Le parlement slovène a approuvé la semaine dernière un budget qui prévoit un déficit à 7,9% du PIB à la fin de l’année 2013 contre 4% en 2012. Le pays doit se porter au secours de son secteur bancaire, dont la fragilité est en cours d'évaluation par des auditeurs. Le cas divise les économistes, certains estimant que la Slovénie aura besoin d’une aide.
Mois traditionnel de retraits sur le segment monétaire, juin a été marqué par une décollecte de 29 milliards d’euros et un effet marché négatif de 14 milliards sur les OPCVM de droit français. Les fonds actions et obligations ont aussi souffert dans la foulée du mouvement de correction déclenché par les déclarations de la Fed fin mai.
Les statistiques mensuelles d’Europerformance - a SIX Company font apparaître une décollecte de 29,3 milliards d’euros sur les OPCVM de droit français, qui excluent les mandats. Ces retraits ont affecté toutes les catégories de fonds, à commencer par les monétaires (-25 milliards), un phénomène classique au mois de juin, marqué par les besoins de décaissement des institutions de retraite. Les turbulences de marché qui ont suivi les annonces de la Fed le 22 mai ont aussi contribué à des décollectes de près de 2 milliards d’euros sur les fonds actions et de 900 millions sur l’obligataire. En tenant compte par ailleurs d’un effet marché négatif de 14 milliards d’euros, l’encours des OPCVM tombe à 744 milliards d’euros fin juin contre 787 milliards le mois précédent.
NExT AM, filiale dédiée à la prise de participations du groupe La Française vient de prendre une participation minoritaire de 30 % dans la société de gestion Erasmus Gestion, nouvellement créée par Jean-Pierre Gaillard et Jean-François Gilles. Trois ans après avoir pris un ticket dans Legica, société de conseil qu’avaient créée les deux cadres, NExT AM accompagne donc sa transition aux côtés des fondateurs. Cette opération est réalisée via le fonds contractuel NExT Invest ouvert aux investisseurs institutionnels. Financière de l’Echiquier accompagne le projet avec une participation au capital de 4%.Erasmus Gestion va reprendre en délégation la gestion de FCP MON PEA jusqu’alors conseillé par Legica et géré par La Française des Placements. En outre, le FCP JFG Sélection Euro, géré par Jean-François Gilles depuis 2007 sera également apporté après avoir été rebaptisé FCP MON EURO. Toujours selon un communiqué, FCP MON PEA et FCP MON EURO bénéficieront de seed money complémentaires apportés par NExT AM et Financière de l’Echiquier, l’objectif étant de donner aux fonds la taille critique pour approcher des investisseurs institutionnels. Les deux fonds affichent respectivement 47 millions et 5 millions d’actifs sous gestion.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to the Financial Times, the pension fund for British Telecom is investing in high end real estate. Hermes Real Estate, which manages GBP4bn in real estate assets for BT, has invested GBP100m in real estate properties located in Manhattan and Brooklyn, in order to diversify assets, which had previously been located primarily in the United Kingdom.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Glenn Dubin, co-founder of the hedge fund Highbridge Capital Management (USD31bn) with a childhood friend, Henry Swieca, is resigning from his position as CEO of the affiliate of JPMorgan in order to remain “only” chairman, the Wall Street Journal reports.The new CEO will be Scott Kapnick, whom Dubin recruited from Goldman Sachs in 2007 to construct and direct the private equity operation at Highbridge.For his part, Todd Bullione, chairman of Highbridge, who had been expected to succeed Dubin as CEO, is leaving Highbridge to develop the hedge fund activities of private equity investor KKR.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to sources familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reports, the hedge fund management firm SAC Capital Advisors, which is under investigation for insider trading, is reported to have suffered a loss equivalent to half of its investment of USD100m on the sale of the stake it had held in the personal care and nutrition firm Neways to the private equity investor Z Capital Partners.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) on Thursday, 11 July announced that it had been awarded a mandate by Peregrine Equities (Pty) Ltd in South Africa, to provide custody services. SGSS already provides securities lending and global custody services to Peregrine Equities (Pty) Ltd, as well as settlement services on futures to Peregrine Derivatives (Pty) Ltd. Peregrine Securities is a member of the Johannesburg stock exchange (JSE) with access to equity markets, equity derivatives, bonds, commodity derivatives and current derivatives. Its affiliate, Peregrine Equities, is one of the largest brokerage firms in the country, and its prime brokerage activity handles about one third of the hedge funds in the country, a statement says.