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18/04/2013

Neuberger Berman recruits from Carlyle

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Susan Kasser, who was one of the founders of Carlyle Mezzanine Partners, has left the private equity group to join Neuberger Berman in March as managing director and head of private debt at Neuberger Berman Alternatives. She is based in New York.
18/04/2013

Record profits for asset and wealth management at BoA

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In first quarter 2013, net profits for the Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWMIM) unit of Bank of America (BoA) totalled USD720m, compared with USD576m in October-December, and USD550m in January-March 2012.Assets as of 31 March totalled USD745.3bn, compared with USD698.1bn on 31 December, and USD677.6bn twelve months previously.The bank, which has posted total net profits of USD2.6bn, compared with USD732m in the fourth quarter of 2012, and USD655m in the corresponding period of last year, has announced that profits for the GWMIM division in January-March 2013 set records for revenues, net profits and net subscriptions for the period since the takeover of Merrill Lynch.Asset management fees rose 9% in annual terms, to USD1.6bn, and net inflows to long-term products totalled USD20.4bn, January-March 2013 marked the fifteenth consecutive quarter of net subscriptions.
18/04/2013

AllianceBernstein sues former financial advisers

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } AllianceBernstein has filed lawsuits against several financial advisers who left the group, and who, the firm says, are seeking to take its clients with them, the Wall Street Journal reports. Since the beginning of 2011, the asset management firm has sued 10 former advisers before the Manhattan Supreme Court, against none in 2010. Some lawyers view the suits as a warning to top-performing independent financial advisers still employed at the private clients unit of AllianceBernstein, but who have been discouraged by its recent performance. Clients withdrew USD3.2bn in fourth quarter last year, and analysts are predicting a further decline in first quarter.
18/04/2013

Fall in the price of gold cost John Paulson USD1.5bn

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The fall in the price of gold has personally cost John Paulson at least USD1.5bn since the beginning of the year, the Financial Times reports. Since 2009, the billionaire manager had allowed clients of Paulson &Co. to denominate their shares in gold rather than dollars. This is an option which he himself chose. 85% of his personal wealth invested in the firm is linked to the price of gold, according to sources familiar with the matter. Paulson owns slightly over half of the USD18bn managed by the hedge fund.
18/04/2013

Fidelity registers its FAST Asia fund in Germany

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fidelity Worldwide Investment on 17 April announced that its new Asia fund of the Fidelity Active Strategy (FAST) range has recently received a license from BaFin for sale in Germany (see Newsmanagers of 10 April). With the Asia Fund range, FAST now includes eight funds.
18/04/2013

Quant.Capital launches AR forex fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } With the Quant.El-Erian, a UCITS IV-compliant fund, which is starting up ith EUR20m in assets contributed by institutional clients, the asset management boutique Quant.Capital Management, based in Düsseldorf, is launching an algorithmic and quantitative absolute return fund, managed by HansaInvest.The management of the open-ended product (aimed at institutionals) with daily liquidity is inspired by the scientific thought of Ola El-Erian of Oxford University, a strategy which has earned more than 30% per year for a decade, on a portfolio of USD250m. The portfolio is invested in nine of 45 pairs of G-10 currencies, with a three-day horizon.CharacteristicsName: Quant.El-ErianISIN code: DE000A1J67N1Minimal subscription: EUR250,000Management commission: 0.85%Performance commission: 15% with high watermark
18/04/2013

CS veteran launches Asian currencies macro fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Yip Kay-Hay, a former currency trader at Credit Suisse, who previously worked at SAC Capital, has founded the asset management firm Bright Steam Capital Management in Hong Kong, which will manage a macro fund, Handelsblatt reports. Yip is investing USD25m of his own money in the venture.It is aiming for returns 10 to 15 percentage points higher than the Libor. The fund will invest only up to 30% in equity indices, while the remainder is distributed between fixed income and currencies. The fund will not invest in single securities.
18/04/2013

Aberdeen AM adds to real estate fund of fund team

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Aberdeen Asset Management has recruited Alek Misev, a real estate manager from Towers Watson, as an addition to the team dedicated to funds of funds. Misev had been in charge of assets from Australian pension funds at his former employer, Citywire reports. The recruitment follows the arrival of Dimme Lucassen as part of the multi-management unit, from Schroders, in January. In his new role, Misev will be responsible for management of real estate mandates and the launch of new products.
18/04/2013

Schroders recruits for equity team

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Schroders on 17 April announced the recruitment of two management specialists, Philip Matthews and Alex Breese, who have joined the equity team. Matthews will manage the Schroder UK Alpha Plus Fund, while Breese will be responsible for the Schroder UK Equity and the Schroder ISF UK Equity. Matthews previously worked at Jupiter, where he had managed the Jupiter Growth & Income Fund. Breese joins from Neptune, where he had been responsible for UK equities and manager of the Neptune Special Situations fund.
18/04/2013

