Ennio Doris, le numéro un de Mediolanum, a déclaré qu’il est disposé à vendre la participation dans la banque privée italienne Banca Esperia, détenue à parité par Mediolanum et Mediobanca, rapporte Bluerating. ”Si quelqu’un est intéressé par le marché italien et veut se faire un petit plaisir, nous pouvons le prendre en considération”, a-t-il indiqué.

Le groupe d’assurances italien a indiqué le 18 janvier qu’il avait reçu des offres non contraignantes pour sa banque privée basée en Suisse BSI, rapporte l’agence Reuters.En marge d’une conférence à Milan, le directeur général de Generali, Mario Greco, s’est toutefois refusé à donner plus de détails, indiquant qu’une telle transaction pourrait prendre plusieurs mois. Selon le quotidien Il Sole 24 Ore, Royal Bank of Canada, Julius Baer, UBP ou encore Apax seraient sur la liste des candidats potentiels.

Invesco Perpetual a annoncé que Mark Armour prendra la direction générale de la société à la fin de l’année 2013, à la suite de la décision de James Robertson de quitter ses fonctions pour raisons de santé, rapporte Investment Week. Mark Armour, qui pilote les activités institutionnelles internationales du groupe depuis 2007, prendra la direction de la région EMEA, dont le Royaume-Uni, l’Europe continentale et le Moyen-Orient.

Mark Skinner, le directeur du retail en Europe chez Henderson, a quitté la société début janvier dans le cadre de la dernière réorganisation de la société de gestion, rapporte Investment Week. Par ailleurs, Stephen Peak, qui gérait le UK Alpha Fund, va transférer le fonds, qui sous-performe, à Neil Hermon et James Ross début février.

Allianz Global Investors va lancer au deuxième trimestre un fonds de dette d’infrastructures au Royaume-Uni - le premier du genre - pour aider à construire des écoles, des hôpitaux et des routes, rapporte le Financial Times. Le fonds ciblera 1 milliard de livres initialement, mais il pourra lever davantage. AllianzGI prévoit aussi de lancer un autre fonds de ce type en Europe cet été.

Dans le cadre de son développement international, Carmignac Gestion Luxembourg a annoncé vendredi 18 janvier qu’elle s’apprêtait à demander à la CSSF l’extension de son agrément au statut de société de gestion. «Actuellement, la sicav est autonome, autogérée, a expliqué à Newsmanangers Eric Le Coz, managing director de Carmignac Gestion Luxembourg. «Or», a-t-il ajouté, «nous nous sommes rendu compte que nos clients se demandaient qui en était le gérant !» Le constat est d’autant plus regrettable pour la société de la Place Vendôme que le Luxembourg se présente comme le «hub» de la maison dans le cadre de son développement européen. «Nous voulons rendre la structure du groupe plus lisible et plus facile à comprendre ", a insisté le responsable. «Dans ce cadre, le statut de société de gestion à Luxembourg y contribuera nettement plus.» De fait, outre le rôle historique de distributeur global, l’entité au Grand Duché deviendra la société de gestion de la SICAV Carmignac Portfolio qui, lancée en 1999, compte sept compartiments et affiche un encours de cinq milliards d’euros. De là à penser que l’ensemble des fonds que la gestion à Paris concoctera s’afficheront systématiquement de droit luxembourgeois, il y a un pas que, selon Eric Le Coz, on ne peut franchir. «Je ne veux pas préjuger de l’avenir, a-t-il expliqué, d’autant qu’à terme, nous serons présents via différents pôles, dont le Luxembourg et la France. «En pratique, la «nouvelle» société de gestion sera en mesure d’étendre l’activité de ses succursales au-delà de leur rôle actuel de promoteur local. " Il est aisé de trouver des professionnels parlant cinq ou six langues au Grand Duché», relève également Eric Le Coz, «et notre objectif à partir de cette structure sera d’attirer des talents qui, ensuite seront envoyés à Londres, Francfort, Singapour, en fonction de nos besoins», note le responsable. Dans l’organigramme, Eric Le Coz et Davide Fregonese, vont devenir les deux managers senior de la nouvelle entité luxembourgeoise transformée, et travailleront en collaboration avec Antoine Bruneau, actuellement Contrôleur Financier du groupe. Eric Le Coz conservera néanmoins la responsabilité du développement produits à l'échelle du groupe et reste membre du Comité d’investissement, du Comité de développement stratégique et du Conseil d’administration de Carmignac Gestion, a précisé un communiqué.Quant à Davide Fregonese, il gardera également la responsabilité du développement commercial à l'échelle du Groupe et reste membre du comité de développement stratégique et du conseil d’administration de Carmignac Gestion.

