The collapse of the open-ended real estate fund industry will inevitably have repercussions on real estate funds of funds: more than 90% of these funds of funds are facing a threat of closure or liquidation, the Berlin-based ratigns agency Scope observes. In first half, four more funds entered into liquidation (DWS ImmoFlex Vermögensmandat awith EUR100m in assets, Stratego Grund (LB Berlin Investment) with EUR300m, Allianz Flexi Immo-A-EUR with EUR230m, and Santander Vermögensverwaltungsfonds Kapitalprotekt Substanz (managed by SEB AM) with EUR200m.)Currently, assets in real estate funds of funds and diversified funds for which redemptions have been frozen total EUR2.1bn, with EUR1.88bn of this total in open-ended real estate funds which have been frozen or which are in the liquidation process.As an example, Scope points out that the 13 funds of funds in its sample hold over EUR240m in shares in the TMW Immobilien Weltfonds, EUR230m in Axa Immoselect, EUR180m in the KanAm grundinvest fund, and EUR100m in Morgan Stanley P2 Value.Under these conditions, the Berlin-based agency estimates that real estate funds of funds will no longer be able to bounce back, since three quarters of their overall portfolios consist of shares in open-ended real estate funds that are experiencing difficulties.

Fondsprofessionell reports that Deutsche Bank on Friday declined to comment on an article in Handelsblatt stating that the group is planning larger cuts to its personnel than initially envisaged.Of the 1,900 layoffs announced in late July, 1,500 will be in investment banking. But the wealth management unit is now also slated to be downsized and reorganized.According to Handelsblatt, Deutsche Bank is preparing to delist some complex products, cut back its equity trading activity, focus on a smaller number of countries, and to update its IT infrastructure.The two co-chairs of the board, Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen, are expected to unveil the strategy on 11 September.

Alexandra Podvin is joining Commerz Real France as a Technical Asset Manager. She will be based in Paris, and joins the team led by Raphaël Colombu, Head of France, and will be in charge of a portfolio of nearly EUR2bn. Podvin, a graduate of the Aix-la-Chapelle Polytechnic university and EPFL in Switzerland, previously worked as an adviser to Curry & Brown, and has 10 years’ experience at Valode & Pistre Architectes, where she developed projects for BMW, L’Oréal and Air France.

As part of development of wealth management – private management activities at the Retail Banking unit of the Caisse d’Epargne Nord France Europe (CENFE), Jean-Luc Reynaert has been appointed as director of wealth management – private management, and a member of the executive board. Reynaert began at CENFE on Monday, 3 September, 2012. Reynaert had served since 2005 as international director of development at CIC Banque Privée, in charge of the product range, sales and communications. He will be assisted in developing these activities by Eric Fanien, who becomes director of wealth management.

Rothschild & Cie Gestion is preparing to announce the appointment of Marc Romano as CEO of Rothschild HDF Investment Solutions (Rothschild HDF IS), the entity born of the merger of its multi-management activities with HDF Finance this past spring. Romano will replace Lenders, who, following his appointment as CEO of Rothschild HDF Investment Solutions at its inception in May, stepped down from the role on Friday, 7 September, to pursue other personal interests.In an interview with Newsmanagers, Jean-Louis Laurens, managing partner of Rothschild & Cie Gestion, claims that Lenders, whose primary objective at the head of HDF Finance had been to find a shareholder for the asset management firm, soon afterwards announced a desire to become involved in SRI alternative management. The head had already founded a business to this end, Prius Ltd, which is active in this area. “Due to a coincidence, we recently learned that Romano, who was living in London, wanted to return to Paris,” says Laurens. “We are familiar with the high level of expertise of this professional in several areas, including structuring, with significant additional expertise in the world of insurance. Events gathered pace from then on.”Lenders will continue to collaborate with Rothschild HDF Investment Solutions, however, under a cooperation agreement with his own firm, which will provide research services in the area of SRI alternative management, which Laurens is enthusiastic about. Rothschild HDF IS is also planning to become more involved in governance. “We are convinced that this activity is attractive, and I also observe that many hedge funds are highly active in this area,” the managing partner says.Romano, for his part, will be leaving his position as CEO of Schroders New Finance Capital, an affiliate of Schroders plc. specialised in alternative multi-management. He has also in the past served in several positions at the Crédit Agricole group, including CEO for multi-management at Crédit Agricole Asset Management, deputy CEO of Crédit Agricole Structured Asset Management and Managing Director of Calyon.

