Le fonds d’investissement Sagard a annoncé, mardi 4 septembre, son arrivée au capital du groupe Santiane, une société de courtage d’assurance spécialisée dans la conception, la comparaison et la distribution de produits d’assurance santé destinés aux particuliers. Le groupe possède Santiane.fr, un courtier-comparateur en assurance ainsi que le courtier grossiste Néoliane qui distribue ses gammes santé et prévoyance. Aucune dette n’a été levée à l’issue de cette transaction réalisée intégralement en fonds propres par Sagard. Cette opération marque également la sortie de BNP Private Equity présent depuis 2011 au capital de la société ainsi que l’entrée de l’investisseur Jacques Veyrat au capital de l’entreprise. Après l’opération, les fondateurs, la famille Courtin et les dirigeants-clé conserveront la majorité du capital et leurs activités opérationnelles au sein du groupe, indique un communqiué.Le groupe Santiane a réalisé en 2012 un chiffre d’affaires consolidé de 24 millions d’euros, en croissance de 97%.
Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) a annoncé le 4 septembre la cession de sa filiale de Lugano à la banque privée tessinoise PKB Privatbank. Cette transaction s’inscrit dans le cadre de l’abandon des activités menées par LLB Switzerland. L’opération devrait être finalisée d’ici à la fin de l’année, précise le groupe dans un communiqué. Le prix de cette cession fait l’objet d’un accord de confidentialité.Annoncée en mars dernier, la vente de LLB Switzerland s’inscrit dans le cadre d’une réorientation stratégique du groupe liechtensteinois sur son cœur de métier. Les clients actuels de la filiale tessinoise seront contactés dans les prochaines semaines afin de pouvoir mettre en oeuvre le processus de migration. Le texte précise que 26 emplois pourront être maintenus. La succursale générait un chiffre d’affaires annuel de 2 milliards de francs.
Nikko Asset Management vient de perdre à Singapour quatre spécialistes des actions asiatiques, dont le chief investment officer et deux gérants de portefeuille, rapporte Asian Investor. Le quatuor serait parti chez Threadneedle, selon le site spécialisé.Mais, dans le même temps, Nikko AM a signé un accord de principe pour le rachat à Singapour d’une boutique spécialisée dans les actions asiatiques qui emploie sept professionnels de l’investissement. La transaction pourrait être bouclée d’ici à la fin du mois.Les partants sont le chief investment officer Ng Soo-nam, qui doit quitter ses fonctions à la fin du mois, les deux gérants de portefeuille Christine Seng et Ling Weixiong, ainsi que l’analyste Low Wee Jia.
Kate Randall-Coles, FATCA project manager chez Henderson Global Investors (HGI), a rejoint Axa Wealth comme head of fund group relations, rapporte fundweb. L’intéressée remplace Graham Bentley, qui assurait cette fonction à titre intérimaire depuis juin.
La plateforme britannique Hargreaves Lansdown a fait état pour l’exercice au 30 juin 2013 d’une progression de 38% de ses actifs sous administration à 36,4 milliards de livres, selon des données provisoires publiées le 4 septembre.Le nombre de clients a augmenté de 76.000 pour atteindre 507.000. En outre, le bénéfice imposable du groupe affiche une hausse de 28% à 195,2 millions de livres.
Le pôle assurances Europe du gestionnaire ACM Bernstein a été renforcé en août par l’arrivée d’Etienne Rougier, COO & head of strategy chez Architas Multi Manager, qui devient COO Insurance EMEA, et d’Erik Vynckier, investment director pour l’allocation actions et obligataire des clients assurances chez SWIP, comme gérant de portefeuille senior. Tous deux sont basés à Londres et subordonnés directement à Tim Ryan, président et CEO d’Alliance Bernstein Limited.
