The former head of FX sales in the institutional clients group of BNP Paribas in London, François Boisson, is planning to team up with a senior US banker specialised in real estate to launch the asset management firm Money Never Sleeps in May, specialised in distressed real estate assets. He has told FX Week, relayed by Investment Europe, that he will shuttle between London and Paris.

2011 was a highly active year for voting, marked by an increase in participation at general shareholders’ meetings, according to the annual voting and engagement report published by Natixis Asset Management. This significant increase in the voting perimeter in 2011 (+11.8% compared with 2010) had Natixis AM voting on over 7050 resolutions, of which 2227 were proposed by French firms, and 4823 by foreign firms. The percentage of votes taken totalled 17% in 2011, reflecting a scaling up of the firm’s voting policies. The major themes voted on have remained relatively stable compared with the previous year. One key area in governance, the “appointment of directors,” once again represents the dominant area for votes against proposals, (representing more than 25% of these), followed by proposals related to “management pay scales,” which account for more than 20.5% of votes against, and capital operations, which account for nearly 16% of negative votes. The 2011 campaign was also particularly active in the area of dialogue with European businesses in the portfolio. With more than 130 engagement actions undertaken in 2011, Natixis AM has positioned itself as one of the most active investors. These engagement actions have involved investments representing nearly 60% of assets under management, meaning that effective action can be taken at businesses at which clients are the most exposed to ESG risks and for which the firm holds significant responsibility and powerful leverage. Direct exchange at the initiative of Natixis AM 70% of the time involved various subjects of governance, as well as environmental and social challenges at each particular business. IN many cases, engagement actions resulted in immediate action being taken, and resulted in modifications to proposed resolutions at general shareholders’ meetings, or a change in governance priactices in the short term. In other cases, the change process was over a longer-term horizon, but still resulted in formal engagements in the mid-term. In addition to the enlarged perimeter, both in terms of the number of businesses and of ESG topics, the year 2011 was marked by a significant increase in meetings with the top management at businesses to discuss areas which represent long-term growth areas. “This trend, which is continuing in 2012, represents a real orientation of Natixis AM to the expected quality and impact of its engagement policies,” the firm says.

Large prime brokerage firms are preparing to increase the cost of transactions for hedge funds, due to Basel III regulations, the Financial Times reports, based on information from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank. The new rules will have an impact on simple hedge fund strategies. For more esoteric programmes, including those using leverage, the consequences will be even more significant. It could kill off some markets entirely.

The Japanese Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) on Friday reveals that the asset management firm AIJ Investment Advisors Co., which lose USD1.3bn of its clients’ money, had actually been concealing trading losses for nearly a decade, the Wall Street Journal reports. Between 1 April 2002 and 31 March 2011, the firm accumulated losses of JPY109.2bn, due to loss-making derivatives transactions. The SESC has been able to locate only JPY8.1bn in cash and savings deposits on Japanese accounts.

The US affiliate of Aberdeen Asset Management has released the Aberdeen U.S. High Yield Bond Fund, a fund of corporate bonds which are not investment grade, for sale.The high yield product was launched on 28 February; it is managed by Keith Bachman, head of US high yield, with Brendan Dillon, derivatives portfolio manager, Christopher Gagnier, US fixed income head, and two other portfolio managers, Edward Grant and Neal rayner.Management commissions range from 0.80% for institutional shares to 1.80% for C-class shares.

State Street Banque, in securities services, is a major actor in Europe, and is not planning to stop there. In France, despite the presence of national champions, the firm is clearly planning to develop. An external growth deal would make sense, as securities services have low profit margins and large volumes, as Remond explains to Newsmanagers.

The chairman of the French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), Jean-Pierre Jouyet, says that he is in favour of the creation of a government secretariat dedicated to reforms, an idea which originated with the Green MEP Pascal Canfin. “Financial regulation is an increasingly political and European subject, which deserves a ministerial department of its own. That would allow France to have more influence in international negotiations, particularly in its dealings with the United Kingdom, which has a very strong and well-organised administration in these areas,” Jouyet has said in an interview with public sector actors. According to the AMF chairman, the creation of a ministry of financial reform in the French government would ensure that a political leader would be present at meetings of the Ecofin council, and that the initiative of the French president within the G20 would be effectively deployed.

