A reshuffle at Natixis Asset Management announced in late March, orienting the firm to six areas of management expertise, is now being put into practice. The firm this morning unveils its volatility management and structured product expertise unit, entitled Seeyond.The team, which includes 32 members, and has EUR14.7bn in assets under management, includes structured management, flexible asset allocation, active volatility management, modelled equity management and long/short equities. The objective is to offer strategies which combine the search for returns and reduction of risk, a statement says.This is based on the idea that it is more efficient to exploit volatility in the markets to generate value. “Seeyond uses variability and dispersion in the markets to generate performance, and concentrates on risk management to construct portfolios which are adapted to the environment,” says Natixis AM. In the unit, the teams will also have a dedicated quantitative research unit, and “experts in the unit may regularly question the assumptions of classic financial theory, as well as their own models.”Concretely, Seeyond will develop a complete range of funds, in four areas of expertise: structuring and active protected management, modelled and optimised equities, flexible allocation and volatility, and equity arbitrage. The range from the unit will be available from the global distribution platform of Natixis Global Asset Management, and will be aimed at all investors, be they professional or not (institutional investors, corporates, multi-managers, private banks, IFAs and banking networks).Lastly, Emmanuel Bourdeix, who is co-CIO at Natixis Asset Management and a member of the executive board, has been appointed as head of the unit. Frank Trividic will join him as head of flexible allocation and volatility management. Nicolas Just, CFA, will be head of modelled and optimised equity management. Samir Naït Bachir is director of structured and protected active management, while Stéphane Galzy is head of equity arbitrage, and Hamza Bahaji is head of quantitative research.

The asset management firm Pastel & Associés has signed an agreement with the third-party marketer Amadé Global Partners, to accelerate its international development. The partnership will aim to release funds to institutional investors and actors in private management, mostly located in continental Europe, the firm tells Newsmanagers.The products to be highlighted will be Valeur Intrinsèque and Margin of Safety Fund.Pastel & Associés, which currently has slightly over EUR200m in assets under management, hopes to reach EUR500m in assets under management in three years, due to international development.

Carmignac Gestion has recruited Pierre Andriveau as regional director of external distribution to IFA clients. He previously worked at Franklin Templeton Investments as head of sales. Andriveau will aim to strengthen relationships with IFAs in Paris and the South-East region, and will report to Ariane Tardieu, head of business development for France. He started on 17 September 2012.

The asset management firm ALPS Advisors, which advises open-ended and closed funds and ETFs, with assets of USD6.6bn, has announced that it has signed a licening agreement with Goldman Sachs to use its indices as a basis for new ETF products.The indices will be developed by the ETP structuring team at Goldman Sachs based in New York.

Convertible bonds (CB) have become an appealing, more mainstream asset class which can provide attractive risk-adjusted returns but are subject to investment and technical risks that fund investors need to be aware of, Fitch Ratings says in two new reports. Global convertible funds have returned an annualised 9.5% over the past three years, approximately the same return as global equity but with 50% of the volatility based on Lipper data. However, over the past three years, CB funds have captured more of the market downside and less of the market upside than expected, according to Fitch’s research, which may point to greater credit sensitivity, notably in high yield. The asymmetric return profile, or CB funds’ ability to capture equity upside and protect against equity price falls, claimed by the industry is overstated for certain funds, the agency has found. Lower CB issuance has led to a stagnating market, while long-only «buy-and-hold» institutional investors have generally replaced hedge funds as convertible bond holders since the collapse of Lehman. This has resulted in less liquidity and more mispricing on certain segments of the market. «Fund investors need to focus on four areas when selecting and monitoring a CB fund: yield, convexity (ability to generate asymmetric returns) and overall risk profile; management of liquidity and supply constraints; management of market sensitivities and the ability to draw on multiple resources and inputs,» says Manuel Arrive, Senior Director in Fitch’s Fund and Asset Manager rating group. Global CB funds have seen net inflows of over EUR2bn year to date, offsetting outflows from European funds (over EUR600M). Overall, convertible bond fund AUM has stabilised above pre-Lehman levels at EUR55bn.

Source has announced that it has listed 14 exchange-traded funds (ETF) on the Swiss SIX exchange. The new products come as additions to the existing range from Source, which includes 16 ETC (exchange-traded commodities), and are a “sign of the importance Source gives to the Swiss market.”ETF Securities has also admitted eight ETFs to trading on SIX, which will be the first products from the issuer to be traded in Switzerland.The listings on the ETF segment of the Swiss exchange now include 880 products.The list of new products is available as an attachment.

