The Credit Suisse group on 10 January announced the recruitment of Claudio de Sanctis as managing director, in charge of private banking activities in South-East Asia. De Sanctis, who will begin on 1 April 2013, will be based in Singapore. He will report to Francesco de Ferrari, head of private banking activities for the Asia-Pacific region. De Sanctis previously worked as managing director and head of Iberian and Scandinavian markets at UBS Wealth Management Europe.

According to Z-Ben Advisors, cited by Asian Investor, assets under management by Chinese funds totalled CNY2.8trn as of the end of December, 30% more than one year previously.Asset management firms launched 260 funds and attracted CNY644.7bn in 2012, but the increase in volume is partly due to a surge on A equity markets (7.55% for the year), and particularly to the launch of a large number of money market funds in fourth quarter, to preserve the rankings of various asset management firms as a whole. Assets in money market funds totalled 20% of assets managed in funds overall, compared with 14% at the end of December 2011.

Julien Moutier is joining Groupama Asset Management as a manager/analyst. He joins the directional multi-management teams of the investment solutions department, and will report to Henri Chabadel. Since 2007, Moutier had been a senior multi-manager at FundQuest (an affiliate of BNP IP), with a particular focus on fixed income and absolute return strategies. The firm recently reorganized, abandoning fund management to become a consulting structure. Moutier is a graduate of IESEG. He has also been a professor at SFAF(Société Française des Analystes Financiers) since 2005.

Northern Trust has announced that it has been selected by Bridgewater Associates to provide middle- and back-office services for USD140bn in assets in its hedge funds (USD75bn for pure alpha strategies,a nd USD65bn for all-weather funds). The services include various administrative processes, transaction processing, real-time reporting, cah management, accounting and collateral management.The contract will allow Northern Trust (USD4.8trn in assets under custody and USD749.7bn in assets under management as of 30 September) to create 100 jobs in Chicago and Stamford, Connecticut.

ERAFP, the additional retirement establishment for French public sector employees, with EUR14bn in assets, is joining the Initiative for Transparency in the Mining Industries and the Institutional Investor Group on Climate Change Paris, the investment firm announced on 10 January 2013. The Initiative for Transparency in Mining Industries (ITIE), founded in 2002, seeks to develop an efficient system of information on payments to governments of countries rich in natural resources by mining, oil and gas sector businesses. The International Investor Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) brings together institutional investors over the issue of climate change. The joint initiative intends to promote a low-carbon economy, through sharing of experiences on investment practices, and supporting international public policies to this end. ERAFP is already a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).

Ron Redell, chairman of DoubleLine Funds Trust and executive Vice president of DoubleLine Capital, has told Mutual Fund Wire that the firm founded by Jeff Gundlach is planning to make a number of recruitments to confront strong growth of its activities. DoubleLine is for instance seeking five analysts to assist the two equity portfolio managers Brendt Stallings and Husam Nazer, who have recently been recruited (see Newsmanagers of 3 January).The asset management firm is also planning recruitments for client service, including wholesale, and for administrative positions (legal, compliance, accounting and operations).

Cinco Días reports that Banco Popular is selling EUR264m in debt from the Alteco and Mag Import companies from Joaquín Rivero and Bautista Soler to Blackstone private equity funds. The debt is guaranteed by shares of the French RE firm Gecina.

Since the closure of its Spanish office, Domingo Torres-Fernández, head of institutional commercial relationships with European clients, has become head of distribution for Spain for products from the French asset management firm Lazard Frères Gestion (EUR10.8bn), and is based in Paris, Funds People reports.

More than 80% of private equity investors who make merger/acquisition operations have reduced the price of a target or called off the deal due to poor appreciation of ESG criteria, according to a survey by the international United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) network. Three quarters of private equity firms surveyed say that poor performance in the area of ESG had prevented a deal from going through.

Aberdeen Asset Management has acquired two residential real estate properties in Södertälje, a city in the Stockholm region of Sweden, for about SEK90m, Realtid.se reports, citing fastighetsvärlden. The properties were acquired for the Aberdeen Residential Sweden fund, which has raised SEK970m from institutional investors.

JP Morgan AM is planning to double its market share in mutual funds worldwide, particularly in Asia, Asian Investor reports. This is a challenge, the website says, insofar as Asian households in emerging markets invest only 23% of their assets in bonds or equities, compared with 45% in developed Asian countries, and 67% in the United States. Assets in Asian funds of JP Morgan currently total slightly over USD55bn.

The US asset management firm ProShares (USD21bn in 139 ETF funds, mostly inverse or leveraged ETFs) has filed a license application to the SEC for an infrastructure ETF, the ProShares Global Direct Infrastructure ETF, which would replicate the NMX 30 Infrastructure Global Index from the Zurich-basedd firm LPX GmbH, which covers the 30 largest publicly-traded companies in the sector worldwide, Index Universe reports.So far, ProShares has not announced the acronym or TER for the product.

