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30/03/2012

HFR and Morningstar sign a strategic distribution agreement

US-based Hedge Fund Research (HFR) and Morningstar on 28 March signed a strategic distribution agreement by the terms of which subscribers to the institutional investment analysis platform Morningstar Direct will be able to acquire licenses for alternative investment content from HFR, including the HFRX and HFRI hedge fund indices, the hedge fund database and analysis of the alternative management industry.Morningstar Direct includes global data and content from Morningstar on investments, with analysis tools to interpret financial information to optimise investment ideas and communicate clearly and comprehensively. Over 1,700 businesses worldwide subscribe to the service, and the number of users has recently topped 6,000.
30/03/2012

Convictions AM adds to team and product range

Convictions Asset Management is preparing to launch a new fund. Convictions Classic will be a global bonds fund, “investing about 90% in bonds and 10% in equities,” Philippe Delienne, chairman of the French asset management firm, announced on Thursday. An AMF license for the product is pending. Its launch coincides with the creation of a defensive mandate, “Mandat Classic.”The asset management firm has also announced the recruitment of Elodie Deville as head of partner relationships. Before joining Convictions AM, the 29-year old woman had been responsible for partner relationships in the south of France at Alienor Capital.
30/03/2012

CVC Capital Partners recruits a former PAI Partners manager

The investment fund CVC Capital Partners (CVC) has recruited Bertrand Meunier as managing partner and a member of its PE board, effective immediately. He will be based in London, and will have global responsibility, including for the newly-created consumer goods sector. He will also oversee the development of the business in France. Meunier had previously served as chairman of the Partner Committee and head of the sector teams at PAI Partners, where he started in 1982.
30/03/2012

BlackRock recruits a specialist from Axiom

Luiz Soares, who joined Axiom International Investors in 2000, and who had most recently been responsible for about USD1bn in emerging markets assets, has been recruited as managing director of the fundamental emerging markets equities team at BlackRock, which has USD2.5bn in assets under management. In addition, he has been appointed as a portfolio manager for BlackRock Emerging Markets Fund, Inc. (MDDCX).He will be based in New York, and will report to Chris Leavy, CIO fundamental equity (Americas). He will also work in close collaboration with Sam Vecht, head of the EMEA equities team in London, Andrew Saxcan, head of the Asian equities team in Hong Kong, and Will Landers, head of the Latin American equities team, in Princeton.
30/03/2012

Avenir Finance: asset management did well in 2011

Avenir Finance has reported earnings of EUR34.32m in 2011, up more than 27% compared with 2010, and a net profit of EUR0.60m (+114% compared with the previous year). In asset management, earnings totalled EUR21.81m last year, compared with EUR14.61m in 2010 (+49%).Operating profits totalled EUR2.51m, compared with EUR1.24m in 2010 (+102%). The asset management firm, specialised in asset allocation and absolute return, has taken on more than EUR40m in second half 2011, a statement says.Avenir Finance is now aiming for earnings in 2013 of EUR55m, and of EUR88m in 2015, with a 15% profit margin, compared with 3% in 2011.A dividend of EUR0.15 per share will be proposed at the general shareholders’ meeting.
30/03/2012

Interest in ETFs based on alternative-weighted indices increasing

Demand from European investors for ETFs based on new forms of indices has increased from 29% to 39% over the past year, the new edition of the Edhec European ETF Survey, undertaken in partnership with Amundi, reveals. This indicates growing interest in alternative-weighted indices.In terms of future use, a majority of the 174 European ETF investors surveyed (63%) indicate that they intend to increase their allocation to ETFs in the future. While investors are using ETFs more heavily for dynamic strategies and specific sub-segment exposure than in the past, the main use of ETFs remains long-term buy-and-hold investing in broad market indices. ETFs are mainly used as beta or asset allocation tools. Finally, on the subject of regulations, the study finds that industry communication on the risks of ETFs has led to the counterparty risk of physical ETFs being underestimated. As a result, investors think that full physical replication (a positive score of 2.28 out of 3) is less risky than synthetic replication (1.41 out of 3) in terms of counterparty risk.
30/03/2012

Scandinavia leads sustainability rankings

The rankings of OECD countries on the basis of 53 sustainability indicators (including areas such as the environment, transparency, health, and education) undertaken by Petercam places Scandinavia and Switzerland at the top of the rankings. Norway has ceded the top place in the sustainability rankings to Sweden due to the latter’s higher score in the areas of health and education. France remains in 13th place in the rankings, with good results in the areas of the environment, carbon emissions and the climate change index. However, in the area of economics, it has relatively weak results in terms of its competitive position, public debt levels and budget deficit, a statement says. Meanwhile, among the various changes in the rankings, Iceland, one of the first victims of the credit crisis, has finished in fourth place. Canada, for its part, has lost three places, due to having withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol. At the bottom of the rankings, the countries of Southern Europe continue to earn mediocre sustainability ratings. Meanwhile, the “what do you get for your tax money?” index, which calculates how much a taxpayer pays for sustainiability in a given country, places Switzerland at the top of the rankings, with results approaching those of Scandinavian countries in terms of education, the environment, and healthcare, although citizens enjoy a lower rate of taxation.
30/03/2012

