Le 18 février, la Deutsche Börse a admis à la négociation sur le segment XTF de sa plate-forme électronique Xetra six ETF actions supplémentaires d’iShares (BlackRock), tous de droit allemand. Cela porte à 797 le nombre total d’ETF cotés à Francfort.Les fonds iShares MSCI Japan Monthly EUR Hedged (DE000A1H53P0), iShares MSCI World Monthly EUR Hedged (DE000A1H53Q8) et iShares S&P 500 Monthly EUR Hedged (DE000A1H53N5) sont des produits à réplication physique et couverts du risque de change dont les commissions de gestion ressortent respectivement à 0,64 %, 0,55 % et 0,45 %.Par ailleurs, iShares a lancé deux fonds à réplication synthétique, le iShares MSCI Russia Capped Swap (DE000A1H53L9) chargé à 0,74 % et le iShares S&P CNX Nifty India Swap (DE000A1H53K1), dont la commission de gestion se situe à 0,85 %.Enfin, le iShares MSCI USA (DE000A1H53M7), à réplication physique, est chargé à 0,40 %.BlackRock a introduit ces six fonds sur la bourse de Vienne également, en y ajoutant un septième produit de droit irlandais dédié à la Pologne, le iShares MSCI Poland (IE00B4M7GH52), un fonds à réplication physique dont la commission de gestion se situe à 0,74 %.

Selon les informations de l’Agefi Hebdo, Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (Edram) devrait annoncer prochainement le lancement d’un fonds géré par Sumitomo Mitsui AM d’actions de sociétés japonaises profiant de la croissance du continent asiatique.

Dans son rapport annuel 2011, la Cour des comptes consacre un chapitre au FRR. Selon La Tribune, pour gérer sa poche obligataire classique, le Fonds de réserve des retraites pourrait s’inspirer de l’Erafp (Établissement de la retraite additionnelle de la fonction publique), qui la gère en interne. Le FRR pourrait garder une gestion déléguée pour les actifs de « performance ». La solution radicale serait d’intégrer toute la gestion, ce qui selon la Cour, «coûterait moins cher que l’externalisation facturée 40 millions d’euros en moyenne par an», rapporte le quotidien.

Le néerlandais Robeco a transféré entre le 15 janvier et le 18 février quatre de ses fonds à sa filiale suisse ISR SAM Sustainable Asset Management (lire notre article du 20 janvier).Le 15 janvier 2011, Robeco Agribusiness Equities et le Robeco European Equities ont pris les noms de SAM Sustainable Agribusiness Equities et SAM Sustainable European Equities. Leur code Isin devient respectivement LU0374106754 et LU0187077218. Les gérants sont Martin Jochum pour le premier et Kai Fachinger pour le second.D’autre part, les fonds Robeco European MidCap Equities et le Robeco European Stars ont été fusionnés avec le SAM Sustainable European Equities.Au 18 février 2011, trois fonds, Robeco Euro Bonds, Robeco Global Bonds et Robeco Euro Medium Term Bonds ont été fusionnés au sein du Robeco All Strategy Euro Bonds (LU0085135894) dont la gestion est assurée par Chris van der Oord.Enfin, toujours au 18 février, le Robeco Global Equities a été absorbé par le Robeco Global Stars Equities (LU0387754996) qui est désormais confié à Corné Aben et Jan Keuppens.

Les actifs sous gestion du britannique Rathbone Brothers s'établissaient à 15,6 milliards de livres au 31 décembre 2010, en progression de 19,3% par rapport à leur niveau de fin 2009.Le groupe souligne que les demandes de rachats se sont poursuivies pendant toute l’année, mais avec un net ralentissement au fil des mois et même des souscriptions nettes de 18,3 millions de livres au quatrième trimestre.

Selon Hedge Week, KPMG a annoncé la nomination de Robert Mirsky en tant que responsable des hedge funds au Royaume-Uni. Robert Mirsky travaillait précédemment chez Laven Partners, où il était managing director en charge de la création d’une plate-forme Ucits.

La part C du Fidelity China Special Situations PLC, le fonds géré par Anthony Bolton chez Fidelity, a levé 166,25 millions de livres sterling, parvenant ainsi à son plafond.

