Investors have regained confidence in the global economic outlook following resolution of the U.S. debt crisis, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey, carried out between 1 and 7 November, of a sample of panelists with USD599bn in assets under management. With political paralysis in Washington overcome, a net 67 percent of respondents now expect the world’s economy to strengthen over the next 12 months – up a notable 13 percentage points from October. In an important new question for the survey, investors were asked when the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin “tapering” its bond purchases – a signal that the central bank views economic conditions as robust enough to lessen its support. Forty-eight percent see this happening next March. Eighteen percent expect it in the second quarter of 2014.Investors increased their equity allocations slightly during the month to a net 52 percent overweight, while also upping their underweight in bonds. Their biggest shift was into global emerging markets equities, where they returned to a net overweight, while strong overweights in eurozone and Japanese stocks were moderated slightly. Strikingly, a small net majority of asset allocators now view equities as overvalued. This marked the first such reading on this measure since March 2004, but regionally, Europe is still considerably undervalued compared to the U.S. Over the month, fund managers also shifted their preferences strongly between global emerging markets. Reflecting the restoration of a potential hard landing in China as the greatest tail risk globally, emerging markets specialists scaled back their overweight in the country substantially to a net 11 percent, down 45 percentage points. China replaced Russia as their top pick among the BRIC markets on a 12-month basis, however.

finews reports that Crédit Agricole Switzerland has recruited Patrick Ramsey, who will be head of the new Swiss private banking division as well as for Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore, as its new head of the private clients division. He will report to Hervé Catala, CEO of Crédit Agricole Switzerland.Ramsey was CEO of Barclays Bank (Switzerland), head of wealth management Switzerland and country manager at Barclays Group for Switzerland. Before that, he was CEO of Merrill Lynch for Switzerland.Crédit Agricole Suisse has also recruited Hans Diederen as director of private banking for Asia, who will report to Ramsey, along with Youssef Dib, who has been appointed as head of ultra-high net worth investors (UHNWI). Diederen was previously at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, while for his part, Dib was global coordinator at BNP Paribas Private Banking.

The asset management unit at UniCredit, housed at Pioneer, recorded net inflows of EUR7.7bn in the first nine months of the year. Captive and non-captive clients both contributed to inflows, the Italian bank says. As of the end of September, assets under management totalled USD168.9bn, up 7% since the beginning of the year (+EUR11bn), also due to positive currency effects (+EUR3.3bn).

According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, Gérard Moulin is leaving Delubac Asset Management this Wednesday. He is reportedly leaving to “manage much more” at another firm.It is thus not entirely by chance that Delubac AM on 12 November announced the arrival of Timothée Malphettes as head of equity management. Malphettes managed the Covea Equities Euro until his departure from Covea.The firm states that Malphettes will “aim to develop equity expertise at the structure, and will also manage the Delubac Pricing Power fund, alongside Séverine Alluin, co-manager of the fund since 2011.” The new recruit states that with Alluin, he will continue to “manage the Delubac Pricing Power fund with respect for the selection criteria of the companies that make its success.”

South Korea and Russia are expected to announce a joint fund of USD500m on Wednesday to stimulate trade and investment between the two countries, on the occasion of a visit to Seoul by Vladimir Putin, the Financial Times predicts. The fund, which will be financed and managed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Korea Investment Corporation, comes as part of efforts to triple flows of direct investments between the two countries in the next two years.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a statement on practices governed by the Takeover Bid Directive (TBD), focused on shareholder cooperation issues relating to acting in concert and the appointment of board members. The statement contains a White List of activities that shareholders can cooperate on without the presumption of acting in concert.The statement is in response to a request by the European Commission for clarity on these issues.

Domenico Siniscalco has resigned from the chairmanship of Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset managers, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. The decision was taken in order to avoid a “potential conflict of interests” between his position as chairman of the association of asset management firms, and his role as head of Morgan Stanley, at the time of the reorganization at Telecom Italia. Morgan Stanley is advising the telecommunications firm on its sales of assets, and for an issue of convertible bonds, but these operations are contested by minority shareholders in Telecom Italia.Domenico Siniscalco will be replaced by his vice chairman at Assogestioni, Giordano Lombardo, president of Pioneer, until the convocation of a general assembly.

Funds People reports that Mutuactivos has notified the CNMV of its decision to open the liquidation period for its Mutuafondo Multimix fund of funds as of 7 November 2013. Due to the effects of redemptions and transfers to other funds from the group, assets in the product had fallen to EUR13.7m as of the end of June.As of the end of September, the Multimix posted returns of 4.25% since the beginning of the year. Its annualised performance over three and five years was 2.84% and 2.72%, respectively, according to calculations by the Inverco association of asset management firms.

Last month, the daily trading volume of on-book trades on ETFs on the European markets on NYSE Euronext fell to EUR192.4m in September, after an increase of 14.2% in August. Compared with October 2012, it has fallen by 13.5%.The median spread last month totalled 25.3 basis points, compared with 28.1 basis points in September 2013, and 29 basis points in October 2012.As of the end of October, the European markets of NYSE Euronext listed 557 ETFs 645 times. Three new funds were added to trading in October, two from Lyxor and one from EasyETF.

