P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The consumers’ association «foodwatch» has issued a statement welcoming news that DZ Bank has announced in a letter dated 13 May 2013 that, with its affiliate Union Investment, it is withdrawing completely from speculation on soft commodities.Foodwatch indicates that Lars Hille, a member of the board at DZ Bank, has also voiced his support for strict regulation of soft commodity markets, patticularly including the introduction of limits on effective positions on markets or settlement platforms. That would reduce the number of contracts traded on futures markets, in order to prevent excessive speculation. The banker also favours transparency measures to impose limits on over-the-counter (OTC) markets.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The CNMV has issued a sales license for Spain to the Gestión Multiperfil fund from Inversis, Funds People reports. The idea is to open access from EUR4,000 to the discretionary management service which it has been offering to high net worth clients for six years. However, the product is ideally aimed at those with financial savings of EUR30,000 to EUR200,000.The Gestión Multiperfil fund becomes the second Inversis umbrella fund, with five profiled funds of funds, Moderado, Equilibrado, Inversión, Dinámico and Agresivo, whose exposure to equities varies from 10% to 100%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to El Confidencial, the vulture fund Lone Star is seeking to negotiate the acquisition of the realty firm Vallehermoso for a symbolic price of one euro, plus the firm’s debt, from Sacyr. Vallehermoso is also of interest to Fortress, Cerberus, Centerbridge and Baupost.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Ontario teachers’ pension fund OTPP has received permission from the Hong Kong authorities to conduct securities trading, advising and asset management activities, Asian Investor reports. OTPP, whose assets under management total about USD130bn, is in the process of creating a local office with two employees from Toronto and five recruitments which are currently in progress. Investments by the fund in the Asia-Pacific region currently total slightly over USD10bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A group of hedge funds led by Equilibria Capital raises questions about the management of RHJI, the investment firm founded by Timothy Collins, in a letter sent on Monday to its board of directors, the Financial Times reports. The authors of the letter would like the current board of directors to be dismissed. That could lead to a sale or an IPO for the private bank Kleinwort Benson.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 28 May, Julius Baer announced that, in line with its initial projections, the transfer of activities from the International Wealth Management (IWM) unit of Merrill Lynch, based in Hong Kong and Singapore, had begun on 27 May, and are expected to be completed during first quarter 2014. The transfer will double the assets of the Swiss group in Asia. The activities transferred represent more than one third of total volume at IWM.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Funds People reports that the Spanish asset management firm Altex Partners, led by Guillermo Zunzunegui, Carlos Dexeus and Enrique Bailly Bailliere, has decided to liquidate its fund of hedge funds Altex Arb& Quant, whose assets total only EUR11m. It now manages only the Altex Man GLG (EUR3.8m). As a result, the range of funds of hedge funds on sale in Spain has fallen to 12 funds, with total assets of EUR316m as of the end of April.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fidelity Worldwide Investment is launching two emerging market debt funds on the French market, the firm announced on 27 May. The first of these, FF Emerging Market Corporate Debt Fund, launched on 20 March 2013, is an emerging market corporate debt fund managed by Andrei Gorodilov. It invests in 150 to 200 bonds issued by companies based largely in emerging markets including Latin America, South-East Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe (including Russia) and the Middle East. The second, the FF Emerging Market Local Currency Debt Fund, launched in 12 April 2013, is managed by Steve Ellis (principal manager) and Eric Wong (co-manager), and aims to generate returns through investment in emerging market bonds denominated in local currencies and issued primarily by emerging countries including those of Latin America South-East Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe (including Russia) and the Middle East. The emerging market range from Fidelity now includes four funds, including the FF Emerging Market Debt Fund and the FF Emerging Market Inflation-Linked Bond Fund. The two funds are sub-funds of the Luxembourg Sicav Fidelity Funds. Characteristics FF Emerging Market Corporate Debt Fund: ISIN code: LU0900495697FF Emerging Market Local Currency Debt Fund: ISIN code: LU0900493726 The minimal investment is USD2,500 for the A share class (annual management commission of 1.2%).