La rémunération des CEO de Federated Investors, Franklin Resources et T. Rowe Price Group, qui font partie des sept principales sociétés de gestion cotées en Bourse aux Etats-Unis, a augmenté de 28 % en 2011 à un total de 22,4 millions de dollars, relève The Wall Street Journal. Certains experts prédisent des hausses similaires pour Invesco et State Street. En revanche, les CEO de Janus et BlackRock ont vu leur rémunération diminuer.

La société d’investissement Wendel a présenté mercredi 21 mars ses résultats 2011 faisant état d’un chiffre d’affaires sur 12 mois de 5 953 millions d’euros, en hausse de 17,5%. Le résultat net des activités part du groupe est également en hausse de 25,9%, à 321,4 millions d’euros.La dette brute a été réduite de 1 587 millions d’euros et Wendel présente une trésorerie qualifiée de solide de 795 millions d’euros (au 12 mars 2012). Le produit de cession de la société Deutsch à venir est d’environ 960 millions d’euros a également annoncé la société.Dans ce cadre, la société d’investissement va aussi proposer à l’assemblée générale le 4 juin prochain, un dividende de 1,30 euro par action assorti, à titre exceptionnel, d’une action Legrand pour 50 actions Wendel de «façon à associer ses actionnaires à la belle réussite de Legrand». Au cours de l’année 2011, Wendel a en effet cédé 13,6 % du capital de Legrand, pour un total de 961,5 millions d’euros. Wendel détiendra après cette distribution environ 5,5 % du capital de Legrand, ces titres bénéficiant tous de droits de votes doubles.

Following the announcement of a transition in its management about three months ago (see Newsmanagers of 9 December 2011), the Edmond de Rothschild group has announced that the supervisory board of its holding company, Compagnie Financière Saint-Honoré, has appointed Christophe de Backer, chairman of the executive board at the Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild in Geneva (effective from 26 April 2012), as director and CEO of the Compagnie Financière Saint-Honoré in Paris (effective from 23 May 2012). Lord Jacob Rothschild, for his part, chairman of RIT Capital Partners Plc, an investment trust listed in London, has been appointed as honorary vice president of the Compagnie Financière Saint-Honoré, while Francesco Goedhuis, special adviser to Lord Rothschild, is appointed as a director.The Compagnie Financière Saint-Honoré, which is currently organised with a supervisory board and a management board, will modify its structure so as to have a board of directors.Meanwhile, Marc Samuel has been appointed as chairman of the board at La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild Banque in Paris (also from 23 May 2012). Michel Cicureil, chairman of the board, and Cuy Grymberg, CEO, will be leaving their jobs following the general shareholders’ meeting of the bank on 233 May.The new board at La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild will then include Marc Samuel, Marc Lévy, who is appointed as CEO, and Patrice Dordet, CEO for private management.Christophe de Backer, as representative of the Compagnie Financière Saint Honoré, and Laurent Bellue, secretary general of the Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, will join the supervisory board at La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild Banque.

