L’indice Dow jones Credit Suisse des hedge funds a terminé le mois de novembre sur une hausse de 0,64% après un recul de 0,18% en octobre. Depuis le début de l’année, l’indice affiche une progression de 6,10%. Toutes les stratégies entrant dans la composition de l’indice ont contribué à la hausse du mois de novembre, à l’exception de la stratégie dedicated short bias qui accuse un recul de 0,43%. Parmi les plus fortes hausses figurent notamment les stratégies emerging Markets avec un gain de 1,10%.
L’espagnol Bankinter, désireux d’améliorer la qualité de son service aux grandes fortunes espagnoles, a acheté l’infrastructure et la licence bancaire de la filiale luxembourgeoise du néerlandais Van Lanschot, rapporte Funds People.L’encours de Bankinter en banque privée est actuellement de 11 milliards d’euros, ce qui représente une part de 6 % du marché de la banque privée en Espagne. L’objectif est de porter cette part à 8 % en deux ans.
Le 17 décembre, le régulateur espagnol CNMV a suspendu pour quelques heures la cotation du Santander après l’annonce que le groupe compte absorber d’ici à mai 2013 ses filiales Banesto (banque des entreprises) et Banif (banque privée), rapporte Funds People.Dans le détail, le Santander propose aux minoritaires du Banesto une prime de 24,9 % sur le cours de clôture du 14 décembre au moyen d’un échange contre des actions provenant de l’autocontrôle du Santander.Le groupe envisage de fermer 700 agences pour réduire le réseau total à 4.000 succursales. L’objectif consiste à réduire l’effectif de la manière la plus indolore possible, avec des reclassements dans d’autres filiales du groupe Santander en Espagne et à l'étranger, en utilisant l’attrition naturelle et en versant des aides au départ. Les synergies au bout de la troisième année devraient être de 520 millions d’euros.Banif gère 36,9 milliards d’euros et le Banesto administre en direct 4,22 milliards d’euros dans des sicav, mais partage avec le Santander les capacités de gestion de Red Santander (14,89 milliards). Les fonds Banif sont gérés directement par Santander Asset Management (19,02 milliards d’euros fin octobre)
Morgan Stanley a fermé aux investisseurs particuliers son fonds Global Brand de façon à préserver la performance du portefeuille, rapporte Investment Week. Le fonds, investi sur des marques mondiales, est géré par Peter Wright, William Lock. L’OEIC Global Brands a 500 millions de livres d’actifs, tandis que la Sicav affiche 9 milliards de livres d’encours.
Le britannique Ashcourt Rowan vient de nommer Emily Morris en qualité de responsable marketing pour le groupe, rapporte Fundweb.Emily Morris travaillait précédemment chez Rathbone Brothers.
Fidelity Worldwide Investment vient de recruter Peter Kaye en tant que gérant d’actions américaines. Il rejoindra la société au premier trimestre 2013, en provenance de Dalton Strategic Partnership où il gère deux fonds actions d’Amérique du Nord.Peter Kaye va reprendre la gestion du fonds Fidelity Investment Funds (FIF) American Fund, représentant un encours de 1,6 milliard de dollars, jusqu’ici géré par Aris Vatis. Ce dernier a démissionné et quittera la société le 21 décembre. Dans la période intermédiaire, le fonds sera piloté par Adrian Brass, qui continuera à s’occuper du Fidelity Funds America. En revanche, il cèdera la responsabilité du FIF American Special Situations à Angel Agudo. Cela lui permettra de lancer un nouveau fonds actions US au premier semestre 2013.Enfin, Aditya Khowala va prendre la responsabilité du Fidelity Funds American Growth Fund, actuellement géré par Aris Vatis.
Vanguard Asset Management a lancé un nouveau microsite éducatif - Vanguardlearning.co.uk - destiné à aider les conseillers financiers à enrichir leurs connaissances en matière d’ETF alors que la RDR (Retail distribution review) va entrer en vigueur.En effet, la nouvelle réglementation va imposer aux conseillers financiers de faire au moins 21 heures de formation (Continuing Professional Development ou CPD). Dans le même temps, Vanguard prédit que la RDR va favoriser le recours aux produits passifs à bas coûts dont les ETF par les conseillers, en vue de maîtriser les coûts.
Le trust d’investissement britannique Witan vient d’attribuer un mandat de gestion au spécialiste de la gestion alternative Lansdowne Partners, rapporte Investment Week.Lansdowne aura la responsabilité d’un mandat d’une trentaine de millions de livres dans un premier temps pour la gestion d’un portefeuille d’actions internationales. Lansdowne devrait appliquer pour ce portefeuille une stratégie long only sur les marchés développés mise en place récemment.
