Mirabaud Asset Manegement vient de recruter Kirill Pyshkin, un ancien collaborateur d’Aviva Investors, dans son équipe actions monde à Londres.Il travaillera en collaboration avec Anu Narula sur l’ensemble des produits de la gamme Global Equities de la société de gestion suisse et aura comme responsabilité première la gestion du Global Equity Income Fund. Chez Aviva Investors, Kirill Pyshkin assumait la gestion active des fonds actions internationales – avec un montant cumulé des actifs sous gestion de près d’un milliard de livres.Il rejoindra Mirabaud Asset Management le 3 février 2014. Le recrutement de Kirill Pyshkin fait suite à l’arrivée de plusieurs collaborateurs de renom au cours des deux dernières années au sein de Mirabaud Asset Management: Anu Narula, responsable Global Equities (auparavant chez Axa Framlington), Dan Tubbs, responsable Emerging Markets (anciennement chez BlackRock), Andrew Lake, responsable Global High Yield (anciennement chez Aviva) et Pierre Pinel (auparavant chez BNP Paribas).

Après quatre années en tant que responsable d’Allianz Global Investors pour les pays d’Europe du Nord, Johan Hamilton a quitté la société, rapporte le site suédois Fondbranschen. Allianz GI a toujours trois salariés à Stockholm, mais on ne sait pas qui prendra la responsabilité du bureau.

La société de gestion asiatiques PCA Investments a décidé de fermer un hedge fund multi-stratégie après la décision du fonds souverains chinois CIC (China Investment Corp), le seul investisseur de poids dans cette stratégie, de se retirer du fonds, rapporte le Wall Street Journal.PCA Investments a également fermé son bureau de Hong Kong qui s’intéressait en priorité aux investissements dans les actions asiatiques. Au moins cinq postes auraient été supprimés. L’avenir du bureau de Pékin ne semblait pas encore tranché.

Selon nos informations, Hugau Gestion s’apprête à lancer Hugau Actions Monde, un nouveau fonds dont la société de gestion a obtenu l’agrément auprès de l’Autorité des marchés financiers. Le fonds investit dans des grandes capitalisations internationales et devrait vraissembablement être géré par Catherine Hugel. L’allocation d’actifs cible est constituée à 80 % d’actions et jusqu'à 20 % en obligations d’entreprises 1-3 ans. Pour commencer, le fonds privilégiera les Etats-Unis et l’Europe et sous-pondérera les marchés émergents, où la purge n’est pas encore terminée, selon Hugau Gestion. D’un point de vue sectoriel, le fonds surpondérera les financières ainsi que les valeurs de la zone euro, où «il y a une marge de rattrapage».

