P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Stefan Paulus, a specialist in funds at Bank Julius Baer, has been recruited as senior relationship manager at Dexia Asset Management, to serve institutional clients in German-speaking Switzerland and Liechtenstein. About 80 funds (equities, bonds, SRI, hedge funds) from Dexia AM are licensed for sale in Switzerland.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Taiwan-based asset management firm Yuanta Securities Investment Trust has signed an agreement with China Resources to create a joint venture in Shenzhen. A fixed income fund will be launched later in the year, Asian Investor states. In 2014, a cross-border ETF will be created. It will be traded in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Eva Gottfridsdotter-Nilsson, CEO of Länsförsäkringar Fondförvaltning, the asset management activity of the Swedish bank Länsförsäkringar Bank, has been reelected as chair of the Swedish investment fund association, Fondbolagens Förening, for an additional year. Peter Branner, of SEB Fonder, has been reelected as vice-chairman. Three new members have been admitted to the board of directors at the association: Thomas Hedberg (Swedbank Robur), Javiera Ragnartz (Handelsbanken Fonder) and Maria Rengefors (Nordea Fonder). Fondbolagens Förening has also admitted two new companies: M&G Investments and KPMG.

U.S. prime money market funds (MMFs) increased their exposure to eurozone banks in April, although asset allocations to these institutions remain well below 2011 levels, according to Fitch Ratings. As of end-April 2013, MMF allocations to eurozone banks represented 15.1% of assets under management within Fitch’s sample of the 10 largest U.S. prime money funds, a 14% increase over the prior month. MMFs’ eurozone allocations have almost doubled since end-June 2012, a sign of improving investor sentiment toward the region. This resumption in eurozone allocations also suggests that the March decline was a tentative retreat given the brief market uncertainty after the Cyprus banking system failure.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US manager Mary Chris Gay has left Legg Mason Capital Management, according to several sources. She has been replaced by her colleague, Sam Peters. Gay has since 1998 been manager of the Dublin-domiciled fund LMCM Value, whose assets under management total about USD2.3bn, and which had previously been managed by Bill Miller. Gay, who joined Legg Mason in 1988 as an analyst, would like to take her career in a new direction.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } LHI Leasing has selected Caceis as a depository bank for its dedicated funds, in compliance with the AIFM directive and its expected transposition into the German law on capital investments (KAGB0, according to a statement released on 22 May. LHI and Caceis will soon be creating the necessary organisation to create two large funds in the areas of real estate and renewable energies. “Caceis, as part of its depositary banking services, offers all asset classes which are indispensable to the creation of funds, and may integrate other asset classes. This factor played a crucial role in our decision,” says Oliver Porr, CEO of LHI Leasing and chairman of the board of directors at the German dedicated fund association (VGF). In addition to real estate and renewable energies, LHI is planning to launch funds specialised in reactors and aircraft leasing, for which Caceis will serve as depository bank.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } After beating its objectives for the 2012-2013 fiscal year ending in March, the Paris office of Legg Mason, led by Vincent Passa, has gotten a rolling start to the new fiscal year. Assets under management may top USD1bn by 2014, possibly duing first quarter, Vincent Passa has told Newsmanagers, at the annual Legg Mason conference in London. Passa intends to achieve his objective, largely by pushing an absolute performance bond strategy managed by Brandywine, a Legg Mason entity specialised in fixed income. Brandywine, which has about USD38bn in assets under management in fixed income, launched a new version of the bond strategy about one year ago, which allows negative bets on durations and currencies. The strategy, which has assets of about USD2bn (including mandates) is in the process of being registered in France, and in other European countries. In addition to this new product range, which is expected to be made available in the next few weeks, Legg Mason also plans to foreground complementary strategies on US equities, which have proven their mettle and which can offer attractive outlooks in a context of recovery in the US economy. This is the case with the Clearbridge US Aggressive Growth fund, whose assets under management total slightly over USD700m, an all-cap size fund which will soon be 30 years old, and which invests only in businesses which will be likely to provide sustained growth across cycles. The fund is currently underweight in tech and overweight in the biotech sector. Passa is also counting on two other US equity funds, the Royce Small Cap Opportunities (over USD600m in assets under management), which is expected to performe very well in rebound phases, and the Legg Mason Capital Management Opportunity fund, managed by Bill Miller. In addition to US equity funds, Passa is also counting on a fund of Asian debt denominated in local currencies from Western Am, which is expected to deliver returns of about 8% to 9%, with volatility of 8%. “We would like to offer French investors products which are appropriate for the environment and which perform well. That is the case for the products which we are highlighting and which are also complementary,” says Passa. If current trends continue, the Paris office, which has three employees and covers not only France but also Monaco and Benelux, may also be enlarged.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } “Taking advantage of an anticyclical opportunity to invest in a very well-located property,” the German firm Deka Immobilien has acquired the Ronda building located at San Pedro 5 in Barcelona from a family office.The 4,000 square metre property, with 2,600 square metres of office space and 1,400 square metres of shops, was acquired for EUR19m, and will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund WestInvest InterSelect (DE0009801423).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Tracy Collins, a senior associate partner in the charities team at Sarasin & Partners, will in July 2013 join Rothschild Wealth Management as director of the charities team. She will be based in London, and will report to Nadu Patel, head of charities in the wealth management unit in the United Kingdom. Patel joined from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in 2010.Meanwhile, Mark Kary, who joined Rothschild in 2010 and was appointed as head of wealth management in 2012 (he is the former CEO of Polar Capital), has announced the recruitment of Charles Costa Duarte and Jake van Beever, to form a team of wealth management client advisers. The two men had previously worked at TSB Private Banking, where they were responsible for assisting ultra-high net worth (UHNW) retail clients.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The range of WisdomTree high dividend equity ETFs on 22 May gained an additional reference, in the WisdomTree U.S. Dividend Growth Fund (NasdaqGM ticker: DGRW).The product aims to replicate the fundamental weighting index WTDGI, which covers about 300 companies which pay dividends and combine the best characteristics for growth and quality as measured by long-term growth outlooks and returns on owners’ equity.The total expense ratio is 0.28%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } NYSE Euronext has announced that on 22 May, two ETFs from Lyxor Asset Management were admitted to trading on the Paris stock exchange, bringing the total number of ETFs listed on European markets of NYSE Euronext to 660, of which 576 are primary listings.The products, both of which charge fees of 0.40%, are the LYX Unlev VIX EUR (ticker: ULVO), which replicates the S&P VIX Futures Enhanced Roll, and the LYX Unlev VIX USD (ULVX), which uses the same index.