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17/01/2013

Assets at Goldman Sachs up 3% in 2012

Despite USD18bn in net redemptions in 2012, compared with USD17bn in 2011, the investment management division of Goldman Sachs at the end of December posted assets up by USD26bn, or 3%, compared with the end of 2011, at USD854bn, according to accounts released by the group on 16 January. Market effects were positive to the tune of USD44bn.Net revenue for the division rose 4% over the previous year, to USD5.22bn, due to a strong increase in performance commission revenues, which were offset by a slight decline in management commission revenues, and by a decline in transaction revenues.Group-wide, net profits in 2012 rose 68% over 2011, to USD7.465bn, compared with USD4.442bn.
17/01/2013

UBI starts 2013 with a new product offering

After a very satisfactory year in 2012, Union Bancaire Gestion Institutionnelle (UBI), an affiliate of Union Bancaire Privée (UBP), is starting 2013 with an addition to its product range. Inflows for the group last year totalled EUR3.5bn, of which EUR800m went to convertible funds managed in Paris. “2012 was an excellent year for credit, a good year for equities, and lastly, a very good year for convertible equities,” Dominique Leprévots, chairnen of the board at UBI, stated on 16 January at a meeting with investors. On the strength of these results, the firm, which has recently released an SRI convertible fund, has decided to extend its range to global convertible bonds, with the UBAM Convertibles Global fund. This is not least because it claims to have the means in its Paris team to serve an international client base, after launching two dedicated funds of global convertible bonds with a total of over EUR100m. The new strategy carries on the principal characteristics that distinguish the existing product range: a bottom-up approach, discretionary management of delta, investment-grade bias, and hedging for currency risks, with diversification in the three major convertible bond-issuing regions, the United States, Europe, and Asia (including Japan). Principal characteristics of fund Name of fund: UBAM Convertibles Global Legal format: French Sicav – UCITS IV ISIN code: (EUR) FR0011335363 Bloomberg code: UBACGAC FP Equity Management fees: 1.2%
17/01/2013

US Trust launches family WM service

U.S. Trust, Bank of America’s wealth management arm, introduced Family Wealth Services (FWS), a comprehensive approach to meeting the specialized needs of high net worth families and the increasingly complex issues that parents, children and extended family members now face.FWS aggregates a wide range of investment, banking, wealth transfer and legacy planning capabilities within U.S. Trust and provides customized strategies that incorporate generational differences, family diversity, emerging risks to financial security and overall family goals and values. .
17/01/2013

UBS plans to develop wealth management activities in China

UBS is extending its activities in China into wealth management. The largest Swiss bank, calling the step “decisive,” on 16 January opened a Chinese-registered affiliate in Beijing, to develop its activities in local currency and to become one of the leaders in wealth management in China. “China represents one of the largest markets in the world for UBS,” its chairman, Axel Weber, says, cited in a statement. “We are committed to strengthening our presence here (in China) and to extending our range of products and services to meet client demand,” he added at the opening ceremony.
17/01/2013

CNMV plans to extend KIID to alternative investments

A market consultation was launched on 16 January, to continue until 15 February, by the Spanish securities commission (CNMV), which is seeking the opinions of professionals about its plans to extend KIID requirements defined by the UCITS IV directive to hedge funds, funds of hedge funds and real estate funds, although these are not covered by UCITS, Funds People reports.For non-UCITS funds, the risk level for these products must be characterised in one word, an explanatory team, rather than a figure, like in the case of UCITS-compliant products.
17/01/2013

Norway launches an investigation of local inter-bank lending rates

The Norwegian financial regulator is investigating a possible manipulation of the local inter-bank lending rate, the Nibor, following a compliant from a foreign bank, the Financial Times reports. The rate is set by six banks: DNB, Danske Bank, Handelsbanken, Nordea, SEB and Swedbank.
17/01/2013

Russell Indexes and NYSE Euronext form international alliance

The index provider Russell Indexes and NYSE Euronext on 15 January announced that they have forged an international alliance, which will involve several units at the two groups. The agreement includes an integration of the Glboal Index Feed (GIF) from NYSE Technologies into the RussellTick feed (Russell US indices). The agreement also provides for the introduction of new products in the United States and Europe, including options on indices.
17/01/2013

