JP Morgan Asset Management souhaite entrer sur le marché australien des fonds cette année, a indiqué Jed Laskowitz, CEO de l’activité des fonds en Asie et responsable de la gestion d’actifs en Asie de la société américaine, lors d’un déjeuner de presse auquel Asian Investor était convié. La société a déjà une présence institutionnelle dans le pays. JP Morgan AM souhaite aussi pénétrer en Asie du sud est et veut lancer son premier ETF en China via sa joint-venture, ajoute le site asiatique.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) a annoncé mardi à Londres le lancement du Morgan Stanley Investment Funds Global Premier Credit Fund, un fonds investi dans des obligations émises par des entreprises ayant des franchises fortes ou une position de leader dans leur secteur, une faible intensité capitalistique et avec des bilans solides.Pour construire le portefeuille, les gérants du fonds s’appuieront sur la recherche de l’équipe obligataire mondiale de MSIM et utiliseront des outils quantitatifs maison.Selon Richard Ford, le responsable européen du crédit de MSIM, ce fonds est destiné aux investisseurs cherchant des alternatives à la dette gouvernementale et des rendements élevés.

Schroders a mis fin à ses relations avec son auditeur PwC, qui l’accompagnait depuis plus de 50 ans, rapporte le Financial Times, pour qui c’est le signe que les grandes entreprises deviennent plus sensibles aux accusations selon lesquelles elles sont trop à l’aise avec les gens qui doivent vérifier leurs comptes. La société de gestion a choisi à la place KPMG.

Jupiter vient de recruter Luca Evangelisti et Harry Richards pour son équipe fixed interest and multi-asset. Ils rejoignent la société en tant qu’analystes crédit sous la direction d’Hilary Blandy. Luca Evangelisti était précédemment chez Moody’s, tandis que Harry Richards travaillait déjà chez Jupiter.

Succédant à Georg von Werz, Sebastiano Ferrante est devenu depuis début 2013 le responsable pays de Pramerica Real Estate International pour l’Allemagne. Au sein de la direction générale, il est de surcroît responsable de la gestion de fonds. De 2077 à 2012, il a été co-country head Germany chez Tishman Speyer Properties à Francfort, responsable des achats et des ventes d’actifs en Allemagne ainsi que de la plate-forme opérationnelle de Tishman Speyer Properties.Par ailleurs, Pramerica Real Estate Investors (filiale européenne de Prudential Financial) annonce avoir acheté pour 70 millions de livres l’immeuble de bureaux 141 Bothwell Street (175.000 pieds carrés) de Glasgow auprès du Strathclyde Pensionfund.

Source Markets, l’un des principaux fournisseurs d’ETP européens, a annoncé l’arrivée de Feargal Dempsey au sein de son conseil d’administration en tant qu’administrateur indépendant. L’intéressé est consultant pour l’ETFGI, la société d’analyse et de conseil sur les ETF fondée par Deborah Fuhr. Il a occupé plusieurs fonctions de direction chez Barclays Global Investors/BlackRock, notamment responsable de la stratégie des produits iShares pour la zone EMEA, responsable de la structuration des produits pour la zone EMEA et responsable de la gouvernance des produits. Source Markets plc est une société domiciliée en Irlande commercialisant des fonds d’investissement conformes à la réglementation UCITS.

L’indice Eurekahedge des hedge funds a progressé de 1,46% en décembre, ce qui porte la performance sur l’ensemble de l’année à 6,19%.L’indice Mizuho-Eurekahedge Top 100, qui suit l'évolution des actifs et des performances des 100 plus gros hedge funds, a pour sa part enregistré une hausse de 5,82% en 2012.Les stratégies de dette distressed ont réalisé les meilleurs résultats en 2012 avec une performance de 12,87% sur douze mois.

Suite à la démission d’Ulrich Tigges, Ralf Bräuer, qui était déjà responsable depuis 2010 de l’unité de distribution institutionnelle, a été promu à la tête du pôle institutionnel du francfortois Universal-Investment, qui représentait fin novembre un encours sous gestion ou sous administration de 116,3 milliards d’euros dans des fonds institutionnels (Spezialfonds), soit 18 milliards de plus que fin 2011.Ralf Bräuer est entré chez Universal en 2005 comme responsable du suivi et de l’acquisition de la clientèle institutionnelle après avoir passé sept ans comme gestionnaire de portefeuilles pour les mandats institutionnels chez Deka Investment.