Securis, une société de hedge funds spécialisée sur les risques d’assurance créée par deux anciens banquiers de Morgan Stanley, va cette semaine lancer un appel public à l’épargne pour une version fermée de son fonds principal pour lever jusqu’à 200 millions de livres, rapporte le Financial Times. Le fonds, qui prend des paris sur les risques de catastrophes naturelles extrêmes et les risques de mortalité et d’allongement de la vie, a déjà un encours de 834 millions de dollars.

Le 17 février, The TCW Group (Société Générale) a annoncé qu'à compter du 30 avril 2011 son fonds TCW Small Cap (TGSCX/TGSNX) sera fermé aux nouveaux souscripteurs mais non aux particuliers déjà investis dans ce produit ou aux titulaires de plans d'épargne 401(k).Le fonds a désormais atteint un milliard de dollars d’encours et TCW souhaite en limiter la taille pour pouvoir continuer à le gérer dans l’intérêt bien compris des porteurs existants, a indique Charles Baldiswieler, president & CEO de TCW Funds.Les investisseurs désireux de s’exposer de manière similaire aux petites capitalisations de croissance peuvent se tourner vers le TCW SMID Cap Growth Fund, géré par Husam Nazer et le TCW Growth Equities Fund, géré par Brendt Stallings.

Lancé le 1er novembre 2006, le fonds thématique Pictet Security, compartiment de la sicav luxembourgeoise Pictet Funds, a atteint les 223 millions d’euros fin 2010 contre 162 millions un an auparavant. La hausse de l’encours s’explique par un effet de marché de 39 millions d’euros et des souscriptions nettes de 22 millions d’euros. La stratégie, avec notamment la contribution du Global Megatrends ainsi que des mandats, pesait environ 400 millions d’euros fin décembre contre 250 millions d’euros douze mois auparavant (et 350 millions fin 2007), ont indiqué Yves Kramer, gérant depuis l’origine, et Frédéric Dupraz, co-gérant depuis 2009.Compte tenu d’une part de la surperformance de 38 % sur le MSCI monde, dividendes réinvestis, depuis l’origine (et de 17 % en 2010), et du succès remporté par ce produit sur les marchés espagnol et italien, Hervé Thiard, directeur général de l’antenne parisienne du bureau de Paris, paraît enclin à promouvoir désormais plus activement ce produit en France.Les deux gérants ont fait évoluer leur matrice d’investissement, abandonnant le principe des «silos» entre gouvernement, entreprises et particuliers qui prévalait à l’origine, pour répartir les «drivers» dans les trois classes innovation, urbanisation et réglementation. Durant la crise, Pictet a misé sur les sociétés de services, qui ont des contrats de long terme et donc une bonne visibilité ; elles ont alors représenté 60 % du portefeuille. Depuis juin 2009, les gérants sont revenus sur les produits.Le portefeuille compte actuellement 54 lignes réparties sur trois thèmes : la sécurité physique (38 % du total), la sécurité informatique 32 %) et les services de sécurité (30 %), avec plus de 60 % des investissements aux Etats-Unis et 30 % en Europe. L’exposition émergente est de ce fait inférieure à 20 %.Pour des raisons réputationnelles liées à l’ISR, le gestionnaire s’interdit d’investir dans les firmes d’armement ou les exploitants de prisons. L’univers investissable de 330 titres, depuis le gardiennage jusqu'à la biométrie en passant par le «testing» et la protection des logiciels ou des installations informatiques, est rétréci par filtrages successifs à une fourchette de 40-70 titres et le taux de rotation se situe aux alentours de 70 %, voire seulement 20 % sur les valeurs elles-mêmes.