UBS restructured services for independent managers in Switzerland

UBS is restructuring its activities serving independent wealth managers, Le Temps reports. About 40 jobs will be cut in the UBS Global FIM banking unit, which includes over 300 employees in Switzerland, the bank announced on Thursday, confirming reports on the website Finews.ch.The number of jobs lost corresponds to a net reduction of about 12% to personnel in the unit in Switzerland, a spokesperson for UBS states. “New positions have also been created, such as investment advisor and risk and processes specialist,” the spokesperson added.In order to confront a changing regulatory environment, independent wealth managers need to use new services. Services aimed at financial intermediaries, or FIM, are now provided by a single team, with about 400 people worldwide. Independent wealth managers who work with UBS manage nearly US75bn, Finews.ch reports.
30/03/2012

Record profits at DVAG

The financial services provider Deutsche Vermögensberatung AG (DVAG) on 29 March reported net profits of EUR171.1m for 2011, representing an increase of 14% compared with 2010, and a record amount for the business, which has been in existence for 37 years. DVAG now employs over 37,000 full or part-time advisers.Earnings, for their part, increased 4.3% to EUR1.11bn, and the chairman of the board, Reinhard Pohl, claims that “since the financial crisis, the number of clients has increased by 2 million, and now total over 5.9 million.”The annual report states that DVAG at the end of last year intermediated 5.6% of assets at the asset management firm DWS (Deutsche Bank), whose products it distributes. At the end of 2010, it accounted for 4.9% of these assets.
30/03/2012

Franklin Templeton aims to double assets in Germany

Richard Berben, CEO of Franklin Templeton for Germany, has announced that he is aiming to double the volume of assets under management (EUR14.8bn as of end-January) in fice years, and that he is planning to make the firm one of the top five providers in the country, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.Currently, Franklin Templeton ranks sixth, far behind BlackRock, with EUR28.3bn in its iShares ETF funds alone, not counting its other funds. Franklin Templeton, which arrived in Germany at the same time as Fidelity, initially lagged behind its US rival, and then outpaced it, as Fidelity fell back to EUR8.9bn in assets.Berben does not plan any absolute return funds, but has not ruled out the possibility that Franklin Templeton may launch wealth management funds.
30/03/2012

Bonnfinanz finds its new head at last

Michael Rentmeister, who left the firm at the end of December to become chairman of the managing board at OVB Holding, replacing Wilfried Kempchen, has at last been replaced in turn as chairman of the board at the financial product distributor Bonnfinanz by Ulrich Mitzlaff. Mitzlaff joins from the Allianz group, where he had most recently been director of the operational management/international distribution department.
30/03/2012

Fred Moore leaves Newton

Fred Moore is leaving Newton to pursue business interests outside of the investment management industry, BNY Mellon has announced. Following this departure, Raj Shant will become lead manager on the Newton European Higher Income Fund. He is lead manager on Newton Continental European strategy and manages both institutional and retail equity portfolios. Raj joined Newton in 2002. Tom Beevers will remain alternate manager on the Fund.
30/03/2012

Strong increase in profits at RLAM

In the release of its 2011 results, the insurance group Royal London announced on Thusday that operating profits for its asset management affiliate Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) totalled GBP34m, compared with GBP25m in 2010.As of 31 December, total assets at RLAM were GBP46.2bn, of which GBP2.3bn were due to the acquisition of Royal Liver during the year (on 1 July), compared with GBP42.2bn one year earlier.
30/03/2012

Fidelity sells Indian fund management activities to L&T Finance

According to Mutual Fund Wire, Fidelity Worldwide Investments has sold off its Indian affiliates, FIL Fund Management Pvt and FIL Trustee Co, for an undisclosed sum, to L&T Finance Ltd, a subsidiary of the Larson & Toubro group. As of 31 December, assets in Indian funds from Fidelity represented a total of USD1.8bn (see Newsmanagers of 31 January).Fidelity Worldwide is retaining its IT and back-office centre at Gurgaon (1,500 employees) as well as its private equity affiliate, Fidelity Growth Partners India, as well as a local equity research team.Indian fund management activities at Fidelity have run a loss every year since opening in 2004, although the total volume on the Indian mutual fund market has quintupled since 2003, to USD134bn.
30/03/2012

