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23/02/2011

Singapore's GIC and Paulson fight it out

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The sovereign fund Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) on 22 February announced a USD1.48bn offer to acquire the real estate assets of the Claremont Resort and Spa in Berkeley, California, and the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa in Maui, Hawaii, which are under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and which one month ago have been bought by the hedge fund manager Paulson & Co and Winthrop Realty Trust. The Wall Street Journal reports that GIC has already come up with USD900m to finance the operation.
23/02/2011

Asia disappoints Western management firms

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Funds on sale in Asia saw net redemptions of USD23.3bn in fourth quarter 2010, following net outflows of USD17.5bn in third quarter, according to statistics from Lipper FMI, cited by Financial Times Fund Management. This news is a bath of cold water for hopes that Asian economies would boost the growth of the global asset management sector. Shiv Taneja, managing director of Cerulli Associates, observes that there is widespread disappoitment at western management firms which had flocked to the region.
23/02/2011

Bankers from Credit Suisse recruited by Barclays Wealth

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Ramón Aguirrebengoa, Iván Basa and Alfonso Castillo, three private bankers from Credit Suisse Spain, have been recruited by Barclays Wealth Spain, where they will be creating a new team to serve high net worth private clients, Funds People reports.
23/02/2011

Newton Investment Management closes its Japanese equities fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Newton Investment Management has decided to close its Japanese equities fund, Newton Japan, whose assets totalled under GBP4m, Fund Strategy reports. Subscribers to the fund were notified in late January, but the date when the fund will close down has not yet been announced. The manager of the fund, Ewan Markson Brown, has left the firm, Fund Strategy reports.
23/02/2011

ESG criteria at the heart of a call for bids from Merseyside Pension Fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The fifth-largest British pension fund, the Merseyside Pension Fund, whose assets under management total about GBP4.7bn, has decided to place ESG criteria (environmental, social and governance) at the core of a call for bids on mandates totalling about GBP1.3bn, Responsible Investor reports. The pension fund is seeking managers for the UK Index Linked Gilts fund (GBP576m), the UK equity fund (GBP384m), and UK equity fund (GBP384m). The consulting firm Aon Hewitt is managing the call for bids. The new mandates will be offered for periods of four years, renewable for two years.
23/02/2011

Charlemagne Capital launches a Middle East/North Africa fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mark Krombas, who in September left GLG Partners to join the management firm Charlemagne Capital, a specialist in emerging markets, is the manager of the new Magna MENA sub-fund of the UCITS-compliant Irish-registered Magna Umbrella Fund plc, whose portfolio of 40-50 positions will be invested about 90% in shares in companies of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, with an allocation of 50% to Saudi Arabia.Retail shares (R share class, IE00B33NMJY03) are available with a minimal subscription of EUR5,000, while institutional shares (N share class, IE00B33QPMN62) require a minimal initial investment of EUR1m.
23/02/2011

Morgan Stanley hires a former Congressman

Morgan Stanley has appointed former U.S. Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. to the firm as a managing director and senior client relationship manager. He will work across all business divisions and report to Gregory Fleming, president of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and president of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, and to Paul J. Taubman, co-president of Institutional Securities.A five-term Congressman from Tennessee, Harold Ford will be responsible for building business opportunities for clients with Morgan Stanley and helping client teams at the firm deliver financial advice and products most effectively. He will manage relationships with corporate directors and senior executives, institutional investors, as well as private clients.
23/02/2011

Natixis' asset management revenue rose 11 % in 2010

Natixis on February 23rd announced that its asset management revenue rose 11% in 2010 to EUR1.41bn, which would be an increase à 8.2% at constant exchange rates. AUM totalled EUR538bn at end-December, of which EUR319bn in Europe. Outflows were concentrated on money market products whereas elsewhere the company recorded EUR1.1bn in net inflows. In the U.S., assets under management increased 10% yoy to USD292bn and net inflows for the year were USD2.3bn, with Harris Associates as main contributor.
23/02/2011

Foncia highly sought after by investment funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } La Tribune reports that the sale of Foncia, the French leader in asset administration, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BPCE banking group, may attract many bids from investment funds. 15 funds have expressed an interest in the acquisition, including French players such as Eurazeo and LBO France, as well as British and American funds such as Bridgepoint, Carlyle, Cinven and KKR. According to reports in La Tribune, the bidders are prepared to offer EUR600-700m.
23/02/2011

