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06/03/2013

Marshall Wace and GaveKal end joint venture

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The hedge fund firm Marshall Wace and the Asian financial group GaveKal Holdings have decided to dissolve their joint venture, founded in June 2008, Financial News reports. The two parties found that there was a lack of synergy. Marshall Wace will absorb the long/short funds from the joint venture, and GaveKal will take over management of the long-only funds.
06/03/2013

Assets up by EUR13bn at La Banque Postale AM

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Net inflows at La Banque Postale Asset Management last year totalled EUR3.5bn, up EUR2.8bn compared with 2011, according to statistics released on 5 March by La Banque Postale.The effect, associated with improved returns, have resulted in growth of EUR13bn in assets, to EUR137.5bn, largely in the bond (+EUR9.5bn) and money market (+EUR3.4bn) asset classes.Profits for the asset management unit have been maintained due to good cost-control. Net banking proceeds are stable at EUR120m. Operating costs for the sector are under control and are virtually stable compared with 2011, at EUR68m. The cost/income ratio for the asset management affiliates is identical to 2011, at 54.7%.Net profits for the part of the La Banque Postale group rose 39.3% last year to EUR574m, with net banking proceeds of EUR5.24bn (+2.5% excluding one-time elements).La Banque Postale has also announced that it will be continuing to develop its wealth management affiliate. Since October 2012, La Banque Postale has been in exclusive negotiations with Crédit Mutuel Arkéa to acquire all capital in the Banque Privée Européenne (BPE). Final agreements are expected to be signed on 2 April 2013, La Banque Postale states.La Banque Postale will then have a complete platform of the products, resources, tools and expertise necessary to offer a dedicated product range to its 500,000 wealth management clients, with the support of a dedicated network.
06/03/2013

OFI acquires 10% stake in BlueOrchard Finance

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The OFI Group, via its longstanding holding company Ofivalmo Partenaires, on 5 March announced that it has acquired a minority stake of 10% in the Swiss microfinance specialist BlueOrchard. The strategic planned investment was announced in January by OFI (see Newsmanagers of 25 January 2013).BlueOrchard Finance S.A., the European leader in the management of micro-credit, was founded in 2001. For eleven years, BlueOrchard Finance S.A. has been able to increase not only its assets under management, which now total USD620m, but also its product range, to meet demand from institutional and private investors seeking to combine financial returns and social impact.Following the acquisition of the minority stake in BlueOrchard Finance S.A., Ofivalmo Partenaires will be represented on the board of directors of the Geneva-based firm.Assets under management at the OFI group totalled EUR53.5bn as of the end of January 2013.
06/03/2013

SEI wins mandate from Sciens Alternative Investments

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } SEI has been selected by Sciens Alternative Investments, an entity of the Sciens Capital Management group, to provide administration services for its managed account platform. SEI will also provide collateral management services to the Sciens middle office.
06/03/2013

Oppenheimer recruits from Columbia

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } From 11 March, OppenheimerFunds has announced, Laton Spahr is becomgina portfolio manager for the Oppenheimer Value Fund, Oppenheimer Select Value Fund and Oppenheimer Small- & Mid- Cap Value Fund, as well as for all associated strategies. He will also be co-portfolio manager of the Oppenheimer Equity Fund.Spahr will be responsible for a team of three people, who like him are employed by Columbia Management Investment Advisors (an afiliate of Ameriprise Financial, like the British firm Threadneedle): Eric Hewitt, Kyle Bergacker and Daniel Hozan. At Columbia, Spahr was a senior portfolio manager for value and income strategies, for institutional and retail products.Since 28 February, John Damian and Mitchell Williams “are no longer the portfolio managers of their respective products,” while Levine is interim portfolio manager for the strategies concerned until 11 March.For its part, Columbia has announced that it has recruited Jeffrey L. Knight as head of global asset allocation. He had most recently been manager of several mutual funds and institutional strategies, also as head of global asset allocation, at Putnam Investments.
06/03/2013

Cazenove launches multi-asset class fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Cazenove Capital has launched a multi-asset class fund to meet demand from clients, Fundweb reports.The Cazenove Multi-Asset Fund was launched on 28 February. It provides access, via an offshore vehicle, to the strategy used in the Diversity Fund, whose assets under management total GBP1.1bn.According to a Cazenove spokesperson, “the new fund is not identical to the Diversity fund, but it is managed by the same people, and uses a multi-asset class approach.”
06/03/2013