OFI InfraVia on 10 January announced that InfraVia, its first infrastructure fund, has finalised its acquisition of a 55% stake in the capital of the ADTiM company, which had been owned by ETDE, Axione and Eiffage. The remaining 45% are controlled by the Caisse des dépôts (30%) and eTde/axione (15%). The Crédit Agricole group also financed the acquisition via a line of senior debt. ADTiM is the concessionary firm which has held a contract since 2008 to complete, operate and develop a high/very high broadband telecommunications network for the Drôme and Ardèche provinces under a contract from the public utilities. Axione, an affiliate of Bouygues Construction, retains responsibility for the operation of network developments.

Investment fund assets worldwide increased by 2.5 percent to EUR 21.95 trillion in the third quarter of 2012, according to statistics from the European fund and asset management association (EFAMA). In U.S. dollar terms, worldwide investment fund assets increased 5.3 percent during the quarter to USD 28.38 trillion. This difference reflects the depreciation of the US dollar vis-à-vis the euro during the quarter. Total worldwide net inflows into investment funds amounted to EUR 167 billion during the third quarter, up from EUR 99 billion in the previous quarter. This increase was achieved thanks to stronger net inflows into balanced and bond funds. Long-term funds (all funds excluding money market funds) registered increased net inflows during the quarter of EUR 175 billion, up from EUR 141 billion in the second quarter. Bond funds continued to enjoy strong net inflows (EUR 146 billion), up from EUR 121 billion in the second quarter. Balanced/mixed funds registered a large increase in net sales to EUR 38 billion, compared to EUR 2 billion in the previous quarter. Equity funds however recorded the fifth consecutive quarter of net outflows (EUR 43 billion, up from EUR 14 billion in the previous quarter). Money market funds registered net outflows of EUR 9 billion, down compared to the second quarter (EUR 42 billion). The United States registered net inflows of EUR 29 billion during the quarter, marking a turnaround compared to the second quarter when net outflows amounted to EUR 53 billion. On the other hand, Europe registered net outflows of EUR 31 billion, up from EUR 1 billion in the previous quarter. At the end of the third quarter, assets of equity funds represented 37 percent and bond funds represented 24 percent of all investment fund assets worldwide. The asset share of money market funds was 16 percent and the asset share of balanced/mixed funds was 11 percent.

The British asset management firm Schroders has announced the launch of three funds in Germany and Austria specialised in emerging market debt. The funds were launched in France in October last year (see Newsmanagers of 3 October 2012). They are the Schroder Emerging Market Sovereign Bond, which invests in government bonds, Schroder Emerging Market Corporate Bond, which is focused on corporate bonds, and the Schroder Emerging Market Bond. The latter fund has a combination of JPM indices as its benchmark, reflecting the hybrid character of the fund.

The Herbalife company, which has been accused by William Ackman of Pershing Square of being a giant pyramid scheme, has received the powerful support of another activist funds with USD10bn in assets, Third Point by Dan Loeb, Les Echos reports. In a letter to investors dated 9 January, which Les Echos has obtained, Loeb gives a 3-page justificatino for his investment in 8.2% of capital in the business, purchased when the stock price fell 40% in four days in late December. Loeb finds the presentation by his colleague “long” but “lacking anything new,” and claims that it provided “no proof that the group has crossed a line which would lead regulators to close down the firm.” Herbalife should thus be able to respond to its detractor and to convince Wall Street. Third Point claims that shares in the firm are worth USD55 to USD68 each, compared with slightly over USD40 at the start of trading yesterday.

The Libor interest rate manipulation scandal has led to more lawsuits, including actions against the banks Barclays and UBS by eight Californian cities, and other public institutions have also filed suit, according to reports by the news agency Bloomberg published on 9 January. There is also a class action lawsuit by owners of real estate properties in New York against 12 banks, including UBS. The agency has counted 30 other lawsuits in the United States filed by homeowners and others, who say they have been disadvantaged by the manipulation. UBS in late December pleaded guilty and must pay a fine of CHF1.4bn to various financial regulatory authorities. Barclays got off with a fine of USD450m.

A group of copper users may appeal a decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve the first investment product in the United States to invest in copper, the Financial Times reports. The move would delay the launch of the ETF by JPMorgan. Copper users claim that the SEC had insufficient evidence to conclude that the launch of the product would not affect supplies of the metal.

The Luxembourg-based firm LRI Invest (EUR8bn in assets under management or administration in 230 funds) has announced that Dirk von Dreumel, who since 2012 had been head of the German market in Frankfurt (see Newsmanagers of 24 January 2012), has been appointed regional CEO for distribution in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. His mission will be do develop the launch and management of funds for third parties on these three German-speaking markets, to serve banks, wealth managers and retirement planning institutions.