F&C removes Cairn from its ethical fund portfolios

F&C Asset Management itself relays reports in the Herald Scotland that Cairn Energy has been removed from the portfolio of ethical funds from F&C (Stewardship range, GBP2.6bn in assets), due to its controversial drilling activities in the Arctic ocean off Greenland, which are an environmental as well as a security risk.Karina Livack, director of governance and sustainable investment at F&C, says that Cain Energy has not been removed from all portfolios, but that the decision has been taken from a general point of view to exclude all businesses which run Arctic drilling operations.
30/03/2012

Assets up at Liontrust

As of 27 March, total assets at Liontrust Asset Management were GBP1.55bn, of which GBP1.1bn were from UK retail clients, and GBP395m from institutional clients, compared with GBP1.34bn one year previously.Net subscriptions increased to GBP146m during the fiscal year, (including GBP106m for retail products), compared with GBP81m, while performance commission revenues totalled GBP1.4m, compared with GBP1.3m in 2010-2011, and GBP3.4m in 2009-2010.
30/03/2012

Morgan Stanley Global PE and OSF sign strategic partnership

Morgan Stanley Global Private Equity has announced that it has concluded a strategic partnership between OSF Merchant Banking to undertake investments in Brazil. OSF is a fund management firm based in São Paulo, which offers personalised advising in the area of alternative investments to qualified local and foreign investors.
30/03/2012

JPMorgan AM appoints a new country head for Italy

JPMorgan Asset Management has appointed Lorenzo Alfieri as its new country head for Italy.Alfieri succeeds Massimo Greco, who has been promoted to the position of European head of the new Global Funds Management division in London, following the announcement of the departure of Jamie Broderick.Alfieri joined JPMorgan AM in 1999, and has been head of sales since 2001.
30/03/2012

Spanish fund assets down in March

As of 23 March, assets under management by Spanish funds totalled EUR134.63bn, according to VDOS, relayed by Funds People. This represents a decline of EUR498m since the beginning of the month, of which GBP33m are due to market effects, and GBP464m to net redemptions.
30/03/2012

Director from Partners Group joins board at SFA

The annual general meeting of the Swiss Funds Association (SFA) has elected Felix Haldner, head of investment structures at Partners Group, a representative of the independent wealth management activities of banking and insurance groups, to its board. With this election, members demonstrated a desire to better protect the interests of wealth managers with respect to amendments to the collective investment law (LPCC) expected soon.The board at the SFA now includes eight members: Martin Thommen (president), Gérard Fischer (vice president), Felix Haldner, Christoph Ledergerber, Alexandre Meyer, Petra Reinhard Keller, Sven Rump and André Ullmann.
30/03/2012

Net subscriptions to UK funds at their highest levels since August

In February, net inflows to funds domiciled and on sale in the United Kingdom totalled GBP1.81bn, compared with GBP1.18bn in January, and GBP2.48bn in the corresponding month of 2011. This is the highest level since August, however, the Investment Management Association (IMA) observes.As of 29 February, total assets in the fund came to GBP615.4bn, compared with GBP593.2bn as of 31 January, and GBP586.1bn twelve months previously.For funds domiciled outside the United Kingdom, net subscriptions as of the end of February totalled GBP387.7bn, compared with net outflows of GBP282.6m in January, and net inflows of GBP302.8m in February 2011. Assets under management totalled GBP36.2bn, compared with GBP34.7bn one month previously, and GBP33.6bn as of the end of February 2011.
30/03/2012

Investment products: highest number of complaints at Barclays

According to statistics from the British FSA cited by Fundweb, Barclays received the highest number of complaints about its investment products in second half 2011. The bank received 3,284 complaints from clients, followed by Santander UK (1,956 complaints) and Woolwich Plan Managers (1,575 complaints).
30/03/2012

Le déficit français meilleur qu'attendu en 2011

Le déficit public français serait tombé à 5,2% du PIB en 2011, contre un objectif inscrit dans la loi de finances de 5,7% et une estimation du gouvernement de 5,3%, selon le quotidien qui ne cite pas de sources. La première estimation du déficit doit être publiée par l’Insee ce matin. Le gouvernement s’est engagé à le réduire à 4,5% du PIB fin 2012 et 3% fin 2013.
30/03/2012

La taille des pare-feu européens en débat

Les discussions sur la capacité totale du pare-feu pour stopper la contagion de la crise dans la zone euro s’annoncent serrées lors de l’Eurogroupe d’aujourd’hui à Copenhague. Alors que la France milite pour 1.000 milliards d’euros, Berlin n’est prêt à monter que jusqu'à 800 millions.

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