As of 31 December 2011, Groupama AM had EUR84bn in assets under management, including EUR70.8bn for the group, and EUR13.2bn for external clients. The asset management firm has posted net outflows of EUR1.9bn, largely from money markets (-EUR1.58bn). There were inflows to bond management (EUR191m), unlike equities (-EUR95m) and diversified management (-EUR205m). Jean-Marie Catala, head of development, has announced that, in the first two months of 2012, Groupama AM has posted inflows of EUR1.4bn, of which EUR1.3bn were to money markets, and EUR100m to bonds.In France, net outflows last year totalled EUR1.975bn, while internationally, particularly in Italy, inflows were positive (+EUR269m). With EUR1.7bn in assets, international activities represent 13% of activities overall, compared with 3% four years ago. In 2012, Groupama AM has announced plans to become a leading player in Europe for institutionals, with precise areas of expertise. The asset management firm would also like to increase its presence serving distributors, position itself in the long-term corporate savings market in France, and prepare for new areas of growth outside France. “With our new management processes, we may be able to win over sovereign wealth funds, for example,” says Francis Alihaud, CEO of Groupama AM.To that end, the asset management firm is planning to take into account the particular qualities of each of its clients. From this year, it has created a management for global investment solutions, which includes asset liability management (ALM), with EUR50bn, dynamic allocation management, financial engineering, and a new unit entitled group and corporate savings solutions.Groupama AM has also revised its management product offerings, diversifying the universe and management techniques. The extended fixed income management now includes high yield, total return, emerging market debt, covered and short-term money market management. “In order to ensure a continuum of expertise over the entire curve, the money market team is integrated into the fixed income team,” Groupama AM has announced. In equities management, the priority is placed on Europe, and expertise that drives performance, defined in types, which the firm is still considering.Groupama AM has also announced the deployment of its new sustainable strategy in three major areas, which will result, among other things, in the inclusion of ESG criteria into all investment processes, and the establishment of an “RI reporting” (responsible investment) function led by the financial engineering unit.As to the change of depository for third-party funds, Alihaud explains that this was a demand of clients, as the previous depository was Groupama, whose financial difficulties “no longer allow it to retain this status.” After a request for proposals, Caceis was selected, and now serves as custodian for the firm’s money market funds. Other mutual funds, including 40 products, will be migrated completely to the new depository by the end of May, with total assets of EUR12.3bn.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc on Wednesday announced that it would be exiting its variable annuities business, and will consider the sale of a large part of its life insurance operation, the Wall Street Journal reports.The move is intended to increase the firm’s share price, and thus to satisfy the demands of the hedge fund manager Paulson & Co, the largest shareholder in The Hartford with 8.5%, which is calling for a “drastic” changes at the firm, which is over 200 years old. The Hartford will concentrate on property and casualty insurance, employee benefits and mutual funds, areas where returns on owners’ equity are expected to reach 12-13% this year. This is not enough for Paulson, who claims that it represents only a first step.

Pay scales for CEOs at Federated Investors, Franklin Resources and T. Rowe Price Group, which are three of the seven largest asset management firms listed on the US stock markets, rose 28% in 2011, to a total of USD22.4m, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some experts predict similar incrases at Invesco and State Street. However, the CEOs of Janus and BlackRock have seen pay cuts.

The board of directors of the French additional retirement institution for public sector employees (ERAFP) has laid out a few major guidelines for its shareholder engagement policies, “which the Management of the institution will ensure are adhered to adequately in the next season of general shareholders’ meetings, and that they are fully integrated by managers of mandates from the Regime under all circumstances,” a statement says. Some of the principles, dealing with the composition of boards of directors, pay scales for management and the distribution of stock options, are described in the document.The full proposal of guidelines for shareholder engagement from the ERAFP may be downloaded from its webnsite, in the “socially responsible investment” section, at www.rafp.fr.

The US hedge fund Passport Capital has announced that 14 employees, including 7 portfolio managers, have been laid off in the past few days, due to the poor performance of the fund last year, the news agency Bloomberg reports. The firm, whose assets under management total USD3.8bn, now has 76 employees. The firm reported a loss of 18% in 2011. The hedge fund has nonetheless made gains of 3.7% in the first two months of this year.

Deutsche Bank, which has been operating with open architecture since 2001, already offers funds from 25 international asset management firms, and it has recently extended its range to include products from a further 10 managers, which allows it to offer about 900 funds, Funds People reports. Allfunds Bank has signed an agreement to join the network of the German bank; the Spanish firm will now offer its services via the investment centre of the commercial banking division and via the private bank operation of Deutsche Bank.

