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05/11/2013

UBS working to create a new affiliate

The UBS group is planning to create an affiliate in which several activities could be housed, including the Retail & Corporate department and wealth management in Switzerland, according to NZZ, which has detected a few entries related to the project in the latest quarterly report from the bank. This is related to a strategic decision by UBS not to be “too big to fail,” the Swiss newspaper says. However, it should be noted that final decisions concerning the contours of this new structure have not yet been taken.
05/11/2013

Commerz Real cède ses fonds institutionnels à Internos

Avec l’agrément de la BaFin, Commerz Real (34 milliards d’euros) a cédé pour un montant non divulgué sa filiale de fonds immobiliers institutionnels Commerz Real Spezialfondsgesellschaft mbh (CRS) à Internos Global Investors. La vente avait été conclue dans son principe 30 juin (lire Newsmanagers du 1er juillet).CRS détient un portefeuille immobilier de 68 actifs en Europe (bureaux, commerce, hôtels et bâtiments logistiques) correspondant à un volume de 1,6 milliard d’euros. La transaction s’accompagnera du transfert de 17 collaborateurs de CRS chez Internos.Andreas Muschter, président du directoire de Commerz Real a précisé que la société qu’il dirige continuera d’être présente dans l’espace institutionnel, mais sous d’autres formes, comme par exemple des «club deals» ou des investissements dans les énergies renouvelables et les infrastructures. D’autre part, la participation majoritaire dans Amprion (qui exploite le réseau haute tension de RWE) sera conservée dans le portefeuille de Commerz Real.CRS, en revanche, est spécialisée sur des actifs de petite taille qui lient beaucoup de ressources, de sorte qu’elle est moins rentable que d’autres activités de Commerz Real. Mais cette focalisation convient parfaitement pour Internos, qui se concentre déjà sur les fonds institutionnels.
05/11/2013

Blackstone buys a stake of 40% in a shopping centre owner

The Blackstone group has acquired a 40% stake in the SCP company, which manages shopping centres in China, Finance Asia reports. The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed, but a specialist in the sector values Blackstone’s stake at about USD400m. ICBC International, for its part, has acquired a 6% stake in SCP. The investment in SCP represents the largest investment by Blackstone in shopping centres in the Asia-Pacific region.
05/11/2013

Jupiter builds presence in Asia

The British asset management firm Jupiter now has a team of four people in Hong Kong, Asian Investor reports. Jupiter is seeking a fifth person, as it is preparing to occupy permanent offices in the city-state, and is preparing distribution agreements.
05/11/2013

Young hedge fund Naya attacks Essilor

The hedge fund Naya estimates that the share price of Essilor, in which it holds a short stake, is worth EUR60, compared with nearly EUR77 currently, due to inadequate organic growth and rising competition in the future, the firm announced at an annual hedge fund conference, the Sohn Conference, in London, Les Echos reports. The young fund, launched in 2012, has been one of the emblematic launches of the past 18 months in equities. Its founder, Masroor Siddiqi, is a former employee of the activist fund The Children’s Investment fund (TCI). Naya, which has over USD1bn, is supported by the highly influential investor Blackstone, which has invested its own money. The hedge fund is enthusiastic, however, about the luxuries group Salvatore Ferragamo, a share which it feels is worth at least EUR35, compared with EUR25 currently.
05/11/2013

Barclays Wealth to lay off 100 private bankers

According to FundWeb, Barclays Wealth & Investment is to cut 100 private banker jobs, 35% of its private banker worforce, as the bank looks to further streamline its wealth management services. However, the bankers have been incentivised to stay until February 2014.The job cull is partly due to the acquisition of Gerrard 12 years ago when Barclays inherited a number of clients with portfolios under GBP500,000. As a result of the restructure, the clients will be transferred to a section of the banked called «Private Clients» were they will receive a «lighter touch» service.
05/11/2013