BNP Paribas a convenu de se défaire via un spin off de son activité de capital investissement dédiée aux énergies propres, rapporte le Financial Times. L’équipe, qui s’est rebaptisée Glennmont Partners, continuera d’avoir la banque comme investisseur dans le fonds de 437 millions d’euros levé en 2010. La banque a aussi accepté de distribuer le fonds à ses clients. Depuis 2007, l'équipe de Glennmont Partners a investi plus d’un milliard d’euros au sein de douze projets.

Vendredi, Goldman Sachs a attribué à son CEO Lloyd Blankfein une prime de 13,3 millions de dollars sous forme d’actions à accès différé au titre de 2012. Selon The Wall Street Journal, cela devrait propulser la rémunération totale de l’intéressé au-dessus des 21 millions de dollars, ce qui lui permettrait de redevenir le manager le mieux payé du secteur financier. Pour 2007, par exemple, sa rémunération avait été de 70,3 millions de dollars, dont 67,9 millions de bonus.La dotation en primes des 12 principaux dirigeants de Goldman Sachs est portée pour l’année écoulée à 99,8 millions de dollars sous forme d’actions «restricted», contre 51,8 millions pour 2011.

Pascal Koenig est associé industrie financière Asset Management chez Deloitte. Il revient pour Newsmanagers sur les défis que doivent relever les sociétés de gestion françaises. Pour ce spécialiste du secteur, elles doivent adopter une approche plus industrielle, notamment dans la construction de l'offre et la relation avec leur clientèle.

BNP Paribas Real Estate Property Management GmbH on Friday, 18 January announced that it has been awarded a mandate by Acorn Real Esrtate, the German corporate real estate platform from the US investment fund Oaktree Capital Management, to manage a portfolio of 22 properties, totalling 285,000 square metres, throughout Germany (Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, Nuremberg, Düsseldorf, Cologne and Essen). The properties are occupied by about 250 tenants, a statement says. With this mandate, BNP Paribas Real Estate Property Management GmbH will now manage nearly 40% of the portfolio of German Acorn, and has a portfolio of 800 properties with a total area of about 5 million square metres.

Kempen Capital Management, the asset management firm from the Netherlands-based bank Kempen & Co, has licensed its first four funds in France. The range, registered in Luxembourg, includes a corporate bond fund denominated in euros (Euro Credit Fund), a dividend fund (Global High Dividend Fund), a European small cap fund (European Small Cap) and a European sustainable small caps fund (Sustainable Smallcaps). With this range, Kempen CM, which has assets under management of EUR27bn as of the end of September, is planning to develop in France, particularly serving multi-management firms, platforms, and insurers. Although it is now launching its own funds, the firm is already present in France with two mandates managed for the French national pension fund, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR). The first of these, for European small caps, was awarded to it in 2009, while the second, for European SRI equities, was announced in December. It also manages mandates for OFI Asset Management and Sycomore for two funds. This development has been led from Amsterdam by Vuk Srdanovic, head of international development for France, who joined Kempen CM nearly two years ago. The Danish citizen, who speaks fluent French, is focusing particularly on those locate din France who may introduce the firm to certain clients. “When I arrived, Kempen already had mandates from the FRR, OFI AM and Sycomore. Those relationships ensured a certain reputation in institutional circles,” Srdanovic explains to Newsmanagers. “Now, we would like to profit from that reputation to release our Sicav to other clients.” The head of international development for France will offer the asset management firm’s expertise in small caps, which was also selected by the FRR, via two funds. This universe is managed from Edinburgh (inherited by acquisition) by a team of nine people led by Rory Hammerson. Its unique characteristic is that it offers an engagement strategy for small caps. These efforts in France are part of an international development being led from Amsterdam by a team led by Hiko de Brouwer, and now composed of six people.

