Au titre de 2012, Blackstone déclare un «bénéfice économique net» de 1995,3 millions de dollars contre 1.539,2 millions pour l’année précédente. (+ 30 %). Le bénéfice distribuable s’est accru encore plus vite, gonflant de 48 % à 1.033,9 millions contre 696,7 millions.Quant à l’encours total, il ressortait fin décembre à un montant record de 210, 22 milliards de dollars contre 166,23 milliards un an plus tôt. Les actifs donnant lieux à commissions représentaient pour leur part 167,9 milliards de dollars contre 136,8 milliards au 31 décembre 2011, dont 43,5 milliards contre 37,8 milliards pour la division «hedge fund solutions» qui affichait des actifs totaux de 46,1 milliards de dollars contre 40,5 milliards.Blackstone précise que les souscriptions nettes dans le domaine des encours rémunérés se sont montées à 2,4 milliards de dollars pour l’ensemble de l’an dernier .

Le bénéfice net d’Invesco Ltd est ressorti pour 2012 à 776,7 millions de dollars, ce qui représente un fléchissement de 0,6 % sur l’année précédente.Le gestionnaire d’Atlanta a fait état le 31 janvier d’un encours au 31 décembre qui s’est accru de 62,4 milliards de dollars ou de 10 % sur un an, à 687,7 milliards de dollars, sachant que les souscriptions nettes ont chuté presque de moitié à 12,5 milliards de dollars contre 24,5 milliards.

Le gestionnaire new yorkais a annoncé le 31 janvier le lancement d’un ETF à gestion active qsui investira en obligations d’entreprises du monde entier, le WisdomTree Global Corporate Bond Fund (acronyme sur le Nasdaq : GLCB) qui sera «sub-advised» par Western Asset Management Company (groupe Legg Mason), comme le WisdomTree Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund (EMCB).Le portefeuille sera au minimum composé d’oçbligations de catégorie investissement et l’objectif consiste à maintenir la duration à l’intérieur d’une fourchette de 2-10 ans. L’exposition aux titres non américains sera couverte du risque de change.Le taux de frais sur encours se situe à 0,45 %.

Filiale externalisée il y a un an par La Française AM, NExT AM, dirigée par Nicolas Duban affichait fin décembre 17 participations pour un encours de plus de 4 milliards d’euros (+ 10 % en un an) tandis que le FCP contractuel NExT Invest, lancé en mars 2011 et qui a été doté de 110 millions d’euros, affiche une performance 2012 de 5.42% : une valorisation de l’amorçage «qui répond aux attentes en conjuguant une gestion prudente et une valorisation à terme des prises de participation au capital».En 2012, NExT AM a cédé cinq participations Pythagore, Klimek Advisor, Debory Eres, Métropole Gestion et La Financière de la Cité. Toutes ont été cédées aux animateurs et actionnaires de ces structures. Parallèlement, quatre gestionnaires ont démarré l’an dernier leur activité avec le soutien de NExT AM : Trecento AM, Cedrus AM, Swell AM et Flornoy et associés.Dans le cadre du déploiement de sa plateforme de moyens et de services, NExT AM a signé en 2012 de nombreux partenariats avec notamment BNP Paribas Securities Services, CM-CIC Securities, Newedge, Hedgeguard, Active Asset Allocation (AAAiC). «Tous ces partenariats ayant pour vocation de faciliter le développement des jeunes sociétés en disposant d’accord privilégié en matière de dépositaire, valorisateur, logiciel dédié ou modèles d’allocation d’actifs», précise un communiqué.Enfin, NExT AM s’engage dans la voie du partenariat sous forme de «fee sharing» avec Twenty First Capital, lors du lancement du FCPR Infra Green.

A fin décembre, l’encours du groupe Affiliated Managers Group (AMG) ressortait à 432 milliards de dollars contre 327,46 milliards annoncés un an auparavant. L’augmentation des actifs sous gestion est attribuable pour 30,1 milliards à des souscriptions nettes.Le bénéfice net s’est inscrit pour sa part à 174 millions de dollars 164,9 millions pour 2011.

La Banque Internationale à Luxembourg Suisse, acquise en octobre dernier par le groupe d’investisseurs qatari Precision Capital, veut doubler, à court terme, ses actifs sous gestion, qui s'élèvent actuellement à 2,2 milliards de francs. «L’arrivée du nouvel actionnaire signe le début d’un nouveau chapitre pour nous», explique Michel Wohl, CEO de BIL Suisse depuis deux ans. L’objectif de la banque est d’atteindre 5 milliards de francs sous gestion à court terme, puis rapidement 10 milliards, soit la taille souvent considérée comme critique dans la gestion privée d’aujourd’hui. La filiale suisse de la banque luxembourgeoise vise en priorité les marchés comme la Turquie, les pays de l’Est et l’Amérique latine, en particulier le Pérou et le Chili.