The British firm F&C Investments on 11 November announced plans to launch a new fund for its multi-asset class targeted risk fund, which already includes four products. The F&C MM Lifestyle Foundation Fund will be the least risky of the range, with an allocation to cash/fixed income of 64.3%, a proportion of equities of 27.7%, and a proportion of real estate of 8%. Each fund invests in a basket of 35 to 40 funds or instruments, and the range currently weighs about GBP435m.

M&G Investments is planning to launch a new income fund as an addition to its multi-asset class range, Citywire reports. The fund, M&G Income Allocation fund, is still pending permission from the authorities. It will be managed by Steven Andrew.

BNY Mellon has been awarded a Capital Markets Services licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for its new dedicated Singapore-based subsidiary to provide fund management services in Singapore. The licence was approved on 11, November 2013.With the new licence, the Singapore subsidiary, BNY Mellon Investment Management Singapore Pte. Limited, will be able to conduct a full range of investment management activities, including research, portfolio management, marketing and sales of collective investment schemes. BNY Mellon Investment Management has been offering global investment solutions to institutional investors in the region through its investment boutiques.BNY Mellon employs over 450 people in the city.

As announced to Newsmanagers by George Muzinich (see Newsmanagers of 7 October), the New York-based asset management firm Muzinich & Co (USD25bn in assets) has launched its Emerging Markets Short duration Bond Fund, which, as its name indicates, invests in a diversified portfolio of investment grade and high yield short-duration corporate bonds, issued by companies focused on emerging markets.For the new Luxembourg-registered fund, managed by Warren Hyland and Christina Bastin, which prefers bonds in hard currencies, for the moment only a super-inistitutional S share class (IE00BCCW0T67), with a minimal subscription of USD100m, has been launched. These shares charge 0.5%, but A shares in US dollars, euros and pounds sterling charge 0.8%. Assets total about USD60m.

On 12 November, NYSE Euronext admitted a 558th ETF to trading on the European markets, in Amsterdam. It is a FinEx fund, the Fin Ex HELD Gold, whose ticker is FXGD and which replicates the morning gold fixing in London (Gold London AM fixing). The total expense ratio totals 0.45%.Elsewhere, 15 new Netherlands-registered funds from SNS Beleggingfondsen (non-ETF) have been admitted to the NYSE Euronext NAV Trading Facility (formerly Euronext Fund Service of EFS). This brings the total number of non-ETF funds listed on the platform to 209. The list of new products is available in the attached pdf document.

Lazard Asset Management has launched a UCITS version of its Global Hexagon equity strategy, Fundweb reports. The long/short fund, Lazard Global Hexagon Equity, invests worldwide, including in emerging markets. The portfolio manager, Jean-Daniel Malan, will manage the fund.

A regain in interest in European equities has given an unexpected boost to a long neglected segment: 130/30 funds, Financial Times fund management reports. For example, the Europe Equity Plus fund from JPMorgan, launched in 2007, has seen its assets leap to USD1.25bn, although it had only USD24m in December 2012.

The British boutique James Hambro & Partners has recruited Christopher Macklin, a former portfolio manager from Schroders Private Bank, as business development manager, Fundweb reports.Macklin, whose primary mission will be to develop activities with clients, will report directly to Tim Broughton.Assets under management and advised by Hambro & Partners total GBP1.2bn.

Net inflows to equity funds are on track to reach their highest levels since 2000, according to the most recent edition of the Pridham Report. According to statistics from the British investment management association (IMA), net inflows to equity funs have already topped GBP8bn in the first nine months of the year. In third quarter, Standard Life Investments tops the rankings for sales with net inflows of GBP819.9m. It is followed by Schroders with GBP622.1m, Artemis (GBP498.5m), Henderson (GBP481.9m) and BlackRock (GBP471.8m).

Fund managers and analysts at SAC Capital Advisors are in talks with competing hedge fund firms, including Moore Capital Management, to join these companies as SAC prepares to close its London office, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources familiar with the matter. In addition to Moore, SAC employees have been in talks with Millennium Management, BlueCrest Capital Management and Balyazny Asset Management.

Schroders on 13 November announced its decision to bring its convertible bond management in-house, which since the beginning of 2008 has been outsourced to an external partner, the Swiss firm Fisch Asset Management.Peter Reinmuth, manager of the current “star” funds of the range, Schroder ISF Convertible Bond and Schroder ISF Asian Convertible Bond, will join the British asset management firm on 29 November 2013. he will be accompanied by two other experts from Fisch AM (including a member of the trading team), as well as an external manager, all of whom will join the British group by the end of Npvember to manage existing vehicles. The management team will be distributed between Zurich and Singapore, and will be placed under the responsibility of the Frenchman Philippe Lespinard, CIO Fixed Income at Schroders.Schroders has a volume of assets under management of nearly EUR1.5bn in convertible bonds, and as of 2013 has posted net inflows of over EUR500m to this asset class.