Le 17 décembre, grâce à l’admission de deux nouveaux ETF de Lyxor Asset Management (groupe Société Générale) de droit luxembourgeois, l’un d’actions, l’autre de volatilité, la cote du segment XTF de la plate-forme électronique Xetra (Deutsche Börse) s’est enrichie de deux nouvelles références, remontant ainsi à un total de 1.006 le nombre d’ETF cotés à Francfort contre 1.004 fonds. Il avait en effet diminué entre-temps de cinq unités par rapport aux 1.009 ETF enregistrés au 28 novembre.Caractéristiques :Dénomination : Lyxor ETF SG Global Quality Income NTR Share Class D-EURCode Isin : LU0832436512Indice de référence : SG Global Income NTR IndexTaux de frais sur encours : 0,45 %Dénomination : Lyxor ETF S&P 500 VIX Futures Enhanced RollCode Isin : LU0832436512Indice de référence : S&P 500 VIX Futures Enhanced Roll IndexTaux de frais sur encours : 0,60 %
Pour son fonds immobilier offert au public UniImmo: Deutschland, Union Investment Real Estate a acheté l’hôtel Barceló Hamburg, qui va rejoindre le portefeuille de 1,6 milliard d’euros d’actifs hôteliers du gestionnaire allemand. Le montant de la transaction n’a pas été divulgué.Le Barceló Hamburg a été livré en mars 2012 ; il compte 15 suites et 179 chambres, un restaurant, un centre de conférence et des places de parking. Le UniImmo: Deutschland possède déjà dans la métropole hanséatique un hôtel Marriott et un hôtel Scandic.D’autre part, UIRE prépare pour mars l’acquisition du Barceló Raval de Barcelone, qui sera affecté au portefeuille du fonds immobilier offert au public UniImmo: Europa, dont ce sera le premier investissement hôtelier en Espagne. Le montant de la transaction n’a pas été dévoilé non plus.
Le suisse Vontobel Asset Management a annoncé le 17 décembre le lancement officiel d’un fonds d’actions mondiales de sociétés leaders dans le domaine du développement durable. Le Sustainable Global Leaders, un compartiment de la sicav de droit luxembourgeois Vontobel Funds, démarre avec un encours d’environ 100 millions de dollars. Il est géré par Roger Merz, directeur de l'équipe global equities.Le portefeuille sera investi dans des titres de sociétés qui se distinguent par un rendement élevé des fonds propres, une position concurrentielle favorable, une situation bénéficiaire confortable et une forte génération de liquidités. En plus, elles doivent faire face efficacement aux défis en matière d’environnement, d’aspects sociaux et de gouvernance (ESG).Caractéristiques :Dénomination : Vontobel Fund (SICAV) – Sustainable Global LeadersCodes Isin : Part A LU0848325295 Part B LU0848325378 Part I LU0848325618Part H-CHF LU0848326186 Part H-EUR LU0848326269Indice de référence : MSCI World Index TR netCommissions de gestionParts retail : 1.5%Parts institutionnelles : 0.75%
Harvest Global Investments (HGI) is one of nine firms which last month were granted the status of Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), Asian Investor reports. The increase is part of a move to ease regulations, including barriers to entry for asset management firms. The oher financial establishments which were granted QFII status last month are: APS Asset Managaement, JP Morgan Asset Management Taiwan; Aegon USA Investment Management; CDH Investment Advisory; Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB; Greystone Managed Investments; Uni-President Asset Management Corporation; and Daiwa SB Investments. As of the end of November, the CSRC had awarded 201 QFII licenses. Overall, USD36bn in QFII quotas have been awarded to 165 license holders.
The way custodian banks operates needs a complete overhaul, Financial Times Fund Management argues, as the fall in revenues and sombre conditions on the markets are wrecking business models at State Street, Bank of New York Mellon and other major players in the sector. A quick glance at the balance sheets of firms reveals their problems. They have more depository cash than previously, but weak interest rates are cutting into their margins. Revenues from securities lending are also falling. The industry also needs to face several legal actions.
Except for CTA Global, which lost an average of 0.08%, and dedicated short bias, with losses of 1.57%, the other 11 hedge fund strategies regularly monitored by the Edhec Risk-Institute posted gains in November, with the strongest performance (1.02%) going to merger arbitrage.Since the beginning of the year, CTA Global and dedicated short bias have also posted losses, of 2,9% and 16%, respectively. However, the distressed securities strategy gained 10.7%, and convertible arbitrage gained 8.3%.
