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29/03/2011

Inversis launches Best Carmignac, Best JPMAM and Best Morgan Stanley funds of funds

The CNMV on 25 February issued licenses for three funds created on 19 January by Inversis Gestión, for which the best funds from the French asset management firm Carmignac Gestion, and the British firms JP Morgan asset Management (JPMAM) and Morgan Stanley Investment Management will be selected. The three management firms are each the advisor of the corresponding product, Best Carmignac (ES0114572003), Best JP Morgan AM (ES0114524004) and Best Morgan Stanley (ES0145808004).Ordinarily, the portfolio of each fund with daily liquidity will be invested 75% to 100% in funds from the asset management firm concerned, but up to 10% may “residually” be placed in funds from other issuers.In all three cases, Inversis will directly apply a management commission of 1.35%, and a performance commission of 9%. Indirect fees for the fund will total 1% of assets and 2% of performance, as a net total after payment of indirect management and performance commissions for the portion invested in the funds from Carmignac, JPMAM and Morgan Stanley, respectively.
29/03/2011

Renewal of contract uncertain for a Deka director

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that on Thursday next week, a board member in charge of capital markets at Deka, Walter Groll, may not be reappointed for a fresh term, when his current term ends on 30 June. Groll may be paying the price for an operation in which Deka signed an agreement for securities repurchase with foreign investors, where all the legal deadlines had apparently not been respected, which led to losses for the central management firm for the German savings banks of EUR50m in 2010 (see Newsmanagers of 14 March). The securities repurchase agreement would have allowed Deka to be reimbursed by the German tax authorities for withholding tax on dividends which foreign investors were not liable to pay. According to calculations by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the transactions in question could have involved as much as EUR18bn in equities.
29/03/2011

Bestinver wins a Norwegian mandate

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the affiliate of the Bank of Norway which manages the country’s sovereign funds, including the Government Pension Fund - Global (GPFG), has granted the Spanish management firm Bestinver Gestión (Acciona group) a mandate to manage a portion of its investments in Spain, which represent a total of EUR5.5bn as of the end of December, Funds People reports, citing Expansión. Meanwhile, NBIM is seeking a local manager to handle its investments in the Spanish savings banks, which will soon debut on the stock markets. It is not yet known whether Bestinver will participate in the bidding in this second call for offers. NBIM had previously managed its Spanish investments internally.
29/03/2011

Banca Leonardo rumoured to be up for sale

Bluerating reports that Banca Leonardo is seeking a buyer. The candidates for the acquisition are said to include Banca Esperia, which is owned by Mediobanca and Mediolanum.
29/03/2011

Aberdeen has seen net redemptions over the past 5 months

In the five months to the end of February, Aberdeen Asset Management has seen net redemptions of GBP578m, compared with net redemptions of GBP3.6bn one year previously. The asset management firm saw GBP811m of outflows in the last three months of last year, but has posted net inflows of GBP233m since the beginning of this year. “We are continuing to attract new investments for our emerging markets equities and global equities funds, while the level of outflows from bonds has slowed considerably,” Aberdeen AM says. The management firm also states that it has won mandates worth GBP2.7bn, but that these have not yet been taken into account. The equities mandates in question come to GBP1.5bn, while the others are for real estate (GBP0.8bn) and bonds (GBP0.4bn). Overall, assets under management as of 28 February totalled GBP176.2bn, down compared with GBP178.7bn in September 2010.
29/03/2011

Lyxor lance un produit dérivé à Hong Kong

Société Générale affiliate Lyxor is preparing to launch a retail product in Hong Kong that can invest long and short across more than 50 global futures markets. The new Lyxor Epsilon Managed Futures Fund cleared the local regulator on February 22. China Construction Bank Asia and Convoy Asset Management have already agreed to add the product to their platforms. Negociations with other distributors are ongoing.
29/03/2011

Responsible management contributes to performance, according to Morningstar

There is a high correlation between good capital management and returns, according to the 2011 Morningstar study of fund management (http://global.morningstar.com/2011StewardshipGrades). The Morningstar Stewardship Grade may be used as an advance indicator for investors seeking to determine whether a manager will responsibly manage their capital, and whether he or she will give priority to shareholders in funds, says Laura Pavlenko, one of the authors of the Morningstar study. Morningstar adds that it does not intend to impose the rating as the only tool for this purpose, but merely as a useful reference in decision-making. The study finds that the best-rated funds (A or B) have the best chances of long-term survival. These funds are also the ones which will produce the best risk/return tradeoff.
29/03/2011

Phitrust fails to get resolution on agenda at Total general shareholders' meeting

