La société de gestion américaine Legg Mason a annoncé, vendredi 31 janvier, que ses actifs sous gestion s’élèvent à 679,5 milliards de dollars à l’issue de son troisième trimestre fiscal clos au 31 décembre 2013, soit une progression de 3,6 % par rapport au trimestre précédent et de 4,7 % sur un an. Cette croissance a été tirée à la fois par un effet de marché très positif, d’environ 13,6 milliards d’euros, et une collecte nette de 9,9 milliards de dollars. Dans le détail, Legg Mason a enregistré 9,9 milliards de dollars de souscriptions nettes dans ses stratégies liquides et 700 millions de dollars de flux nets positifs dans l’obligataire (fixed income) tandis que les actions ont subi 700 millions de dollars de rachats. A l’issue de son troisième trimestre, la société de gestion américaine a réalisé 720,1 millions de dollars de revenus, en progression de 7,5 % par rapport au trimestre précédent et de 6,9 % par rapport au 31 décembre 2012. Son bénéfice net trimestriel ressort à 81,7 millions de dollars, en recul de 5,3 % par rapport au trimestre précédent mais en nette amélioration par rapport à la perte de 453,9 millions de dollars enregistrée au 31 décembre 2012.

Muzinich & Co poursuit sa marche en avant. Le bureau de Paris de la société de gestion – qui couvre la France, la Suisse francophone, le Luxembourg, la Belgique et Monaco – a engrangé en 2013 une collecte nette de 1,2 milliard de dollars. Cette performance lui permet d’afficher désormais «un encours de 6 milliards de dollars à fin 2013, indique à NewsManagers Eric Pictet, directeur général du bureau de Paris de Muzinich & Co. La France représente à elle seule 2,5 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion, soit 40 % de la zone d’Europe francophone.» Une vaste région au sein de laquelle le gestionnaire d’actif compte aujourd’hui 160 clients actifs.Cette bonne dynamique s’en ressent au niveau de l’ensemble du groupe. «A l’échelle mondiale, nos souscriptions nettes dans les fonds UCITS s’élèvent à 4,9 milliards de dollars en 2013, portant ainsi nos encours à 19 milliards de dollars dans les fonds UCITS, et à 26 milliards de dollars au global», précise Eric Pictet.Muzinich & Co n’entend pas s’arrêter en si bon chemin. Historiquement spécialisée dans le high yield, la société entend désormais «couvrir tout le spectre du corporate credit», selon Eric Pictet. Pour y parvenir et ainsi accélérer son développement, Muzinich & Co va donc redoubler d’efforts pour diversifier et élargir sa gamme de produits. En ligne de mire, le développement de son offre «absolute return obligataire». De fait, «notre fonds Global Tactical Credit (GTC) vient d’être agréé par L’AMF, annonce Eric Pictet. Nous allons mettre davantage l’accent sur l’absolute return avec le GTC et le Long Short Credit Yield, sans oublier l’Emerging Market Short Duration et nos produits traditionnels. Avoir une gamme la plus élargie possible dans notre spécialité du ‘corporate credit’ est un enjeu important.»Dans cette même logique, Munizich & Co entend continuer à creuser son sillon sur le terrain des «loans», domaine dans lequel la société affiche déjà 1 milliard de dollars d’encours dans ses différents portefeuilles et dispose aussi de deux véhicules dédiés représentant plus de 100 millions de dollars. «Notre objectif est de montrer que nous sommes de bons gérants sur les loans car c’est un marché qui va se développer et il est de mieux en mieux compris par les institutionnels et notamment les assureurs», estime Eric Pictet.Enfin, Muzinich & Co pousse également ses pions dans son activité historique de mandats. «Nous avons ainsi gagné en France un mandat de 150 millions d’euros sur du high yield courte duration en 2013», se réjouit Eric Pictet. Un succès qui pourrait en appeler d’autres.

Sur son site, Natixis AM a indiqué, vendredi 31 janvier, qu’au sein de la sicav luxembourgeoise Mirova Funds, il a été procédé, le 16 décembre 2013, à la fusion absorption par le compartiment Mirova Europe Life Quality, du fonds de droit français Mirova Europe Life Quality.

