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28/10/2010

Mixed results at BBVA

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Though net profits at BBVA fell in the first nine months of the year by 12.2% to EUR3.67bn, profits for the Wholsale Banking & Asset Management division increased 9.2% to EUR730m. In third quarter, the BBVA launched eight investment funds, two dynamic management funds, and among guaranteed funds, four bond and two equities products. On 26 October, BBVA Asset Management also launched its eighth guaranteed fund of the year, the BBVA Solidez VIII BP, which guarantees 109.069% of its net asset value as of 22 December 2010 at maturity on 14 October 2014. Two new funds of funds were launched by Quality Funds (multi-management), the Quality Valor and Quality Selección Emergente. On 30 September, total assets under management in Spain represented slightly over EUR42.59bn, of which EUR25.57bn were for investment funds (a decline of 8.6% for the quarter) and EUR17.02bn for pension funds (+1.9%).
28/10/2010

King of Spain holds audience with Larry Fink

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Cotizalia reports that King Juan-Carlos of Spain on 27 October received Laurence Fink, president & CEO of BlackRock, for a private audience. The meeting was justified by the Palace by the significant investments the American investor has made in Spanish businesses, with sizeable stakes in groups such as Telefónica, Santander, BBVA, Repsol, Iberdrola, Sabadell, Abengoa, Técnicas Reunidas and Gamesa.
28/10/2010

Private equity remains critical of AIFM

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On the whole, the private equity sector remains highly critical of the compromise reached Tuesday on the AIFM directive, Agefi reports. “There will be less money available for investment in Europe,” says Uli Fricke, chairwoman of the European association for the sector. She also claims that “the directive will make the bigger funds stronger and the smaller ones weaker.”
28/10/2010

AIF registers three funds with CNMV

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Aviva Investors France (AIF) has been granted a sales license in Spain for the Aviva Investors Crédit Europe (EUR308m), Aviva Investors Valeurs Europe (EUR234m) and Aviva Investors Monétaire (EUR10.1bn) funds.
28/10/2010

AG2R La Mondiale soon to launch first multi-manager SRI bond fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Via Agicam, AG2R La Mondiale (about EUR1bn in best-in-class assets) is planning to launch a multi-manager SRI bond fund “in close collaboration with Mercer,” pending approval from the AMF. The fund will have initial assets of EUR175m.The product will be organised around three mandates: one government bonds mandate, granted to BNP Paribas Asset Management, one corporate bond mandate managed by Standard Life Investments (SLI), and one mixed government bond and corporate bond mandate, which will be handled by Groupama Asset Management. In this context, Agicam will manage allocation to the three mandates, and more generally global risk for the fund, which will comply with regulations defined by the Agirc-Arrco Federations and will thus be eligible for subscriptions from complementary retirement institutions.The three managers of the mandates were selected after a request for proposals by Mercer. More than 20 European management firms known for their expertise were invited to offer their expertise in the area of SRI bond management.Philippe Dutertre, chairman of the board at Agicam, has told Newsmanagers that the SRI unit has attracted about EUR100m in investment since the beginning of the year, and now has about EUR1bn in assets, including an equities multi-management fund with EUR200m and two directly-managed funds, AG2R Actions ISR (EUR300m) and AG2R Obligations (about EUR500m).Exclusion is contrary to the values of Agicam and AG2R, says Dutertre, who argues that the best formula is to use a best-in-class approach in dialogue with issuers.
28/10/2010

T. Bailey becomes first multi-manager to integrate GARS funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Investment week reports that T. Bailey has become the first multi-manager to adopt a position on the global absolute return strategies (GARS) from Standard Life, whose assets under management total about GBP5.6bn. Standard Life modified the prospectus for GARS funds last September, introducing a limit of 10% for investments in other funds, and allowing multi-managers to invest in them.
28/10/2010

Man planning severe staff cutbacks

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a source familiar with the matter cited by the Wall Street Journal, the London-based hedge fund manager Man Group is planning to lay off 200 people in the next six months, which is several times worse than expected at the time of its acquisition of GLG Partners in May. Currently, the new Man-GLG ensemble has about 1,800 employees.
28/10/2010