According to a spokesperson for the retail fund management firm DWS, its parent company, Deutsche Bank, will be transferring more than EUR50bn in assets to its new Asset & Wealth Management unit for ETFs (of which EUR35bn are in Europe), as well as EUR30bn in certificates, and EUR10bn in DB Platinum funds, all of which are products which had previously been managed by the Corporate Banking & Securities (CB&S) division, the Börsen-Zeitung reports.These products of the investment bank represent a mere tenth of total assets under management (EUR900bn), but they will contribute about one quarter of operating profits for the AWM unit.

On 17 September, Deutsche Bank announced the composition of the executive committee for its new asset & wealth management (AWM) division, which will be led by Michel Faissola (see Newsmanagers of 12 September).The committee will include:* Michele Faissola, Chair, Head of Asset & Wealth Management and* Jon Eilbeck, Chief Operating OfficerThe committee will additionally include representatives of the major investment platformand and the various functions in the AWM unit. These include:* Reinhard Bellet, Head of Passive Investments*Randy Brown, Co- Chief Investment Officer of Asset Management*Pierre Cherki, Head of Alternative Investments (Internal Managers)*Mark Cullen, Head of Operating Platform & Re-engineering*Stephane Farouze, Head of Alternative Investments (Third-party Managers)*Kevin Lecocq, Chief Investment Officer of Wealth Management*Wolfgang Matis, Head of Active Investments*Balaji Prasanna, Head of Loans/Deposits and Asset & Liability Managementand Asoka Woehrmann, Co-Chief Investment Officer of Asset Management.In addition, the committee will include representatives of client areas:*Marco Bizzozero, Head of Wealth Management EMEA*Thomas Bowers, Head of Wealth Management Americas*Joachim Haeger, Head of Wealth Management Germany (Deutsche Bank)*Wilhelm von Haller, Head of Wealth Management Germany (Sal. Oppenheim)*Ravi Raju, Head of Wealth Management Asia Pacific and*Dario Schiraldi, Head of DistributionThe regional executive committees for AWM will be chaired by members of the executive board:*Wolfgang Matis: Germany*Ravi Raju: Asia-Pacific*Dario Schiraldi: Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)The chairman of the regional committee for the Americas has yet to be appointed.

According to an analysis undertaken for Expansión by Lipper Thomson Reuters and JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM), emerging market bond funds were the category which had the largest inflows in net terms in Europe in first half. Global funds attracted EUR6bn.The strongest net subscriptions in the period under review were for Pimco, with EUR12.8bn, followed by Axa Investment Managers (EUR9.8bn) and M&G Investments (EUR6.6bn).

Due to its performance, the Oyster European Opportunities fund from Syz & Co, managed by Eric Bendahan, has managed to win the loyalty of its investors since the beginning of this year. The fund has gained about 20% year to date, which represents a lead of 5 ½% compared with its peer group, and the manager announced in a presentation in Paris that assets now total about EUR1.25bn, compared with EUR1.01bn as of the end of 2011. The Stoxx Europe 600, its benchmark index, for its part, has gained 12.84%.The portfolio, 70% of whose outperformance comes from genuinely family-owned businesses, and 90% of which comes from stock-picking generally, has been gradually rebalanced over the course of this year, reducing the weight of growth stocks in order to increase the proportion of value shares.The new Oyster European Selection fund (see Newsmanagers of 1 December and 17 January), which is aimed at institutional investors (minimal subscription: EUR1m), has already attracted EUR55m. It is a more concentrated version of the Opportunities (70-90 holdings), with a portfolio of 40-50 positions.

Mutual funds investing solely in equities in July underwent record net outflows, and show net redemptions over the past 13 months, according to figures released by the Bank of France on 17 September. Net outflows from equity mutual funds totalled EUR5.2bn in July, the largest amount ever observed by the Bank of France, whose statistics begin in January 2006.At the same time, mutual funds invested wholly in bonds finished the month with net inflows of EUR2bn, while mixed unfds posted net subscriptions totalling EUR3.4bn.Non-money market mutual funds finished the month of July with net outflows of only EUR0.7bn by seasonaly-adjusted figures, following record outflows of EUR9.2bn in June.An average incrase of 2.1% in net asset values, which applies to all types of funds, has resulted in a further increase in total assets of EUR19.7bn, to EUR862.9bn.Money market mutual funds in July underwent net outflows of EUR5.5bn, following net subscriptions of EUR4.7bn in June. Cumulative inflows year on year remain positive, at a total of EUR8bn.

