Harvest and Nuatai PineBridge have published a list of the 10 largest investors in their new cross-border ETFs on the CSI 300. Portfolios 302 and 307 from the Chinese national social security fund (NCSSF), managed by Bovero and E-Fund, both appear on these lists, with CNY900m each for the Harvest fund and CNY750m each for Huatai-PineBridge, Z-Ben Advisors reports.According to sector specialists, the NCSSF is operating a wing maneuver, instructing managers to increase their exposure to cross-border tracker funds.
The Robeco group has had a very strong start to the year, with net subscriptions in first quarter of a record EUR15bn. Assets increased from EUR150bn as of the end of 2011 to EUR177bn as of the end of March 2012, in a sign of the “great interesst of investors in solutions related to retirement,” Robeco says in a statement. At the end of first quarter 2012, net subscriptions from institutional clients totalled a particularly high amount, and were well-distributed over a wide range of strawgies, bringing the proportion of assets managed on behalf of institutionals to 51% of total assets under management (compared with 41% in first quarter 2011). Net inflows in first quarter came to EUR15bn. The strategy to integrate ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria has continued to show itself highly effective, with total assets invested in businesses engaged in active dialogue with Robeco totalled EUR45.1bn, compared with EUR43.4bn in first quarter 2011. Robeco has achieved a total average return 1.67% higher than the benchmark for all strategies (gross of fees) in first quarter 2012, and 83% of funds have outperformed their index. Due to these positive retuls, total average perfoamnce over 3 years improved further as of the end of March 2012, to +1.72% gross of fees compared with the index, and 77% of funds have outperformed their index between April 2009 and March 2012. All asset classes made a positive contribution to these results.
On 24 May, the BBVA notified the CNMV that it has decided to study “strategic options for its mandatory retirement savings in Latin America.” Although this is a very attractive area, but has few synergies with the core profession of the group, universal banking, which has triggered a reconsideration of maintaining the activity.Among the options under consideration are a total or partial sale of pension fund administration firms in Chile, Colombia and Peru, and a retirement fund administration firm (Afore) in Mexico, though this will not necessarily mean a sale.The process will most likely take several quarters, and will not be completed before the end of the current fiscal year under any circumstances.Funds People understands that BBVA is already considering several proposals, with assets in question totalling over EUR30bn. Expansión estimates that BBVA could possibly make EUR3-4bn if it succeeds in selling the whole Latam pension fund business.
In first quarter 2012, the most overweight position for hedge funds was Express Scripts, according to analysis by the quantitative research team at Credit Suisse Securities reported by Institutional Investor.In ninth place the previous quarer, the firm attracted the interest of Third Point, which acquired more than 3.1 million shares in first quarter, and Maverick, which bought more than 2 million shares. The two firms have become the two largest shareholders in the firm.The survey also finds that four new firms entered the top 15 most overweight positions for hedge funds in first quarter: Sars Holdings, Visa, Crown Castle and JCPenney. They replace Anadarko, Family Dollar, Williams and Medco Health Solutions.Several of the 15 shares acquired have been involved in acquisition operations, and were M&A arbitrage investments for many investors.
At a meeting on 8 May in Washington, with -among others- representatives from BlackRock, JPMorgan, Vangaurd and Invesco, asset management firms have approached the SEC, which had sought to impose a 3% to 5% freeze for 30 days on redemptions from money market funds, the Wall Street Journal reports. The professionals claim that such a rule would be the death knell for the activity. As a compromise, they propose imposing a withdrawal penalty on redemptions made during “liquidity events” such as the financial crisis of 2008.
Rating agency Moody’s, which has maintained France’s AAA rating with a negative outlook, has set a period of a few months to evaluate the economic policies of the French government in a difficult economic environment in the euro zone, according to a statement published on 24 May.According to the agency, the new French president, François Hollande, has shown his determination to bring recovery to the economy, but the way to achieve that remains uncertain.
