The British HSBC group is planning to make additions to its ETF product range, with products covering Russia, India, emerging European markets (including an ETF which will cover Russia, Poland and Hungary), and countries of the CIVETS group (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey, and South Africa), Money Marketing reports. All of the vehicles will be launched by the end of the year.

From early July, the high yield management team (EUR3.7bn) at Threadneedle, led by Barrie Whitman, will include seven people, three of whom will be portfolio managers (Whitman, Michael Poole and David Backhouse) and four analysts, with the arrival of Gareth Simmons (ex Morgan Stanley) and Jenny Wong (ex Putnam Investments) as analysts. “Now the high yield team is complete,” says Jim Cielinski, head of fixed income.

Funds People reports that Hannah Strasser, Anne Yobage and Thomas Kelleher, who in 2010 joined Axa Investment Managers to manage US credit funds, have decided to leave the firm.

Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) on 27 June announced that it has appointed Irshaad Ahmad to the position of head of distribution at AXA IM for the UK and Scandinavian markets, from 28 June, Ahmad will be based in London, and will join the executive board at AXA IM. Before joining AXA IM, Ahmad had been at Russell Investments, from 2004. He then successively served as head of sales to distributors, institutionals and consultants in Canada (2004-2010), and then in the United Kingdom (2010), where he was also head of client services and marketing.

Financial News reports that Guillaume Rambourg, the former star manager from Gartmore, who was suspended last year due to suspected irregularities, and who was then cleared, has founded a charity to which he has transferred all of his 3.9% stake in Henderson, the firm which acquired Gartmore. The stake is valued at GBP13.8m.

RWC Partners has launched a convertible bond fund dedicated to the Asian region, Investment Week reports. The Asia Convertibles fund, launched on 8 June, will be closed with assets of about USD300m to USD350m. The fund is managed by Davide Basile, head of convertible bonds at the British group, who is manager of the Global Convertibles fund, a portfolio of USD1.2bn.

Pimco has announced the launch of the Pimco GIS Euro Income Bond Fund, a fund which aims to “generate regular revenue, dynamise growth in returns,a nd to minimise risk,” a statement says. In practice, the fund’s distribution objective is 5% per year, paid monthly, which is a risk-adjusted performance higher than that of other income investments, such as government bonds, certificates, money market funds, and equities. In order to achieve that, the portfolio, which privileges high quality instruments, has an average duration of 1 to 8 years, and will have some flexibility if interest rates rise. The Pimco GIS Euro Income Bond Fund is a part of the Global Investor Services (GIS) range from Pimco, which complies with UCITS III regulations. It is registered in Dublin, and managed by Luke Spajic, executive vice president and head of managemetn for pan-European credit portfolios. Money Marketing reports that Pimco has also announced that it has pulled out of a credit fund, the GIS Diversified Income duration hedged fund, which proposes to help investors to reduce interest rate risks. The fund, which is also domiciled in Dublin, invests in several sectors of fixed income, investment grade corporate bonds and high yield, emerging market debt, bank credit, convertible bonds, municipal bonds, and ABS.

Pimco has launched a credit fund, the GIS diversified Income duration hedged fund, which aims to held investors to reduce interest risks, Money Marketing reports. The fund, which is domiciled in Dublin, invests in multiple sectors of fixed income, investment grade and high yield corporate bonds, emerging market debt, bank credit, convertible bonds, municipal bonds, and ABS.

Old Mutual Asset Managers is planning to close its UK Dynamic Equity fund, launched two years ago, in order to protect the performance of the portfolio, Investment Week reports. The GBP186m fund, domiciled in Dublin, is managed by Luke Kerr and Ashton Bradbury, and last month had excess capacity of about GBP7m.

Fund Web reports that Alliance Trust is planning to launch an income fund dedicated to emerging markets equities. The fund will be the third in a trilogy of income funds, which also includes an international equities fund and a bond fund.

