Angus Woolhouse, l’ancien responsable de l’activité institutionnelle mondiale - head of global institutional business - de Gartmore, rejoindra Matrix Group, une société indépendante de services financiers basée au Royaume-Uni. Il est nommé CEO de la division gestion d’actifs, à compter du 1er décembre. La division gestion d’actifs de Matrix représente 4 milliards de livres d’encours sous gestion.

Aquila Investment, maison mère du groupe Aquila, modifie le nom de son entreprise avec effet immédiat, rapporte L’Agefi suisse. La société chapeautant toutes les entreprises de gestion de fortune indépendantes du groupe Aquila se nomme désormais Aquila & Co. D’un point de vue juridique, le changement de nom permet de poser les limites de la maison-mère vis-à-vis des sociétés partenaires.

Selon Reuters, Axa a porté plainte contre ING vendredi auprès d’un tribunal de l’Etat de New York, aux Etats-Unis. Pour l’assureur français, le groupe néerlandais qui lui a cédé Seguros ING en juillet 2008 pour 1,5 milliard de dollars (1,15 milliard d’euros) lui a donné une image erronée de la situation financière d’ING Finanzas, une société obligataire qui était comprise dans la vente. Axa évalue le préjudice à plusieurs centaines de millions de dollars, note l’agence.

«Nous vous informons que le groupe Credem à partir du 9 novembre 2010 n’est plus autorisé à distribuer les produits Carmignac Gestion». C’est par le biais de ce communiqué que la société de gestion française a annoncé son «divorce» de la banque italienne, qui était l’un de ses principaux distributeurs dans la Péninsule. La maison française représentait en juillet 1,2 milliard d’actifs sur des encours de 17 milliards gérés par Credem, relate Plus 24, le supplément argent de Il Sole – 24 Ore. Tout a commencé en juillet 2010, quand la gestion des risques de Credem donne l’ordre de sortir des fonds Carmignac, pour se conformer à la MIF, après avoir constaté une surexposition de certains clients à l’égard des produits de la société française et notamment de Patrimoine A. Les conseillers financiers et les clients ont été avertis, mais pas Carmignac Gestion, contrairement à ce qui était prévu dans le contrat. Ce qui a conduit à la rupture du contrat entre les deux maisons. Depuis, néanmoins, les choses semblent s’arranger entre Credem et Carmignac Gestion, d’après Plus 24.

Selon LEcho, KBL, l’ex-réseau de banquiers privés de KBC racheté par l’Indien Hinduja en mai, va supprimer pour des raisons économiques 115 emplois, dont 95 à temps plein, au sein de KBL et de sa filiale de gestion de fortune KTL (Kredietrust Luxembourg), soit 10% des effectifs du groupe au Grand-Duché.

Ofi Asset Management s’associe avec Solairedirect, entreprise spécialisée dans la production d’électricité photovoltaïque, et le groupe chimiste Rhodia pour permettre à ce dernier de lancer un projet de centrale photovoltaïque de 12.000 mètres carrés de panneaux photovoltaïques située sur le site de Rhodia Belle-Etoile à Saint-Fons et Feyzin (Rhône). Cette installation doit représenter l’un des plus gros projets solaires en France sur des toitures industrielles - dont les entrepôts de Rhodia seront équipés. Le chantier devrait démarrer en décembre 2010 et l’installation devrait être opérationnelle fin 2011.La présence d’Ofi s’inscrit dans le cadre de sa gestion privée à travers sa filiale OFI Patrimoine, précise un communiqué publié le 29 novembre.