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Xing Hu is joining Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management as Head of Chinese Equities, the firm announced on 27 May. He will be based in Hong Kong and will report to the Head of Emerging Markets & Commodities. Hu, aged 40, a native of Shanghai with an MBA from the Universities of Paris-Dauphine and Québec, began his career in Paris in 1996 at Atlas Gestion (Salomon Oppenheim group) as a manager of funds specialised on the Chinese and Asia ex Japan markets. In 2008, Hu joined Manulife TEDA Asset Management in Beijing, as Head of the Global Investment Department. He is also responsible fro the Qualified Foreign Insisitutional Investor (QFII) Advising activity and manages operations for Qualified Domestic Institutional Advisers. The team dedicated to Emerging Markets and Commodities, with 12 members, is led by Thomas Gerhardt. Hu, head of Chinese Equities, will be responsible for management of the EdR Mainland China and EdR China funds.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of 31 March, three British asset management firms, Threadneedle, Schroders and Aberdeen, most often place in the top places in national rankings by Feri EuroRating Services, according to the percentage of funds rated A and B out of all products covered in seven European countries. The same firms took the top positions in the rankings on 30 September and 31 December.In detail, for asset management firms with over 25 funds, Threadneedle places top in the United Kingdom and Austria, second in France, Germany and Switzerland, third in Italy, and fourth among “small” actors (8-25 funds) in Sweden.Schroders is first in France, Italy and Sweden, second in Austria, third in Germany, and fifth in the United Kingdom and Switzerland.Aberdeen ranks top in Switzerland and among “small” firms in Sweden, second in the United Kingdom, and second among “small” firms in Austria, third in France, and third among “small” firms in Italy. It is also the eighth-best “small” firm in Germany.In France, the only local actor in the top ten firms is Covéa finance, in fifth place, but the top two places among “small” firms go to DNCA Finance and Groupe Le Conservateur. Comgest takes ninth place.Amundi finishes second among “large” asset management firms in Sweden, while Carmignac takes ninth place among “small” firms in Italy, and Lyxor is ninth among “large” firms in Germany, while Natixis takes eighth place among “small” firms in Switzerland.It is also interesting to note that in countries monitored by Feri, only half of “large” firms have at least 50% of their funds rated A or B. In France, Italy and Germany, the proportion is slightly higher, with seven and six firms, respectively, in the top ten.In France, Feri cites Schroders, Threadneedle, Aberdeen, Franklin Templeton, Covéa Finance and Pioneer, in a tie with Legg Mason, while in Italy, the top finishers are Schroders, Credit Suisse AM, Threadneedle, Fidelity in a tie with Franklin Templeton, Invesco and Pioneer. In Germany, Feri cites Investec, Threadneedle, Schroders, Franklin Templeton, Credit Suisse AM and Fidelity.Among countries with five firms that have at least of their funds rated A or B are the United Kingdom (Schroders, Aberdeen, Investec, Invesco, Schroders) and Austria (Threadneddle, Schroders, Pioneer, Franklin Templeton and Fidelity).Lastly, Feri counts four firms with over 50% A or B funds in Switzerland (Aberdeen, Threadneele, MFS and Balfidor fondsleitung). In Sweden, only Schroders has over 50%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The UK HM Revenue & Customs last week launched a consultation on strategies to combat ways of disguising employment relations as part of limited liability partnership structure, and the manipulation of allocation of profits and losses for tax advantage, Financial Times fund management reports. Joe Seet, senior partner at Sigma Partnership, explains that the latter tactic is widely used by hedge funds to avoid paying taxes on performance commissions, totalling an estimated USD20bn per year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In a long statement, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the Norwegian Government Pension Fund – Global (GPFG), formerly known as the Oil or Petroleum Fund, refutes accusations against it and the Netherlands pension fund ABP/APG in a lawsuit filed by Lok Shakti Abhiyan, the South Korean cross-border transnational surveillance agency, Fair Green & Global Alliance and the Forum for Environment and Development over a planned development by the steel maker Posco for extraction of iron ore in the Indian state in Odisha.The Bank of Norway, which outsources management of the GPFG to NBIM, claims that it cannot be held responsible for potential failures by Posco to adhere to OECD directives governing multinational corporations, since it is only a minority investor in the business.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to the CSSF, employement at asset management firms in Luxembourg has risen by 1.17%. The number of positions has increased form 2733 in December 2012 to 2765 as of 31 March this year. This number remains lower than the 2765 jobs recorded at the end of June 2012, at the peak of a surge in the past two years, between March 2011 and March 2013.