Peter Marber has been appointed as head of emerging markets investments at Loomis Sayles (US affiliate of Natixis Global Asset Management), where he will be responsible both for investments in equities and in bonds, under the authority of Jae Park, CIO. Marber joins from HSBC Global Asset Management, where he served in several roles at the emerging markets group, such as chief business strategist, floval head of emerging markets debt and portfolio manager. He had been founding partner, senior portfolio manager and chief investment strategist at The Atlantic Advisors, a firm acquired by HSBC in 2005.The team led by Marber includes three portfolio managers (David Rolley, Eddy Sternberg and Peter Frick), as well as Elisabeth Colleran as emerging markets senior credit strategist. The team is supported by over 12 emerging market specialists. Recently, a staetment says, Loomis Sayles recruited four senior emerging market analysts: Bianca Taylor (EM senior sovereign analyste), Celeste Tay (Asia soverign analyst), Li Ping Yeo (Asia senior credit analyst) et Nada Oulidi (EM senior bank analyst).As of 30 June, emerging market assets at Loomis Sayles totalled over USD12bn.
Neuflize OBC Investissements will merge its fixed income and convertibles teams into a single department, according to information confirmed to Citywire by the French asset management firm. Xavier Chapon, head of fixed income at the firm, will lead the new 10-member team with EUR11bn in assets under management.
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) has recruited Matt Montana as managing director, in a newly-created position as head of equity trading for the Americas region. Montana will be based in New York, and will report directly to Joshua Friedberg, head of trading, Americas. He will be responsible for all equity trading in the Americas. He previously worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he spent 25 years.
Lyxor, a well-known specialist in managed accounts, is currently working on launching a new AIFM hedge fund platform which institutional investors will be eligible for. The first funds are expected to be available by the end of the year, probably in December, says Nathanaël Benzaken, deputy head of alternative management at Lyxor Asset Management. The initiative is a response to a desire on the part of Lyxor to offer a third option, between UCITS-compliant hedge funds and totally offshore vehicles, between highly regulated products on the one hand, and offshore hedge funds with very little oversight on the other. ‘This is a third option which will allow us to take advantage of the new AIFM directive. Institutional investors have previously not had any choice other than ot invest in offshore vehicles. The regulatory environment now offers them another solution. Alternative investment funds (FIA) from our point of view appear to be the solutoin which best meets the requirements both of regulators and of risk-takers. This is clearly a range aimed primarily at institutional clients. However, I am persuaded that the AIFM brand can and will become a standard label, possibly outside Europe, like the UCITS brand, since it now allows for invetsmnt in all alternative management strategies, including the least liquid strategies, without as restrictive an investment limit as the one imposed on UCITS funds, all in an onshore environment, under the supervision of regulators.” The initiative may also allow for the interest of institutional investors in alternative management to be rekindled, due to the more favourable environment, insofar as “we are returning to more fundamental markets,” Benzaken adds.
Two hedge fund managers have unveiled significant staes in the JC Penney group, after a sale by Pershing Square Capital Management, a fund by Bill Ackman, of all of its shares in the US retail chain, Reuters reports.Hayman Capital Management has reported a 5.2% stake in the capital of JC Penney, while Glenview Capital Management has increased its stake to 9.1% from less than 4% previously, according to documents submitted to the Securities & Exchange Comimssion.Ackman sold his stake to Citigroup, which then offered it to other investors.
Reginald Browne, who is known as the “godfather of ETFs,” is leaving KCG, the firm created when Knight Capital was acquired by Getco, the Financial Times reports. His colleagues, Eric Lichtenstein and Darren Taube, are also leaving. A dispute concerning a contract is reported to be the reason for the departures.Browne is known for helping to create some of the most original ETFs, including the PowerShares Senior Loan ETF.
Frank Frecentese, recruited slightly over three months ago as deputy head of hedge fund research at the New York office of Lyxor Asset Management (see Newsmanagers of 27 May), has been promoted to the position of global head of hedge fund research. He succeeds Dennis Heskel, who will be retiring next month.Frecentese will report directly to Lionel Erdely and Nicolas Gaussel, who are CIOs at Lyxor.
