L'écosystème de la gestion française compte énormément de petites structures. 76 % des sociétés de gestion comptent ainsi moins de 20 salariés, a rappelé Fitch Ratings lors d’une conférence à Paris ce mercredi. Investir dans les fonds d’une petite société de gestion est-il plus risqué que de choisir le produit proposé par une plus grande structure ? Les membres de la table ronde qui était consacrée aux sociétés de gestion entrepreneuriales estiment généralement que non. Concernant le risque opérationnel, «il a presque totalement disparu, grâce au recours à l’externalisation pour un certain nombre d’opérations», indique Nicolas Duban, président de Next AM, filiale de la Française spécialisée dans l’incubation des petits asset managers. Il n’en demeure pas moins que les petites structures n’ont pas vocation à le rester. «Et c’est là qu’elles ne sont souvent pas bien armées», analyse Nicolas Duban, pour qui «de nombreuses petites sociétés de gestion ne savent pas se vendre ou mettre leurs qualités en avant». A elles de faire des efforts sur le marketing, la distribution et le commercial pour gagner en importance. Du côté d’Invesco, Bernard Aybran, directeur général délégué, indique effectuer une due diligence un peu différente pour les petites sociétés que pour les plus grandes maisons. Pour obtenir des informations de type «corporate», les informations n’ont pas toujours aisément disponible, ce qui demande davantage de recherche et de temps. «Nous enquêtons également de manière plus approfondie sur le pedigree des gérants et plus généralement sur les aspects plus humains au lieu d’examiner la structure dans son ensemble», précise Bernard Aybran. Pour un investisseur institutionnel, l’approche est la même. Jean-Claude Guimiot, directeur général délégué d’Agrica Epargne, cite notamment l’importance du risque de réputation, qui demande un suivi spécifique sur les questions de morale par exemple. En amont, il fait attention au passé professionnel des gérants et à leurs qualités reconnues. Parallèlement, il s’agit pour Agrica Epargne de s’assurer «de la stabilité financière de la structure et de la durabilité de la gestion proposée par la société de gestion». Souvent entrepreneuriales, les petits asset managers portent parfois le nom de leur fondateur ou reposent sur la réputation professionnelle et l’expérience d’un personnage «clé». Ce «key man risk» est-il plus présent au sein de ces petites structures? Pour Bernard Aybran, il est certain que si de nombreuses petites sociétés de gestion ont mis en place des équipes et des plans de secours pour atténuer l’effet «key man risk», c’est souvent encore un «homme orchestre» qui se trouve à la tête de la société de gestion et qui gère les portefeuilles tout en s’occupant de la vie quotidienne de l’entreprise. «Pour nous qui sommes sélectionneurs de fonds, il est donc important d’identifier quels sont les points forts et les points faibles de ce personnage et que tout soit mis en œuvre au sein de la société pour qu’il intervienne principalement là où il est bon, ce qui n’est pas évident si cette personne a plusieurs casquettes», explique le directeur général délégué d’Invesco. «Le key man risque nous paraît donc plus important que dans une plus grande structure, où les professionnels ont davantage un profil d’ouvrier spécialisé», ajoute-t-il. Jean-Claude Guimiot estime pour sa part que le poids de l’homme clé est tout aussi important dans de nombreuses grandes sociétés, «bien qu’il soit plus déguisé», souligne-t-il. «Même dans les grandes sociétés de gestion, où l’on se cache derrière un process et des méthodes de gestion, il y a un homme clé, celui qui déplace le curseur. De ce que je peux dire de mon expérience avec les grands asset managers, c’est que derrière les modèles il y a toujours une personne qui manipule ces modèles», ajoute Jean-Claude Guimiot. Et de préciser que lorsqu’on est investisseur dans une petite société de gestion , «on n’est pas ficelé à un OPCVM, on peut sortir». Des liens qui, selon le directeur général délégué d’Agrica Epargne, sont parfois plus difficiles à rompre avec des grandes maisons auxquelles on est lié traditionnellement.