The Californian teachers’ pension fund CalSTRS has decided to revise a USD500m investment in Cerberus Capital Management, since the latter owns a weapons manufacturer whose weapons were used in a gun spree in Newton, Connecticut, Remington Outdoor, the Wall Street Journal reports. CalSTRS has invested USD461m thus far of its USD500m commitment to the Cerberus fund which owns the weapons manufacturer.
Outflows from U.S.-stock funds are on pace to surpass 2008’s record outflow of USD96.7 billion, according to the most recent estimates by Morningstar. The asset class shed another USD14.1 billion in November, with particularly strong outflows from growth-oriented offerings. Meanwhile, investors continued to shift assets to fixed-income funds, as open-end taxable-bond funds and municipal-bond funds collected USD17.9 billion and USD5.2 billion, respectively. Investors redeemed USD3.6 billion from high-yield bond funds in November, a category that has seen inflows of USD24.4 billion year to date Although inflows to emerging-markets bond funds slowed to USD882 million in November, the category has taken in USD20.0 billion for the year to date in 2012, an impressive sum considering that it began the year with assets of just USD46.3 billion. In the month under review, PIMCO took in USD6.7 billion to top all fund families in terms of November inflows, but Vanguard, with inflows of USD86.2 billion, leads in the year-to-date tally behind the strength of its index fund lineup.
The socially responsible investment promotion agency LuxFLAG on 17 December announced that the BNP Paribas Aqua fund has received a LuxFLAG environmental label, certifying that assets in the fund are related to environmental and socially responsible sectors. Six environmental funds have so far been awarded the LuxFLAG label, totalling about USD558m in assets under management. They are the BNP Paribas Aqua, Green for Growth Fund, Southeast Europe SA, Living Planet Fund – Global Environment, Lux-Equity Eco Global, Parvest Environmental Opportunities and Parvest Global Environment. LuxFLAG has also awarded its microfinance label to 21 microfinance investment vehicles with cumulative assets under management of USD3.83bn.
According to a document intended for bank lenders to TCW, which Reuters has seen, an acquisition of 60% of TCW may be less lucrative for Carlyle, due to the fact that a considerable part of the asset management firm’s earnings may escape, casting the financial balance of the transaction in doubt, writes L’Agefi. EIG Global Energy Partners, a private equity lender specialised in energies, founded a joint venture with TCW, managed by EIG. The joint venture pays commissions back to TCW. The two partners have been in conflict since the announcement that the Société Générale affiliate will be sold to Carlyle. TCW has signed a non-competition agreement with EIG in energies, as Carlyle has funds dedicated to this sector. EIG is thus threatening to block the sale. The 16% loss in profitability would noticeably affect TCW’s ability to bring in returns to cover Carlyle’s proposed LBO acquisition.
The Spanish firm Bankinter, which has ambitions to improve the quality of its services to Spanish high net worth clients, has acquired the infrastructure and banking license of the Luxembourg affiliate of the Netherlands firm Van Lanschot, Funds People reports.Private banking assets at Bankinter currently total EUR11bn, which represents a 6% share of the private banking market in Spain. The objective is to increase this share to 8% in two years.
On 17 December, the CNMV suspended trading of shares in Santander for a few hours, following the announcement that the group is planning to absorb its affiliates Banesto (corporate banking) and Banif (private banking) by May 2013, Funds People reports.In detail, Santander, which is offering minority shareholders in Banesto a premium of 24.9% over the closing share price as of 14 December, via an exchange of shares originating from Santander holdings of its own shares.The group is planning to close 700 branches, to reduce the total network to 4,000 locations. The objective is to reduce staff as painlessly as possible, with reclassifications of other affiliates of the Santander group in Spain and abroad, using natural attrition and paying severance aid. Synergies after the third year are expected to total EUR520m. Banif has EUR36.9bn in assets under management, and Banesto directly administers EUR4.22bn in Sicav funds, but shares the management capacities of Red Santander (EUR14.89bn) with Santander. Banif funds are managed directly by Santander Asset Management (EUR19.02bn as of the end of October).
Assets under management at the top 100 hedge funds, measured by US equity assets, increased by nearly USD43bn in third quarter, or slightly over 8%, according to the Top 100 U.S. Equity Hedge Fund rankings by HedgeTracker. In the first nine months of the year, assets at these funds increased by 21% to a total of USD571bn. 21 hedge funds included in the rankings have seen increases in their assets of over USD1bn in the quarter. 47 hedge funds with assets of USD100m to USD1bn posted increases in their assets. Among the top gainers in the quarter were AQR Capital Management, with an increase in assets of USD2.75bn, Och-Ziff Capital Management, with USD2.42bn, and Soros Fund Management, with USD2.38bn. Dominant strategies included long/short equity and multi-strategy, with assets of USD84bn and USD139bn, respectively. Value hedge funds have USD66bn under management, while event-driven, deep value and distressed value strategies have a total of USD43.5bn.
