Lyxor Asset Management vient de nommer Arnaud Llinas à la fonction de responsable mondial des activités « ETF & solutions indicielles ». Il prendra ses fonctions à partir du 1er janvier 2013 et sera rattaché à Inès de Dinechin, directeur général de la société de gestion. Le nouvel arrivant devient également membre du comité de direction de Lyxor. Arnaud Llinas, qui sera basé à Paris, travaillera entre autres avec Clarisse Djabberi, deputy head ETF & indexing, Raphaël Dieterlein, head of portfolio management et François Millet, responsable business line chargé du développement des indices. En pratique, Arnaud Llinas contribuera à renforcer l’expertise de Lyxor en matière de gestion indicielle afin de proposer des solutions innovantes et adaptées aux besoins des investisseurs, note Lyxor.Pour sa part, Alain Dubois, chairman, restera en relation avec les autorités de marchés tant en ce qui concerne les ETF que l’innovation indicielle (notamment les «smart betas») . Dans un communiqué, la société de gestion précise qu’Arnaud Llinas a rejoint Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking en 2004 et était, depuis quatre ans, à la tête de l’activité de trading des produits de bourse regroupant le market making et la structuration des ETF, ce qui lui a permis de participer au développement des ETF de Lyxor.
Au travers d’un mutual fund lancé en partenariat avec Arden Asset Management (7,5 milliards de dollars d’encours), Fidelity permet aux clients de son portfolio advisory service (apport minimum : 50.000 dollars) d’accéder à l’univers des gérants de hedge funds, rapporte The Wall Street Journal. Fidelity a confié à Arden 700 millions de dollars pour ce fonds qui est déjà investi dans neuf gestionnaires alternatifs dont Chilton investment, Jana Partners et York Capital Management.Ce fonds vise une performance moyenne «élevée à un chiffre ou faible à deux chiffres» sur une période de cinq ans. La commission de gestion est fixée à 2,3 %.Depuis son démarrage en 1993, le fonds vedette d’Arden a généré une performance annuelle de 8 %, contre 5,4 % pour la moyenne du secteur des fonds de hedge funds… mais 8,2 % pour le S&P 500 dividendes réinvestis.
Le fonds de pension des salariés du secteur public néerlandais, Stichting Algemeen Pensioen Fonds Aruba (APFA), a confié la conservation de ses encours d’environ 1 milliard de dollars à State Street Corporation.
EFG Financial Products (EFG FP) a annoncé la nomination de Roman Kurmann en tant que nouveau directeur financier et membre de la direction du groupe. Actuellement managing director auprès de Credit Suisse, l’intéressé devrait prendre ses nouvelles fonctions au premier trimestre 2013, pour autant que la Finma donne son accord, selon un communiqué publié le 6 décembre. Il prend la succession de Michael Hartweg qui devrait se concentrer sur ses fonctions de vice-président et de responsable du pôle Structured Solutions. Roman Kurmann a été CFO de Clariden Leu, filiale de la grande banque suisse. Il y avait en plus endossé la fonction de COO et de responsable Investment Products en 2011, au moment où Credit Suisse a définitivement intégré Clariden Leu. Il a occupé un rôle central dans ce processus et a participé au désinvestissement d’activités de cette banque de gestion de fortune de Credit Suisse.
Nicolas Deblauwe, country head Benelux chez J.P. Morgan Asset management (JPMAM), a annoncé «aux clients et partenaires» que depuis le 3 décembre Antonio Grieco a rejoint son équipe en tant que senior sales manager pour la Belgique et le Luxembourg en partenariat avec Tom Vermeulen. Il remplace Arnaud van der Elst qui a rejoint en octobre J.P. Morgan Pivate Bank.Auparavant, Antonio Grieco était responsable de l’activité institutionnelle chez Dexia Asset Management à Luxembourg.