Sovereign debt risk: Japan is down, United States holding steady

Japan has lost two places, to 35th place in the most recent quarterly index of sovereign risk calculated by BlackRock (BSRI), due to a deterioration of its budgetary situation, but things may develop during the year, due to the inauguration of a new administration and a new governor of the central bank. The United States, for their part, remain at 15th place in the rankings, due to the budget agreement reached early in 2013, which is considreed “better than nothing” by strategists at the BlackRock Investment Institute, who nonetheless predict that there will be some slightly increased turbulence due to the limited scope of the agreement. France is in 27th place in the rankings, after Poland, and before Colombia and Brazil. The top three places are held by Norway, Singapore and Switzerland. BlackRock also offers an interactive BSRI index, which makes it possible to compare ratings between two countries.
17/01/2013

European Parliament to step up regulation of ratings agencies

The European Parliament on 16 January passed new rules by a large majority, which will regulate and provide a framework for ratings agencies. The agencies will be required to increase transparency and may be held liable for their errors in civil actions. The bill passed with 579 votes in favour, 58 against, and 60 abstentions. This result is unsurprising, as the European Parliament, European Council and European Commission had all already announced in late November that they had reached a compromise on the new rules. The European Commissioner for Financial Services, Michel Barnier, congratulated the European Parliament. “Ratings agencies will be required to be more transparent when they issue ratings of governments, and will be required to follow stricter rules, which will require them to release accounts in the event of errors, whether or not these are intentional,” he said in a statement. Agencies will now no longer be permitted to make more than three unsolicited ratings per year, when they rate governments. The date must be announced in advance, and these ratings are to be published on Friday, after the close of the markets. The law introduces a civil liability regime for ratings agencies, which may be held liable for their errors in cases of severe negligence or intentional violation of legislation. Among several measures which aim to limit conflicts of interest, a ratings agency will not be permitted to issue ratings of entities or products if they control more than 10% of shares in them. Lastly, a rotation rule to open the market to smaller ratings agencies to compete with the large players (Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch, which control 90% of the market) will be instituted, but only for some structured products.
17/01/2013

UCITS-compliant hedge funds gained 1.63% in 2012

After average losses of 3.64% in 2011, UCITS-compliant hedge funds posted gains of 0.50% in December, and average returns for 2012 as a whole of 1.63%, according to the UCIS Alternative Index Global published by the Swiss firm Alix Capital.Meanwhile, the UCITS-compliant fund of hedge fund index last year saw losses of 1.34%, which comes after 5.25% losses in 2011.For the 11 strategies monitored by Alix Capital, six show losses for the year 2012, with the deepest losses for commodities (-5.31%) and CTA (-3.83%). However, emerging markets show the best returns, with 5.87%, followed by bond strategies (+4.88%) and multi-strategies (+4.08%).Alix Capital states that at the end of December, the 880 UCITS-compliant hedge funds and funds of hedge funds in the index had about USD140bn in assets under management.
17/01/2013

Strong inflows to emerging market corporate debt fund from Pictet

The emerging market corporate bond fund Pictet-Emerging Corporate Bonds, launched in November, and managed by Alain-Nsiona Defise (formerly of JPMorgan, BNP Paribas IP and Fortis), on 14 January topped USD600m in assets, Pictet Asset Management has announced in London. The UCITS-compliant product, whose benchmark index is the JP Morgan CEMBI Broad Diversified fund (which it aims to outperform by 200 basis points over 3-5 years, gross of fees), is a sub-fund of the Sicav Pictet Luxembourg.
17/01/2013

Threadneedle recruits a head of clients for real estate

James Allum, client relationship manager at Aviva Investors for real estate for five years, after serving as client service manager at Henderson Global Investors, has been appointed as client reationship director, overseeing institutional clients investing in real estate portfolios from Threadneedle Investments. The British asset management firm states that he joined the firm on 4 December, and that he reports to Andrew Nicoll, global head of client service.
17/01/2013

Jupiter increases assets in fourth quarter 2012

Jupiter has seen a rise in its assets under management to GBP26.3bn as of 31 December, compared with GBP24.9bn as of 30 September. This is the result of net inflows of GBP688m, of which GBP490m are in mutual funds. For 2012 as a whole, net inflows total GBP966m.
17/01/2013