La banque privée suisse Julius Baer a annoncé le 1er février le lancement de l’opération principale de bouclage de son acquisition de l’activité International Wealth Management (IWM) de Merrill Lynch. Cette première phase marque le démarrage du transfert de l’activité et de son intégration qui devrait durer deux ans environ, précise un communiqué. Durant cette période, les entités IWM, les conseillers financiers, leurs relations clients et les actifs sous gestion correspondants seront transférés à Julius Baer dans le cadre d’un processus échelonné dans plus de 20 sites, sous réserve de l’accomplissement des conditions locales préalables.La première étape de l’acquisition et du processus de transfert de l’activité est l’acquisition de Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) S.A. et de ses succursales à Zurich et Dubaï par Julius Baer Groupe SA à la date de l’opération principale de bouclage du 1er février 2013. Ce processus englobe la totalité de la banque suisse avec une forte base internationale de clients et des actifs sous gestion d’environ 11 milliards de francs suisses. Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) S.A. doit fusionner au sein de Banque Julius Baer & Cie SA à l'été 2013.Boris Collardi, CEO de Julius Baer cité dans le communiqué, relève que «l’activité IWM s’avère être un excellent ajout stratégique qui renforce la présence de Julius Bär sur les principaux marchés en croissance et qui élargit considérablement notre base d’actifs». Julius Baer donnera plus de détails sur l'état et l'évolution future de l’acquisition, du transfert d’actifs et du processus d’intégration le 4 février 2013, lors de la présentation des résultats annuels 2012.

BlackRock has increased its stake in UniCredit to 5.03%, to become the second-largest shareholder in the Italian bank, overtaking Aabar, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. The stake corresponds to 20 funds from the US firm. Foreign shareholders now represent 25% of capital in UniCredit, compared with 15% for Italian firms.

Banco Leonardo, which on 30 January announced a 20% increase in its operating profits, to EUR29m, has also announced plans to intensify its involvement in private banking, Les Echos reports. Among the activities which have progressed most, the wealth management division gained 21% in assets under management, to EUR6bn, of which 87% are in Italy, where Banco Leonardo now claims a place as the largest independent private banking actor.

The board of directors at VP Bank has appointed Alfred Moeckli as chief executive officer (CEO) from 1 May. Moeckli takes up a position which had been shared in the interim since July 2012 by Siegbert Näscher, chief financial officer (CFO), and Juerg Sturzenegger, chief operating officer (COO), according to a statement released on 31 January. Moeckli had previously been CEO of the Zweiplus ag bank in Zurich, a position he had held since 2010. He also held various positions at Falcon Private Bank, Tradejet, INIVEST and the Swissquote bank. He also belonged to the board of directors at Zweiplus bank. Näscher and Sturzenegger will both return to their previous roles as CFO and COO.

The Swedish asset management firm Norron has recruited Stefhan Klang as head of sales for its funds, Fondbranschen reports. Klang had previously been CEO of the fund activity at Catella. Norron has SEK1.8bn under management in 5 funds.

The Melbourne-based asset management firm Easton Investments has acquired a 19.9% stake in the Singapore-based consulting firm AAM Advisory, Asian Investor reports. Easton Investments would like to develop its activities in Singapore, and in the next twelve months is aiming for advised assets of SGD1bn, and assets under management of SGD300m. AAM Advisory, which provides advisory services to high net worth expatriate clients in Singapore, has advised assets of over SGD250m.

New York-based asset management firm WisdomTree on 31 January announced the launch of an actively-managed ETF which will invest in global corporate bonds, the WisdomTree Global Corporate Bond Fund (Nasdaq ticker: GLCB), which will be sub-advised by Western Asset Management Company (Legg Mason group), like the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund (EMCB).The portfolio will mainly be composed of investment-grade bonds, and the objective will be to keep duration within a range of 2-10 years. Exposure to non-US securities will be hedged for currency risks.The total expense ratio is 0.45%.

In December 2012, statistics from Europerformance show net inflows to all families of French-registered bond and equity funds, with EUR130.03bn for the former, and EUR461.95bn for the latter. Overall, these net subscriptions have not prevented a few major variations in some categories. In the bond asset class, net outflows totalled EUR138.14m for funds invested in the euro zone, or EUR54.27m for international bond funds. However, high yield bond funds have posted strong inflows EUR371.65m. For equity funds, the scenario has been similar. Net infows totalled EUR461.95 in one month, but Asia-Pacific and international equity funds have contributed strongly, with inflows of EUR173.66m and EUR205.95m, respectively, while funds invested in Europe and the US market have seen net outflows of EUR141.05bn and EUR41.10bn. Money market funds have seen outflows of EUR16.42bn, with net outflows of EUR15.171bn from regular treasury funds alone. Net redemptions from French-registered OPCVM products in December totalled EUR16.74bn. Lastly, in terms of performance, all categories of funds have posted returns, excepting international treasury funds (-4.78%), funds of bonds denominated in US dollars (-2.64%), and Middle East North Africa equity funds (-0.91%).