From 17 September to 6 November, the Austrian firm Raiffeisen Capital Management (RCM) will open subscriptions to the corporate bond fund Raiffeisen-Unternehmensanleihen 2017, which will mature on 8 November 2017.The product is designed so that at maturity date the amount reimbursed will be at least equal to the initial net asset value (EUR100).The portfolio will be invested in investment-grade corporate bonds and high yield securities, all of which will be issues with maturity dates compatible with that of the fund.Front-end fee and management commissions are set at 2% and 0.6%, respectively, but the former will increase to 3% after 6 November 2012, of which 1% will be paid to the fund. There will be an early withdrawal penalty of 1%.RCM will pay out a regular distribution projected to be EUR3.50 per share, before taxes, but the final total will depend on the evolution of the markets.

The deputy managing director of the French financial management association (AFG), in charge of the regulation unit, Alain Pithon, on 17 September joined the board of Paris Europlace as secretary general. In this role, a statement says, he will have both administrative and communicative management responsibilities, and will report to Arnaud de Bresson, managing director.When he served under Pierre Bollon, managing director of the AFG, Pithon was responsible for legal, taxation, accounting, and EU issues, as well as compliance and corporate governance. From Bollon he accepted responsibility for issues regarding the Paris financial center, including the transposition of European directives (AIFM, UCITS IV, MiFID).

In August, US long-term mutual funds attracted USD20.68bn in net subscriptions, coapred with USD24.63bn in July, and USD10.8bn in June. This brings the total in the first eight months of the year to USD220.8bn, Morningstar reports.As in the previous month, Vanguard and Pimco lead, with respective net inflows (excluding money market funds and funds of funds) of USD7.21bn and USD5.27bn, meaning that net subscriptions in January-August total USD71.94bn and USD33.51bn. Third place goes once again to JPMorgan, with USD3.15bn in August, and USD18.13bn in the first eight months of the year.Money market funds, for their part, attracted USD7.8bn last month, compared with USD30.6bn in July, and in January-August they have seen net redemptions of USD127.15bn.

Renauld de Planta, one of Pictet’s eight partners, told Asian Investor that the Swiss-based group (EUR105bn in AUM) plans to put three equity managers (onf which two are already hired) and three equity traders in Hong Kong. By the time the are all in place, the entire Greater China long-only equities portfolio as well as the QFII quota (A-shares), will be managed on site. The three equity managers will be part of the 20-strong global EM equities unit.The Chinese equity team will be headed by Pauline Dan (ex Samsung Investment Trust Management).Meanwhile, the new corporate EMD team will comprise seven or eight persons globally, about half of which based in Asia, largely in Singapore.The global EMD team managers about USD10bn.

iShares, the exchange traded funds platform of BlackRock, has announced the appointment of Ursula Marchioni to its EMEA Investment Strategy and Insights team.She joins iShares from Credit Suisse, where she was most recently head of ETF sales strategy for its asset management division. Ursula Marchioni joins iShares’ EMEA Investment Strategy and Insights team as a director and will be based in its London office. The team is led by Stephen Cohen, head of investment strategies EMEA.

Dalton Strategic Partnership has appointed Luca Vaiani as portfolio manager joining from Fondaco SGR, Fundweb reports. Previously manager of the multi-asset, absolute return Fondaco Global Opportunities fund, the new PM joins as part of a six-strong team responsible for the Melchior Multi-Asset fund and will work alongside CIO Rupert Caldecott

Simon Wilson, who has left Old Mutual Asset Managers after 12 years, will join Premier Asset Management in early October as head of marketing, Investment Week reports.

According to the most recent update of fund management firms which applied for a licence from the securities commission released by the Chinese regulator, the CSRC, the foreign partner in the joint venture that had initially been formed by Aviva Invetors (49%) and China Central Securities of Changsa (51%) is now Ashmore Investment Management, Z-Ben Advisors reports. No details about the sale price have been released.Aviva Investors had been engaged since 2007 in an effort to break into the Chinese market, initially with COFCO, and then with China Central.

Occitan Capital Partners, a firm speclalised in investment in equities and equity derivatives, has extended its investment team with four new partners, two of whom work at Nomura, Financial News reports. These include Alexandre Capez and Othmane Akherraz. Occitan was founded in 2010 by Herve Gallo, a former equity derivaties trader at Nomura, and Thomas de Garidel-Thoron, of Boussard & Gavaudan Asset Management.