Amundi a annoncé mercredi 9 octobre avoir finalisée l’acquisition de Smith Breeden Associates. Ainsi, après s’être conformée aux usages en matière d’information des autorités de régulation et avoir reçu le consentement de certains clients et actionnaires, Smith Breeden Associates est devenue Amundi Smith Breeden, filiale à 100 % de la société de gestion française, indique un communiqué.Patrick Pagni, senior regional officer pour l’Amérique du Nord chez Amundi a été nommé executive chairman, et Mike Giarla reste chief executive officer.L’acquisition de Smith Breeden répond à trois objectifs clés pour Amundi : offrir à ses clients institutionnels et corporates basés en Europe, en Asie et au Moyen-Orient une expertise en gestion d’actifs sur des produits en dollars américains ; renforcer la composante US dans le Global Fixed Income ; amplifier la distribution des expertises Amundi aux Etats-Unis. Pour sa part, Smith Breeden doit, par cette opération, renforcer son développement auprès des clients américains, étendre sa base de clients institutionnels et bénéficier de l’ensemble des ressources mondiales de la société de gestion française en matière d’investissement, de recherche, de service clientèle et de fonctions support. Les membres du nouveau comité de direction d’Amundi Smith Breeden sont : Patrick Pagni, Amundi Senior Regional Officer for North America, Executive Chairman, Amundi Smith Breeden; Mike Giarla, CEO, Amundi Smith Breeden; Stephen Eason, CFA, Senior Executive Vice President, Amundi Smith Breeden; Markus Krygier, PhD, Senior Executive Vice President, Amundi Smith Breeden; Pascal Blanqué, Directeur general délégué d’Amundi, CIO, Directeur de la division Institutionnels et Distributeurs Tiers; Eric Brard, Responsible mondial des gestions Taux d’Amundi ; et Bernard de Wit, Directeur general délégué d’Amundi, Chief Operating Officer, Responsable des supports et du développement.

Lors d’une présentation à Paris mercredi, Invesco a mis en exergue deux de ses fonds asiatiques de droit luxembourgeois (compartiments de la sicav coordonnée Invesco Funds) qui rencontrent un écho positif chez les investisseurs. C’est notamment le cas du Greater China Equity Fund (*), dont l’encours se situe actuellement aux alentours de 1,7 milliard de dollars contre 1,28 milliard fin aût et 800 millions fin décembre. Quant aux actifs gérés dans l’Asia Consumer Demand Fund (**), ils représentent actuellement 750 millions de dollars contre 666,2 millions un mois auparavant.Le premier produit, géré par Mike Shiao, comporte actuellement entre 60 et 65 lignes (avec un taux de rotation de 75 %) contre 50 auparavant, pour faire face à l’afflux de liquidités. Il est investi à 50 % en Chine, à 20 % dans des sociétés hong-kongaises et à 30 % dans des firmes taiwanaises. Il est très surpondéré en valeurs de consommation discrétionnaire et courante ainsi qu’en informatique, et sous-pondéré en financières.Quant au fonds axé sur la consommation asiatique, géré par Mike Shiao et William Yuen, tous deux basés à Hong-Kong, son portefeuille comprend 59 lignes. Il est lui aussi surpondéré sur les valeurs de consommatrion discrétionnaire et courante et en titres chinois par rappport à l’indice MSCI AC Asia ex Japan ND, mais sous-pondéré en financières.A Hong-Kong, Invesco compte 22 professionnels de la gestion et ses encours Asie-Pacifique, Japon compris, de montent à quelque 22 milliards de dollars sur un total de 705 milliards pour le groupe. Le gestionnaire dispose de deux contingents QFII pour 400 millions de dollars au total et d’un contingent QDII pour 400 millions de dollars également.(*) LU0100600369(**) LU0334857512

L'équipe investissement/gestion de fortune en Espagne au sein de Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, dirigée par Nicolás Barquero, vient d'être renforcée par Carlos Marzano, directeur de la stratégie d’entreprise chez BAMI depuis 2010, ainsi que par Paulo Barrio, qui était depuis 2011 responsable de l’offre et de la commercialisation produits structurés chez Banesto, rapporte Funds People.

