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17/11/2011
Fonds

Le SEB ImmoInvest revend deux actifs néerlandais

Real I.S. a acheté pour 57 millions d’euros les immeubles de bureaux Lotus A et B de Rotterdam à l’allemand SEB Asset Management. Ces deux actifs du fonds immobilier offert au public SEB ImmoInvest (6,33 milliards d’euros fin septembre) ont été vendus à 2 % au-dessus de la dernière valeur d’expertise. Cette transaction fait partie des ventes de 14 immeubles pour 910 millions d’euros depuis le gel du fonds qui ont été annoncées le 3 novembre.Les remboursements du fonds (DE0009802306) sont en effet gelés depuis mai 2010, mais SEB AM envisage toujours de rouvrir le guichet des rachats pour la fin de cette année, sachant que la date butoir légale est le 5 mai 2012.
Fonds
17/11/2011
Fonds

Source fait coter deux ETF supplémentaires à Francfort

La cote du segment XTF de la plate-forme électronique Xetra (Deutsche Börse) a accueilli le 16 novembre deux nouvelles références, des ETF de droit allemand lancés par Source, l’un sur les actions émergentes, l’autre sur les actions américaines. Désormais, 891 ETF sont cotés à Francfort.En ce qui concerne les nouveaux produits, il s’agit du MSCI Emerging Markets Source ETF* et du S&P 500 Source ETF**. Le premier est chargé à 0,45 % et le second à 0,20 %.* DE000A1JM6G3** DE000A1JM6F5
Fonds
17/11/2011
Fonds

SSgA lance deux fonds calés sur de nouveaux indices "crédit"

Au Luxembourg, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), s’inspirant du SPDR® Barclays Capital Issuer Scored Corporate Bond Exchange Traded Fund lancé aux Etats-Unis le 7 avril dernier, vient de mettre sur le marché les produits indiciels SSgA US Issuer Scored Corporate Bond Index Fund et SSgA Euro Issuer Scored Corporate Bond Index Fund. Ces derniers qui répliquent les indices Barclays Capital à pondération «alternative» Issuer Scored Corporate Index (ISCI) excluent la dette subordonnée ainsi que la dette émise par les sociétés non cotées.La recherche de SSgA a contribué à la mise au point de ces indices pour l’utilisation desquels le gestionnaire obtient l’exclusivité pendant deux ans. La méthodologie consiste à projeter la solidité financière des émetteurs en repondérant de manière quantitative les indices d’obligations privées en dollars US et en euros en fonction de trois facteurs : le rendement de l’actif (RoA), la couverture des intérêts et du capital (levier) ainsi que le ratio de liquidité (current ratio).Cela permet de miser sur les émetteurs les plus solides financièrement, alors que les indices capi-pondérés conventionnels attribuent une prime implicite aux plus gros émetteurs, donc aux sociétés les pus endettées.Dès lors, SSgA pourra constituer des portefeuilles avec des caractéristiques sectorielles similaires à celles d’un indice traditionnel, mais qui offrira moins de volalitité et des performances supérieures une fois ajustées du risque.
Fonds
17/11/2011

Moody's dégrade neuf banques publiques allemandes

L’agence Moody’s a achevé le 16 novembre l’analyse entamée le 1er juillet sur 12 banques publiques allemandes, et seule pour l’instant la Landesbank Berlin conserve sa note A1. La note de la WestLB (A3) reste sous surveillance, sans perspective précise.Par ailleurs, Moody’s abaisse d’un cran, à Aa3 contre Aa2, la note de DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale, la banque/société de gestion centrale des caisses d'épargne allemandes.Les notes sont abaissées de deux crans pour trois établissements : la Helaba (à A1), la Landesbank Saar (à A3) et la HSH Nordbank (à Baa2).Elles le sont de trois crans pour six autres banques : BayernLB (à Baa1), Deutsche Hypo (à Baa1), LBBW (à A2), NordLB (à A2), Norddeutsche Landesbank Luxembourg S.A. (NLBL, à A3) et BremerLB (à A2).Ces dégradations ont été citées comme l'élément déclencheur de la baisse de Wall Street le 16 novembre.
17/11/2011

