Asset management firms which are active in Asia-Pacifci markets as of the end of September had assets under management of USD6.7tn originating from the region, according to data compiled by Asian Investor, which publishes annual rankings of the 100 fund managers which posted the strongest growth in Asia Pacific. These total assets were up by 11.2% in one year. The rankings are dominated this year by JP Morgan Asset Management, which was the firm to develop its assets in the region most strongly. It has USD133.6bn in assets under management for clients from this region, up by 162.8% year on year. Asian Investor notes that the US firm has this year modified its calculations of assets. It previously included only the assets of Asian clients invested in Asian funds. It now takes into account all products in its range. In second place is Deutsche Asset Management with USD50.7bn, up by 129% year on year. Adjustments were made there also in terms of the calculation of assets under management, which now include Harvest Funds Management, which is 30% controlled by the asset management firm. In third place, BNY Mellon Asset Management has posted a 90.84% increase in its assets, which total USD94.4bn.
JPMorgan Chase has put its Global Special Opportunities Group, an investment operation based in Asia, up for sale, for a total of over USD1bn, the Financial Times reports. The bank is in talks with several private equity and credit hedge funds. The potential buyers are the GSO unit of Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR.The operation put up for sale by JPMorgan, which represents over USD2bn in assets, finances special situations in Asia, and has a junior or mezzanine debt activities in the United States and Europe.
The Californian pension fund CalPERS has invested USD100m in the alternative asset management firm Double Haven, specialised in Asian credit, news agency Reuters reports. After undergoing a net outflow of about USD4bn in 2012 the hedge fund sector in Asia has this year attracted more than USD10bn, according to statistics from Eurekahedge, due to average returs of about 15% as of the end of November.CalPERS is investing in the long/short credit strategy, which will bring assets under management at Double Haven to over USD710m, according to Reuters.
Asset management boutiques in Europe and the United Kingdom (with less than EUR10bn in assets under management) have posted net inflows of EUR65bn in the nine months to the end of September, compared with EUR30.1bn in 2012, and EUR10bn in 2011, Financial News reports, citing statistics from Lipper and MackayWilliams. Boutiques represented 31% of total sales in the industry since the beginning of the year, compared with 14% in 2012.
iShares has launched an ETF on the London stock exchange which offers passive exposure to European companies, excepting banks and insurers, Fundweb reports.The iShares Euro Stoxx 50 Ex-financials UCITS ETF gives investors broad and potentially less volatile access to the euro zone, according to BlackRock.The total expense ratio is 20 basis points.
Hans Günther Bonk and his boutique Assenagon Asset Management are launching a fund which will aim to invest in subordinated debt and contingent convertibles (CoCos) issued by banks and insurers, Financial News reports.Assenagon Asset Management is expected to launch the new vehicle, the Assenagon Credit Subordinated Debt & Coco fund, in January.
In 2013, Swedish index-based equity funds represented more than SEK140bn (EUR15.5bn), or 11% of total equity funds on sale in Sweden, compared with less than SEK20bn in 2001 (EUR2.2bn), or 3%, a report by the Swedish fund management association of passive and active management has found. This gain in popularity for index-based management has been driven by strong inflows to these products. Since 2010, equity tracker funds have posted net inflows of SEK47bn (EUR5.2bn), while at the same time, actively-managed equity funds have seen outflows of SEK3bn (EUR0.3bn). The report by Fondbolagens Förening, available in Swedish on their website, describes the two types of management.
For the first time since their creation in 2003, ETPs dedicated to gold have been abandoned by investors, at a time when the price of the metal has fallen at its most steeply for 32 years, the news agency Bloomberg reports.The assets of the 14 largest ETPs have fallen by 31% since the beginning of the year 2013, to a total of 1,813.3 metric tons, for their steepest annual fall since the launch of these vehicles ten years ago, acording to statistics from Bloomberg. These redemptions have led to a loss in net asset value of USD69.9bn, In 2014, about 311 additional tons are expected to be withdrawn from the market, according to estimates from Bloomberg analysts.Precious metals specialist Robin Bhar at Société Générale estimates that favourable factors which have driven gold to rise in the past 12 years are in the process of reversing. Gold had been trading at USD1,232 per ounce on 16 December in Singapore, down 36% from a peak of USD1,921 per ounce in September 2011.
At a time when it is about to merge with Macif Gestion and OFI Mandats, OFI AM has announced that it is aiming for EUR100bn in assets in five years’ ime, virtually double the EUR56.2bn it manages currently.To achieve that, the firm is planning to develop serving clients outside the group, particularly international distributors. This proportion of clients, which currently represents 20% of total assets, is expected to increase to 30% in five years, “or about EUR20bn more in assets than currently,” says Gérard Bourret, CEO of OFI AM. At the same time, assets under management for the group are expected to fall from 50% to 35%, while the remainder will come from “strategic partners.”In order to win over these new external clients, the asset management firm will rely on its funds, which now represent 32% of assets, but which pay better than mandates. In order to simplify and be as legible as possible, OFI AM will focus only a restricted range of about 18 funds. This range will include the best-performing and largest funds (in total, they represent about EUR8bn).Meanwhile, in 2013, OFI AM has posted net inflows of EUR680m to mandates and EUR600m to funds, for total inflows of EUR1.28bn.