Deux grands hedge funds new-yorkais spécialisés sur les actions ont annoncé qu’ils fermaient leurs portes après avoir enregistré de fortes performances au cours du rally de 2013. Ainsi, Scout Capital Management (6,7 milliards de dollars) et Joho Capital (5 milliards de dollars) ont séparément annoncé à leurs investisseurs qu’ils allaient les rembourser, selon des lettres lues par The Wall Street Journal.Robert Karr, qui a fondé Joho en 1996, indique entre autres qu’il souhaite passer davantage de temps avec sa famille. Il continuera à investir via son family office et conservera une partie du personnel de la société.La fermeture de Scout est liée à des divergences entre les fondateurs.

Franklin Resources, la maison mère de Franklin Templeton Investments, a fait état d’un bénéfice en hausse de 17 % à l’issue de son premier trimestre fiscal, clos au 31 décembre 2013. La progression du résultat net est de 19 % par rapport au trimestre précédent clos fin septembre 2013. Au cours des trois derniers mois, la société de gestion américaine a ainsi réalisé 603,8 millions de dollars de profits, contre 516,1 millions de dollars sur un an. Ses revenues s’établissent à 2,1 milliards de dollars à la fin de son premier trimestre, en croissance de 6 % par rapport au trimestre précédent et de 11 % sur un an. A fin décembre 2013, ses actifs sous gestion s’élèvent à 879,1 milliards de dollars, en progression de 34,4 milliards ou de 4 % par rapport au trimestre précédent. Cette croissance est exclusivement tirée par un effet de marché positif de 36 milliard de dollars, sa collecte nette sur le trimestre étant nulle. Sur un an, ses encours ont augmenté de 97,3 milliards de dollars, soit une croissance annuelle de 12 %, portés par 77,3 milliards de dollars d’effet de marché et par 24 milliards de dollars de souscriptions nettes.

Banca Leonardo a vu ses encours sous gestion ressortir à 7 milliards d’euros pour son activité gestion de fortune, grâce à des souscriptions nettes de la clientèle privée d’environ 500 millions d’euros. La banque, qui a récemment recruté Michel Cicurel, vise désormais 10 milliards d’euros d’encours pour la fin 2014.

Comgest compte lancer deux nouveaux fonds en Italie, explique à Bluerating Gabriella Berglung, responsable de l’Italie de la boutique française. Il s’agit des fonds Comgest Growth Greater Europe Opportunities et Comgest Growth World, investis respectivement sur les actions européennes et les actions mondiales. Ils viennent s’ajouter à la gamme de sept fonds déjà commercialisés dans la Péninsule. Ces produits sont disponibles via des partenariats avec Banca Ifigest, Banca IPIBI, FinecoBank, Fundstore, Skandia, Unicasim et Zurich Life Assurance.

Deutsche Bank a recruté Barbara Rupf Bee, directeur général de Renaissance, en vue d’améliorer les ventes de ses fonds, rapporte le Financial Times fund management. L’intéressée devient responsable de la distribution de Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management pour l’Europe, l’Afrique et le Moyen-Orient. Elle supervisera 400 personnes environ dans l’équipe commerciale EAMO, représentant 600 milliards d’euros sur les 931 milliards d’encours sous gestion de la société.

Déjà partenaires dans le cadre d’un contrat de distribution, les deux agences de notation indépendantes oekom research et GES ont décidé d'étendre leur partenariat à l’analyse des entreprises, selon un communiqué publié le 31 janvier.Après avoir mené à bien un projet pilote dans le courant de 2013, oekom research et GES sont ainsi convenus d’unir leurs forces dans le domaine de la recherche actions. Dans le cadre de leur coopération stratégique, GES va soutenir oekom research dans la mise en place de la division oekom Corporate Ratings. L’univers analysé totalisera 3.500 entreprises. Actuellement, 77 analystes au total travaillent dans les deux maisons, dont 44 chez oekom research.GES entend de son côté utiliser les travaux oekom Corporate Ratings pour son activité d’engagement.

