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25/05/2012

Number of fund launches down

During Q1 2012, only 506 funds were launched in Europe, which showed a decrease of 36% compared to the same period in 2011, when 785 funds were launched, according to Lipper.The quantity of newly launched funds for Q1 2012 showed the lowest number for the first quarter results of the last five years. Compared with the peak in Q1 2008, the number of newly launched products for 2012 showed a decrease of around 50%.The number of liquidations went up approximately 11%, comparing Q1 2012 with Q1 2011, to 493 from 446. At the same time the number of fund mergers went down approximately 12%, from 233 in Q1 2011 to 205 in Q1 2012.As a result, the European market saw 192 funds disappear in first quarter. Lipper expects a further-shrinking market in terms of available products.As of the end of March 2012, there were 32,158 mutual funds registered for sale in Europe. Luxembourg continued to dominate the fund market in Europe, hosting 8,439 funds, followed by France, where 4,743 funds were domiciled.Equity funds still dominated the scene with 37% of the funds available for sale, followed by mixed-asset funds at 24%. Bond funds stood at 18%, while money market funds represented 5% of the market.
25/05/2012

Investors out to impose sustainable reporting

A coalition representing USD2 trillion of investor assets calls on Ministers at Rio+20 Earth Summit to mandate corporate sustainability reporting.Led by Aviva Investors, the group, also including NGOs, church groups and UN agencies, has called on government representatives at the Rio+20 Earth summit to require public and large global private corporations to integrate material environmental, social and governance issues in their Annual Report and Accounts, on a report or explain basis.In an open letter to Ministers, Paul Abberley, interim chief executive of Aviva Investors and representative for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Coalition (CSRC), said: “(…) At present 75% of companies do not report on sustainability issues at all. While this trend is improving, at the current trajectory it will be decades before sustainability reporting is common practice across global markets (…)”.
25/05/2012

Express Scripts was top overweight position for hedge funds in first quarter

In first quarter 2012, the most overweight position for hedge funds was Express Scripts, according to analysis by the quantitative research team at Credit Suisse Securities reported by Institutional Investor.In ninth place the previous quarer, the firm attracted the interest of Third Point, which acquired more than 3.1 million shares in first quarter, and Maverick, which bought more than 2 million shares. The two firms have become the two largest shareholders in the firm.The survey also finds that four new firms entered the top 15 most overweight positions for hedge funds in first quarter: Sars Holdings, Visa, Crown Castle and JCPenney. They replace Anadarko, Family Dollar, Williams and Medco Health Solutions.Several of the 15 shares acquired have been involved in acquisition operations, and were M&A arbitrage investments for many investors.
25/05/2012

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa recruits a head from Oddo

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has announced the appointment of Tarak Achich as head of Procapital Securities Services, one of the five BtoB affiliates of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa. At the same time, Frédéric Diverrez is appointed as CEO of Monext, one of the five BtoB affiliates of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa. Achich, aged 44, previously served as a manager at Oddo & Cie, where since 2008 he had been in charge of supervising operations, permanent control and financial direction. From 2002 to 2007, he had been deputy CEO of Euronext, and then executive director of NYSE Euronext, where he was responsible for systems and projects to harmonize trading platforms. Deverrez, for his part, had been chairman of the board at Procapital Securities Services. He is a member of the management board at Steria France, and has served in serveral positions, including a stint as director of the Testing Services Bunsiess Unit, and from 2006 to 2007, director of the Banking and Insurance Business Unit. The appointments come at the same time as a reorganisation led by the firm and its decision to set up a unit dedicated to BtoB – ARKEA Services – which is dedicated to sales of banking, securities and money market services by the group.
25/05/2012

La Mondiale Europartner goes into wealth management business in the UK

The Luxembourg-based firm La Mondiale Europartner, the international unit of the French insurer AG2R La Mondiale, is planning to offer wealth management services in the United Kingdom, Investment Europe reports.La Mondiale Europartner will create a range of international investment portfolios aimed at ultra-high net worth (UHNW) clients and compatible with RDR legislation.
25/05/2012

Chinese social security fund invests in ETFs

Harvest and Nuatai PineBridge have published a list of the 10 largest investors in their new cross-border ETFs on the CSI 300. Portfolios 302 and 307 from the Chinese national social security fund (NCSSF), managed by Bovero and E-Fund, both appear on these lists, with CNY900m each for the Harvest fund and CNY750m each for Huatai-PineBridge, Z-Ben Advisors reports.According to sector specialists, the NCSSF is operating a wing maneuver, instructing managers to increase their exposure to cross-border tracker funds.
25/05/2012