Piers Hillier, former chief investment officer of LV= Asset Management, has joined Kames Capital as head of international equities. Hiller will be co-head of multi-management funds, and will lead a team of 25 people responsible for allocation decisions. Hiller joined LV=AM in February 2010, but was not retained by Threadneedle at the conclusion of his outsourcing agreement at the end of November lasr year. Kames Capital has also announced a restructuring of its real estate team into five divisions: indirect real estate, research, specialised funds, real estate shares, and direct real estate. This reshuffle follows the recent recruitment of Charles Follows as head of real estate research, and other recruitments in real estate multi-management.

The CEO and co-founder of Polar Capital, Tim Wooley, has sold 50,000 shares in the firm for GBP1m, Investment Week reports. He retains 6.5 million shares, or an 8.46% stake in the firm.

Ignis Asset Management attracted net inflows of GBP1.7bn in 2011, according to the annual results of its shareholder Phoenix.Assets under management, administration and oversight increased 3% to GBP70.7bn, including GBP62.1 billion of assets for the group’s life companies. In addition, Ignis has shown stable financial performance, with an IFRS operating profit of GBP46 million in 2011.

Frédéric Buzaré is leaving Dexia Asset Management, where since 2007 he had served as global head of equities, and then as an equity strategist. “The decisions of our equity strategists will not be impacted by the departure. They remain in line with our principle of having dedicated and specialised teams which are responsible for decisions, under the direction of Vincent Hamelink, global head of traditional investments,” a spokesperson for the asset management firm says. The name of his replacement has not yet been announced. Buzaré has joined the Singapore sovereign fund GIC, according to reports in Les Echos. “He will be a senior manager in the European equities team. He will begin in his position at the end of April, first in London, and then in the Asian capital,” the finance newspaper reports. Before joining Dexia AM, Buzaré was senior equity fund manager at Axa Investment Managers and BNP Paribas Asset Management, according to his LinkedIn profile.

BNY Mellon has announced that Simon Nichols will take over as lead manager of the Newton Bridge fund, whose assets under management total GBP314.7m, Fund Web reports. Nichols replaces Caroline Tye, who has been appointed as head of private clients, following a reorganisation of activities. Nichols, who has been at Newton for over ten years, has been the lead manager of the Newton Cautious Managed fund since October 2009.

In the third week of March, investors, sensitive to the less dynamic nature of the equity markets, tended to take their profits and had a slightly more limited appetite for high-risk assets. Equity funds had a net inflow of only USD645m in the week to 21 March, while bond funds, which have been doing well for several weeks, attracted their lowest inflows since the beginning of the year, according to estimates from EPFR Global. Long-term US government bond funds saw outflows of USd1.01bn, while US money market funds had outflows of over USD13bn. Emerging market bond funds had subscriptions totalled a net USd851m. High yield bond funds, still in high demand, have had USd25bn in inflows since the beginning of the year.

ING will officially initiate the process of selling its insurance and asset management activities in Asia in April, Financial News reports, citing sources familiar with the matter. Life insurance and asset management will be sold off separately, with asset management to be put up for sale first. The Asian unit of ING had assets under management of USD54bn as of the end of 2011.

The British association of investment companies (AIC), an association of closed investment funds, claims that the US administration has not yet answered fundamental questinos about the deployment of Fatca regulations, which are currently under consultation until 30 April. The director of public affairs for the association, Guy Rainbird, speaking at the annual AIC conference, has claimed that compliance with the regulations will be a “nightmare.” According to the head, the architects of the Fatca regulations did not really consider the fundamental issue of how firms will identify their US shareholders, among other issues.

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published its final recommendations on the stress testing of structured products, as scheduled. The FSA says stress testing should be integrated into the approval process for structured products. The document also discusses the design of structured products and of after-sales service.