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For an undisclosed sum, the Hamburg-based Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE) has acquired a 30,740 square-metre logistical property from BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions Immobilien Schweiz AG, located in Oftringer (60 km west of Zurich), which is leased ot Fiege Logistik Schweiz AG. The property will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate portfolio reserved for institutional investors UniInstitutional European Real Estate.Real estate funds from UIRE control a total of 18 logistical properties with a total value of EUR630m.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The CNMV has issued a sales license for Spain to Eurizon MM Collection, a Luxembourg-registered Sicav umbrella fund from the Italian firm Eurizon Capital, with three sub-funds specialised in Japan, China and Brazil, respectively, Funds People reports. They are Daiwa Equity Japan, managed by Daiwa AM, Itaú Equity Brazil Domestic Dynamics, managed by Itaú Unibanco, and Guosen RMB Fixed Income, managed by Guosen Securities.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In first quarter 2013, hedge funds dedicated to emerging markets posted net inflows of USD1.8bn, according to the most recent edition of the HFR Emerging Markets Hedge Fund Industry Report. Inflows totalled USD3bn in fourth quarter 2012. Assets under management by emerging market hedge funds set a new record at over USD151bn, up by USD12bn compared with the end of December 2012. The HFRX Multi-Emerging Markets index gained 5.9% in the first four months of the year. Despite declines for the Chinese (Shanghai Composite) and Korean (Kospi) stock market indices, the HFR China and HFRX Korea indices have posted respective gains of 8.8% and 10%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In first quarter 2013, net profits for the private banking unit at ABN Amro totalled EUR35m, compared with EUR57m in the corresponding period of last year, which was marked by significant one-time profits. In addition, the decline is due to a slight decline in margins and a higher level of pension costs.As of 31 March, assets in the private banking unit totalled EUR165.1bn, compared with EUR163.1bn three months previously, with inflows and outflows evenly balanced.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Scandinavian firm Tundra Fonder has launched an Asia ex-Japan equity fund for the former BankInvest emerging market specialist Jon Scheiber, Citywire Global reveals. Scheiber left BankInvest in May 2012, and joined Tundra in early 2013. The fund will have a quantitative approach, and will be entitled Tundra QuAsia fund.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In first quarter 2013, 435 funds were launched in Europe, whilst a total of 600 funds (396 liquidations and 204 mergers) were withdrawn from the market during the same period, as the industry continues to consolidate its fund ranges, according to Lipper.During the first three months of the year, 435 funds were launched in Europe, the lowest number for Q1 results of the last five years. This reflects a decrease of 46% compared with the peak in Q1 2010 and a decrease of 14% compared to the same period in 2012, when 506 funds were launched.The number of liquidations is also at its lowest Q1 level for the past five years. The 396 liquidations in first quarter 2013 were 30% fewer than the peak of 566 in first quarter 2009. Compared with first quarter 2012, the number of funds decreased by 20%.As at the end of March 2013, there were 31,854 mutual funds registered for sale in Europe, including 8,581 in Luxembourg and 4,907 in France.Equity funds continued to dominate the fund market in Europe, with 37% of the funds available for sale, followed by mixed-asset funds at 25%. Bond funds stood at 22%, whilst money markets represented 5%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to a study by the Luxembourg investment fund association (ALFI) and KPMG, assets in socially responsible funds in Europe increased between the end of 2010 and the end of 2012 by 19%, to EUR237.9bn, in 1,775 products compared with 1,558, which represents an increase of 14%.Cross-sector environmental, social and governance (ESG) funds as of the end of last year had total assets of EUR198.4bn, 83.3% of the total, for 63.9% of funds numerically, outpacing primarily environmental funds, with EUR28.1bn, or 11.8% of total assets and 21.7% of the fund population.By country of domicile, France led with 25.9% of assets, compared with 25.1% for Luxembourg, 7.9% for Norway, 7.6% for Denmark, and 6.6% for Finland.The study also points out that 23% of European SRI funds are available for cross-border sale.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss firm Partners group (EUR28bn) has announced that it has resold its stake in the British firm Cabot Credit Management (GBP7.7bn in assets) to an affiliate of the private equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co, for a sum which has not been disclosed.In April 2011, Partners Group acquired a stake in Cabot in conjunction with AnaCap Financial Partners, to facilitate the merger between Cabot Financial and Apex Credit Management, in a transaction which is expected to be completed in the very near future.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Occitan Capital Partners, a hedge fund firm founded by former Nomura and Boussard & Gavaudan traders, is closing down after two years of losses, Financial News reports, citing four sources familiar with the matter. The firm had received investments from Reservoir Capital Group and Nomura.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The asset management firm Newton, which is part of BNY Mellon Investment Management, has announced the recruitment of Khuran Sharih to the newly-created position of high yield analyst in the Global Fixed Income team, according to a statement released on 21 May. Sharih will work alongside Sebastien Poulin, who joined the team in February 2012. He will report directly yo Parmeshwar Chadha, who is responsible for more than GBP1bn in assets under management in high yield. Sharih previously worked at Cairn Cpaital as a senior credit analyst.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Aberdeen Asset Management and its affiliates have announced that they have completed the acquisition of Artio Global Investors Inc., a U.S. publicly-listed asset manager, effective as of the close of business on May 21, 2013. Aberdeen has paid consideration of USD179.7 million, based on a price of USD2.75 per share. This represents a premium of USD46.3 million over Artio’s unaudited net asset value as of March 31, 2013. This acquisition will expand Aberdeen’s U.S. business, deepen its distribution network in the region and add to its existing fixed income capabilities. As of May 17, 2013, Artio managed assets of approximately USD10.6 billion.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Alberto Giovannini, responsible for carrying out revisions to the statutes of Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset managers, has not garnered unanimous support from the members of the association, Bluerating reports. Some fault him for having been senior advisor to Long Term Capital Management, and that he is a shareholder and deputy director of Unifortune, a firm which is not an Assogestioni member. Others point out that he was investigated in connection with the Cirio junk bond crash.