Cédric Chaboud n’a pas tardé à imprimer sa marque à la tête de la SPGP. Nommé directeur général délégué mi-2013 puis président fin 2013, en remplacement de Xavier Roulet, cet ancien de Lazard Frères Gestion, qui a repris la majorité du capital de la société, entame une véritable rupture. «Une nouvelle stratégie est en train de se mettre en place, explique Cédric Chaboud. Nous conservons les équipes et la philosophie de stock-picking. Mais nous avons voulu monter en technicité dans notre gestion. Nous avons besoin de proposer des produits de niche et un mode de gestion nous permettant de nous différencier.» L’enjeu est de permettre à la société de retrouver son lustre d’antan. En 2007, la SPGP affichait en effet 1,7 milliard d’euros d’actifs sous gestion. Depuis, ses encours ont fondu comme neige au soleil, ressortant à 720 millions d’euros à fin décembre 2013 – dont 280 millions en gestion sous mandats et 440 millions à travers 11 OPCVM actions et obligataires – avec 800 clients en portefeuille. Cédric Chaboud entend bien à moyen terme retrouver un niveau proche des 2 milliards d’euros d’encours. «D’ici 2 à 3 ans, avec un effet marché porteur sur les actions, le milliard d’euros d’encours est atteignable, estime Cédric Chaboud. Le doublement des encours arrivera avec la poursuite de nos recrutements, notamment en gestion privée.» De fait, depuis quelques mois, SPGP a déjà musclé ses équipes avec l’arrivée en gestion collective de Mathieu Dubicq, en provenance de GLG Partners, et, en gestion privée, de quatre personnes, dont deux issues de Rothschild. La distribution n’a pas été oubliée puisqu’un plan de recrutement a été également été initié. Pour donner un coup d’accélérateur à son développement, la société de gestion a également procédé à une profonde réorganisation de sa gamme de fonds, désormais répartis en quatre grandes catégories: les fonds traditionnels (actions et obligations), les fonds patrimoniaux, les fonds de spécialités (tels Skylar Origin, RP Sélection Carte Blanche ou encore le fonds Tectonic) et, enfin, des fonds thématiques dont le lancement est prévu en 2014 sous réserve de l’agrément de l’AMF. Plusieurs pistes sont toutefois d’ores et déjà sérieusement à l’étude sur des fonds à long terme, de 4 à 8 ans. «Nous allons lancer des fonds avec des thématiques fortes comme le luxe, la technologie dont les sous-jacents seront notamment le big data ou le stockage informatique, et, enfin, un fonds dédié à l’indépendance énergétique des Etats-Unis, indique Cédric Chaboud. A chaque fois, il y aura des sous-jacents macro-économiques forts et nous utiliseront toujours les introductions en Bourse comme facteur d’accélération de la croissance et les options pour décorréler ces fonds des marchés.» En revanche, la SPGP n’entend pas se lancer seule sur le terrain des fonds PEA-PME. «Nous allons le faire avec un société de gestion partenaire, précise Cédric Chaboud, volontairement discret sur le nom dudit partenaire. Il s’agit d’une société de gestion entrepreneuriale française qui nous ressemble.» La croissance de la SPGP passera également par un développement accru à l’international. Car avec 10 millions de fonds propres, Cédric Chaboud estime que la société a les reins suffisamment solides pour se développer davantage dans les années à venir. «Nous avons une vraie volonté d’expansion internationale, annonce-t-il, évoquant l’ouverture d’un bureau à Bruxelles «au plutôt fin 2014» et un futur partenariat avec une société britannique en gestion privée. De même, Cédric Chaboud entend jouer un rôle dans la consolidation à venir dans le secteur de la gestion. «Nous avons une volonté d’acquisition et nous serons opportunistes sur d’éventuels rachats de clientèle ou la reprise d’équipes de gestion, indique-t-il. Enfin, nous aimerions investir le terrain des conseillers en gestion de patrimoine et la vente indirecte.» Reste maintenant à transformer ces ambitions en monnaie sonnante et trébuchante.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, Hugau Gestion is planning to launch Hugau Actions Monde, a new fund for which it has received a license from the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). The fund invests in international large caps and will likely be managed by Catherine Hugel. The target asset allocation is 80% composed of equities, and 20% of 1-3 year corporate bonds. To start out, the fund will privilege the United States and Europe, and will underweight emerging markets, where the purge is not yet complete, according to Hugau Gestion. From a sectoral standpoint, the fund will overweight financials and euro zone equities, where “there is some catching up to do.”