The asset management activities of Morgan Stabley in fourth quarter 2012 brought in pre-tax profits of USD221m, compared with USD78m in fourth quarter 2011, according to figures released on 18 January by the group. For the year as a whole, operating profits totalled USD590m, compared with USD253m in the year 2011. Assets under management as of the end of December totalled USD338bn, up 18% year on year, Inflows to money market funds, and to a lesser extent positive market effects, explain this development. The wealth management unit at Morgan Stanley earned pre-tax operating profits of USD581m in fourth quarter, compared with USD238m in fourth quarter 2011. Operating profits for the 2012 fiscal year totalled USD1.6bn, compared with USD1.3bn in 2011. Client assets as of the end of December totalled USD1.8trn, of which USD573bn were commission-generating assets.

Capgemini on 18 January announced the appointment of Thierry Delaporte as CEO of the global unit dedicated to the financial services sector. Delaporte will succeed Aiman Ezzat, who became CFO for the group at the end of 2012. The appointment is effective immediately. Delaporte had been director of operations and sales at the entity Application Services One since the beginning of 2011. With over 17 years of experience at Capgemini, he served as CFO and chief operating officer at various entities in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America.

Julius Baer has formed a Global Advisory Committee of former Merrill Lynch executives which will support the Bank in integrating Merrill Lynch’s International Wealth Management (IWM) business outside the United States. Meanwhile, the preparatory activities for the integration are well on track: the Principal Closing of the acquisition is expected for 1 February 2013, according to a press statement released on January 18. The following persons, who will report to CEO Boris F.J. Collardi, have been nominated to the Global Advisory Committee: Winthrop H. Smith, Jr., former Executive Vice President of Merrill Lynch & Co. and Chairman of Merrill Lynch International. Alfred P. Berger, former Chairman of Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) and Merrill Lynch Capital Markets. Jose M. Malbran, former Chairman of Merrill Lynch’s Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa Private Client Group and Merrill Lynch International Bank. Raymundo Yu, former Chairman Asia Pacific of Merrill Lynch International and current Chairman Asia Pacific of Threadneedle Investments. Makram Zaccour, former CEO of Merrill Lynch in the Middle East.

German cities offer the best growth outlooks in 2013 on the commercial real estate market in Europe, according to an annual survey led by ULI (Urban Land Institute) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) entitled “Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2013.” The approximately 500 specialists consulted as part of the survey estimate that the best growth outlooks are in Munich and Berlin, ahead of London, Istanbul and the third-largest German city, Hamburg. Investors, who continue to favour assets with no risk, estimate that the three German cities offer a solid micro-economic environment, while their respective real estate markets are highly resistant. London has gained seven spots in the 2013 rankings of the 27 most attractive cities on the commercial real estate front, due to the size, vigour and liquidity of its market. Paris holds steady in sixth place, followed by Zurich, Stockholm, Moscow and Warsaw, which has lost seven places at tenth place. Unsurprisingly, the worst-ranked cities are continuing to face the fallout from the financial crisis of 2008, including Athens, Lisbon, Dublin, Madrid and Barcelona.

Invesco Perpetual has announced that Mark Armour will become CEO of the firm at the end of 2013, following a decision by James Robertson to leave his job for health reasons, Investment Week reports. Armour, who has been responsible for international institutional operations since 2007, will become director of the EMEA region, including the United Kingdom, continental Europe and the Middle East.

Mark Skinner, the head of retail for Europe at Henderson, left the firm in early January as part of the most recent reorganisation of the asset management firm, Investment Week reports. Meanwhile, Stephen Peak, who had been manager of the UK Alpha Fund, will transfer the fund, which has been underperforming, to Neil German and James Ross in early February.

The new infrastructure fund from Union Investment, UniInstitutional Infrastruktur SICAV-SIF, has acquired the Gunzenhausen wind farm, 40 kilometres south of Nuremberg, for an undisclosed amount, from RENERCO Renewable Energy Concepts AG (a wholly-owned subsidiary of BayWa r.e. Renewable energy GmbH). The property includes nine wind turbines, with a power of 2 megawatts each. The installation will continue to be operated by RENERCO.The total investment volume planned for the UniInstitutional Infrastruktur SICAV-SIF is EUR1bn, in 20 wind farms, and a corresponding number of solar power installations.At a recent first closing, the fund had raised EUR48m.