FSB in effort to reduce dependence on ratings agencies

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The financial stability board (FSB) on 27 October published a series of “Principles for Reducing Reliance on Credit Rating Agency Ratings.” The objective of the principles laid out by the board is to reduce mechanical dependency on ratings, and to promote improvements in independent valuation of credit risk and means to undertake due diligence. The board emphasizes that the principles call for a significant modification to existing practices in five major areas: prudential supervision by banks, institutional investor policies, interventions by central banks, margin requirements for the private sector, and information requirements for securities issuers. The board admits, however, that the desires changes will not happen “from one day to the next.” It is desirable to maintain a transitional period, so that interested parties may put their own risk management capacities in place in the mid-term, and limit the influence of ratings agencies. The FSB proposes to issue an interim report on the progress made for the G20 during 2011.
28/10/2010

AMF publishes a guide to sukuks

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Following discussions with various market actors, in an effort to produce a pedagogical document for professionals, the French financial market authority, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) announced on 27 October that it has published a frequently-asked questions document representing the AMF’s position of 2 July 2008 on the admission to trading of Islamic bonds on a regulated French market, including precision on the practical details of obtaining a product visa.The guide to the composition of sukuk prospectuses and the practical details of obtaining a visa to admit the products to trading on a regulated market is available on the AMF website, under Publications > Guides > Professional Guides.
28/10/2010

State Street Private Equity index posts returns of 0.65% in Q2

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In second quarter, ending on 30 June 2010, the Private Equity index from State Street posted returns of 0.65%, 157 basis points lower than in first quarter 2010, and 483 basis points lower than in second quarter 2009. Returns for Europe and the rest of the world were significantly lower than in the previous quarter, at -3.14% and -0.48% in second quarter 2010. In the period from third quarter 2009 to second quarter 2010, Private Equity as a whole posted returns of 19.2%, compared with the previous period. Mezzanine and Distressed Debt funds earned 27.9% in the same period and continue to post better returns than other investment strategies.
28/10/2010

Earnings up 6.2% for Axa asset management in nine months

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Axa on 28 October announced that in the first nine months of the year, earnings for life insurance, savings and retirement totalled EUR43.97bn, an increase of 0.9%. new business was down 0.5% to EUR4.63bn, with a decline in activities in the United States, France and Japan, partly offset by good performance largely in Central and Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, South-East Asia and China, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. New business (APE) in high growth markets was up 28%. Net inflows totalled EUR7.8bn (an increase of EUR0.6bn compared with the first nine months of 2009), largely a result of an increase in gross inflows. Value of new business was up 13% to EUR911m, largely due to an improvement in the activities mix, due to new products launched in the United States and Japan. Earnings for asset management at the Axa group, for their part, increased 6.2% in the first nine months of the year to EUR2.46bn, largely due to higher average assets under management (+6%). Assets under management total EUR877bn, up by EUR32bn compared with 31 December 2009, due to market evolution and favourable currency effects, partially offset by net outflows, largely to the institutional client segment. Assets under management at Alliance Bernstein as of 30 September totalled EUR355bn, compared with EUR346bn as of the end of 2009, with net outflows of EUR23bn compensated by market effects of EUR14bn and currency effects of EUR18bn. Assets under management at Axa IM, for their part, totalled EUR522bn as of 30 September, compared with EUR499bn as of the end of 2009, with outflows of EUR19bn but market effects of EUR31bn and currency effects of EUR12bn. Outflows at Axa Rosenberg totalled EUR26bn.
28/10/2010

Profits down at Morningstar

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For third quarter 2010, Morningstar has reported a 16.4% increase in consolidated earnings to USD139.8m, compared with USD120.1m in the corresponding period of last year. Excluding acquisitions and currency effects, earnings were up 6.6%. However, operating profits and net profits were down to USD30.2m and USD20.8m, respectively, compared with USD33.7m and USD22.5m. In January-September, earnings increased 13.4% compared with the first nine months of 2009, at USD404.2m, of which USD34.4m were from acquisitions, and USD4.2m from currency effects. Net profits fell to USD59m from USD68m.
28/10/2010

Morningstar in share buyback

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The board of directors at Morningstar Inc on 27 October approved the payment of a quarterly dividend of 5 cents per action in cash from 14 January 2011 for shareholders registered by 31 December 2010. Meanwhile, directors approved an equities buyback program to buy back ordinary shares for up to USD100m.
28/10/2010