The asset management firm H2O AM is preparing an initial balance sheet for its activities, after three years in existence. According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, assets are nearing EUR3bn, largely due to inflows, three quarters of which are reportedly from Asian and Australian investors. If this is the case, it would be a considerable increase. By comparison, H2O AM had EUR1.9bn in assets under management as of 31 March 2012, with inflows from Australia representing one third of the total. This Asian emphasis is due to the greater maturity of Asian investors (pension funds, SWFs), which are more inclined to understand the risk/return relationship and the principle of long-term performance which the firm holds dear.Newsmanagers has learned that Bruno Crastes, co-founder and director of the firm, is preparing to rename one of his H2O Patrimoine funds, not due to the performance of the fund, but because the “Patrimoine,” or wealth concept is outdated as it is related to a falling interest rate phase. The fund is now expected to be renamed as H2O Multistratégies.
As part of a sale & lease-back operation for an amount “in the low hundreds of millions,” Hermes Real Estate Investment Limited (HREIML) has acquired a 75% stake in a portfolio of 43 Metro Cash & Carry France shops.The transaction, announced on 4 September, aims to diversify the international portfolio of HREIML.The 43 locations represent about half of the Metro network in France.
According to a study carried out by Diaman Scf for the Italian weekly newsmagazine Plus 24 of over 2,100 European bond funds in 2012, the top 50 funds in terms of assets, equivalent to 3% of products analysed, received EUR226m, or 80% of total net inflows. In addition, 35% went to only four funds. In 2012, funds which had the largest inflows also received the best returns. But in 2013, performance tended to deteriorate. The good reputation of large funds has helped to make them grow to excessive size, which makes the task harder for the manager, who needs to find new investments for incoming capital. In addition, decisions taken by a large fund have an impact on the market, which penalises them.
The Swedish asset management firm Fonder FM has become the most recent firm to launch a frontier markets fund, FIM Frontier, Privata Affärer reports. The fund is invested in the Philippines, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
The change announced by the Fed to its monetary policy is weighing on the Pimco Total Return Fund, the largest bond fund in the world, managed by Bill Gross, Agefi reports. The fund posted USD7.7bn in net redemptions in August, according to Morningstar statistics. Assets have fallen to USD251bn, a decline of USD41bn since the end of April.
The Commission on September 4 adopted a communication on shadow banking and proposed new rules for money market funds (MMFs). The communication is a follow-up to last year’s Green Paper on Shadow Banking (IP/12/253). It summarises the work undertaken so far by the Commission and sets out possible further actions in this important area.The Communication sets out the issues at stake in relation to the shadow banking system and the measures already taken to deal with the risks related to shadow banking such as the rules governing hedge fund activity and outlines the priorities identified on which the Commission intends to take initiatives in areas such as the provision of a framework for money market funds. The new rules proposed today (MEMO/13/764) cover money market funds (MMFs) that are domiciled or sold in Europe and aim to improve their liquidity profile and stability:• Liquidity management: MMFs would be required to have at least 10% of their portfolio in assets that mature within a day and another 20% that mature within a week. This requirement is there to allow the MMFs to repay investors who want to withdraw funds at short notice. In order to avoid that a single issuer bears undue weight in the net asset value (NAV) of an MMF, exposure to a single issuer would be capped at 5% of the MMF’s portfolio (in value terms). For standard MMFs, a single issuer could account for 10% of the portfolio. • Stability: to take account of the constant NAV, MMF’s propensity to require sponsor support to stabilise redemptions at par, the new rules would require this type of MMF to establish a predefined capital buffer. This buffer will be activated to support stable redemptions in times of decreasing value of the MMFs investment assets.
The Swiss Federal Council (government) on 4 September resolved to create a panel of experienced experts to analyse both the framework conditions and future prospects for the financial centre and to formulate recommendations on the subject. The group of experts will be led by Aymo Brunetti.The group of experts will be composed of representatives of the Confederation, the private sector, and scientific circles. Without giving in to prevailing pressure, on the basis of current policy on financial markets, the committee will examine both framework conditions and future prospects for the financial market, and then submit proposals. Its activity will continue until the end of 2014.The group of experts will not only consider the current challenges the financial market is facing nationally, but also the opportunities the country is facing internationally. To achieve that, it will take into account the interests of the entire economy. It will focus its work on the following points:-strengthening the Swiss financial market by improving national framework conditions. This reinforcement will allow for structural changes in the financial sector and the real economy to be better confronted;-maintenance or improvement of access to foreign markets, in order to preserve and promote, on the Swiss economic marketplace, the creation of value by international activities.