Les rendements de la dette italienne à deux ans sont tombés

Dans sa lettre introductive au rapport annuel de la Banque

Le gouvernement veut relancer le secteur des véhicules électriques, en dotant le pays d’un réseau national de bornes de recharge, avec un maillage à l’image des stations-service, indique le quotidien Les Echos. ERDF apparaît comme un candidat naturel pour la gestion de ce réseau, selon le journal, mais cette mission pourrait aussi intéresser Bolloré, Veolia, JCDecaux, voire Vinci.

Une majorité d'Etats membres de l'UE, dont l'Allemagne, s'oppose au plan de la Commission européenne qui doit entrer en vigueur le 6 juin

HSBC et Standard Chartered ont émis hier les premières obligations libellées en renminbi à Singapour, qui vient concurrencer Taïwan et Hong Kong

Les autorités chinoises envisagent de lever leur opposition à la limitation des émissions de carbone avant les négociations des Nations Unies sur les changements climatiques qui auront lieu en 2015, selon le journal qui cite Jiang Kejun, chercheur sur le carbone à la Commission chinoise de Développement et de réformes. Le seuil pourrait être fixé en fonction de la consommation de charbon.

Selon la presse italienne, la Commission européenne va libérer l’Italie de la procédure contraignante de déficits budgétaires excessifs lancée en 2009. Cette décision pourrait permettre de desserrer l'étau sur un pays soumis à une cure d’austérité drastique, et détendre ses taux d’emprunt.

Selon la presse italienne, Bruxelles mettra un terme mercredi à une procédure pour déficits excessifs engagée en 2009 contre l'Italie

Les prix de l'habitat au Royaume-Uni ont enregistré en mai leur plus forte hausse mensuelle depuis trois ans, selon le cabinet Hometrack

Adia, qui redouble de prudence envers l’Europe, souligne dans son rapport d’activité 2012 avoir eu moins recours aux gérants externes

L'annonce d'un probable ralentissement des rachats d'actifs de la Fed renforce l'attrait pour les loans funds protégés des variations de taux

Joëlle Castiglione, agent comptable à la CRPCEN, La Caisse de Retraite et de Prévoyance des Clercs et Employés de Notaires lors d’une matinée de formations institutionnelles organisée par Morningstar : Les instances dirigeantes de mon régime ont décidé de réaliser une partie des investissements possibles dans la classe d’actifs obligataire. Les investissements de diversification sur l’obligataire s'élève à 50 millions d’euros. Nous sommes accompagné du consultant Insti 7 qui nous aide à faire des prospections, et qui a proposé de ne pas choisir un gérant mais de diversifier nos investissements afin d'éclater le risque, dans une logique prudentielle. Sur les loans, cela paraît assez novateur et puis, en terme de durée d’investissement, cela ne semble pas correspondre avec la classe d’actifs que nous recherchons aujourd’hui. Mais les contextes évoluent, c’est une piste à approfondir tout de même.

Selon nos informations, la caisse de retraite IRP Auto a procédé à une remise en jeu de ses mandats de gestion sur la partie retraite, soit environ 500 millions d’euros. Avec l’assistance de son consultant Insti 7, les résultats sont attendus le 31 mai. IRP Auto avait jusqu'à présent recours à 5 gestionnaires sur des mandats de gestion diversifiée, dont Lazard Frères, Rothschild&Cie Gestion et HSBC AM. L’allocation d’actifs d’IRP Auto (sur la partie prévoyance) est d’environ 80/85% d’obligations, entre 15 et 20% d’actions et un peu de monétaire pour la trésorerie.

Après avoir révisé à la baisse ses prévisions de croissance du PIB pour 2013, le gouvernement taïwanais met au point des mesures visant à stimuler la croissance. Une annonce sera faite le 31 mai. «Ce programme de stimulus économique comprendra des mesures variées concernant notamment le marché boursier et la consommation domestique», a indiqué un porte-parole du Premier ministre.

La Chine va réduire de 60% les droits de douane sur les importations de montres suisses dans le cadre de l’accord de libre-échange que Berne et Pékin doivent signer au mois de juillet, ce qui pourrait donner un coup de fouet à l’industrie helvétique de l’horlogerie. En 2012, les ventes de montres suisses n’ont augmenté que de 0,6% en Chine continentale.

Le Koweït a nommé le ministre des Finances, Moustapha al Chemali, au poste de ministre du Pétrole par intérim, a fait savoir l’agence de presse KUNA à la suite de la démission de Hani Hussein sous la pression de parlementaires. Les remaniements ministériels n’affectent généralement pas la politique pétrolière du Koweït, dans la mesure où celle-ci est fixée par le Conseil suprême du Pétrole.

L’Ethiopie va recevoir un financement d’un milliard de dollars de la part de Banque brésilienne de développement pour la construction d’une section de la voie ferrée devant établir la liaison avec le Sud Soudan voisin. Cet accord de principe a été annoncé après une rencontre entre la Premier ministre éthiopien Hailemariam Desalegn et la présidente brésilienne Dilma Rousseff.