A study undertaken by the Kommalpha agency for the German BVI association of asset management firms has found that 134 institutional investors surveyed (with assets totalling EUR380bn) would like to reduce their allocations to institutional funds specialised in fixed income products to 40%, from 60% currently, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.When asked about the impact of regulations, they say that their allocation to government debt would fall to 9% from 18% currently if laws or regulations did not require them to invest in this asset class. They would also double their allocation to equities to 24%, and would increase their allocation to real estate funds, private equity and corporate bonds, to the detriment of government bonds, Pfandbriefe and liquid assets such as money market funds.

On Friday, the website of Standard Life Investments in Germany showed an “awaiting photo” message for its investment director for Germany and Austria. This appears to confirm reports in Fondsprofessionell that the business has parted ways with Michael Geier, who has served in the position until recently. Apparently, the role will be occupied for the interim by Asa Norrie, joint head of European business and head of the Nordic region.

Emerging markets are no safe haven. At a time when they figure in investment themes for 2013, emerging markets are not inspiring enthusiasm at M&G. Anthony Doyle, investment specialist director at M&G, who was on a visit to Paris on 18 January, says the time to avoid emerging marktes has come, particularly in the area of government debt. Emerging economies are doing well, Doyle admits, but valuations are often ahead of fundamentals. Therefore, caution is necessary. Some markets, and not small ones, are also the subject of some concern. These include China, where growth may fall back to a more moderate pace of 5% to 7%, at a time when inflation remains at high levels. China may continue to base its development on credit, and will need to move to a consumer-driven growth model. These reservations will not, however, prevent the firm from investing in some asset classes, such as emerging market corporate bonds. Another concern is inflation, which if not immediately, at least in the mid-term, is expected to return to the foregrouns, Doyle says, added that inflation does not appear to be a top concern for central banksers, who are more worried about weak growth and rising unemployment. Doyle cites the famous saying of Milton Friedman that “inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon,” and estimates that rising volumes on money markets, fed by hitherto unseen levels of quantitative easing, will eventually need to be corrected for.

Ennio Doris, head of Mediolanum, has announced that he is prepared to sell the firm’s stake in the Italian private bank Banca Esperia, which is 50/50 owned by Mediolanum and Mediobanca, Bluerating reportts. “If anyone is interested in the Italian market and would like a little treat, we can take them into consideration,” he said.

As a part of its international development, Carmignac Gestion Luxembourg on Friday, 18 January announced that it was preparing to apply to the local regulator CSSF for an extension to its license as an asset management firm. “Currently, the Sicav is autonomous, and self-managed,” Eric Le Coz, managing director of Carmignac Gestion Luxembourg, explains to Newsmanagers. “Now, we have realised that our clients were asking who the manager was!” This is all the more regrettable for the firm based on Place Vendôme in Paris, since Luxembourg is the hub for the asset management firm’s European development. “We would like to make the structure of the group more legible, and easier to understand,” the head says.The entity in Luxembourg, which has historically been a global distributor, will become the asset management firm for the SICAV Carmignac Portfolio, which was launched in 1999, has seven sub-funds and assets of EUR5bn. In practice, the “new” asset management firm will be in a position to extend the activities of its affiliates beyond their roles as local promoters. “It is easy to find professionals who speak five or six languages in Luxembourg,” Le Coz says, “and our objective for the structure will be to attract talent which could then be sent to London, Frankfurt, Singapore, depending on our needs.”On the organisational chart, Le Coz and Davide Fregonese will become the two senior managers of the new, transformed Luxembourg-based entity, and will work in collaboration with Antoine Bruneau, currently Financial Controller for the group. Le Coz will retain responsibility for product development group-wide, and will remain a member of the investment committee, the strategic development committee, and the board of directors at Carmignac Gestion, a statement says. Fregonese will also remain responsible for the commercial development of the group, and will remain as a member of the strategic development committee and the board of directors of Carmignac Gestion.