Mandarine nomme un responsable de la conformité

Arthur Clouard-Even a été nommé responsable de la conformité et du contrôle interne de Mandarine Gestion. Il sera également en charge de l’établissement des rapports de contrôle et des reportings réglementaires. L’intéressé occupait auparavant le poste de responsable juridique au sein de la société de gestion française. Les responsabilités de conformité et de contrôle interne étaient assumées jusqu'à présent par Rémi Leservoisier, directeur général. «A ce stade de notre développement, il est nécessaire de dissocier les fonctions de directeur général et de responsable de la conformité et du contrôle interne, d’une part pour répondre à une obligation légale, et d’autre part pour garantir à nos investisseurs le respect de la politique de gestion et de la déontologie de Mandarine Gestion», explique ce dernier.
17/11/2011

Liontrust returns to profitability

For the half to 30 September, Liontrust Asset Management has posted pre-tax profits of GBP1.7m, compared with losses of GBP3.9m in the corresponding period of 2010-2011 (initially, the losses were estimated at GBP1.6m). The British asset management firm lost GBP1.7m in the entire fiscal year ending on 31 March this year (see Newsmanagers of 16 June).Assets as of the end of September totalled GBP1.192bn, compared with GBP1.118bn twelve months earlier. As of 10 November, assets under management totalled GBP1.354bn. Compared with the end of March 2011 (EUR1.256bn), the celine totals 5.10%, largely due to market effects.In the six months to the end of September, net subscriptions totalled GBP59m, in addition to which GBP12m have come in since 1 October. Net inflows totalled GBP6.3bn in the corresponding period of 2010. Performance fee revenues tripled in the first quarter of the fiscal year ending on 31 March, at GBP0.6m.
17/11/2011

Vanguard Am recruits heads for equities and bonds

Vanguard Asset Management has continued the expansion of its London office with two appointments to its investment teams. Joy Yang joins as head of the equity team. Joy has over 20 years of experience and has worked at Scudder, BGI, AXA Rosenberg, and Scottish Widows. Nick Pierce joins as head of fixed income operations. Formerly of BGI and Gartmore, Nick has a diverse background including experience in index portfolio management, ETFs, and developing client solutions.
17/11/2011

Threadneedle recruits an executive from LVAM

Not only has Threadneedle recently taken control of retail investment funds from LV= Asset Management for GBP8bn, but the British asset management firm has now recruited Julian Thomas, head of product development at the partner firm, as its director of product development in its products team, led by Nick Ring, global head of product.Thomas will replace Damian Barry, who is one of the managers at Threadneedle who have been given LVAM funds. Barry is now manager of multi-management funds: he is co-manager of six of these funds (see Newsmanagers of 2 November).
17/11/2011

Michel Bernard resurfaces at Unigestion

Michel Bernard, whose departure from F&C Asset Management had previously been reported in Newsmanagers, has joined the Swiss asset management firm Unigestion. He was recruited as director of institutional clients for the United Kingdom, a newly-created position.In this role, Bernard will join the 11-member, London-based team at the Geneva-based asset management firm. He will work in the institutional clients team, and will report to Tom Leavitt, managing director.At F&C Asset Management, which he joined in 2002, Bernard was head of development and customer service for the United Kingdom.This appointment “confirms Unigestion’s commitment to the United Kingdom,” a spokesperson for the asset management firm has told Newsmanagers. The country is the third-largest market for the firm in terms of assets under management, representing 15% of its assets (EUR8.9bn), after Switzerland (37%), and France (25%).The recruitment in the United Kingdom comes following the recent opening of an office in Zurich and the recruitment of one person locally.
17/11/2011