Confrontées au coup d’arrêt de la hausse des encours dans les pays développés, les sociétés de gestion cherchent à se redéployer et à trouver de nouveaux relais de croissance, rapporte Les Echos. Selon les spécialistes, les fusions-acquisitions transfrontières pourraient se développer, notamment dans les pays émergents, en priorité en Asie.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of December 2010, assets in shares in non-money market mutual funds in the Euro zone totalled EUR223bn more than they had three months previously, in September 2010, according to statistics from the European Central Bank (ECB). This increase is largely due to an increase in the value of shares. Assets totalled EUR5.738trn as of December 2010, compared with EUR5.515bn as of the end of September. In the same period, assets in shares in money market mutual funds in the Euro zone declined, to EUR1.107trn from EUR1.138trn. Net subscriptions to non-money market mutual funds in the Euro zone totalled EUR82bn in fourth quarter 2010, while net outflows from shares in money market mutual fund shares totalled EUR35bn. In terms of investment ventilation strategies, the annual pace of growth in shares issued by “bond” funds totalled 9.2% in December 2010, and net subscriptions totalled EUR13bn in fourth quarter. For “equities” funds, the annual growth rate totalled 3.2%, and net subscriptions totalled EUR29bn. For “mixed” funds, the corresponding figures were 6.3% and EUR26bn, respectively.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Dutch asset management firm Robeco between 15 January and 18 February transferred four of its funds to its Swiss SRI affiliate SAM Sustainable Asset Management.On 15 January 2011, Robeco Agribusiness Equities and Robeco European Equities changed names to become known as SAM Sustainable Agribusiness Equities and SAM Sustainable European Equities. Their ISIN codes remain LU0374106754 and LU0187077218, respectively. The managers are Martin Jochum for the former, and Kai Fachinger for the latter.Meanwhile, the Robeco European MidCap Equities and Robeco European Stars funds have been merged into the SAM Sustainable European Equities.On 18 February 2011, three funds – Robeco Euro Bonds, Robeco Global Bonds and Robeco Euro Medium Term Bonds were merged into the Robeco All Strategy Euro Bonds (LU0085135894), managed by Chris van der Oord.Also on 18 February, the Robeco Global Equities was absorbed by the Robeco Global Stars Equities (LU0387754996), which is now managed by Corné Aben and Jan Keuppens.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 18 February, the Deutsche Börse admitted several more funds from iShares (BlackRock), all German-registered, for trading on the XTF segment of tis Xetra electonric platform. The additions bring the total number of ETFs listed in Frankfurt to 797.The funds iShares MSCI Japan Monthly EUR Hedged (DE000A1H53P0), iShares MSCI World Monthly EUR Hedged (DE000A1H53Q8) and iShares S&P 500 Monthly EUR Hedged (DE000A1H53N5) are physical replication products, hedged for currency risks, with total management commissions of 0.64%, 0.55% and 0.45%, respectively.iShares has also launched two synthetic replication funds, the iShares MSCI Russia Capped Swap (DE000A1H53L9) , with fees of 0.74%, and the iShares S&P CNX Nifty India Swap (DE000A1H53K1), with management commission of 0.85%.The iShares MSCI USA (DE000A1H53M7), a physical replication fund, charges 0.40%. BlackRock has also launched these six funds on the Vienna stock exchange, with the addition of a seventh Irish-registered product dedicated to Poland, the iShares MSCI Poland (IE00B4M7GH52), a physical replication fund with management commission of 0.74%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Cologne-based wealth management firm V.M.Z. Vermögensverwaltungsgesellschaft Dr. Markus C. Zschaber mbH is advisor to the new flexible equities fund World Market Fund, whose launch has been announced by Universal-Investment.Management of the fund will follow the evolution of the “Welt-Index” designed by Markus Zschaber, involving the monthly combination of an index of conjunctural data and another index of market outlooks. This tool will allow the management team to identify and evaluate cyclical changes taking place in the global economy early on, and to integrate these data into the investment process.The portfolio of the new fund is constructed on the basis of both top-down and bottom-up analysis. In case of extreme situations on international equities markets, exposure to equities markets may be wholly hedged, and half of assets may be invested in money market investments and equities.CharacteristicsName: World Market FundISIN: DE000A1CS5F8Front-end fee: Maximum 5%Management commission: Currently 1.90%Performance commission: 10% of absolute returns, with high watermark

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi Switzerland reports, citing Le Matin Dimanche, that the former head of the pharmaceutical group Serono, and winner of the America’s Cup, Ernesto Bertarelli, is now seeking to beconme a global leader in wealth management, via a fund founded in London. The Sunday newspaper reports that “the recent creation from Ernesto Bertarelli” is none other than a financial company, entitled Northill Capital, founded in London on 18 November. Northill Capital is “the strong arm with which he is planning to ‘conquer a global empire in the area of private and institutional asset management.'”

