p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Overall assets under management (in mandates and mutual funds) increased 1.7% in 2010, to EUR2.656trn, near its 2007 levels, according to the most recent statistics from the French financial management association (AFG). Although mandates are continuing to grow (+6%, to EUR1.418trn), French-registered funds (-2.6%, to EUR1.339trn) have been affected by a major decline in assets in money market funds, which have suffered from very low short-term interest rates, but id not get a boost from the rebound that has recently come for the markets of Northern Europe. “The figures are holding stable, but are doing no more than that. Our domestic market is much less promising than it used to be. This is a genuine subject of concern,” said Paul-Henri de La Porte de Theil, president of the AFG, on 25 January at a press conference. Though net assets in French-registered mutual funds have fallen by EUR36bn over the year, excluding money market funds there has nonetheless been an increase of about EUR50bn (+5.6%). Assets under mandated management, which are very largely invested in fixed-income products, increased by about 6% from EUR1.059trn to EUR1.123trn. This increase comes 40% from positive market effects, while inflows accounted for 60%, mostly from the insurance sector. Financial management of foreign-registered OPC funds, for its part, is expected to grow to EUR194bn (+9%). The positive evolution of net assets in bond and equities oriented funds (equities, diversified and other funds; FCPE, FCPR and FCIMT) was offset by a decline in assets in money market funds (-EUR86.7bn), low short-term interest rates, and considerable need for liquidity at banking establishments, which led to transfers either to bank savings accounts, or to other categories of funds, such as bond funds, and to a lesser extent diversified funds. Bonds are the only category to have seen net inflows in 2010 (+EUR18.5bn).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Several major international banks, including UBS, are bringing their differences with Italian cities and provinces over derivative contracts before British courts, in the hopes of finding fairer resolutions there, which it hopes will be more favourable and faster than the Italian courts, Agefi Switzerland reports. UBS is countersuing several municipalities and regions, including Florence, Piedmont and Latium, in the British courts, in response to suits filed by the local governments in Italy. Despite contractual clauses which state that claims may be settled in the British courts, the Italian entities sued in Italy in order to avoid an unfamiliar jurisdiction which is though to offer better protection to banks.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The db x-trackers platform from Deutsche Bank on 25 January announced the launch of a new UCITS-compliant Luxembourg-registered ETF, the db x-trackers db Equity Strategies Hedge Fund Index ETF (LU0519153562), which initially replicates the performanc eof 17 mostly long/short equities hedge funds from 13 different providers.The product is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and comes as an addition to the db x-trackers db Hedge Fund Index ETF, which was launched in January 2009, and which replicates the performance of six hedge fund strategies. Assets in the fund total USD1.5bn.The new fund, for its part, charges fees of 0.90%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Spanish securities commission (CNMV) says that it is expecting changes “in the short to mid-term” in the structure of at least 7 out of the 24 asset management firms in which the savings banks hold stakes, Cinco Días reports. 17 out of the 45 savings banks in the country are expected to disappear. Experts say that in order to be viable, a management firm needs at least EUR500m in assets; however, in December, this was true at only 40% of them.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A survey by Expansión of major international investors reveals that foreigners are not enthusiastic about the idea of buying stakes in Spanish savings banks. They would like to have a say in matters at the target firms, and therefore would expect seats on the boards of directors, or else they would buy the assets only at a considerable markdown.Among the firms which are potentially interested, but who are awaiting more clarification from the Spanish government, are investors such as Carval, Varde, Fortress, Cerberus, Apollo (which is setting up a team in Spain under the name Lapithus), TPG, Macquarie, Och-Ziff, Lone Star, and Patron.

