Selon Les Echos, Dubai World, le fonds souverain de Dubaï, confrontré à de graves difficultés financières, prépare un programme de cessions d’actifs dont le montant total pourrait atteindre 19,4 milliards de dollars (15,3milliards d’euros). Parmi les actifs sont notamment concernés l’hôtel Atlantis de Dubaï, inauguré il y a bientôt deux ans, alors que la crise financière venait d'éclater, le groupe américain de casinos MGM Resorts International, mais aussi DP World, l’un des principaux opérateurs portuaires mondiaux. Selon un document obtenu par l’agence Reuters, Dubai World serait confronté à une dette de 39,9 milliards de dollars, soit le double de ce qui était jusqu’alors supposé. Le document précise aussi que Nakheel, la branche immobilière du fonds souverain, supporte pour sa part une dette de 10,9 milliards de dollars.

Le Groupe Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild a annoncé le 25 août un bénéfice net de 70,4 millions de francs pour le premier semestre, en hausse de 15,1%. La collecte nette de capitaux a atteint 4,1 milliards, un montant qualifié de «réjouissant» par la banque. Les actifs sous gestion ont progressé à 93,3 milliards de francs suisses.

Selon L’Agefi suisse, Banque Cramer & Cie SA (BCC), dont l’acquisition de Banque de Patrimoines Privés Genève est effective depuis le 1er janvier dernier, a dévoilé le 25 août un bénéfice brut consolidé de 1,7 million pour le premier semestre (+33% par rapport au premier semestre 2009), alors que le bénéfice net bondit à 852.768 francs, contre 324.997 francs un an auparavant à la même date. Un résultat semestriel qualifié d’encourageant par la direction après la perte de 1,2 million enregistrée pour l’exercice 2009. Les actifs sous gestion s’élèvent désormais à 1,8 milliard de francs suisses contre 1,2 milliard fin 2009.Les revenus ont dépassé la barre des 12 millions de francs au premier semestre, contre un peu plus de 8,5 millions un peu plus tôt. Cette nette progression des revenus s’explique «essentiellement par le développement de la clientèle existante. Quant aux clients issus de BPG, il faut davantage de temps pour développer nos relations», explique le CEO Pascal Widmer. BPG était supposée gérer près d’un milliard et demi de francs au moment de son rachat.

Les ETF passent pour être bon marché et pour afficher une performance voisine de celle de leur indice de référence. Cependant Patrick Howeling, senior quantitative researcher chez Robeco montre sur la base d’une comparaison avec un échantillon d’ETF «pertinents» des segments haut rendement (3 fonds) et obligations d’entreprises investment grade (20 fonds) que ces produits affichent par solde des caractéristiques très proches de celles de fonds actifs en matière de performances, d'écarts de suivi et de structure de coûts. L'étude a porté sur la période mars 2007 à mars 2010.A titre d’exemple, le taux de frais sur encours (TFE ou TER en anglais) des ETF high yield s’est situé à 40-50 points de base, tandis que Robeco facture 57 points de base aux institutionnels et 116 points de base aux particuliers pour son fonds High Yield Bonds. Dans le segment investment grade, le TFE des ETF se situait entre 15 et 20 points de base, alors que d’après Monrningstar les fonds actifs facturent en moyenne 49 points de base aux institutionnels et 117 points de base aux particuliers.Patrick Houweling souligne que le coût supérieur de la gestion actif doit être compensé par une performance supérieure. Dans le cas du Robeco High Yield Bonds, la surperformance annuelle nette a été de 100 points de base pour les particuliers durant la période sous revue alors que les ETF High Yield accusaient une sous-performance annuelle net a été comprise entre 250 et 600 points de base.De même, l'écart de suivi des ETF haut rendement s’est échelonné entre 7,3 % et 12 % alors que le Robeco High Yield Bonds affichait un écart de seulement 6,3 %. Dans le segment investment grade, l'écart de suivi pour les ETF lancés avant 2009 se situe à 2,33 %.Trois facteurs peuvent expliquer la sous-performance des ETF. D’une part, les commissions et les frais qui constituent le TFE, mais ce ne peut être la seule explication, puisque la sous-performance est supérieure au TFE. D’autre part, la repondération des indices de référence, qui occasionne des coûts. De plus, les ETF qui ont des benchmarks composites affichent des écarts de suivi plus importants et sous-performent davantage. Sans compter que les ETF dont le benchmark affiche des composantes volatiles sont plus difficiles à répliquer, en partie à cause de coûts de transactions plus élevés.Enfin, relève Robeco, comme les obligations d’entreprises et le high yield sont des classes d’actifs plutôt illiquides, il peut s’avérer difficile pour les ETF de vendre ou d’acheter à des prix convenables dans un délai raisonnable, ce qui peut nuire à la performance.

