The alternative asset management firm Brevan Howard, founded in 2002 and based in London, currently has assets of USD27bn, half of which is managed for institutional investors, and the other half for funds of funds. The proportion was previously 20% and 80%. At the end of last year, the British asset manager signed a partnership with OFI Asset Management, intended to give the firm an opportunity to develop its presence in the French market. The French management firm will distribute two UCITS III sub-funds: the Brevan Howard Macro FX Fund and the Brevan Howard Absolute Return Bond Plus Fund. Philippe Lespinard, a partner at Brevan Howard, says the British firm is also planning to open offices in Geneva, but that the move has nothing to do with plans to “flee” London; rather, it is part of a development strategy. Currently, the firm is present in New York, Hong Kong, Jersey, Washington and Dublin, in addition to London, with 329 employees. OFI AM also gives the firm a start in France.
The management firm Pimco has single-handedly amassed assets rivalling those of all the ETFs in the world put together (USD1.032trn as of the end of December, according to BlackRock): the affiliate of Allianz Global Investors declares assets under management as of 31 December 2010 of USD1.0001trn. Of this total, the Pimco Total Return Fund represents about USD202.3bn. Pimco has 1,247 employees, of whom 425 are investment professionals.
According to a document sent by the EU president to other member states on 11 January, the Spanish government is planning to carry on “the fantastic work” of the Swedish presidency in developing the draft AIFM directive and reconciling the points of view of the United Kingdom on one side, and France and Germany on the other. But, Expansión observes, a majority of specialists predict that the bill will only be passed at the end of 2010, after the term of Spanish presidency.
At a press conference on 18 January, covering the topics of the investment strategy of Carmignac Gestion and its outlooks for the markets in 2010, the president of the firm, Edouard Carmignac, did not deny that the markets which showed strong growth last year may yet turn down. However, the president of Carmignac Gestion pointed out that there are “fairly liquid futures markets in Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan, which are deep enough to provide coverage.” For the details, Carmignac left it to Frédéric Leroux, head of risk management at the firm, to point out that only inflation in these countries could “break” the growth of their economies, insofar as it might require central banks to raise interest rates. This possibility led the manager to increase the weight of the US market, though in light of the good health of the major emerging markets, the dangers are limited. As to the Euro zone and particularly the monetary policy of the European Central Bank, the president of the management firm said that Jean-Claude Trichet, chairman of the bank, has made a lot of progress. “He is intelligent and courageous,” he said, though the task of reducing debt levels for countries in the Euro zone is delicate. “Europe will live with pockets of deflation and will need to deal with bubbles for a long time,” he said. This implies a complex policy in which an interest rate increase could be catastrophic for the countries of southern Europe. “The ECB will play a role as a more active lender in these countries, where more differentiated action is necessary,” said Carmignac.
Robeco Deutschland has announced that as of the end of the year, its index of client advisor morale (BSI) as to sales of fund shares had increase by 2 points in third quarter, to 100.8. The percentage of respondents who were optimistic about outlooks for sales of open-ended funds in the next six months increased by 2 points to slightly over 43%. Kai Röhrl, head of third party distribution, says it would be premature to conclude that the hard times have passed: though demand for equities funds, particularly emerging markets equities, is continuing to increase, client advisors remain cautious. The percentage of respondents who expect subscriptions to increase in the next six months has fallen five points to 50%.
The Danish asset manager Jyske Invest has launched a new bond fund. The fund Jyske Invest High Grade Corporate Bonds invests primarily in corporate bonds with a high rating with international rating agencies. The fund has not been approved for marketing in France and Switzerland.
The hedge fund management firm Vega, whose assets have fallen to USD500m, after peaking at USD12bn in 2004, has posted performance in 2009 of 93.85% for the Vega Select Opportunities fund (but 70.6% for subscribers who pay commissions), and 62.34% for the Vega Global fund, Cotizalia reports. The good results for Vega Global are largely attributable to positions taken by the manager, Ravi Mehra, on currencies.
As announced in February 2009, Banco Sabadell has absorbed redemption and subscription demands for its real estate fund Sabadell BS Inmobiliario, Expansión reports. The result has been an investment of EUR279m, 29% of assets in the fund. Though 1,400 investors have left the fund, about 13,000 investors remain. Sabadell has done similarly to BBVA, which spent EUR1.6bn to keep its BBVA Propriedad fund afloat.