For 2010, net profit at BlackRock totalled USD2.06bn, compared with USD875m the previous year, an increase of 136%. In fourth quarter, this profit totalled USD657m, compared with USD551m in third quarter and USD256m in the corresponding period of 2009. Operating margin for the year 2010 comes to 34.8%, including the impact of USD90m in costs related to the integration of Barclays Global Investors (BGI) on 1 December 2009. In the past year overall, BlackRock recruited over 1,000 employees.At the end of the year, total assets came to USD3.56097trn, 3% more than at the end of September, and USD214.7bn, or 6% more than one year previously (USD3.34626trn).Net subscriptions in 2010 totalled USD57.76bn, while outflows imputable to the integration of BGI represented USD120.97bn and those due to reclassifications totalled USD6.16bn. Market appreciation accounted for USD267bn, and forex positive impact came to USD17.1bn.Accounts reveal that iShraes (ETFs) posted net subscriptions of USD13.4bn in October-December, and USD42.9bn for the period as a whole. Assets in iShares products as of the end of December totalled USD448.16bn for equities products, and USD123.1bn for bond products, compared with USD381.4bn and USD102.49bn, respectively, one year previously.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The financial management industry will soon include over 600 businesses. According to the most recent statistics from the AFG, this dynamic of firm creations continued in 2010, with 44 new firms, while net growth in the number of firms comes to 25. Staff numbers remained stable, according to a study to be published by the association in one and a half months. The association points out that French management firms, regardless of size, are increasingly active internationally, where they are gaining market share. Two French groups rank in the top 10 management firms worldwide, and four are in the top 20 (Amundi, Natixis, Axa and BNP Paribas). France has retained its place as the largest manager of OPCVM mutual funds in Europe, with a market share of 20.6%, but it is closely rivalled by Germany (19.4%), and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom (16.9%). But an examination of the variation in assets under management in Europe reveals highly contrasted situations, with gains of more than 10% for Germany (the CAC lost 2%, and the Dax has gained 10%), 17% for Luxembourg, 27% for Ireland, and 30% for the United Kingdom (though, it is true, with a larger market effect in the UK due to the higher proportion of equities funds).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For its 25th anniversary, HDF Finance on Tuesday, 25 January announced several developments at the firm. In terms of staff, the firm on Monday, 24 January announced the arrival of a new CEO, Pierre Lenders. Lenders, 48, served from 2008 to 2010 at Lafayette as head of risks, and then as co-CIO. In addition to this recruitment, the firm has also recruited Joseph Naayem, a long/short fund of fund manager who knows dedicated mandates well and has worked at Harcourt and other firms, effective the same day. In terms of services, the firm is also planning to offer new custom services to its clients, 85% of whom are institutionals, including choice and management of drivers of performance, a statement says. The last development announced by HDF Finance is that the management firm is planning to set up a new communications plan to make itself more widely known by private clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BlackRock announced on 24 January that it has recruited Nancy Everett to the newly-created position of managing director, head of the US entity Fiduciary Management Solutions (FMS), which offers management, advising and outsourcing solutions to major institutional clients. Everett previously worked as CEO of Promark Global Advisors (ex-General Motors Asset Management), which has about USD140bn in assets under management.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British management firm ETF Securities (ETFS, USD26.4bn in assets) has announced that it has recently received validation of its passport for the European community, which will allow it to establish operations in Spain, where it is planning to sell over 200 exchange-traded products (ETP), including commodities (ETC) and other currency products, Funds People reports. Luis Puertas, head at the firm for the Iberian peninsula and Latin America, says that ETFS products will be available in Spain via the Bankinter, Renta 4, Inversis and GVC Gaesco platforms.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNY Mellon on 25 January announced the appointment of Eleni Wang as head of client management for the Asia Pacific region, replacing Jai Arya, who has recently been promoted to director of the newly-created sovereign institutions group. Wang was previously managing partner of the alternative management firm Adept Capital Partners, where she was head of strategy and development.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Deka Immobilien announced on 25 January that it has sold the office building Carrea in Munich (11,2000 square metres ) to Competo Bestandsfonds Plus. The property was acquired for the open-ended real estate fund Deka ImmobilienEuropa in 2003.