Phitrust Active Investors has not succeeded in its campaign to present the first shareholder resolution to deal with environmental issues in France, which would have gone to a vote at the Total general shareholders’ meeting on 13 May 2011.On Friday last week, the asset management firm specialised in shareholder engagement announced that it had succeeded in uniting 0.68% of capital in Total, or 16.1 million shares, behind its cause. It claims that would have allowed it to propose a resolution to modify article 14 of the firm’s statutes, to obtain increased disclosure to environmental and social risks related to its operation of oil shale mines.But at the last moment, a shareholder withdrew its support for Phitrust, which then wound up with less than 0.5% of capital, the minimum to propose a resolution, behind it.
29/03/2011

High inflows in Asia for HSBC Private Bank Switzerland

Net inflows at HSBC Private Bank Switzerland totalled over CHF8.5bn in 2010, Agefi Switzerland reports. The vast majority of this total, CHF5bn, comes from Asia, primarily China. However, inflows are also coming from Latin America (CHF1.1bn), the Middle East (CHF700m) and some regions of Europe.The bank’s investment strategy has generated positive returns of CHF6bn on the markets, excluding currency effects. Combined with net inflows of capital, this positive result was, however, not enough to fully compensate for the negative impact of the franc, which has resulted in a net reduction in assets under management of CHF3bn, or 2%, for a total of CHF186bn as of the end of 2010.The electronic data theft case has continued to have an impact on the bank’s annual balance sheet. In terms of losses in Europe, redemptions totalled CHF600m in first half, for an annual total estimated at CHF1.6bn.
29/03/2011

Carmignac Gestion recruits a commodities analyst

Carmignac Gestion has recruited Simon Lovat as a commodities analyst. The addition to the team dedicated to commodities, which is led by David Field, comes at a time when one of the privileged themes for the asset management firm is increasing demand for natural resources worldwide under conditions of limited supply, a statement says.With 10 years of experience in the financial sector, for the past five years Lovat has co-managed a commodities fund at the entrepreneurial firm Gaia Capital Advisors, in Geneva.
29/03/2011

Moody's revises outlooks for US asset managers upwards

Moody’s has revised its outlooks for US asset management firms up from negative to stable, due to improved results and solid balance sheets at these businesses, Financial Times Fund Management reports. The fact that the reuglatory situation is more clear has also helped. Outlooks had been listed as negative since April 2008.
29/03/2011

Axa launches Global Forum for Longevity

AXA on 28 March kicked off the Global Forum for Longevity, an initiative to encourage sharing of knowledge and organizing on the topic of longevity. The Global Forum for Longevity, conceived as a space for debate and exchange between researchers, experts and decision-makers, is hoping to promote a more positive vision of longevity, working on opportunities which longevity gives rise to that are not yet adequately exploited (see article in this issue of Newsmanagers).On the occasion, AXA announced that the AXA research fund (Fonds AXA pour le Recherche) has set the goal of dedicating EUR10m over two years to financing projects to bring about better understanding and control of the consequences of the lengthening human life span. The AXA research fund already permits over 50 researchers and research teams in France and throughout Europe to develop a common knowledge base on the subject of longevity.“I am convinced that lengthening life expectancy represents one of the most important challenges for the 21st century, both for developed economies and for emerging ones. Due to its business, AXA is a privileged observer of demographic and social evolution worldwide. It is our responsibility to stimulate sharing of knowledge in order to allow businesses to better understand the challenges this demographic revolution presents, and to fully benefit from the opportunities it presents,” said Henri de Castries, president and CEO of AXA.
29/03/2011

Changes at the top of T. Bailey management team

The British fund of fund management firm T. Bailey Asset Management on 28 March announced that Jason Britton, who had worked for the firm since its inception in 1999 and who was its CIO, has decided to leave the firm and take a break.Richard Martin, who was himself CIO of T. Bailey AM at its creation, and who had moved to a position as strategic advisor since retiring from day-to-day management in 2008, will become senior fund manager, and will cooperate closely with the fund manager Elloit Farley.T. Bailey says that it has already begun the search for a new senior management team member.The firm also says that Michael Hughes, who was CIO of Baring Asset Management, and who is non-executive director of T. Bailey, will play a more prominent role in asset allocation decision-making.
29/03/2011

Changes at the top for corporate pension activities at MLP

Harald Huhn will be retiring on 1 June, and will be replaced as head of the corporate pensions division of the German financial services provider MLP by Ralf Raube, already a member of the board of directors at the division since November 2004. Raube will also be a member of the executive board at MLP. In his new role, he will also be in charge of the Hamburg-based affiliate TPC, which contributes about 10% of pension business volume at MLP.
29/03/2011