The global hedge fund industry will have USD1.86trn of assets at the end of December 2010, according to a report on 2010 hedge fund themes by Lipper cited by Hedge Week. Global hedge fund assets were estimated at USD1.55trn at the end of September 2009. Lipper believes the global hedge fund industry will be at about USD1.86trn at the end of December 2010, under the assumption of an average ten per cent annual performance in 2010 and USD100bn net inflows.
Gains for the Credit Suisse/Tremony hedge fund index in December totalled 0.88% (putting the index at 416.28), while provisional estimates had put it at 0.39% (see Newsmanagers of 14 January). Gains had totalled 2.11% in November. For the year as a whole, average performance totalled 18.57%, the best results in ten years. For the year, only two strategies out of 13 show losses in 2009: dedicated short bias, with losses of 25.03%, and managed futures, which are down 6.57%. As for other hedge fund indexes, the two strategies which show the best results are convertibles arbitrage (+47.35%), and emerging markets (+30.03%).
Invesco Perpetual will on 1 February launch a tactical bond fund, which may invest in the full range of bond products, Money Marketing reports. The managers of the fund, Paul Causer and Paul Read, co-heads of fixed income, may make short-term allocations, which may theoretically include positions of up to 100% cash. The risk profile of the fund may change very rapidly. At its launch at the beginning of February, the fund will be primarily invested in high yield, and will have limited positions on government bonds. Invesco Perpetual, which is not concerned that investors’ current limited appetite for bond products may limit the fund’s appeal, says the launch of the fund is not a short-term project. The subscription period will run from 25 January to 1 February. Front-end fees have been set at 55, and management commission is 1.25% per year.
On the third anniversary of its launch, Baring Asset Management has announced that its multi-asset class institutional fund Dynamic Asset Allocation (DAA) now has over GBP1.7bn in assets (more than GBP1.74bn as of 13 January), and that the number of mandates now exceeds 50, with 26 new mandates and GBP536m assigned to the firm in 2009. Assets under management totalled GBP1.03bn as of the end of 2008, and GBP360m as of the end of 2007. Since launch, cumulative performance totals 23.76%, compared with losses of 3.89% for the FTSE All Share index.
Graham Birch has decided not to rejoin BlackRock at the end of his sabbatical, which will conclude at the end of March. Evy Hambro, co-manager, will remain as manager of the BlackRock Gold & General fund (GB0005852396, GBP2.14bn as of the end of November). The direction of the equities/natural resources team at BlackRock will be shared between Hambro and Robin Batchelor, who had already held the position since the departure of Graham Birch. Hambro will be responsible for gold and mines, while Batchelor will be in charge of energy and new energies.
Henderson will re-open the New Star International Property Fund for dealing on Friday 12 February 2010 following a successful asset disposal programme. Dealing in the fund was suspended on 25 November 2008 following unusually heavy redemptions. Since suspension, a programme of asset disposals has been undertaken, with the objective of ensuring that the fund could re-open for dealing as soon as reasonably practicable, while still maintaining a diverse and well-balanced portfolio of assets. The Financial Services Authority has approved the introduction of a restricted redemption share class for investors whose holding is worth more than GBP7.5 million. Should these investors wish to sell shares they will need to give one month’s written notice or pay a redemption charge of 10% of the value of the redemption. These stricter redemption procedures for large investors should allow the fund manager greater control over liquidity. The mid to long term target liquidity for the fund will be in the region of 15 to 20%. However, immediately upon re-opening, the fund will hold more than this to ensure we meet existing redemption requests.
Thames River Capital has launched a UCITS III absolute return fund of funds with GBP47m already raised. The Thames River Absolute Return Fund will be managed by alternatives specialist Ken Kinsey-Quick and assistant fund manager, James Rous, supported by the Multi-Alternative team. The fund will invest on a global basis, across multiple asset classes with a bias towards more liquid asset classes and the developed world. Initially the portfolio will be biased toward market neutral equity and macro funds reflecting the team’s outlook for equities which, they believe, will struggle to break their 2007 highs, and that volatile financial markets will suit macro managers. The Thames River Absolute Return Fund has a target return of 5-10% with a 5% volatility target and weekly liquidity. The fund will aim to outperform global bonds as measured by the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index and will invest in a diversified portfolio of 20-40 absolute return funds.
On Tuesday, E-Fund announced that it had concluded a round of findraising with USD600-650m for its first QDII product, an Asia ex Japan fund which will be distributed by ICBC, Z-Ben Advisors reports. E-Fund generally ignores retail investors when it launches its products, preferring to concentrate on institutional investors and those who are likely to remain invested for a longer term. The management firm may turn to the retail market in three to six months, once a track record has been established for the product.