Schroders adds to product range

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Schroders has announced the addition of insurance-linked securities for the first time to its range of products aimed at institutional investors, following the acquisition of a 30% stake in the capital of the Swiss firm Secquaero Advisors, specialised in this market segment.Assets advised by Secquaero total about USD280m.
18/04/2013

BNY Mellon to manage BA pension fund derivatives

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The pension fund for British Airways has awarded a mandate to BNY Mellon for management of over-the-counter derivatives and collateral. The mandate covers two retirement programmes, which have cumulative assets of over GBP15bn as of the end of 2012. BNY Mellon currently provides services on about USD2trn in global collateral.
18/04/2013

RWC launches European equity fund based in the Cayman Islands

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } RWC has launched a fund dedicated to European equities, the European Focus Fund, domiciled in the Cayman Islands, with USD145m in assets, RWC has announced in a statement. The fund will be managed by the team which joined RWC from Hermes in October 2012. The fund replicates an existing strategy managed by this team since February 2009.The strategy invests in a concentrated portfoli oof 10 to 20 undervalued shares. The idea is to earn value with a long-term perspective by investing actively in the strategy of selected businesses. The strategy has a capacity of USd1bn, and the fund is a master-feeder vehicle domiciled in the Cayman Islands. Assets under management at RWC currently total about USD5.5bn, of which USD890m are in activist strategies, including the Specialist UK Focus Fund and the Japan Stewardship Fund.
18/04/2013

Continental Europe at the core of Ignis' strategy

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Philip Goldsmith, managing director Europe at the asset management firm Ignis Asset Management, does not conceal his ambitions. Continental Europe is now at the centre of the stratgy of Ignis, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Phoenix insurance group, which until 2009 had been focused exclusively on the British market. Since then, the management has been completely replaced, and Ignis has new ambitions.The asset management firm now has 10 employees in Europe, distributed between Italy (2 people in Milan), Spain (1 in Madrid), Switzerland (1 in Zurich), and Brussels, where one employee covers Benelux. A support team of four people is based in London, This is a good starting-point, but Ignis does not plan to stop there. Goldsmith, on a recent visit to Paris, and who handles Europe from his office in Lausanne, has told Newsmanagers that he is planning to open an office in Germany this year, and that he may subsequently, perhaps next year, open an office in Paris.Meanwhile, assets under management by Ignis total about EUR84bn, of which EUR65bn are in bond products. Ignis, a recognized speicalist in bond strategies, is now planning to add to the equity unit, which now has about EUR13bn. Two specialists have recently been recruits, one for emerging markets, and the other for British equities.Ignis is also continuing to cultivate its bond expertise. The firm is currently preparing an absolute return and emerging market debt strategy, which may be made available in Europe this summer.
18/04/2013

US mutual funds: subscriptions slow again

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In March, net subscriptions to long-term mutual funds totalled USD44.771bn, according to Morningstar, compared with USD51.9bn in February, and USD87.2bn in March. For first quarter overall, they totalled USD184.325bn, putting assets at a total of USD9.817trn.Money market funds saw net outflows of USD54.080bn in March, and of USD92.808bn in the first three months of the year, on assets under management as of the end of March of USD2.391trn.Excluding money market funds and funds of funds, the strongest net inflows in March went to Vanguard (USD8.190bn) and Pimco (USD5.370bn), followed by Fidelity (USD2.936bn) and T. Rowe Price (USD2.909bn). However, American Funds was the only one of the top ten firms to post net outflows, of USD2.443bn.In first quarter, Vanguard and Pimco lead largely, with respective net subscriptions of USD33.971bn and USD23.042bn, with Fidelity in third place at USD8.862bn.
18/04/2013

Petercam registers EM Sustainable fund in several European countries

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The SRI Emerging MarketsSustainable sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Petercam L Bonds (see Newsmanagers of 21 January and 25 March) now has assets of about EUR20m. The SRI product of government bonds is now registered in Luxembourg, since 18 March, in Belgium and Spain since 5 April, in the Netherlands since 9 April, in Germany since 11 April, and in France since 15 April. The application process is also already underway in Switzerland.
18/04/2013

Federated Investors proposes EMD fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Via its Irish affiliate Federated International Funds plc, the US firm Federated Investors has launched an emerging market debt fund aimed at European investors, primarily institutionals. It is a product which may invest in government bonds as well as emerging market corporate bonds of investment or speculative grade. It is available in shares denominated in US dollars or euros hedged for currency risks.CharacteristicsName: Federated Emerging Markets Global Debt FundISIN code: IE00B88Y0Q53Management commission: 0.95%
18/04/2013