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For the week to 16 February, transfers of capital from emerging markets equities funds towards developed markets equities funds continued, according to statistics from EPFR Global. Equities funds posted inflows of USD8.39bn, while bond funds saw inflows of USD1.16bn. Money market funds, however, saw outflows of USD3.73bn.Outflows from emerging markets equities funds totalled USD5.45bn, while inflows to developed markets equities funds were at their highest levels in 30 months, with the result that since the beginning of the year, equities funds (United States, Europe, Japan and international) have attracted more than USD4.7bn, of which USD29bn have gone to US equities funds. In the corresponding periods of 2009 and 2010, EPFR Global observed outflows of USD28bn and USD17bn, respectively.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Clients in the European asset management sector do not have the same levels of protection across Europe. “There is a European passport for funds, which allows them to be sold within the European Union, but the rules for their sale vary from one country to another, as do the rules which intermediaries have to respect, and the rules to practice advising activities vary as well,” says Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, CEO of Invesco Europe and president of Efama, in an interview with Il Sole – 24 Ore. He says the best-protected savings investors are in the Netherlands and the UK. However, de Franssu confirms that Invesco has ambitions to participate in the current wave of consolidation.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Liechtenstein bankers’ association on 18 February unveiled its strategy for the principality’s financial centre for the coming years. “The Liechtenstein financial centre is known for its high capacity for innovation, its effectiveness, and its abilities in the area of wealth management. This puts it in a position to offer top quality custom products and services to demanding international clients,” the chairman of the association, Adolf E. Real, says in a statement.However, in a contect of increased competition, the financial centre has revised its strategy (“Roadmap 2015”) to focus on five core areas: innovation, shared common objectives, international collaboration, attractiveness, and reputation, and three major principles: quality, stability, and sustainable development. “Our objective is to be considered a stable and sustainable financial centre,” the association chairman says.Following the tax scandals in Germany in 2008, the association emphasizes that it has now deployed a zero tolerance policy to tax evasion. In addition to the potential for developing international regulation, the association is also planning to take advantage of the opportunity to innovate in socially responsible investment, microfinance, and philanthropy.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to reports in Agefi Weekly, Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM) is soon to announce the launch of a fund managed by Sumitomo Mitsui AM, focused on equities in Japanese companies set to profit from growth on the Asian continent.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 17 February, the TCW Group (Société Générale) announced that from 30 April 2011, its fund TCW Small Cap (TGSCX/TGSNX) will be closed to new subscribers, but not to retail investors who are already invested in the product, or to 401(k) savings plan holders. The fund now has USD1bn in assets, and TCW would like to limit its size in order to continue to manage the fund in the best interests of existing shareholders, says Charles Balisweiler, president & CEO of TCW Funds. Investors seeking similar exposure to growth small caps may consider the TCW SMID Cap Growth Fund, managed by Husam Nazer, or the TCW Growth Equities Fund, managed by Brendt Stallings.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { } Caceis has published a brochure entitled “Making the most of UCITS IV: A flexible approach by Management Company profiles,” which describes opportunities for development and rationalisation that will be available to management firms in light of the UCITS IV directive from 1 July 2011.A segmentation of management firms according to various profiles is proposed, ranging from new entrants into the UCITS fund market to more experienced promoters. “For each profile, our experts analyse the strategy that the asset management firm may adopt in regard to opportunities offered by UCITS IV, and establish scenarios for the achievement of set objectives. They then list the challenges in terms of cross-border distribution and restructuring of organisations and products,” Caceis explains in a statement. The guide is available on the website http://www.caceis.com/.

Selon La Tribune, 1818 Gestion, filiale de Banque Privée 1818, elle-même détenue à 100 % par Natixis, a été condamnée dans un jugement prononcé le 4 février, la 6e chambre du tribunal de commerce de Paris à payer la somme de 100.377 euros à la SAS Groupe Someg avec intérêts au taux légal à compter du 10 juin 2009, date de l’assignation de la Someg contre les deux sociétés.En contrepartie, la Someg renonce à tous ses droits sur les 73.213 actions de Luxalpha au bénéfice de 1818 Gestion. La Tribune rappelle que le 8 février 2008, la société a confié à 1818 Gestion un mandat de gestion «prudente» d’un montant de 2,5 millions d’euros. «En investissant dans Luxalpha, 1818 Gestion n’a pas respecté les conditions du mandat de gestion», estiment Nicolas Lecoq Vallon et Hélène Feron-Poloni, associés au cabinet Lecoq Vallon et conseils de la Someg. «1818 Gestion a manqué à son devoir d’information claire et non trompeuse, de vigilance, de diligence et de compétence en investissant sur ce fonds».