Union acquires hotel in Barcelona

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The German firm Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE) has acquired the four-star Barceló Raval hotel in Barcelona (186 rooms), which is leased for a renewable 20-year term to the third-largest Spanish hotel chain, Barceló, for EUR37m. The property will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Europa.The hotel portfolio of UIRE, which already includes the Barceló hotel in Hamburg, covers 22 properties, and has a volume of EUR1.7bn, of which EUR400m have been invested in the past three years.
06/03/2013

Lyxor registers MTS Spain govies ETF in Spain

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to reports in Funds People, Lyxor Asset Management is said to have already submitted an application for a license to sell the Lyxor ETF MTS Spain Government Bond All-Maturity in Spain, following its recent introduction on Euronext Paris. The product, investing in Spanish government debt, is aimed at investors betting on convergence of the spread in returns between Spanish public debt and German bunds. It is the second ETF which the French asset management firm has listed in Spain since the beginning of the year; the first was the Lyxor ETF MSCI ACWI Gold.
06/03/2013

BlackRock offers EM long/short strategy

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } At the end of 2012, BlackRock launched an absolute return fund which deploys a long/short strategy on emerging market equities, the Emerging Markets Absolute Return sub-fund of its BlackRock Strategic Funds Sicav. The Luxembourg-registered product uses top-down and bottom-up approaches to achieve a net exposure to -10% to +20% to the market, with 20 to 35 positions, as well for long and for short.CharacteristicsName: BlackRock Strategic Funds Emerging Markets Absolute ReturnISIN code: LU0852332542Management commission: 1%Performance commission: 20%Hurdle rate: Libor 3-month
06/03/2013

Vanguard limits access to two funds and slashes TER for eight ETFs

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Subscriptions to the diversified fund Vanguard Wellington TM Fund (USD68bn) and the municipal bond fund Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund (USD39bn) have been closed to new clients since 28 February, including financial advisers and institutional investors. Vanguard is seeking to slow the pace of subscriptions, which continue to be possible for these two categories of clients so long as they have already purchased shares in the fund. For the moment, retail investors can continue to subscribe for new shares, and open new accounts for the two products.Vanguard has also announced a new round of cuts to the total expense ratios (TER) for its ETF products. Eight funds are included, in addition to the emerging market fund Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets Index ETF (VWO), for which the cut was previously announced (see Newsmanagers of 4 March).This time, the eight funds concerned are as follows, according to Mutual Fund Wire and Index Universe:Reductions of 0.03 percentage points:FTSE All-World ex-US, to 0.15%FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap, to 0.25%Global ex-US Real Estate, to 0.32%High Dividend Yield, to 0.10%Reductions of 0.02 percentage pointsMSCI Europe, to 0.12%MSCI Pacific, to 0.12%Total International Stock, to 0.16%Total World Stock, to 0.19%
06/03/2013

William Blair releases EM small cap fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US firm William Blair has launched an emerging market small cap fund to exploit growth shares from emerging countries.The William Blair Emerging Market Small Cap Fund, which comes as an addition to the Sicav range, will invest in 80 to 120 companies whose market capitalisation is below USD5bn. The fund may invest both in emerging and in frontier markets.The fund will be co-managed by Todd McClone and Jeff Urbina.
06/03/2013

FBI helps SEC to combat high-frequency trading abuses

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The FBI has teamed up with a new unit at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Quantitative Analytics Unit, which examines hedge funds and other companies that use transaction strategies with algorithms, the Financial Times reports. The structure seeks to identify abuses which may result from the emergence of high-frequency trading companies and the use of dark pools.
06/03/2013

Chinese family offices growing

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } With strong growth in their wealth, Chinese high net worth investors are increasingly considering setting up family offices, often in Hong Kong or Singapore, Asian Investor reports. The number of Chinese high net worth individuals whose investable assets exceed USD1m rose 5% in 2011 to 562,000, according to statistics from Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management in their Asia-Wealth Report 2012.
06/03/2013