La Deutsche Börse a annoncé avoir admis à la négociation sur le segment XTF de sa plate-forme électronique Xetra un ETF supplémentaire de Lyxor Asset Management. Il s’agit d’un produit coordonné de droit français spécialiste des actions japonaises. Ce produit, couvert quotidiennement du risque de change euro/yen, porte à 1.034 le nombre des ETF cotés à Francfort.CaractéristiquesDénomination : Lyxor UCITS ETF Japan (TOPIX) – Daily Hedged D-EURCode Isin : FR0011475078Indice de référence : Topix Gross total returnTaux de frais sur encours : 0,45 %

Avec la transposition en droit allemand de la directive européenne sur les gestionnaires alternatifs avec la loi KAGB, le francfortois SEB Asset Management (12,9 milliards d’euros d’encours) voit de nouvelles chances pour les fonds immobiliers sur le marché local.Cela va se traduire dans un premier temps par le lancement du fonds immobilier offert au public SEB Konzept Stiftungsfonds qui est spécifiquement destiné aux fondations et pour lequel la souscription minimale est fixée à 50.000 euros.Dès que juridiquement possible, SEB AM compte également lancer sous le nouveau régime KAGB deux fonds immobiliers offerts au public. Le module «Basis» se concentrera sur des actifs situés en Allemagne, mais pourra investir ailleurs en Europe. Ce seront des immeubles loués sur le long terme, bien situés et avec des locataires offrant une bonne solvabilité, de sorte que le rendement pourrait n'être que modéré.Quant au module «Chance», son univers sera européen mais avec la possibilité d’investir hors d’Europe. Les actifs seront situés dans des quartiers notés «B» et SEB AM souhaite trouver des taux de vacance élevés, parce que cela ouvre la perspective de relouer dans de bonnes conditions. Au total, le rendement devrait être supérieur, comme le risque.

Northern Trust has taken the licence for the new Stoxx Ltd index, Stoxx Global Broad Infrastructure, for a new ETF which will be released by FlexShares. This new product captures the performance of the largest companies in the global infrastructure industry. It currently has 155 components. Among the top companies by free-float market cap, are AT&T, Canadian national Railway and Deutsche Post.To be eligible for inclusion, companies must have a minimum average daily trading volume of USD1m and generate at least half of their revenues from the following five «supersectors": Communications, Energy, Government Outsourcing/ Social, Transportation and Utilities. To identify eligible firms and ensure they derive 50% or more of their revenues from infrastructure-related business, Stoxx has partnered with FactSet, a global provider of financial analytics and information, to use the FactSet Revere Sector and Industry Classifications and FactSet Supply Chain Relationships datasets. .

During a presentation in Paris on Wednesday, Invesco highlighted two of its Asian, Luxembourg-registered ufnds (sub-fnuds of the UCITS-compliant Sicav Invesco Funds), which have been positively received by investors. This is especially true of the Greater China Equity Fund (LU0100600369), whose assets now total about USD1.7bn, comapred with USD1.28bn as of the end of August, and USD800m at the end of December. Assets under management in the Asia Consumer Demand Fund (LU0334857512) now represent only USD750m, comapred with USD666.2m one year previously.The first product, managed by Mike Shiao, currently has between 60 and 65 positions (with a turnover rate of 75%), up from 50 previously, in order to meet an influx of liquidity. It is 50% invested in China. 20% in Hong Kong companies, and 30% in Taiwan firms. It is highly overweight in discretionary consumer and staples stocks and IT, and underweight in financials.The fund based on Asian consumer spending, managed by Shiao and William Yuen, both based in Hong Kong, has 59 positions in its portfolio. It is also overweright on discretionary and staple consumer products and Chinese stocks compared with the MSCI AC Asia ex-Japan ND index, but underweight in fnancials.