Invesco on 18 January announced the launch of the Invesco Global Investment Grade Corporate Bond fund. The investment universe will include the three largest corporate debt markets, including issues in US dollars, Euros and pounds Sterling. The OPCVM will aim to outperform the Barclays Global Aggregate Corporate fund. To achieve this, it will invest at least 70% of its assets in investment grade corporate bonds. The remainder of assets (up to a maximum of 30%) may be invested in cash. Interest rate and currency risks will largely be managed in line with the benchmark. The manager may, however, to some extent modulate the portfolio’s exposure to these two risks, in order to generate alpha. The duration of the portfolio will be actively managed, and will represent a secondary source of performance. Characteristics ISIN codes:(A distribution) LU0432616141 /(A capit., hedged in €) LU0432616570/ (C distribution) LU0432616224/(C capit., hedged in €) LU0432616653/(E capitalisation) LU0432616497Maximum front-end fees: (A and C) 5.25%; (E) 3.0928%Annual management fees (TTC): (A) 1%; (C) 0.65%; (E) 1.25%Minimum investment: (A) USD1,500; (C) USD250,000; (E) EUR500 or equivalent in other currenciesBase currency: USD
Dexia Asset Management has launched a UCITS III fund, Dexia Long Short Emerging Debt, which invests in arbitrage strategies on emerging market debt and currencies. The fund will aim to earn absolute returns higher than the EONIA, with average volatility of 10%, on an investment horizon of over 3 years.
Charles Schwab, which launched its first four ETFs on 3 November, followed by two more on 11 December, on Thursday listed the Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF (SCHE) and the Schwab International Small-Cap Equity ETF (SCHC), both of which charge fees of 0.35%. the former replicates the FTSE All-Emerging Index, while the latter is based on the FTSE Developed Small Cap ex US Liquid Index. As of 12 January, ETF assets at Charles Schwab totalled USD419m.
Lyxor AM, an affiliate of the Société Générale group, is launching its first ETFs based on publicly-traded real estate on NYSE Euronext in Paris. The four products will replicate MSCI Real Estate indices. These indices offer exposure to global publicly-traded real estate and to 4 regions (World, Europe, the United States, and Asia ex Japan).
Le secteur des hedge funds affichera un encours sous gestion de 1.860 milliards de dollars à la fin décembre 2010, sous l’effet de performances annuelles moyennes de 10 % sur l’année et de 100 milliards de dollars de souscriptions nettes, selon une étude de Lipper citée par Hedge Week. Fin septembre 2009, les encours étaient à 1.550 milliards de dollars.
Finalement, la hausse de l’indice Credit Suisse/Tremont des hedge funds pour décembre est ressortie à 0,88 % (l’indice s’est situé à 416,28), alors que l’estimation provisoire la situait à 0,39 % (lire notre dépêche du 14 janvier). Elle était ressortie à 2,11 % en novembre. Sur l’ensemble de l’année, la performance moyenne atteint 18,57 %, ce qui est le meilleur résultat depuis dix ans.Sur un an, deux stratégies seulement sur treize sont dans le rouge pour 2009 : dedicated short bias, avec une perte de 25,03 % et managed futures avec un recul de 6,57 %. Comme dans les autres indices de hedge funds, les deux stratégies ayant affiché les meilleurs résultats sont l’arbitrage de convertibles (+ 47,35 %) et les marchés émergents (+ 30,03 %).
Selon L’Echo, Stuart O’Gorman, gérant du fonds fonds Henderson Global Technology, a repositionné son produit selon deux axes. Il va chercher à bénéficier des nouvelles dépenses informatiques provenant des entreprises, qui vont tenter de combler le retard induit par un massif sous-investissement ces dernières années (stockage des données, remplacement des serveurs). Un deuxième axe d’investissement est celui du renouvellement des PC et du logiciel star Windows 7. Selon la Deutsche Bank, la plupart des entreprises disposent aujourd’hui d’un parc informatique vieux de 6 ans. La majorité d’entre elles utilise donc encore Windows XP, dont le suivi par Microsoft sera supprimé d’ici 2014, et qui devrait être remplacé par Windows 7.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch apporte son assistance à plus d’une douzaine de hedge funds qui, confrontés à un durcissement de la législation en Europe et aux Etats-Unis, ont décidé d’ouvrir une antenne à Hong Kong ou Singapour ou de revenir dans la région. Selon Bloomberg, des fonds de hedge funds envisagent également de s’installer dans la région. Merrill Lynch s’est toutefois refusé à décliner l’identité de ces hedge funds. Soros Fund Management et GLG Partners ont déjà indiqué qu’ils envisageaient d’ouvrir un bureau à Hong Kong.
