by January 2013, ClearBridge Advisors will adopt the name ClearBridge Investments.Meanwhile, ClearBridge has announced that Scott Glasser, head of research and a member of the risk management committee, has been appointed as co-CIO alongside Hersh Cohen, with whom he had managed the “Appreciation” strategy from 1995 to 2009.Glasser will remain as co-manager of the Appreciaion strategy portfolio, while Margaret Vitrano will take over as co-manager of the Large Cap Growth strategy, which she currently manages with co-portfolio manager Peter Bourbeau.

Straus Group, a division of Neuberger Berman with USD11bn in assets under management, led by Marvin Schwarz, will be taking over the management of portfolios from Glickenhaus & Co, whose assets from high net worth retail investors and nonprofit institutions total USd900m.Seth Glickenhaus, James Glickenhaus and Al Feinman, managers of the Glickenhaus portfolio, will remain as senior advisers to Straus Group, while direct management of client accounts will be exclusively the responsibility of Neuberger Berman (USD202bn).The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

For USD85m, Charles Schwab Corporation is acquiring ThomasPartners (USD2.3bn in assets as of the end of September), which represents 3.69% of assets under management. This may be increased depending on potential increases in assets.The management of ThomasPartners focuses on dividend income. It has been agreed that the CEO & Chairman of ThomasPartners, Gregory Thomas, and his management team, led by William McMahon, president, COO and CIO, will remain in place to continue to manage portfolios.

The ETF price war is picking up: BlackRock, the largest manager of this type of product, on Monday announced that it is planning to cut commissions on four equity ETFs and two bond ETFs of the iShares brand, to launch four ETFs with minimal fees (three international equity funds and one bond fund), to reorganize its sales force (tripling its size to 275), and to launch its first television advertising campaign, targeting retail investors, the Wall Street Journal reports.The initiative clearly targets its rival Vanguard, whose ultra-low cost ETFs have gained market share from BlackRock.Mark Wiedman, global head of iShares, has declined to state how much these initiatives will cost BlackRock in total.