Top European asset management firms unload euro zone assets

Several major European asset management firms have confirmed to the Financial Times that they are unloading their euro assets, due to concerns over an exit from the single currency for Greece. Amundi and Threadneedle have reduced their exposure to the euro in recent days. The US specialist Merk Investments, a currencies specialist, has liquidated all positions on the euro for its flagship fund. The euro has lost 5% in the past few weeks, to EUR1.2544 as of Thursday.
25/05/2012

SWFs increasingly interested in alternative management

A growing number of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are focused on alternative management, a round table held last month by Opalesque dedicated to the Gulf region has claimed. SWFs are generally invested in bonds and equities, but the need to diversify and higher profits will be a draw, given the low level of interest rates.It is also notable that SWFs are increasingly attentive to the development of the asset management sector in the Gulf countries.Assets under management for SWFs overall total about USD4.6trn.
25/05/2012

Macquarie appoints head of distribution in Asia

Macquarie Investment Management (MIM) has announced the appoitment of Axel Maier as head of distribution for Asia. At the head of a team of seven people, Maier, who will be based in Hong Kong, will be in charge of developing the activities of Macquarie serving Asian institutional clients in particular.Maier, who previously worked at Wellington Management, replaces Damon Hambly who left the position at the end of January and has since joined Natixis Global Asset Management as head of strategy and development for Asia.Assets under management at MIM total about USD220bn, slightly under 50% of which is from institutional investors.
25/05/2012

Record net subscriptions for Robeco in first quarter

The Robeco group has had a very strong start to the year, with net subscriptions in first quarter of a record EUR15bn. Assets increased from EUR150bn as of the end of 2011 to EUR177bn as of the end of March 2012, in a sign of the “great interesst of investors in solutions related to retirement,” Robeco says in a statement. At the end of first quarter 2012, net subscriptions from institutional clients totalled a particularly high amount, and were well-distributed over a wide range of strawgies, bringing the proportion of assets managed on behalf of institutionals to 51% of total assets under management (compared with 41% in first quarter 2011). Net inflows in first quarter came to EUR15bn. The strategy to integrate ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria has continued to show itself highly effective, with total assets invested in businesses engaged in active dialogue with Robeco totalled EUR45.1bn, compared with EUR43.4bn in first quarter 2011. Robeco has achieved a total average return 1.67% higher than the benchmark for all strategies (gross of fees) in first quarter 2012, and 83% of funds have outperformed their index. Due to these positive retuls, total average perfoamnce over 3 years improved further as of the end of March 2012, to +1.72% gross of fees compared with the index, and 77% of funds have outperformed their index between April 2009 and March 2012. All asset classes made a positive contribution to these results.
25/05/2012

BBVA may part with Latin American pension funds

On 24 May, the BBVA notified the CNMV that it has decided to study “strategic options for its mandatory retirement savings in Latin America.” Although this is a very attractive area, but has few synergies with the core profession of the group, universal banking, which has triggered a reconsideration of maintaining the activity.Among the options under consideration are a total or partial sale of pension fund administration firms in Chile, Colombia and Peru, and a retirement fund administration firm (Afore) in Mexico, though this will not necessarily mean a sale.The process will most likely take several quarters, and will not be completed before the end of the current fiscal year under any circumstances.Funds People understands that BBVA is already considering several proposals, with assets in question totalling over EUR30bn. Expansión estimates that BBVA could possibly make EUR3-4bn if it succeeds in selling the whole Latam pension fund business.
25/05/2012

Skandia reorients its activities in Germany

Skandia Deutschland on 24 May announced that as part of a reshuffle in Europe, the headquarters of Old Mutual Wealth Management Europe will be located in Luxembourg. In Germany, the group is opening a new location in Stuttgart, which will concentrate on the deployment of a new business model for the German market, positioning the firm as an investment specialist and to high net worth private clients.There are no plans to continue developing the retail market, which had previously been served from an office in Berlin, and talks are underway with the trade unions on the subject of “necessary organiational adjustments.”Administrative services to existing clients with about 360,000 life insurance policies and a volume of EUR12.4bn in assets will continue to be provided in Berlin.
25/05/2012