Institutionals feel ETFs are adequately regulated

A survey by db-x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) of 143 German and Austrian institutional investors finds that 77% of respondents consider ETFs to be sufficiently regulated by the UCITS directive, while 71% feel that ETFs meet the highest transparency requirements for structure and counterparty risk (only 19% think this of conventional funds).Respondents say that the main selection criteria favouring ETFs are security and precision of replication of the index. However, db x-trackers notes, the criteria of “cost,” “transparency” and “liquidity” were mentioned considerably less often. The structure of the ETF was the criterion most often cited.
17/11/2011

SEC targets fund fees

The SEC has sent a first stern message to the mutual fund sector, by requiring Morgan Stanley to pay back USD1.8m to the Malaysia Fund, and to pay the SEC a further USD1.5m to settle the case, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Malaysia Fund apparently paid a third party consultant for services not rendered, and Morgan Stanley provided “wholly inadequate” oversight of the provider for 12 years.It can be expected to be more cases of this kind in the future, the SEC warned, in an effort to ensure that asset managers properly oversee their third-party providers and to keep their billing honest.
17/11/2011

Nikko AM planning IPO

The Japanese fund manager Nikko Asset Management announced on Wednesday it plans to list its shares via a 45.5 billion yen (USD591 million) initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, according to Reuters.The fund manager will go public on December 15, with an initial offering of 54.15 million shares, with a price of 840 yen per share. The over-allotment options is of 2.98 million shares.Sumitomo Trust and Banking Co, which bought Nikko Asset from Citigroup in 2009 and now owns 91.3%, will sell a part of its shareholdings, says Reuters.Nikko AM had assets under management of USD162.4bn as of 30 June 30 and employs 572 employees, of which 71 fund managers.
17/11/2011

Prudential chooses Eastspring brand for management in Asia

UK-based Prudential Plc (GBP349.5bn in assets under management as of the end of June) has announced that in early January, it will adopt the brand name Eastspring Investments for the asset management unit of Prudential Corporation Asia (USD80bn in funds as of 30 September).The future Eastspring, which is active in ten markets in the region, employs about 2,000 people, and management teams on 8 markets, in addition to a central management team based in Singapore.The new brand will replace the Prudential brand in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Tiawan, Japan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. It will not be used for joint ventures in China, India or Hong Kong (BOCI-Prudential).Eastspring Investments will continue to be led by Graham Mason, a Prudential veteran who has served in management positions in the group for over 20 years.
17/11/2011

Aaron Cowen launches Suvretta Capital Management

Aaron Cowen, a former portfolio manager at Soros Fund Management and SAC Capital Advisors, is preparing to launch the alternative management firm Suvretta Capital management, which will specialise in long/short equity hedge funds, in second or third quarter 2012, Absolut Return + Alpha reports.Cowen will be chief investment officer, and will be joined by other colleagues from Soros FM, as well as from Karsch Capital Management, another of his former employers.
17/11/2011

BNP Paribas Investment Partners also to reduce staff

Agefi reports that several sources have stated that BNP Paribas Investment Partners is also preparing to announce staff reductions. 279 jobs are at risk, of which 91 are in France, where a job protection plan with no involuntary redundancies will be put in place. The affiliate, which has 3,700 employees worldwide, of whom 800 are in France, yesterday confirmed the numbers to the newspaper. Management also cited a need to maintain productivity, though between 1 January and 30 September, asset management saw net outflows of EUR22.4bn.
17/11/2011

US asset management firms do not invest enough in growth

According to a McKinsey study published by the Financial Times, costs borne by US asset management firms have increased by 12%, but only 3 percentage points of this increase has been channelled in the form of investment to the segments which a consensus identified as likely to experience growth. These expanding areas are alternative investments such as hedge funds, retirement products, ETFs and emerging markets. Asset management firms are in agreement about where growth will be likely to come, but not necessarily about how much growth there will be.
17/11/2011

Direxion steps up leverage for 10 of its ETFs

From 1 December, the ten Bull and bear directional ETFs with leverage of 2 will be replaced by two products with a leverage of 3, with the objective of increasing daily exposure to +/- 300%, up from +/- 200% currently.
17/11/2011