Steve Norris becomes non-executive chairman of BNP Paribas RE UK

BNP Paribas Real Estate on Monday, 4 November, announced that it has appointed Steve Norris as its non-executive chairman. As chairman of the board, he will oversee the development of Property Management and Property Development activities. He will also work with the Advisory CEO of BNP Paribas Real Estate UK, to strengthen the positioning of the firm on Trading, Advising and Expertise activities, a statement says.Norris, a member of Parliament for more than 14 years (from 1983 to 1997), was personal Parliamentary secretary to the Minister of the Environment, Commerce and Industry and to the Minister of the Interior, and served as Minister of Transport for London from 1992 to 1996. He was also vice-chairman of the Conservative party. As a businessman, Norris is also chairman of Soho Estates.
05/11/2013

Changing of the guard for real estate at Schroders

Duncan Owen becomes director of real estate at Schroders (GBP10.5bn), effective immediately, succeeding William Hill, who is leaving the position after 25 years, Investment Week reports.Owen arrived at Schroders in early 2012, after serving as CEO of Invista, as a director at LaSalle Investment Management and as a partner at Jones Lang Wootton.Hill will continue to advise the management at Schroders on real estate investment questions.
05/11/2013

Henderson promotes Phil Apel to head of FI

Phil Apel, head of interest rates and chair of the fixed income investment strategy group (ISG) since 2005, has been appointed as head of fixed income at Henderson Glboal Investors (HGI), effective from 4 November 2013. Apel will be responsible for a team of 60 people in the United Kingdom and the United States, with assets of GBP18.3bn as of 30 September 2013, and will report to Rob Gambi, the new CIO recruited from UBS Global AM (see Newsmanagers of 16 October), who will join HGI in early 2014. Portfolio manager James McAlevey will also succeed Apel as head of interest rates, and will be assisted by Mitul Patel.
05/11/2013

Axa Wealth launches low-cost passive strategies

Axa Wealth is offering passive strategies with commissions expected to run about 0.5%, Fundweb reports. According to the managing director of Axa Wealth Specialist Products, Nick Elphick, the new range of funds will offer investments a lower-cost long-term investment strategy. The Elite Diversified Market range, managed by Architas, offers five passive strategies with different asset allocations, appropriate for five different risk profiles. The strategies, which make it possible to offer an annual cost of less than 5%, have been designed for providers of pension plans.
05/11/2013

SLI preparing fund for DC plans

Standard Life Investments (SLI) has announced plans to launch a fund managed by its multi-asset class team in first quarter 2014, aimed at subscribers to defined-contribution retirement savings plans, known as the Enhanced Diversification Growth Fund (EDGF).The objective will be to generate returns similar to those from equities over a cycle, but with lower volatility. To do this, the management team will use a larger number of strategies than for traditional “growth” investment approaches.Louise Kay, head of UK institutional business, adds that SLI will launch a support service intended to help employers and consultants inform and educate members of defined-contribution savings plans about the brand.
05/11/2013

Launch of first offshore RQFII ETF in New York

DBX Advisors, which is owned by Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM), as well as Harvest Global Investment, the Hong Kong-based firm in which DeAWM controls 30% is this week in New York expected to launch the first offshore ETF under RQFII mandates (RMB qualified foreign institutional investor), Asian Investor reports. According to a Hong Kong manager, this would be a less costly means to access the European market, since creating a London office is too expensive. According to various sources, the db x-trackers Harvest China Fund, which replicates the CSI 300 index, may be listed on the New York Stock Exchange on 6 November.
05/11/2013

Axa IM plans to grow service to third-party clients

Axa Investment Management would like to develop its activities with third-party clients clients, Joseph Pinto, global head of markets and investment strategy, stated before the weekend at a weekly press conference. Pinto did not quantify the objectives of the firm, as the developments planned will depend on the geographical situation and the structure of the markets considered. Currently, captive assets under management represent 67% of total assets, compared with 33% for external clients, of which 19% are for institutional investor clients. In Europe, Axa IM is targeting a market share of about 2% in the United Kingdom. Currently, its retail market share has slightly over 2%, but its institutional market share is lower than 0.5%. In Asia, although activities are having difficulty getting started in India, joint ventures in Korea and China are functioning very satisfactorily. Inflows to joint ventures with Kyobo in Korea and Shanghai Pudong development Bank in China have totalled nearly EUR1bn since the beginning of the year, distributed equally between the two firms, Pinto states.
05/11/2013