Italian funds return to redemptions

The growth sourt proved short-lived: in April, open-ended funds in Italy saw net redemptions of EUR997m, after net inflows in March for the fist time in a long time, totalling EUR2.4bn. These outflows were largely driven by equity frunds, which saw outflows of EUR1.216bn. Bond funds, which took on EUR1.578bn in April and EUR6.766bn since the beginning of the year, did not manage to reverse this trend. As of the end of April, assets in funds on sale in Italy totalled EUR433.872bn. With the addition of closed ended funds, which had inflows of EUR316m in April, and mandated management (+EUR618m), assets in the asset management sector in Italy totalled EUR966.766bn. In terms of businesses, the firms with the largest inflows in April were the Banco Popolare group (+EUR734m), followed by Poste Italiane (+EUR414.5m) and Amundi (+EUR270.5m). At the other extreme, the groups which posted the heaviest redemptions were the three largest in terms of assets: Pioneer (-EUR918.1m), Generali (-EUR842.5m), and Intesa Sanpaolo (-EUR357.9m).
25/05/2012

Allianz GI by far the top provider of German institutional funds

A survey undertaken by the German association BVI of asset management firms has found that Allianz Global Investors is the top actor in the management and administration of institutional funds (Spezialfonds) investing in securities, with assets of EUR1535m as of the end of 2011, or a market share of 18.9%. Universal-Investment is in second place, with EUR98.2bn, followed by HSBC Trinkhaus & Burkhardt with EUR78.3bn. The total market represents EUR812.8bn, compared with EUR782.4bn as of the end of 2010. In terms of porrtfolio management services alone, Allianz GI has a market share of 25.9%, with EUR147.2bn in assets, followed by Union Investment (co-operative banks), with EUR68.4bn, DekaBank (savings banks) with EUR49.1bn, and the Deutsche Bank family, with EUR44bn. Total assets come to EUR567.4bn.The BVI association states that in first quarter 2012, institutional securities funds had net inflows of EUR13.8bn, after inflows fo EUR42bn in all of 2011, and a peak at EUR69.4bn in 2010, and that assets as of the end of March totalled EUR852bn.Asset management firms as of the end of 2011 were responsible for EUR1.132trn in assets, of which EUR812.9bn were in Spezialfonds investing in securities, while the remainder was in mandates and institutional real estate funds.
25/05/2012

Stoxx launches ESG indices and signs up to UN-PRI

The Zurich-based firm Stoxx Ltd. on 24 May announced that it has signed up to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI) as a service provider.Meanwhile, the firm has launched four regional indices of the largest caps ranked in terms of their quality from the points of view of environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, as an addition to the Stoxx Global ESG Leaders indices, developed with Sustainalytics. The new products are the STOXX Europe ESG Leaders 50, EURO STOXX ESG Leaders 50, STOXX Asia/Pacific ESG Leaders 50 and STOXX North America ESG Leaders 50.Unlike other indices in the Stoxx Global ESG Leaders range, which consist of three categories of indices for environmental, social and governance, respectively, regional indices also have three aspects under one roof.
25/05/2012

Lehman met la main sur Archstone

De sources concordantes, Lehman Brothers Holdings a noué avec Bank of America et Barclays le rachat pour 1,58 milliard de dollars des 26,5% encore détenus par ses deux partenaires au capital d’Archstone. Un accord qui met fin à une longue bataille entre les banques quant à la valorisation d’Archstone. Lehman aurait convenu de verser 150 millions de dollars au perdant Equity Residential.
25/05/2012

Goldman Sachs mise sur l’immobilier japonais

Un responsable de la division de gestion d’actifs de la banque américaine a confié à Reuters que le groupe entend mobiliser quelque 100 milliards de yens, l’équivalent d’un milliard d’euros, auprès d’investisseurs japonais et internationaux afin de réaliser des investissements dans le secteur immobilier de l’Archipel, particulièrement dans les immeubles de bureaux ou les actifs commerciaux.
25/05/2012

Revers taïwanais pour Carlyle

Yuanta Financial a indiqué renoncer au rachat de la banque taïwanaise Ta Chong, infligeant un sérieux revers à Carlyle qui souhaite se défaire de cet investissement. Reuters avait indiqué mercredi que des négociations se poursuivaient pouvant aboutir à une prise de participation de 7% par Carlyle au capital de Yuanta dans le cadre d’un accord valorisant Ta Chong à 37 milliards de dollars taïwanais, l’équivalent de près d’un milliard d’euros.
25/05/2012

La croissance de la zone euro reste grippée

Les premières estimations des indices PMI font état d’un recul de l’activité dans toute la zone en mai. Le PIB devrait se contracter d’au moins 0,5% au deuxième trimestre selon Markit. Même l’Allemagne n’est pas épargnée. Le secteur manufacturier y accuse un fort ralentissement.
25/05/2012