Jupiter Asset Management propose deux nouveaux fonds sur le marché français. Le Jupiter Strategic Total Return et le Jupiter Global Convertibles, créés le 1er octobre 2010 (NewsManagers du 28 septembre 2010), sont des compartiments de la Sicav luxembourgeoise UCITS III Jupiter Global Funds. L’ensemble des stratégies sous-jacentes est promu en France par Alfi Partners, en particulier à destination d’une clientèle d’investisseurs professionnels.Ces deux fonds seront gérés conjointement par Miles Geldard et Lee Manzi. Ces deux nouveaux fonds ont été créés pour capitaliser sur l’expertise de Miles et Lee dans leur domaine à travers un processus d’investissement combinant une analyse macro-économique d’approche « top down » à une recherche quantitative et qualitative des titres. Le fonds Jupiter Strategic Total Return a pour objectif de générer des rendements positifs et réguliers sur le long terme quelles que soient les conditions de marché, à travers une gestion active au sein d’un même portefeuille de plusieurs classes d’actifs dont les actions, les obligations, les convertibles, les devises et les titres du marché monétaire. Le fonds sera investi dans le monde entier. De son côté, le Jupiter Global Convertibles a pour objectif d’obtenir une croissance du capital sur le long terme à travers des investissements dans un portefeuille composé d’obligations convertibles au niveau monde. Il s’agit d’un fonds long only qui cherche à maximiser la distribution asymétrique des rendements, caractéristique fondamentale de cette classe d’actifs. Ce fonds est largement diversifié, il peut investir quel que soit le pays, le secteur, le rating de crédit ou la capitalisation boursière. Principales caractéristiques Jupiter Strategic Total Return Code ISIN Classe L Euro LU0522253292 Classe I Euro LU0522254340 Droits d’entrée Jusqu'à 5% Frais de gestion Classe L : jusqu'à 1,25% Classe I : jusqu'à 0,75% Commission de performance Classe L : 10% au-dessus de l’Euribor 1 mois, Libor dollar 1 mois, Libor sterling 1 mois, Libor franc suisse 1 mois, high water mark Classe I : aucune Jupiter Global Convertibles Code ISIN Classe L LU0522255313 Classe I LU0522256634 Droits d’entrée : jusqu'à 5% Frais de gestion : Classe L : jusqu'à 1,70% Classe I : jusqu'à 0,90%

Coup sur coup, Carmignac Gestion a annoncé, lundi 29 novembre, deux changements notables dans son organisation commerciale et marketing au niveau européen ainsi que dans son équipe de gestion. Dans le premier cas, la société de gestion a promu Davide Fregonese au poste de directeur de la clientèle professionnelle Europe avec pour principale mission de renforcer la présence de Carmignac Gestion sur le vieux Continent. Pourtant, après le départ de Patrick Giry au printemps dernier, lequel occupait la fonction de directeur général de la filiale luxembourgeoise de la société de gestion et supervisait les responsables pays en Europe, l’établissement de la place Vendôme avait annoncé la scission de son poste. D’un côté, un manager devait prendre la responsabilité de la partie sud du vieux Continent - incluant la France, l’Espagne et l’Italie - d’un autre, un co-manager devait être chargé de la partie nord – intégrant les pays du Benelux, l’Allemagne et la Suisse. A l'époque, Davide Fregonese - qui a rejoint Carmignac Gestion en 2006 - s'était vu confier le poste de directeur de la clientèle professionnelle Europe du sud. Officiellement, la structure aurait été plus compliquée qu’attendu. «Il est un fait que nous avons voulu simplifier la lecture de notre organisation en confiant la responsabilité globale de la distribution professionnelle dans les pays d’enregistrement à Davide Fregonese», a exliqué à Newsmanagers, Eric Le Coz, directeur du développement, en précisant également que l’intéressé devenait également responsable du marketing. Objectif : répondre mieux encore aux besoins des équipes commerciales et donc aux clients de l'établissement. Il n’empêche. Selon nos informations, ce sont surtout les difficultés à recruter un cadre pour prendre la responsabilité de l’Europe du nord qui a conduit la direction à opter pour une structure "à une tête» très proche de l’ancien modèle... Par ailleurs, Carmignac Gestion a annoncé hier un autre changement lié cette fois au départ de l’un de ses gérants les plus en vue, David Loggia. Pour des raisons personnelles, précise la société, ce dernier a choisi de prendre un congé sabbatique de six mois, notamment pour retourner auprès des siens en Australie. Il doit être de retour le 2 mai 2011. En attendant, «l’équipe de gestion devait naturellement pourvoir au remplacement du gérant», précise un communiqué. Ce qu’elle a fait en annonçant l’arrivée de Samir Essafri, qui va donc renforcer la gestion actions européennes de l'établissement. Concrètement, l’intéressé, qui était gérant-analyste au sein de l’équipe Axa IM Framlington Conviction, devient cogérant du fonds Carmignac Grande Europe dont il prend les rênes aux côtés de Jordan Cvetanovski. Enfin, Carmignac Gestion a tenu à préciser que cette embauche n’était nullement temporaire. «Le rythme de développement de la société et l’attention constante que nous portons à la juste taille de nos équipes garantissent que David Loggia pourra, en son temps, retrouver une place de gérant au sein de notre équipe de gestion», a-t-elle conclu.