Former EdRIM employee to co-manage Tocqueville Dividende

Tocqueville Finance has hired Michel Saugné to take over as fund manager of the Tocqueville Dividende fund. He will co-manage the fund with Don Fitzgerald. Since 2004, Saugné had worked at LCF Rothschild, where, after serving as senior manager and a member of the investment board at Edmond de Rothschild Multi Management, and then as head of the alternative multi-management activity, was since 2011 co-head of the direct alternative management activity at LCF Rothschild, at Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers. Saugné will assist with development and innovation in products and management, Tocqueville Finance says.
05/11/2013

Assogestioni selects Russell Reynolds as advisor for governance

The Corporate governance committee at Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset managers, has proposed the headhunter Russell Reynolds Associates as the new advisor for the next season of general shareholders’ meetings. The association relies on an external provider to select the candidates to be on the election or nomination lists for board members and other bodies at publicly-traded businesses.
05/11/2013

Trusteam Finance takes control of Alcyone Finance

Trusteam Finance has announced that it took over Alcyone Finance on Monday, 4 November, along with its asset management and wealth engineering activities. The operation will make it possible to “strengthen the range of house financial products and services, meet the increased needs for performance and the needs of clients for wealth management, institutional management and corporate cash management,” a statement says. In practice, the mutual fund management and wealth engineering activities provided by Alcyone Finance will soon be moved to Trusteam Finance. Assets under managemment total about EUR50m, largely invested in equity funds. In an interview with Newsmanagers, Jean-Sebastien Beslay, founding partner of Trusteam Finance, pointed to the complementarity of management at the two firms, due to the expertise in SRI at Alcyone Finance. The firm has two funds of this nature on sale, and has also signed a partnership with the Care association.
05/11/2013

JPMorgan succumbs to pressure on fees

JPMorgan Asset Management will respond to pressure from investors concerning its fees, by lowering performance fees for its funds, Financial Times fund management reports. The US-based asset management firm is planning to “smooth out” its performance fees over three years, according to Mike O’Brien, global head of institutionals at JPMorgan Asset Management. This will make the funds less costly, with the periods of poor performance taken into account.
05/11/2013

SAC Capital pays USD1.8bn fine

SAC Capital Advisors, the hedge fund run by Steven Cohen, has pleaded guilty to insider trading and agreed to pay a fine of USD1.8bn, the Financial Times reports. Investigators are continuing to investigate transactions by the founder of SAC Capital, however, which suggests that uncertainty still surrounds him. The hedge fund has agreed to stop its activities for third parties. The fine includes USD1.2bn to settle criminal charges and USD616m to settle civil accusations. It becomes the largest fine ever paid for fraud.
05/11/2013

Robeco unveils momentum fund

Willem Jillema, manager of the Luxembourg-based Robeco Momentum Equities I Eur fund, has announced that for the product, launchd on 22 August 2012 (with assets limited to EUR3.5m), it is using a new quantitative model to select equities with positive momentum, while controlling risks by limiting transactions, although this creates some slight added volatility. The objective for the fund, which has received a sales license for Germany, is to profit from the market momentum anomaly and the factoral premium associated with it.Since the launch of the fund, cumulative performance as of 30 September totals 14.73%, or 344 basis points more than the MSCI World Index (net return), but the fund, whose currency of reference is the euro, has no benchmark currency.Currently, the largest positions in the portfolio are Johnson & Johnson, Roche Holding, Gilead Science, ISIS Pharmaceuticals, Bayer and Dürr.CharacteristicsName: Robeco Momentum Equities I EURISIN code: LU0803250884Front-end fee: maximum 0.5%Total expense ratio: 0.94%
05/11/2013

Green light in Germany for Axa IM's SmartBeta Equity

BaFin has awarded a sales license for Germany to the Global SmartBeta Equity sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Axa WF, an equity fund managed by Rosenberg. The fund, aimed at institutionals (I shares) and large institutionals (ZI shares) aims to benefit over the long term “in a diversified, effective and inexpensive manner” from rising equity markets. The objective is to generate outperformance of 100 to 200 basis points over a complete cycle with a volatility 80% of that of the market. The management team will work to avoid speculative bubbles and to limit losses in declining periods (see Newsmanagers of 26 February 2013).Axa IM states that it has about EUR3.1bn in assets under management in smart beta strategies in including EUR1.2bn in bonds and EUR1.9bn in equities.The characteristics of the fund are available as a pdf attachment.
05/11/2013