EFG International on 27 June announced the appointment of John Williamson, 49, previously CEO of its affilaite EFG Private Bank in the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands, as its CEO. He succeeds Lonnie Howell, co-founder of the firm, who is retiring after 16 years in the position, who will be a candidate for a seat on the board of directors.EFG International explains in a statement that in the past few months it has been reviewing its strategic options, in the light of arduous market conditions and ongoing appreciation of the Swiss franc. With this in mind, it has decided to more effectively balance its desire to continue growth by adopting a more irgorous approach to profitability, and to undertake parallel changes which it estimates are “opportune” in terms of management responsibilities.Howell was co-founder of EFG International in 1995 with Jean-Pierre Cuoni. He played an essential role in the development of the business, which has gone from a start-up to an international private banking player with assets under management of CHF85bn as of the end of 2010.Williamson joined EFG Private Bank in 2002 as CEO. Lukas Ruflin will remain as deputy CEO of EFG International. Anthony Cooke-Yarborough, previously director general of EFG Private Bank in the UK, will replace Williamson as CEO this summer. All other members of the management team will retain their current positions.Williamson is planning to completely review the activities of EFG International with a view to preserving its many strong points, and to draw strength from the best of them, while addressing questions related to the rapid growth of the organisation and changes in market conditions.On the basis of performance since the beginning of the year, EFG International is planning to earn net profits this year of CHF140m to CHF160m, compared with an objective of CHF200m defined before the recent steep rise in the value of the Swiss currency.

Mark Röder, who had previously been head of product & sales managemenet at Vontobel Asset Management, has been promoted to global head of product sales. He will report directly to Axel Schwarzer, CEO of asset management at Vontobel. In his new role, Röder will be in charge of all client relationship management, with expertise in the area of investment, and competence in products and investor services activities within a multi-boutique environment. Meanwhile, Vontobel has also announced that Hansjörg Herzog, who had been head of relationship management EMEA, “has decided to pursue other professional challenges outside” the Swiss group.

The US group State Street on 27 June announced that it has been appointed by F&C Asset Management (F&C) to provide middle office outsourcing services, on about GBP106bn in assets. State Street will provide services for the global operations of F&C and its affiliate Thames River Capital, including services for investment operations, securities custody, fund accounting, administrative services, securities lending, and clearance services, the latter of which will be provided by IFDS, a joint venture of State Street and DST Systems. Under the agreement, 102 employees of F&C in London and Edinburgh will be transferred to State Street. State Street provides middle office services on over USD7.1trn in assets for clients worldwide.

More than EUR300m in investment commitments have already been received by Union Investment for its new institutional fund UII Shopping Nr. 1, a real estate product which will invest up to EUR750m, with 30% to 40% leverage, in shopping centres measuring over 25,000 square metres. Each investment will be for at least EUR90m. The new fund will mostly focus on core Euro zone markets: Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and Austria. The manager will complement these with assets located in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Since 27 June, five ETFs from Ossiam Lux have been added to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform from Deutsche Börse. The Natixis affiliate has listed two equities products replicating equally-weighted indices (see Newsmanagers of 27 June): Ossiam ETF STOXX® EUROPE 600 equal weight NR (LU0599613147, with fees of 0.35%) and Ossiam ETF EURO STOXX 50® equal weight NR (LU0599613063, 0.30%).The management firm has also launched the following minimum variance funds (see Newsmanagers of 28 April): Ossiam ETF EURope Minimum Variance NR (LU0599612842, 0.65%) and Ossiam ETF US Minimum Variance NR denominated in euros (LU0599612685, 0.65%) and in US dollars (LU0599612412, 0.65%).The products will soon also receive a sales license for France, where Ossiam is planning to launch exclusive products as well.With the addition of these funds, the XTF segment now lists 816 ETFs.

The European Equity Focus sub-fund of the Schroder ISF Sicav, launched on 3 March, which has assets as of 27 June of EUR5.17m (see Newsmanagers of 7 March) has received a sales license for Germany. The equities fund has no benchmark, and invests in 30-35 positions, specialised in European shares, including those which benefit from emerging markets, with headquarters in core EU countries, France, Europe, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands. The fund is managed by Rory Bateman, CIO for European equities (the team has EUR9bn in assets in 9 funds), who contributes his “best ideas” to the fund.CharacteristicsName: Schroder ISF European Equity FocusISIN code: LU0591897516Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 1.50%Performance commission: 10%Minimal initial subscription: EUR1,000 or USD1,000

Concerns over Greek debt have led to a net outflow of USD3.5bn from high yield bond funds in the week to 22 June, according to estimates from EPFR Global. European bond funds have also seen net outflows, while of the nine categories of equities funds, only one (global emerging market equity funds) has posted net subscriptions in the week under review.Bond funds overall have posted a net outflows of USD583m, while equities funds have posted outflows of USD3.32bn, and money market funds USD7.3bn.Funds dedicated to US equities have seen “modest” redemptions in the week under review, but since the beginning of the year, these funds show net inflows of USD27.5bn.Inflation-linked bond funds have posted net inflows since the beginning of the year of over USD7bn.