The French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), on 24 May announced the appointment of Julien Ruderman as deputy director of its European and international business division, in the regulation and international affairs director’s office, from 3 May 2012. Since 1999, Ruderman worked previously at the international law firm Clifford Clance in Paris, where he worked on the structuring of merger and acquisition operations, asset financing and structured finance. He was appointed as a partner at Clifford Chance in 2004, and created and led the Fund Creation practice at the firm, assisting asset manaegment teams, sponsors and institutional invetors in the structuring and raising of investment funds.
A growing number of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are focused on alternative management, a round table held last month by Opalesque dedicated to the Gulf region has claimed. SWFs are generally invested in bonds and equities, but the need to diversify and higher profits will be a draw, given the low level of interest rates.It is also notable that SWFs are increasingly attentive to the development of the asset management sector in the Gulf countries.Assets under management for SWFs overall total about USD4.6trn.
Macquarie Investment Management (MIM) has announced the appoitment of Axel Maier as head of distribution for Asia. At the head of a team of seven people, Maier, who will be based in Hong Kong, will be in charge of developing the activities of Macquarie serving Asian institutional clients in particular.Maier, who previously worked at Wellington Management, replaces Damon Hambly who left the position at the end of January and has since joined Natixis Global Asset Management as head of strategy and development for Asia.Assets under management at MIM total about USD220bn, slightly under 50% of which is from institutional investors.
A coalition representing USD2 trillion of investor assets calls on Ministers at Rio+20 Earth Summit to mandate corporate sustainability reporting.Led by Aviva Investors, the group, also including NGOs, church groups and UN agencies, has called on government representatives at the Rio+20 Earth summit to require public and large global private corporations to integrate material environmental, social and governance issues in their Annual Report and Accounts, on a report or explain basis.In an open letter to Ministers, Paul Abberley, interim chief executive of Aviva Investors and representative for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Coalition (CSRC), said: “(…) At present 75% of companies do not report on sustainability issues at all. While this trend is improving, at the current trajectory it will be decades before sustainability reporting is common practice across global markets (…)”.
Quentin Fitzsimmons, head of government bonds at Threadneedle Investments, has decided to «take a career break» and has resigned from Threadneedle, according to a press release on May 24. He will leave the firm in mid-July.Quentin Fitzsimmons joined Threadneedle in 2003. He has led the company’s absolute return bond strategies.Matthew Cobon, fund manager and FX specialist, is currently co-manager of the Threadneedle Absolute Return Bond and Target Return Funds and will assume lead responsibility for these funds. Responsibility for other funds managed by Quentin Fitzsimmons will be assumed by members of the team, including Richard Stevens, Dave Chappell, Martin Harvey and Matt Rees.Jim Cielinski, head of fixed income at Threadneedle commented: “We are very sorry to see Quentin leave Threadneedle. We are making changes to strengthen and extend our fixed income platform and would have liked him to be part of our future growth. However we respect his decision and we wish him and his family well, and thank him for the outstanding contribution he has made.Threadneedle will announce new appointments to its fixed income team shortly.
The solution provider SEI Global Wealth Services has appointed Anita Juneja as head of clients for the global wealth services unit, Investment Europe reports. Juneja, who previously worked at Close Brothers Asset Management, will be responsible for monitoring and development of strategic partnerships.
The alternative management firm Orix Investment Corporation (OIC) has retained SEI to provide a complete set of solutions including middle and back office functions.Orix will concentrate its internal resources on customer service and investment functions.