Kate Randall-Coles, FATCA project manager at Henderson Global Investors (HGI), has joined Axa Wealth as head of fund group relations, fundweb reports. Randall-Coles replaces Graham Bentley, who had served in the position in the interim since June.
The British platform Hargreaves Lansdown has reported 38% growtin in it assets under administration as of 30 June 2013, to GBP36.4bn, according to provisional statistics released on 4 September.The number of clients has increased by 76,000 to 507,000. Pre-tax profits at the group are also up 28% to GBP195.2bn.
The European insurance unit of the asset management firm ACM Bernstein was reinforced in August with the arrival of Etienne Rougier, COO & head of strategy at Architas Multi-Manager, who becomes COO Insurance EMEA, and Eric Vyncker, investment director for equity and bond allocations for insurance clients at SWIP, as senior portfolio manager.Both will be based in London, and will report directly to Tim Ryan, chairman and CEO of Alliance Bernstein Limited.
Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) on 4 September announced that it is selling its Lugano branch to the Ticino-based private bank PKB Privatbank. The transaction comes as part of a withdrawal from activties undertaken by LLB Switzerland. The operation is expected to be completed by the end of the year, the group says in a statement. The price of the sale is subject to a non-disclosure agreement. The sale of LLB Switzerland, announced in March this year, comes as part of a strategic reorientation of the Liechtenstein group, to focus on its core profession. Current clients of the Ticino-based bank will be contacted in the next few weeks in order to commence the migration process. The text states that 26 employees may be maintained. The branch generates annual revenues of CHF2bn.
The Credit Suisse Liquid Alternative Beta (LAB) index has posted a decline of 1.01% in the month of August, according to the most recent available statistics. All strategies of the index finished the month with losses, including declines of 1.54% for the Event Driven strategy, and 1.05% for the Long/Short strategy.
After leaving JPMorgan Asset Management in January (see Newsmanagers of 23 January), David Barron has been recruited as director of investment trusts & product strategy by Miton, Fundweb reports. Barron will work with Ian Chimes, head of sales & marketing.
Standard Life Investments and Legal & General Investment Management are planning to sue Royal Bank of Scotland over a capital increase of GBP12bn carried out in 2008, the Financial Times reports. The two asset management firms have asked the law firm Quinn Emanuel to study whether the bank misled shareholders about its financial health in the prospectus for the deal, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Successeur en 2008 d’Anthony Bolton à la tête du fonds de Fidelity dédié aux situations spéciales, Sanjeev Shah devrait abandonner la gestion de cette stratégie à la fin de l’année.Il devrait passer la main à Axel Wright, qui gère actuellement le Fidelity UK Smaller Companies fund.En attendant, Sanjeev Shah reste à la tête du fonds avec une période transition qui semble bien organisée. Axel Wright, qui travaille chez Fidelity depuis une douzaine d’années, a collaboré en qualité d’analyste tant avec Anthony Bolton que Sanjeev Shah.
BlackRock will close two top calibre European equity funds to new investors, managed by Alister Hibert and Vincent Devlin, Citywire reports. The closure is expected by 7 November, Citywire reports. In messages obtained by the specialist website, the group announces that BGF Continental Europe Flexible, whose assets under management total EUR1.93bn, will be closed to existing and new shareholders from 7 November. On the same date, the BSF European Absolute Return A2 EUR (EUR1.59bn) will also be closed to all new subscriptions. On that date, the BlackRock European Dynamic fund (GBP1.96bn), domiciled in the United Kingom and managed by Hibbert, will be soft closed.
The Indian parliament on 4 September passed a long-awaited law which allows foreign investment in the pension fund sector up to 26% in order to attract foreign capital and to revive investments. The decision by the lower house granted permission for a law to be passed which had already been approved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2012, and which will now proceed to the upper house for a vote. The government would also like to increase the foreign investment limit in the insurance sector from 26% to 49%.