Contrairement à ses objectifs en 2011, la Mutuelle d’Ivry a renoncé à investir dans des obligations allemandes pour préférer le crédit corporate périphérique. Et la stratégie de placement a été efficace. Alexandre Piazza, gérant de portefeuilles, le constate : nous avons servi un taux de +4,05 % en 2011, preuve de l’intérêt de cette classe d’actifs. Composée de 4 personnes, la direction des investissements de la Mutuelle d’Ivry gère en interne plus de 95 % de ses encours, dont 7.5% de monétaire. Seule la gestion de la poche action est externalisée, ce qui représente 5 % du portefeuille. Début 2012, l’allocation se composait de 5 % d’actions contre 7 % l’année précédente. En guise de décorrélation, la mutuelle possède des biens immobiliers à hauteur de 6 % des actifs, une poche matières premières de 1 % qui devrait être doublée prochainement. Nous n’avons pas fixé de délai, mais j’envisage d’allouer 2 % de mon portefeuille dans cette classe d’actifs explique le membre de la direction des investissements. Enfin, sur la partie obligataire, la mutuelle limite son exposition globale aux dettes souveraines à moins de 10 % et recherche davantage de rendement. Elle se dirige vers du crédit corporate périphérique à duration courte, au détriment des titres plus longs, ce qui lui permet de limiter le risque de crédit sur la partie courte de la courbe.

La Direction des retraites et de la solidarité de la Caisse des Dépôts a sélectionné, à l’issue d’un appel d’offres, Viveris REIM pour la mise en place et la gestion d’un OPCI dédié pour le compte de l’IRCANTEC (Institution de retraite complémentaire des agents non titulaires de l’Etat et des collectivités publiques). Celui???ci prendra la forme d’une Société à Prépondérance Immobilière à Capital Variable à Règles de Fonctionnement Allégées Sans Effet de Levier (SPPICAV RFA SEL) dont l’encours cible devrait atteindre 300 millions d’euros. « La stratégie immobilière prévoit une diversification des actifs répondant à la politique d’engagement socialement responsable de l’IRCANTEC », précise un communiqué de la société de gestion. Viveris REIM gère pour 2,7 Mds€ d’actifs immobiliers à fin décembre 2011, au travers de 17 OPCI dont 2 à destination du grand public.

Qatar Holding, the Qatar sovereign fund, has since the beginning of the year increased its stake in the Vivendi group, a document from the telecoms and entertainment group announces. Qatar, which had already acquired 1.55% of capital in Vivendi in 2011, held 24,96 million shares as of the end of February, equivalent to about 2% of capital, the document states, confirming information published by the website WanSquare. The acquisition, which represents an investmnt of EUR356m at current share prices, comes in addition to a long list of investments already made by the emirate in French businesses. Qatar, which has recently increased its stake in the Lagardère media group to 12.8%, has also invested in Total, LVMH and Vinci.

In addition to the AlphaPlus Absolute Return fund, the Spanish asset management firm AlphaPlys has launched the Luxembourg fund AlphaPlus Absolute Return Plus, a more dynamic version, which aims for annual returns of 5-8%, with average volatility of 6%, Funds People reports. The product is managed by Francisco Esteban, for the tactical portion, and Edwin Voerman, for the mid-term and pair trading portion. The fund is a multi-asset class product (equities, bonds, currencies, fixed income and commodities ETFs), with a management commission of 0.55%, and a performance commission of 9%.

The CNMV has issued a sales license for the UCITS-compliant fund Merchant Astor Long/Short UCITS, from Merchant Capital, which applies a strategy by the US firm Astor Asset Management, an affiliate of Knight Capital Group, Funds People reports.The absolute return product invests in 15 to 20 ETF funds replicating the most favourable indices depending on the position in the economic cycle.

The announced merger of the Convergence Eastern European Sub-fund into the Eastern European Sub-fund in East Capital (lux) has now been executed, says East Capital in a press release.

The former head of hedge funds from Unigestion, Philippe Gouhengeim, will launch his first fund, Glasnost Fund, in September, rather than 1 June. He made the announcement in a statement explaining that the delay is due to a ski accident in which his right Achilles tendon was ruptured. Gougenheim, who founded Gougenheim Investments in February, has announced that he has nonetheless selected JP Morgan as prime broker for the fund, and Pictet as custodian and administrator.

The French prudential control authority (ACP) and financial markets authority (AMF) have drawn the attention of the public to the fact that the WorldSpreads Limited company, whose headquarters are located at 3 Minster Court EC3R 7DD, in London, has gone into administration. The firm, which is licensed by the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) to provide investment services in the UK, has a branch in France, at 29 rue de Bassano, 75008 Paris, and is authorized to provide some investment services directly in France from its British offices, the two authorities say in a statement. Due to the opening of the legal procedure in 18 March 2012, the ACP and AMF call on clients of the branch to refer themselves to KPMG LLP, which will be administering the interests of the firm, at the following address worldspreads-enquiries@kpmg.co.uk / telephone +44 20 32 84 88 29.