The activist fund Knight Vinke, a shareholder in the commodity giant Xstrata, on 9 September announced that it is rejecting an increased bid by Glencore to merge the businesses. The investor has called on Xstrata to “seek the highest price possible.” Glencore, facing a failure of its bid, on Friday raised its bid for Xstrata, which now stands at USD37bn. Glencore has raised its proposed trade ratio to 3.05 shares in Glencore for each share in Xstrata, from 2.8 shares previously. The Glencore bid also specifies that its CEO, Ivan Glasenberg, would become head of the new firm. “Glencore’s most recent proposal clearly states that the transaction implies a change of control, which, we continue to claim, should imply the consequent payment of a premium,” Knight Vinke says in a statement. For its part, Xstrata on Friday claimed that the improved bid was “significantly lower than what might be expected for such a takeover.” Its heads have sent a letter to Glencore asking for “clarification” of the bid.

The convertible bond specialist Fisch Asset Management on 7 September announced the recruitment from 1 September of Hanspeter Diem and Holger Leppin, as senior heads of sales and client relationships. The recruitments are related to gorwth in assets under management, which have recently reached a record CHF6.3bn. In his new role as senior head of sales & client relationships, Diem, 50, will be responsible for institutional clients in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Befoire joining Fitch Asset Management, he served as director of institutional business at BlackRock Asset Management Suisse SA. Previously, he served as head of Swiss activities at Barclays Global Investors. The economist has a master’s degree in economics and business administration from the University of Basel, and over 20 years of experience in the finance industry. Leppin, 46, joins Fisch Asset Management as the firm’s new senior head of sales & client relationships, an addition to sales for funds in Germany. Before joining Fisch, he led the communications and distribution department at FondsMedia Sàrl, and served in a variety of management roles at MPC Capital SA.

In August, the UCITS Alternative Global index calculated by the Swiss firm Alix Capital increased by 0.18%, compared with 0.84% in July, bringing gains for UCITS hedge funds to 0.68%, while non-UCITS hedge funds have posted gains of 2.02% in the first eight months of the year, according to the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Core Hedge Fund Index.Of 11 strategies in the UCITS Alternative Global index, six show losses for August – especially CTA strategies, with losses of 1.47%. Only three sub-indices show losses in January-August, particularly equity market neutral, which has lost 1.44%. However, bonds show the largest gains, with 3.19%. The total assets managed by UCITS hedge funds remained unchanged in August at EUR133bn.

Assets under management and administration in Guernsey as of the end of June totalled GBP270.8bn, up 0.3%, or GBP711m, compared with first quarter 2012, according to statistics from the Guernsey financial services commission. Open-ended funds domiciled in Guernsey as of the end of June totalled GBP53.1bn, down 4.8% quarter on quarter, and 10%, or nearly GBP6bn, year on year. However, closed funds domiciled in Guernsey finished second quarter with GBP126.1bn, up 1.8% quarter on quarter, and 3.1%, or GBP3.8bn, year on year.

UK-based Liontrust has confirmed that on 4 September it closed its Irish-registered fund Emerging Markets Opportunities, due to insufficient asset levels, FundWeb reports: assets in the fund, which was acquired with the purchase of Occam Asset Management in October 2011, have since fallen from GBP60m to GBP8m. The two managers of the product which is no longer economically viable, Eoghan Flanagan and James Mellersh, will be leaving Liontrust.

Algebris Investments is preparing to launch a UCITS-compliant version of its Financial CoCo fund, according to the Italian website Bluerating, citing Reuters. The fund, Algebris Financial Credit Ucits, will be the first long-only fund from the alternative asset management firm. It will invest in financial institutions of global strategic importance.