Pimco loses largest fund title to Vanguard

The Pimco Total Return Fund, managed by Bill Gross, has lost its title as the largest fund in the world to the Total Stock Market Index Fund from Vangard, the Financial Times reports. This is a sign of the disaffection of investors with bonds in favour of equities. The Vanguard fund now has assets of USD250bn, while the Pimco flagship fund has seen its assets fall to USD248bn as of the end of October, following further redemptions.
05/11/2013

SRI fund market rises

The European socially responsible fund sector has reached assets of EUR108bn as of the end of June 2013, a gain of 14% year on year, according to the report “Green, Social and Ethical Funds in Europe,” of which Plus24 has obtained a copy. The study takes into account 922 funds, compared with 884 the previous year. In geographical terms, France remains the largest market for SRI retail funds, but its share has fallen to 7%, with EUR38bn. The United Kingdom comes next (EUR10.5bn), followed by the Netherlands and Switzerland (EUR10bn). Italy, with its 12 SRI funds, represents EUR2.3bn, 2% more than in 2012.
05/11/2013

Trusteam Finance absorbe Alcyone Finance

Les activités de gestion des OPCVM et d’ingénierie patrimoniale assurées par Alcyone Finance seront regroupées prochainement chez Trusteam Finance, ont annoncé les deux groupes. Trusteam Finance qui avait annoncé au 1er janvier 2013 la signature d’un partenariat privilégié avec Monte Paschi Banque en France dans le domaine de la gestion d’actifs poursuit ainsi son développement. Le nouvel ensemble gérera près de 600 millions d’euros pour une clientèle institutionnelle et privée.
05/11/2013

La Commission européenne prévoit une reprise lente en UE

Dans ses prévisions économiques d’automne, Bruxelles a revu en légère baisse sa prévision de croissance 2014 pour l’Union européenne, à 1,1% contre 1,2% attendu il y a six mois, après une contraction de 0,4% cette année. Pour 2015, elle anticipe une accélération à 1,7%. L’inflation dans la zone euro ne devrait pas dépasser 1,5% cette année comme l’an prochain et elle pourrait tomber à 1,4% en 2015, s'éloignant un peu plus de l’objectif de 2% de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE). Quant au chômage, il devrait stagner à 12,2% de la population active l’année prochaine avant de revenir à 11,8% en 2015.
05/11/2013

Londres donne plus de pouvoir aux actionnaires minoritaires

La Financial Conduct Authority britannique a annoncé mardi de nouvelles règles sur le listing pour protéger les investisseurs minoritaires. Cette publication fait suite à une consultation en 2012 du prédécesseur de la FCA, la FSA, sur les introductions à la Bourse de Londres de sociétés ayant un actionnaire de contrôle. Les nouvelles règles donnent notamment un droit de veto aux administrateurs indépendants sur les transactions entre la société cotée et son actionnaire de contrôle, et soumet la nomination de ces indépendants au vote en AG des seuls minoritaires.
05/11/2013

Le ministre des finances italien s’alarme de la hausse de l’euro

Interrogé par le quotidien britannique, Fabrizio Saccomanni met en garde contre les effets négatifs de la hausse de l’euro sur la fragile reprise de l’économie en Europe. Remarquant que la monnaie unique est désormais «la devise la plus forte au monde comparée au dollar, au yuan, à la livre sterling ou au franc suisse», il appelle la BCE à assouplir sa politique monétaire pour soulager les PME dans la région.
05/11/2013

Calpers a doublé le montant de ses bonus l’an dernier

Le fonds de pension californien a révélé hier avoir distribué à ses 130 cadres et employés 7,7 millions de dollars (5,7 millions d’euros) de bonus l’an dernier, soit plus du double des 3,6 millions versés l’année précédente. Le responsable des investissements Joe Dear a reçu à ce titre 321.750 dollars en plus de sa rémunération de base qui s’élève à un demi-million de dollars.

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