CalPERS strengthens transparency policies

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Californian pension fund CalPERS on 27 October announced that it has decided to strengthen its transparency policy, and has published several key documents on its website, including transportation costs for members of the board of directors and top executives. The moves comes as part of new measures initiated 18 months ago by the Californian fund to win back investor confidence. Assets under management by the fund now total about USD218bn.
28/10/2010

Very good quarterly results for asset management at Lazard

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at Lazard totalled USD143.6bn as of 30 September, up 16% from 30 June and 19% compared with their levels one year ago.Lazard says in a statement released on 27 October that net inflows totalled USD1.1bn in third quarter, and USD6.2bn in the first nine months of the year.Revenues for the asset management unit were up 32% in third quarter, at USD208m. In the first nine months of the year, revenues increased 48% to a record USD578.9m.The group has announced net profits up 18% year on year, at USD62.1m.
28/10/2010

Major increase in profits at AMG

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Affiliated Managers Group (AMG), which controls 27 investment boutiques, has announced net profits for third quarter of USD34m, compared with USD17.8m in the corresponding period of last year, bringing the total for the first nine months of 2010 to USD76.6m, compared with USD34.9m. Assets as of 30 September totalled about USD294bn, and net subscriptions in third quarter represented USD5.5bn, of which USD4.2bn were for institutional clients, USD1.1bn for mutual funds, and USD0.2bn for high net worth retail clients. Meanwhile, AMG has announced that as of 1 January 2011, Sean M. Healey, president & CEO, will succeed the founder, William J. Nutt as chairman. Bill Nutt, who had been chairman since 1993, will remain on the board as an independent director.
28/10/2010

RBC Dexia recruits a new director of relationship management in Italy

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } RBC Dexia has appointed Cristiano Moruzzo as its new director of relationship management in Italy. He will be in charge of strengthening existing ties with management firms, pension funds, insurers and financial institutions in securities services, and developing the network of contacts. He will report to Paride Amiotti, managing director of RBC Dexia Italia.
28/10/2010

Record assets at Nordea

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Net profits at Nordea in third quarter were up 32% to EUR711m, compareed with EUR539m in April-June; they were 14% up on EUR626m observed in the corresponding period of 2009. In the first nine months of the year, net profit totalled EUR1.89bn, compared with EUR1.87bn. As of the end of September, total assets under management were a record EUR180.2bn, compared with EUR169.8bn at the end of June, and EUR149.2bn twelve months previously. An increase of EUR10.4bn since 30 June is due to market effects and net subscriptions of EUR3.3bn. Assets in the asset management division, for their part, totalled EUR116bn as of the end of September, compared with EUR110bn three months previously, and EUR96bn as of 30 September 2009. Operating profits for the division totalled EUR97m, compared with EUR92m in second quarter and EUR72m in the corresponding period of last year.
28/10/2010

30% of funds have less than GBP30m in assets

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Based on data from Morningstar, 733 of about 2,450 British funds in the categories of the Investment Management Association (IMA) manage less than GBP30m, which is generally considered the lower limit beneath which operation of a fund is no longer economically profitable, Fund Strategy reports. In addition, Morningstar suspects that the number of small funds is actually even higher, as many of them do not disclose their asset levels.
28/10/2010

Redistribution of responsibilities for Schroders income funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In December, Sonja Schemmann will take maternity leave. At that time, she will permanently hand over management of the Schroder ISF European Equity Yield and Schroder ISF European Dividend Maximiser funds to Rory Bateman, head of European equities, and Ian Kelly, manager of European and international equities funds, Fund Strategy reports. The two specialists will also take over the Schroder Global Equity Income, Schroder ISF Global Dividend Maximiser and Schroder ISF Global Equity Yield funds until Schemmann’s return. The Schroder Income Growth Investment Trust will be temporarily managed by Sue Noffke.
28/10/2010

