After an extended period of uncertainty and volatility on the markets, several top-calibre operations in first quarter are an indication that the initial public offering market in Europe is rebounding. The “IPO Watch” report from PwC finds that 58 operations were undertaken in first quarter 2012 on European stock markets, totalling EUR2.3bn, compared with EUR0.9bn in fourth quarter 2011, and EUR3bn in first quarter 2011. The average value of the operations is EUR50m, compared with EUR17m in fourth quarter 2011, and EUR39m in first quarter 2011. Although activities remain muted compared with their historic levels, outlooks have been boosted by encouraging transactions by several recent issuers. Thierry Charron, a partner at PwC specialised in capital markets, “initial offering prices are at the high end of the price range, and new issuers overall have been performing well after their initial public offerings, which is clearly a good sign for companies which are considering a launch on the stock market this year. The initial offering from Ziggo may lead other companies financed by private equity funds to follow suit.” The Us IPO market has also rebounded in first quarter 2012, with 44 operations and EUR4.4bn raised, an increase in volume of 33% compared with the 433 initial offerings in first quarter 2011. There has also been strong interest on the US markets from secondary market investors in new issuers following their initial offerings, which has led to positive returns for 80% of companies which launched on the stock markets this quarter.

Rathbone Investment Management, an affiliate of Rathbone Brothers, has acquired the wealth management firm RM Walkden & Company, Investment Week reports. The cost of the acquisition is said to have been GBP948,393. Assets under management at Rathbone Investment Management total GBP15.8bn.

According to a study by Russell Investments of British defined-benefit pension funds, conducted in July and August 2011, trustee boards and investment boards dedicate an average of 15.6 hours per year to investment questions, and never more than 26 hours, equivalent to one half-hour per week for the largest and most complex funds. This appears to be very little for strategic decisions about, for example, liability-driven investment (LDI), overlays, portfolio structuring, or selection and monitoring of managers.However, the study finds that there has been increasing use of investment committees, and more appointments of fiduciary managers than in the 2009 edition of the study, with large funds more likely to select the investment committee solutions, while smaller funds often opt for a fiduciary manager. In the latter case, the percentage of small funds using a fiduciary manager has risen from 15% in 2009 to 26% in the 2011 study.Russell also points out that despite the installation of investment committees or the appointment of fiduciary managers, these structures are rarely able to take investment decisions: 75% of trustee boards retain control of selection of managers, and the trustee is cited by less than 70% of respondents as the decision-maker for all points in the survey.Lastly, the study finds that over 80% of trustees are convinced on every point raised that the decision-making structures at their fund meet the needs for their purpose, and particularly that they are able to respond to rapid changes in the business environment. This appears paradoxical, as there is no indication of a change in the frequency of meetings (generally quarterly meetings of the investment committee) or an increase in delegation to entities which are better equipped to respond in “real time”.

The US bank JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay USD20m to the commodity futures trading commission (CFTC), the Financial Times reports. The US regulator accused the firm of illegally managing the separate accounts of Lehman Brothers clients.

Switzerland and Germany on 5 April signed a new tax agreement, according to a statement released by the Swiss federal finance department (DFF). The protocol comes as an amendment to an agreement signed in September 2011, and defines the tax rate for regularising offshore assets. The tax rate, initially planned to be between 19% and 34%, will now be between 21% and 41%. The entry into force of the new regulations will take place at the start of next year. The law is extended to apply to inheritances taking place after the entry into force of the agreement. In case of succession, the heirs may choose either to pay a tax of 50% or to declare the assets, the DFF states. Meanwhile, the maximum number of authorised requests for information from the time the agreement comes into effect will be raised from 999 to 1,300 for a period of two years. There will no longer be a way to transfer assets from German taxpayers in Switzerland to other third-party countires without declaring the transfer. The DFF claims that the agreement is a significant contribution to tax equality. It respects the protection of the privacy of banking clients in Switzerland, while guaranteeing that legal taxes are recovered in Germany. There are also plans to improve procedural aspects related to activities between the two states in the financial sector. Strengthened collaboration of the surveillance authorities in the two countries and respect for national legislation will allow for improvements to banking procedures for Swiss banks in Germany, making them simpler and faster. The changes will have little effect on the opinions of the German opposition, who hold a majority in the Bundesrat, the upper chamber of the German Parliament, which represents the regions, and is planning to block the passage of the bill.