The German asset management firm Deka Immobilien Investment has sold off a mixed hotel/office property located at Via Melchiorre Gioia 6-8 in Milan (13,300 square metres) to Hines Italia SGR, for EUR38m. The transaction brings capital gains for the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilianGlobal.Meanwhile, Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE) has announced that it has sold the Alstertor property (office and commercial space) in Hamburg to a dedicated fund from PlusAlpina Real Estate Advisors. The property had been acquired for the open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Europa, but no longer corresponds to the UIRE strategy, which is now to focus on properties valued at over EUR30m. The sale price has not been disclosed.

The founder of ETF Global X Funds is planning to recruit in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia, with two products, the FTSE Norway 30 and FTSE Nordic Region, Investment Europe reports.The two ETFs, which have been well-received by investors, have been largely subscribed to by US investors, but Europeans also appear interested.

The number of UCITS-compliant hedge funds has increased to 292 in second quarter from 282 in first quarter, with assets up 7.4%, to EUR82.5bn, according to statistics from Alceda Fund Management.Long/short equity funds have experienced a spectacular reversal of fortunes, with performance down 2.77% for the quarter.However, forex strategies have earned 3.54% in the first six months of the year, while credit strategies, for their part, have gained 2.64%.

Last month, the Lyxor global hedge fund index posted further gains of 0.41%, following gains of 1% in July. In the first eight months of the year, the index has gained 1.96%, compared with 1.54% at the end of July.Only three strategies out of 14 monitored by Lyxor show losses for August: CTA long term (-1.71%), CTA short term (-0.80%), and convertible bonds & volatility arbitrage (-0.56%).However, credit arbitrage, L/S equity long bias and fixed income arbitrage strategies have gained 1.51%, 1.47% and 1.24%, respectively.In January-August, two strategies show losses: L/S equity variable bias (-1.52%) and CTA long term (-1.35%). The two best-performing segments in the first eight months of the year were fixed income arbitrage, with 7.23%, and L/S equity long bias, with 7.14%.

Thomas Priore and ICP Asset Management, of which Priore is founder and CEO, have agreed to pay USD23m to settle lawsuits filed by the SEC, the Wall Street Journal reports. The regulator accuses the defendants of overcharging bonds to some clients between 2007 and 2008 to prevent other clients from experiencing losses, and to increase profits for ICP.

The channel island of Guernsey has signed tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) with Italy and Latvia, bringing the total number of such agreements signed by the Crown dependency to 37, Investment Europe reports.

Bruno Crastes, head of H2O AM, still believes in the euro zone, and gives Newsmanagers a vast panorama of the current situation. The manager also discusses his firm's partnership with Natixis AM, and the future of asset management.

Ira Bodenstein, the trustee appointed by the bankruptcy courts, has announced that total assets at Peregrine Financial Group totalled USD270.2m, rather than the USD500m-USD1bn estimated at the time that the firm entered bankruptcy protection on 10 July, the Wall Street Journal reports. However, liabilities are now estimated at USD525.3m, compared with an initially estimated range of USD250m-USD500m.

The US investment fund Carlyle has scaled up its presence in the energy sector, with the acquisition of a portfolio of assets from Goldman Sachs, which had been held by the Cogentrix Energy company, according to a statement released by Carlyle on 7 September. The purchase price, which will be finalised in fourth quarter, has not been disclosed. Carlyle will acquire the assets via its fund Carlyle Infrastructure Partners, which has USD1.14bn in assets under management. Carlyle acquires five power stations (coal and solar) in Florida, Virginia, Colorado and California, as well as less advanced projects in renewable energy and pipelines. These properties have a cumulative production capacity of 550 megawatts.

