P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } SBAB bank, owned by the Swedish state, has launched three funds, which may invest in equities, bonds, commodities, real estate and hedge funds, and which will be managed by Öhman Fonder, Privata Affärer reports. Each fund will have a different allocation, depending on the investment horizon (short, medium and long).
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The private equity group KKR is planning to sell its 50% stake in the French firm Tarkett as part of a transaction which would value the flooring specialist at USD2.5bn to USD3.8bn, the news agency Bloomberg reports. The firm, based in Nanterre, has been 50/50 controlled by KKR and the Deconinck family since 2007. The Deconinck family does not wish to sell its stake, Bloomberg reports. Pre-tax profits at Tarkett last year totalled EUR260m, up 36% year on year, on earnings up 11% to EUR2.3bn.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of 28 February, assets under management by Legg Mason totalled USD661bn, compared with USD654.9bn one month previously, and USD648.9bn as of the end of December. For its part, Franklin Templeton has posted an increase in its assets to USD813.8bn, compared with USD809.8bn as of the end of January, and USD781.8bn as of 31 December 2012.For its part, Invesco has reported assets under management as of the end of February of USD713.8bn, compared with USD712.6bn one month previously, and USD687.7bn at the end of last year.At AllianceBernstein, assets remain unchanged compared with the end of January, at USD437bn, vs USD430bn as of 31 December 2012.For Legg Mason, most of the increase in February is related to money market funds, whose assets total USD142.9bn, compared with USD137.4bn as of the end of January, while for Franklin Templeton inflows were mostly to fixed income, with a total of USD364.7bn, compared with USD360.5bn one month previously.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at MEAG (Munich Ergo Asset Management), the asset management firm of the reinsurance group Munich Re, as of the end of 2012 totalled EUR11.5bn, compared with EUR10.4bn as of the end of December 2011, the German group announced on 12 March at the publication of its annual results. The group has also announced that it is 59% invested in bonds, compared with 58% one year earlier, and 3% in equities, compared with 2% previously. The largest shareholder in the group remains Warren Buffett, who as of the end of 2012 controlled an 11.2% stake in the group, Munich Re states. The stake represents a financial investment for Buffett and not a strategic engagement with a desire to influence policies at Munich Re, the German group says in its annual report.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The chairman of the board at DWS Investment, head of the Asset & Wealth Management (AWM) unit for Germany and of active management for the Deutsche Bank group, Wolfgang Matis, has been appointed as chairman of the supervisory board at Sal. Oppenheim. He replaces Carsten Schildknecht, who will be leaving the Deutsche Bank group on 31 March.Joachim Häger has also been appointed as a member of the supervisory board at Sal. Oppenheim. Like Matis, he is a member of the AWM executive board at Deutsche Bank. He is also chairman of the supervisory board at Wilhelm von Fink Deutsche Family Office AG.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } UBS is reported to be interested in acquiring the Italian Banca Intermobiliare di Investimenti e Gestioni. The largest Swiss bank may also strengthen its wealth management activities, an informer familiar with the matter has told the news agency Bloomberg, which reported the information on 12 March. The agency thus confirms a report in the Italian newspaper Il Sole – 24 Ore. Banca Intermobiliare is majority owned by Veneto Banca. Talks with US are underway, the informer says. UBS and Veneto Banca had no comments on the rumour. Assets under management at Banca Intermobiliare total about EUR14bn.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Sven Wiedeker, head of sales, will now become head of Swiss market at Swisscanto (GBP51.9bn in assets as of the end of 2012), replacing Reto Tarreghetta, a board member. Tarregheta, who joined the firm in 2006, “has decided to give a new orientation to his career,” and will be leaving the central asset management firm for the cantonal banks on 28 March.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Notenstein private bank on 12 March announced that it has increased its stake in the structured services specialist EFG Financial Products (EFG FP), to 22.75% from 2.5% previously. The acquisition price is CHF70.2m, paid to EFG International. The purchse is expected to be finalised “during” first half, pending approval from the authorities, the Raffeisen Switzerland affiliate says in a statement. Notenstein has also signed an agreement with the founding shareholders of EFG Financial Products Holding. The agreement specifies that shareholders in EFG Financial Products Holding will be allowed to elect two members of Notenstein to the board of directors at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting. The participants will mutually allocate the rights corresponding to their shares. Notenstein will then issue its own structured investment products, guaranteed by Raiffeisen Switzerland. EFG Financial Products will take responsibility for providing some services, related to the issue and sale of these products, while Notenstein will offer the products in its name. With the operation, Notenstein “emphasizes its will to accentuate its supremacy in the area of financial products, and further strengthen its position on the Swiss market.”