The British firm Federated Prime Rate Capital Management, an affiliate of Federated Investments, has registered its money market Sicav umbrella fund Federated Prime Rate Cash Management Funds, domiciled in Luxembourg, with the CNMV, Funds People reports.

At a time when Spanish asset management firms underwent net redemptions and a decline in their assets under management throughout last year, the assets at foreign asset management firms have increased 10.6% in the first eleven months of 2012, to a total of EUR52bn, Funds People reports.

The former chairman of the international alternative management association (AIMA) and hedge fund sector specialist Todd Groome is joining the Highwater group, specialised in corporate governance, The Asset reports. Groome, who from 2009 to 2012 represented the hedge fund sector as head of the AIMA, has recently served as a senior adviser to Albourne Partners and as adviser to a hedge fund successfully launched in 2011. The Highwater group offers corporate governance services to hedge funds and asset management firms via the appointment of independent administrators and other means.

While remaining as chief research officer, Fred Fraenkel has been promoted to the position of chairman of Fairholme Capital Management, replacing Bruce Berkowitz, CIO and managing member, who had held the position for the interim since the resignation of Charlie Fernandez in spring 2012. Fraenkel joined Fairholme in 2011, after serving as chief investment officer at Beacon Trust Company.

Jes Staley, former lieutenant of the head of JPMorgan, Jamie Dimon, is joining the hedge fund firm BlueMountain Capital Management, the Financial Times reports. The firm is one of the hedge funds which brought down the US banking trader known as the whale of London. Staley had been head of investment banking.

Jens Peers has been appointed CIO sustainable equities of Mirova, the responsible investment division of Natixis Asset Management, where he will report directly to Philippe Zaouati, the deputy CEO of Natixis AM, Head of Mirova. Jens Peers started his career in 1998 as a financial advisor at KBC Bank, Brussels. He subsequently joined KBC Asset Management in 2001 as a financial analyst. In 2003, he moved to Kleinwort Benson Investors, Dublin, as head of portfolio management - environmental strategies on the following thematic areas: water, agribusiness, cleantech (renewable energy, energy efficiency, waste management). Mirova has EUR4bn in assets under management in SRI assets, EUR7.7bn in assets advised in ESG strategies and EUR20.4bn in assets in voting and engagement (as of 30 September 2012).

The Eurekahedge hedge fund index gained 1.46% in December, bringing its performance for the year as a whole to 6.19%. The Mizuho-Eurekahedge Top 100 index, which tracks the evolution of assets and the performance of the 100 largest hedge funds, for its part, posted gains of 5.82% in 2012. Distressed debt strategies earned the best results in 2012, with gains of 12.87% over twelve months.

Two former employees of Man Investments are joining teams responsible for assisting independent wealth management advisers and family offices in Switzerland at Swiss & Global Asset Management (CHF87.4bn in assets as of the end of September). Remo Badertscher, senior relationship manager at his former employer, and Markus Lienert, who had been head of clients for independent wealth management advisers in Liechtenstein and Switzerland, have been recruited for the sales team at Swiss & Global in Zurich.

Philippe Currat, who will reach the age of 65 in May 2013, has announced plans to leave the executive board at Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild S.A. at the beginning of 2013, from 9 January, the Geneva-based bank has announced in a statement released on 8 January, after the close of the trading day. Currat had been chairman of the executive board at the private bank for 25 years.

GLG, the discretionary investment manager of Man Group plc, has announced a number of senior hires to its macro and fixed income team. The appointments are part of a focus on expanding GLG’s strategy as it relates to absolute return macro and fixed income. Kumaran Damodaran joins Sudi from Pimco as a portfolio manager focusing on emerging markets within GLG’s fixed income platform. He has significant experience managing absolute return and outperformance portfolios and has worked closely with Sudi Mariappa in the past, who also joined GLG in October.Brian Pinto will join from the World Bank to take on the role of Senior Macro- Economist, specialising in emerging markets. With many publications to his credit, Brian has spent nearly thirty years at the World Bank, where he is currently Senior Adviser, focusing on sovereign debt, financial integration and growth in emerging markets. He will work closely with GLG strategist Driss Lamrani. Richard Bateson joins from Man AHL as a Senior Quantitative Analyst. He currently heads a strategy within AHL which trades trend, reversion and value strategies across over 150 markets. He is also an Associate of the OxfordMan Institute, Oxford University. The overall macro and fixed income platform will be co-headed by Jamil Baz and Sudi Mariappa.