The bottom line for March published by the German BVI association of asset management firms (see Newsmanagers of 5 April) finds that three of the major asset management firms have posted net inflows to open-ended securities funds, with net subscriptions in first quarter totalling about EUR1.15bn. The firms are Allianz Asset Management, which alone attracted EUR2.86bn, largely thanks to Pimco Europe, the DWS/DB Advisors/DB family (Deutsche Bank), which took on EUR515.1m (including EUR504.5m for ETFs from db x-trackers), and Union Investment (co-operative banks), with net inflows of EUR114m.However, Deka (savings banks) underwent net outflows of EUR1.43bn in January-March, while BlackRock, with its iShares brand ETFs, saw outflows of nearly EUR1bn, ComStage (ETF provider from Commerzbank) has seen net redemptions of EUR289m.For ETFs, the provider for the Deka group, ETFlab, has posted net subscriptions of EUR64.5m.

The German asset management firm Deka Immobilien has acquired “The Rock” (30,000 square metres), an office property located in Amsterdan, from Evans Randall for about EUR132m. The property will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund WestInvest InterSelect, bringing the proportion of the portfolio invested in Netherlands properties from 8.1% to 10.5%, with the strategy of slightly reducing the exposure of the portfolio to Germany, and to bring younger properties into the portfolio.

Ken Hsia has taken over as manager of onshore and offshore European equity funds at Investec, as part of a reshuffle at the South African asset management firm, InvestmentEurope reports. Hsia, who has been at Investec for seven years, will be responsible for equity funds, including the European (GBP27.6m in assets under management) and Continental European (GBP60m in assets). He replaces Nigel Hankin, who will continue to serve as sectoral head in the 4Factor equities team at Investec.

The hedge fund sector has done well in first quarter, but has not really shined, according to information from the major press agencies. Third Point Partners by Daniel Loeb gained 7.1% in first quarter, with the Third Point Ultra fund posting gains of 10%. Greenlight Capital by David Einhorn has posted gains of 6.9% for the first three months of the year. There are many good results, but no exceptional ones. Hedge funds have earned an average of about 2.3% in first quarter, according to analysts at BofA Merrill Lynch, compared with gains of 12% for the Standard & Poor’s 500. The hedge fund giant John Paulson is a good illustration of the muted mood for hedge fund quarterly results. The oldest portfolio from the management firm, Paulson Partners, has earned gains of 6.6% in first quarter, and the Paulson Enhanced Fund has gained 13.3%. But the Advantage fund lost 1.05%, and its leveraged version Advantage Plus lose 2.23%. The Glod fund lost 13.41% in March, and has lost 6.37% over the quarter.

The British asset management firm M&G Investments has overtaken Invesco Perpetual to become Britain’s largest asset management firm in terms of assets under management, according to statistics from the British investment management association (IMA). Invesco had held the top spot since October 2007. M&G has earned excellent returns in the past year, and its net inflows rose last year by GBP4.4bn, at a time when the sector as a whole was seeing net outflows of nearly GBP70bn. IMA rankings of the top ten asset management firms in the United Kingdom in terms of assets under management (February 2012) M & G Securities Limited £39,464,246,537 1 Invesco Perpetual £39,431,441,702 2 Fidelity Worldwide Investment £26,878,568,253 3 Schroder Investment Management Ltd £25,991,973,342 4 BNY Mellon Fund Managers Limited £25,824,063,802 5 St James’s Place Unit Trust Group Ltd £25,428,811,572 6 Threadneedle Investment Services Ltd £25,379,523,918 7 BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited £24,211,271,760 8 Henderson Global Investors £24,092,777,014 9 Legal & General (Unit Trust) Managers Limited £23,916,470,986 10

Following the departure of David Gagnon in January, Anthony Swift, his deputy, becomes AsPac head of transition management & product development at BlackRock, Asian Investors reoprts. Swift has been a member of the transition management team since December 2009, after spending a decade at Barclays Global Investors (BGI).