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Credit Suisse Germany has managed to sell the Schloss Arkaden building in Brunswick (55,481 square metres) to the Deka ImmobilienEuropa fund at a price above the EUR228.3m it was most recently valued at. It is the fourth consecutive sale of a property from the CS Euroreal fund (which has been closed to redemptions for 8 months) at a price higher than its market value; the previous one was the sale at the end of December of a 9,764 square metre building located at Quai Galliéni in Suresnes to the French real estate fund Viveris REIM. The market value of that property was EUR61.8m. Previously, in mid-December, Allianz Real Estate acquired two properties in Paris, also above their market value.After these four sales, gross liquidity in the CS Euroreal fund represented EUR1.03bn, of which EUR1.01bn were available for potential redemptions, which comes to 16.7% of assets (EUR6.05bn as of the end of December). Since the suspension of redemptions on 19 May 2010, net liquidity in the fund has increased by EUR727m, or 11.9 percentage points.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In second half 2010, the number of people holding shares in equities funds, diversified funds or both categories of funds in Germany fell by about 140,000 compared with first half, at slightly under 5.97 million, or 9.2% of the population, according to an NFO Infratest survey for the Deutsches Aktien Institut (DAI). Compared with the 2001 record, the total is down by 3.8 million, or 38.9%, but it remains 3.7 million people, or 158.6%, higher than in 1997.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Manuel Cereijo has been appointed as director of the new family office division that Popular Banca Privada has created for high net worth clients with financial assets of over EUR10m, Funds People reports. The new service will cover all of Spain, and Banco Popular has made a pledge to its 100 current clients to maintain a maximum of 20 clients per adviser.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Giuseppe Guzzeti, president of the Cariplo foundation, which is a shareholder in Intesa Sanpaolo, says he favours a merger with Pioneer, the management firm from UniCredit, and Eurizon, the asset management unit of Intesa Sanpaolo, Bluerating reports. “If the two banks find a way – either between themselves or with others – for savings to be managed by Italian institutions, I applaud them and I am in favour,” he says. He adds that “UniCredit acquired Pioneer from foreigners, and I don’t see why it should sell it back to them.”

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jean-Pierre Mustier, former head of the investment bank at Société Générale (and then the asset management and investor services unit), is reported to be one of the frontrunners to replace Sergio Ermotti as head of the corporate & investment banking division of UniCredit Group, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. According to unconfirmed leaks cited by the Italian newspaper, the choice of a successor to Ermotti may be made next week by the nomination committee at the Italian bank, which would then propose its candidate to the board of directors the following week. All of the candidates have an international profile.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to figures from the Austrian VÖIG association of management firms, total assets under management in securities funds as of the end of December totalled EUR145.2bn, compared with EUR136.7bn twelve months previously. That represents an increase of EUR8.5bn, or 6.2%, resulting from gains of EUR8.9bn, and EUR2bn in net subscriptions, though distribution of dividends totalled over EUR2.5bn.The top three management firms remain unchanged: Raiffeisen KAG (RCM) posted an increase of 9.25% to its assets, to EUR29.4bn, giving it a market share of 20.2%, while Erste Sparinvest saw its assets stagnate at EUR26.7bn, with a market share of 18.4%. The third-largest management firm by assets is Pioneer Investments Austria (Bank Austria, UniCredit group), with a 1% decline in its assets under management, to EUR19.4bn, and a market share of 13.3% Allianz Invest and Kepler Fonds are in fourth and fifth place, with EUR10.7bn and EUR10bn in assets, respectively.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to figures from the Austrian VÖIG association of management firms, total assets under management in securities funds as of the end of December totalled EUR145.2bn, compared with EUR136.7bn twelve months previously. That represents an increase of EUR8.5bn, or 6.2%, resulting from gains of EUR8.9bn, and EUR2bn in net subscriptions, though distribution of dividends totalled over EUR2.5bn. The top three management firms remain unchanged: Raiffeisen KAG (RCM) posted an increase of 9.25% to its assets, to EUR29.4bn, giving it a market share of 20.2%, while Erste Sparinvest saw its assets stagnate at EUR26.7bn, with a market share of 18.4%. The third-largest management firm by assets is Pioneer Investments Austria (Bank Austria, UniCredit group), with a 1% decline in its assets under management, to EUR19.4bn, and a market share of 13.3% Allianz Invest and Kepler Fonds are in fourth and fifth place, with EUR10.7bn and EUR10bn in assets, respectively.