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09/01/2012

Axa IM perd une pointure

Thibault de Vitry a quitté Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) le 31 décembre dernier selon nos informations, confirmées par la suite par la société de gestion. L’intéressé occupait depuis 2007 la fonction de Global Head of Investment Solutions et était, de fait, responsable de l’asset liability management et des activités multi-asset investment et AXA funds of hedge funds de la société. De sources concordantes, Axa IM serait en passe de recruter le remplaçant de Thibault de Vitry dans une autre société de gestion. En attendant son arrivée, un comité de transition aurait été mis en place. Ayant rejoint Axa IM en 1998, Thibault de Vitry a tour à tour occupé les fonctions de managing director of quantitative and structured investments, global head of operations d’AXA IM, global head of insurance investment and COO of securities investment management, et enfin global head of insurance investment d’AXA IM.
09/01/2012
Fonds

Union Investment vend un immeuble à TF1

Pour un montant non divulgué, l’allemand Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE) a vendu l’immeuble de bureaux Aile Sud (7.315 mètres carrés) de Boulogne-Billancourt à TF1 qui avait été acheté en 1999 pour le fonds immobilier offert au public UniImmo: Europa. Le gestionnaire précise que cet immeuble, loué directement à TF1, a généré pendant douze ans des recettes importantes pour le fonds.Karl-Joseph Hermanns-Engel, membre du comité directeur d’UIRE, a souligné que cette transaction illustre une fois de plus la politique active de gestion des actifs en France, l’objectif étant à présent de revendre des immeubles achetés durant la première phase d’investissement entre 1999 et 2004 et qui ne correspondent plus à la stratégie actuelle.Pour 2011, UIRE a ainsi revendu en réalisant des bénéfices des actifs français pour environ 450 millions d’euros en net. Le produit de ces ventes devrait être réinvesti à Paris et sur des marchés régionaux français durant les 12 à 15 prochains mois.
Fonds
09/01/2012

Swiss Life réorganise son état-major parisien

Jean-Pierre Grimaud, directeur des investissements de Swiss Life France, en charge du département administratif et financier, du département gestion des placements mobiliers et du département immobilier de Swiss Life en France, et par ailleurs président de Swiss Life Asset Management (France) depuis 2007, ainsi que de Swiss Life Immobilier et du conseil de surveillance de Viveris Reim, a pris le 1er décembre 2011 la direction d’une nouvelle unité spécifique dédiée à la gestion d’actifs pour compte de tiers (TPAM – Third Party Asset Management). Rattachée à la direction des investissements groupe Swiss Life, cette structure a pour vocation «d’accompagner les ambitions de développement de Swiss Life en Suisse, en France, en Allemagne et au Luxembourg» précise le groupe.Thierry Van Rossum, directeur des opérations (COO) depuis 2008 au sein de Swiss Life France succède à Jean-Pierre Grimaud au poste de directeur des investissements (CIO). L’intéressé a été auparavant, de 2002 à 2008, directeur financier (CFO) de Swiss Life Belgium.Enfin, Cécile Mérine succède à Thierry Van Rossum en tant que directeur des opérations. Elle conserve la responsabilité de la direction marketing et développement Produits, fonction qu’elle occupe depuis 2008 au sein de Swiss Life France qu’elle a rejoint en 2002.
09/01/2012

Nomination chez Black Diamond Capital Management

La société de gestion alternative Black Diamond Capital Management (BDCM), dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à plus de 10 milliards de dollars, a nommé Kenneth Rubin en qualité de senior managing director et gérant de portefeuille de hedge fund.Kenneth Rubin sera responsable de la plate-forme de hedge funds aux côtés de Stephen Deckoff, associé de BDCM.
09/01/2012
Fonds

LGIM se lance dans les ETF

Legal & General Investment Management doit dévoiler ce lundi le lancement de son premier ETF, en partenariat avec Source, selon les informations du Financial Times Fund Management. Le nouveau produit sera un ETF matières premières. Il répliquera un indice composite de quatre indices matières premières de Barclays Capital, Citi, JPMorgan et UBS.
Fonds
09/01/2012