AEW Europe appoints an executive director

AEW Europe has announced the appointment of Simon Baxland as executive director. He comes as an addition to the opportunity-driven platform at the firm, and joins a team of 40 professionals dedicated to this activity, a statement says. In his new role, Blaxland will be based in London, and will report to Russell Jewel, Managing Director – head of private equity funds. Before joining AEW Europe, Blaxland served in a variety of roles on investment teams at GE Real Estate and Goldman Sachs. More recently, he was Managing Partner at Groupe Exmoor, where he served as investor, operating partner and advisor to several Private Equity Funds. AEW Europe has also announced that it is currently in the process of launching an opportunity-driven fund which will target real estate assets and distressed financial structured, investing both in operational platforms and assets whose valuation is temporarily affected by the market situation.
17/01/2013

JP Morgan to release an internal report on the Whale of London

The board of directors of the largest US bank, JPMorgan Chase, has decided to release an internal report on the Whale of London scandal, which cost the bank USD6.25bn last year, according to the New York Times. The decision was taken on 15 January, at the initiative of chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, despite the reservations of some heads, who were concerned that the 50-page document might be used as a basis for lawsuits against the bank, the newspaper adds, citing several sources familiar with the matter. The newspaper reports that the document, authored by former CFO Mike Cavanagh, was critical of Douglas Braunstein, the chief financial officer at the group at the time of the events, for failing to adequately oversee the activities of traders at the London bank.
17/01/2013

Fidelity Worldwide Investment seeking a head for South-East Asia

Fidelity Worldwide Investment is seeking a new head for its Singapore unit and the South-East Asian region, following the departure of Madeline Ho, who has moved to Natixis Global Asset Management. In the interim, Mark Talbot, managing director for Asia Pacific ex Japan at Fidelity, will assume the role.
17/01/2013

Fidelity Worldwide Investment seeking a head for South-East Asia

Fidelity Worldwide Investment is seeking a new head for its Singapore unit and the South-East Asian region, following the departure of Madeline Ho, who has moved to Natixis Global Asset Management. In the interim, Mark Talbot, managing director for Asia Pacific ex Japan at Fidelity, will assume the role.
17/01/2013

Fidelity closes Small Cap Discovery Fund to new subscribers

In a press release, Fidelity Investments has announced that on 31 January, at 4:00 PM US Eastern Standard Time (EST), it will be closing the Fidelity Small Cap Discovery Fund (ticker FSCRX) to new subscribers.The fund, managed by Chuck Meyers, has doubled its volume in the past twelve months, at USD3.9bn. The closure is explained as arising from a need to preserve performance for existing subscribers, who may, until further notice, continue to acquire shares in the fund.
17/01/2013

Alfred Berg converts a bond fund

The Scandinavian asset management firm Alfred Berg (BNP Paribas group) is converting its traditional bond fund Alfred Bergs Obligationsfond into an absolute return bond fund. As a part of the move, the fund will be changing names, to become Alfred Berg Ränteallokering Plus. The fund may now invest in riskier bonds, with lower credit ratings than previously.
17/01/2013

Plans for sovereign funds in Africa multiply

Africa is beginning to see the merits of sovereign funds. This year, no less than seven countries (Angola, South Africa, the Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, and one other) are planning to launch funds, particularly in the wake of the discovery of petrochemical reserves, Les Echos reports. They are joining the ten countries that have launched sovereign funds since 2005, including Libya, Algeria, Sudan, Namibia, Mauritania and Gabon.
17/01/2013

E Fund closes a long/short equity fund

One of the largest Chinese asset management firms, E Fund, which has recently acquired Harvest, has closed a long/short equity hedge fund dedicated to emerging markets, two years after its launch, Asian Investor reports. The decision is said to be related to the poor performance of the strategy, which lost 2.8% in the twelve months to the end of August 2012. Assets under management in the fund notably also totalled barely USD6m at the end of 2012. Another long-only emerging market strategy, launched in May 2012, is also reported to have been closed. One of the co-managers of these funds, Charles Wang, is said to have left the firm in late 2012 to join Bosera, an asset management firm based in Shenzhen, as chief investment officer for quantitative investments and ETFs. The other co-mangaer, Fei Peng, is reported to have remained at E Fund.
17/01/2013