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Bank Austria Real Invest Immobilien KAG in 2010 remained the largest real estate fund management firm in Austria by far, with assets as of the end of December of EUR1.5bn, or over 63% of the total EUR2.4bn market. The second-largest is Raiffeisen Immobilien KAG, with EUR391m, or 16% of the market.In total, real estate funds had EUR2.4bn in assets under management, or EUR481.7m more than at the end of December 2009. EUR445.2m of this increase comes from net subscriptions, and EUR65m from capital gains, while distribution of dividends totalled EUR29m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In 2010, the overall volume of calls for proposals to select a manager for French institutional investors totalled EUR30.5bn, an increase of 57% compared with EUR19.4bn the previous year, while the number of consultations remained relatively stable (89, compared with 85). These are the findings of the most recent bfinance study of delegated institutional management. The market has topped its previous record of EUR27bn, set in 2007. bfinance estimates that this vitality is due to a renegotiation of major bond management mandates, numbering 19 and totalling EUR23bn, and many revisions of strategic allocations. As in 2009, the French national pension fund, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR) dominates the market. It represented 59% of volumes in play last year, with EUR18bn. The second market leader, Medicis, was far behind, with EUR1.33bn. In terms of asset classes, bond mandates accounted for the lion’s share of the market, as in 2009. Equities mandates came to only EUR1.8bn (for 13 mandates). Emmanuel Léchère, head of market intelligence Group, says that consultations mostly involved Euro zone equities. French institutionals appear totally uninterested in emerging markets equities, unlike their international counterparts.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Funds People reports that Groupama Asset Management has decided to end the exposure of its money market fund Groupama Eonia to debt from peripheral countries of the Euro zone. The exposure to “PIGS” will mature at the end of February, and will not be renewed. The fund (EUR850m) will then be a solely “core” product. As of 17 January, 46% of the portfolio was invested in A-rated, and 27% in AA-rated securities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Despite a decline in its headcount of 15, to 301 employees, Fidelity International last year saw an increase of EUR4.6bn in its assets under management or administration in Germany last year, to EUR28.9bn, Christian Wrede, CEO, announced on 25 January. Of this total, EUR16.6bn, compared with EUR13.8bn, are assets under administration at Frankfurter Fondsbank (FFB), which it acquired on 6 October 2009, while assets under management totalled EUR12.3bn, compared with EUR10.5bn at the end of 2009, of which EUR2.5bn, compared with EUR2bn, are for institutionals, a segment Fidelity began to serve only five years ago.Net inflows at Fidelity Deutschland fell to EUR627m, compared with EUR1.15bn in 2009, of which EUR162m were net subscriptions to asset management (compared with EUR937m), and EUR465m, compared with EUR212m, were net inflows to the FFB platform.In 2011, the priority areas for development will be Asian and emerging markets equities and bond funds, corporate retirement savings funds (71 firms are already clients, up from 56 in 2009), and efforts to win over independent financial advisers.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Cinco Días reports that Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) has launched the online platform BME Clima, which offers 42 climate indices, based on four variables: temperature, wind, sunlight and precipitation.In addition, it is offering an index of Spanish tourism for autonomous communities, which compares current meteorological figures with past years.The information is collected by a network of 300 stations located throughout Spain. The service is available for EUR10,000 per year to retail clients.BME’s objective is to subsequently create a market for climate derivatives.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Matthias Danne, a board member at DekaBank, is satisfied with the compromise between coalition parties over regulations applicable to open-ended real estate funds. In his opinion, the number of providers of these funds aimed at retail investors will fall below ten, from 14 currently.Deka is the leader in this market segment, with assets of about EUR22bn. Net subscriptions to the group’s real estate funds represented EUR1.6bn in 2010, of which EUR1.1bn were for the three products aimed at retail clients (Deka-ImmobilienEuropa, Deka-ImmobilienGlobal and WestInvest InterSelect), while the remaining EUR500m went to institutional funds.In 2010, Deka Immobilien bought 27 properties for EUR2.4bn, and sold 16 properties for EUR800m. In 2011, the management firm is planning to acquire more small properties for its institutional funds. The largest deal last year was the acquistion of the office property Chevron House in Singapore for EUR300m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The co-founders of Verus Chartered Financial Planners, Paul Lothian and Jonathan Gibson, are entering the wealth management business. The financial advisers have teamed up with the Aberdeen accounting firm Anderson, Anderson & Brown, to create the dedicated wealth management entity A2+B Wealth. As its name indicates, the new firm is planning to concentrate on high net worth clients, to whom it will offer long-term management relying on modelling tools and the A2+B Wealthcare white label platform.