Swiss stock exchange lists two new ETFs from Lyxor

On 22 March, the SIX Swiss stock exchange added two more ETFs from Lyxor Asset Management to trading, both of them French-registered products. The first of these is the Lyxor ETF iBoxx $ Liquid Emerging Markets Sovereigns (FR0010967323), which replicates the Markit iBoxx USD Liquid Emerging Markets Souvereings Total Return index, and which charges fees of 0.30%. The other is the Lyxor ETF iBoxx EUR Liquid High Yield 30, based on the Markit iBoxx EUR Liquid High Yield 30 Total Return Index, with a management commission of 0.45%.
29/03/2011

Two Danish pension funds acquire 50% of an offshore wind farm

The Danish pension funds PensionDanmark and PKA have joined forces to acquire 50% of an offshore wind farm (30% from the former and 20% from PKA), from the public company DONG Energy A/S, for a total of about DEK6bn, or about EUR804.6m, Responsible Investor reports. The two funds, with assets under management of about EUR30bn, have signed a 15-year contract with DONG for the activity and maintenance of the farm, which will provide about 4% of Denmark’s annual power needs.
29/03/2011

La BCE reprend ses rachats d’obligations

Après trois semaines de pause, la Banque centrale européenne a annoncé avoir racheté pour 432 millions d’euros d’obligations publiques de pays de la zone euro la semaine dernière. Le montant total des titres rachetés par la BCE depuis le lancement de ce programme au printemps dernier atteint 76,5 milliards d’euros.
29/03/2011

Le Japon envisage une hausse d’impôts

Le premier ministre japonais, Naoto Kan, a déclaré au Parlement qu’il n’écartait aucune option pour financer le coût du tremblement de terre et du tsunami ayant ravagé le pays, tout en limitant l’impact sur la dette qui pèse déjà près de 200% du PIB. Une hausse des impôts est envisagée, ainsi que le retrait du plan de baisse de l’impôt sur les sociétés, même si Naoto Kan précise que pour le moment, rien n’est décidé.
29/03/2011

La SEC a imposé des dépréciations à Berkshire Hathaway

La société d’investissement de Warren Buffett a passé au dernier trimestre près d’un milliard de dollars de dépréciations sur la valeur de trois titres qu’elle détient, dont Sanofi-Aventis. Cette décision fait suite à des demandes présentées par la Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), qui contestait les écritures déclarées par le fonds sur ces titres.
29/03/2011

UFG-LFP lance un fonds de fonds immobilier paneuropéen

Le groupe de gestion d’actifs a choisi de lancer UFG European Fund of Funds, le premier fonds de fonds immobilier non coté, à destination des institutionnels français. Fonds fermé, à l’issue d’une période de commercialisation de 12 mois, avec une durée de vie comprise entre 7 et 10 ans, le fonds a été structuré en Sicav contractuelle de droit français. Le capital de départ s’élève à 23 millions d’euros et le fonds vise un objectif de distribution annuelle supérieure à 4%.
29/03/2011

Warburg Pincus s’offre Rural Metro

Le fonds de private equity rachète la société de services d’ambulance et de protection incendie pour 438 millions de dollars en numéraire. Les actionnaires de Rural Metro recevront 17,25 dollars par titre, ce qui représente une prime de 37% par rapport au cours de clôture de vendredi. Les sociétés telles que Rural Metro devraient bénéficier des restrictions budgétaires qui contraignent les municipalités américaines à externaliser leurs services d’urgence à des prestataires privés.
28/03/2011

La Russie pourrait investir dans les titres du FESF en 2011

La Russie pourrait placer cette année une partie de ses 500 milliards de dollars de réserves en bons du Fonds européen de stabilité financière (FESF), si la liquidité de ces titres s’avère suffisante, a annoncé à Reuters un dirigeant de la banque centrale russe. «Si nous constatons une liquidité suffisante, nous envisagerons (ces titres) comme un possible outil d’investissement», a déclaré Sergueï Chvetsov, vice-président de la Banque centrale de Russie.
28/03/2011

Le Qatar prévoit une croissance de 15,7% de son PIB réel en 2011

Le Qatar devrait voir son économie croître de 15,7% cette année, avant un ralentissement à 7,1% en 2012. Le premier exportateur mondial de gaz naturel liquéfié (GNL), membre de l’Organisation des pays exportateurs de pétrole (Opep), prévoit également un surplus fiscal s'élevant à 12,1% de son produit intérieur brut (PIB) en 2011 et une dette extérieure atteignant 62,3% de son PIB.

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