Record assets for Spanish hedge funds

As of 31 December, the “free investment fund,” or Spanish-registered hedge fund, sector had 28 products, with assets of EUR845m, 33% more than at the end of 2011, and the highest level in five years, Funds People reports. The top three actors are March Gestión, with EUR235m, Bestinver (EUR186m), and ICR (EUR161m).However, assets under management in the 18 Spanish-registered funds of hedge funds have fallen 7.8% in one year, to EUR340m, the lowest level in five years.
17/01/2013

NewAlpha Asset Management annonce avoir conclu son vingtième partenariat

NewAlpha Asset Management annonce avoir conclu son vingtième partenariat avec la société LindenGrove Capital. Cet investissement est le troisième réalisé par NewAlpha Asset Management en 2012, après les deux transactions exécutées pour le compte de la Sicav Emergence en avril et juin. Fondée en 2012 à Londres par Borut Miklavcic, LindenGrove Capital est une société de gestion spécialisée sur les stratégies de performance absolue de type « Global Macro ».
17/01/2013

Baisse des rendements pour l’émission espagnole

L’Espagne a tiré parti jeudi d’une amélioration du sentiment des investisseurs vis-à -vis des pays du sud de la zone euro et a vu ses coûts de financement diminuer, assurant d’ores et déjà en deux adjudications seulement près de 9% de ses besoins de financement de l’année à moyen et long terme. Le Trésor a adjugé un peu plus de 4,5 milliards d’euros de dette à échéances 2015, 2018 et 2041, soit le montant maximal prévu. La France a émis de son côté jeudi 7,98 milliards d’euros de dette à deux, quatre et cinq ans, soit dans le haut de ses objectifs (7 à 8 milliards d’euros). La demande a totalisé 18,85 milliards d’euros et le ratio de couverture est ressorti à 2,4.
17/01/2013

Le Portugal prévoit d'emprunter à cinq ans

Le Portugal se prépare à émettre un emprunt syndiqué à cinq ans dans les jours qui viennent, soucieux de revenir se financer sur le marché des capitaux, écrit jeudi le quotidien portugais Diario Economico. Les investisseurs ont de plus en plus tendance à penser que le Portugal reviendra sur le marché obligataire avant le mois de septembre, objectif fixé par ses bailleurs de fonds internationaux.
17/01/2013

Trois offres pour l'aéroport londonien Stansted

L’aéroport londonien de Stansted a attiré trois offres fermes de chacune un milliard de livres (1,2 milliard d’euros), a rapporté Reuters de trois sources proches de l’opération. L’australien Macquarie, le groupe Malaysia Airports Holdings et le groupe Manchester Airports (MAG) avec son partenaire australien IFM ont chacun déposé un dossier. Un accord pourrait être conclu d’ici la semaine prochaine.
Christophe Cattoir
17/01/2013

Hausse de la demande étrangère en actifs américains

La demande étrangère d’actifs américains a augmenté en novembre, que ce soit d’actions ou d’emprunts du Trésor, a annoncé ce dernier. Les investisseurs étrangers ont acheté en net 52,3 milliards de dollars d’actifs à long terme, alors qu’après révision ils étaient vendeurs nets en octobre, à hauteur d’un milliard de dollars. Une première estimation pour octobre les avait donnés acheteurs nets pour 1,3 milliard.
Pierre-Olivier Cohen
17/01/2013

Euronext n'est pas à vendre, assure son propriétaire

L’opérateur des Bourses de Paris, Bruxelles, Amsterdam et Lisbonne, pourrait être scindé et introduit en Bourse mais il n’est pas à vendre, a déclaré Duncan Niederauer, le directeur général de Nyse Euronext, à Bloomberg Television. L’annonce le mois dernier du projet de rachat de Nyse Euronext par IntercontinentalExchange alimente depuis les spéculations sur le sort d’Euronext.
Laurent Denize
17/01/2013

Equiduct passe ses options en revue

La plate-forme de négociation paneuropéenne étudie différentes options, dont celle d’une possible fermeture, croit savoir Reuters. Citadel et Knight Capital, deux de ses principaux investisseurs, ont semble-t-il perdu en motivation. Un conseil d’administration doit se réunir début février.

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