The Swiss Siz & Co group has announced that it has registered four new sub-funds of its Luxembourg Oyster sicav in Switzerland. The registration of the new sub-funds is a sign of the group’s desire to meet the particular need of Swiss professional clients. Switzerland currently represents a major area of development for Oyster funds. With the Oyster range and the Oyster Multi-Manager sub-funds of the Sicav 3A Alternative Funds, 36 funds are offered to Swiss investors, a range which is constantly developing, and which ranges from highly conservative absolute return strategies to traditional strategies focused on various asset classes, and more innovative “newcits” approaches. OYSTER European SelectionOyster European Selection adopts the approach and philosophy of the Oyster European Opportunities fund. The strategy is appropriate for the requirements of institutional clients, and targets European equities with strong potential for growth in the next five years. With its longer investment horizon, the fund benefits from the expertise and strong convictions of its manager, Eric Bendhan, a specialist in European equities. OYSTER US SelectionOyster US Selection focuses on US equities, combining bottom-up analysis with a top-down complement which aims to anticipate changes in economic cycles. The fund, managed by Scout Investments, Inc., a US asset management firm, offers a strategy which is available in UCITS format exclusively via the Oyster Sicav. OYSTER Global High DividendOyster Global High Dividend invests in high-dividend equities worldwide. Managed by SYZ Asset Management SA and SYZ & Co Asset Management LLP with Roberto Magnatantini as lead manager, Oyster Global High Dividend combines quantitative and fundamental analysis with a particular emphasis on growth in dividends. OYSTER Global High YieldOyster Global High Yield invests in high yield bonds worldwide. The fund is managed by Seix Investment Advisors LLC, an asset management firm based in the United States.

Sebastiano Ferrante at the beginning of 2013 became the new country head for Germany at Pramerica Real Estate International, succeeding Georg von Werz. As a member of the board of directors, he is also responsible for fund management. From 2007 to 2012, he was co-country head for Germany at Tishman Speyer Properties in Frankfurt, responsible for acquisitions and sales of properties in Germany, and of the operational platform of Tishman Speyer Properties. Pramerica Real Estate Investors (the European affiliate of Prudential Financial) has also announced that it has acquired the office building at 141 Bothwell Street (175,000 square feet) in Glasgow from the Strathclyde Pension Fund for GBP70m.

Carmignac Gestion has announced the arrival of Anne Bellavoine as director of marketing. In an interview with Newsmanagers, Eric Helderlé, CEO, explains that with this recruitment, the asset management firm hopes to place marketing at the centre of the concerns of the company, in light of its growth. The head says this choice comes at a time when Carmignac Gestion is posting results above expectations in the UK, and eventually, the development of the asset management firm will also extend to Asia and South America. “We are in an environment in which we are taking important steps, and are attacking new markets which are very different from the ones of continental Europe,” the director says. “And,” he adds, “the regulatory environment is presenting significant complications to the product approach.” In this environment, the new head will aim to take the “glocal” approach which is so highly valued at Carmignac Gestion. “Glocal” is global for funds on sale internationally in the large sense, and local for the fact that it takes into account the very different demand characteristics of each ountry (more or less strongly for distribution shares, capitalisation shares, etc.). In practice, Bellavoine will lead and co-ordinate the marketing team composed of 20 people, and will report to Eric Le Coz, deputy CEO. This is not a new position. Laurence Bertrand held this position before leaving the firm at the end of May 2012. However, “we needed a more strategic vision,” says Helderlé, adding that the managerial abilities of the recruit and her “sense of the customer” justify her recruitment, as marketing is no one of the professional activities covered previously. The new head spent 17 years at Société Générale, where she served successively as global director of Equity Sales and as chairwoman of SG Securities, director of the Equity and Derivatives market desk, and lastly as a banker in charge of financial institutions. The senior profile of the new recruit will open the doors of the strategic development board, unlike the firm’s last director of marketing.