Le gestionnaire munichois iii-investments (groupe UniCredit, au travers de la HVB) a annoncé le 6 décembre le lancement de ce qu’il affirme être le premier fonds immobilier institutionnel investi en obligations et conforme à la loi allemande sur les investissements. Il a obtenu en effet pour ce «debt fund» un mandat de 200 millions d’euros de la part d’une caisse de retraite allemande.Le fonds commencera à acheter des prêts immobiliers auprès de banques durant le premier trimestre 2013. La taille unitaire des financements correspondants doit se situer entre 20 millions et 40 millions d’euros.Reinhard Mattern, directeur général d’iii-investments, compte pouvoir annoncer bientôt le premier «closing» d’un «pool fund» de même conception.
Le responsable des fonds multi classes d’actifs d’Aviva Investors, Yoram Lustig, va quitter la société, rapporte Investment Week. Jonathan Abrahams, analyste senior dans l’équipe, est aussi parti.
GLG Partners va rouvrir sa gamme de fonds Japan CoreAlpha gérée par Stephen Harker, Neil Edwards et Jeffrey Atherton, rapporte Investment Week. Les fonds basés au Royaume-Uni et en Irlande ont été fermés aux nouveaux souscripteurs en mars afin de protéger les investisseurs existants contre des risques éventuels de liquidité. GLG Japan CoreAlpha avait atteint 1 milliard de livres d’encours avant sa fermeture.
Le responsable de la gestion des actions britanniques de Jupiter, Anthony Nutt, par ailleurs un actionnaire significatif de la société, doit transférer la gestion de ses portefeuilles retail l’an prochain, en préambule à son départ de la société en 2014, rapporte Investment Week.Anthony Nutt, qui aura 60 ans l’an prochain, travaille chez Jupiter depuis 1996, et gère depuis 2000 le Jupiter Income trust dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à environ 2 milliards de livres.
La société de hedge funds TCI a vu son bénéfice net chuter de 60 % sur l’exercice à fin février, à un peu plus de 17 millions de livres, d’après ses derniers résultats cités par Financial News. Mais les rendements se sont améliorés.
Apson, une boutique de hedge funds ayant reçu des capitaux d’amorçage de la part de Howard Marks de Oaktree Capital Management, a annoncé qu’elle fermait moins de 18 mois après son lancement, a appris Financial News. La société n’a pas réussi à gagner d’argent dans un environnement caractérisé par «un manque de tendances et une faible volatilité».
Jupiter veut convertir son fonds European Income en un véhicule mondial dénommé Jupiter Global Equity Income, rapporte Investment Week. Sebastian Radcliffe et Gregory Herbert en deviendraient les co-gérants, succédant à Cédric de Fonclare qui se consacrerait uniquement à ses mandats d’actions européennes.Les souscripteurs du fonds donneront leur avis sur le sujet le 19 décembre dans le cadre d’un vote.
Banca Generali a enregistré en novembre des souscriptions nettes de 51 millions d’euros, ce qui porte à 1,5 milliard d’euros la collecte nette depuis le début de l’année, rapporte Bluerating. Sur ce total, 1,41 milliard est attribuable à la gestion collective.
Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) a nommé Gabriele Pollastri au poste nouvellement créé de responsable des ventes en Italie et en Espagne. Basé à Milan, il est membre de l’équipe commerciale et de relations clients dirigée par Mathieu Maurier. Gabriele Pollastri était auparavant directeur général adjoint de la branche italienne de Bank of New York Mellon (Luxembourg) S.A., où il a participé activement à l’élaboration de la stratégie de la société en Europe du Sud durant huit ans.
Les fonds de capital investissement restent généreux avec leurs professionnels, rapporte L’Agefi. Selon une enquête de Preqin sur les pratiques des firmes de private equity, entre 2011 et 2012, 42% des sociétés interrogées ont maintenu les salaires de base des gérants, 45% les ont même augmentés entre 1% et 10%, tandis qu’ils ont augmenté de plus de 10% pour 13% des firmes. Ce qui implique que 1% seulement ont réduit les salaires fixes.Par ailleurs, 55% des firmes de capital investissement sondées envisagent d’augmenter jusqu'à 20% les rémunérations fixes de leurs collaborateurs en 2013. Les baisses ne devraient toujours concerner que 1% des acteurs.