L’agence Reuters qui cite une source proche du dossier a indiqué, vendredi 31 janvier, que le fonds d’investissement KKR a signé un accord lui permettant de prendre une participation d’environ 10% dans le club de football allemand du Hertha Berlin, pour un montant d’environ soixante millions d’euros.

Selon des données d’EPFR Global, les investisseurs ont retiré 9,1 milliards de dollars des fonds d’actions et d’obligations des marchés émergents dans la semaine arrêtée au 29 janvier. Dans le détail, les fonds actions émergents ont ainsi enregistré des retraits de 6,3 milliards de dollars, soit un niveau de sorties hebdomadaires comparable à ceux d’août 2011 ou de mai 2013 lors des premières allusions de la Réserve fédérale américaine (Fed) à son «tapering». Depuis le début de l’année, les rachats sur les fonds actions émergents ont atteint 11,5 milliards de dollars. Pour leur part, les fonds obligataires ont subi 2,7 milliards de dollars de retraits hebdomadaires.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } It has been a promising start to the year for Spanish asset management. According to statistics released by VDOS Stochastics and relayed by Funds People, Spanish funds have seen an increase in assets of EUR4.2bn, or 2.66%, compared with the first three weeks of January. Since the beginning of the year, net inflows have totalled EUR3.1bn. Total assets under management came to EUR162.8bn at the end of the first three weeks of January.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Comgest is planning to launch two new funds in Italy, Gabriella Berglung, head of Italy at the French asset management boutique, has told Bluerating. The funds are the Comgest Growth Greater Europe Opportunities and Comgest Growth World, which invest in European and global equities, respectively. They come as additions to the range of seven funds which are already on sale in Italy. The products are available via partnerships with Banca Ifigest, Banca IPIBI, FinecoBank, Fundstore, Skandia, Unicasim and Zurich Life Assurance.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Two major New York hedge funds specialised in equities have announced that they will be closing their doors after posting strong growth in the rally in 2013. Scout Capital Management (USd6.7bn) and Joho Capital (USD5bn) have separately announced to their investors that they would be redeeming them, according to letters obtained by the Wall Street Journal. Robert Karr, who founded Joho in 1996, says that he would like to spend more time with his family. He will continue to invest via his family office and will retain a part of the personnel at the firm. The closure of Scout is related to divergences between the founders.

Loomis, Sayles & Company has hired Brian Hess in its full discretion team as the global markets fixed income strategist. He will partner with the company’s existing research and trading resources to evaluate opportunities within non-US developed and emerging markets. He will report to Elaine Stokes and Matt Eagan, co-heads of the full discretion team. Brian Hess joins Loomis Sayles from Brandywine Global Investment Management, where he was most recently an associate portfolio manager covering global economics within the company’s investment universe.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Franklin Resources, the parent company of Franklin Templeton Investments, has reported profits up 17% after its first fiacal quarter, ending on 31 December 2013. The growth in net profits is 19% compared with the previous quarter, ending in September 2013. In the past three months, the US asset management firm made USD603.8m in profits, compared with USD516.1m year on year. Its earnings total USD2.1bn as of the end of its first quarter, up 6% compared with the previous quarter, and 11% year on year. As of the end of December 2013, assets under management totalled USD879.1bn, up USD34.4bn, or 4% compared with the previous quarter. This growth has been driven exclusively by a positive mrket effect of USD36bn, while net inflows for the quarter were zero. Year on year, assets were up by USD97.3bn, compared with annual net growth of 12%, driven by USD77.3bn in market effects, and USD24bn in net subscriptions.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US asset management firm Legg Mason on Friday, 31 January announced that its assets under management totalled USD679.5bn after the third quarter of its fiscal year, ending on 31 December 2013, up 3.6% compared with the previous quarter, and 4.8% year on year. This growth was driven both by a very positive market effect of about EUR13.6bn, and a net inflow of USD9.9bn. Legg Mason has posted USD9.9bn in net subscriptions to its liquid strategies, and USD700m in positive net inflows to fixed income, while equities saw USD700m in redemptions. At the end of its third quarer, the US asset management firm earned USD720.1m in revenues, up 7.5% compared with the previous quarter, and 6.9% compared with 31 December 2012. Its quarterly net profits totalled USD81.7m, down 5.3% compared with the previous quarter, but up strongly compared with a loss of USD453.9m as of 31 December 2012.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Vanguard has launched the Global Short-Term Bond Index, which comes as an addition to the range of bond trackers, FT Adviser reveals. It is the twelfth vehicle of this type launched by the asset management firm. The new fund tracks the Barclays Global Aggregate 1-5 Years ex-US MBS Float Adjusted Bond fund, and is managed on the basis of coverage, in order to limit currency volatility. The vehicle will invest in a wide range of securities worldwide, including government bonds, investment grade corpore bonds, and other mortgage assets (ex-US mortgage-backed securities).