The British HSBC group is planning to make additions to its ETF product range, with products covering Russia, India, emerging European markets (including an ETF which will cover Russia, Poland and Hungary), and countries of the CIVETS group (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey, and South Africa), Money Marketing reports.

The replacement for Henry McVey as head of the global asset allocation team at Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) will be Cyril Moullé-Berteaux, who had been a founding member of the multi-strategy alternative management firm Traxis Partners in 2003 with Barton Biggs, former CEO of MSIM. Moullé-Berteaux had served in various roles at MSIM (USD284bn in assets as of the end of March) from 1995 to 2003, including head of the asset allocation team and head of asset allocation research. Moullé-Berteaux, who will be in charge of asset allocation in the long-only universe, will report to Ruchir Sharma, head of emerging market equity. Sharma will continue to head up the emerging markets equities team, and will supervise global macro strategy. MSIM states that the recruitment of Moullé-Berteaux is the second recruitment this year of a former employee of the firm. In February, the firm re-hires Ashutish Sinha as managing director and senior portfolio manager in the global emerging markets team. He will continue to be based in Singapore, where he had been one of the founders of the alternative management firm Amoeba Capital Partners. He announced eight months ago that he was planning to take a sabbatical (see Newsmanagers of 11 October 2010).

Le Conseil d’administration de l’ONG SOS Sahel International France a annoncé le 27 juin l'élection à la présidence de son bureau de Philippe Lecomte, directeur général de Schroders France. Philippe Lecomte succède à Marc Francioli, 67 ans, qui présidait l’ONG depuis 12 ans. Créée après les grandes sècheresses de 1973, SOS Sahel International France conduit depuis 35 ans des actions de développement en milieu rural avec ses partenaires sahéliens dans une stratégie intégrant aujourd’hui la production, la distribution et la commercialisation. Philippe Lecomte est impliqué depuis plusieurs années aux côtés de SOS Sahel, à la fois à titre personnel et en tant que Directeur général de Schroders France.

Robeco Gestions, which is now the sole representative of the Dutch group in France, following the sale of Banque Robeco to Oddo et Cie in late March, on 27 June announced that it has added to its board and its sales team, “in order to pursue its ambitious objectives.”In addition to Philippe Sabbah, who will join Robeco Gestions this summer as CEO and board member to contribute to commercial development at the management firm (Newsmanagers of 27 June), François Bertrand has been appointed as secretary general and board member in charge of support functions. Since 2007, Bertrand has participated in several transverse missions and strategic or organisational projects at Robeco France, including demutualisation of common services between the bank and the management firm in 2010-2011.While continuing to offer an innovative range of products in several asset classes, Robeco Gestions has ambitions to increase its market share and to make its range of areas of expertise better known to institutional investors, retirement planning institutions, financial institutions (insurers and banks), private banks, management firms, and corporate clients.The addition to the sales team will allow the firm to address these challenges. With the recent arrival of 3 sales team members, and the forthcoming arrival of Sabbah, Robeco Gestions is structured to respond in a personalised manner to French institutional investors.Robeco Gestions has 30 employees of whom 5 are managers, and nearly EUR5bn in assets under management and/or distribution.

From 1 August, professor Frank J. Fabozzi will join the EDHEC-Risk Institute, where he will work with professor Lionel Martellini, scientific director of the institute, to develop the EDHEC-Risk Institute North America. Professor Fabozzi will supervise dissertations of candidates to the EDHEC-Risk Institute PhD in finance, an educational opportunity open to practitioners in the sector.

Neuflize OBC Investissements has recruited Vincent Rennella as manager of the NOBC Europe Long / Short fund. Rennella, who joined the absolute return management team at the firm on 10 June 2011, will take over management of the NOBC Europe Long / Short fund from 1 July. In addition to direct management of mutual funds, he will contribute his exertise in the area of financial analysis for equities markets and market risk analysis to the team, a statement says. Rennella, 38, in 2005 was a portfolio manager at the London-based hedge fund Odey Asset Management, with Michelel Ragazzi and Crispin Odey. In 2008, he joined the prop-trading division of Exane S.A. In 2009, Rennella participated in the creation of Orchidee Finance, with Daniel Larroutrou, who he met in 2004 at ING France.