La production industrielle a reculé de 0,5% en septembre dans la zone euro, plus que le repli de 0,3% attendu par le consensus Reuters. Eurostat a révisé à la baisse les chiffres d’août, à -1,1% contre -1,9% annoncé le mois dernier.

Le produit intérieur brut russe devrait enregistrer en 2013 une croissance comprise entre 1,5 et 1,6%, en-dessous de la prévision officielle de 1,8% qui constituait déjà une révision à la baisse, a annoncé Alexeï Oulioukaïev, le ministre de l’Economie. Malgré ce ralentissement, l’inflation se maintient au-dessus de l’objectif de la banque centrale, fixé entre 5 et 6%, ce qui l’a conduit à maintenir vendredi dernier son taux directeur inchangé.

Le taux de chômage en Grande-Bretagne devrait baisser plus rapidement que prévu en raison d’une accélération de la reprise économique, a déclaré la Banque d’Angleterre dans son rapport trimestriel sur l’inflation (BoE) mais cela ne la conduira pas pour autant à accélérer la remontée de ses taux d’intérêt. Selon la BoE, le taux de chômage pourrait tomber à 7,0% au cours des trois derniers trimestres de 2014, soit deux ans plus tôt que ce qui avait prévu cet été. «L’intention du comité de politique monétaire est de maintenir en l'état une politique monétaire extrêmement accommodante jusqu'à ce que les faiblesses de l'économie soient suffisamment corrigées», a précisé la BoE. A son arrivée, le gouverneur de la BoE, Mark Carney, avait indiqué que le taux directeur ne sera pas relevé tant que le chômage ne sera pas revenu sous les 7%.

La Banque de France prévoit une accélération de la croissance de l'économie française au quatrième trimestre de cette année (+0,4%), qui ferait suite à un ralentissement au troisième. La BdF avait abaissé début octobre sa prévision pour le troisième trimestre, à 0,1% contre 0,2% auparavant. L’Insee doit publier demain les chiffres de la croissance pour le troisième trimestre, qui feront suite à une hausse de 0,5% au deuxième.

Le président américain Barack Obama a selon un représentant de la Maison blanche nommé Timothy Massad, un avocat ayant fait ses preuves dans le cadre du programme de sauvetage des banques, en tant que prochain patron de l’autorité des dérivés, la Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Un choix qui doit encore être confirmé par le Sénat. Le mandat de l’actuel président de la CFTC, Gary Gensler, arrive à échéance le 3 janvier prochain.

L’agence a abaissé à AA la note de crédit de huit entités liées à l’Etat français, désormais assortie d’une perspective stable, après avoir fait de même avec la note souveraine vendredi dernier. Les entités concernées sont l’Agence française de développement, l’Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, la Caisse centrale de réassurance, la Caisse des dépôts et consignations, la Caisse nationale des autoroutes, la Société anonyme de gestion de stocks de sécurité, la Société de financement local et l’Unedic. S&P a également abaissé à AA la note de dettes senior de Natixis garanties par la CDC.

Eurazeo a annoncé avoir engagé des négociations exclusives avec Montefiore Investment et Plume Finance en vue du rachat d’Asmodee, éditeur et distributeur de jeux de société et de cartes à jouer ou à collectionner. La valeur d’entreprise ressort à 143 millions d’euros selon Eurazeo, qui investirait environ 102 millions de fonds propres aux côtés du management et des fondateurs pour près de 13 millions.

Les négociateurs de l’Union européenne sont parvenus à un accord sur le budget 2014, en baisse de 6% à 135,5 milliards d’euros, avec un accent mis sur la lutte contre le chômage des jeunes. Environ deux tiers des dépenses iront dans les subventions agricoles et des investissements tels que le développement des infrastructures routières dans les pays du centre et de l’est du continent. Cet accord doit encore être avalisé par le Conseil européen et le Parlement européen en séance plénière.

La chaîne télévisée avance de sources proches que la société de private equity entend introduire en Bourse de Londres au cours du premier trimestre 2014 le spécialiste des produits pour animaux domestiques. KKR, qui aurait placé Goldman Sachs, BoA Merrill Lynch et Nomura sur le dossier, pourrait en retirer 1,5 milliard de livres, l’équivalent de 1,8 milliard d’euros.

L’ex-Axa Private Equity «veut marquer son indépendance» selon le quotidien, qui cite des données fournies par l’institut de référence Preqin, avec un premier fonds d’investissement dédié au marché secondaire, «aux objectifs ambitieux». Ardian envisage en effet de solliciter les investisseurs à hauteur de 7,5 milliards de dollars. Comme le précédent levé il y a seize mois pour 8 milliards, le nouveau véhicule comprendrait trois compartiments, dont un de co-investissement permettant aux investisseurs d’intervenir directement à ses côtés. Le quotidien cite Dow Jones qui assurait le mois dernier que 80 à 90% du dernier fonds en date avaient déjà été investis.