Assets under management at the Société Privée de Gestion de Patrimoine (SPGP) as of the end of December 2012 totalled EUR800m. Net subscriptions totalled EUR23m. “The strongest subscriptions were for the Sélection High Yield 2015, Oblig Corporate 1-2 1/2 Y Euro, Sélection Action Rendement and Sélection Action Rendement International funds,” says Laurent Pluchard, director of sales for the French asset management firm.2013 will see the birth of a new product in the range. CBP Corporate has received a license from the AMF, and will be launched in first quarter 2013. Meanwhile, SPGP is continuing to restructure its range, which will be completed in March. Following various mergers of products, the range will include 17 funds, down from 25 previously. The objective is to “bring dynamism to the range,” says Pluchard, and to begin to offer a range of larger funds. Among the merged products is Neo Activa, which will be merged into Neo Arbitrage, the Emerging Commodities Fund, which will be merged into the Tectonic Fund, and the FP Dynamique and Sélection Flexible International fund of funds, which will be merged into the Gestion Diversifiée International. The restructuring comes at a time when SPGP has signed an amicable EUR100,000 settlement with the French financial regulator, the Autorité des marché financiers (AMF), over the FP Dynamique fund (see Newsmanagers of 18 January 2013). the AMF says SPGP charged higher fees than specified for the Sicav. The disappearance of the product following the merger is said by the asset management firm to have “no connection” with the AMF’s verdict.

Assets under custody and administration at State Street as of the end of December 2012 totalled USD24.371trn, up 4% compared with the end of September, State Street announced at a release of its quarterly results. Assets under custody alone as of the end of December totalled USD17.806trn, compared with USD17.827trn. Assets under management as of the end of December totalled USD2.089trn, up 1.2% compared with the end of September 2012. Commissions related to services rose 4.5% in fourth quarter to USD1.2bn. Management commissions, for their part, totalled USD260m, up 3.6% quarter on quarter, due to an increase in performance comissions and the good performance of international equity markets.

Wells Fargo Asset Management has obtained licences to market 13 funds in France, in Ireland and in Sweden. Six of the funds, part of a Luxembourg based Sicav, cover Chinese equities, emerging equities, metals and US equities and bonds.In France, the asset manager, which targets funds of funds, pension funds, private banks et corporates, is already managing via segregated accounts USD1.7 for French institutional investors. In Europe, Wells Fargo AM manages USD5.2bn out of USD435bn.

The Italian bank Banca dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS) on 17 January has announced that it is undertaking an urgent analysis of certain transactios dating back to previous fiscal years, after the news agency Bloomberg reported that the German bank Deutsche Bank in 2008 helped the bank to conceal losses through opaque instruments. An urgent analysis of the matter is now being carried out, covering certain structured transactions undertaken in previous fiscal years, BMPS announced in a statement on its website, without providing more details about the operations concerned. The analysis, which is still underway, is concentrating on legal, financial, accounting and transaction aspects, and aims in particular to evaluate any potential current or future impact precisely, the group has announced, promising to act as soon as possible. The bank will ensure that everything will be carried out in a manner as transparent to the markets and supervisory authorities as possible, BMPS concludes. The news agency Bloomberg has affirmed, on the basis of 70 pages of documents, that Deutsche Bank in December 2008 designed a derivative product for BMPS, which allowed it to conceal EUR367m in financial losses on a previous transaction with the German group. As part of the project entitled Santorini, from the name of a Greek island, Deutsche Bank is reported to have lent BMPS EUR1.5bn. According to Bloomberg, the consequences of the transaction for BMPS, which a few months later was required to seek Italian government aid, never appeared on its annual books.

The Italian insurance group Generali on 18 January annoucned that it has received non-binding offers for its Swiss-based private bank BSI, the news agency Reuters reports. At a conference in Milan, the CEO of Generali, Mario Greco, refused to give more details, indicating that such a transaction could take several months. According to the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Royal Bank of Canada, Julius Baer, UBP or Apax are on the list of potential buyers.

Allianz Global Investors is to launch in the second quarter an infrastructure debt fund in the UK – the first of its kind – to help build schools, hospitals and roads, according to the Financial Times. The fund will raise GBP1bn initially, but has the potential to raise more. AllianzGI also plans to launch a similar sized infrastructure debt fund in Europe in the summer.

Pascal Koenig is an Asset Management financial industry partner at Deloitte. He discusses the challenges faced by French asset management firms with Newsmanagers. This specialist in the sector says they will need to adopt a more industrial approach, particularly to the construction of their product ranges and customer relationships.