Vincent Malandain, directeur financier de Thélem assurances, dans un article publié dans Option Finance numéro 1217 : Concernant les marchés, notre plus grande préoccupation concerne la faiblesse des taux d’intérêt. Cette situation rend plus difficile notre choix d’allocation stratégique, car nous devons continuer à optimiser nos rendements sans pour autant prendre trop de risques. Cet environnement affecte à la fois notre compte de résultat et notre passif. Nous avons une richesse potentielle qui se crée au niveau de l’actif par les plus-values ne pourront pas être aussi rentables que par le passé. Nous serons confrontés à une baisse relative de notre niveau de rentabilité . Nos gains en immobilier vont nous permettre de compenser en valeur absolue cette baisse de nos rendements obligataires, mais pas en valeur relative. Par ailleurs, nous avons largement réduit notre exposition actions en vendant des titres, puis en abaissant notre point d’entrée sur cette classe d’actifs, qui se situe désormais en dessous de 3500 points sur le CAC 40. En 2008, nous avons pris une autre orientation importante, en intégrant l’immobilier dans le portefeuille. Nous avons considéré que la crise financière pouvait entraîner un risque inflationniste important. Notre stratégie a donc consisté à acheter des immeubles dans le quartier des affaires du centre de Paris, avec pour objectif qu’ils représentent le même montant que nos capitaux propres. Comme nous prenions déjà des risques sur les obligations privées, nous avons décidé de protéger nos capitaux propres grâce à cette stratégie, en sélectionnant des actifs immobiliers de bureaux de très grande qualité. Pour ces placements immobiliers, nous avions constitué une SCI (Société Civile immobilière) et bénéficié de taux d’emprunts assez attractifs, puisque nous avons obtenu un taux moyen équivalent à celui du taux sans risque. Compte tenu de ces conditions intéressantes, nous avions mis en place un effet de levier extrêmement important. Nous avons alors bénéficié de plus de 200 points de base de gain entre le rendement des actifs immobiliers et le coût du prêt.

La production de pétrole de schiste aux Etats-Unis va permettre de satisfaire l’essentiel de la hausse de la demande mondiale au cours des cinq prochaines années, ce qui ne laissera que peu de marges de manœuvre à l’Organisation des pays exportateurs de pétrole (Opep), estime l’Agence internationale de l'énergie dans son rapport semestriel. L’AIE prévoit une hausse de 8% de la demande mondiale de pétrole sur la période comprise entre 2012 et 2018.

La banque allemande mène des discussions intensives en vue de la cession la majeure partie de son portefeuille de prêts immobiliers au Royaume-Uni, représentant 5,7 milliards d’euros, précise le prospectus de l’augmentation de capital publié mardi. Lone Star et Wells Fargo sont présentés par Reuters comme des acquéreurs potentiels. Ce portefeuille appartient à Hypothekenbank Frankfurt International (ex-Eurohypo), filiale de crédit immobilier de la deuxième banque allemande.

Le Portugal n’imitera pas Chypre qui se réserve la possibilité de vendre ses réserves d’or, à hauteur de 400 millions d’euros, afin de contribuer au plan de renflouement conclu le mois dernier, a indiqué le gouverneur de la banque centrale portugaise Carlos Costa. Les réserves d’or du Portugal sont estimées à 382,5 tonnes. Leur valeur a augmenté de 3,6% l’an dernier pour atteindre 15,51 milliards d’euros.

Les prix à l’importation ont baissé en avril aux Etats-Unis, dans le sillage des prix pétroliers, un signe positif pour les finances des ménages qui atteste par ailleurs de pressions inflationnistes modérées. Le repli s’établit à 0,5% le mois dernier, soit le plus fort recul depuis décembre, a indiqué le département du Travail. Les prix à l’importation avaient diminué de 0,2% en mars (-0,5% en première estimation).

La croissance de l'économie polonaise a ralenti à 0,4% au premier trimestre en variation annuelle, son niveau le plus faible depuis quatre ans, selon des données provisoires publiées mardi. Ce chiffre, inférieur aux attentes, montre que la reprise promise par le gouvernement est encore loin et renforce la possibilité d’une nouvelle baisse des taux dès le mois de juin. Les économistes interrogés par Reuters prévoyaient en moyenne une croissance de 0,7% sur un an.

Brasilia a lancé mardi sa première adjudication de droits de prospection pétrolière et gazière en cinq ans, une manière de vérifier si l’interventionnisme de l’Etat et la croissance de l’offre mondiale ont atténué ou pas l’intérêt manifesté à la suite de la découverte de réserves marines gigantesques en 2007. Cette adjudication de deux jours a débuté par la cession de blocs terrestres dans le bassin du Paranaiba, dans le nord-est du pays.