Outre-Manche, l'emploi financier est en berne

Selon L’Agefi, plus de 21.000 banquiers seniors auraient perdu leur emploi l’an dernier à Londres, soit un sur sept dans cette catégorie de profil, selon une étude du cabinet Imas citée par le Sunday Times. La CBI (Confederation of British Industry) estime de son côté que, depuis la chute de Lehman Brothers en 2008, l’emploi du secteur financier a baissé de 9,6% ou 101.000 postes, note le quotidien.
09/01/2012
Fonds

Stenham lance un fonds Global Macro

La société de gestion britannique Stehnham Asset Managhement vient de lancer un fonds de hedge funds global macro, le Stenham Helix. Il sera géré de la même manière que le Stenham Trading, son fonds phare, mais présentera une liquidité plus importante. Ainsi, le nouveau produit offrira une liquidité mensuelle assortie d’un préavis de 35 jours pour toute sortie. Stenham Helix sera investi sur 15 gérants ayant un objectif de rendement de 5-6 % au dessus du Libor et une faible volatilité. Le fonds a été lancé avec 36 millions de dollars et sera disponible avec des classes de parts en dollars, livres et euros. Le ticket d’entrée est de 25.000 dollars et le fonds ne présente pas de période de lock up. Stenham affiche un encours de 2,7 milliards de dollars, dont plus de 1,1 milliard de dollars investi dans des hedge funds global macro.
Fonds
09/01/2012

Axxion crée une filiale de valorisation

Spécialiste de l’administration de fonds (Master KAG) à la marque du distributeur, le luxembourgeois Axxion a annoncé le 6 janvier la création d’une filiale spécialisée qui internalisera aussi la valorisation des fonds, navAXX SA. Cette formule permettra de personnaliser les offres.La nouvelle filiale a commencé au début de l’année par le calcul de la valeur liquidative de 70 fonds et Axxion prévoit que ce nombre atteindra d’ici à la fin du premier semestre la totalité des 150 fonds qu’elle administre actuellement.Le partenaire informatique de navAXX est Diamos AG.
09/01/2012

Hildebrand scandal: Sarasin files charges against employee

In the scandal over personal forex trades conducted by Philipp Heldebrand, chairman of the Swiss National Bank (BNS), Banque Sarasin has announced that on 5 January it filed criminal charges in a Zurich court against the employee the firm dismissed on 3 January.The firm states that the former employee “stole” screenshots revealing the portfolio and transactions of the Hildebrand family, and sent them to a lawyer he knew, rather than reporting the trades which appeared to him subjectively to be dubious to his line manager or to the compliance department.The charge is infraction of the law of banking confidentiality and commercial secrecy. It also names third parties for inciting these infractions.Banque Sarasin states that it reserves the right to file other legal proceedings, including civil proceedings seeking damages and interest, and/or a filing before the Swiss Press Council for erroneous reporting of the facts by a Swiss weekly newsmagazine (possibly Weltwoche; see Newsmanagers of 5 January 2012).
09/01/2012

South Korea's NPS granted a QFII license in China

The National Pension Service (NPS, USD300bn), the fourth-largst pension fund in South Korea, on Sunday announced that it has obtained a Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) license from the Chinese authorities, and is planning to make its first direct investments in equities and bonds denominated in Chinese yuan this year, the Financial Times reports. The chairman of NPS, Jun Kwnag-woo, says that he is aiming for 25% of investments abroad by 2014, up from 10% in 2010.
09/01/2012

French financial association opposes Tobin tax on France alone

The Paris Europlace association, which promotes and develops the Paris financial market, has declared its opposition to the establishment of a tax on financial transactions if it is not applied throughout Europe. A tax which would specifically sanction the French financial sector would be inappropriate, the association claimed on Friday, 6 January, pointing out the limitations and risks of such an initiative.Though the law would aim to combat financial speculation, its overly broad application would affect transactions made by private investors, businesses and institutional investors, and would cause significant risk distortions. Its cost would also penalise French banks, asset management firms and insurers, and toughen borrowing conditions for businesses throughout the French economy. It would also lead to substantial losses for the Paris financial industry, and that would come in addition to the already high cost of new financial regulations being put in place (Based 3, Solvency 2), a statement from Paris Europlace claims.The association of financial sector businesses and their retail and business clients claims that they would be at a disadvantage of the plans are put into action. If the law were applied only in France, it would inevitably lead to “a delocalisation of the activities concerned at banks, insurance companies and asset management firms, in favour of the major global financial centres, and would consequently reduce control of financing conditions in our economy and the role of the Paris market in the European and global economies,” the association claims.
09/01/2012