Crédit Agricole asset management operations, which are mostly concentrated in Amundi, have recorded net inflows of EUR2.4bn in the first half. These subscriptions reached EUR10.8bn for equity, bonds and absolute return, which over-compensated the EUR8.4bn outflows experienced by money-market funds. The inflows are mainly driven by institutional investors from France and abroad. Thanks also to a market appreciation effect of EUR6bn, Crédit Agricole’s asset management operations recorded a 1.2% increase of its AUM compared to Dec. 31st, to EUR697bn.

Funds People reports that BBVA has launched the BBVA Ahorro II fund, whose benchmark is one-day repo rate, and which aims to achieve returns equivalent to these “repos” after fees. It will be an exclusively bond fund, and will charge fees of 0.35%. The low risk profile product is aimed at the last 342 minority shareholders in the BBVA Propriedad fund, who control 0.21% of its assets (EUR1.42bn), whom BBVA Asset Management decided at the end of July to evict. Redemptions from the BBVA Propriedad fund were frozen at the end of 2008, but a “liquidity window” was opened in April, and 2,578 investors then exited the fund.

The Japanse asset manager Nikko Asset Management has appointed Blair Pickerell as head of Asia and global chief marketing officer (GCMO). He will be based in Hong Kong, where the group has established a representative office and intends to soon acquire a full fund management license. Pickerell was most recently with Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he served as CEO, Asia.

The SEK92.2bn AP7 fund in Sweden has hired Amundi and Axa to manage two of its Alpha portfolios, says IPE. The two mandates are expected to be valued at SEK2bn. Axa will look after part of the fund’s European investments, while Amundi will manage a mandate targeting Japan.

The urban development firm Frankonia Eurobau has recruited Georg Reul, who previously spent five years as head of investment fund activities at IVG Immobilien, as a board member, Das Investment reports. Reul will be in charge of the creation of a new real estate fund division. He is also CEO and a partner at the new Frankonia Immobilienfonds GmbH, which will aim to design, distribute and manage real estate funds aimed at institutional and retail clients.

While global transaction activity for asset managers slumped during the first half of 2010, a growing backlog in deal activity will play out over the next 12-18 months driven by independent sellers seeking liquidity after standing on the sidelines since the onset of the financial crisis, according to Jefferies’ Financial Institutions Group.Overall deal volumes will increase, as strategically driven transactions replace and exceed the hole in deal activity left by the winding down of divestiture activity. Although divestiture activity is expected to continue as large financial institutions re-assess strategic direction and focus on core businesses, divestitures will represent a smaller portion of deal activity. Independent asset managers will gradually return to the transaction landscape. As sellers continue to shift their focus from business preservation brought on by the financial crisis to executing their strategic plans, they will seek partners to help them grow. In addition, as nearly three years have passed since the onset of the financial crisis, the back-log of individual owners needing to address retirement and estate planning has increased. Lastly, as strategically-driven transactions come to the forefront, buyers will be more willing to pay strategic premiums, ultimately enticing sellers to the negotiating table. Investors will continue to increase their allocations to global / international portfolios and traditional fixed income, thus making targets with those capabilities the most highly desired among buyers looking to fill out their product suites. Managers specializing in emerging markets investment strategies, particularly those with local presence in their investment markets, will garner particularly strong interest among buyers. Asian and emerging market buyers will join US- and UK-based pure-play asset managers as the predominant buyers of asset management businesses. As economic growth in their home markets have strengthened their resolve and filled their war chests, buyers from Asia and emerging market countries will seek to expand both their product lines beyond their local product expertise and distribution presence beyond their home market. While 2009 saw record assets under management (AUM) transacted despite a decline in the total number of deals, the first six months of 2010 have seen more muted transaction activity. At USD437 billion in the first six months, total AUM transacted was in line with 2001, when just under USD900 billion of AUM was transacted over a 12-month period and well below the USD2 trillion-plus levels in 2006-2009. Also, with 51 transactions during the first half of this year, 2010 has thus far more closely resembled the early years of this decade when approximately 100 deals were announced on average each year.