A district court in Manhattan has dismissed a motion by Goldman Sachs to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it by Dodona I, Handelsblatt reports. The hedge fund accuses the bank of defrauding it of USD4m which it had invested in the CDO Hudson Mezzanine programme, launched in late 2006, which had USD2bn in assets before the real estate bubble popped, causing the product’s rating to be downgraded to junk bond status.

Pending the publication of the second level of the AIFM directive, French financial management professionals are continuing to dissect bills in preparation for the new regulations. At a conference held by the French association of securities professionals (AFTI), a majority of participants claimed that they were prepared, but that they still needed to reflect on the opportunities opened up by the directive. “We are AIFM-ready,” said the director general of the French financial management association (AFG), Pierre Bollon. “We have the knowledge, but we still need to work on the ‘how-to,’ for example, how to make our product ranges more comprehensible, and on the ‘able-to-do,’ as many French asset management firms export their management products with too much discretion,” he said.However, the role of the depository has once again sustained a large number of comments. First of all, the AFG/AFTI working group on the market depository convention has unveiled its new architecture model, which replaces the depository convention of 2002, and which includes regulatory and legislative texts from 2011. The project deals with only one point: the way in which foreign fund shares or equities are held by a registrar or transfer agent. But this divergence may be resolved by the terms of the level 2 legislation, which will soon be published. The convention will then need to be approved by the boards of directors of the two professional associations, which will set up a monitoring committee to examine the results at management firms and depositories.Eric Dérobert, head of public affairs at Caceis, and also vice president of AFTI, has presented the most recent recommendations of the STBF (European Trustee & Depositary Forum), an association which includes eight national associations of depositories, including those of France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Commenting on article 12 of the directive on depositories, Dérobert pointed out that there is a need to retain the balance defined by the level 1 legislation, by stating the requirements of the depository and retaining the concept of “reasonable” controlling by the depository. It would also be a good idea to specify the field of application of custody, a fundamental definition in terms of responsibility.Natasha Cazenave, deputy director of the asset management division in the direction and regulation of international affairs at the AMF, points out that the AIFM market committee formed at the end of 2011 (see Newsmanagers of 28 December) would as planned launch a consultation in May this year on the major strategic orientations to adopt over the next few years. A final report would then be available from July, leaving one year for the French Treasury and the AMF to make the necessary modifications before the transposition deadline (July 2013).

On 5 March, iShares (BlackRock) applied to the SEC for a license for an ETF of selected government bonds, the iShares Sovereign Screened Global Bond Fund, whose fee level has not yet been set The fund will be actively managed, without replicating an index, and will invest at least 80% of its assets “in normal circumstances” in bonds denominated in local currencies or US dollars issued by governments of developed and emerging countries that are in the BlackRock Sovereign Risk Index universe, which as of the end of September included 44 eligible countries. The objective is to prefer exposure to high quality government bonds over those in a fund which replicated the performance of a larger index of government bonds, which would give a larger weight to governments which issue more debt. iShares states that the ETF may have a higher turnover rate than products which replicate an index.Securities lending will be limited to one third of total assets in the fund, including collateral value.

Market Vectors ETF Trust (Van Eck group) has announced the launch of the Market Vectors Indonesia Small-Cap ETF (acronym on NYSE Arca: IDXJ), its second ETF dedicated exclusively to Indonesia.As its name indicates, the product is focused on small caps, and replicates the Market Vectors Indonesia Small-Cap Index (MVIDXJTR) from the German asset management firm Market Vector Index Solutions GmbH.In order to join the index, which currently includes 39% financial sector businesses, 18% industrials, 17% energy sector and 15% consumer goods businesses, firms must have a market capitalisation of over USD150m, and a daily trading volume of at least USD1bn over three months, as well as an average monthly trading volume of 250,000 shares over the past six months. At launch, the average capitalisation of the fund was USD688m.The new ETC will charge 0.61% at least until 1 May 2013.