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The insurer Swiss Life is planning to offer to introduce an amendment at its next general shareholders’ meeting on 23 April to increase its conditional capital. The capital would be increased form 3.6 million to 6 million nominal shares, equivalent to 18.7% of equity capital. The operation will increase the conditional capital to a level which is “usual in the sector,” and increase the financial flexibility of the group, the life insurance specialist says in a statement released on 12 March. At the next general shareholders’ meeting, Volker Brenkamp will be leaving his position as a member of the board of directors, due to an age limit. Peter Quadri has been proposed for re-election. Frank Keuper of the insurer Axa, Ueli Dietiker of Swisscom, and Klaus Tschütscher, prime ministeer of Liechtenstein, will be proposed for election. As announced in annual results, the group will propose to pay an unchanged dividend of CHF4.50 per share, from capital reserves.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } So far, portfolio managers are only concerned spectators in the debate on bonus limits, Financial Times Fund Management reports. But observers of the sector agree that regulators will be likely to copy proposals to limit the size of bonuses as compared with salaries to a proportion of 1:2 and 2:2 with forthcoming reforms. The fear is that prohibition of bonuses which exceed salaries may be enshrined into law when the UCITS V directive comes into effect in 2015, FTfm reports.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Natixis Asset Management has received a management mandate for EUR50m from the Previp pension fund, for its balanced bond allocation, Bluerating reports. The allocation is 75% invested in bonds denominated in euros, and 25% in global equities. The mandate will be managed by the Institutional & Network Solutions team.The Previp pension fund as of the end of 2012 had assets of EUR1.4bn under management in 4 allocations.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Equity analyst Henry Flockhart has replaced Ed Leggets as manager of the Standard Life Investments UK Equity High Alpha fund, Fund Web reports. Flockhart joined the asset management firm in 2010. Leggets will continue to manage the SLI UK Equity Unconstrained fund.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Since 11 March, British-registered funds managed by Skandia Investment Management Ltd will all adopt the Old Mutual prefix, Old Mutual Global Investors (OMGI) has announced, the change follows a name change for Skandia IM, which has become Old Mutual Investment Management Ltd.A list of affected funds is available as an attachment.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } JP Morgan Asset Management controls 2.051% of the Italian asset management firm Azimut Holding, Bluerating reports, citing information from Consob, the Italian securities commission.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at Henderson Property last year rose by GBP100m to a total of GBP12.5bn, according to statistics released by the firm on 12 March. Transactions over the year as a whole represented a cumulative total of GBP1.7bn. As of 31 December 2012, client engagements totalled GBP0.9bn. Investment projects currently represent an overall total of about GBP1bn. In France, following the acquisition of Horizon Investment Management France SAS, assets under management increased from EUR570m to over EUR1bn.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at the asset management unit of Close Brothers rose 6% in the six months to the end of February, to GBP8.9bn, according to a statement released on 12 March. The increase is largely due to positive market effects, while subscriptions were offset by redemptions. The asset management unit finished the half with operating profits of GBP1.1bn, where the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year brought a loss of GBP2.6m. The group has also reported an operating profit of GBP77.3m for the half, compared wih GBP66.8m previously.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Michelle Andrews, marketing director, will take over the functions of the head of investment marketing, which will be left vacant at the end of this month following the departure of Graham Bentley, Fundweb reports. Relationships with fund management groups, which Bentley had also directed, will be transferred to the investment solutions team led by James Millard.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } British tracker funds, which have assets of over GBP6bn, have very uncompetitive annual fees, according to a study undertaken by Bestinvest, MoneyMarketing reports. Bestinvest finds that the annual fees for the major British tracker funds fell in a total range of 0.15% to 1.5%. The two largest British retail tracker funds are the Virgin UK Index tracking fund (GBP2.4bn in assets), whose annual fees total 1%, and the Legal & General (N) Tracker Trust fund (GBp1.2bn), whose annual fees are 1.15%. Bestinvest cites several other tracker funds, whose total annual fees range from 0.8% to 1.5%. Bestinvest estimates that such fee levels are excessively high and unnecessary. According to Ben Seager-Scott, a senior analyst at Bestinvest, “there is no reason to pay more than 0.4% per year in fees for a tracker or an ETF. What our research clearly shows is that despite the fact that these strategies are passive, it remains highly important to be active in the selection of funds when choosing a tracker fund.”
