« L'arbitrage entre dettes bancaires et souveraines est intéressant »
Frédéric Penel, responsable de la gestion taux de CCR AM
« Les marchés actions européens progresseront d’environ 15 % en 2010 »
Rachid Medjaoui, adjoint au directeur de la gestion de La Banque Postale AM
« Une hausse des taux de la BCE ne devrait pas intervenir avant la fin 2010 »
Laurent Bilke, senior économiste chez Nomura
08/01/2010
Schroders adds to sales teams
Schroders Germany has announced the appointment of Hakan Türktasar, who will join the sales team as an assistant for sales of open-ended funds. He will initially focus on the northern and eastern regions of Germany.
08/01/2010
Warburg-Henderson buys a shopping centre in Seville
Henderson Global Investors has announced that its German joint venture Warburg-Henderson Kapitalanlagegesellschaft für Immobilien mbH has acquired a shopping centre in the centre of Seville. The property, Nervión Plaza (16.000 m2), is wholly leased. It was purchased for EUR94m, and will be added to the portfolio of the Warburg-Henderson European Core Property Fund No. 1.
08/01/2010
Many high net worth private investors are replacing the managers of their Sicavs
According to statistics from the CNMV, compiled by Expansión, nearly 250 Sicav funds, the preferred vehicle for private high net worth families, changed their managers in 2009, This trend affected more than EUR1.25bn in assets, or 4.6% of total assets in Sicavs (EUR26.4bn). According to sources familiar with the matter, this trend may gather pace in 2010. Last year, asset management firms which picked up the most Sicavs were Banca March, Urquijo, Invercaixa, GVC Gaesco, Bankinter and Lombard. Assets in the funds whose management was obtained by these firms represent EUR609m, in 99 Sicavs. The firms which lost the most contracts were Credit Suisse, UBS, Fortis, BNP Paribas, Gesmadrid, and Banif (Santander), which lost 83 Sicavs worth EUR556m. In net terms, the most heavily affected were Credit Suisse and Fortis, which each lost Sicavs with over EUR100m in assets.
08/01/2010
William Mussat takes over as head of Barclays Wealth Managers France
William Mussat has been appointed CEO of Barclays Wealth Managers France, the management firm of the Barclays Group in France, succeeding Olivier Stul. Mussat was previously president of Neuflize OBC Asset Management (NOAM), the management firm of the ABN Amro group which is currently undergoing reorganisation. Mussat will be based in Paris, and will be responsible for Barclays Wealth Managers France, a firm with 79 employees and 15 managers, in addition to which there are 8 managers on retainer, and assets under management of EUR8bn. He will also be a member of the executive board of the French arm of Barclays Bank Plc, led by Pascal Roché, country manager, In this position, he will be in charge of mandated management activities undertaken by the bank. Mussat will report to Thomas Rostron, president and CEO of Barclays Wealth Managers Europe.
08/01/2010
Janus recruits former Pimco COO as CEO
Richard M. Weil has been appointed chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of Janus Capital Group, effective February 1, 2010.Prior to joining Janus, he spent 13 years with PIMCO where he most recently served as their global head of PIMCO Advisory, a member of PIMCO’s executive committee, and a member of the board of trustees of the PIMCO Funds. Richard Weil was PIMCO’s chief operating officer between 2000 and 2009.
08/01/2010
DoubleLine continues to hunt heads from TCW
On Tuesday evening, DoubleLine Capital, the management firm founded by Jeff Gundlach, announced the recruitment of Luz Padilla, former lead portfolio manager and managing director of TCW Emerging Markets Fixed Income Group. She joins DoubleLine along with two of the most senior members of her team, Mark Christensen and Su Fei Koo. Padilla will be responsible for investment in emerging market debt, while Christensen and his colleague will be in charge of research on sovereign debt and emerging market credit. The point which makes the move more striking is that Gundlach was CIO of TCW (Société Générale group) until his abrupt dismissal in early December.
08/01/2010
TCW sues Jeff Gundlach
TCW on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Jeffrey Gundlach—its ousted chief investment officer—and other departed employees, alleging they stole TCW property and client data in launching a new money-management company, DoubleLine LLC, says the Wall Street Journal.