A survey undertaken by the German association BVI of asset management firms has found that Allianz Global Investors is the top actor in the management and administration of institutional funds (Spezialfonds) investing in securities, with assets of EUR1535m as of the end of 2011, or a market share of 18.9%. Universal-Investment is in second place, with EUR98.2bn, followed by HSBC Trinkhaus & Burkhardt with EUR78.3bn. The total market represents EUR812.8bn, compared with EUR782.4bn as of the end of 2010. In terms of porrtfolio management services alone, Allianz GI has a market share of 25.9%, with EUR147.2bn in assets, followed by Union Investment (co-operative banks), with EUR68.4bn, DekaBank (savings banks) with EUR49.1bn, and the Deutsche Bank family, with EUR44bn. Total assets come to EUR567.4bn.The BVI association states that in first quarter 2012, institutional securities funds had net inflows of EUR13.8bn, after inflows fo EUR42bn in all of 2011, and a peak at EUR69.4bn in 2010, and that assets as of the end of March totalled EUR852bn.Asset management firms as of the end of 2011 were responsible for EUR1.132trn in assets, of which EUR812.9bn were in Spezialfonds investing in securities, while the remainder was in mandates and institutional real estate funds.
L’embellie fut de courte durée : en avril, les fonds ouverts commercialisés en Italie ont accusé des rachats nets de 997 millions d’euros après avoir enregistré en mars pour la première fois depuis longtemps des souscriptions nettes (de 2,4 milliards d’euros).Cette décollecte a été tirée principalement par les fonds actions, qui voient sortir 1,216 milliard d’euros. Les fonds obligataires, qui engrangent 1,578 milliard d’euros en avril et 6,766 milliards depuis le début de l’année, n’ont pas réussi à inverser la tendance.A fin avril, les encours des fonds commercialisés en Italie atteignent 433,872 milliards d’euros. En ajoutant les fonds dédiés, qui ont collecté 316 millions en avril, et les gestions sous mandat (+618 millions), les encours du secteur de la gestion d’actifs en Italie totalisent 966,766 milliards d’euros.Côté sociétés, celles ayant collecté le plus en avril sont le groupe Banco Popolare (+734 millions d’euros), devant Poste Italiane (+414,5 millions) et Amundi (+270,5 millions).A contrario, les groupes qui ont affiché les plus forts rachats sont les trois principaux en termes d’encours : Pioneer (-918,1 millions), Generali (-842,5 millions) et Intesa Sanpaolo (-357,9 millions).
De sources concordantes, Lehman Brothers Holdings a noué avec Bank of America et Barclays le rachat pour 1,58 milliard de dollars des 26,5% encore détenus par ses deux partenaires au capital d’Archstone. Un accord qui met fin à une longue bataille entre les banques quant à la valorisation d’Archstone. Lehman aurait convenu de verser 150 millions de dollars au perdant Equity Residential.
Un responsable de la division de gestion d’actifs de la banque américaine a confié à Reuters que le groupe entend mobiliser quelque 100 milliards de yens, l’équivalent d’un milliard d’euros, auprès d’investisseurs japonais et internationaux afin de réaliser des investissements dans le secteur immobilier de l’Archipel, particulièrement dans les immeubles de bureaux ou les actifs commerciaux.
Yuanta Financial a indiqué renoncer au rachat de la banque taïwanaise Ta Chong, infligeant un sérieux revers à Carlyle qui souhaite se défaire de cet investissement. Reuters avait indiqué mercredi que des négociations se poursuivaient pouvant aboutir à une prise de participation de 7% par Carlyle au capital de Yuanta dans le cadre d’un accord valorisant Ta Chong à 37 milliards de dollars taïwanais, l’équivalent de près d’un milliard d’euros.
Les premières estimations des indices PMI font état d’un recul de l’activité dans toute la zone en mai. Le PIB devrait se contracter d’au moins 0,5% au deuxième trimestre selon Markit. Même l’Allemagne n’est pas épargnée. Le secteur manufacturier y accuse un fort ralentissement.
Le quotidien avance que l’ancien président de MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Harry Sloan, pourrait racheter auprès de CVC Capital Partners une participation au capital du groupe australien de médias. Harry Sloan a noué contact avec CVC dans la région et a mandaté des banques, en l’occurrence Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup et Deutsche Bank, en vue de formuler une offre.