The asset management giant BlackRock has announced that it now controls 8% of capital in the English football club Manchester United, with 3.3 million shares. The FC held its IPO on the New York stock exchange in August last year, Investment Week reports.

Assets under management at Vontobel Asset Management USA (VAMUS), a boutique of the Zurich-based Vontobel group based in New York, as of the end of 2012 totalled over USD36bn, according to a statement released on 31 January. Vontobel says in a statement that the Quality-Growth product line has posted good results, particularly for emerging markets and international equtiies. As of the end of October last year, the Vontobel group overall had CHF96bn in asstes under management, while assets under management by VAMUS totalled CHF30bn at that time.

The Banque Internationale à Luxembourg Switzerland, which was acquired last October by the Qatari investment group Precision Capital, is planning to double its assets under management in the short term, from a total of CHF2.2n currently. “The arrival of a new shareholder is a sign of the beginning of a new chapter for us,” explains Michael Wohl, CEO of MIL Switzerland for two years. The objective for the bank is to achieve CHF5bn in assets under management in the short term, and then soon to reach CHF10bn, the size considered critical in private asset management today. The Swiss affiliate of the Luxembourg bank is aiming at markets such as Turkey, Eastern Europea and Latin America, particularly Peru and Chile, as top priorities.

Lyxor Asset Management has appointed David Keel as head of institutional sales for German-speaking Switzerland. He will be based in Zurich, and will report to Olivier Stahlkopf, head of sales for Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland. Keel will primarily aim to develop sales for the range of multi-asset solutions and alternative management at Lyxor. Before joining Lyxor, Keel was head of activities serving Swiss institutional clients at Barclays Capital Funds Solutions.

The Swiss private bank Julius Baer on 1 February announced that it has begun the process of completing its acquisition of the International Wealth Management (IWM) activities of Merrill Lynch.This first phase marks the beginning of the transfer of its activities and its integration, which is expected to last about two years, a statement says. In this period, the IWM entities, financial advisers, customer relationships and corresponding assets under management will be transferred to Juilus Baer as part of a gradual process which will proceed at more than 20 sites, pending the fulfilment of preconditions.The first step in the acquisition and transfer process is the acquisition of Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) S.A., and its branches in Zurich and Dubai by Julius Baer Group SA, with an initial completion date of 1 February 2013. That includes the whole of the Swiss bank, with a strong international client base and assets under management of about CHF11bn. Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) S.A. will merge with Julius Baer & Cie SA in summer 2013.

Following an investment in Swan Capital Managment, in which it acquired a 58% stake in February 2012, the French asset management firm Amilton AM has now fully absorbed the firm. The board of directors of the new entity is chaired by Ilana Sayag, and includes Marc Favard, CEO for management, Harry Wolhander, deputy CEO, Dan Sayag, head of asset allocation, and Christophe François, head of business development and marketing. In practice, the teams have now united at Amilton Asset Management. The product range, which largely includes OPCVM and custom funds for private management, family offices and institutional investors, will soon be extended. Amilton AM will soon be launching its first OPCI product. In a statement, the asset management firm has announced combined asset of nearly EUR400m, and also declared a desire to accelerate organic growth in assets and “continue its external growth strategy, bringing asset management firms together with complementary areas of expertise.”

The bond management giant Pimco has appointed Marc Seidner, managing director, as interim head of global equities, following the departure of Neel Kashkani a week ago, a source familiar with the matter cited by Reuters has announced. Seidner joined the firm in 2009.

Of 65 asset management firms active in socially responsible investment in France, only seven have established indicators to measure the extra-financial performance of their portfolios, Novethic finds in its most recent study, entitled “What indicators to measure the ESG performance of investments? (“Quels indicateurs pour mesurer la performance ESG des investissements”).The firms are Agicam, Allianz GI, BNP Paribas AM, Groupe OFI, La Banque Postale AM, La Financière Responsable and Pictet AM.Beyond that low level of diffusion among asset management professionals, illustrating the limited maturity of the practice, the methodologies developed do not make it possible to calculate the real impact of the extra-financial performance of a fund in terms of carbon emissions or job creation, Novethic observes. In addition, each player has its own methdology, meaning that comparison between SRI funds on indicators is impossible. At best, indicators make it possible to compare the ESG performance of funds compared with their benchmark indices.There are many factors slowing the development of the extra-financial performance of SRI funds, Novethic explains. The primary obstacle cited is a lack of reliable indicators from businesses, which are both relevand and comparable year to year. The frequency of publication of this information, once a year at best, is also a difficulty. The choice of an indicator, such as greenhouse gas emissions, for example, is also necessarily reductive for a sustainable development programme overall.The development of indicators to measure extra-financial performance is though a primary challenge for SRI management, says Dominique Blanc, head of SRI research at Novethic. That would reveal the benefits of SRI funds and make them more attractive, particularly to retail clients, and prevent this type of management from being “overtaken” by other more “easily readable” financial products such as impact investing or green investment.

