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26/04/2010

Management firms should be more cautious about mergers

In a study cited by Mutual Fund Wire, Cerulli warns management firms that mergers and acquisitions are not always the best way to grow. Other methods like special financing and private equity are preferable. To extend sales, Cerulli also recommends third party marketers.
26/04/2010

Auto makers go green

In a study of the environmental and socially sustainable behaviour of fifteen major automotive manufacturers worldwide, the Munich-based management firm oekom research has observed an improvement in the performance of all of them, with an average rating of C+, up from C in the previous edition of the study (on a scale from A+ to D-). None of the groups reviewed earned ratings of D or D-. oekom research notes that the best grades were for Renault (B), followed by BMW (also B) and PSA Peugeot Citroën with a B-. The ratings agency, which provides the complete rankings only to its clients, also says that 9th and 10th places go to Fiat and Honda Motor, with ratings of C.
26/04/2010

iShares ETFs top USD500bn

BlackRock announced on 31 March that assets in ETFs of its iShares brand totalled USD509bn, in 434 products worldwide, including 201 ETFs in the United States with assets of USD409bn, and 172 products in Europe with USD100bn in assets.
26/04/2010

Banco Popular sets up a division for high net worth families

In July 2009, Banco Popular founded a new division, Family Office PBP, led by José Luis Castro. Currently, the new activity manages the wealth of 46 high net worth families, with average total net worth of about USD25m, Expansión reports. Family Office PBP is a division of Popular Banca Privada, an entity which is 60% controlled by Banco Popular and 40% owned by Dexia-BIL. As of the end of 2009, Popular Banca Privada had a total of 4.005 clients, 348 more than at the end of 2008, and managed total assets of EUR5.66bn (+13%). Pre-tax profits increased 67% last year.
26/04/2010

BBVA Asset Management sets out to conquer Asian and European markets

María Luisa Gómez Bravo, president of BBVA Asset Management, says in an interview with Expansión that she is planning to leverage the bank’s network in Asia to attract local investors, particularly in China. BBVA has branches and representative offices in India, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. In addition, it has formed an alliance in China with Citic, in which it holds a 15% stake. BBVA AM is also adding to its sales personnel in the region. Another area of growth for BBVA is Europe, due to the upcoming UCITS IV directive. To strengthen its European team, BBVA has recently recruited Olivier Asselin (Western AM) as CIO for Europe, as well as a director of investment solutions (Aymeric Forest, from BNP Paribas Fortis), a credit head (Enrique García Pazos from UBS) and an ETF coordinator (Salvador Gómez, from BlackRock).
26/04/2010

Paulson will foot legal bill for Goldman Sachs case

John Paulson has said in a letter to investors that the hedge fund management firm he heads, Paulson & Co (USD32bn), will shoulder all legal costs for the civil case against Goldman Sachs Group, in which Paulson & Co played a significant role, the Wall Street Journal reports.
26/04/2010

Major outflows from money market funds

In the past four weeks, US and European investors have withdrawn a net total of USD93.7bn from money market funds, and according to Société Générale, net outflows since the beginning of the year have totalled USD300bn in the United States and USD14.4bn in Europe, equivalent to 11% and 15% of total assets, respectively, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The withdrawals have largely been redirected to government bonds, particularly Asian emerging market bonds denominated in local currencies, as well as to commodities, inflation-linked bonds and ETFs. However, despite strong gains on the stock markets, equities funds have received little of the money withdrawn from money market funds.
26/04/2010

1.63% increase in Morningstar hedge fund index in first quarter

In first quarter, the Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund index posted growth of 1.63%, compared with 2.5% for the Morningstar MSCI Composite Index. In the month of March alone, the hedge fund index has posted a gain of 2.77%, compared with 2.3% for the MSCI index. The Morningstar Hedge Fund of Funds index has stagnated, with gains of only 0.25% for the quarter (1.6% in March). Among the top performers, the Morningstar Corporate Actions index leapt forward by 6.82% for the quarter (and 3.49% in March), while the Morningstar Distressed Sic earned gains of 7.42% (and 5.815 in March). Negative performances, however, were registered for the Morningstar dvlp Asia Equity (-6.61%), Equity Arbitrage (-0.87%), Europe Equity (-1.26%), and Short Equity (-2.36%).
26/04/2010

French managers improve alpha performance

Les Echos reports that French management firms slightly improved their returns adjusted for equity risks in 2009, bringing this monthly alpha level up from 0.11% to 1.89%, a level which remains far lower than the prevailing average before the crisis of about 3%. But they have also managed a more considerable increase in the proportion of funds in the top performance brackets (ratings of four or five stars). The Alpha League Table places Rothschild & Cie Gestion ahead of Oddo Asset Management, Palatine Asset Management and Camgestion.
26/04/2010