La

Madrid

L’indice Nikkei a clôturé la séance en forte baisse de 7,32% à 14.483,98 points ce matin dans des volumes très importants,après la publication de l’indice HSBC traduisant les mouvements de l’activité manufacturière en Chine qui est tombé sous le seuil de contraction à 49,6 points pour le mois de mai, après 50,4 en avril. L’indice Topix plus large cédait de son côté 6,87% à 1.188,34 points.

Après avoir été critiquées pour avoir sous-estimé l’impact des titres de créances adossés aux crédits hypothécaires (mortgage backed securities, MBS) avant la crise, les agences de notation sont une nouvelle fois sous le feu des critiques pour ne pas déceler correctement l’impact du rebond du marché immobilier américain qui pourrait permettre à certains MBS de revenir en catégorie investissement, indique le journal. Un retour qui permettrait aux fonds colectifs ou aux fonds de pension d’être en mesure d’acheter à nouveau ces titres. «Vous allez constater des milliers de hausse de notes dans les deux prochaines années», prédit ainsi Kyle Bass, de Hayman Capital.

Les principales économies de la zone euro cherchent à centraliser la collecte de l’impôt sur les transactions financières par le biais des infrastructures de marché européennes afin de s’assurer qu’elle réussisse également à capturer les transactions effectuées à la City de Londres, indique le journal qui cite un document confidentiel de la Commission européenne qu’il s’est procuré.

Les autorités chinoises envisagent de supprimer les taux d’intérêt plancher imposés par la Banque Populaire de Chine (PBOC) sur les prêts soit cette année ou au plus tard l’année prochaine, indique le journal qui cite Ba Shusong, chercheur au Centre de recherche et développement, un organe très suivi par Pékin. Il s’agirait ainsi d’une nouvelle étape vers la libéralisation des marchés chinois.

L’autorité japonaise a maintenu son programme de rachats d’actifs inchangé mais adaptera sa stratégie à la marge en cas de remontée des taux