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07/12/2010

BlackRock GF closes two funds for holidays

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The board of directors of the Luxembourg Sicav BlackRock Global Funds (BGF) has announced that, in light of the closure of the London stock exchange, the net asset value of the BGF United Kingdom Fund will not be calculated and shares in the fund will not be traded on 27 and 28 December. The same decision has been taken for the 30 and 31 December as well as the 3 January for the BGF Japan Small & Mid Caps Opportunities Fund and BGF Japan Value Fund.
07/12/2010

Madoff: Swiss firm UBP prepared to pay up to USD500m

The court-appointed trustee for the Madoff funds, Irving Picard, announced on 6 December that he has signed an agreement with the Swiss bank Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) for a sum of up to USD500m.The settlement, which has yet to be approved by the Manhattan bankruptcy courts, was signed with UBP and an affiliate of UBP based in the Cayman islands, M-Invest, “for at least USD470m in cash, an amount which may total USD500m, depending on the outcome of other ongoing legal actions,” Picard says in a statement. The agreement allows UBP to avoid a USD1bn lawsuit which the trustee was planning.“The amicable agreement with UBP is the first cash agreement with a feeder fund, and the first major international agreement, two major steps in the global recovery effort” to claw back funds lost in the giant fraud orchestrated by Bernard Madoff, Picard comments.In a statement, UBP says that it accepted the agreement in order to protect its clients and to move on. Picard has also accepted UBP’s claims as a victim of the Madoff fraud for a total of USD756m. UBP was named in a class-action lawsuit filed in May 2009 by former clients, accusing it of having stripped their funds and invested them with the fraudster Madoff’s business.
07/12/2010

Asia may compete with UCITS

Asia’s fund managers are convinced the setting up of an Asia funds passport is critical for the industry’s growth, according to a report by PwC commissioned by Australia’s Financial Services Council. Currently, if Australian investment managers want to launch their products into the Asian markets they have to set up an office in Europe and export Ucits from there, the Financial Times Fund Management wrote.
07/12/2010

Aprionis signs PRI

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Aprionis group announced at the end of last week at the Novethic conference (see Newsmanagers of 6 December) that it has strengthened its commitment to socially responsible investment by becoming the first joint social economy and solidarity partner in France to sign the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The signature of the Principles illustrates a genuine broader social reflection which has been undertaken for the past 10 years by the Aprionis group. For example, it was, via its financial management firm Expansion, the first to create regional solidaristic funds, local savings funds which finance jobs in the region. In 2008, Inter Expansion becomes one of the pioneering actors in the Water Disclosure project, through its study fo the role of investors in water shortage. Inter Expansion has also signed up to the Carbon Disclosure Project, a collective investor initiative to incite businesses to develop strategies to reduce their carbon emissions.
07/12/2010

Olympia Capital Management attracts suitors

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, the asset management firm Olympia Capital Management, in which Sagard, the US private equity fund, controls 45% of capital, says its recently-announced sale (cf. Newsmanagers of 03/11/2010) interests several firms, including one “high calibre” player. The name of Natixis AM was mentioned. In an interview with Newsmanagers, the asset management firm in question had no comment, but did not deny the information. Another name has also been mentioned: the hedge fund management firm Nexar Capital Group SCA, founded last year by former SGAM AI employees, including Arié Assayag, CEO, and Eric Attias, CIO. Nexar Capital Group SCA on 13 September distinguished itself with the announcement of its acquisition of Allianz Alternative Asset Management (AAAm) from Allianz France, its majority shareholder, and Allianz Global Investors Europe.
07/12/2010

Google acquires an office building for USD1.8bn

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The largest real estate deal since the outbreak of the crisis has been completed in New York, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Google is paying about USD1.8bn for an office building at 111 Eighth Avenue (27,000 square metres) in Chelsea, in which it already rents one fifth of the total area.The vendor is a consortium composed of the local real estate firm Taconic, a New York state pension fund, and the German-American investment management firm Jamestown. At the time when Jamestown got involved in the investment, in 2004, the building was valued at USD800m.
07/12/2010

Oddo looks to grow in Switzerland

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Oddo is planning to develop its activities in Switzerland, Agefi Switzerland reports. According to the international head of sales for the group, Bertrand Levavasseur, the French group is planning to send a salesperson, who will potentially create a unit in Geneva or Zurich in the next 18 months. The French group, which is already present in French-speaking Switzerland via cooperation agreements with several private banks in the region, is now aiming to develop its activities in the remainder of Switzerland.. “We are primarily aiming at private banks, wealth managers, and institutional clients,” says Levavasseur.
07/12/2010