Heavy losses for RREEF America REIT III

Deutsche Bank has admitted that since 2009 it has been undertaking a restructuring of its real estate fund America REIT III, from its affiliate RREEF (USD2.6bn in assets). Its participation in the fund is 10%, while the remainder was contributed by institutional investors, including US pension funds, Die Welt reports. The RREEF America REIT III is invested in REITs as well as in 92 real estate properties located in major US cities. The fund is said to have lost 65% of its value.
26/04/2010

Private real estate funds look set to attract new capital this year

Agefi reports, citing figures from the annual study by Inrev, the European association of non-publicly traded real estate funds, total capital raised in 2009 for these funds was down 60% at EUR5.9bn. Meanwhile, in a sign of considerable caution on the part of investors, 64% of capital raised in 2009 was from investors who already know the fund manager, 10% more than in 2008. The association is expecting funds raised this year to total EUR10.9bn, an 86% increase, the newspaper adds.
26/04/2010

db ETC launches five new products

One and a half months after creating its new platform, db ETC Index Plc, and launching the first four products in its range (see Newsmanagers of 9 March 2010), Deutsche Bank has announced that five new ETCs have been admitted to trading on Xetra in Frankfurt, with a product based on the large S&P GSCI index (the db Commodity Booster Euro Hedged ETC) and four ETCs based on sub-indices (db Agriculture Booster Euro Hedged ETC, db Industrial Metals Booster Euro Hedged ETC, db Energy Booster Euro Hedged ETC, and db Natural Gas Booster Euro Hedged ETC). Like the first four products in the series, these ETC funds are hedged for forex risks against the US dollar, and have a Booster optimisation mechanism which limits the risk of losses when positions are rolled to replicate the evolution of commodities futures. All the new ETC products are registered in Germany and carry a management commission of 0.45%.
26/04/2010

70% of Italian fund assets are from retail investors

In Italy, investment fund clients are mostly retail investors. Therefore, according to a study by GtK Eurisko and prometeia, 70% of assets in funds on sale in Italy are in the hands of retail investors, compared with 45% in Germany and about 20% in France and the United Kingdom. However, insurers and pension funds represent only 18% of assets in Italian funds, while the comparable percentage in France and Germany is 30%, and as much as 80% in the United Kingdom. This low institutionalisation of assets in Italy is partly due to the weakness of the Italian asset management sector, whose assets totalled about EUR430bn at the end of 2009, according to the study, which adds that the market is highly dependent on the product offerings at banks.
26/04/2010

Fitch confirms rating for Groupama AM

Fitch Ratings has confirmed its Asset Manager rating of ‘M2' for Groupama Asset Management, which covers all asset management activities of the firm in Paris, except the alternative and directional multi-management activities of Groupama Fund Pickers. “The [ratings] decision reflects the support of the shareholder in the business, Groupama S.A., its long experience in asset management, and a development strategy which has demonstrated its pertinence in the past few years. The rating also takes into account the quality of the investment process supported by significant research resources,” the ratings agency comments. According to Fitch, Groupama has several challenges to overcome: the completion of an integration of the operational platform, the development of new areas for growth on the level of management, with the launch of an absolute return product range, and the enlargement of its client base through the creation of a Luxembourg Sicav for external distribution networks.
26/04/2010

Blackstone is back in the black

In first quarter 2010, the Blackstone Group has declared net profits of USD360.4m, compared with losses of USD82.4m in the corresponding period of last year, while net inflows from management fees increased to USD98.7m, from USD89.5m. Total assets increased to USD98.07bn, compared with USD92.22bn as of 31 March 2009, of which USD25.17bn, down from USD25.46bn, are in private equity, USD23.82bn, compared with USD22.87bn are in real estate, and USD49.07bn, up from USD43.09bn are in credit and marketable alternatives.
26/04/2010

Sears buys 17.3% stake in Sears Canada from Pershing Square

Sears Holdings Corp has announced that it has acquired more than 18.66 million ordinary shares in Sears Canada from the hedge fund management firm Pershing Square Capital Management, at a price of CAD30 per share. The 17.3% stake in the capital of the business, worth a total of about USD560m, will give the US firm a stake of about 90.4% in its Canadian operation.
26/04/2010

Profits triple at T. Rowe Price

The US asset management firm T. Rowe Price has announced net profits for first quarter of USD153m, compared with USD48.2m for the corresponding period of last year. Assets as of the end of March totalled USD419bn, compared with USD391.3bn as of the end of December, and USD268.8bn one year previously. Of this total, mutual funds on sale in the United States represented USD249.5bn. Net subscriptions totalled a record USD10.3bn in first quarter (of which USD6.1bn were for mutual funds), while market effects brought an increase of USD17.4bn in assets under management.
26/04/2010