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has taken a GBP3m position in the Templeton Global Bond Fund for its Global Fixed Interest Blend Fund. Launched in April 2005, the Skandia Global Fixed Interest Blend fund aims to provide long-term total return from capital growth and income through investment predominantly in global fixed interest securities. The USD29.8bn Templeton Global Bond fund, which is managed by Michael Hasenstab, has replaced the Fidelity Institutional International Bond fund.

ETFs claim to be inexpensive and to achieve returns approaching those of their benchmarks. However, Patrick Howeling, senior quantitative researcher at Robeco, has shown on the basis of comparison of a “relevant” sample of ETFs in high yield segments (3 funds) and investment grade corporate bonds (20 funds) that these funds have characteristics highly similar to those of actively-managed funds in terms of performance, tracking error and fee structure. The study covered the period from March 2007 to March 2010. For example, the total expense ratio (TER) for high yield ETF funds totalled 40-50 basis points, while Robeco charges 57 basis points to institutionals, and 116 basis points to retail investors, for its High Yield Bonds fund. In the investment grade segment, the TER for ETF funds was between 15 and 20 basis points, while according to Morningstar, actively-managed funds charge an average of 49 basis points to institutionals and 117 basis points to retail investors. Houweling points out that the higher cost of active management should be expected to be compensated for by higher performance. In the case of the Robeco High Yield Bonds fund, the annual net outperformance was 100 basis points for retail investors in the period under review, while the ETF High Yield funds saw a total annual net underperformance of 250 to 600 basis points. The tracking error for high yield ETFs ranged from 7.3% to 12%, while the Robeco High Yield Bonds fund had a tracking error of only 6.3%. In the investment grade segment, tracking error for ETFs launched before 2009 totalled 2.33%.

In the second departure of a Robeco head this year, following that of the CEO of SAM and executive board member Sander van Eijken (see Newsmanagers of 4 February), and the departure of Jean-Louis Laurens in 2009, Constant Korthout, chief financial officer and director of risk management since 2002, has been appointed by the supervisory board of Van Lanschot as chief financial officer and chief risk officer at Van Lanschot NV / F. van Lanschot Bankiers NV. His term as a member of the board of directors will last four years, and the appointment has already been approved by the national bank of the Netherlands.

Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI) on 24 August announced the appointment of David DeVos as global sustainability officer, in charge of the firm’s global straetgy on carbon emissions. The position is a new one at PREI, which committed to sustainable development in 2008. Before joining PREI, DeVos founded a consulting firm, Ecoxera, which helps firms to set up sustainable development standards.

Jean-Claude Fillaud, chairman and founder of the Premium group and Arca Patrimoine, on 23 June joined the board of directors at EthiFinance, an independent extra-financial analysis form specialised in evaluating the social responsibility of businesses. He will participate in decisions taken by the board and contribute his expertise in sustainable development challenges in the business world. With more than 350 employees and earnings of EUR21.5m (June 2009), the Premium group is composed of nine affiliates, including Arca Patrimoine and La Financière de l’Oxer.

The ratings agency Fitch Ratings has issued a rating of AA- for the Geneva-based private bank Lombard Odier, with a stable outlook. The rating reflects the firm’s limited appetite for risk, its strong capitalisation, its profitability and cost flexibility. It also takes into account international pressure on offshore private banking and efforts on the part of Lombard Odier to achieve critical size for its “slightly underperforming” asset management activities.

In first half 2010, LGT Group has posted net inflows of CHF1.1bn, compared with net outflows of CHF1.6bn in the corresponding period of last year, which was marked by legal wrangling in Germany and Liechtenstein amidst charges of tax evasion. However, assets were down by CHF2.2bn due to market effects and a rising Swiss franc, for a total of CHF86.8bn as of 30 June. Net profits were up 6% to CHF100m. Though operating costs rose 10% to CHF297m, the increase is due to the integration of Dresdner Bank (Switzerland), which caused an 8% increase in personnel costs, and a 17% increase in overhead expenses. However, the increase in operating revenues and savings measures in 2009 improved the cost-income ratio to 69%, compared with 74% in the second half of last year. As of 30 June, the tier one ratio was 19.3%, compared with 18.5% six months earlier.