Assets under management at Brewin Dolphin as of the end of 2012 totalled GBP26bn, virtually unchanged compared with the end of September, according to statistics released on 31 January. The quarter finished with zero net inflows, but a positive market effect of GBP100m. Quarterly profits totalled GBP67.85m, up 13.7% compared with fourth quarter 2011, but down 5% compared with third quarter 2012, due to a reduction in trail commissions as part of preparation for RDR regulations, which came into force on 1 January this year.

Six months ahead of the introduction of the AIFM directive (23 July), BNP Paribas Securities Services has announced the launch of custody and depository services on the British market, Funds People reports.James McAleenan, head of BNPP SS in the United Kingdom, says adapting to the directive is not a simple process, and represents a major challenge for the sector, as legislation requires that new infrastructure and new distribution networks be set up.

Fidelity has recruited Russell Lancaster, currently head of sales at RSA Group, as director of retail sales for the United Kingdom. He will begin in March, and will report to Ben Waterhouse, director of UK sales.

For 2012 as a whole, asset and wealth management (AWM) at Deutsche Bank posted pre-tax profits of EUR160m, compared with EUR942m, while earnings were up to EUR4.466bn from EUR4.277bn.In fourth quarter, AWM posted pre-tax losses of EUR260m, compared with profits of EUR116m in July-October, and EUR211m in the corresponding period of 2011, while earnings totalled EUR1.1bn, compared with EUR1.232bn and EUR1.172bn, respectively.Losses of EUR260m in AWM are due to impairments of EUR202m for Scudder, EUR90m in write-downs related to IT, and costs associated with lawsuits.The cost-income ratio for AWM totalled 123% in October-December, which deteriorated this indicator to 96% for 2012 as a whole, from 77% for the previous year.The Deutsche Bank group, for its part, has posted net losses of EUR2.153bn in fourth quarter, which reduces its net profits to EUR665m for 2012, compared with EUR4.326bn for the previous year.

Fondsnieuws reports that the Netherlands pension fund APG has announced in an internal memo that its performance in 2012 totalled between 13.7% and 16.9%, which is considerably higher than the 3.3% in gains for ABP.APG has already announced that it will be reducing its benefits by 0.5% from April.

In 2012, the management of investment funds at Santander earned net profits of EUR59m, up 3.9%, while profits for pension funds were EUR10m, 3.1% less than in 2011.Groupwide, net profits last year were down 22% to EUR2.205bn, after EUR18.8bn in write-downs for real estate risks.

The German cabinet has passed a bill by the federal finance ministry which would allow centralised management in Germany of foreign pension assets of German groups, Das Investment reports.The idea is to strengthen Germany’s attractiveness as a fund management site. The bill would create a new legal status for an investment limited partnership company (Investment-Kommanditgesellschaft). The law would come into effect on 22 July.

For JP Morgan Asset Management, the year 2012 is starting out under a good sign in Europe. Inflows in the first weeks of the year totalled about USD2bn in Euorpe, Karine Szenberg, CEO of JPMorgan Asset Management France, announced on 31 January at the asset management firm’s annual press conference.“2013 started with fanfare,” Szenberg said, adding that inflows went to credit, somewhat to emerging market equities, and the remainder to European equities. Last year, the Paris office of JP Morgan Asset Management posted net subscriptions totalling USD1.2bn.“Inflows are once again going to high-risk assets,” says David Shairp, a strategist in the Global Multi Asset Group at JP Morgan AM, who remains “prudently optimistic” about 2013. “Europe is still in intensive care, but the situation has stabilised, and we can’t rule out good surprises,” he said, observing that inflation is still far from posing a problem.In the area of emerging markets, Pierre-Yves Bareau, director of emerging market management at JPMAM, estimates that high yield should be targeted instead of investment grade, with close attention to the signatures, and local interest rates, as well as idiosyncratic issuers in frontier markets such as Sri Lanka, the Dominican Republic and Nigeria.Richard Titherington, head of emerging market equity management at JPMAM, says that an examination of valuations argues in favour of an increase in exposure to emerging market equities, where profits have recovered along with outperformance. However, Titherington warns, “outlooks for better returns also present the risk of higher volatility.”