The British activist investment fund The Children’s Investment fund (TCI) has decided to file a lawsuit against the Indian government and the state-run business Coal India for failure to respect the interests of minority shareholders, Les Echos reports. The coal producer Coal India was IPOed in 2010, in order to reduce India’s budget deficit. The British fund bought 1.01% of Coal India, which makes it the second-largest shareholder in the group, which is 90% controlled by the Indian government.

One of the largest commodity hedge funds, BlueGold Capital, is liquidating its portfolio and returning capital to investors, the Financial Times reports. The fund is hoping to be able to repay 98% of invested capital by May. Last year, the portfolio of BlueGold lost 34% of its value. After assets one year ago of about USD2.4bn, assets under management have fallen to slightly over USD1bn.

European money market funds, which began reducing their exposure to Spain and Italy in summer 2011, had virtually eliminated their exposured to the two countries as of the end of February, Fitch Ratings announced in its most recent monthly bulleting about European money market funds. European money market funds had already reduced their exposure to Greece, Ireland and Portugal to 0% in 2009 and 2010. Fitch states that as of the end of February, European money market funds no longer had any exposure to Italian banks, and allocation to Spanish banks, mostly to Banco Santander, were marginal and would be maturing in the next two months. As of the end of February 2012, funds maintained a significant allocation to issuers in major European countries (France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands), while increasing their investments in Australian, Scandinavian, Japanese and Canadian financial institutions.

The common funds for employee shareholders in France Telecom, which owns 3% of capital, has decided to present a resolution at the general shareholders’ meeting on 5 June which would reduce the dividend from EUR1.40 to EUR1, Les Echos reports. The management of the firm is reportedly not opposed to the proposal.

The day after the official launch of its new French asset management firm, Russell Investments France, the US firm Russell Investments has announced the recruitment of Alexandre Attal (already named in yesterday’s Newsmanagers) as a portfolio manager and analyst. Attal, who joins the firm from Barclays Wealth Managers France, will report to Alain Zeitouni, CIO at Russell Investments France. He will be in charge of analysis and management of multi-asset class portfolios managed for clients of the Paris office of Russell Investments, and will support its commercial development. The other recruitment is the result of a transfer, as Jean-David Larson, the new director of client solutions, who has spent five years at Russell Investments in Seattle, where he had most recently been chief of staff, is transferred to France. In his new role, he will be in charge of client offerings; he will also participate in the design of multi-asset solutions and to commercial development.

The IFA group Infinitis on 5 April announced that it now has 205 agencies, with 313 member IFAs. Infinitis has seen inflows of EUR115m (excluding real estate) in 2011, with assets under management of EUR287m. All agencies of the group combine have assets of EUR2.7bn. The 2012 objective is to reach 300 agencies, in order to draw nearer to its ultimate goal of 400 member agencies.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners has announced the appointments of François Hullo as head of bond management at BNPP AM and of David Bouchoucha as head of institutional sales for southern Europe. Hullo will lead a team composed of 100 investment professionals in 8 countries, a statement says.Hullo has worked for over 24 years at the BNP Paribas group, half of it at BNPP IP. Before his appointment, he had been head of institutional sales for southern Europe at BNPP IP. Between 2000 and 2004, he set up the alternative investment structure at BNPP IP, and developed a complete range of structured and alternative products.Bouchoucha, for his part, joined BNPP IP in May 2010, as head of mission, reporting to the CEO and deputy head of institutional sales for southern Europe. He joined BNP Paribas in 2007 as head of strategy for the group, and managed several projects in collaboration with the general management.

Finance professionals can be satisfied. According to a survey by eFinancialCareers in the United States, set pay levels for finance professionals rose 6% in 2011. Nearly half of professionals surveyed (47%) say they are “very” or “rather satisfied” with their pay scales in 2011, compared with 43% in 2010. Nearly half of professionals, 54% of respondents, saw a pay raise in the space of one year. The raises were largest at boutiques and alternative management firms, at +14% and +13%.