08/01/2010
Fund assets down by only 2% in 2009
According to statistics from VDOS Stochastics, assets in funds on sale in Spain as of the end of December totalled nearly EUR170.18bn. This represents a decline of only 2.16% compared with 31 December 2008, while according to Inverco, the previous year brought a 30% decrease in assets, following a 1.2% decrease in 2007. VDOS Stochastics adds that December brought net redemptions of EUR302m, as positive market effects of EUR989m were more than offset by net redemptions of EUR1.29bn.
08/01/2010
Aberdeen boosts assets with acquisition of GBP13bn portfolio
Aberdeen Asset Management is expected to announce on Friday that it is paying about GBP85m for nearly half the asset management business of Royal Bank of Scotland - a GBP13bn portfolio of funds of funds and hedge funds, says the Financial Times. The asset manager is expected to fund the acquisition by a share placing.
08/01/2010
Three new recruitments at Threadneedle
Threadneedle has announced three appointments to its UK equity team and the promotion of Leigh Harrison to head of equities. Simon Brazier is joining the UK asset manager from Schroders as co-head of UK equities with responsibility for all UK equity non-income products. Richard Colwell joins the UK equity income team from Aviva and will work closely with Leigh Harrison on the income range, whilst James Thorne of Barings is to set to bolster Threadneedle’s UK smaller companies team as fund manager. All three recruits were selected by Leigh Harrison, Threadneedle’s head of equities. Leigh will be co-head of UK equities with Simon Brazier and retain his specific responsibility for UK equity income products. He will continue to report to Sarah Arkle, Threadneedle’s chief investment officer. He will continue to manage and have a strong personal involvement in the UK Equity Income and UK Equity Alpha Income Funds.
08/01/2010
Mike Webb takes over Rathbones unit trust activities
Rathbone Brothers announced on 7 January that Mike Webb has been appointed as chief executive of Rathbone Unit Trust Management, replacing Peter Pearson Lund, who is retiring. Webb was previously at Hermes Fund Managers, where he was in charge of business development. Assets in funds managed by rathbone Unit Trust Management as of 31 December totalled GBP940m, an 8.7% decline compared with the end of 2008, due to net redemptions totalling GBP234m, partly offset by positive market effects. As of 31 December 2009, assets under management by the group in funds totalled GBP13.10bn, a 25.2% increase compared with their levels at the end of 2008, thanks to a 29% increase in assets in funds managed by Rathbone Investment Management to GBP12.16bn.
08/01/2010
Henderson and Credit Suisse invest in Gartmore
Fund managers at Henderson Global Investors have taken an 11% stake in newly listed Gartmore in the past month, says Financial News. Credit Suisse, the investment bank, is the third largest shareholder with 5.8%.
08/01/2010
China Merchants product granted license
China Merchants Fund Management, a joint venture from China Merchants bank, China Merchants Securities and ING Investment Management, has been granted approval by the Chinese regulatory authorities (CSRC) to launch a product as a QDII (qualified institutional investor on the Chinese market), Asian Investor reports. The product concerned is an international commodities fund, which will probably be structured as a fund of funds, while ING IM will act as sub-advisor in this context. Some observers point out that permission from Chinese regulatory authorities has been issued to the firm despite uncertainty about the future of ING IM, due to the sale of the insurance and investment activities of ING, which has been required by European antitrust authorities.
08/01/2010
Hedge funds move into lending
Some hedge funds are no longer restricting themselves to investing in the “credit” asset class. They are themselves lending money to businesses in search of financing, handing out between USD5m and USD50m, Ken Heinz tells Handelsblatt. The move makes sense, says the president of Hedge Fund Research (HFR), since hedge funds specialised in distressed securities are very much capable of reading balance sheets of troubled businesses. Heinz adds that in general, more hedge funds were created than were closed in the third and fourth quarters of 2009. This had not happened for a long time.
08/01/2010
Coverage rates for US pension funds at 85% at the end of 2009
Under the impact of a rally ont he stock markets and of rising returns on “AA” rated corporate bonds, the coverage rates for pension plans at US businesses came out at 85.5% for the month of December, its highest level in all of 2009, according to statistics from BNY Mellon Asset Management. Assets in traditional pension programs rose 0.9% in December, while liabilities declined in the same period by 2.6%. BNY Mellon adds that coverage rates for pension funds are up 11.6 percentage points over the year as a whole.