Des inspections ont été menées visant plusieurs acteurs du marché

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }Markus Fuchs will take over as the CEO of the SFA, which will be rebranded as the Swiss Funds & Asset Management Association SFAMA on the same date. He will succeed Dr. Matthäus Den Otter, who has been the association’s CEO since 2005. Markus Fuchs joined the SFA as senior counsel in 2010. Before, he was a managing director and head of product management hedge funds at UBS, and prior to that CEO of Swiss Life Funds AG.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } NPB Neue Privat Bank, a private Swiss asset management firm aimed at high net worth clients, on Monday announced that it is under investigation by the United States Department of Justice as part of an effort to combat tax evasion in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Zurich-based firm is co-operating with the US investigation, Andreas Hildenbrand, a spokesman, says.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The multilateral trading platform BATS Chi-X Europe has obtained the status of “Recognised Investment Exchange” (RIE) from the new British financial market authority, the FCA. RIE status will allow the BATS Chi-X Europe platform to list ETFs in Europe. BATS received a license to list ETFs in the United States in 2011. The first listing of an ETF in the US took place in January this year, of an iShares product.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Funds People reports that due to the absorption of the Banif Fondepósito, Fondo Depósitos and Banesto Fondepósitos funds, the Santander Fondepósito Clase C fund, formerly known as Santander Depósitos Plus, as of the end of April had assets of EUR1.25bn. The Foncaixa GarantíaRenta Fija 25,has EUR1.001bn. The billionaire club of funds in Spain now has ten members, with the largest the Foncaixa Estabilidad fund with EUR2.3bn, and the second-largest the Santander Banif Inmobiliario with EUR2.13bn. Three years ago, there were 20 funds in the billionaires’ club.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } NYSE Euronext has announced that from 13 May, it has listed a new ETF fund on NYSE Euronext Amsterdam, the Think Sustainable fund, launched by ThinkCapital. The product, which replicates the Think Sustainable World index, charges fees of 0.30%.