Wisdom Tree, a US asset management firm specialised in ETFs, is launching in Europe, through an acquisition of a 75% stake in Boost, an ETP provider based in London.The US firm will invest USD20m in working capital over four years to fund the build-out of a local European platform and operations to be led by Hector McNeil and Nik Bienkowski, the founders of Boost, who have also served in senior roles at ETF Securities.Through this platform, WisdowmTree intends to launch a range of UCITS ETFs under its own brand. The firm will also continue to manage and grow the Boost lineup of ETPs under the Boost brand.WisdomTree will own 75% of the new structure, WisdomTree Europe while the remainder will be in the hands of Boost shareholders. In four years, the US firm is planning to acquire all capital, for a total amount which will depend on assets in the European operations.With USD34bn in assets, WisdowmTree is the fifth-largest provider of ETFs in the United States, and the eighth-largest worldwide. The firm has a range of 61 ETFs of equities, bonds, currencies and alternative assets.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Neptune is planning to close the Monthly Income fund, Investment Week reports. The portfolio, managed by the CEO of Neptune, Robin Geffen, has posted lower growth than predicted, and its size is not viable. The asset management firm will also be closing the UK higher Income fund, managed by George Boyd_bowman. Lastly, it will be discontinuing income share classes in several other funds.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A team of nine people at the defunct London office of SAC Capital Advisors have joined the Moore Capital Market hedge fund firm (USD12.1bn), Financial News reports. They are the fund managers Israa Al Bayaa, Nicholas Aldridge, Arjun Menon, Alexi Papaconstantinou, Bramen Singanayagam, Martin Stapleton and Louis Villa, and the analysts Atallah Estephan and Rahil Kuchiera.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Aberdeen Asset Management has warned investors that a fraudster is using its name and old logo in an effort to misleadd the public, Fund Web reports. In its warning, the asset management firm says that the man is contacting his potential victims through emails, and offering them false lease agreements. In order to ensure his credibility, the fraudster has created a LinkedIn profile, in which he claims to be an employee of Aberdeen.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Doug Shaw, head of charity clients in the United Kingdom at BlackRock, has resigned, Financial News has learned. Shaw had publicly defended hedge funds during the financial crisis.