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Caceis is looking after its international clients. The financial services specialist firm on Thursday announced the opening of a new depository banking activity in the Netherlands. These depository banking and custody services on the Netherlands market come as an addition to fund administration services already on offer, a statement says. The new activity, based in Amsterdam, comes at a key time for most asset management firms and institutional clients, due to the introduction of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) directive on 22 July 2013.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BaFin has issued a sales license for Germany to the Netherlands-registered emerging market equity fund Robeco Afrika. The product invests in businesses listed on any of the African stock markets, or businesses most of whose activities are located in Africa. The fund was launched in June 2008, and is managed by Cornelis Vlooswijk; assets as of 31 May 2013 totalled EUR58.5m. The portfolio of 120 positions is invested in the most liquid equity markets in Africa, and in some frontier markets.CharacteristicsName: Robeco Afrika Fonds N.V.ISIN code: NL0006238131Benchmark indices: MSCI EFM Africa ex South Africa (50%) and MSCI South Africa (50%)Management commission: 1.75%Total expense ratio: 2.03%
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } RDR regulations are increasingly driving British independent financial advisers (IFAs) to outsource management of their portfolios, Investec Wealth & Investment (IW&I) report on the basis of a recent survey. The percentage of client portfolios outsourced by IFAs to discretionary managers has increased from 28% in 2011 to 34% in 2012. 25% say they outsource more than half of client portfolios.Nearly half (47%) of independent financial advisers rely on external managers, while 82% use platforms. The average number of managers has increased from two to three, according to IW&I.For selecting managers to take charge of client portfolios, 92% of IFAs cite the criterion of quality of service, 91% cite the performance of investments, and 89% cite good relationships and trust in the external manager.In the future, 20% of IFAs say they are planning to increase outsourcing of management to discretionary managers.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mitch Matharu, head of CEEMEA coverage & EMEA emerging markets sales in the fixed income, currencies & commodities division of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London, has been recruited by Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) as head of strategic lending in London, where he will report to Balaji Prasanna, head of loan & deposit products.With his team, Matharu will be responsible for structured credit for high net worth and demanding clients worldwide.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } ETF Securities has calculated that gold ETFs worldwide have seen net redemptions in second quarter of USD18.5bn, which would be the heaviest quarterly loss since the launch of the first gold ETF, by ETF Securities, in 2003, ETF Trends reports, also citing the Wall Street Journal.According to estimates by IndexUniverse, the SPDR Gold Trust from State Street Global Advisors has seen net redemptions of USD11.5bn in Q2, while the iShares Gold Trust has suffered USD1.5bn in outflows, and redemptions from the ETF Physical Swiss Gold fund totalled USD238bn. ETF Securities told Newsmanagers, though, that the correct number for the outflows was USD90m.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mark Schlafly, CEO and chairman of the Financial Securities Corporation (FSC), on 3 June joined Rusell Investments in Seattle as managing director of client solutions for advisor-sold solutions in the United States. The division provides mutual funds and multi-asset class solutions, as well as advising to assist advisers to satisfy the requirements and investment objectives of clients.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Funds People reports that Bansabadell Gestión and N+ 1 Asset Management have released two Spanish hedge funds, which invest primarily in Spanish equities. They are the Sabadell España 5 Valores and QMC II Iberian Capital Fund.The first of these (which charges fees of 1.5%), which will invest as a general rule in only five Spanish equities (seven maximum), is aimed at investors with a very high risk profile and an investment horizon of at least seven years.The second is slighly less risky, and the recommended investment horizon is 5 to 6 years. It uses the Ibex Small Cap as its benchmark index. Management commission is 1.75%, plus a performance commission of 15%.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The private banking division of HSBC, HSBC Private Banking Holdings, which on 14 May commenced a “strategic examination of its private banking activities in Monaco, after receiving unsolicited expressions of interest in an acquisition of the activity,” has decided to retain its private banking activity in the principality, the HSBC bank has announced in a statement released on Thursday, 11 July.