Henderson Global Investors would like to merge the Henderson Global Bond Fund with the Henderson Overseas Bond Fund, Fund Web reports.Assets under management in the Henderson Global Bond Funds totalled GBP726,765 as of 24 August. This is too small a size to continue to envision sustainable management of the vehicle, Henderson estimates. Assets under management in the Henderson Overseas Bond Fund total over GBP225m.The merger will take place on 25 October, pending the approval of the investors concerned.

UK-based M&G Investments has launched the M&G Episode Defensive Fund, completing the recently re-branded M&G Episode Multi Asset fund range, which now includes the M&G Episode Defensive Fund, the M&G Episode Income Fund, previously M&G Income Multi Asset Fund, the M&G Episode Balanced Fund, previously M&G Cautious Multi Asset Fund, the M&G Episode Growth Fund, previously M&G Managed Fund and the M&G Episode Macro Fund, previously M&G Macro Episode Fund.The fund is managed by Eric Lonergan, who is also co-manager of the M&G Episode Macro Fund. It offers UK investors with an appetite for lower volatility the opportunity to gain exposure to the multi asset strategy developed by the team led by Dave Fishwick.The Episode Defensive Fund is fully flexible and can take long and short positions in a broad range of investible assets including equities, fixed interest, cash and other assets such as property. When the fund manager has no market views, the fund will be invested in cash.The new product will be invested at a minimum 70% in sterling or hedged back to sterling.

Mark Lyttleton will be returning to his old position at BlackRock next week, after a break of several months for family reasons, Investment Week reports. He will return to managing the UK Absolute Alpha and UK Dynamic funds. Lytteton left in June this year.

Boutique fund manager JO Hambro Capital Management, which was acquired last year by the Australian firm BT Investment Management, is planning to launch a multi-asset class fund, which will be limited to bonds and equities, Fund Web reports.According to the CEO of JO Hambro, Gavin Rochussen, “this will include only equities and fixed income. I would not like to include more complex investments. The reasons I would not like to add such products are the cost, the inherent difficulties of such products, and liquidity. Investors are looking for simple and easy-to-understand products.”

Old Mutual Wealth (formerly Skandia) is preparing to launch a series of multi-management funds by the end of this month, based on returns, Fund Web reports.The four funds planned will be entitled “Generation,” and will be multi-management funds led by John Ventre and his team. They will be made available under the Skandia brand name initially, and will adopt the Old Mutual brand name in 2013.More precisely, the funds are Generation 3:4, Generation 3:6, Generation 4:4 and Generation 4:6. The first figure is the expected inflation rate, and the second is the expected return.

Ucits funds domiciled in Gibraltar can now be sold in the UK after HM Treasury agreed to enable fund “passports” from the offshore haven, FT Adviser reports.Gibraltar’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) signed up to Ucits IV in October 2011.

The US asset management firm BlackRock has notified the CNMV that it now holds 3.11% of capital in the Spanish firm Banco Sabadell, compared with 2.53% previously, Cotizalia reports.As Sabadell shares now trade at about EUR2.17, the 91.9 million shares held by BlackRock represent an investment of about EUR200m.

For an undisclosed amount, the German asset management firm Union Investment Real Estate has acquired the real estate complex K-Point, located in Kirchberg, Luxembourg, which will be added to the portfolio of the institutional real estate fund UniInstitutional European Real Estate. The complex includes 8,169 square metres of office space, 1,041 square metres of commercial space, and 620 square metres of archival area, plus parking slots.This is the first investment in Luxembourg for the German fund, which has seen a net inflow of EUR300m in the first seven months of this year.

Selon la dernière mise à jour de la liste des sociétés de gestion de fonds en attente d’un agrément publiée par le régulateur chinois, la CSRC, le partenaire étranger de la coentreprise qui avait été initialement constituée par Aviva Investors (49 %) et China Cental Securities de Changsa (51 %) est désormais Ashmore Investment Management, constate Z-Ben Advisors. Aucun détail n’a filtré quand au prix de cession. Aviva Investors tentait depuis 2007 de prendre pied sur le marché chinois, initialement avec COFCO, puis avec China Central.

Source annonce la cotation de 14 ETF (Exchange traded funds) sur la Bourse suisse SIX. Ces nouveaux produits viennent compléter la gamme existante de Source, qui se compose de 16 ETC (Exchange traded commodities), et «témoignent de l’importance que Source accorde au marché helvétique».Par ailleurs, ETF Securities a fait admettre à la négociation sur SIX huit ETF, qui seront les premiers de ce promoteur a être traités en Suisse.La cote du segment ETF de la Bourse suisse compte désormais 880 produits.La liste des nouveaux produits est disponible en annexe.