Professionals predict strong growth in private banking market

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a survey by bbw-marketing of 117 German providers of financial services, 48% of professionals estimate that the private banking market, which has continued to grow at 5% per year despite the crisis, may expand by 5% to 7% per year in the next five years, while 22% of respondents predict a total growth rate of 7% to 10% per year.In Germany there are 1.2 million retail investors with liquid savings of EUR250,000 or more, while the number of wealth management clients (EUR1m or more) totals about EUR350,000.This market, the largest in the European onshore markets, is attracting foreign operators, as pressure on offshore markets will be likely to provoke a return of capital from Luxembourg and Switzerland. Competition will increase for savings and co-operative banks, which in 2009 already began to pick up shares of this lucrative market.bbw-Marketing insists that the over-50 age group is an increasingly important target for private banking: more than half of clients with EUR1m to EUR10m are over 60 years old. Clients with EUR1m to EUR10m account for 37% of assets under management or administration by private banking services.
28/10/2010

ETFs make hedge funds' job more difficult

Growing use of ETFs has contributed to an increase in correlations between equities, creating problems for long-short equity hedge funds, according to Hennessee Group, cited by the Financial Times.The consultant said their rising share of overall trading volumes was leading to the stock market being driven more by sentiment about broad economic issues rather than company fundamentals.
28/10/2010

Investor confidence index down in October

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In October, the global investor confidence index from State Street fell 1.9 points to 86.2 compared with a corrected level of 88.1 for September. In North America, the confidence of institutional investors fell 3.2 points to 84.9, compared with a corrected level of 88.1 the previous month. Confidence in Europe remains stable, as the index has fallen from 97.0 to 96.4, a slight decline of 0.6 points. In Asia, the confidence of investors remains positive, at 103.3 points, despite a fall of 4.4 points compared with the level in September. “The underlying data indicate that institutionals are turning away from developed markets and allocating assets to emerging markets, but the net total of the two flows was negative. This is in line with a trend observed in early August, which suggested that institutional investors are satisfied to play the role of providers of liquidity, rather than takers of liquidity, in the current market environment,” State Street commented in a statement.
28/10/2010

BNY Mellon launches a Latin American infrastructure fund

BNY Mellon has launched an infrastructure fund to capture investment opportunities created by the upgrading of Latin America’s transport networks, says CItywire. The fund, seeded with USD200 million, will be run locally by Bruno Garcia, who is also one of the managers on the BNY Mellon Brazil Equity fund.
28/10/2010

Lyxor registers an ETF in Spain

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 25 October, the CNMV registered the Luxembourg fund Lyxor ETF S&P 500 (LU04967865740), for which the distributor is the local affiliate of Société Générale, for sale in Spain. Management commission is 0.25% and assets in the fund already total EUR70m. The fund is the 36th Lyxor ETF to be listed in Spain, and the first in SICAV format since the liberalisation of the sector.
28/10/2010

BlueCrest ferme un fonds ouvert

Le gestionnaire alternatif s’apprête à liquider le 30 novembre un fonds ouvert lancé l’an passé et dont les actifs s’élèvent à 630 millions de dollars, BlueCrest Blue Trend Ucits. Une déconvenue de référence pour les hedge funds sur le terrain des fonds coordonnés, le fonds étant le plus important lancé sur ce segment au cours des dix huit derniers mois.
28/10/2010

Bonne surprise pour l’IPO d’AZ Electronic Materials

Le quotidien croit savoir que les propriétaires du groupe chimique, à savoir les fonds de private equity Carlyle et Vestar Capital Partners, ont relevé leurs ambitions quant au montant de son introduction en Bourse. Ils en espèrent désormais 400 millions de dollars de la vente de nouveaux titres et 100 millions de celle de titres existants.
28/10/2010

L'efficacité des politiques monétaires peut être discutée

La politique monétaire du monde est fortement expansionniste. Dans le G7, les taux sont très faibles (inférieurs à 1%) pour stimuler la demande domestique et soulager le désendettement. Fed et Banque d’Angleterre (BoE) financent les déficits publics par des achats directs de bons du Trésor. Du côté des émergents, asiatiques surtout en raison de la dépendance des économies aux exportations, les banques centrales freinent l’appréciation des devises en emmagasinant les réserves de change (de 250 à 2.500 milliards de dollars en Chine en moins de dix ans). Avec des taux directeurs nettement supérieurs au G7, l’afflux de capitaux vers les émergents est à nouveau aussi fort qu’avant la crise.

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