Die Welt rapporte que les bureaux de la banque suisse UBS en Allemagne ont une nouvelle fois été perquisitionnés, le Parquet cherchant des preuves d’évasion fiscale.Un porte-parole du Parquet de bochuma indiqué que l’enquête en cours a montré que plusieurs contribuables allemands clients d’UBS ont utilisé la formule des fondations pour éviter de payer des impôts.Les perquisitions sont liées à une procédure entamée fin 2012.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a survey of asset managers carried out recently, the profession does not see the coming of the Alternative Investment Fund Manager Directive (AIFMD) serenely. 67% of professionals say that they are “slightly prepared” for the new regulations, which are slated to come into effect on 22 July. 17% say they are “not at all prepared,” while 16% say they are adequately prepared and are awaiting the date without much concern.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of 31 May, total assets in German funds came to EUR2.0581616trn, slightly down on the end of April (EUR2.0605144trn), of which EUR1.0268334trn, comapred with EUR1.0324808rn for institutional funds, EUR335.4541bn, compared with EUR338.2384bn for mandates, and EUR695.8741bn, compared with EUR689.7952bn for open-ended funds, the German BVI association of asset management firms announced on Thuursday.Net subscriptions in May totalled EUR2.1316bn, compared with EUR4.9944bn in April, due to net outflows of EUR1.3708bn for institutional funds (compared with net inflows of EUR7.564bn the previous month. However, in January-May, net subscriptions increased to EUR45.367bn, from EUR25.092bn in the first five months of 2012.Overall, open-ended securities funds posted inflows of EUR10.2305bn in the first five months of the year, of which EUR3.5243bn were for Allianz Asset Management, and EUR3.4213bn for Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (ETFs from db x-trackers contributed EUR589m to this total).However, Union Investment (co-operative banks) is continuing to be penalised by a trade within the group (see Newsmanagers of 14 June) and has seen a net outflow of EUR2.176bn, while net redemptions from Deka (savings banks) are limited to EUR1.3317bn.For ETFs, BlackRock has seen net outflows of EUR186.4m in five months from iShares, while ComStage has seen net redemptions of EUR128.2m. ETFlab (Deka) has posted net subscriptions of EUR251.9m, however.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to the most recent survey by Baring Asset Management, 18% of pension fund managers estimate that frontier market equities offer the best performance outlooks for the next ten years, compared with 13% in the survey of October 2012.Latin America and the United States have also gained popularity, with 16% and 14% favourable predictions, respectively, compared with 7% and 9% in October.Fears concerning the euro zone remain the primary concern of pension fund managers in 66% of cases, which now represents a decline of 14 percentage points compared with October. In addition, 4% of managers surveyed predict gains on European equity markets, compared with 0% in May and October 2012.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } UK-based Walker Crips has announced that on 1 August it will launch the TB Walker Crips Income from Short Term Lending Fund, from its new alternative investment unit. It will be the first regulated bridging finance investment fund to be launched in the UK.. The product is designed to as to generate annual returns of 8.4%, by providing loans to three short-term lending companies. The fund will be managed by James Allen, who has been recruited especially for this project. Costs on the fund will not exceed 2% and will be charged from earned income.