The Morningstar 1000 hedge fund index gained 2.7% in July, while the MSCI Composite Hedge Fund Index gained 0.9%. Since the beginning of the year, the indices show gains of 0.45 and 1.75, respectively. The equities markets recovered in the month of July, particularly in Europe, but hedge funds specialised in European equities did not succeed in fully capturing the rebound. The Morningstar Europe Hedge Fund index gained 5.6%, compared with 11.6% for the MSCI Europe NR Stock Index. The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund index, for its part, gained 1.59% in July, its best performance since March. Eight out of ten strategies posted positive gains. Emerging market and long/short strategies in particular earned gains of 3.52% and 2.53%, respectively. However, managed futures were down 1.52%, while the short bias strategy lost 3.52%.

In a prudent portfolio, an allocation of 18% to open-ended real estate funds can reduce the risk in this type of portfolio by 18% (with a standard deviation of 2.71% per year); in a more dynamic portfolio, a 13% investment in real estate funds can reduce risk by 21% (standard deviation: 3.86% per year). These are the findings of the most recent edition of a study undertaken on behalf of the German BVI association of asset management firms by teams at the Otto Beisheim School of Management and Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. By comparison, in the first edition of the study, in 2008 (see Newsmanagers of 27 August 2008), a 22% exposure to real estate funds was needed to reduce risk by 21% for a prudent portfolio, and a 23% exposure was needed for a dynamic portfolio, to reduce risk by 32%. The authors also reveal that in the period from January 1990 to the end of April 2010, German open-ended real estate funds not only generated returns in times of crisis, but also, on average, outperformed the European DJ Stoxx 600 index.

Das Investment reports that Danske Invest has been granted a license by BaFin to release its Russia fund (FI0008807102), which was launched on 5 February 2004 and has assets of EUR230.9m, in Germany. The performance objective is to outperform the Russia basic index RTS by 400-500 points. Management commission is 2.80%, and there is an exit fee of 2%. On one year, the performance of the fund has totalled 64.78%, while losses over three years total 13.26%. In 2009, the fund gained 135.38%, compared with 121.33% for the benchmark. Currently, the fund, managed by Olga Karakozova, is 5.94% invested in Sberbank, 5.40% in Gazprom, and 4.16% in Lukoil.

For the first time, Brevan Howard, the largest European hedge fund, has published earnings of over USD1bn, for the period from July 2008 to March 2009, Financial News reports. But the fund submitted its books more than five months late.

The British hedge fund management firm Man on 24 August announced the appointment of Luke Ellis as head of multi-management activities. Ellis was most recently non-executive chairman of multi-management at GLG and head of the GLG Multi Strategy Fund. As of 30 June, Man’s multi-management activities weighed in at USD14.2bn, providing access to a list of over 150 independent management entities covering the ffull spectrum of alternative management strategies.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) on Wednesday, 25 August, fined the London affiliate of Société Générale GBP1.575m (nearly EUR2m) for failing to provide the British regulatory authority with precise information about a number of transactions. “The fine reflects the seriousness of the omissions at Société Générale, which failed to submit the necessary information on 80% of its trades requiring declaration.” Companies are required to be able to provide information about their transactions, until the day after their execution, in a form which the FSA may use to detect market abuses, including insider trading and price manipulation. Between November 2007 and February 2010, the FSA says, Société Générale failed to declare or imprecisely declared transactions totalling GBP18.8m, out of its GBP23.5m in transactions that required declaration. The omissions, which lasted for more than two years, included all asset classes, the FSA adds, and the violations continued despite repeated warnings from the British regulator. Société Générale also violated regulations by failing to retain all information relevant to these transactions. Financial establishments are required to retain the records for at least five years, and make them available to the FSA.

A group of Spanish financial chiefs are currently setting up the first multilateral trading (MTF) platform for Spanish securities, to be known as PAVE (Plaforma Alternativa De Valores Españoles). Investors will include Spanish and foreign banks as well as several spanish and foreign funds, particularly funds specialised in high-frequency trading such as Citadel and Renaissance Capital. PAVE, which explicitly aims to compete with Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME), will be operational in first quarter 2011. Its headquarters will be in Barcelons, but the firm will operate from London.