UBS appoints head of wealth management for Gulf

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } To replace Rolf Schilde as head of wealth management for the Persian Gulf, based in Dubai, UBS has recruited Dominique Leimer, who most recently had been one of the directors of the private equity investor Black Pearl Capital in Geneva, finews reports. Leimer, who has already been in Dubai for seven years at Credit Suisse and Julius Baer, will report to Ali Janoudi, the new head of UBS for Wealth Management Dubai International Center (DIFC).
06/03/2013

Azimut launches advising unit

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Italian asset management firm Azimut has unveiled a new unit, Azimut Global Advisory, which will focus on paid financial advising, Bluerating reports. The project, based on open architecture, will be led by the brothers Alberto and Alessandro Parentini.
06/03/2013

UBS to launch ETF in Hong Kong

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } UBS is planning to list several ETFs in Hong Kong in the second half of this year, following the launch of an activity dedicated to ETFs in the region and the recruitment of a sales team in Hong Kong, Financial News reports. The products will be registered locally, and the bank is planning to list some of them in Singapore as well.
06/03/2013

Temasek buys Repsol's own shares

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The CNMV on 4 March published a notification from the oil firm Repsol stating that the Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek (EUR115bn in assets) has acquired the remainder of the Spanish group’s holding in its own shares, equivalent to 5.04% of capital, for EUR1.036bn (64.7 million shares, at EUR16.01 each). Temasek now has a 6.3% stake in Repsol.
06/03/2013

UCITS-compliant hedge fund returns down in February

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to statistics from the Swiss firm Alix Capital, UCITS-compliant hedge funds in February posted average returns of 0.14%, compared with 1.03% in January, or 1.17% since the beginning of the year. UCITS-compliant funds of hedge funds had 0.23%, compared with 1.31% the previous month, for a total of 1.54% for the first two months.Three strategies showed losses in February: CTA (-0.80%), commodities (-0.40%), and event-driven (-0.04%). The strongest gains were for FX (+0.56%) and long/short equity (+0.40%)As of the end of February, total assets in UCITS-compliant hedge funds totalled EUR143bn, for the 870 funds of the UCITS Alternative Index, compared with EUR141bn for 880 products as of the end of January.
06/03/2013

Allianz GI distances itself from equities and bonds

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Elizabeth Corley, CEO of Allianz Global Investors, is pessimistic about equities and bonds, Financial Times Fund Management reports this week. The affiliate of the German firm is encouraging invetors to focus on other aset classes, such as convertible bonds, index products, commodities and infrastructure. AGI has also created a renewables team, and is planning to launch a fund dedicated to this theme covering Europe, and potentially other developed countries. Corley also thinks that Asian high yield bonds denominated in local currencies offer “real opportunities.”
06/03/2013

EU corners UK on bonus limits

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Finance ministers from the 27 EU countries meeting in Brussels on 5 March supported a compromise proposal advanced last week by the European Parliament for legislation to apply the rules of Basel III to Europe, including new bonus limits, Les Echos reports. No formal decision has been taken, but Ireland, which holds the EU presidency this half, observed at the conclusion of the meeting that a vast majority supported the compromise proposal. The United Kingdom is now completely isolated on the issue of limits for bonuses paid to bankers, with no way to prevent the equivalent of this legislation being passed elsewhere in the world. In the future, variable pay scales may not exceed those for the fixed portion of salary, except if shareholders decide to raise the limit to up to twice the annual salary.
06/03/2013

World's 20 largest hedge funds making less than before

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The 20 largest hedge funds in the world made USD32.4bn for their investiors last year, less than one fifth of the USD172bn the industry made overall, the Financial Times reports, citing figures from LCH Investments (Edmond de Rothschild group). In the past, the 20 largest hedge funds made nearly half of all the profits in the industry.
06/03/2013

Morningstar hedge fund index up 1.9% in January

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Morningstar hedge fund index, the Morningstar MSCI Composite Hedge Fund Index, gained 1.9% in the month of January, and has gained 6.3% in the past twelve months. Virtually all components of the index remained positively oriented in January, exepting short bias and systematic trading strategies. Among the notable results of the month, the Morningstar MSCI Small Cap Hedge Fund Index posted gains of 3.9%, and the Morningstar MSCI Emerging Markets Hedge Fund Index has gained 3%.
06/03/2013