From 1 July, the European bond management team at BlackRock in Munich will be sized up, alongside the existing team in London. In additon, Michael Krautzberger will be promoted to CIO and board member at BlackRock Asset Management Deutschland AG. He will continue to be responsible for European bond activities, as principal portfolio manager, and will continue to direct the bond team in London.Krautzberger joined Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM), which was acquired in 2006 by BlackRock, in 2005. He is a member of the leadership committee for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

From 30 June, Wolfgang Mansfeld, who had served as president of the German BVI association of asset management firms, among other positions, will be retiring, and leaving his job as head of the real estate unit at Union Investment, the central asset management firm for the German co-operative banks. From 1 July, he will be replaced by Jens Wilhelm, who on 20 June was appointed as chairman of the supervisory board at Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE). The real estate operation of Union Investment has assets of EUR19bn, of which EUR16bn are for open-ended funds from UIRE, and EUR3bn at Union Investment Institutional Property.Jens Wilhelm, who joined from Dresdner Bank in 2002, was previously head of portfolio management for the Union Asset Management Holding group (EUR176bn), after serving as head of equity funds at Union Investment Privatfonds.

In an interview with the Börsen-Zeitung, Jacques d’Estais, head of the investment solutions division at BNP Paribas, says that the group is now planning to scale up its asset management operations in Germany, now that the Fortis integration has been a success. He sees room for growth in this market, and marketing activities will be intensified.

The German agency Kommalpha in May undertook a survey of 121 institutional investors, 33% of whom were banks, and 20% wealth managers, about their investments in infrastructure. The survey finds primarily that 87% of respondents consider outlooks for returns from this asset class “good” to “very good,” although 59% estimate that there is high risk. While 29% of respondents are already invested in infrastructure, 61% are planning to invest in the future. Among those who have already invested in infrastructure, half had already allocated up to 2.5% of their total portfolio, with the asset class primarily used for diversification, the reason cited by 74% of respondents. But institutionals also like the stability of cash flows (cited by 70%), and the transparency of cost structures (cited by 52%). Sectors preferred by specialists surveyed include energy (81%), transport logistics (65%), and communications (63%). The preferred geographical regions are western Europe (64%), Asia (48%), and eastern Europe (44%). The most attractive countries are India (78%), China (57%), Brazil (46%), and Turkey (43%).

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) on 27 June announced that, having received permission from extraordinary shareholders’ meetings on 20 June, the Skandia Strategic Bond Fund (EUR140m) will on 30 June absorb two smaller funds, the Skandia Global Fixed Interest Blend Fund and the Skandia UK Fixed Interest Blend Fund. Shareholders in the latter two products will receive a reduced commission of 0.8%, instead of 1.25%, for the fund into which they are to be absorbed. The Skandia UK Equity Blend Fund will also be absorbed into the Skandia UK Best Ideas Fund. The objectives of the two funds are very similar, and the management commissions are the same (1.5%).

One of the richest families in China will acquire funds from the alternative management firm RAB Capital, which has been obliged to abandon listing of the funds on the British AIM market in order to meet redemption demands from investors. The Sunwah group, which is owned by the Hong Kong-based Choi family, will acquire the Energy and Octane funds from RAB Capital, the Financial Times reports. The Chinese group is planning to set up a London-based hedge fund activity, which may represent assets of over USD1.5bn by the end of the year. Funds from RAB Capital, totalling about USD300m, are already set to receive additional support of USD250m from a Singapore investors in the next few weeks.

On Monday, the text of a modification to the 1/2009 circular from the Spanish securities commission (CNMV) concerning the various categories of funds was published in the Spanish official gazette, the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE), Expansión reports. The new fund typology will come into force in two months’ time, and will transpose the standards of the CESR, now ESMA, into Spanish law, in order to better protect investors by providing clearer information, particularly in the area of money market funds (short-term money market funds on the one hand, and simple money market funds, which operate in a less restricted environment, on the other), and introducing several technical improvements.