State Street preparing a second European ETF platform

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Scott Ebner, head of ETF development, has told Reuters that State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) is planning a second European ETF platform, in Ireland, for tax reasons, the Börsen-Zeitung reports.So far, SSgA has listed only 13 physical replication ETFs in Paris, with assets of EUR800m, and thus missed out on the boom for these products in Europe.The manager is planning to launch 20-30 equities and bond products of this type in Europe this year. They will rely on sampling replication, among other methods, and will pick stocks from the index or shares which have a risk/reward ratio similar to those of the index to be replicated.However, SSgA has no plans to enter synthetic replication based on swaps.
23/02/2011

ESMA presidency goes to an FSA representative

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on 22 February announced the appointment of Verena Ross as executive director of the European body. Ross, who is appointed for a term of five years, is currently head of the international division of the British Financial Services Authority (FSA).
23/02/2011

Telos awards its highest rating to Master KAG service from Allianz Global Investors

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The ratings agency Telos has awarded a rating of “excellent,” its highest rating, to the overall activities of the fund and portfolio administration (Master KAG) activities of Allianz Global Investors KAG mbH. With over EUR115bn in assets under administration, the firm is a leader in Germany in this niche, a statement says.
23/02/2011

Martin Gut takes charge of BlackRock institutional activities in Switzerland

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } From the beginning of 2011, Martin Gut is the new head of institutional activities at BlackRock in Switzerland, Agefi Switzerland reports. In this position, Gut will report to Leen Meijaard, in charge of institutional activities in continental Europe. Gut will work in close collaboration with Heinz Rothacher, CEO of BlackRock for Switzerland, and Christian Gast, director of iShares Switerland. Until recently, Gut was CEO of Credit Suisse, where from 2007 to 2010 he was in charge of relations with major Swiss institutional clients.
23/02/2011

JPMorgan and Fidelity compete for a license in China

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Financial Times reports that JPMorgan and Fidelity are preparing to make bids for a trust company license in China. Trust status, which does not include depository activities, is subject to less strict regulations that banks, and is therefore more attractive to some operators.
23/02/2011

Credit Suisse launches four ETF funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Credit Suisse is launching four new ETF funds on the ETF Plus segment of Borsa Italiana, bringing the number of index-based funds listed in Italy to 49, Bluerating reports. The four ETF funds, available in Switzerland and Germany, are the CS ETF (IE) fund based on the Credit Suisse Global Alternative Energy index, the CS ETF (IE) based on the EONIA, the CS ETF (IE) based on the Fed Funds Effective Rate, and the CS ETF based on the MSCI World index.
23/02/2011

State Street institutional investor confidence index falls steeply

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In February, the global index of institutional investor confidence calculated by State Street Global Markets fell to 91.6, compared with 100.8 in January (corrected from a previously announced 100.9), and 104.4 in December.For the North American region, the index stands at 92.5, down from 99.3, while for Asia, the index is at 92.2, compared with 96.5. In Europe, the fund is down 13 points, to 79.8.Ken Froot (Harvard), who developed the index with State Street Associates, says that political turbulence in the Middle East and North Africa, tightening monetary policy in emerging markets, and concerns over the pace of the recent rise in investment in developed markets equities were probably the root cause of the fall for the index. In Europe, there are additional uncertainties over negotiations planned in March over sovereign debt and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).Paul O’Connell, the other Harvard professor responsible for developing the index, says that analysis of the underlying data reveals that institutional flows to emerging markets and Asia-Pacific ex Japan have continued to decline compared with their record levels in third quarter 2010.
23/02/2011

Rapid growth for Saint-Honoré US Value & Yield fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The former Amérique Rendement fund from Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM), which is now known as Saint-Honoré US Value and Yield, has seen its assets double since the beginning of 2010, and now has EUR1.4bn, largely due to EUR450m in net subscriptions, Christophe Foliot, deputy director and head of US and international equities management and Adeline Salat-Baroux, international equities manager and manager of the product, explained on 22 February. The product attracted the attention of Chilean pension funds in particular.The French FCP fund (FR0010781278), specialised in North American equities, earned returns of 21.5% in 2010, and an annualised 1.05% since its initial creation in 2000 (remembering the decline of the US dollar in this period).Currently, the managers of the fund, with 58 positions (and a turnover rate of about 50%), estimate that the US economic recovery may take another two years. They prefer two major themes: recovery of capex, and some opportunities in the health sector (particularly biotech).
23/02/2011