08/01/2010
New platinum and palladium ETFs released
The first U.S. platinum and palladium exchange-traded funds received regulatory approval on Thursday to begin trading, says the Wall Street Journal.
08/01/2010
Pax World and Morningstar launch ESG Managers range
With four profiled funds, Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Growth Portfolio, Moderate Portfolio and Conservative Portfolio, Pax World Management and Morningstar Assolciates have joined forces to launch a new range of multi-management products that comply with best practices in environmental, social and governance areas, known as the ESG Managers Portfolios. Pax World will be the advisor to the products, while Morningstar will handle selection of managers, allocation of assets, construction of portfolios and monitoring. The management firms to be included in the composition of the ESG Managers Portfolios are Access Capital Strategies, Ariel Investments, ClearBridge Advisers, Neuberger Berman, Parnassus Investments, Pax World Investments, and Portfolio 21 Investments. The funds will be available only via IFAs and ALPS Distributors.
08/01/2010
Norges Bank announces “green” call for tenders in 2010
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the pension fund of the Norwegian government, which totals about USD280bn in assets, announced on 6 January that it will hold a series of calls for offers for “green” equities management, as part of a five-year reallocation of EUR2.5bn in assets, announced in April 2009. Green equities mandates will more specifically concern renewable and alternative energies, clean technologies, sectors related to climate change, including water, energy and natural resources. Each mandate will be for a custom amount, while the initial allocation to each one will range from USD50m to USD250m. The total amount planned for 2010 will total about EUR500m.
NBIM détaille son appel d'offres "vert" pour 2010
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), qui gère le fonds de pension du gouvernement norvégien, soit quelque 280 milliards de dollars, a précisé le 6 janvier le contenu de son appel d’offres pour une série de mandats «verts» actions dans le cadre du programme quinquennal de 2,5 milliards d’euros annoncé en avril 2009.Les mandats verts actions concernent plus précisément les énergies renouvelables et alternatives, les technologies propres, les secteurs liés au changement climatique, dont l’eau, l'énergie et les ressources naturelles. Chaque mandat sera taillé sur mesure, le ticket initial unitaire étant compris dans une fourchette de 50 à 250 millions de dollars. Le montant total programmé pour 2010 devrait s’inscrire autour de 500 millions d’euros.
Oddo, Threadneedle, Groupama, State Street et Rothschild & Cie en tête du classement Feri
A fin novembre, seuls cinq promoteurs parmi ceux commercialisant plus de 25 produits en France affichaient un ratio égal ou supérieur à 50 % de fonds bénéficiant chez Feri des notes supérieures (A et B). Il s’agit d’Oddo Asset Management, avec 54,84 %, devant Threadneedle (54,55 %) et Groupama AM (52 %). State Street et Rothschild & Cie Gestion arrivent en quatrième et cinquième positions, avec respectivement 51,61 % et 50 % de notes A et B.Pour leur part, Legg Mason et Russell se situent en queue de peloton (36ème et 35ème positions), avec respectivement 7,69 % et 8 % de fonds bien classés.Parmi les quelque 58 maisons proposant au moins huit fonds notés, le nombre de gestionnaires dont le contingent de fonds bien classés s’avère beaucoup plus important, puisque Feri recense au total quinze gammes avec au moins 50 % de produits dans les meilleures catégories. MFS arrive en tête avec 75 % (9 fonds sur 12 notés) devant CamGestion (65,22 %) et M&G Investments (64,29 %). Carmignac Gestion devant Vanguard Investments avec un quotient de 62,50 % (5 sur 8) contre 60 %.Deux maisons affichent un zéro pointé (0 sur 9) : Finogest et SPGP.