Loomis Sayles is launching a fund of emerging market corporate bonds, Loomis Sayles Emerging Market Corporate Bond, Citywire Global reveals. The fund was registered on 1 October, and will be launched in November. It will be managed by Peter Frick, David Rolley, Edgardo Sternberg, Elisabeth Colleran, and Peter Marber.

The portfolio manager Mitch Milias, who has previously participated in the management of the Vanguard Primecap Fund, whose assets under mangement total over USD36bn, the Primecap Core Fund (USD5.8bn), has decided to discontinue his portfolio management activity by the end of 2013. The allocations from the managed funds which Milias had been responsible for will be given to co-managers of the various funds, Joel P Fried, Theo A Kolokotrones, Alfred W Mordecai, and M Mohsin Ansari. Milias, co-founder and chairman of Primecap Management Company, will continue, however, to work at Vanguard in management and client relationship roles.

Le groupe AXA a annoncé le 9 octobre qu’il s’engageait à renforcer l’intégration des critères environnementaux, sociaux et de gouvernance (ESG) dans les politiques d’investissement de ses filiales d’assurance AXA a en outre signé les Principes des Nations Unies pour l’Investissement Responsable (UN PRI) La politique d’investissement responsable (IR) du Groupe est «une avancée significative qui traduit la forte conviction d’AXA que les facteurs ESG peuvent à long terme impacter les portefeuilles d’investissement, que ce soit au niveau des entreprises, des régions, des secteurs ou des classes d’actifs», souligne AXA dans un communiqué. Cette influence pouvant affecter le profil de risque et de rendement des investissements, elle exige une analyse proactive et structurée. Sur la base de cette conviction, les critères ESG sont progressivement et systématiquement intégrés dans les mandats d’investissement du Groupe, pour l’ensemble des classes d’actifs et des régions. Des outils de mesure dédiés sont également en cours de perfectionnement afin de s’assurer que la performance ESG est suivie avec précision.Ce processus d’intégration («mainstreaming»), qui complète la création de fonds ISR (Investissement Socialement Responsable) spécialisés, s’applique aux investissements pour compte propre (actif général) du Groupe, dont la stratégie d’allocation entre classes d’actifs reste inchangée. La politique établit également un cadre pour le développement structuré de règles d’investissement dans les secteurs qui peuvent poser des défis environnementaux, sociaux ou éthiques particuliers. En outre, la politique IR initie le projet « Impact Investment » du Groupe. Cette innovation a pour objectif de contribuer au capital d’organisations qui cherchent à répondre à des défis sociétaux comme le changement climatique, la santé, la longévité, la pauvreté… Le groupe a initialement alloué 150 millions d’euros à cette initiative qui permettra d’investir dans divers fonds sociaux ainsi que dans des projets environnementaux qui produisent également des impacts sociaux positifs.Enfin, la politique IR définit les pratiques de gouvernance d’entreprise que les gérants d’actifs doivent encourager, y compris par l’engagement actionnarial et le vote. « Notre nouvelle politique d’investissement responsable est à la fois un aboutissement et un commencement. Elle est le résultat d’un processus rigoureux visant à aligner les intérêts et les pratiques de l’ensemble des filiales d’AXA en matière d’investissement responsable. Une démarche dédiée au suivi de la mise en place de cette politique assurera son bon déploiement ainsi que le respect de nos engagements vis-à-vis des Principes des Nations Unies pour l’Investissement Responsable », a déclaré Laurent Clamagirand, Directeur des Investissements du Groupe AXA.