Huseyin Erkan, CEO of Istanbul Stock Exchange and coordinator of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), has announced that the 57 member countries have asked Standard & Poor’s to develop a sharia-compliant equity index, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. This index will cover 50 very liquid stocks and may be used as underlying fort ETFs. The new index will be launched duringt the first quarter of 2011 and will exclude companies tied with alcohol, gambling or tobacco.

According to L’Echo, KBL will slash 115 jobs in Luxembourg, among which 95 full-time workers, as well at KBL itslef as at its wealth management arm, KTL (Kredietrust Luxembourg). This represents 10% of its work force in the Grand Duchy.

According to the Financial Times, Diamondback Capital, one of three hedge funds raided by the FBI last week as part of an investigation into insider trading, has placed a portfolio manager on leave, the company said in a letter to investors on Monday.The firm itself is not a target of the investigation. The warrant appears to be focused on a single employee, as well as on a former employee who reported to that employee.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jupiter Asset Management is offering two new funds on the French market. The Jupiter Strategic Total Return and the Jupiter Global Convertibles, created in 1 October 2010 (Newsmangaers of 28 September 2010), are sub-funds of the UCITS III-compliant Luxembourg Sicav Global Funds. All of the underlying strategies are promoted in France by Alfi Partners, which is aimed at professional investor clients. The two funds are jointly managed by Miles Geldard and Lee Manzi. The two funds were created to capitalise on the expertise of Miles and Lee in this area through a process that combines macroeconomic analysis with a top-down approach and quantitative and qualitative securities research.

Almost two-thirds of fund groups (65%) expect the use of performance fees on equity funds to rise again in 2011, according to research by Skandia Investment Group (SIG).The research - which is part of a broader study by SIG into the future of fund management, to be published on 6th December 2010 - reveals that many global asset management firms believe the use of performance fees will increase across a range of asset classes next year. Equity funds and absolute return vehicles are expected to see the greatest increases, with 65% and 50% of those surveyed predicting rises across these two classes respectively.The findings come at a time when the industry is also seeing investors change their focus from relative to absolute returns as a performance measure. While the figures show this is felt across the board, the biggest shift is among institutional investors (75%), compared with 58% of retail.The PRF-related figures mirror those of a similar study carried out by SIG last year. At that time the number of share classes available with PRFs for sale in the UK was 1,433, according to figures from Morningstar. This number is now 1,952 – a rise of 36%. The total number of share classes available for sale in the UK is currently 19,616.The findings also suggest that the introduction of more PRFs will be accompanied by a fall in fixed fees in some areas of the market, which the majority (58%) of respondents to the survey believe are under increasing pressure from the rise of passive products such as ETFs.The study, now in its second year, questioned 40 fund management groups with combined assets under management of over USD2 trillion. Based around the world, the groups were asked about their views on a range of areas and issues pertinent to the future of the asset management industry.

Like during the second quarter, fears about sovereign Euro-zone debt and doubts about China’s willingness to sacrifice growth to keep inflation low resulted in net outflows of USD5.6bn for equity funds surveyed by EPFR Global, Funds People reports. This was for the week to Novembrer 17th, while the funds had registered 22-week record inflows just the week before.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } “We inform you that as of the 9 November 2010, the Credem group is no longer authorised to sell Carmignac Gestion products.” So reads a statement in which the French asset management firm announced its “divorce” from the Italian bank, which was one of its largest distributors in Italy. The French asset manager as of July represented EUR1.2bn in assets, out of EUR17bn managed by Credem, Plus 24, the money supplement of Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. It all began in July 2010, when risk management at Credem triggered a call to divest from Carmignac funds, in order to comply with the MiFID directive, due to an overexposure on the part of some clients to products from the French management firms, particularly Patrimoine A. Financial advisors and clients were notified, but not Carmignac Gestion, in contravention of the terms of their contract, which led to the rupture of the contract between the two management firms. Since then, things appeared to have settled down between Credem and Carmignac Gestion, Plus 24 reports.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In compliance with the decisions of general shareholders’ meetings held on 21 October, the Invesco US Equity Funds and Invesco Global Telecom Fund on 26 November were absorbed into the Invesco US Structured Equity Fund (LU0149503202, 1.36% TER ratio) and the Invesco Global Technology Fund (IE0003707928, TER of 2.53%), respectively.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In January, RWC Partners is planning to launch a UCITS-compliant hedge fund, its first Irish-registered OEIC product, the RWC Macro Fund. It will be managed by Peter Allwright and Stuart Frost, who recently took over the day-to-day management of the RWS Cautious Absolute Rate and Currency (ARC) fund (see Newsmanagers of 2 November), and who were recruited from Threadneedle (see Newsmanagers of 1 July). The new product will replicate the strategy of the hedge fund Threadneedle Macro Trading Crescendo, which they managed from October 2008 to June 2010. It will be a Qualified Investment Fund (QIF). Dan Mannix, head of business development, says that RWC has chosen to domicile the fund in a Euro zone country in light of regulatory uncertainty about the sale of hedge funds. The RWC Macro Fund will be able to take advantage of opportunties which present themselves on all liquid markets, with a particular emphasis on fixed income and currencies, as well as equities and commodities indices.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The UK asset management firm Trafalgar Capital Management has announced the release of a long/short equity fund which complies with UCITS III requirements. The product, the Trafalgar Quadrant Fund, was launched on 1 May, and was licensed by the Irish regulator on 31 May. It carries a management commission of 2%, and a performance commission of 20%. The manager, Chris Poil, will focus on UK equities, and on cases of recovery. The objective is to generate absolute returns with a low correlation to equities markets, and low volatility. In order to achieve this, the portfolio will be highly diversified and net exposure to the market will be limited.