FRM, an affiliate of MAN Investments, forecasts in a study that investors will return to the quest for returns in 2013, which will work to the advantage of hedge funds, which are in a favourable situation from two points of view, since they are not handicapped by the financial problems of 2008, and the risk levels in their portfolios are exceptionally low, Funds People reports.FRM predicts that next year hedge funds will continue to increase in 2012 due to positive market effects and net subscriptions. But the increase in flows to the largest hedge funds will be a problem because it will drag down returns. Meanwhile, FRM is predicting the trend of falling commissions to continue.
In a context of all-time low interest rates, institutional invetors are seeking returns outside their home countries. According to a survey of European, Asian and American institutional investors by Pyramis Global Advisors, 43% are planning to increase their exposure to global bond strategies in the coming years. In Europe, 38% of respondents say they would like to seek bond strategies likely to provide added returns in other countries. This trend is even more marked in Asia, where 54% of respondents are planning to do so. Worldwide, 24% of investors say that they are planning to increase their exposure to emerging market debt n the next few years. In Asia, 37% of respondents would like to increase their allocation to emerging debt denominated in hard currencies, while 33% prefer emerging market debt in local currencies.
The hedge fund Diamondback Capital Management on Thursday told investors that it will be closing up shop and liquidating its funds after receiving redemption demands representing more than one quarter of its assets, which would leave only USD1.45bn in assets, the Wall Street Journal reports. “Rather than continuing to manage the capital of investors while restructuring the firm to manage this lower level of assets, we have decided that the more prudent course is to liquidate the fund and reimburse investors,” the founders say in a letter to investors. The move comes at a time when a former Diamondback manager is facing trial for insider trading.
Lyxor Asset Management has appointed Arnaud Llinas as global head of ETF & index-based solution activities. He will begin in the new role on 1 January 2013, and will report to Inès de Dinechin, CEO of the asset management firm. Llinas also becomes a member of the board of directors at Lyxor. Llinas, who will be based in Paris, will work with Clarisse Djabberi, deputy head of ETF & indexing, Raphaël Dieterlein, head of Portfolio management, and François Millet, head fo business line in charge of development for indices. Llinas will help to develop Lyxor’s expertise in the area of index-based management, in order to offer innovative solutions appropriate to the needs of investors, Lyxor notes. Alain Dubois, chairman, will remain in contact with market authorities in relation to innovative ETFs (including “smart beta”). In a statement, the asset management firm says that Llinas joined Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking in 2004, and for four years served as head of trading for market products including market making and ETF structuring, which allowed him to participate in the development of Lyxor ETFs.
Via a mutual fund launched in partnership with Arden Asset Management (USD7.5bn in assets), Fidelity is allowing clients of its advisory service (minimal investment: USD50,000) access to a universe of hedge fund managers, the Wall Street Journal reports. Fidelity has given Arden USD700m for the fund, which is already invested in nine alternative managers, including Chilton Investment, Jana Partners and York Capital Management.The fund aims for “high” average performance “in one or low two digits,” over a five-year period. Management commission is set at 2.3%.Since its launch in 1993, the flagship fund from Arden has generated annual returns of 8%, compared with an average of 5.4% for the fund of hedge fund sector, but 8.25 for the S&P 500 with dividends reinvested.
Asset management firms are bringing out a wave of funds investing in short-term bonds, in an effort to retain investors who are steering clear of money market funds, the Financial Times reports. The new vehicles are presented as a means to earn higher returns than money market funds, with only slightly higher risk.
At a presentation of its investment strategy for 2013, Nicolas Bouët, deputy CEO of Invesco, announced in Paris that assets for French clients at the asset management firm currently total USD3.5bn. At the end of May, they totalled USD2bn (see Newsmanagers of 1 June). PowerShares ETFs represent more than one quarter of that total, while open-ended funds account fro 50% of intermediated volumes.Gross inflows totalled about USD1.2bn YTD, more than half of which corresponds to net inflows.Invesco Paris also has about EUR500m in multi-management, of which 20% are integrated into the assets of Invesco Paris, and EUR400m managed for foreign clients.In 2013, Bouët plans to place the emphasis on high yield products, including extra-European products, and coupon funds, while continuing to push IBRA (Invesco Balanced-Risk Allocation), which was highly successful with IFAs in 2012.Invesco on 4 December also received a sales license for eight funds, four Asian (Asian focus Equity Fund, managed by Invesco Perpetual, China Focus Equity Fund, Renminbi Income Fund and Asian Bond Fund, managed by Invesco Hong-Kong), two US funds (US Equity Fund and US High Yield Bond fund), one other bond product (Global Total Return (EUR) Bond Fund, and one equity fund, Pan European Focus Equity Fund, managed by Invesco Perpetual in Henley.