F&C Asset Management on January 25 updated the market on its assets under management and business flows and responded to the letter from Sherborne Investors - which holds a 17.5 stake in the company and wants to oust its chairman - dated 19 January 2011.“Sherborne appears to have misunderstood the economics of and rationale for the REIT Asset Management and Thames River Capital acquisitions”, F&C writes in a press release. “REIT and Thames River have accelerated the improvement in average fee margins and have contributed to the increased proportion of revenues derived from non‐insurance clients. Both acquisitions have enhanced the group’s product range and investment expertise and have helped strengthen the group’s management team. Both acquisitions were executed at attractive profit multiples which were significantly lower than those implied by recent transactions in the sector such as RBC’s acquisition of Bluebay and Henderson’s proposed acquisition of Gartmore”, according to the UK fund manager.In addition, F&C poses a number of questions “it considers critically important that Sherborne answers in advance of the general meeting it has requisitioned for 3 February to allow shareholders to consider all the facts before voting”. “Will Mr. Bramson’s executive chairmanship of Nautilus, a US based manufacturer of gym equipment, the share price of which has fallen c.75 per cent. since Sherborne acquired its c.20 per cent interest, together with his other responsibilities, allow him to carry out properly his proposed role as Chairman of F&C?”, asks F&C.Alain Grisay, chief executive of F&C, also commented: “After years of outflows and the ownership uncertainty of 2007‐2009, 2010 was a turning point for F&C with three year investment track records rebuilt, strong consultant support and a return to net inflows ex. insurance assets. The combination of positive headline flows from institutional clients, coupled with improving fee margins are tangible signs that our strategy is working”.The group’s assets under management (AUM) ended the year at GBP105.8 billion, vs GBP97.8 billion at the en of 2009. Net business flows (excluding insurance) were positive in Q4 2010 and for the full‐year after four years of net outflows (GBP272m).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) has announced that it is extending the cancellation in late 2010 of the subscription fees for 23 of its Luxembourg-registered ETF products. This means that as of 3 January 2011, the total expense ratio for the funds will be lowered by 0.05 point.

Crédit Agricole Private Equity (CAPE) pourrait encaisser à terme jusqu’à 100 millions de dollars provenant de l’acquisition de l’américain BioVex (biotech spécialisée dans le traitement du cancer) par son compatriote Amgen. La transaction s’est effectuée sur une base d’un milliard de dollars: 425 millions payables immédiatement et jusqu’à 575 millions en fonction de l’obtention d’autorisations et de la réalisation d’objectifs commerciaux par BioVex. Entré au capital de la société en 2003, CAPE en détient près de 10% à ce jour.

Le gestionnaire d’actifs a dégagé au quatrième trimestre un bénéfice (hors exceptionnels) de 670 millions de dollars (3,42 dollars par action), en hausse de 77% par rapport à la période comparable de 2009. Les revenus ont dans le même temps bondi de 61%, à 2,49 milliards de dollars. Les commissions de performance des fonds alternatifs ont totalisé 326 millions de dollars, contre 125 millions un an plus tôt.