Angus Woolhouse, who was most recently head of global institutional business at Gartmore, is joining Matrix Group, the privately owned financial services business, as CEO of its Asset Management division.

Ignis has launched Ignis Advisers, a GBP2.4 billion business unit that combines its fund of hedge fund, fund of real estate, fund of private equity and retail multi-manager capabilities.Ignis has recruited Michiel Timmerman to the role of managing director and chief investment officer (CIO) of Ignis Advisers. He joins Ignis from Aberdeen Asset Managers, where he was chief investment officer of the former RBS Asset Management fund of hedge fund, private equity and long-only multi-manager businesses that were acquired from RBS in February 2010. Michiel Timmerman, who holds a D. Phil. from Oxford University, was co-founder of Coutts’ fund of hedge fund business, which was acquired by RBS in 2004.

While refunds from its EUR6.3bn SEB ImmoInvest open-ended real estate fund are still suspended, SEB Asset Management announced it has strengthened its Frankfurt-based distribution team with the hire of Christian Hanke as head of institutional sales, real estate.The newcomer definitely knows how to deal with frozen funds, since he is coming from Aberdeen Asset Management Deutschland, where he was a senior business development manager for institutional sales after having acted as head of client management institutional at DEGI’s.DEGI had been bought by Aberdeen AM and both its open-ended real estate funds Europa (EUR1.3bn) and International (EUR1.7bn) are frozen. Aberdeen has actually decided to liquidate the Europa over a threee-year period (see Newsmanagers from October, 25th).

One after another, Carmignac Gestion on Monday, 29 November announced two notable changes to its sales and marketing organisation on the European level as well as to its management team. In the first case, the management firm promoted David Fregonese to the position of director of European professional clients, with the main objective of strengthening the presence of Carmignac Gestion in continental Europe.Following the departure of Patrick Giry this spring, who previously served as CEO of the Luxembourg affiliate of the management firm and oversaw the European country heads, the firm, located in place Vendôme in Paris, announced that his position had been divided into two parts. One manager would take responsibility for the southern part of Europe, including France, Spain, and Italy, while another co-manager would be responsible for the northern part, including Benelux, Germany and Switzerland. At the time, Fregonese, who joined Carmignac Gestion in 2006, was given the position of director of professional clients in southern Europe.Officially, the structure was more complicated than expected. “It is a fact that we wanted to simplify the reading of our organisation by giving overall responsibility for professionnal sales in the registration countries to Fregonese,” Eric Le Coz, director of development, explains to Newsmanagers, adding that Fregonese will also be head of marketing. The objective is to better respond to the needs of sales teams and therefore of clients of the establishment. According to reports received by Newsmanagers, difficulties in recruiting an executive to take responsibility for northern Europe also led the firm to opt for a single-headed structure highly similar to the old model.Carmignac Gestion yesterday also announced another change, this one related to the departure of one of its most high-visibility managers, David Loggia. For personal reasons, the firm states, he chose to take a sabbatical leave for six months, in order to return to his family in Australia. He will return on 2 May 2011.In the meanwhile, “the management team will naturally work to replace the manager,” says a statement, and hence the arrival of Samir Essafri, an addition to the European equities management activities of the firm. Essafri, who was an analyst-manager on the Axa IM Framlington Conviction team, becomes co-manager of the CarmignaC Grande Europe fund, alongside Jordan Cvetanovski.Carmignac Gestion has also stated that the recruitment is not temporary by any means. “The pace of development of the management firm and the constant attention which we pay to the suitable size of our teams guarantees that Loggia will be able to find a place as a manager on his return to our management teams,” the firm states.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Hong Kong-based real estate management firm Sniper Capital has announced the launch of a closed real estate fund with USD100m in assets, which will primarily focus on undervalued real estate in Macau outside the casino industry. Sniper has received commitments for the fund, the Macau Super Fund, of USD20m, and has invested USD5m in the fund. The Macau Sniper Fund aims for an internal return rate of at least 25%. Assets under management in the Sniper fund total USD300m, via two funds, including the Macau Property Opportunities Fund. The management firm has recently recruited a former Lehman Brothers employee, Joyce Lo, as head of investment strategy.