Mandarine appoints a head of compliance

Arthur Clouard-Even has been appointed as head of compliance and controlling at Mandarine Gestion. He will also be in charge of creating controlling reports and regulatory reporting. Clouard-Even previously served as head of legal affairs at the French asset management firm. The responsibilities of compliance and controlling had previously been assumed by Rémi Leservoisier, CEO. “At this stage in our development, it is necessary to separate the functions of the CEO and the head of compliance and internal control, on the one hand in order to meet legal requirements, and on the other in order to guarantee to our investors that Mandarine Gestion management policy and deontology will be followed,” Leservoisier explains.
17/11/2011

ESMA publishes rules for AIFM directive

ESMA has published on Wednesday its final advice (ESMA/2011/379) on the detailed rules underlying the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). The rules proposed by ESMA will establish a comprehen-sive framework for alternative investment funds, their managers and depositaries. They are also designed to help achieve the AIFMD’s objective of increased transparency and tackling systemic risk, ultimately contributing to a more sound protection of investors. ESMA’s advice follows a 2010 request by the Com-mission, originally sent to ESMA’s predecessor, CESR, asking ESMA to deliver its final advice by 16 No-vember 2011.ESMA was asked to submit its advice to the Commission by 16 November. It is now for the Commission to prepare the implementing measures on the basis of this advice.The report can be consulted at: http://www.esma.europa.eu/popup2.php?id=8059
17/11/2011

Regulators admit weakness of Solvency II on sovereign debt risk

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) yesterday released an official report on Solvency II. According to Agefi, the new prudential requirements for the insurance sector will come into force only on 1 January 2014. EIOPA hopes that the general principles of the directive, known as level 1, will be passed by the European Parliament in the firt half of 2012, as a part of the Omnibus 2 bill. The Authority will launch a parallel consultation in May 2012 to cover the enforcement of Solvency III, which it expects to complete only in September. 2013 will be dedicated to the transition to the new regime.
17/11/2011

Another unauthorised trading scandal at UBS

On Wednesday, the British court before which John Pottage is fighting a fine of GBP100,000 levelled by the FSA learned that there was another unauthorised trading case at UBS in 2007, at the Africa trading desk in London, the Financial Times reports. The former head of the wealth management division in the UK stated that he had taken all measures to remedy the serious shortfalls in risk management, and to eradicate “sloppy” compliance practices. The FSA accuses Pottage of detecting the faults too late.
17/11/2011

Franklin, MFS and AEW win mandates in Thailand

Of a total of USD600m included in a request for proposals (see Newsmanagers of 7 March), the Thai Social Security Office (SSO) has awarded mandates totalling USD200m to three foreign asset management firms, Franklin Templeton (global bonds), MFS Investment Management (global equities), and SEW Capital (global real estate). According to Asian Investor, the SSO has also retained the Thai firm Thanachart Fund Mangement as co-manager and head of forex risk.Mandates for the remaining USD400m will be selected next year. Meanwhile, SSO is seeking a consultant to assist it with this request for proposals.
17/11/2011

Syz recruits two former UBS managers

The Swiss banking group Syz & Co has announced that Reto Gehring and Alexandre Potelle have joined Syz Fund Research, its fund analysis and “long only” manager selection service. The two new staff members join the team of Katia Coudray Cornu, who was appointed head of Syz Fund Research in June 2011. Reto Gehring has been appointed head of research, while Alexandre Potelle is senior analyst.Prior to joining Syz & Co as head of research for Syz Fund Research, Reto Gehring spent ten years working at UBP in Geneva in the multi-manager and manager selection team established by Katia Coudray-Cornu in 2001, where he had held the position of Head of Research since 2009. Alexandre Potelle had also worked for UBP’s multi-manager and manager selection team, since 2006.
17/11/2011