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the twelve months to the end of January, assets under management by the Spanish savings banks, immersed in an ongoing merger process, fell by EUR3.02bn, or 10.4%, to a total of EUR26.1bn, Cinco Días reports. The contraction is less than the 14.7% decline observed for Spanish management firms as a whole, solely due to good results at Catalunya Caixa, where assets increased by 36.3% to EUR3.91bn. Without this contribution, the decline would have been 15.5%.The other winner out of the mergers is the management firm La Caixa, where assets increased by 10.5%, to EUR15.38bn, largely due to its flagship product Foncaixa Bienvenida, which got a boost from a 3% bonus on transfers.Cinco Días also observes that according to the Spanish association Inverco, assets under management by the various asset management firms of the Santander and BBVA groups fell by 14.6% and 28.7%, respectively, in the twelve months to the end of January.

Michiel Krauss has been appointed managing director at Skagen Netherlands and assumed the position on 1st February 2011. He comes from Wilton Investment Services where he was also managing director. The Norwegian asset management company will also be opening an office in Amsterdam by the summer.It received approval to market its funds in the Netherlands in 2006 and currently has approximately 1 billion euro under management, predominantly from retail and HNW clients.The Amsterdam office will be Skagen’s eleventh office – in addition to the six in Norway, and offices in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Gothenburg and London. Local personnel in the Netherlands are currently being recruited. In the meantime the existing client facing team from the International department in Stavanger will support Michiel Krauss.Separately, Stavanger District Court has acquitted portfolio manager Kristian Falnes and ruled that he complied with the duty of confidentiality pursuant to the Norwegian Securities Trading Act § 3-4 regarding confidentiality and proper handling of information.

Netherlands-based asset management firm Kempen Capital Management (KCM) has built an international development team, which will be led by Hilko de Brouwer.“With the creation of this team, we at KCM confirm the increasing importance we assign to international institutional investors in our development plan,” the asset management firm says. The team, which will be based in Amsterdam, will focus its activities on markets outside Switzerland and the Netherlands, where KCM has local teams. “In the past two years, international institutional investors have shown a growing interest in KCM strategies in the areas of small caps, publicly-traded real estate, high quality investment grade credit, high yield equities and funds of hedge funds,” the structure says. However, international assets under management now total about EUR1bn, out of total assets under management of EUR18.2bn (compared with EUR13.4bn as of the end of 2009). The team will include Vuk Srdanovic, who joined KCM as head for France and Scandinavia. The Danish Srdanovic speaks Danish, French, German and English. He previously worked in the Scandinavia team at T. Rowe Price, from 2006 to 2009. The international development team at Kempen, which includes three members, will be expanded with the addition of one further person in 2011.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Securis, a hedge fund management firm specialised in insurance risk, founded by two former bankers from Morgan Stanley, will this week launch a public call for investment in a closed-ended version of its main fund, in a bid to raise up to GBP200m, the Financial Times reports. The fund, which bets on the risk of extreme natural disasters, risk of decease, and lengthening life expectancies, already has assets of USD834m.

On 18 February the Board of Fidelity China Special Situations PLC announced that the C Share Offer has raised its maximum figure of GBP166.25 million. Subsequently there will be no scale back on the Offer for Subscription and all investors will receive the number of shares that they applied for. The Open Offer was not subject to scale back.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at the British management firm Rathbones totalled GBP15.6bn as of 31 December 2010, an increase of 19.3% compared with their levels as of the end of 2009. The group says that redemption demands continued for the entire year, but with a net slowdown as the months progressed, but total net subscriptions of GBP18.3m in fourth quarter.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedge Week reports that KPMG has announced the appointment of Robert Misky as head for UK hedge funds. Mirsky previously worked at Laven Partners, where he was managing director in charge of the creation of a UCITS platform.