08/01/2010
William Mussat prend la tête de Barclays Wealth Managers France
William Mussat vient d'être nommé directeur général de Barclays Wealth Managers France, société de gestion du Groupe Barclays en France, succédant à Olivier Stul.L’intéressé était précédemment président de Neuflize OBC Asset Management (NOAM), société de gestion du groupe ABN Amro qui fait actuellement l’objet de réorganisations. Basé à Paris, William Mussat sera donc responsable de Barclays Wealth Managers France, société qui emploie 79 personnes dont 15 gérants, auxquels s’ajoutent 8 gérants en gestion sous mandat, pour un encours sous gestion de 8 milliards d’euros. Il fera également parti du comité exécutif de la succursale française de Barclays Bank Plc, dirigée par Pascal Roché, country manager. A ce titre, il sera responsable de l’activité de gestion sous mandat exercée au sein de la banque. William Mussat sera sous la responsabilité de Thomas Rostron, PDG de Barclays Wealth Managers Europe.
08/01/2010
L'Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre change de nom
L’Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre change de nom et devient l’Edhec-Risk Institute. Ce centre de recherche en gestion d’actifs et gestion des risques a été créé en 2001.
08/01/2010
Fideuram en Bourse avant juin
Intesa Sanpaolo devrait introduire en Bourse Banca Fideuram d’ici au mois de juin, rapporte Il Sole – 24 Ore. Le dossier devrait être examiné en conseil d’administration avant la fin du mois.
08/01/2010
Offres promotionnelles chez les sociétés de gestion
Après deux ans où elles s'étaient efforcées d’attirer des dépôts pour renforcer leur bilan, les banques ont décidé pour 2010 de revenir à leur ancienne politique et de concentrer leurs efforts commerciaux de début d’année sur les fonds d’investissement, générateurs de commissions juteuses, indique Cinco Días. C’est le cas de Bankinter, Barclays, Caixa Catalunya, Ibercaja et Unicaja, auxquels s’ajoutent le BBVA (à partir du 11 janvier) et le Popular (dont la campagne s’est arrêtée le 31 décembre). Les offres prennent deux formes. Soit un abondement (de 1 % chez Ibercaja et le BBVA à 2 % chez Barclays) des sommes transférées, soit un cadeau comme un GPS ou une caméra numérique.
Warburg-Henderson achète un centre commercial à Séville
Henderson Global Investors a annoncé que sa joint venture allemande Warburg-Henderson Kapitalanlagegesellschaft für Immobilien mbH a fait l’acquisition d’un centre commercial dans le centre ville de Séville. Loué à 100 %, l’immeuble Nervión Plaza (16.000 m2) a été acheté 94 millions d’euros et sera intégré dans le portefeuille du Warburg-Henderson European Core Property Fund No.1.
08/01/2010
Beaucoup de grandes fortunes ont changé le gestionnaire de leur sicav
Selon les statistiques de la CNMV compilées par Expansión, près de 250 sicav, le véhicule privilégié des grandes fortunes, ont changé de gestionnaire en 2009. Ce mouvement a affecté plus de 1,25 milliard d’euros d’encours, soit 4,6 % des actifs totaux sous gestion dans les sicav (26,4 milliards). Et, d’après les proches du dossier, ce phénomène pourrait s’accentuer encore en 2010.Pour l’an dernier, les maisons qui ont capté le plus de sicav sont Banca March, Urquijo, Invercaixa, GVC Gaesco, Bankinter et Lombard. Les encours ainsi obtenus ont représenté 609 millions d’euros répartis sur 99 sicav. Les plus pénalisées ont été Credit Suisse, UBS, Fortis, BNP Paribas, Gesmadrid et Banif (Santander), qui ont vu partir 83 sicav avec 556 millions d’euros. En termes nets, les plus touchées ont été Credit Suisse et Fortis, qui ont chacun perdu des sicav de plus de 100 millions d’euros.
L'encours des fonds n'a plus diminué que de 2 % en 2009
D’après les calculs de VDOS Stochastics, l’encours des fonds distribués en Espagne est ressorti fin décembre à près de 170,18 milliards d’euros. Cela représente une diminution de seulement 2,16 % par rapport au 31 décembre 2008 alors que l’année précédente s'était soldée, selon Inverco par une chute de 30 %, après une diminution de 1,2 % en 2007.Toujours selon VDOS Stochastics, décembre s’est soldé par des remboursements nets de 302 millions d’euros, l’effet de marché positif de 989 millions d’euros étant surcompensé par des remboursements nets de 1,29 milliard d’euros.