Le groupement de CGPI Infinitis a annoncé le 5 avril qu’il comptait à ce jour 205 cabinets soit 313 CGPI adhérents. Infinitis a collecté 115 millions d’euros (hors immobilier) en 2011 avec un encours sous gestion de 287 millions. L’ensemble des cabinets du groupement représente un encours de 2,7 milliards. L’objectif 2012 est d’atteindre 300 cabinets adhérents afin de se rapprocher de son numerus clausus de 400 cabinets adhérents.

Suite au départ de David Gagnon en janvier, Anthony Swift, son adjoint, devient head of transition management & product development de BlackRock, rapporte Asian Investors. Anthony Swift fait partie de l'équipe de gestion de transition depuis décembre 2009 après avoir passé une dizaine d’années chez Barclays Global Investors (BGI).

La filiale de Rathbone Brothers, Rathbone Investment Management, vient d’acquérir la société de gestion de fortune RM Walkden & Company, rapporte Investment Week.Le coût de l’acquisition serait de 948.393 livres.Les actifs sous gestion de Rathbone Investment Management s'élèvent à 15,8 milliards de livres.

L’un des plus importants hedge funds de matières premières, BlueGold Capital, liquide son portefeuille et restitue les capitaux engagés aux investisseurs, rapporte le Financial Times. Il espère pouvoir restituer 98 % des montants engagés d’ici au mois de mai. L’an dernier déjà, le portefeuille de BlueGold avait perdu 34% de sa valeur. Après avoir culminé il y a environ un an à quelque 2,4 milliards de dollars, les actifs sous gestion seraient tombés à un peu plus de 1 milliard de dollars.

Le secteur des hedge funds a tiré son épingle du jeu au premier trimestre mais sans vraiment briller, si l’on en croit les informations divulguées par les grandes agences de presse.C’est ainsi que le Third Point Partners de Daniel Loeb a progressé de 7,1% au premier trimestre, le Third Point Ultra affichant même un gain de 10%. Le Greenlight Capital de David Einhorn a pour sa part enregistré une performance de 6,9% sur les trois premiers mois de l’année.Autant de résultats honorables mais pas non plus exceptionnels. Les hedge funds ont en moyenne dégagé une performance de 2,3% environ au premier trimestre, selon les analystes de BofA Merrill Lynch, à comparer à une hausse de 12% pour l’indice Standard & Poor’s 500.Le gérant de hedge funds John Paulson illustre bien le sentiment mitigé que suscitent les performances trimestrielles des hedge funds. Le plus vieux portefeuille du gérant, Paulson Partners, a dégagé un gain de 6,6% au premier trimestre, et le Paulson Enhanced fund a même progressé de 13,3%. Mais le fonds Advantage a cédé 1,05% et son pendant avec effet de levier Advantage Plus a perdu 2,23%. Quant au Gold fund, il a chuté de 13,41% en mars et de 6,37% sur le trimestre.

Des collaborateurs de Clariden Leu, l’ex-filiale du Credit Suisse, ont décidé de fonder la société de gestion de fortune Metropole Partners, rapporte le site spécialisé finews. La société a vu le jour à mi-mars et devrait compter désormais 30 collaborateurs, dont 15 conseillers à la clientèle, ainsi que des gestionnaires de portefeuille et assistants de back-office.L’initiative est venue de l’ex-banquier de Clariden Leu, Anthony Cagiati, de nationalité américaine, avec à ses côtés les conseillers à la clientèle Bruno Lienhart (ex-Clariden) et Christian Sieber (ex-Bank Leu). L’ex-banquier et avocat Christian Brunner se présente pour le poste de président du conseil d’administration. Il est actuellement associé de l'étude zurichoise Brunner & Decurtins.

Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM) a nommé Marcel van Ostaden au poste de directeur commercial pour les Pays-Bas, la Belgique et le Luxembourg. L’intéressé sera basé à Amsterdam. Avant de rejoindre LOIM, il était directeur commercial Pays-Bas pour BlackRock depuis 2005.LOIM gère 28 milliards d’euros à fin 2011.