Pioneer Investments has recruited two people for its institutional team in the United States. Mark Dacey has been appointed as head of consultant relations, while Amu DiMarzio joins the firm as a bond strategist. Dacey was previously at State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), where he was recently managing director and head of consultant relationships in the United States. DiMarzio joins from Putnam Investments, where she was recently vice president and credit analyst.

The French investor Union Mutualiste Retraite, which has EUR7.6bn in assets under management, has awarded Egamo, the asset management firm of MGEN a bond mandate for EUR4bn, following a consultation launched in September 2012. The management mandate for a core portfolio asset is a first for UMR, a press statement says. Egamo has about EUR2.8bn in assets under management in mandates and mutual funds.

Source Markets, one of the top providers of European ETPs, has announced the arrival of Feargal Dempsey as a member of its board of directors and an independent director. Dempsey is a consultant for ETFGI, the ETF analysis and consulting firm founded by Deborah Fuhr. He has served in several management positions at Barclays Global Investors/BlackRock, including head of strategy for iShares products in EMEA, head of product structuring for products in the EMEA region, and head of product governance. Source Markets plc is a firm domiciled in Ireland, which sells investment funds that comply with UCITS regulations.

JP Morgan Asset Management would like to enter the Australian fund market this year, says Jed Laskowitz, CEO of Asian fund activities and head of asset management in Asia for the US firm, at a press breakfast held by Asian Investor. The firm already has an institutional presence in the country. JP Morgan AM would also like to penetrate South-East Asia, and may launch its first ETF in China via its joint venture, the Asian website adds.

At the end of 2012, assets under management in European ETPs totalled USD367bn, 22.7% more than the USD299bn recorded the previous year, as net subscriptions totalled USD32.7bn of the USD68bn in asset growth, according to statistics from the BlackRock Institute. In December, net subscriptions totalled USD5.7bn, the highest level in 17 months.The top firm by assets and net inflows remained iShares (BlackRock), with USD140bn and USD18.5bn, respectively. It is followed by db x-trackers/db ETC (Deutsche Bank) with USD50.2bn, but only USD1.3bn in net subscriptions, and Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) with USD42.3bn and USD0.5bn in net inflows.ETF Securities, in fourth place by assets with USD24.1bn, has USD2.6bn in net subscriptions, while Source, in seventh place with USD13.3bn, has posted net inflows of USD5.1bn.

Six years to the day after acquiring the portfolio, the German open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Global has resold its portfolio of five properties in Chile for EUR171m to Aurus Renta Inmobiliaria. The sale price is about EUR33m higher than the purchase price. The properties sold total 55,725 square metres of area in the Birmann 24, Torre Paris, Xerox, Bandera 76 and Teatinos 254-258 buildings in Santiago, Chile. After the sale, the UniImmo: Global fund retains six properties or stakes in properties in Latin America, totalling EUR230m.

The Swedish firm Stella Asset Management will liquidate its two hedge funds, Stella Nova and Stella Polaris, Privata Affärer reports. The funds had a difficult year in 2012. The Swedish website says this is only the beginning of a wave of hedge fund closures to come.

The German open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienGlobal has announced that it has sold the office building at 5, Plaza de Cataluña in Barcelona, with 14,000 square metres, to an investor who wishes to remain anonymous. According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, the buyer would appear to be the billionaire Amancio Ortega, the largest shareholder in Inditex. Deka Immobilien states that the sale has allowed it to earn a capital gain. In addition, the sale comes as part of the strategy of Deka-ImmobilienGlobal, which is to focus its investments on major cities outside Europe, and on Germany and the United Kingdom.

The Luxembourg firm Palaedino Fund has selected five asset management firms to deploy a passive investment strategy based on five indices designed by Palaedino Asset Management. The firms are Duet Group, Morgan Stanley, Olympia Capital, RBS and Unigestion. Each one will manage a sub-fund based on an index, and will aim to outperform the index by overweighting and underweighting components. The indices are the following: Palaedino Structural Leaders Index, Palaedino Hard Currency Index, Palaedino Diversified Commodity Index, Palaedino Global Fixed Income Index and Palaedino Euro Fixed Income Index.