Falling interest rates aggravate shortfalls for major pension funds

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Since 2008, falling discount rates have, despite four years of good performance for investments, provoked a rise of about USD84bn in the coverage shortfalls for the 19 US pension funds with liabilities of over USD20bn, according to a study by Russell Investments. The funds taken by themselves represent nearly 40% of assets and liabilities for all US publicly-traded companies. They finished 2012 with a net shortfall of USD220bn, compared with USD182bn one year earlier.
06/03/2013

AUM at BPER group up 5.4%

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Assets under management at the Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild group (BPER group) last year rose 5.4% to CHF101.6bn. Net inflows totalled CHF2.5bn, a press release says.Net profits, however, rell to CHF66.4m, compared with CHF125.1m in 2011. This decline is largely due “to a decline in returns on savings, reduced client activity, an unfavourable evolution of the asset mix, and a reduced contribution from fund activities, which weighed heavily on our revenues.” The group was also obliged to bear one-time restructuring costs, as well as significant investment to establish a platform in Hong Kong and to modernise IT systems.The group emphasizes that it has pledged to deploy a strategic plan that will be focused on a number of priority actions, “such as capitalisation around a strong Edmond de Rotschild brand, and confirmation of engagement in the private banking and asset management professions, in Europe and internationally, voluntaristicly and pragmatically.”
06/03/2013

M&G Investments opens an office in Geneva

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } M&G Investments, which has been present on the Swiss market for seven years, has opened an office in Geneva, and is adding to its local team with the recruitment of a new employee, Agefi Switzerland reports. M&G Investments is hoping to meet growing demand on the part of its clients in French-speaking Switzerland. Valentine Bugeja has been appointed as head of sales for development of the family office and independent financial adviser segments in French-speaking Switzerland. She began in her new role in February 2013.
06/03/2013

New head for dark pool at UBS

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Richard Semark is expected to become head of the UBS MTF platform, one of the largest dark pools in Europe, the Financial Times reports. Semark succeeds Robert Barnes, who is reported to be preparing to leave his position after more than 18 years at the group. UBS has declined to comment on the reports.
06/03/2013

Nord LB AM launches fund for ecclesiastical institutions

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } In conjunction with the evangelical credit cooperative (EKK), Nord LB Asset Management on 1 March launched a fund aimed at institutional investors in the religious world, the KVV-Fonds – EKK, for which the minimal subscription is set at EUR100,000.Most of the portfolio will be composed of bonds denominated in euros from the largest issuers, while allocation to equities is limited to 20%. The investment team may also invest in open-ended real estate funds and in UCITS-compliant absolute return funds.CharacteristicsName: KVV-Fonds – EKKISIN code: DE000A1J3WM7Management commission: 0.35%
06/03/2013

Allianz restricts access to onshore RMB fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Allianz Global Investors has decided to restrict investors’ access to its Allianz Renminbi Fixed Income Onshore fund, shortly after its launch, due to the growing interest of investors in this strategy, Citywire reports. The Luxembourg-domiciled fund was launched on 31 January this year. It was presented as the first fund of its type to offer access to the onshore renminbi market, and a way to invest directly in Chinese government bonds. At the end of February, assets in the fund totalled nearly EUR34m. According to a spokesperson for Allianz GI, “demand was such that the fund was soft closed in early February, only a few days after its launch on 31 January, as the assets had reached the quota authorised by Chinese regulators.” The Onshore RMB fund is the sister produt of two other funds, Allianz Renminbi Fixed Income (Offshore) and Allianz Renminbi Currency. The Offshore fund, launched in June 2011, was closed in August 2011, after inflows of EUR450m in two months’ time. It was reopened in August 2012.
06/03/2013

Speculation on soft commodities: Oxfam highlights Belgium

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Oxfam is studying KBC and Dexia, as well as French banks and investors with a presence in Belgium such as BNP Paribas, ING Bank and Axa, to examine the extent to which these institutions are speculating on food commodity markets, Financial Times Fund Management reports. Its objective is to discourage them from this practice, on the grounds that it drives up the prices of these food resources worldwide. The study is expected to conclude in April.
06/03/2013

Personnel change at Singapore sovereign fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Singapore sovereign fund GIC, whose assets under management total about USD230bn, has announced the appointment of Jeffrey Jaensubjakij as head of asset management activities at GIC Asset Management. He succeeds Lim Chow Kiat, who last month was appointed as chief investment officer for the group. Jaensubhakij will leave his current position in Europe, and will transfer from London to Singapore. He will begin in his new role on 1 April.

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