Les taux irlandais se sont nettement écartés tandis que le Portugal s’est financé au prix fort

Sur fond de dégradation rapide de la conjoncture, la Réserve Fédérale américaine a décidé de renforcer son soutien à l’économie. Elle réinvestira désormais son portefeuille de MBS qui arrive à échéance en obligations du Trésor américain. La Banque d’Angleterre a abaissé d’un point ses prévisions de croissance pour 2011 (à 2,5%), ce qui repousse la perspective d’une normalisation du taux de base. Alors que la relance fiscale touche ses limites, le premier ministre Kan souhaite consulter le gouverneur de la Banque du Japon pour explorer de nouvelles pistes de stimulation de l’économie.

Les taux irlandais se sont nettement écartés tandis que le Portugal s’est financé au prix fort

Selon les données d’iShares pour « L’Agefi », après un mois de juin difficile, les entrées nettes de capitaux ont été de 2,5 milliards d’euros

A fin 2009, l’encours des fonds de fonds bénéficiant d’un agrément de commercialisation en Allemagne affichait un gonflement de 15 % en un an à 52,6 milliards d’euros (contre 44,9 milliards au 31/12/2008), c’est-à-dire pratiquement son niveau de fin 2007 (53 milliards d’euros), selon une étude de Fidelity International en coopération avec Morningstar.La tendance à l’architecture ouverte se confirme, puisque les fonds investissant également dans des fonds externes représentent 63 % de l’encours total, contre 62 % fin 2008 et 56 % fin 2007. L’augmentation des encours de ces fonds «ouverts» a atteint 17 %, contre 12 % pour les fonds de fonds-maison.Les trois premiers acteurs sur le marché allemand des fonds de fonds demeurent Deka (15,18 milliards d’euros contre 13,93 milliards fin 2008, soit une part de marché de 28,9 % contre 30,5 %, devant DWS avec plus de 5,14 milliards contre 4,26 milliards et Union Investment, avec 3,26 milliards contre 2,92 milliards. DWS a vu sa part de marché augmentée» à 9,8 % contre 9,2 %, comme Union, qui passe à 8,2 % contre 7,9 %. A signaler aussi qu’Axa (1,24 milliard) passe à 2,4 % de part de marché, contre 2,3 %.L'étude montre aussi que Deka demeure avec 8,5 milliards d’euros le principal fournisseur de fonds-cibles ce qui s’explique en bonne partie par le fait que le gestionnaire des caisses d'épargne investit majoritairement dans ses propres fonds Le numéro deux est BlackRock, avec 4 milliards d’euros, grâce à l’acquisition de Barclays Global Investors (et donc des ETF de la marque iShares). Fidelity note à ce propos que db x-trackers, le spécialiste des ETF chez Deutsche Bank, a enregistré l’an dernier un gonflement de 31 % des encours utilisés par les fonds de fonds, à 1,5 milliard d’euros ; il passe ainsi du sixième au quatrième rang.

Sur les douze mois à fin juin les fonds immobiliers offerts au public ont enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 2,1 milliards d’euros, ce qui en fait la troisième catégorie pour les rentrées nettes après les fonds diversifiés et les fonds obligataires.Les quatre principaux gestionnaires de fonds immobiliers sont Union Investment Real Estate (banques populaires) avec 18,4 % du marché, Deka Immobilien (caisses d'épargne) avec 15,6 %, Commerz Real Investmentgesellschaft (CRI, groupe Commerzbank) avec 12,8 % et SEB Investment (8 %).En analysant les chiffres de plus près, toutefois, note l’agence Kommalpha, il s’avère que les souscriptions nettes des quatre premiers acteurs du secteur ont porté sur 4,4 milliards d’euros. L’encours combiné de ces quatre leaders a augmenté durant cette période de 4 milliards d’euros (à 48 milliards d’euros), pour atteindre 54,7 % de l’encours total du secteur contre environ 50 % un an plus tôt. Cela signifie en d’autres termes que les 14 autres acteurs doivent se contenter de 45,3 % du gâteau. Pour le premier semestre 2010, la distorsion s’est accentuée entre les premiers et le peloton : les quatre leaders ont en effet enregistré des souscriptions nettes combinées d’environ 1,7 milliard d’euros, soit environ 80 % du total des rentées nettes. Un résultat d’autant plus significatif que CRI a accusé des sorties nettes.