Italian funds bet on PIGS

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Between the beginning of September 2009 and the end of October 2010, Italian fund managers oddly increased their exposure to Irish, Spanish, and Portuguese bonds (the first two by over 50% and the last one by nearly 20%), unlike their counterparts in other countries, according to the surprising findings of a Morningstar study undertaken for Plus24, the money supplement of Il Sole – 24 Ore. The newspaper finds that the difference between what is happening in Italy and other countries may be due to the fact that banks, which control most asset management firms in Italy, massively sold their bonds from PIGS countries (Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain). Plus24 suggests that it cannot therefore be ruled out that these bonds may have been transferred from the portfolios of banks to those of funds from their asset management firms.
07/12/2010

DBS AM and Nikko AM join forces

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } DBS Bank, Sumitomo Trust & Banking and Nikko Asset Management on 6 December announced in a joint statement that they have signed an agreement to unite the activities of DBS Asset Management with those of Nikko AM. The firm born of the operation will manage over USD150bn in assets, making it one of the largest management firms in the Asia-Pacific region. Nikko AM has recently announced its acquisition of the Australian Tyndall Investments (USD25bn in assets under management). By the terms of the agreement, Nikko AM will acquire DBS AM, and take over all of its employees, for a total of USD104m, while DBS will take a strategic minority stake of 7.25% in Nikko AM. The agreement also includes a non-exclusive distribution agreement which will allow DBS to offer its clients investment products from Nikko AM. In detail, DBS brings Nikko AM its asset management affiliate in Singapore, its 30% stake in the Malaysian independent management firm HwangDBS Investment Management Berhad, its 51% stake in Asian Islamic Investment Management Sdn Bhd (in which the remaining 49% is controlled by HwangDBS IM), and its Hong Kong-based asset management affiliate. Assets under management at these entities together as of the end of September 2010 totalled USD7bn. The 33% stake in the Chinese firm Changsheng Fund Management controlled by DBS AM is not part of the transaction, and will be held directly by DBS Group. DBS will be represented on the board of directors of Nikko AM and the Singapore affilaite of Nikko AM.
07/12/2010

GLG gets a Hong Kong trading license

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The hedge fund company GLG Partners has received a license in Hong Kong that it will use to trade, Asian Investor reports. Pierre Lagrange, managing director of GLG, based in London, says Hong Kong will be the regional centre for the asset management firm. GLG will transfer traders and analysts to Hong Kong, and is also planning to make local recruitments.
07/12/2010

F&C creates an Investment Solutions unit

F&C Investments has created an integrated Investment Solutions business focused on providing multi-asset investment strategies to institutional investors that are sensitive to their future liabilities and regulatory obligations. The new Investment Solutions business comprises F&C’s asset-liability management, multi-asset investment, insurance advisory, fiduciary management, derivative fund management and institutional manager selection teams.Richard Watts has been appointed as head of investment solutions to lead the business. He joined F&C in 2005 after eight years as a derivatives specialist at JP Morgan. Also, F&C has hired Ernst Hagen, currently head of asset management at Pensioenfonds Horeca & Catering, one of the largest Dutch industry pension schemes, to head its Fiduciary Investment desk. Ernst will join F&C on 4 January and will be based in the Amsterdam office. Peter Hill-King joins as head of manager selection from P-Solve Asset Solutions and David White, who previously worked at Aon, will join as director, manager selection.
07/12/2010

Former New Star manager launches an Africa fund

Jamie Allsop, former manager of the Heart of Africa fund at New Star, which had to close in 2008 due to liquidity problems, is launching a new fund with frontier markets specialist Insparo Asset Management, the Financial Times Fund Management said. The Insparo African Equity Fund will target institutional investors offering monthly liquidity.
07/12/2010

Source launches ETFs focused on Brazil, India and China

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 6 December, Source announced the launch of three Irish-registered ETFs replicating total return MSCI country indices for Brazil, India and China, as additions to the MSCI emerging markets and RDX Russia indices. The new products, available in US dollars on the London Stock Exchange, bring the range of ETF and ETC products from Source dedicated to equities and commodities indices to 83.CharacteristicsName: ETF MSCI Brazil Source ISIN code: IE00B4MYWN47Management commission: 0.65%Name: ETF MSCI China SourceISIN code: IE00B4LXWX21Management commission: 0.65%Name: ETF MSCI India SourceISIN code: IE00B4Z17P98Management commission: 0.85%
07/12/2010

Petra Reinhard Keller joins SFA board

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss Funds Association (SFA) has announced that its board at its 25 November meeting elected Petra Reinhard Keller as a new member, managing director and head fund solutions & clients services, as well as deputy CEO of Credit Suisse Asset Management Funds. In her role as a board member at the SFA, she replaces Raoul-Philip Backmann, who has left Credit Suisse and is also leaving the board of SFA.
07/12/2010

Le plan de sauvetage de l'Irlande se met en place

La première émission d’environ 5 milliards d’euros destinée à abonder le plan de soutien à l’Irlande sera réalisée dans la deuxième moitié de janvier, alors que l’Eurogroupe compte sur la rigueur budgétaire pour éteindre les «feux de broussaille» au Portugal et en Espagne.
07/12/2010