Quantitative hedge fund manager 80 Capital LLP, run by former Deutsche Bank quantitative executive Philippe Azoulay, has opened its Helium strategy to external investors following a successful 23-month trading run and the acquisition of substantial seed capital, according to a press release. The Helium strategy takes a unique approach to trading global managed futures. Developed by Azoulay within Deutsche Bank, it is being spun out as the first external investment of newly established 80 Capital LLP, which has received USD50 million in seed capital investment from the bank. “Receiving this level of institutional backing is unprecedented. It demonstrates the power of the Helium strategy,” said Azoulay. Helium outperformed most of its managed futures peers in the 23 months from February 2012 with an average annualised outperformance of approximately 10% against major managed futures indices in a generally challenging period for managed futures. It had more positive months than its benchmark indices (64%) and a positive Sharpe ratio. “By using a variety of techniques to catch statistical phenomenon on a medium- to long-term horizon and under a strict risk control structure, Helium is able to offer real alpha-generating power,” explained Azoulay. Helium divides the trading universe into clusters of futures contracts, from which combinations of contracts are filtered and then systematically analysed to find trading signals. It thus generates alpha from correlation deformation as well as from price movement. The majority of quantitative funds build positions incrementally based on a signal strength type of criteria, such as the number of standard deviations above a threshold. However, this approach can lead to overweight positions with no statistical robustness that can quickly lose value. Helium, by contrast, uses cutting edge techniques that aim to eliminate the threat of exposure to a sudden fall.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A tumultuous week for the developing nations saw emerging markets equity funds post their biggest outflow since mid-3Q11 heading into the final days of January as institutional redemptions hit their highest level in nearly three years, according to EPFR. For several days, several emerging markets have been seeing their currencies fall on the back of outflows of foreign capital from investors and growing doubts on the part of investors about the strength of these economies. This trend is aggravated by a gradual return to normal announced by the Fed. Investors also pulled significant sums out of emerging markets bond and US equity funds during the week ending Jan. 29. But they continued to pump money into Japan, global and Europe equity funds and boosted their commitments to balanced and real estate sector funds. Overall, equity funds collectively posted net outflows of USD10.4 billion versus USD1.88 billion for bond funds and USD11.53 billion for money market funds. Institutional investors accounted for over USD5 billion of the USD6.33 billion that flowed out of emerging markets equity funds during the fourth week of January as all four of the major fund groups recorded significant redemptions

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at Julius Baer last year rose by CHF65bn, or 34%, to a total of CHF254bn, according to a statement released on 3 February. This increase of 34% is largely due to the integration of CHF53bn in assets from the integration of international activities from Merrill Lynch (IWM), which is still in progress, the bank says. Net inflows totalled USD7.6bn. Positive market effects represented CHF7bn, partly offset by a negative currency effect of CHF3bn. Assets under custody, for their part, have increased 6% to CHF93bn. Pre-tax profits last year rose 19% to CHF583m, while net profits totalled CHF480m (also +19%). Operating profits last year improved to 71%, compared with 73% previously.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Banca Leonardo has seen an increase in assets at its wealth management activities to EUR7bn, due to net inflows from private clients of about EUR500m. The bank, which has recently recruited Michel Cicurel, is now aiming for EUR10bn in assets by the end of 2014.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } State Street UK has been fined GBP22.9m by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the British regulator announced on 31 January. The FCA considers that Transitions Management activities at State Stret “developed and implemented a deliberate strategy which aims to substansially overcharge clients for some financial transactions” between June 2010 and September 2011, without obtaining advance consent from these clients. Six clients were overbilled for a cumulative total of USD20.2m (GBP12.3m), This overbilling represents more than one quarter of revenues from Transitions Management. Transition Management is a service which offers to assist clients with restructuring an investment portfolio when they decide to replace managers under a mandate.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asset management at major Spanish banks is growing steadily. Last year, Santander has posted growth of 4.6% in assets under management in its common investment funds, to a total of EUR93.3bn, compared with EUR89.1bn as of the end of 2012. On the Spanish market alone, assets were up by nearly 29%, to a total of EUR29.7bn. InverCaixa, the asset mangement affiliate of CaixaBank, has not been left behind. In 2013, its assets under management rose by22.4%, to nearly EUR28bn. Lastly, BBVA has reported growth of 16.6% in assets in its common investment funds in Spain, to a total of EUR22.3bn as of the end of 2013, compared with EUR19.1bn as of the end of 2012. Internationally, its common investment funds and other investment companies have assets of EUR21.2bn as of the end of 2013, down 4.8% year on year.

Dans un entretien à Newsmanagers, Jan Longeval, administrateur délégué de la Banque Degroof, responsable de la gestion institutionnelle, et président de DFMC (Degroof Fund Management Company), la principale société de gestion du groupe, présente les activités et les ambitions de la banque belge en France. Jan Longeval évoque également les arcanes de la gestion basée sur la finance comportementale, une stratégie de la banque développée depuis le début des années 2000