Les inscriptions hebdomadaires au chômage ont légèrement diminué aux Etats-Unis lors de la semaine au 19 mai, à 370.000 contre 372.000 (révisé) la semaine précédente, selon le département du Travail. Les économistes attendaient en moyenne 370.000 inscriptions. La moyenne mobile sur quatre semaines s'établit à 370.000 contre 375.500 (révisé) la semaine précédente.
Le Fonds européen de stabilité financière (FESF) a émis 3 milliards d’euros d’obligations à trois (arrivant à échéance le 1er juin 2015). Le rendement à l’émission a été fixé à 18 points de base au-dessus du taux mid-swap, ce qui implique un rendement de 1,162% pour les investisseurs. La demande a été forte avec plus de 4,5 milliards d’euros d’ordres. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, CA CIB et RBS ont co-dirigé l’opération.
L’indice manufacturier «flash» calculé par Markit sur la base d’une enquête auprès de plus de 600 directeurs d’achats du secteur aux Etats-Unis est ainsi tombé à 53,9, un plus bas de trois mois, contre 56,0 en avril. Le secteur manufacturier américain enregistre cependant son trente-deuxième mois d’affilée de croissance.
L'élection présidentielle française ne modifie pas l’avis de Moody’s sur la note Aaa de la France, ni sa perspective négative, qui se traduirait par une dégradation si le gouvernement socialiste ne parvenait pas à réduire l’endettement du pays, a annoncé l’agence de notation. La note a été abaissée d’un cran de AAA à AA+ en janvier par S&P et reste AAA chez Fitch.
Les signaux négatifs se multiplient pour l'économie française et l’emploi au moment où les Européens cherchent à relancer la croissance. Le climat des affaires s’est dégradé dans tous les secteurs de l'économie au mois de mai et les indices PMI flash signalent une nette contraction de l’activité dans l’industrie comme dans les services. L’indice PMI manufacturier a reculé à 44,4 après 46,9 en avril, un niveau très inférieur au consensus de 22 économistes (47,0). et qui reste sous le seuil de 50, ce qui signale une contraction. C’est le plus bas niveau pour cet indice depuis trois ans. Il n’a pas franchi la barre de 50 depuis juillet. L’activité dans le secteur manufacturier en Allemagne a, de son côté, enregistré au mois de mai sa plus forte contraction en trois ans, relançant les inquiétudes sur un ralentissement de la première économie européenne. L’indice PMI manufacturier calculé par Markit pour l’Allemagne en première estimation a reculé à 45,0 ce mois-ci après 46,2 en avril (consensus 47,0). C’est sa plus forte contraction du secteur manufacturier depuis juin 2009. Par ailleurs, l’institut Ifo basé à Munich a annoncé jeudi que l’indice du climat des affaires, calculé sur la base d’une enquête mensuelle auprès de 7.000 sociétés, était tombé à 106,9 en mai, à comparer avec 109,9 en avril.
Le gouverneur de la Banque du Japon (BoJ) Masaaki Shirakawa a déclaré que la banque centrale poursuivrait ses efforts pour juguler la déflation via son programme de rachat d’actifs. « La BoJ s’est engagée à poursuivre une politique d’assouplissement monétaire puissante en maintenant les taux d’intérêt effectivement à zéro et en rachetant des actifs pour arriver à une inflation à 1%, » a-t-il dit devant un commission parlementaire.
L'économie britannique s’est contractée plus que prévu au premier trimestre, plombée par la plus forte baisse en trois ans de l’activité dans le secteur de la construction, renforçant la probabilité de nouvelles injections de liquidités par la Banque d’Angleterre (BoE) pour soutenir la croissance. Le Royaume-Uni est retombé en récession pour la première fois depuis la crise financière de 2007-2008, et les perspectives de reprise restent incertaines.