Amundi on October 9 announced that it has finalized its acquisition of Smith Breeden Associates. After meeting information requirements to the regulatory authorities and receiving the consent of certain clients and shareholders, Smith Breeden Associates has become Amundi Smith Breeden, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the French asset management firm, a statement says.Patrick Pagni, senior regional officer for North America at Amundi, has been appointed executive chairman, and Mike giarla remains as chief executive officer.The acquisition of Smith Breeden meets three key objectives for Amundi: Offer its institutional and corporate clients based in Europe, Asia and the Middle East expertise in asset management for products denominated in US dollars; strengthen the US component of the Global Fixed Income fund; and to amplify distribution of Amundi expertise in the United States. For its part, Smith Breeden will, as a part of the operation, reinforce its development serving US clients, extend its institutional client base, and benefit from the all of the global resources of the French asset management firm in the areas of investment, research, customer service and support functions.The menbers of the new board of directors at Amundi Smith Breeden are: Patrick Pagni, Amundi Senior Regional Officer for North America, Executive Chairman, Amundi Smith Breeden; Mike Giarla, CEO, Amundi Smith Breeden; Stephen Eason, CFA, Senior Executive Vice President, Amundi Smith Breeden; Markus Krygier, PhD, Senior Executive Vice President, Amundi Smith Breeden; Pascal Blanqué, deputy CEO of Amundi, CIO, director of the institutionals and third-party distirbutors division; Eric Brard, global head of fixed income management at Amundi; and Bernard de Wit, Ddeputy CEO of Amundi, Chief Operating Officer, responsible for support and development.

Fourpoints IM has recruited Emmannuelle Ferreira as an analyst manager on the management team in Paris. Ferreira, who holds a DESS In portfolio management from the University of Paris XII and SFAF (CIIA), had been a manager of the SICAV des Analystes at Acofi Gestion. Fourpoints IM has over EUR1bn in assets under management, after an incrase of 46% in its assets since the beginning of the year, and of over 57% since the merger between PIM Gestion France and IT Asset Management in May 2012, a statement says.

The savings office of the Korean post office, which has about USD60bn in assets under management, has launched a request for proposals for a global mandate for at least USD1bn, in order to increase its exposure to US and European real estate, Asian Investor reports. At least 80% of initial investmnts will be dedicated to US and European real estate assets. For the United States, the strategies will be value, distressed or opportunities, while for Europe, they will bbe distressed or opportunity-driven. As an additional requirements for European real estate, at least 50% must be invested in OECD member countries. The request for proposals is open until 30 October.

In a few weeks, FX Concepts, which was the largest asset management firm in the world focused on currencies, will be closing its asset management activities and repaying money to investors, the Wall Street Journal reports. Assets have fallen to USD660m, from USD14bn at the onset of the financial crisis.

AXA commits to better integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into investment decisions of the Group’s insurance companies, according to a statement. Furthermore, AXA signs the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI). AXA’s RI policy is a significant move forward and a strong reflection of the Group’s longstanding belief that ESG factors have the potential to impact investment portfolios across companies, sectors, regions and asset classes over time, thereby affecting risk and returns - and as such require active consideration and monitoring. Based on this conviction, ESG criteria are being progressively and systematically integrated in AXA’s investment mandates, across asset classes and regions. Specific measurement tools are also being refined to ensure that ESG performance is tracked accurately. This «mainstreaming» process, which complements the creation of specialist, dedicated RI products, applies to the Group’s general account investments, whose current strategic allocation between asset classes remains unchanged. The policy also sets the framework for the structured development of investment guidelines for sectors that can pose environmental, social or ethical challenges. Furthermore, it initiates the Group’s pioneering «Impact Investment» project, which aims to allocate capital to organisations that address key societal challenges in the areas of environmental (e.g.: climate change), life (e.g.: health & longevity), or socio-economic (e.g.: poverty) risks. Impact investments seek to create both financial returns and a positive social or environmental impact that is actively measured. The Group has initially committed Euro 150 million to this initiative that will invest in various social funds as well as environmental projects which also demonstrate social impacts.

Meredith Whitney, whose negative recommendations on financial sector stocks before the financial crisis made her one of the most famous analysts on Wall Street, has asked for her eponymous brokerage firm to be de-registered, and is planning to launch a hedge fund, the Financial Times reports. Whitney has tol Finra that she is founding a firm entitled Kenbelle Capital. “I am the managing principal/chief investment officer for a long/short fund,” she wrote in an official document.