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has listed seven new ETFs on the Milan stock exchange, Bluerating reports. That includes three short duration bond ETFs: SPFR Barclays 0-3 year US US Corporate Bond UCITS ETF, SPDR Barclays 0-3 year Euro Corporate Bond UCITS ETF and SPDR Barclays 0-5 year US High Yield Bond UCITS ETF. Three more are high-dividend ETFs: SPDR S&P Global Dividend Aristocrats UCITS ETF, SPDR S&P Pan Asia Dividend Aristocrats UCITS ETF and SPDR S&P UK Dividend Aristocrats UCITS ETF. The last new fund is the S&P 400 US Mid Cap UCITS ETF.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Ronald Gaultier is joining Allianz Global Investors in Paris as infrastructure debt manager, under François-Yves Gaudeul, director of infrastructure debt. Gaultier joins from the Project & Public Finance team at PwC, where for five years he participated in financial and legal structuring of infrastructure projects. The infrastructure debt team at Allianz Global Investors, formed in July 2012 and led by Deborah Zirkow, chief investment officer, includes 8 investment professionals located in London and Paris. In France, AllianzGI carried out two initial infrastructure debt operations in 2013 on behalf of Allianz: the Musical City of Ile Seguin, and the Rocade L2 in Marseille.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Scor Global Investments (Scor GI), the asset management affiliate of the French reinsurer, tripled its assets under management for third parties in 2013, and is now expecting it to double in 2014, L’Agefi reports. Last year, the firm posted inflows of EUR200m, bringing its assets under management for third parties to EUR330m. In 2014, Scor GI hopes to double its assets under management for third parties, to EUR600m. In the hopes of achieving critical mass on a highly competitive market, Scor GI has set itself the goal for the completion of its strategic plan at the end of 2016 of having EUR1.5bn in assets under management for third parties, in addition to the EUR15bn it manages for Scor.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } L’Agefi reports that the private equity firm KKR has taken control of Sedgwick Claims Management Services, for USD2.4bn. Sedgwick is one of the largest personnel claims and services management firms in the United States, which also provides monitoring of medical and disability benefits.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The rumours are proving true: Christophe Boulanger, CEO of Edmond de Rothschild AM, will soon be leaving his job. The departure is rumoured to have been decided in agreement with the heads of the firm. In a letter sent to investors, Laurent Tignard, global CEO of asset management at the group on Monday, 27 January paid homage to the work carried out by Boulanger, who served for 17 years at the asset management firm. Boulanger will not be replaced in the new composition of the board at the firm, which Philippe Uzan, director of long-only management, and Nicolas Dubourg, CEO for investment solutions, are joining. In addition to Tignard, they join Guillaume Poli, deputy CEO in charge of asset management development for the group.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Vontobel Asset Management has recruited Christian Hoeg as head of the asset management firm for the German market, das investment reports. He will also be responsible for bond management. In his new position, Hoeg replaces Beate Meyer, who will from April be responsible for the partnership between Vontobel and the Australian banking group ANZ.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } After four years as head of Allianz Global Investors for northern European countries, Johnan Hamilton has left the firm, the Swedish website Fondbranschen reports. Allianz Gi still has three employees in Stockholm, but it is unclear who will take charge of the office.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British asset management boutique Aurum Funds is planning to launch a fund of hedge funds which will comply with the terms of the AIFM directive, Citywire reports. The new fund, dedicated to European professional investors, will be one of the first to comply with the directive. The fund is expected to invest in traditional assets, while guaranteeing low volatility and low correlation.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss insurance group Zurich is launching Zurich Horizon Investment Solutions, a new investment range consisting of multi-asset class funds with various risk profiles, which will be managed by Threadneedle Investments, Investment Week reports. Threadneedle Investments, which was in the past controlled by Zurich, manages a large proportion of the insurance and pension fund assets of the Swiss group.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Netherlands-based asset management firm Kempen Capital Management has licensed six funds for sale in Italy, according to a statement released in Italy on Monday. They are the Kempen (Lux) European Small Cap Fund, Kempen (Lux) Euro Credit Fund, Kempen (Lux) Euro Credit Plus Fund, Kempen (Lux) European High Dividend Fund, Kempen (Lux) Global Property Fundamental Index® Fund and Kempen (Lux) Global Sovereign Fundamental Index® Fund. The sub-funds, which belong to the Luxembourg-registered Sicavv Kempen International Funds, will be available to institutional and retail investors. Cor Dücker, international business development manager for Italy, estimates that Italy will be an increasingly important market for Kempen.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mirabaud Asset Management has recruited Kirill Pyshkin, a former employee of Aviva Investors, for its global equity team in London. He will work in collaboration with Anu Narula on all products of the Global Equities range from the Swiss asset management firm, and will be primary manager of the Global Equity Income Fund. At Aviva Investors, Pyshkin was responsible for active management of international equity funds, with a cumulative total of assets under management of nearly GBP1bn. He will join Mirabaud Asset Management on 3 February 2014. The recruitment of Pyshkin follows the arrival of several renowned employees in the past two years at Mirabaud Asset management. These include Narula, head of Global Equities (previously of Axa Framlington), Dan Tubbs, head of Emerging Markets (formerly of BlackRock), Andrew Lake, head of Global High Yield (formerly of Aviva) and Pierre Pinel (formerly of BNP Paribas).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British asset management firm Seneca Investment Managers has announced the acquisition of the asset managemet firm Miton Capital Partners, based in Liverpool. The management team at Miton, which currently manages three funds, will be maintained, and will now be led by the head of Seneca, Stuart Eaton.

The UK asset management firm F&C Asset Management may be passing into Canadian hands. The board of the firm, based in London, on Monday confirmed, following press speculation, that it has received an indicative offer from BMO Financial Group, a division of the Bank of Montreal. The bid amounts to 120 pence in cash per ordinary share for the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of F&C. In addition, F&C shareholders will be entitled to receive and retain an ordinary course dividend of 2 pence per F&C share for the financial year ended 31 December 2013. In the middle of the trading day, F&C shares were trading at 115.30 pence.F&C and BMO “are in advanced discussions about the details of the Possible Offer and the Board of F&C has indicated to BMO that it is likely to recommend a firm offer at the offer price,” a statement from the British firm says.The announcement represents a further bounce in the agitated history of F&C since 2011, when the activist investor Edward Bramson took control of the firm and became its chairman. In the first nine months of 2013, F&C suffered net outflows of GBP9.38bn, and its assets fell to GBP90.08bn as of the end of September.BMO Financial Group, for its part, has an asset management activity with assets under management of CAD184bn, and assets under administration of CAD369bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } State Street Corporation on 27 January announced that it has been selected by the insurance company Ageas UK to provide global depository and accounting services on USD4.5bn in assets. Services from State Street will concern three legal entities of Ageas UK: Ageas Insurance, Aegeas Protect and Tesco Underwriting. “Insurers are facing growing problems with reporting, regulation and compliance,” says Martha Whitman, head of EMEA solutions dedicated to the insurance sector at State Street. “A recent survey that we commissioned found that the capacity of insurance companies to face these challenges depends increasingly on data. Our study finds that insurers are now perfectly aware of these challenges. 82% of directors surveyed consider data and analytics services a strategic priority.”