Les fonds monétaires européens, qui ont commencé à réduire leur exposition à l’Espagne et à l’Italie à l'été 2011, ont pratiquement éliminé leurs engagements envers ses deux pays à fin février, indique l’agence Fitch Ratings dans son dernier bulletin mensuel sur les fonds monétaires européens. Les fonds monétaires européens avaient déjà ramené à zéro leur exposition à la Grèce, à l’Irlande et au Portugal en 2009 et 2010.Fitch précise qu'à fin février, les fonds monétaires européens n’avaient plus d’exposition aux banques italiennes et les allocations dans les banques espagnoles, pour l’essentiel Banco Santander, étaient marginales et arrivant à maturité dans les deux mois.A fin février 2012, les fonds maintenaient des allocations significatives à des émetteurs des principaux pays européens (France, Allemagne, Royaume-Uni et Pays-Bas), tout en augmentant parallèlement leurs investissements dans les institutions financières australiennes, scandinaves, japonaises et canadiennes.

L’Afer lance Afer Immo, une nouvelle unité de compte pour son contrat d’assurance vie multisupports. En pratique, Afer Immo est une société civile immobilière gérée par Aviva Investors Real Estate France SA (AIREF) «qui a pour principal objectif la valorisation régulière des sommes investies à travers une récurrence de revenus locatifs et une perspective de plus-values à long terme sur un patrimoine immobilier de qualité et diversifié», précise un communiqué. Pour ce faire, la répartition-cible des investissements est constituée à 70% d’investissements directs dans l’immobilier physique et à 20% d’investissements indirects via des parts de SCPI, OPCI, foncières cotées et OPCVM. Enfin, 10% sont consacrés à des liquidités pour couvrir les besoins en fonds de roulement et faire face aux travaux de rénovations et de restructurations de certains immeubles.Les immeubles et biens détenus seront sélectionnés sur différents marchés (bureau, résidentiel…) et situés à des emplacements recherchés. Par nature, à 65% il s’agit d’immobilier d’entreprises, à 15 % de logement, le solde étant réservé aux opportunités de marché, via par exemple le secteur des résidences pour personnes âgées et dépendantes.Le volume de transactions immobilières réalisées dans un secteur donné et dans une année est llimité. Pour 2012, cette enveloppe est fixée à 100 millions d’euros. Une fois ce montant d’investissement atteint, les nouveaux versements ou arbitrages vers Afer Immo sont refusés. Caractéristiques :Montant de la part initiale : 20 euros Minimum à investir sur ce support : 800 euros pour un versement ponctuel (400 € pour un adhérent de moins de 30 ans), 150 € pour un prélèvement automatiqueFrais de gestion : 2,2% par an de l’actif brut de la SCI.Frais de gestion annuels du contrat : 0,475%Frais sur versement : 1% des versements affectés aux supports en unités de compteFrais d’arbitrage : gratuits pour la 1ère demande reçue dans l’année civile, puis de 0,2% du montant de l’épargne transférée dans la limite de 50 € par arbitrage

Le fonds commun des actionnaires salariés de France Télécom, qui détient 3 % du capital, a décidé de présenter une résolution à l’assemblée générale du 5 juin pour réduire le dividende de 1,40 à 1 euro, rapporte Les Echos. La direction n’y est pas défavorable.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners a annoncé les nominations de François Hullo en tant que responsable des Gestions Obligataires de BNPP AM et David Bouchoucha au poste de responsable des Ventes institutionnelles - Europe du sud . François Hullo dirigera une équipe composée d’une centaine de professionnels de l’investissement basés dans 8 pays, précise un communiqué.François Hullo travaille depuis plus de 24 ans dans le groupe BNP Paribas, dont la moitié chez BNPP IP. Avant sa nomination, il était responsable des Ventes institutionnelles de BNPP IP pour l’Europe du sud. Entre 2000 et 2004, il a mis en place la structure d’investissements alternatifs de BNPP IP et développé une gamme complète de produits structurés et alternatifs. Pour sa part, David Bouchoucha a rejoint BNPP IP en mai 2010 en tant que chargé de mission auprès du CEO et responsable adjoint des ventes institutionnelles Europe du sud. Il a rejoint BNP Paribas en 2007 en qualité de responsable de la Stratégie du Groupe et a géré plusieurs projets en collaboration avec la direction générale.