Peter Smith, head of investments policy at the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has told Bloomberg, as relayed by Investment Week and Investment Europe, that the British regulator has a hard time understanding why commissions charged by British fund managers are so high, and have been increasing in recent years. The FSA will now be investigating the subject. According to a study in the Review of Financial Studies, average annual fees for British mutual funds are 2.21%, while they are 1.04% in the United States.

The Norwegian pension fund, which has USD608bn in assets, is planning to double the number of external mandates it hands out to about 100 in the next five years, the Financial Times reports. “ What we are actively doing is looking for managers country-by-country in the emerging markets and also looking for managers country-by-country with regards to small-cap,” chief executive Yngve Slyngstad tells FTfm.

A committee of Italian investor victims of Bernard Madoff has appealed a recent court verdict in favour of UniCredit, which excludes aggravating circumstances Bluerating reports. This would allow investors to triple the amount of damages and interest they are seeking, to USD60bn, up from USD20bn currently.

L’indice consolide les gains enregistrés depuis décembre avant de viser les 3.900 points

Le régulateur européen des marchés cherche notamment à recueillir des éléments détaillés sur les éventuels conflits d'intérêts

Les fonds alternatifs se préparent à devoir supporter une augmentation des tarifs pratiqués par leurs prestataires de service privilégiés. Ces «prime brokers» doivent en effet faire face à de nouvelles règles de liquidité et de capitaux avec Bâle 3. Le quotidien a rencontré nombre des principaux prime brokers, parmi lesquels Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan ou Deutsche Bank. Tous ont confirmé leur souhait d’imposer des hausses de tarif au cours des prochains mois. Même les stratégies de gestion les plus simples pourraient supporter des coûts plus élevés. A en croire le patron de l’un des principaux courtiers, les nouvelles règles auraient ainsi de quoi «tuer» certains marchés.

Le numéro un des clubs de vacances en France suscite bien des convoitises. Le quotidien souligne qu’Acto, le fonds de Groupama, a fixé à aujourd’hui le premier tour d’enchères pour ses 55% au capital. Le solde est détenu par la CDC. Sagard, Equistone, Alpha, Montefiore, Fondations ou LFPI seraient sur les rangs. Pierre & Vacances ou l’hôtelier espagnol Melia pourraient concurrencer ces fonds.

Face au gigantesque coût de la catastrophe de mars 2011, les partis politiques japonais seraient parvenus à un accord ouvrant la voie à une privatisation de Japan Post. Une loi de 2005 dans ce cadre avait été suspendue en 2009. Le Financial Times évoque de son côté la volonté du gouvernement britannique d’entamer la cession ou la cotation de Royal Mail à l’automne 2013.

Dans un entretien, le président du conseil de surveillance d’Eurazeo se désole de l’esprit «trop court-termiste» des investisseurs. Michel David-Weill se souvient pourtant avoir «connu dans le passé des gestionnaires de fortune ravis quand leur action favorite baissait pendant une année, car cela leur donnait la possibilité d’en racheter». A ses yeux, l’entrée en Bourse «crée la tentation de gagner de l’argent plus facilement».

Le groupe de private equity aurait mandaté Credit Suisse pour mener à bien une procédure de vente de l’activité d’alimentation surgelée après avoir reçu plusieurs marques d’intérêt non sollicitées. L’opération pourrait atteindre 3 milliards d’euros selon le quotidien, qui souligne que Permira pourrait opter pour une vente à un concurrent ou pour une introduction en Bourse.

Plusieurs options sont à l'étude pour accroître les moyens d'intervention, alors qu'une réunion de l'Eurogroupe est prévue les 30 et 31 mars

Aux élections régionales d’Andalousie qui se sont déroulées hier, le Parti Populaire du Premier ministre, Mariano Rajoy, n’a réussi à gagner que 50 des 109 sièges que compte le parlement local. Vendredi, le rendement des obligations à 10 ans est remonté à 5,39%.

Eric Bourguignon, directeur général délégué de Swiss Life Asset Management

Jean-Luc Proutat, responsable économies de l'OCDE chez BNP Paribas