Novethic launches a site dedicated to corporate discrimination

The specialised research centre from RSE and ISR Novethic in mid-April launched a website covering the subject of discrimination at businesses, at novethic.fr, its sustainable development specialist media portal. The website, entitled “labour discrimination,” is dedicated to the various forms of discrimination on the basis of age, ethnicity, sex, health, or handicap, and also covers the various regulations in force as well as practices in place at businesses to combat these forms of discrimination. All of Novethic’s expertise in this area is available on the site. Novethic.fr previously launched a site in late 2009 dedicated to climate change.
26/04/2010

US Senate points finger at Moody's and S&P over crisis

Agefi reports that the US Senate has received a report which blames unjustified ratings by the ratings agencies Moody’s and S&P for high-risk financial products for causing “massive economic damage.” The report follows an investigation which looked at hundreds of emails, and found that the ratings were sometimes based on subtle negotiations between bankers and ratings agencies. A more severe issue, the newspaper notes, is that employees of both ratings agencies gave testimony that there was pressure to give good ratings to products from “good clients.” The report also reveals an inability on the part of Moody’s and S&P to integrate fraud risks tied to real estate mortgages, even though emails from employees reveal that they were aware of the issue. The US Senate concludes that the cupidity of the agencies prevented them from being objective.
26/04/2010

Apollo buys CKE Restaurants

On Saturday, the directors of CKE Restaurants Inc., the parent company of the fast food chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, accepted a takeover bid at USD694m, or USD12.85 per share, from Apollo Mangement Group, the Wall Street Journal reports. CKE has cancelled a previous agreement by which it had accepted a bid from Thomas H. Lee at USD11.05 per share, or USD619m in total.
26/04/2010

Pimco increases exposure to emerging market corporate bonds

Ramin Toloui, a portfolio manager at Pimco (Allianz Global Investors) says that clients, especially pension funds and insurers, who are often the most reticent when it comes to emerging markets, are demanding products which invest in corporate bonds from these markets, the Wall Street Journal reports. Pimco last month increased the exposure of its Total Return fund to bonds of this type from 5% to 6%. More significantly, the Global Advantage Bond index from Pimco assigns a weight of 30% to emerging markets. Pimco is currently invested in bonds from state-owned energy and financial sector businesses, as well as bonds from private sector businesses in commodities, housing construction and infrastructure. Many of these investments are in Brazil, Mexico, Russia and the Gulf region.
26/04/2010

Moore Capital founder tops British rich list

The founder of the alternative management firm Moore Capital Management, Louis Moore Bacon, tops the Sunday Times Rich List of the 25 richest hedge fund managers based in the United Kingdom published this week. Bacon’s wealth has nearly doubled in the past year to GBP1.1bn in 2010, from GBP650m last year. The head of Sail Advisors comes in second place with estimated wealth of GBP950m. Several managers who place in the Sunday Times rich list have expatriated a part of their activities to other countries, ahead of an expected increase in British taxes and the introduction of the alternative management directive. Alan Howard, co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management, who takes third place with wealth estimated at GBP875m, and Michael Platt, co-founder of BlueCrest Capital Management, in fifth place with wealth of GBP375m, have both opened offices in Geneva.
26/04/2010

Martin Currie recruits two directors from Scottish Widows

Investment Week reports that the head of emerging markets equities from Scottish Widows Investment Partners (SWIP), Kim Catechis, and chief investment officer Alistair Reynolds, will join Martin Currie in November of this year. Catechis will take up the newly-created position of head of global emerging markets (GEM), while Reynolds will become her deputy. The appointments follow a decision at Martin Currie to set up a global emerging markets equities desk distinct from Asian activities.
26/04/2010

Assets under management down at Gottex in first quarter

Agefi Switzerland reports that Gottex Fund Management Holdings Ltd announced on 23 April that its assets under management as of the end of March totalled USD7.92bn, compared with USD8.13bn as of the end of 2009. The Lausanne-based management firm managed to attract only USD290m in assets (of which USD120m were for the managed accounts platform GSS< and USD130m for the Constellar platform, which is now a part of Gottex), while redemptions totalled the same amount in first quarter. In addition to these balanced inflows and outflows, USD100m were redeemed to investors in run-off asset classes. In a statement, Gottex confirms that it has “growing activities serving institutional clients,” but says that “the time necessary for decision-taking remains too long,” due to a sentiment of uncertainty which continues to reign on the financial markets.

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