On Thursday, 10 January, four former top directors of UBS testified before a British Parliamentary commitee about the Libor scandal. Le Temps reports that they were forced to admit responsibility, but that they have the single line of defence that they didn’t know about it. The four men were in control of the bank from 2005 to 2010, when nearly 50 traders manipulated the Libor inter-bank lending rate to improve their profits: Marcel Rohner, CEO from 2007 to 2009, Huw Jenkins, who was director of the investment bank until 2007, and his two successors, Jerker Johansson and Alex Wilmot-Sitwell.

In the space of two days, the German firm Deka Immobilien will have announced EUR565m in investments in the London office real estate market.On 10 January, the central asset management firm for the German savings banks announced that it has acquired the Palestra office building (27,600 square metres) for EUR275m. The property, like 5 Aldermanbury Square, whose acquisition for EUR290m was announced the previous day, will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienEuropa. This time, the vendors are Royal London Asset Management and Blackfriars Investment.The Palestra building is wholly leased for 20 years to Transport for London, which is headquartered there.

As of 31 December, assets under management by Rathbones Brothers Plc totalled GBP17.98bn, which represents an increase of 13.4% over GBP15.85bn as of the end of 2011, a trading update on 10 January announces.Assets at Rathbone Investment Management increased 13.2% over the year to GBP14.76bn, while net subscriptions increased by 6.2%, compared with 7.5% in 2011. Assets as of the end of December included GBP486m in assets acquired during the year. Underlying net organic growth of assets at Rathbone Investement Management fell to 3% in 2012, compared with 5.4% the previous year.Assets at Rathbone Unit Trust Management Limited as of the end of December were up 16.5% for the year, to GBP1.27bn. Net subscriptions totalled GBP66m for 2012, compared with GBP97m in 2011.

The managers Bill Stormont and Paul Casson have left Henderson Global Investors, Citywire Global reports. The announcement was made at the beginning of a conference call with Tim Stevenson.

Jupiter Asset Management has cancelled plans to convert its European Income fund to a global fund, as it did not receive permission from shareholders, FundWeb reports.

Alors que la Commission doit publier des propositions législatives sur les indices avant l’été, les autorités européennes des marchés (ESMA) et des banques (EBA) veulent tirer rapidement les leçons du scandale de manipulation des taux interbancaires. Les deux autorités ont publié des recommandations de changement pour l’organisation qui gère l’Euribor: l’Euribor-EBF. Elles lui demandent de renforcer son indépendance et les contrôles vis-à-vis des banques contributrices à l’Euribor. De son côté, l’EBA demande à ces banques d’appliquer des contrôles et des règles de prévention des conflits d’intérêt. Enfin, l’EBA et l’ESMA publient une consultation plus générale sur l’élaboration des indices de marché.

Le Trésor italien a adjugé vendredi pour 3,5 milliards d’euros d’obligations à trois ans à un rendement de 1,85%, le plus bas pour cette maturité depuis mars 2010. Il y a un mois, le Trésor avait dû consentir un rendement de 2,5% pour du papier à trois ans. Même si le rendement italien baisse, il reste attractif pour des acheteurs en comparaison au rendement à peine supérieur à zéro qu’offrent les obligations allemandes à trois ans. Rome a également placé 1,5 milliard d’euros de deux lignes d’obligations à taux variables à cinq ans (CCTeu).

Le déficit des paiements courants de la France est resté stable à 2,9 milliards d’euros en novembre, selon la Banque de France. En novembre, le déficit des échanges de biens a baissé légèrement à 5 milliards après 5,1 milliards le mois précédent. L’excédent des échanges de services a lui aussi reculé légèrement à 2,8 milliards après 2,9 milliards en octobre. Le compte financier montre des entrées nettes d’investissements directs de 1,1 milliard d’euros après des sorties de 5,1 milliards en octobre.

Le distributeur américain va céder cinq de ses chaînes de supermarchés (Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s et Star Market) à un groupe d’investisseurs mené par Cerberus Capital Management pour un total de 3,3 milliards de dollars. Supervalu a également fait état d’un bénéfice de 16 millions de dollars au cours du troisième trimestre clos le 1er décembre, contre une perte de 750 millions un an auparavant.

L’autorité allemande de régulation financière, la BaFin, achèvera d’ici à fin mars son enquête sur le rôle éventuel de Deutsche Bank dans le scandale de manipulation du Libor, rapporte Reuters. L’enquête s’inscrit dans le cadre plus large des investigations menées par les autorités américaines, européennes et japonaises.

La société de gestion de deux fonds communs de placements à risques a pris fin 2012 une participation dans la holding patrimoniale de Jacques de Chateauvieux, fondateur du groupe Bourbon. L’augmentation de capital s’est établie à 53 millions d’euros, dont les deux tiers pour Pragma Capital qui devient le deuxième actionnaire de la holding, spécialisée dans les activités maritimes.