The New York firm Global X Funds (USD1.2bn in assets) has announced the launch of what it claims is the first ETF of “junior miners,” or “young” mining companies worldwide, not only of gold, but also of coal, copper, iron, nickel, silver, titanium, and other metals. The acronym of the Global X Junior Miners ETF on NYSE Arca is JUNR; its ISIN code is US37950E6308, and the TER for the fund is 0.69%.The benchmark index is defined by Structured Solutions AG. The top four positions are Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp (silver, 2.59%), AuRico Gold Inc (gold, 2.57%), Alumina Ltd (aluminium, 2.29%) and China Molybdenum Co (molybdenum, 2.23%).

The average coverage rate for liabilities of US corporate pension funds increased by 1.8 percentage points in June to 73.2%, according to estimates from BNY Mellon. This improvement is due to the good performance of the equity markets in the United States and worldwide, as well as to an increase in actualization rates for AA-rated businesses, to 3.72%, which reduced liabilities by an average of 0.9%.

GLG on 7 September announced that it has recruited Sudi Mariappa as a manager for its absolute return bond range. Mariappa previously worked at Pimco for ten years as managing director in charge of the Global Portfolio team, until 2008, and of a team of international managers. Under his supervision, assets under management in international portfolios increased from USD10bn to USD85bn. Between 2009 and 2010, Mariappa was also a senior adviser to Bill Gross for the alternative product range.

The trial of Kweku Adoboli, a trader at UBS who is accused of a fraud which cost the Swiss bank UBS2.3bn between 2008 and 2011, begins on Monday morning in London. The Ghanaian trader, 32, faces charges of abuse of position and accounting fraud. He was arrested on 15 September 2011 at his office in the City, and spent nine months in prison, before being released on bail in June, monitored by an electronic bracelet. He has pleaded not guilty, and faces up to 10 years in prison. UBS is not participating in the trial.

Les débuts d'H2O AM qu'il a lancé il y a tout juste deux ans, le trou d'air de la gestion lié à la crise européenne et les enseignements à en tirer, l'avenir de la zone euro dans laquelle il continue de croire... Bruno Crastes réalise pour Newsmanagers un vaste tour d'horizon de l'actualité et revient sur des sujets comme le partenariat de sa société de gestion avec Natixis AM ou l'avenir de la gestion d'actifs.

Rothschild & Cie Gestion s’apprête à annoncer la nomination de Marc Romano à la fonction de CEO de Rothschild HDF Investment Solutions (Rothschild HDF IS), l’entité issue du rapprochement de ses activités de multigestion avec HDF Finance au printemps dernier. Marc Romano va remplacer Pierre Lenders qui après avoir été nommé directeur général de Rothschild HDF Investment Solutions dès l’annonce de sa création en mai, a quitté ses fonctions vendredi 7 septembre, pour poursuivre d’autres intérêts personnels.Interrogé par Newsmanagers, Jean-Louis Laurens, associé gérant de Rothschild & Cie gestion, a insisté sur le fait que Pierre Lenders dont l’objectif premier lorsqu’il était à la tête de HDF Finance était d’adosser la société de gestion, avait ensuite rapidement fait part de son souhait de s’impliquer dans le domaine de la gestion alternative ISR. A ce titre, le responsable avait d’ores et déjà crée une société - Prius Ltd - intervenant dans ce domaine. « Par un hasard de circonstance, nous avons appris il y a peu que Marc Romano qui résidait à Londres souhaitait revenir sur Paris », a précisé Jean-Louis Laurens. « Nous connaissions le haut niveau de compétence de ce professionnel dans différents domaines notamment en matière de structuration avec de surcroît une expérience importante dans le monde de l’assurance. Les événements se sont alors accélérés. » Cela dit, Pierre Lenders va continuer de collaborer avec Rothschild HDF Investment Solutions dans le cadre d’un accord de coopération avec sa propre société. Celle-ci fournira des prestations de recherche dans le domaine de la gestion alternative ISR à laquelle Jean-Louis Laurens croit beaucoup. Rothschild HDF IS compte d’ailleurs s’impliquer plus encore en matière de gouvernance. « Nous sommes convaincus de l’intérêt de cette activité et je remarque également que nombre de hedge funds se montrent très actifs dans ce domaine », a précisé l’associé-gérant.Pour sa part, Marc Romano vient donc de quitter ses fonctions de CEO de Schroders New Finance Capital, une filiale de Schroders plc., spécialisée dans la multigestion alternative et a également occupé dans le passé, diverses fonctions dans le groupe Crédit Agricole, dont celles de CEO des multigestions de Crédit Agricole Asset Management et deputy CEO de Crédit Agricole Structured Asset Management et Managing Director de Calyon .Le nouvel arrivant doit apporter à Rothschild HDF Investment Solutions son expertise en matière de multi-gestion et de solutions d’investissement sur-mesure. Pour autant, son expérience internationale intéresse aussi fortement son nouvel employeur. Car si Jean-Louis Laurens se félicite de l’accueil réservé en quelques mois à Rothschild HDF Investment Solutions, comme l’atteste la collecte nette constatée surtout via les produits long only et de multigestion classique, le responsable n’en est pas moins convaincu que les temps ne sont guère porteurs en France. Dès lors, l’international figure parmi les objectifs de la société qui est aussi actuellement en cours de recrutement d’un commercial senior dédié au marché britannique.