Paris-based asset management firm BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP) has recently obtained a first important endowment mandate from the United States, Newsmanagers understands. The mandate may be for several hundred millions of dollars, from the endowment of the University of Michigan. The mandate open attractive prospects on a promising market, as endowments, like other US institutional investors, tend to extend mandates when they are satisfied with the results of their first bet.

Sovereign funds remain too little legible and too dependent on the influence of politics. Only one third of the 26 sovereign funds which have signed the Santiago generally accepted principles and practices (GAPP) which aims to promote the “objectives and finality of sovereign funds” passed the good governance, transparency and resopnsibility tests, acording to a sruvey by the Swiss consulting firm GeoEconomica.The survey finds that many sovereign funds, particularly Russian and Middle Eastern funds. Do not respect the basic principles fo good governance or financial information at all.Pension funds from the Norwegisan government top the rankings, with a rating of 94% on the Santiago Principles compliance scale, while sovereign funds from Bahrain take the bottom spots in the rankings, with only 24%. The global ratio is 70%.According to the survey, five funds, which received ratings of under 50%, do not respect the Principles, particuarly since they do not publish financial information.One of the most dynamic sovereign funds, QIA (Qatar Investment Authority), does not offer satisfactory information concerning mandates, its financial reports or its governance framework. The fund received a rating of only 31%.

More than two thirds of asset management boutiques worldwide say that they have been inundated with increasing regulatory requirements and the institutionalisation of the sector, which has led to additional barriers to entry to raise assets and an increase in cost/income ratios, according to a study carried out by Tabb Group in September of 202 boutiques worldwide. The study is entitled «Boutique Business Model Under Attack. Bruised by Regulation, Crippled by Costs?» by Adam Sussman, a partner at TABB, director of research, and co-author of the study by Valerie Bogard. In this environment, the giants of the sector have the advantage of size, while hedge funds continue to attract capital seeking higher-than-average returns. This may result in a rampant consolidation on the buy-side, as companies may be led to consider the costs prohibitive to continue their activities. This development is frankly not desirable, according to TABB, which says that an environment in which banks have become the congruent portion would have negative implications for investors in the sector. “A high degree of concetration would only exacerbate the problems which are driving investors to stay on the edge: correlations between asset classes, a lack of outperformance, and costly management commissions,” TABB says.

Household net worth worldwide is expected to rise steeply between now and 2018, driven by emerging markets, primarily India and China, according to a study by Credit Suisse published on 9 October (“Global Wealth Report 2013.”) The number of millionaires will also spike, particularly in Latin America, economists at the bank predict.Household net worth worldwide is expected to rise by nearly 40% by 2018, to USD334trn. Emerging countries are expected to increase their share of this total to 23%, of which 10.7% will be in China alone. The United States will remain the world’s uncontested leader of the rankings. Annual growth in household net worth will reach 9.1% in emerging markets, with 9.3% in India, and 6.1% developed markets.The number of millionaires worldwide is expected to increase by 50% to 47.6 million people. Africa will see an 81% rise in the number of millionaires, while the expected absolute number (163,000) is relatively low compared with other regions, Credit Suisse reports.Asia-Pacific is expected to see the number of millionaires rise 75% to 11.5 million, Europe 47% to 15 million, Latin America 64% to 936,000, and North America 40% to 21 million.In 2013, the total wealth of households worldwide posted growth of 4.9% in one year, to USD241trn, despite the economic crisis. Due to rising property values and a rebound on the equity markets, North America has seen the assets of households increase 11.9%, while Europe has risen 7.7%.In Japan, however, the fall of the yen against the dollar has led to a 20.5% decline in household net worth, bringing down all of Asia-Pacific by 3.7%. Outside Japan, the region has posted gorwth of 6.2%, however.Latin America has gained 3.6%, and Africa 1.2%.Switzerland, for its part, remains the global champion in personal net worth, with USD512,000 per individual. The strong growth in assets since 2000 has been largely due to the rising Swiss franc.