Gregory Park, who till last month was Asian head of covered products at Deutsche Bank, is now launching in Hong-Kong the Northstone Peak Capital Asia Credit Opportunity Fund which aims to raise some USD250m within six months, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.The new product will be an hybrid between hedge and private equity funds which will mainly invests in convertible bonds and option bonds. It will specialise in the financing of consumer credit and consumer goods companies. Gregory Park hopes to reach USD2bn in AUM at a later stage.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The London-based hedge fund management firm Brevan Howard has announced the launch of the Brevan Howard Investment Fund – Absolute Return Macro Fund, a fund which replicates the hedge fund Brevan Howard Master Fund, which is closed to investors, in a UCITS III-compliant format. In order to comply with the European regulations, Hedge Week reports, the new fund will not be allowed to use the same derivative and short-term trading strategies which its non-UCITS coutnerpart is based on, in order to meet liquidity requirements. The fund will merely replicate the long-term structural strategies of the Master Fund, and will limit itself to liquid futures, swaps and futures contracts on currencies.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Sparinvest group on 29 November announced that it has acquired the fund management activities of its Danish rival EgnsINVEST. “The sale, which is expected to be finalised in spring 2011, confirms Sparinvest as one of the asset management leaders in Denmark. Sparinvest also strengthens its sales base and realises economies of sale,” says a statement from the Danish group. The Danish management firm Sparinvest is taking control of all investment activities by the Danish management firm EgnsINVEST. The acquisition reflects a synergy between the two independent asset management firms. It si also a reaction to changes in the Danish banking sector, which are leading to a wave of consolidation among the smaller players. Since Sparinvest and EgnsINVEST operate as independent asset management firms, retail banks are their major distribution channel. Once the deal is approved by the supervisory authorities and shareholders in general assembly, investment products from EgnsINVEST, with assets under management valued at about EUR700m, will be merged with the product range from Sparinvest in spring 2011. When the acquisition is completed, Sparinvest will manage assets totalling about EUR9.4bn, firmly positioning the Sparinvest group as one of the asset management leaders in Denmark.

La société de gestion danoise a annoncé la prise de contrôle de l’ensemble des activités d’investissement de son concurrent EgnsINVEST. La finalisation de l’opération, dont les modalités financières n’ont pas été révélées, est attendue au printemps 2011. La nouvelle entité disposera d’environ 9,4 milliards d’euros d’actifs sous gestion.

Le Fonds stratégique d’investissement a décidé de participer à l’augmentation de capital de la holding Windhurst Industries à hauteur de 14 millions d’euros. Cette opération vise à financer l’acquisition de 51% du capital de Parisot, spécialiste français de la fabrication de meubles en kit.

Le régulateur américain des produits dérivés devrait selon Reuters dévoiler le 16 décembre son plan tant attendu visant à mettre à mal les positions purement spéculatives sur les marchés des matières premières.

Un consortium d’investisseurs dirigés par la société de capital-investissement américaine JC Flowers et incluant le fonds souverain de Singapour GIC serait en négociations pour racheter une participation de 15% dans la banque brésilienne Banco BTG Pactual SA pour un montant de 1,5 milliard de dollars, selon Bloomberg qui évoque des sources concordantes.