Le new-yorkais Global X Funds (1,2 milliard de dollars) a annoncé le lancement de ce qu’il pense être le premier ETF sur les «junior miners», des compagnies minières «jeunes» du monde entier dans les domaines non seulement de l’or, mais aussi du charbon, du cuivre, du fer, du nickel, de l’argent, du titane et d’autres matériaux. Il s’agit du Global X Junior Miners ETF, dont l’acronyme sur NYSE Arca est JUNR ; le code Isin est US37950E6308 et le taux de frais sur encours se situe à 0,69 %.L’indice de référence établi par l’allemand Structured Solutions AG. Les quatre premières lignes sont Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp (argent, 2,59 %), AuRico Gold Inc (or, 2,57 %), Alumina Ltd (aluminium, 2,29 %) et China Molybdenum Co (molybdène, 2,23 %)

Le fonds d’investissement américain Carlyle s’est renforcé dans le secteur de l'énergie en achetant à la banque d’affaires Goldman Sachs un portefeuille d’actifs logés au sein de la société Cogentrix Energy, selon un communiqué publié le 7 septembre par Carlyle.Le montant de la transaction, qui devrait être finalisée au quatrième trimestre, n’a pas été rendu public. Carlyle mènera cette acquisition via son fonds Carlyle Infrastructure Partners, qui gère 1,14 milliard de dollars d’actifs.Goldman Sachs conservera une participation, d’un montant non dévoilé, au sein de son ancienne filiale, a précisé l’acquéreur.Carlyle met la main sur cinq centrales (au charbon et solaires) en Floride, en Virginie, au Colorado et en Californie, ainsi que sur des projets moins avancés dans les énergies renouvelables et de gazoduc. Ces actifs disposent d’une capacité de production cumulée de 550 mégawatts.

Alexandra Podvin rejoint Commerz Real France en tant qu’Asset Manager Technique. Basée à Paris, elle a rejoint l'équipe de Raphaël Colombu, Head of France, pour s’occuper d’un portefeuille de près de 2 milliards d’euros.Diplômée de l’école Polytechnique d’Aix-la-Chapelle et de l’EPFL en Suisse, elle était précédemment en mission de conseil pour Currie & Brown, elle a une expérience de 10 ans chez Valode & Pistre Architectes, où elle a notamment développé des projets pour BMW, L’Oréal et Air France.

Le taux de couverture moyen des engagements des fonds de pension d’entreprise américains s’est accru en juin de 1,8 point de pourcentage pour s’inscrire à 73,2%, selon les estimations communiquées par BNY Mellon.Cette amélioration est due à la bonne tenue des marchés actions aux Etats-Unis et ailleurs dans le monde mais également à la hausse du taux d’actualisation des entreprises notées Aa de 8 points de base à 3,72%, ce qui a réduit les engagements de 0,9% en moyenne.