Deutsche Börse has announced that a further three ETF funds from the French firm Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale group) have been admitted to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform, bringing the total number of funds listed on the segment to 947.These include three French-registered bond ETFs, each of which charge fees of 0.165%, the Lyxor ETF EUROMTS AAA Macro Weighted Government 1-3Y, the Lyxor ETF EUROMTS AAA Macro Weighted Government 3-5Y and the Lyxor ETF EUROMTS AAA Macro Weighted Government 5-7Y.

The Chinese government council has granted its approval for the province of Guangdong to award a two-year management mandate for the management of its CNY100bn in local assets to the Chinese National Council for Social Security Fund (NCSSF), Z-Ben Advisors reports. A part of the assets will be given to third-party asset management firm, and the NCSSF has already received applications from 18 asset management firms for these mandates.

In its asset management business Generali had total assets under management at EUR424,433 million at the end of 2011 (vs EUR 432,043 million FY10), with third-party assets at EUR88,207 million (+3.4% on a like-for-like basis). The operating result in the Financial Services segment was EUR342 million (EUR354 million FY10). «The trend (-3.3%) was particularly affected by the decrease in net commissions, reflecting trends on the financial markets. The net result on financial operations improved, thanks specifically to the increase in the intermediation margin», according to a financial statement.

The Swiss asset management firm GAM has announced the launch of the GAM Star Emerging Equity fund, a UCITS-compliant long-only fund investing in emerging markets equities, in London. The portfolio of the Irish-registered product available in 10 currencies will include 100 to 150 positions.The two co-managers, Tim Love and Joaquim Nogueira, will use a fundamental valuation approach, which combines exclusive securities selection tools with a top-down thematic overlay and timing strategies.The fund currently has a sales license in Ireland, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg.CharacteristicsName: GAM Star Emerging EquityISIN code: IE00B55Y9W63Management commission:Institutional share class: 0.90%Ordinary share class: 1.50%

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has announced the appointment of a new sub-advisor for its USD157.6m USD Skandia European Equity Fund (as of 29th February). The Fund’s management changes from Goldman Sachs to General Electric Asset Management (GEAM).

Catella engages Ubbe Strihagen to strengthen Catella’s asset management within the real estate segment. Most recently, he held the position of director at fund manager Schroders Investment Management, where for the past four years he has been responsible for property funds in the Nordic region and Benelux countries.Catella has assets totalling approximately SEK 17 billion under management in real estate-related investment management mandates and funds. The operations are conducted through Catella Real Estate KAG in Munich and Amplion Asset Management OY in Helsinki. In close cooperation with these operations, Ubbe Strihagen will develop new investment products. The focus will lie on offering institutional investors in the Nordics and Benelux new products primarily allocated on other markets than the native markets. The Catella Group has assets under management totalling approximately SEK 34 billion, of which SEK 17 billion are managed within the property area and SEK 17 billion within equity, fixed income and hedge products.

Le gestionnaire d’actifs a confirmé à Business Immo le lancement d’un fonds de dette immobilière, d’une capacité d’investissement de 500 millions d’euros. «Ce fonds cible la dette hypothécaire senior avec un ratio de loan to value (LTV) de 60 % maximum et pour sous-jacents des actifs de bureaux, commerces et logistiques », précise le site internet. Trois marchés sont ciblés: la France, le Royaume-Uni et l’Allemagne.

La collecte du Livret A et du Livret de Développement Durable au titre du mois de février 2012 est positive avec 2,1 milliards d’euros pour l’ensemble des réseaux. Sur les deux premiers mois de l’année, elle s’élève en cumulé à 6,97 milliards d’euros. L’encours total sur les deux produits atteint ainsi 293,8 milliards d’euros à fin février 2012.

Le Fonds monétaire international a débloqué 500 millions d’euros supplémentaires à titre de précaution pour la Roumanie. Cela porte à 2 milliards d’euros le plafond de la facilité de crédit mise à disposition de Bucarest.