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The sale of a part of the stake in St James’s Place by Lloyds Banking group is expected to bring in gross proceeds of about GBP520m, according to a statement from the British banking group published on 12 March.Lloyds Banking states that it has placed 101,703.070 shares, at a price of GBP5.10 each, which corresponds to a total of about GBP520m.Following the conclusion of the operation, which is expected to occur on 15 March, Lloyds Banking Group will control about 37% of capital in St James’s Place.Lloyds Banking Group has agreed not to further reduce its stake in St James’s Place for a period of one year.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Sydney-based asset management firm Tyndall AM has launched a fund of bank loans issued to Australian businesses rated investment grade, Asian Investor reports. The fund will be dedicated largely to Japanese clients, due to the weak yen. Tyndall AM was acquired two years ago by Nikko Asset Management, for a total of USD80m, As of the end of 2012, its assets under management totalled AUD23bn, or slightly over EUR18bn.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } With the SPDR S&P® World ex-Australia (aconym on ASX: WXOZ) and the SPDR S&P World ex-Australia (Hedged) Fund (WXHG), State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) is offering Australian investors exposure to international equities. The first fund will be listed on the ASX in a few weeks, while the second will follow shortly.SSgA currently (as of 28 February) has over AUD3bn in the form of ETFs on the Australian market.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at the Liechtenstein bank VP Bnak as of the end of December 2012 totalled CHF28.5bn, compared with CHF27.4bn at the end of 2011, an increase of 3.9% year on year, according to a statement released on 12 March. Assets under conservation fell to CHF8.8bn from CHF11.5bn at the end of 2011.The bank finished the year 2012 with outflows of CHF192m, of which CHF127m are related to the acquisition of a loan signed in June 2007. VP Bank has also reported a positive market effect of CHF1.3bn. In 2011, VP Bank registered a net inflow of nearly CHF1bn.Profits at the group, as previously announced, totalled CHF47.2m, compared with CHF5.3m in 2011.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Cora Gibbons, head of the international product group at Natixis Global Asset Managment (NGAM), will be joining Baring Asset Management with immediate effect as head of product & fund development. She will be based in London, and will report to David Stevenson, head of product & business development.Before joining NGAM to become head of all product activities of the firm worldwide outside the United States, Gibbons became head of product sales support at Allianz Global Investors in Frankfurt, after serving as lead account manager. She had previously been manager, global products at Invesco, also in Frankfurt.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } State Street Corporation and Boston Financial Data Services (Boston Financial), a joint venture of State Street and DST Systems, have been retained by Transamerica Asset Mangement (an affiliate of Aegon NV) to provide a complete range of investment services on assets totalling USD55.5bn.The contract covers fund administration (financial reporting, expense administration, compliance monitoring) by State Street, which already has a relatively longstanding relationship with Transamerica. State Street is already custodian and accounting services provider to mutual funds from Transamerica.For Boston Financial, which, for its part, is a new partner of Transamerica, for shareholder recordkeeping, investor & intermediary servicing and compliance services.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson is planning to leave his native New York for Puerto Rico, in order to protect his wealth from the US tax authorities, the Financial Times reports. Puerto Rico has recently passed a law to encourage high net worth individuals to move to the island. Meanwhile, the United States may suppress a tax break for alternative management firms.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Derek Braddok and Bill Matthews, who had been partners at the recruitment agency specialised in executive search for the asset management and the financial servies sector HigdonBraddockMatthews, have joined forces to create a similar firm, BraddockMatthews LLC, which will initially have offices in New York and Boston.They plan to serve a client base of asset management firms, hedge funds, private equity firms, investment banks, brokerage firms, charities, and retail investors.BraddockMatthews will start up with a team of five other people, four of whom are former colleagues, and Crosby Haynes, who joins from Raines International.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 8 March, the CNMV issued a license in response to a request from Santander Asset Management to merge several Banif and Banesto products into Santander funds.In detail, the Santander Depositos Plus fund is authorised to absorb the Banif Fondepositos, Fondo Depositos Plus and Banesto Fondepositos funds, while the Santander Renimiento fund has received a license to absorb the Santander Renta Fija Flotante, Banif Corto Plazo, Banif Selección Emergentes and Banesto Ahorro.The funds are all managed by Santander Asset Management, whose assets totalled EUR18.26bn as of the end of February, in 237 funds, of which 58 (totalling EUR3.3bn) carry the Banesto brand name, and 35 (with EUR2.5bn) carry the Banif name.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As La Caixa in November took control ot Banco de Valencia, Invercaixa has taken over management of 16 funds from Banco Valencia, which had previously been managed by Nordkapp, recently acquired by Banco Madrid, Funds People reports. As a result, Invercaixa has paid an indemnity to Banco Madrid, an affiliate of Banca Privada de Andorra (BPA), for rupture of a sales agreement which had tied Banco de Valencia to Nordkapp.Invercaixa has assets of EUR15.6bn in investment funds, in addition to which it now has EUR200m from Banco de Valencia. Invercaixa may soon also take over EUR2.2bn in assets managed by Banca Civica Gestión de Activos.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Netherlands-based asset management boutique Cyrte Investments has launched two equity funds which are intended to capitalise on the rising spending of consumers of new technologies, Citywire reports. The Delta Lloyd L. Cyrte Global Fund and the Delta Lloyd L Cyrte LatAm fund will be housed in a Sicav, the first from the Netherlands firm. They will be managed by Peter van Rooyen.
La société de gestion basée à Sydney Tyndall AM vient de lancer un fonds de prêts bancaires octroyés à des entreprises australiennes notées en catégorie d’investissement, rapporte Asian Investor. Un fonds dédié notamment à une clientèle japonaise confrontée à la faiblesse du yen.Tyndall AM a été rachetée il y a deux ans par Nikko Asset Management pour un montant de 80 millions de dollars. A fin 2012, ses actifs sous gestion s'élevaient à 23 milliards de dollars australiens, soit un peu plus de 18 milliards d’euros.