11 Chinese banks will be authorised to conduct asset management activities independently during a trial period, Financial News reports, citing an article in the Chinese newspaper 21st Centry Business Herald. The banks are the following: Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, China Merchants Bank, China Citic Bank, China Minsheng Bank, China Everbright Bank, Ping An Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Industrial Bank and Bohai Bank.

During a meeting on 9 October, the Federal Council took fiscal measures to assist in the introduction of its financial markets policy. It has approved the signature of the OECD and Concil of Europe convention concerning mutual administrative assistance in tax matters. The Federal Council has also passed a draft mandate concerning a revision to the agreement on taxation of savings signed with the European Union (EU). Since March 2009, Switzerland has agreed to follow international standards in the area of taxation. The signature of the OECD and Council of Europe convention “is a sign of its desire in this respect. This signature also confirms the participation of Switzerland in the global fight against tax fraud and tax theft, strengthening the reputation of the Swiss financial market,” a statement says.

The investment/wealth management team in Spain at Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, led by Nicolas Barquero, has been strengthened with the addition of Carlos Mazano, director of corporate strategy at BAMI since 2010, as well as Paulo Barrio, who since 2011 had been head of the structured product line and sales at Banesto, Funds People reports.

The trustee for the fund of Bernard Madoff on Wednesday appealed to the US Supreme Court in a bid to obtain the right to seek damages from the banks JPMorgan, UBS< HSBC and Unicredit.Lawyers for Irving Picard submitted a request to obtain a review of the verdict delivered on 20 June by an appeals court in New York. The latter court founds that the trustee was not authorised to sue financial institutions, from which he had wanted to seek billions of US dollars in damages.

Deutsche Börse has announced that it has admitted an additional ETF from Lyxor Asset Management to trading on the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic trading platform. It is a French-registered, UCITS-compliant product specialised in Japanese equities. The product, which is hedged against euro/yen currency risk on a daily basis, brings the number of ETFs listed in Frankfurt to 1,034.CharacteristicsName: Lyxor UCITS ETF Japan (TOPIX) – Daily Hedged D-EURISIN code: FR0011475078Benchmark index: Topix Gross total returnTotal expense ratio: 0.45%

With the transposition of the European alternative management directive into the German KAGB Law, the Frankfurt-based firm SEB Asset Management (EUR12.9bn) sees new opportunities for real estate funds on the local market.This will initially result in the launch of the open-ended real estate fund SEB Konzept Stiftungsfonds, which is aimed specifically at charities, and for which the minimal subscription is set at EUR50,000.As soon as legally possible, SEB AM is also planning to launch two open-ended real estate funds under the new KAGB regime. The “Basis” module will concentrate on assets located in Germany, but may also invest elsewhere in Europe. These will be properties leased for the long term, with good locations and tenants who have good solvency, so that returns may only be moderate.The “Chance” module will also have a European universe, but with a way to invest outside Europe. The assets will be located in “B” rated areas, and SEB AM would like to find high vacancy rates, because that opens the prospect of re-leasing under good conditions. In total, returns are expected to be higher, as is risk.

In September, Azimut launched three UCITS funds: Lira Plus, Global Sukuk and Hybrid Bonds, Bluerating reports. The first of these, Lira Plus, is a market neutral strategy on the Turkish pound, while the second, Global Sukuk, invests in fixed and variable rate sukuks which respect the principles of Sharia, and the third, Hybrid Bonds, is invested in hybrid instruments. In September also, the Italian asset management firm recorded net inflows of EUR190m (including EUR108m for asset management).

The international alternative investment management association (AIMA) on 9 October announced the publication of an updated version of its guide to best practices in hedge fund valuation.The most recent version took into account recent regulatory changes, including requirements under the AIFM directive concerning valuation.The guide, whose most recent previous edition was written in 2007, also takes into account new international rules concerning accounts, including the introduction of fair value into financial reports.

David North, the former head of asset allocation and high yield at Legal & General Investment Management, is returning to the asset management industry, Investment Week has announced. He is reportedly seeking to raise capital for a fund similar to the global macro fund which he had managed for many years at LGIM.