La société de gestion italienne indépendante Azimut souhaite doubler ses encours sous gestion d’ici à 2015 à environ 27 milliards d’euros, a annoncé son PDG, Pietro Giuliani, à l’occasion de la publication des premiers résultats 2009. A fin décembre, ils s’établissaient à 13,9 milliards d’euros, en hausse de 14,3 % sur un an.Parmi ses autres projets, le gestionnaire veut, au premier semestre 2010, lancer de nouveaux compartiments du fonds luxembourgeois AZFUND1 : F1 Commodity Trading, qui investira directement dans des matières premières via des futures, Active Strategy, un fonds de fonds qui investira dans des Ucits III avec des techniques de gestion similaires à celles des hedge funds, et Dividend Premium, un fonds actions qui distribuera la contre-valeur des revenus du fonds deux fois par an. En 2009, Azimut devrait avoir dégagé un bénéfice net consolidé de 113-118 millions d’euros, soit une hausse de 169 % sur 2008 et le meilleur de son histoire. Ses revenus consolidés devraient s’établir entre 328 et 344 millions d’euros.
Dans le cadre d’un contrat de «sale and lease back» avec la filiale tchèque du britannique Tesco (Tesco Stores CR), l’allemand Deka Immobilien a acheté pour 36 millions d’euros le Tesco Distribution Center situé à 14 km de Prague. Cet actif logistique de 60.100 mètres carrés est affecté au portefeuille du Deka ImmobilienEuropa. L’an dernier, ce même fonds avait investi environ 34 millions d’euros dans l’acquisition d’un actif de Tesco situé dans la grande banlieue de Varsovie.
Le gestionnaire de hedge funds Vega, qui est tombé à 400 millions de dollars d’encours après avoir atteint un pic de 12 milliards en 2004, affiche pour 2009 des performances de 93,85 % pour le Vega Select Opportunities (mais 70,6 % pour les souscripteurs qui paient des commissions) et de 62,34 % pour le Vega Global, rapporte Cotizalia. Le bon résultat du Vega Global est surtout attribuable aux positions prises par le gérant Ravi Mehra sur les devises.
La société de gestion danoise Jyske Invest vient de lancer un nouveau fonds obligataire, Jyske Invest High Grade Corporate Bonds. Ce produit est investi principalement dans des obligations d’entreprises émises en euros et bien notées par les agences de notation internationales. Le fonds n’a pas été approuvé à la commercisation en France et en Suisse, souligne Jyske Invest.
Comme il l’avait annoncé en février 2009, le Banco Sabadell a absorbé des demandes de remboursement des souscripteurs de son fonds immobilier Sabadell BS Inmobiliario, rapporte Expansión. Cela s’est traduit par un investissement de 279 millions d’euros, soit 29 % de l’encours du fonds. Si 1.400 souscripteurs sont sortis, quelque 13.000 sont restés.Le Sabadell a opéré comme le BBVA, qui a consacré 1,6 milliard d’euros pour maintenir à flot son fonds immobilier BBVA Propriedad.
Invesco a annoncé, lundi 18 janvier, le lancement de Invesco Global Investment Grade Corporate Bond, un nouveau fonds investi dans des obligations d’entreprises Investment Grade. L’univers d’investissement couvre les trois principaux marchés de dette «corporate» incluant les émissions en dollars, euros et livres sterling. L’OPCVM a pour objectif de surperformer l’indice Barclays Global Aggregate Corporate. Pour cela, il investit au moins 70% de ses actifs dans des obligations d’entreprises Investment Grade. Quant au solde (30% du total des actifs maximum), il peut être investi dans des liquidités. Le risque de taux et le risque de change sont principalement gérés en ligne avec le benchmark. Le gérant peut néanmoins moduler, dans une certaine mesure, l’exposition du portefeuille à ces deux risques afin de générer de l’alpha. La duration du portefeuille sera pilotée activement mais doit constituer une source secondaire de performance. Caractéristiques du fonds Codes Isin : (A distribution) LU0432616141 /(A capit., couvert en €) LU0432616570/ (C distribution) LU0432616224/(C capit., couvert en €) LU0432616653/(E capitalisation) LU0432616497 Droits de souscription maximum (A et C) 5,25%; (E) 3,0928%Frais annuels de gestion (TTC) (A) 1%; (C) 0,65% ; (E) 1,25%Montant minimum d’investissement (A) 1 500 USD ; (C) 250 000 USD (E) 500 euros ou équivalent en devisesDevise de base : USD