Hedge funds are not adequately transparent about restitution of assets under custody in the event of default by a custodial establishment, the website prohedge reports. Many fund managers are not adequately informed on the subject, often under the assumption that custodians represent no risk, the chairman of Odey Asset Management, David Fletcher, claims. “Even though the custody model is more safe than the traditional prime brokerage model, it is not completely solid, for reasons of fraud or problems emanating from other departments at the custodian. For example, think about assets under custody for clients at Legman, Peregrine Financial and MF Global,” says Fletcher. Segregated client assets have often been used by banks as collateral during times of crisis, and asset lending also represents a serious challenge for managers who would like to recuperate their money in times of stress. “Not having access to these assets for several months would be destructive for most hedge funds. The largest counterparty risk we have is to our custodian, but at the same time, that’s where problems have the most likelihood of appearing,” Fletcher says. Fletcher also claims that fund managers and custodians need to work together more closely to better protect client assets under custody agreements. If it is not possible to discontinue these agreements, supervisory authorities should prepare to make a clear response in the event of a default of a custodian, and not to leave problems for liquidators to handle alone.
A study by the private economics university WHU has shown that German retail investors tend to use leveraged and inverse ETFs with much more circumspection than had previously been thought, Das Investment reports.On average, they hold leveraged ETFs for only 62 days, and inverse ETFs for 79 days, compared with 139 days for traditional ETFs.And the average portfolio is limited to EUR15,000 for leveraged ETFs, compared with EUR25,7000 for inverse ETFs, and EUR27,400 for “normal” ETFs.WHU also notes that average volatility for “normal” ETFs is 13.4%, compared with 13.2% for short ETFs, and 16.7% for leveraged funds.
BlackRock has sent regulators a letter laying out its proposals for reforms to money market funds, the news agency Bloomberg reports. In its report to the Financial Stability Oversight Council, BlackRock claims that a floating net asset value will not protect investors in the event of massive demands for redemption, and that the requirement for additional capital would destroy the product. BlackRock proposes a commission of 1% on withdrawals during periods when liquidity falls below a certain level.
Two former hedge fund managers have been found guilty of insider trading in the United States, the Financial Times reports. Anthony Chiasson, co-foundel of Level Global, and Todd Newman, a former manager at Diamondback Capital, are accused ot trading shares in Dell and Nvidia after obtaining insider information about results at these businesses through a circle of friends. They become the 70th and 71st individuals to be found guilty of insider trading since October 2009 in the US.
Morgan Stanley has closed its Global Brand fund so as to preserve the performance of the portfolio, Investment Week reports. The fund, which invests in global markets, is managed by Peter Wright, William Lock. The Global Brands OEIC has GBP500m in assets, while the Sicav has GBP9bn in assets.
The CEOs of UK asset management firms operating in the UK face increased risk of personal lawsuits for activities they are not aware of, says Simon Morris, a specialist lawyer cited in Financial Times Fund Management. The claims follow a “Dear CEO” letter sent by the British regulator, the Financial Services Authority, demanding that directors personally attest that their business manages conflicts of interest in compliance with FSA regulations.
La famille d’entrepreneurs industriels Gorgé annonce la création de Gorgé Investissement, un pôle financier dédié au financement des TPE et PME françaises. Active dans le Capital-Investissement depuis une vingtaine d’années et convaincue des besoins et du potentiel dans ce domaine, elle offre ainsi aux entrepreneurs des solutions d’investissement en capital sur mesure de 10.000 à 2 millions d’euros.
Le Trésor espagnol a placé mardi, lors de sa dernière émission de l’année 2012, pour 3,52 milliards d’euros de bons à trois et à six mois. Pour le papier à trois mois, Madrid a émis 1,58 milliard d’euros, le ratio de couverture ressortant à 2,9 contre 3,5 lors d’une précédente adjudication et le rendement passant de 1,254% à 1,195%. Le Trésor espagnol a également émis pour 1,95 milliard d’euros de bons à six mois, avec un ratio de couverture de 2,6 contre 2,3 lors d’une précédente adjudication et un rendement de 1,609% contre 1,669%.
La Banque de Suède a réduit son taux directeur d’un quart de point, à 1%, en mettant en avant l’impact de la crise de la zone euro sur l'économie nationale. Le taux des pensions se trouve ainsi ramené à son plus bas niveau depuis octobre 2010 mais la banque centrale a laissé entendre qu’elle s’en tiendrait là, alors que certains économistes tablaient sur une nouvelle détente au début 2013.