Rothschild & Cie Gestion has appointed Delphine Laloum as bond manager, specialised in high yield bonds.Laloum, 25, began her career at ADI in 2002 as a credit analyst for convertible, high yield and crossover strategies, and then in 2005, became a debt analyst for convertible bond arbitrage funds. In 2006, she joined Natixis, first as a proprietary convertible bond trader at Natixis CIB, and then, from 2010, as market maker for all European high yield bonds, a statement says.
Bond fund manager Julien Chauveau left Acropole Asset Management in early December. The information released by Citywire has been confirmed by Financière de l’Echiquier, the French asset manager which took over Acropole AM earlier this year. Chauveau co-managed two convertible bond funds, Acropole Convertibles Monde and Acropole Convertibles Optimum 2015, and also participated in the management of Acropole Global High Yield.
The two alternative asset management firms Gottex Fund Management and EIM Group on 16 December announced that they will be merging their operations. The new entity will be headquartered in Switzerland, and will have offices in London, Boston, New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Its assets under management are expected to total about USD10bn in first half 2014, Gottex says in a statement.At the completion of the transation, which has yet to receive the approval of the regulatory authorities, the new entity will be about 70% controlled by Gottex shareholders, and 30% by EIM shareholders.
Old Mutual Global Investors is preparing an Irish version of its Old Mutual UK Alpha fund, aimed at international clients, Citywire reports. The original fund has grown from GBP150m to more than GBP1bn this year, as it has posted strong growth since the two managers, Richard Buxton and Errol Francis, returned to manage the product in June. They then joined Old Mutual Global Investors from Schroders. The launch of the Old Mutual UK Alpha Fund (IRL) is scheduled for 18 December.
Theam, the systematic, guaranteed and alternative index-based management specialist from BNP Paribas Investment Partners, has announced that it has adopted the first MSCI ex CW (MSCI ex Controversial Weapons) indices, which exclude companies which are involved in controversial weapon activities, as the benchmark indices for a range of open-ended funds (tracker Equities sub-funds of the Parworld SICAV).Theam, whose assets under management as of the end of September totalled nearly EUR40bn, in a statement claims to be the first actor in the industry to adopt indices which exclude controversial weapons for its open-ended funds.
La Financière Tiepolo, which as of the beginning of 2013 had about EUR900m in assets under management, will in January unveil a new common investment fund, Tiepolo PME, which is in the process of receiving an AMF license. The FCP, which will be eligible for the new PEA-PME savings regime, will be invested in French small and midcaps. It fits perfectly into the strategy and historical expertise of La Financière Tiepolo in investment, as 27% of overall assets under management at Tiepolo and 36% of assets in the FCP Tiepolo Valeurs are invested in securities which are eligible under PEA-PME criteria.
Angela Merkel a été réélue chancelière mardi par le Bundestag pour un troisième mandat à la tête cette fois d’un gouvernement de «grande coalition» droite-gauche qui devrait prêter serment dans la journée. Angela Merkel a obtenu l’investiture par 462 voix pour, 150 contre et neuf abstentions.
La banque centrale suédoise a, comme le prévoyaient les économistes, abaissé mardi son taux d’intervention de 25 points de base, à 0,75%. La Riksbank a par ailleurs repoussé au premier trimestre 2015 au plus tôt, au lieu du dernier trimestre 2014, toute remontée du taux directeur. La banque centrale a souligné son intention de faire remonter l’inflation, passée depuis deux ans sous son objectif de 2%. Les prix à la consommation ont même reculé en octobre et en novembre.
Moody’s a annoncé mardi avoir abaissé la note souveraine attribuée au Venezuela à Caa1 contre B2. La note est assortie d’une perspective négative, en raison des risques croissants d’effondrement économique et financier du pays, selon l’agence. «Le Venezuela est confronté à des déséquilibres macro-économiques de moins en moins tenables, dont une inflation galopante et une dépréciation marquée du taux de change parallèle», souligne Moody’s.
La production industrielle a progressé de 1,1% en novembre, son rythme le plus élevé en un an, montrent les chiffres officiels publiés lundi. Cette hausse est imputable à un regain d’activité dans les secteurs miniers et des services collectifs et elle témoigne d’une embellie de l'économie aux Etats-Unis.
Les cybercriminels s’introduisent de plus en plus souvent dans les systèmes des sociétés de gestion de fortune afin de dérober l’argent des banques de compensation, mieux protégées, rapporte Financial Times Fund Management. Au moins six gérants de fortune ont été utilisés pour faciliter des «casses» internet de plusieurs millions de livres au Royaume-Uni ces quatre derniers mois, selon un responsable de Kroll.
Les ministres des finances de la zone euro et de l’Union se retrouvent aujourd’hui et demain pour tenter de clarifier leur copie sur l’autorité et le fonds de résolution unique. Mario Draghi a mis en garde contre trop de complexité qui affaiblirait l’union bancaire.
La Consob, le gendarme de la Bourse italien, accuse le gérant américain d’avoir franchi le seuil de 10% sans le déclarer. Le premier gérant mondial par actifs gérés récuse ces accusations. Il n’en reste pas moins que son influence sur les marchés, que lui confère sa taille, commence à interpeller.
Le gendarme de la Bourse italien accuse le gestionnaire d’avoir franchi le seuil de 10% sans le déclarer. L'influence du groupe sur les marchés interpelle
Ofi AM va absorber Macif Gestion et Ofi Mandats le 1er juin prochain. Le groupe unifié veut doubler ses actifs pour atteindre 100 milliards d’euros dans cinq ans.