Hedge funds take money from pension funds even as they criticise the system

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The second-largest US teachers’ union, the American Federation of Teachers, will released today a list of 34 hedge fund managers and other investment firms which helped to lead or made contributions to organisations which are hostile to defined-benefit plans, the Wall Street Journal reports. The union is asking pension fund trustees to take into account these relationships when they decide to invest with these firms. “I have a problem with people who think that they can play both sides,” says Jay Rehak, chairman of the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund.
18/04/2013

Franklin Templeton appoints a head of European bonds

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } David Zahn, senior vice president and portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton Investments, has been promoted to head of European bonds, FundWeb reports. He will retain his current responsibilities also.
18/04/2013

European treasurers concerned about debate over valuation of MMFs

European treasurers and others investing in constant net asset value (CNAV) money market funds (MMFs) are likely to be the most impacted by the current regulatory debate around MMFs in Europe, says Fitch Ratings.Almost half (47%) of European treasurers investing in CNAV MMFs, irrespective of the amount of their cash holdings, view a regulatory shift to variable NAV (VNAV) MMFs as a potential concern as the funds’ risk profile may become less clear, according to the results of a survey of European treasurers published in conjunction with Treasury Management International (TMI) on 26 February 2013.This is consistent with the widely held view of European treasurers’ that the main strength of CNAV funds is their clear risk profile (cited by 71% of CNAV users). 50% of CNAV investors also cite their simple tax and accounting treatment as a strength (vs. 31% for the total sample of treasurers), which might disappear in VNAV funds.
18/04/2013

OFT investigates BlackRock/Credit Suisse deal

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Office of Fair Trading in the United Kingdom is looking into BlackRock’s agreement to acquire Credit Suisse’s exchange traded fund (ETF) business, to assess the potential effects the merger would have on the market, Citywire Wealth Manager reports. The organisation is contacting some clients of BlackRock to obtain their opinion about the operation, in order to determine how the new entity will affect competition, product selection, and price.
18/04/2013

Johannes Führ AM gets a new CEO

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Frankfurt-based asset and wealth management firm Johannes Führ Asset Management (EUR1.3bn in assets) has announced that it has seen significant growth in its assets under management in 2012, largely in open-ended funds, “which is inciting investment in infrastructure and human resources.” This has included the recruitment on 1 March of Karl-Hein Pfarrer as a member of the board, which he now chairs, alongside Allan Ricardo Valentiner, head of fixed income. Pfarrer was chairman of the managing board at Postbank Privat Invest from 1998 to 2012.Johannes Führ AM is planning to launch new products in the area of bonds, which is already its area of excellence. As of the end of December, assets in open-ended funds totalled EUR352m, which represents an increase of EUR103m (performance effects and net subscriptions) compared with the end of 2011.Assets in institutional mandates increased by EUR123m last year.
18/04/2013

Profits up at versiko

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The German sustainable investment consulting firm versiko has announced that in 2012 it earned net profits of over EUR2m, compared with EUR1.5m in 2011, on earnings of EUR8m, compared with EUR8.17m. It is planning to pay an unchanged dividend of 27 cents per preferred share, which corresponds to a return in dividends of 5%.The increase in profits is largely attributed to the success, and thus commission revenues, from the Ökovision Classic fund (EUR370m), managed by the Luxembourg affiliate Ökoworld.
18/04/2013

Project financing increasingly involves shadow banking

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the space of two years, the shadow banking system has become a preferred partner to finance infrastructure projects, going from virtually no contribution to about USD20bn, according to a Standard & Poor’s study entitled “Inside Credit: Shadow Banking Looks Set to Capture a Larger Share of Project Financing in 2013.” According to the financial ratings agency, the trend is expected to continue this year, with financing of about USD25bn. This rise of shadow banking may be viewed in parallel with the current difficulties being experienced by traditional purveyors of funding for infrastructure projects, including governments and banks. Last year, financing from the global lending market totalled less than USD200bn, compared with USD214bn in 2011. According to Standard & Poor’s about 10% of the USD200bn came from alternative sources of financing and institutional investors. This amount is similar to the financing coming from public bond markets, which totalled USD24bn in 2012.
18/04/2013

Japan fund from SEB changes managers

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } From 15 May, the Japanese fund from the Swedish bank SEB, SEB Fund 1- SEB Japan Fund, will no longer be managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Fondsbranschen reports. The asset management firm is bringing it in-house in Stockholm. It will be managed by Hartvig Rygaard, who belongs to the Quantitative Portfolio Management team at SEB Investment Management.
18/04/2013