Mirabaud is adding a new capability to its intermediation service with the formation of the Mirabaud M&A Advisory Group. The group will provide advice on corporate acquisitions and disposals, as well as related financing and strategic advice.Mirabaud has appointed, as partners of Mirabaud Securities LLP, four senior M&A practitioners, Maneksh Dattani, Ian Macfarlane, Paul Schultz and Nicolas Thum, previously partners at Europa Partners, to spearhead the new initiative. They each have more than 20 years’ experience in international mergers and acquisitions. Their existing clients range from FTSE 100 companies (and their equivalents) to financial sponsors and family-owned businesses. The team’s expertise covers a range of sectors and their transactions have been across four continents. The team will be based in London and will work closely with Mirabaud’s existing equity capital markets, debt capital markets and alternative capital teams, as well as Asset Management and Private Banking, throughout Mirabaud’s network.Maneksh DattaniDattani specialises in real estate and private equity related transactions, including financings. Prior to joining Mirabaud, Dattani was a partner at Europa Partners. Ian MacfarlaneMacfarlane specialises in financial institutions and industrials as well as the Nordic Region. Prior to joining Mirabaud, Macfarlane was a partner at Europa Partners. Paul SchultzSchultz specialises in the financial institutions sector. Prior to joining Mirabaud, Schultz was a partner at Europa Partners. Nicolas ThumThum specialises in the transportation & logistics sector. Prior to joining Mirabaud, he was a partner at Europa Partners.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jean-Philippe Olivier has left his position as head of the delegated management department at the French pension fund Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR), the website IPE reports. He left the public establishment, whose assets total about EUR36.6bn, last month, in order to take up a position as chief investment officer at Coface. Olivier had been working at the FRR since 2006.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Richard M. Weil, CEO, has announced that as Ron Sachs has resigned and left the firm on 31 May, Janus Capital Group has recruited Doug Rao from Marsico Capital Management to manage the Jany Forty and Aspen Forty funds.Marc Pinto, who has spent 19 years as a part of the large cap growth equities team at Janus, has been appointed from 13 May as portfolio manager for the Janus Twenty Fund (a fund which is currently closed to new investors), also replacing Sachs. Pinto will also remain as co-portfolio manager of the Janus Balanced Fund and a portfolio manager of the Janus Growth & Income Fund.Also from 13 May, Jonathan Coleman has been appointed as a portoflio manager at the Janus Triton Fund. With Maneesh Modi, an equity analyst, Coleman will also be co-manager of the portfolio of the Janus Venture Fund. They replace Chad Meade and Brian Schaub, who will be leaving the business after a period of transition, in order to allow the new managers to take over command of the fund. Coleman joined Janus in 1994 and Modi in 2008. As a part of the reorganization, Jonathan Coleman will be leaving the management of the Janus Fund and the Aspen Janus Portoflio, which he had co-managed, to Barney Wilson, who joined Janus in 2005 and who had been the other co-manager of the two products.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 30 April, assets under management by Franklin Resources (Franklin Templeton Investments) totalled USD847.5bn, compared with USD823.7bn as of the end of March, largely due to incrases of USD6bn for equities (to USD325.9bn) and especially USD14.5bn (to USD383.7bn) for bond products.Assets at Invesco increased by USD19.2bn in April to finish the month at USD748.6bn, with the increases distributed over the various fund ranges (equities, bonds, balanced, money market and alternative). AllianceBernstein’s AUM increased by USD10bn, to a total of USD453bn as of the end of April, due to an increase of USD7bn for bonds (to USD272bn), and a gain of USD2bn (to USD145bn) for equities.Lastly, assets at Legg Mason fell to USD655.4bn as of the end of April, compared with USD664.6bn as of the end of March, largely due to a decline of USD16.4bn in assets in money market funds, while long-term funds were up by USD7.2bn, to USD534.1bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Lawrence Remstedt, a portfolio manager at Axa Rosenberg, which he joined in 2008 after working at American Century Investments since 2003, has been promoted to head of institutional development & relations at Axa Investment Managers for the United States.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Index Universe reports that WisdomTree has applied for a license for an ETF fund aiming for annual returns of 6% on the basis of equally-weighted investments in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF fund (NYSE Arca ticker: SPY), iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), which all have total returns of 1.95% to 2.10%. These funds constitute the S&P 500 Managed Distribution index.Between quarterly weighting adjustments, the new product may move away from equal weighting, and take positions directly on equities included in the portfolios of ETFs, or increase its stake on individual ETFs. The management team will also be authorised to invest in derivative instruments.So far, WisdomTree has not released a ticker or TER for the fund.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } With the PowerShares Fundamental Emerging Markets Local Debt Portfolio (acronym: PFEM), Invesco PowerShares Capital Management on 9 May launched an ETF based on emerging market sovereign debt denominated in local currencies, with fees of 0.50%. The product, with monthly distribution, replicates the Citi RAFI Bonds Sovereign Emerging Markets Extended Local Currency Index, which is composed of issued from 18 emerging market governments rated at least CC by S&P, and Ca by Moody’s.As of 30 April, the index was composed of bonds issued by Brazil, Chile, China (offshore), Colombia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand and Turkey.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Ohio National Financial Services and Jefferson National have become the first two insurers to use the new Fidelity VIP Target Volatility Portfolio launched by Fidelity Investments, which is intended to be integrated exclusively into variable annuities and variable life insurance products. The objective is to limit volatility to 10% over a rolling one-year period.The portfolio will be invested primarily in US equities, international equities from developed countries, US investment-grade bonds, and cash, via mutual funds from Fidelity as well as ETFs and index futures, but the management team, led by Wuehai En, with the assistance of Bob Vick (co-manager), may also invest in other asset classes, such as high yield debt and emerging market equities and bonds.The VIP Target Volatility Portfolio is benchmarked against a composite index as a guide for its asset allocation, with 42% being the Dow Jones US Stock Market Index, 18% MSCI EAFE, 35% Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index, and 5% Barclays US 3 Months Treasury Bellwether Index.