Bright Food empoche GNC

Le groupe chinois Bright Food serait sur le point selon le quotidien de signer un accord pour l’achat auprès d’Ares Management et de l’Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board de GNC Holding, un groupe américain distributeur de produits vitaminés précédemment détenu par Apollo Management. Le montant de la transaction pourrait se situer entre 2,5 et 3 milliards de dollars.
07/12/2010

Seymour Pierce en voie de fusion

Le courtier indépendant américain aurait été approché par le réassureur coté Gerova Financial Group afin d’envisager un rapprochement. La transaction pourrait valoriser Seymour Pierce à 40 millions de livres selon le quotidien britannique et donnerait naissance à un groupe présent dans la banque d’investissement, la gestion d’actifs et l’assurance.
07/12/2010

La FSA lance une alerte sur les dérivés

L’autorité britannique des marchés financiers s’inquiète du fait que les risques liés au trading des produits dérivés ne soient pas correctement supervisés par certaines sociétés de gestion d’actifs. Dans un rapport de consultation, la FSA juge qu’elles devraient disposer d’une documentation «montrant une connaissance adéquate des risques à la fois dans les fonctions support et investissement».
07/12/2010

PLF 2011 : abandon de l’amendement sur l’assurance-vie

Le rapporteur UMP de la commission des Finances du Sénat, Philippe Marini, a finalement renoncé à mettre au vote un amendement au projet de loi de finances 2011 visant à instaurer un taux d’imposition réduit à 5,5% sur les contrats d’assurance-vie comprenant des actions. Dans le cadre de la réforme en vue de la fiscalité du patrimoine, le Premier ministre a réuni hier une vingtaine de parlementaires de la majorité. Etaient présents le rapporteur général de la commission des Finances de l’Assemblée Gilles Carrez et son homologue du Sénat. Le président de la commission des Finances du Sénat, le centriste Jean Arthuis, a été invité, mais pas son alter ego de l’Assemblée, le PS Jérôme Cahuzac. Cette réforme, pilotée par le ministre du Budget François Baroin devrait être présentée en avril sous la forme d’un projet de loi de finances rectificative qui devrait être soumis en juin au Parlement.
07/12/2010

L’AMF publie une recommandation sur les engagements hors bilan

Cette recommandation relative aux engagements hors bilan annule et remplace l’interprétation n°1 sur les engagements hors bilan publiée le 30 janvier 2006. Elle prend en compte notamment la mise en œuvre d’IFRS 7 et repose sur un rappel du cadre normatif et réglementaire applicable en matière de présentation des engagements hors bilan.
07/12/2010

Nouvelle levée pour BNP Paribas Clean Energy Partners

La structure spécialisée dans les actifs liés à la construction et aux infrastructures opérationnelles d’énergie verte a levé au total 437 millions d’euros pour son fonds Clean Energy auprès de divers investisseurs institutionnels, au-delà de son objectif initial de 350 millions d’euros. Un premier appel de fonds avait permis de récolter 250 millions d’euros en septembre 2009 puis 187 millions ont été levés plus récemment.
07/12/2010

Carlyle songe plus fermement à la Bourse

William Conway, fondateur et dirigeant de la société d’investissement, l’a confié à Bloomberg: une introduction en Bourse pourrait intervenir en 2011. Des sources proches du dossier ont précisé le calendrier envisagé, avec un dépôt du projet en fin d’année prochaine pour une cotation en 2012. Une étape que la société étudie depuis au moins juin 2007 et déjà franchie par ses rivaux Blackstone et KKR. «Il y aura des avantages importants à disposer de davantage de capitaux», a déclaré le dirigeant. Dans cette perspective, Carlyle multiplie les investissements liquides. La société a fait part lundi de l’achat d’une participation de 55% au capital de Claren Road Asset Management, un fonds d’arbitrage long-short de 4,5 milliards de dollars. Citigroup et Goldman Sachs, via Petershill Fund, qui ont investi respectivement en 2006 et 2008 cèderont leurs participations. Les quatre fondateurs continueront d’assurer la gestion au jour le jour.
07/12/2010

Bonne affaire pour Hellman & Friedman

Le fonds californien est, selon Bloomberg, en pourparlers avec le japonais Daikin pour lui céder le spécialiste de la climatisation Goodman Global, après avoir rejeté une précédente offre de 300 milliards de yens (2,7 milliards d’euros). Hellman & Friedman a acquis ce groupe en 2007 pour 1,8 milliard.
07/12/2010

Aprionis adhère aux PRI

Le groupe devient le premier acteur paritaire de l’économie sociale et solidaire en France à signer les PRI (principles for responsible investment) ou principes de l’investissement responsable, lancés à l’initiative des Nations Unies et de grands investisseurs institutionnels.
07/12/2010

Un fonds propose de soutenir Borders

William Ackman, gérant du fonds d’arbitrage Pershing Square Capital, a proposé son aide financière à la chaîne américaine de librairies Borders Group dans sa tentative de racheter son concurrent Barnes & Noble pour 964 millions de dollars.

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