Un nouveau prétendant pour Nine Entertainment

Le quotidien avance que l’ancien président de MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Harry Sloan, pourrait racheter auprès de CVC Capital Partners une participation au capital du groupe australien de médias. Harry Sloan a noué contact avec CVC dans la région et a mandaté des banques, en l’occurrence Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup et Deutsche Bank, en vue de formuler une offre.
24/05/2012

Quasi-stabilité des inscriptions au chômage outre-Atlantique

Les inscriptions hebdomadaires au chômage ont légèrement diminué aux Etats-Unis lors de la semaine au 19 mai, à 370.000 contre 372.000 (révisé) la semaine précédente, selon le département du Travail. Les économistes attendaient en moyenne 370.000 inscriptions. La moyenne mobile sur quatre semaines s'établit à 370.000 contre 375.500 (révisé) la semaine précédente.
24/05/2012

Le FESF émet à trois ans

Le Fonds européen de stabilité financière (FESF) a émis 3 milliards d’euros d’obligations à trois (arrivant à échéance le 1er juin 2015). Le rendement à l’émission a été fixé à 18 points de base au-dessus du taux mid-swap, ce qui implique un rendement de 1,162% pour les investisseurs. La demande a été forte avec plus de 4,5 milliards d’euros d’ordres. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, CA CIB et RBS ont co-dirigé l’opération.
24/05/2012

La croissance du secteur manufacturier américain ralentit

L’indice manufacturier «flash» calculé par Markit sur la base d’une enquête auprès de plus de 600 directeurs d’achats du secteur aux Etats-Unis est ainsi tombé à 53,9, un plus bas de trois mois, contre 56,0 en avril. Le secteur manufacturier américain enregistre cependant son trente-deuxième mois d’affilée de croissance.
24/05/2012

Moody’s juge la présidentielle sans effet sur le AAA

L'élection présidentielle française ne modifie pas l’avis de Moody’s sur la note Aaa de la France, ni sa perspective négative, qui se traduirait par une dégradation si le gouvernement socialiste ne parvenait pas à réduire l’endettement du pays, a annoncé l’agence de notation. La note a été abaissée d’un cran de AAA à AA+ en janvier par S&P et reste AAA chez Fitch.
24/05/2012

Le climat des affaires se dégrade en France et en Allemagne

Les signaux négatifs se multiplient pour l'économie française et l’emploi au moment où les Européens cherchent à relancer la croissance. Le climat des affaires s’est dégradé dans tous les secteurs de l'économie au mois de mai et les indices PMI flash signalent une nette contraction de l’activité dans l’industrie comme dans les services. L’indice PMI manufacturier a reculé à 44,4 après 46,9 en avril, un niveau très inférieur au consensus de 22 économistes (47,0). et qui reste sous le seuil de 50, ce qui signale une contraction. C’est le plus bas niveau pour cet indice depuis trois ans. Il n’a pas franchi la barre de 50 depuis juillet. L’activité dans le secteur manufacturier en Allemagne a, de son côté, enregistré au mois de mai sa plus forte contraction en trois ans, relançant les inquiétudes sur un ralentissement de la première économie européenne. L’indice PMI manufacturier calculé par Markit pour l’Allemagne en première estimation a reculé à 45,0 ce mois-ci après 46,2 en avril (consensus 47,0). C’est sa plus forte contraction du secteur manufacturier depuis juin 2009. Par ailleurs, l’institut Ifo basé à Munich a annoncé jeudi que l’indice du climat des affaires, calculé sur la base d’une enquête mensuelle auprès de 7.000 sociétés, était tombé à 106,9 en mai, à comparer avec 109,9 en avril.
L'indice IFO. Photo: PHB/Agefi
24/05/2012

La BoJ s'engage à poursuivre ses efforts pour juguler la déflation

Le gouverneur de la Banque du Japon (BoJ) Masaaki Shirakawa a déclaré que la banque centrale poursuivrait ses efforts pour juguler la déflation via son programme de rachat d’actifs. « La BoJ s’est engagée à poursuivre une politique d’assouplissement monétaire puissante en maintenant les taux d’intérêt effectivement à zéro et en rachetant des actifs pour arriver à une inflation à 1%, » a-t-il dit devant un commission parlementaire.
24/05/2012

L'économie britannique se contracte plus que prévu

L'économie britannique s’est contractée plus que prévu au premier trimestre, plombée par la plus forte baisse en trois ans de l’activité dans le secteur de la construction, renforçant la probabilité de nouvelles injections de liquidités par la Banque d’Angleterre (BoE) pour soutenir la croissance. Le Royaume-Uni est retombé en récession pour la première fois depuis la crise financière de 2007-2008, et les perspectives de reprise restent incertaines.

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