LGIM enters ETF market

Legal & General Investment Management is expected to announce the launch of its first ETF this Monday, in partnership with Source, according to reports in Financial Times Fund Management. The new product will be a commodity ETF. It will track a composite of four commodity indices from Barclays Capital, Citi, JPMorgan and UBS.
09/01/2012

Stenham launches a global macro fund

Stenham Asset Management has launched a new Global Macro fund of hedge funds – Stenham Helix. The investment manager has been invested in Global Macro hedge funds since the 1980s and its flagship macro fund of hedge funds, Stenham Trading, has achieved an annualised return of +9.07% since inception compared to the HFRX Macro Index which has posted a return of 6.51% and the MSCI World Equity Index which was 4.13% over the same period.The Stenham Helix fund aims to invest in similar types of macro managers but to assemble a portfolio where the liquidity provided by the underlying managers allows Stenham to offer monthly liquidity with 35 days’ notice. The fund will consist of a concentrated portfolio of around 15 managers with a target return of Libor +5% to 6% and low volatility. The minimum investment is US$ 25,000 with no lock up period. The Stenham Helix fund has launched with USD 36 million and is available in USD, GBP and EUR share classes.Stenham has over USD 1.1 billion invested in Global Macro hedge funds and has USD 2.7 billion invested in hedge fund strategies overall.
09/01/2012

Funds will benefit slightly from tax increases

An increase in taxation on savings in Spain will make investments in the form of shares in investment funds more competitive, since the subscriber will deal with the tax office only when selling off the investment. In addition, the investor will remain able to modify the investment profile without paying taxes, as trades between funds retain a tax exemption, Cinco Días reports.These advantages will prove more important if the higher taxes on savings are truly limited to two years, as announced.Cinco Días reports that the investment fund sector has suffered considerably due to the crisis, with assets now back to their 1996 levels.
09/01/2012

Heavy decline in activity for ETFs on Euronext in December

A slowdown in ETF trading continued in December on the European markets of NYSE Euronext, which posted an average of 7,734 on-book trades per day and a volume of EUR268.7m per day, compared with 10,965 trades and EUR405.8m the previous month. For the year as a whole, transaction volumes have fallen 43.2%. December was the month last year when activities were at their lowest.Block trading of shares in December declined to EUR930.5m, from EUR974.9m in November, but rose compared with a total of EUR47.5m in December 2010.The average spread in December averaged 36.6 basis points, compared with 40 in November. It had been 36.3% in October, 38.83% in September, and 28.5% in August.The number of new funds launched increased for 2011 as a whole to 157 (of which 129 were primary listing and 28 were secondary listings), from 133 in 2010 (111 and 22, respectively).NYSE Euronext states that the four major underlying indices for ETFs traded on European markets last year were the CAC40 (28%), Euro Stoxx 50 (24%), the CAC40 Leverage (13%), and the Dax (6%).
09/01/2012

European MPs hostile to complex products

Members of the European parliament are highly reticent about complex financial products. More than half of them (57%) would like to forbid complex or manifestly risks financial products, according to a survey by Cicero Consulting and ComRes of a sample of 100 European MPs about the regulatory and gestation framework for the asset management sector. A majority of MPs estimate that financial establishments which hold savings should be subject to much stricter regulations. One of the few sources of disagreement between MPs is about the impact of reforms on the flow of capital to offshore financial centres. 36% of respondents say that tighter regulations would reduce the flow, while 37% think the opposite.
09/01/2012