Michael Poole becomes lead manager of European high yield fund from Threadneedle

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Threadneedle has entrusted responsibility for the management of the European High Yield Bond fund, whose assets under management total GBP790m, to Michael Poole, who for the past two years has been co-manager of the fund, alongside Barrie Whitman, who becomes deputy manager of the strategy, Investment Week reports. Whitman will continue to manage other strategies, such as the Strategic Bond fund, whose assets under management total nearly GBP400m. The European High Yield Bond fund has earned returns of 16.7% in the past twelve months, compared with returns of 10% on average for the Global Bonds sector of the British Investment Management Association (IMA).
18/04/2013

Inflows for Hargreaves Lansdown

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under administration at Hargreaves Lansdown as of the end of March 2013 totalled GBP35.1bn, up 35% compared with the end of March 2012, according to an interim report published on 17 April by the firm. Assets were up by GBP4.7bn compared with the end of December 2012. Net inflows in first quarter totalled a record GBP1.8bn, compared with GBP1bn in first quarter 2012. This development is reported to be partly due to the implementation of RDR regulations, according to Hargreaves Landsown. Net inflows in the first nine months of the 2012-2013 fiscal year totalled GBP3.44bn, compared with GBP2.17bn in the corresponding period of the previous year.
18/04/2013

Alceda to launch Miller/Howard and Clark Capital in Europe

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Luxembourg-based firm Alceda Fund Managemnet, which currently administers about EUR5.4bn in assets, on 17 April announced that it will be opening the European UCITS-compliant fund market up to two US asset management firms, Miller/Howard Investments, of Woodstock, New York, and Clark Capital Management Group, of Philadelphia, on the Alceda Ucits Platform (AUP).Miller/Howard (USD5.3bn) is a specialist in the selection of high-dividend equities, while Clark Capital (USD3bn) focuses on tactical allocations to fixed income.The launch of UCITS-compliant products will allow the two asset management firms to reach a vast audience of investors not only in Europe, but also in Asia and Latin America.
18/04/2013
Fonds

Alceda indroduira Miller/Howard et Clark Capital en Europe

Le luxembourgeois Alceda Fund Management, qui administre actuellement quelque 5,4 milliards d’euros d’actifs, a annoncé le 17 avril qu’il va ouvrir le marché européen des fonds coordonnés à deux gestionnaires américains, Miller/Howard Investments, de Woodstock (NY), et Clark Capital Management Group, de Philadelphie, en les accueillant sur sa plate-forme Alceda Ucits Platform (AUP).Miller/Howard (5,3 milliards de dollars) est spécialiste de la sélection d’actions à forts dividendes tandis que Clark Capital (3 milliards de dollars) s’est focalisé sur des allocations tactiques dans le domaine obligataire.Le lancement de produits coordonnés devrait permettre aux deux gestionnaires de toucher un vaste public d’investisseurs non seulement en Europe, mais aussi en Asie et en Amérique latine.
Fonds
18/04/2013
Fonds

Nouvelle progression en mars des actifs des fonds de placement

Le volume global des fonds de placement gérés en Suisse a progressé de 17,6 milliards de francs suisses en mars 2013 pour s'établir à 754,4 milliards de francs suisses, selon les statistiques communiquées par Swiss Fund Data (SFA). Sur ce montant, les investisseurs institutionnels représentent 289,8 milliards de francs, précise le communiqué.En mars, la collecte nette s’est élevée à 1,6 milliard de francs suisses. Ce sont les fonds obligataires qui ont recueilli le plus de souscriptions (2,6 milliards de francs), devant les fonds stratégiques de placement (1,6 milliard de francs). Des désinvestissements ont été opérés dans les fonds monétaires (-1,3 milliard de francs) et les fonds en actions (-0,4 milliard de francs), indique la SFA.
Fonds
18/04/2013
Fonds

Nouveau lead manager pour le fonds européen à haut rendement de Threadneedle

Threadneedle a confié la responsabilité de la gestion du fonds European High Yield Bond, dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à 790 millions de livres, à Michael Poole, depuis deux ans co-gérant du fonds aux côtés de Barrie Whitman qui devient deputy manager sur cette stratégie, rapporte Investment Week.Barrie Whitman continuera de piloter d’autres stratégies comme le Strategic Bond fund dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à près de 400 millions de livres. Le European High Yield Bond a dégagé un rendement de 16,7% au cours des douze derniers mois, à comparer à une performance de 10% en moyenne pour le secteur des Global Bonds de l’IMA (Association des gestionnaires britanniques).
Fonds

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