The Frankfurt-based independent asset management firm Lupus alpha on 6 December announced that the previous evening it launched the Lupus Alpha Dividend Champions fund, which focuses on European high yield equities in the universe of small and midcaps. The managers are Marcus Ratz and Markus Herrmann.Götz Albert, a partner at Lupus alpha and director of management of smidcaps portfolios, says that the objective is to select a concentrated sample of 30 shares with a convincing track record in terms of dividends, and whose returns from dividends in the future are expected to continue to average 3% to 4%. Volatility must be lower than that of the Stoxx Europe TMI Small Net Return in euros, and beta must be “considerably lower” than 1.CharacteristicsName: Lupus alpha Dividend ChampionsISIN code: DE000A1JDV61Front-end fee: maximum 5%Management commission: 1%Performance commission: 20% of performance exceeding the Stoxx Europe TMI Small Net Return index with high watermarkMinimal initial subscription: EUR10,000Initial value of shares: EUR100
The Munich-based asset management firm iii-investments (UniCredit group, via HVB) on 6 December announced the launch of what it claims is the first institutional real estate fund to invest in bonds in compliance with the German investment law. It has received a mandate for the debt fund of EUR200m from a German pension fund.The fund will begin to acquire real estate loans from banks in first quarter 2013. The unit size of the corresponding financing will range from EUR20m to EUR40m.Reinhard Mattern, MD of iii-investments, is also planning to be able to announce the first closing of a pool fund based on the same concept soon.
EFG Financial Products (EFG FP) has announced the appointment of Roman Kurmann as its new chief financial officer and a board member at the group. Kurmann, currently Managing Director at Credit Suisse, will begin in his new position in firt quarter 2013, pending approval by Finma, according to a press statement released on 6 December. He will succeed Michael Hartweg, who will concentrate on his responsibilities as vice president and head of the Structured Solutions unit. Kurmann has been CFO of Clariden Ley, a large Swiss banking affiliate. He also served as COO and head of Investment Products in 2011, at a time when Credit Suisse finally integrated Clariden Leu. He served a central role in that process, and participated substantially in divesting the activities of that wealth management bank from Credit Suisse.
The pension fund for employees of the Netherlands public sector, Stichting Algemeen Pensioen Fonds Aruba (APFA), has contracted for custody of its assets of about USD1bn with State Street Corporation.
Banca Generali has posted net subscriptions in November of EUR51m, bringing net inflows since the beginning of the year to EUR1.5bn, Bluerating reports. Of this total, EUR1.41bn is due to collective management.
Nicolas Deblauwe, country head Benelux at J.P. Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM), has announced “to clients and partners” that from 3 December, Antonio Grieco has joined his team as senior sales manager for Belgium and Luxembourg in partnership with Tom Vermeulen. He replaces Arnaud van der Elst, who in October joined J.P. Morgan Private Bank.Grieco had previously been head of institutional business at Dexia Asset Management in Luxembourg.
Jupiter is planning to convert its European Income fund into a global vehicle entitled Jupiter Global Equity Income, Investment Week reports. Sebastian Radcliffe and Gregory Herbert will become co-managers, succeeding Cédric de Fonclare, who will dedicate himself exclusively to European equity mandates. Subscribers to the fund will vote on the subject on 19 December.
GLG Partners will reopen its Japan CoreAlpha range, managed by Stephen Harker, Neil Edwards and Jeffrey Atherton, Investment Week reports. The funds, based in the United Kingdom and Ireland, were closed to new subscribers in March in order to protect existing investors against potential liquidity risks. GLG Japan CoreAlpha had GBP1bn in assets before its closure.