GlobeOp in talks with private equity investors

The hedge fund services firm GlobeOp Financial Services is in talks with the private equity firms Advent International and TPG over a potential takeover bid, Reuters reports. GlobeOp, whose assets under administration total USD173bn, is being advised in the talks by Evercore Partners. The talks are still at a preliminary stage, GlobeOp states.
09/01/2012

CVC Capital Partners and Resource America found a new firm

The private equity firm CVC Capital Partners and Resource America have signed an agreement to combine the firms CVC Cordatus Group and Apidos Capital Management to create the firm CVC Credit Partners. CVC Credit Partners, led by Marc Brighton, managing partner, will be responsible for USD7.5bn in assets distributed over more than 20 vehicles in the United States and Europe. Resource America, whose CEO will become chairman of the new entity, will hold a 33% stake in the new firm.
09/01/2012

Asset management firms turn to higher-margin products

Asset management firms are increasingly seeking to launch multi-asset class absolute return funds and liability-driven investment (LDI) strategies, as margins on traditional products are under pressure, a study by Cerulli Associates cited by the Financial Times reports. The research firm also finds that asset management firms are seeking to boost their sales with white-label products, particularly in Asia, where they have a freer hand to charge fees as they like.
09/01/2012

Rouvier Associés starts up activities in Germany

A UCITS IV license from the French AMF and the German BaFin to the long-only funds Rouvier Valeurs, Europe and Patrimoine will allow Rouvier Associés (EUR750m) to start up its activities in Germany with the opening of a branch office in Frankfurt (see Newsmanagers of 7 November 2011).The director, Patrick Linden, predicts that the company will be present on two or three platforms by the time of the Fonds professionnell congress in Mannheim (25-26 January), Fonds Professionell reports. A cooperation agreement has already been signed for fund distribution with Fondsnet.
09/01/2012

Iridian Asset Management closes a hedge fund

Iridian Asset Management has closed its largest hedge fund, the Iridian Opportunity fund, following a decline in assets and disappointing returns in 2010 and 2011. The fund lost 8,90% between January and October of last year, Absolute Return Alpha reports. The global equity hedge fund was launched in 2005 by former managers from Arnold and S. Bleichroeder Advisors.
09/01/2012

Life insurance returns down sharply in 2011

Returns on funds in euros are expected to fall again, Les Echos reports. The average rate paid out in 2011 is expected to be about 3%, compared with 3.4% in 2010 and 3.7% in 2009. The return rate, a historic barometer of the market, will be released tomorrow by Afer, the French association of savings investors. The profession is not expecting much in the way of inflows in 2012.
09/01/2012

Assets under management in China down

Assets under management in China have fallen 13% in 2011, from CNY2.479trn as of the end of 2010 to CNY2.169trn, according to Z-Ben Advisors. The decline was particularly marked for equity funds, where assets contracted from CNY927bn to CNY704bn, and for balanced funds, which declined from CNY741bn to CNY544bn. However, the fixed income category saw an increase in assets, from CNY302bn to CNY464bn. The majority of this has gone to money market funds, where assets total CNY295bn. Between September and December 2011, this category saw a 133% leap in its assets. But the trend is expected to reverse in early 2012, Z-Ben Advisors predicts. Pessimism about the markets has led to a decline in interest in funds on the part of investors, Z-Ben Advisors notes. During the final three months of 2011, the average product launch attracted assets totaling just CNY1bn, compared with CNY2.6bn in fourth quarter 2010. However, the lower level is also due to a 43% increase in the number of funds launched in 2011.
09/01/2012

Anthony Bolton loses GBP1m on Chinese fund

Anthony Bolton has personally lost more than USD1m due to heavy losses from his China fund last year, the Financial Times reports. The decline represents one third of the value of his 2.5 million shares in the Fidelity China Special Situations fund. The fund, which raised GBP460m at its launch in April 2010, saw a decline in its share price of one third in 2011.
09/01/2012