Globetrotter fund from HMG combines high inflows and performance

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of January, the Globetrotter FCP fund from HMG Finance, which since 2005 has been managed by Marc Girault, and co-managed since 2009 by Paul Girault, has over EUR200m in assets, compared with EUR180m at the end of December, and barely EUR50m at the end of 2009 (see Newsmanagers of 21 June 2010). “This increase in assets is due on the one hand to returns of 36.2% in 2010, and 34.5% on one year to the end of January, and on the other hand to large-scale net subscriptions,” Marc Girault, director of management, explains to Newsmanagers. He adds that the fund ranks in a very exclusive circle (the top percentile) among international securities funds in the Morningstar rankings for 2010, and that it was the best product in its class in the Lipper 2010 rankings for 3 and 5 years, after already finishing top over three years in 2008 and 2009.The two funds Découvertes (French small and midcaps) and Rendement (opportunistic), although they place well for performance, have only EUR20m each, while assets at HMG Finance now total as much as EUR350m, compared with EUR250m in June 2010.With this inflow of subscriptions, Marc and Paul Girault have increased the number of positions in the portfolio to 105-110 positions, up from 70, in order to enlarge their investment base, and they have added 4-5 countries to their list. The turnover rate remains low, at about 20%, because the Globetrotter is not a trading fund, and because volatility fell steeply last year compared with 2008 and 2009.
23/02/2011

Duff & Phelps and Harcourt form a strategic alliance with WR Managed Accounts

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US management firm Duff & Phelps and the Swisds Harcourt Investment Consulting (USD4.7bn in assets, Vontobel group) have acquired stakes for an undisclosed amount in the US firm WR Managed Accounts LLC, a specialist in managed account solutions for institutional investments in hedge funds and alternative managers. The three partners have also announced that they have formed a strategic partnership which will allow the two institutionals to contribute to the development of IT solutions in order to provide increased transparency for hedge funds and their subscribers.
23/02/2011

Une aide européenne à l'Egypte en débat

Catherine Ashton, haute représentante de la diplomatie européenne, a déclaré hier que des discussions étaient en cours pour fournir à l’Egypte un milliard d’euros d’aide supplémentaire grâce aux programmes de financement de la Banque européenne d’investissement.
23/02/2011

Activa Capital lorgne Findis

Le fonds de private equity a engagé des discussions exclusives avec Abénex Capital en vue de lui racheter le groupe Findis, leader de la distribution de produits électroménager, image et son, art de la cuisine. La société avait été reprise en juin 2007 auprès de la famille fondatrice. Findis réalise aujourd’hui un chiffre d’affaires de 180 millions d’euros.
23/02/2011

NYSE Blue porté sur les fonts baptismaux

NYSE Euronext a annoncé la finalisation de la transaction avec l’américain APX donnant naissance à NYSE Blue, plate-forme dédiée exclusivement aux marchés de l’environnement et de l’énergie durable. NYSE Euronext détient la majorité de l’entité en échange de l’apport de Blue Next.
23/02/2011

Louis Dreyfus fait des étincelles

Louis Dreyfus Commodity Alpha Fund, un fonds d’arbitrage du groupe de négoce, aurait cessé d’accepter des souscriptions de nouveaux clients en raison de son succès. Lancé en novembre 2008 avec 100 millions de dollars, ce fonds sur matière premières agricoles gèrerait 2 milliards, selon Bloomberg.
23/02/2011

Citigroup accusé d'avoir voulu céder des placements Madoff

La banque américaine a tenté de transmettre à d’autres banques une partie de son exposition au fonds d’investissement de Bernard Madoff quelques mois avant que la fraude massive sur laquelle il reposait ne soit révélée, accuse le liquidateur judiciaire Irving Picard. Des signaux négatifs concernant le fonds seraient apparus dès 2005 chez Citigroup. Irving Picard réclame à la banque 425 millions de dollars.

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