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The realty firm Duke Realty, listed on the New York stock exchange, has bought the logistical complex at 311-315 Half Acre Road in Cranbury, New Jersey, from the German firm Deka Immobilien GmbH. The 88,000 square-metre property had been part of the portfolio of the dedicated fund Deka-S-PropertyFund No.1.The sale price has not been disclosed, but Deka Immobilien states that it took advantage of strong demand for large size logistical properties to sell the property with a capital gain.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Investeam and Accola will launch a second contractual bond FCP fund of midcaps with a 2019 horizon, Newsmanagers has learned. The fund, entitled Micado France 2019, will be managed by Palatine Asset Management, and will invest in bonds issued by French midcap companies which are publicly traded but not rated. Investments will go into the treasuries of selected midcap companies, to finance regional growth projects. The net TRI for investors is expected to range from 4.2% to 4.7%. The product has the same investment strategy as the first fund, Micado France 2018, with a slight variation: it may invest up to 10% in non-listed businesses, in order to seek out additional returns. Given that the fund targets 20 issuers, two issuers may therefore be included. Investeam and Accola are seeking to raise a maximum of EUR100m, while the interests of French institutional investors already total EUR86m. The first product, managed by Portzamparc Gestion, brought in more than EUR60m. Micado France 2019 will be launched in early July, and will be on sale until late September or early October.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Achim Küssner, CEO of Germany-based Schroder Investment Management GmbH, has announced that the British firm has now received a sales license for Germany and Austria for the Euro High Yield fund (ISN codes: LU0849399786, A capitalisation share class, LU0849400543, A distribution share class), a sub-fund of its Schroder International Selection Fund (Schroder ISF) Luxembourg Sicav, which was launched on 14 November. Front-end fees are limited to 3%.The fund is already licensed for sale in Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Spain and France (see Newsmanagers of 30 January).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Barely 41% of German equity funds have managed to beat their benchmark index, the DAX 30 TR, over a 5-year period, according to a study by e-fundresearch. The study takes into account German equity funds on sale as of 10 May 2013 in at least one of the three European German-speaking countries, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and which have a track record of at least 5 years. The best 5 German equity funds are the following: ISIN Name of fund LU0247468282 DB Platinum III Platow R1CLU0158903558 ACATIS CHAMPS SEL - ACATIS AKTIEN DEUTSCHLAND ELMLU0068841302 GS&P Fonds Deutschland aktiv GAT0000A07SN5 Aktienfonds Deutschland Spezial R VADE0009752303 Pioneer Investments German Equity A ND In Switzerland, only 17% of funds have managed to beat their benchmark, the Swiss Market Index (SMI), over a 5-year period. The best fund is the DM Swiss Equities Assymetric Fonds, which beat out the UBS MSF Equities Switzerland and the Mirabaud Fund Swiss Equities.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } New rules from the European Securities Markets Association (ESMA) which will come into force in 2014 have claimed their first victim, Financial Times Fund Management reports. Cantab Capital Partners will be closing the CCP Quantitative UCITS fund, a CTA founded in 2012 to replicate its flagship fund based in the Cayman Islands. Like all UCITS vehicles, it cannot invest in commodity futures, FTfm explains. But like most UCITS CTAs, it has avoided the problem with a total return swap based on the fund it replicates, which is itself allowed to trade in commodity futures. The fund may now continue, so long as its methodology and the constituent parts of the index tracked are published. In addition, the index may not be rebalanced more than one time per month. But most players in the sector think they can adjust to the new ESMA rules, FTfm reports.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fundweb reports that Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM) on 4 April launched the Loomis Sayles US Leaders Fund with seed capital fo USD5m from Aberdeen Asset Management via the Aberdeen Multi-Manager Constellation Portfolio. NGAM has contributed the same amount. It is the second offshore fund imported to the United Kingdom by NGAM, after the Loomis Sayles Strategic Income Fund.The manager at Loomis Sayles is vice president Aziz Hamzaogullari. The portfolio is composed of 30 to 35 positions on US growth large caps.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } “In order to protect the interests of existing shareholders,” First State Investments has announced plans to restrict access by new subscribers to its First State Global Emerging Market Leaders funds. The decision is related to significant inflows to the funds, which is managed by Jonathan Asante, head of global emerging markets, and Glen Finegan, portfolio manager.From 7 September 2013, First State will charge a front-end fee of 4% on the fund of the British range, while the fund in the Irish range will cease to accept new subscriptions. Regular savings investors who maintain their subscriptions to one fund or the other will not be affected by the measures. First State is planning to credit the funds concerned with the front-end fees announced.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to the most recent Pridham report, inflows from retail investors in the United Kingdom were disappointing in first quarter 2013, although some asset management firms did better than well, Money Marketing reports. Statistics from the British Investment Management Association also indicate that retail net inflows in first quarter totalled GBP2.7bn, their lowest level in 5 years. The economic environment and austerity measures probably did not favour investment, and RDR regulations manifestly contributed to a downturn in inflows, the Pridham report estimates, citing low levels of investment into ISA accounts. However, Standard Life Investments has topped the rankings for retail inflows in first quarter with GBP917.3m, followed by BNY Mellon (GBP658m), Cazenove (GBP498.1m) and BlackRock (GBP352.2m).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM) has launched a US equity fund on the British market, the Loomis Sayles US Leaders Fund, with an initial contribution of USD5bn from Aberdeen, Investment Week reports.The fund, managed by Aziz Hamzaogullari, was launched in early April with a contribution of USD5bn from Natixis.The new fund, the second onshore product offered by NGAM, is a conviction-based strategy based on a concentrated portfolio of 30 to 35 positions, largely growth large caps.