Lombard Odier nabs one more big wheel from ING IM

Paranay Gupta, who had been chief investment officer (CIO) at ING Investment Management Asia Pacific, has been recruited by Lombard Odier (USD160bn) as CIO for Asia and global head of investment solutions. He will be based in Hong Kong, and will report to Vincent Duhamel, head of Asia.At ING IM, Gupta had been responsible for the investment of assets totalling USD85bn. He also belonged to the global investment leadership team, which supervised the placement of USD484bn at the manager.Before joining ING IM, Gupta has also been deputy CIO at Pearl Group, and a senior member of the management team at ABP Investments.This is the second major recruitment from ING IM at Lombard Odier Investment Management (LOIM). Less than a month ago, LOIM announced the recruitment of Jan Straatman as CIO, the same position which he had previously held at ING. In addition, he had been CEO and CIO of Pearl Group from 2006 to 2008 (see Newsmanagers of 13 December 2011)...
09/01/2012

Van Eck recruits a gold analyst

Van Eck is adding to its investment team. The US asset management firm has recruited Imaro Casanova as a senior analyst specialised in gold. She joins the team responsible for the International Investors Gold Fund, Global Hard Assets Fund and Van Eck VP Global Hard Assets Fund, among others. In total, the three mutual funds have USD6.6bn in assets.The team dedicated to hard assets now includes 12 people. Casanova joined Van Eck from McNicoll Lewis & Vlak, where she had been a senior analyst in equities research, specialised in the mining sector.
09/01/2012

Management bonuses and dividends down at BNP Paribas

The chairman of BNP Paribas, Baudoin Prot, on 6 January announced on BFM that results at BNP Paribas would be down significantly despite a profitable fourth quarter. “Fourth quarter will clearly bring a profitable result,” said Prot, but added that for the fiscal year as a whole, results would be “noticeably down” compared with 2010. Dividends are also expected to be reduced, as will bonuses for management and market operators at BNP Paribas.
09/01/2012

Axa IM loses a big name

According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, Thibault de Vitry quit Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) on 31 December. The asset management firm confirmed to Newsmanagers that de Vitry, who had since 2007 served as Global Head of Investment Solutions, and had been head of asset liability management and multi-asset investment activities as well as AXA funds of hedge funds, had left the firm. Other sources report that the firm is seeking a replacement for de Vitry to be recruited from another asset management firm. Until his replacement arrives, a transitional committee has been established. Before joining Axa IM in 1998, de Vitry held a series of positions as managing director of quantitative and structured investments, global head of operations at AXA IM, global head of insurance investment, COO of securities investment management, and finally global head of insurance investment at AXA IM.
09/01/2012

Union Investment sells a property to TF1

The German investment firm Union Investment Real Estate has sold the office property Aile Sud (7,315 square metres) in Boulogne-Billancourt, for an undisclosed sum, to TF1. UIRE bought the property in 1999 for the open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Europa. The asset management firm states that the property, which is leased directly to TF1, has generated significant returns for the fund during those twelve years.Karl-Joseph Hermanns-Engel, a member of the board of directors at UIRE, says that the transaction is a sign of the firm’s continued active asset management policy in France, where the objective is now to sell properties acquired in the first investment phase between 1999 and 2004, which no longer are in line with current strategy.In 2011, UIRE resold French properties with gains for a net of about EUR450m. The proceeds of these sales will be reinvested in Paris and in French regional markets in the next 12 to 15 months.
09/01/2012

Swiss Life reshuffles staff in Paris

Jean-Pierre Grimaud, chief investment officer at Swiss Life France, in charge of the administrative and financial department, the securities investment department and the real estate department at Swiss Life France, and also chairman of Swiss Life Asset Management (France) since 2007, as well as Swiss Life Immobilier and of the supervisory board at Viveris Reim, on 1 December became director of a new special unit dedicated to third-party asset management (TPAM). The structure, which will report to the management of the Swiss Life group, will aim “to assist Swiss Life in its ambitions in Switzerland, France, Germany and Luxembourg,” the group says in a statement.Thierry Van Rossum, chief operating officer (COO) at Swiss Life France since 2008, succeeds Grimaud as chief investment officer (CIO). Van Rossum had previously been chief financial officer (CFO) at Swiss Life Belgium from 2002 to 2008.Cécile Mérine succeeds Van Rossum as chief operating officer, and will retain her responsibilities as director of marketing and product development, a position she has held since 2008 at Swiss Life France, where she began in 2002.

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