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } M&G Real Estate has recruited Ng Chiang Ling, a former Goldman Sachs executive, for the newly-created position of director of acquisitions in Asia-Pacific, Asian Investor reports. Ng will be based in Singapore, and last month began in her new role, in which she will oversee acquisitions by M&G in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Ng previously served for 15 years at Goldman Sachs in the merchant banking division, where she already focused on acquiring assets for property funds in Asia.

Myriad changes--macro and micro--support a Japanese institutional move to award mandates to foreign managers. Sub-advised funds accounted for 65% of investment trust assets under management at June 30, 2013, up from 61% in 2008, according a joint report from Cerulli Associates and Nomura Research Institute, Ltd (NRI). Sub-advisory arrangements can take two basic forms, either in a discretionary mandate (¥12.4 trillion, US$126.5 billion, as of June 30, 2013), or a fund of funds brief (¥15.0 trillion). Hybrid arrangements account for another ¥12.1 trillion assets under management (AUM). The sub-advisory market offers ample opportunities for foreign managers, particularly in areas like foreign equity and foreign real estate investment trusts where sub-advised funds account for more than 90% of AUM. «Gradual diversification of Japanese banks’ portfolios from Japanese Government Bond (JGB) to foreign securities and changes to pension fund governance spell greater opportunities for foreign managers,» said Yoon Ng, Asia Research Director at Cerulli Associates.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The wealth manager Partners Group and the investment fund Equis Fund on 27 January announced an investment of USD250m in developing a solar platform in Japan. Other investors have joined the consortium, including Babson Capital, LGSuper and Quantas Superannuation; they will finance the construction of the photovoltaic installation. The site will begin to be operational in second half, Partners Group says in a statement. The installation will be operated by Japan Solar and Nippon Renewable Energy KK (NRE). Equis Fund is presented as one of the largest private investment funds in the energy and infrastructure sector, with about USD960m in assets under management in Tokyo, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Manilla, Bangalore and Chengdu.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Asian asset management firm PCA Investments has decided to close a multi-strategy hedge fund, after a decision by the Chinese sovereign fund China Investment Corp (CIC), the only large investor in the strategy, to pull out of the fund, the Wall Street Journal reports. PCA Investments has also closed its Hong Kong office, which was primarily focused on investment in Asian equities. At least five jobs are rumoured to have been lost. The future of the Beijing office does not appear certain.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Financial Conduct Authority has discovered that at least six asset management firms have misused client money to pay brokers to hold meetings with directors of businesses in the past five years, Financial Times fund management reports. The regulator did not disclose the names of the six asset management firms concerned.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } M&G Investments has registered the M&G Income Allocation Fund for sale in Germany, according to a statement released on 27 January. The fund, managed by Steven Andrew, aims for annual returns of 4%. The strategy, launched in November last year, is already available in many European countries, including France.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) on 27 January announced the launch of the db x-trackers Mittelstand & MidCap Germany UCITS ETF (DR), which will invest directly in German large and midcaps. The ETF will invest in all 70 shares of the underlying index, larger than other indices such as the MDAX, which includes only 50 companies. DeAWM states that about 30% of the index is composed of businesses in which the founders or management control at least 5% of capital. Annual fees: 0.40% ISIN/WKN code: IE00B9MRJJ36 / A1T795 Bloomberg code: XDGM GY

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } CSOP Asset Management, an affiliate of China Southern Asset Management, is preparing to launch the first ETF of Chinese treasury bonds under an RQFII (Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor) license, after receiving permission from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) for its fund CSOP China 5-year Treasury Bond ETF on 24 January, Asia Asset Management reports. The new ETF will be listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in early February. The permission comes two weeks after the announcement of a partnership between CSOP and the European ETF specialist Source to launch the CSOP Source FTSE China A50 UCITS ETF in London on 9 January.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Financial Conduct Authority is reviewing the way in which online fund platforms are preparing to prohibit the acceptance of commissions from product providers, and the way in which changes to their remuneration will be communicated to consumers, the Financial Times reports. The regulator indicates that its “thematic review” aims to study the timetable and implementation of changes, the impact on the business models of companies and the effect on consumers.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Unigestion is continuing its international development. The Swiss asset management firm, based in Geneva, has opened an office in Toronto, in order to conquer Canadian institutional clients, eFinancial News reports. As a part of that effort, Unigestion has recruited Heather Cooke, formerly of Mercer Global Investments Canada, whose mission will consist precisely of setting up this asset management activity for local institutional investors. The asset management firm will target pension funds and foundations as a top priority. Meanwhile, the firm is seeking to recruit a senior head in charge of distribution for its Toronto office. Unigestion is not starting out with a completely blank page in the country. In 2011, the asset management firm won its first mandate in Canada from Desjardins, a Quebec company specialised in financial services.