Greg Coffey resigns from Moore emerging markets fund

The Australian Greg Coffey, who was taken wrongfooted by the volatility provoked by the euro zone crisis, has resigned from his position as manager of the Moore Emerging Markets Fund, which has posted disappointing results (-7% in the past ten months), and has undergone redemptions (its assets have fallen to a few hundred of millions of dollars, from USD1.5bn at the beginning of the year).The Financial Times reports that the fund will now be managed by the US billionaire Louis Bacon, founder of Moore Capital.Coffey, for his part, has taken over management of the GC Moore Macro Fund, which has earned 5% this month, and already has USD750m in assets.
17/11/2011

Neuberger Berman completes fundraising for a PE-FoF

The US firm Neuberger Berman (USD183bn in assets as of 30 September) has announced that it has raised USD720m for its new private equity fund of funds, NB Crossroads 2010 Fund. The porfolio will invest in premier private equity funds, or will co-invest with these funds.As of 31 October, the fund was invested in 19 funds and 7 co-investments, as well as 15 secondary investments in private equity funds.Since January 2010, Neuberger Berman raised USD1.5bn for its private equity fund of fund platform. Overall, the group has commitments of over USD12bn in private equity, and USD17bn in alternative investments (as of 30 September). The team dedicated to private equity is composed of 175 people based in New York, Dallas, London and Hong Kong.
17/11/2011

T. Rowe Price launches European high yield debt fund

The US firm T. Rowe Price on 20 September launched a new sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav, the European High Yield Bond Fund. The product, denominated in euros, may also be sold in Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.The new product, managed by Mike della Vedova, invests as its name indicates in high yield corporate bonds which do not belong to the investment grade category, and which are rated BB and B, while the fund is also allowed to include less well-rated securities in the portfolio. The main investment universe is determined by the currency of issue, rather than by the domicile or location of the headquarters of the business.CharacteristicsName: T. Rowe Price – European High Yield Bond FundISIN code: LU0596127604Management commission: 1.15%
17/11/2011

NBIM invests in Leoni

The German automotive subcontractor Leoni AG has issued a statement to the markets announcing that on 14 November it was informed by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) that the asset management affiliate of the Bank of Norway had passed the 3% threshold in its capital on 10 November, and now controls 3.04% of voting rights, equivalent to 993,254 shares. NBIM manages the Government Pension Fund – Global, formerly known as the Oil Fund.At share prices as of 16 November (EUR27.74 at close on Xetra), the acquisition is worth EUR27.55m.
17/11/2011

Source lists two more ETF funds in Frankfurt

The XTF segment of the Xetra electronic trading platform (Deutsche Börse) on 16 November admitted two new products, both German-registered ETFs from Source, one of which is based on emerging markets equities, and the other on US equities. There are now 891 ETFs listed in Frankfurt.The new products are the MSCI Emerging Markets Source ETF (DE000A1JM6G3) and the S&P 500 Source ETF (DE000A1JM6F5). The former charges 0.45%, while the latter charges 0.20%.
17/11/2011

SSgA lists anoter SPDR fund on Xetra

Deutsche Börse has announced that from 15 November, the Irish-registered ETF SPDR Barclays Global 1-3 Year Government Bond ETF (IE00B6YX5F63) from State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has been admitted to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic trading platform. The Fund charges fees of 0.15%.
17/11/2011

SEB ImmoInvest sells off two properties in the Netherlands

Real I.S. has acquired the Lotus A and B office buildings in Rotterdam from the German firm SEB Asset Management, for EUR57m. The two properties, from the open-ended real estate fund SEB ImmoInvest (EUR6.33bn as of the end of September), were sold at a price 2% above their most recent expert valuation. The transaction is a part of a drive to sell 14 properties for EUR910m since it was announced on 3 November that the fund had been frozen.Redemptions from the fund (DE0009802306) have been frozen since May 2010, but SEB AM is planning to reopen the redemption window by the end of this year, though the legal deadline to do so is 5 May 2012.

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