BNP Paribas Securities Services (BP2S) a été une nouvelle fois retenu par la société Danone pour assurer l’administration de ses plans d’actionnariat salarié. En outre, la banque est mandatée pour la gestion de l’intégralité de son service titres (tenue du registre, organisation de l’assemblée générale, vote électronique des actionnaires, paiement du dividende). BP2S a développé des solutions en matière de tenue du registre titres et d’organisation des assemblées générales : après l’e-convocation, la banque propose le vote par internet en période de pré-assemblée via la plateforme Votaccess, précise un communiqué. Danone compte environ 101 000 collaborateurs, dont 44% sont basés en Europe et 24% en Asie.

Market Vectors ETF Trust (groupe Van Eck) a annoncé le lancement du Market Vectors Indonesia Small-Cap ETF (acronyme sur NYSE Arca: IDXJ), son second ETF consacré exclusivement à l’Indonésie.Ce produit est focalisé comme son nom l’indique sur les petites capitalisations et il réplique l’indice Market Vectors Indonesia Small-Cap Index (MVIDXJTR) de l’allemand Market Vector Index Solutions GmbH.Pour entrer dans l’indice qui comprend actuellement 39 % de financières, 18 % d’industrielles, 17 % de valeurs énergie et 15 % de titres de consommation courante, les entreprises doivent afficher une capitalisation supérieure à 150 millions de dollars et un volume quotidien de transactions d’au moins 1 million de dollars sur trois mois ainsi qu’un volume d'échanges mensuel moyen de 250.000 titres sur les six derniers mois. Au lancement, la capitalisation moyenne était de 688 millions de dollars.Le nouvel ETF est chargé à 0,61 % au moins jusqu’au 1er mai 2013.

Le 5 mars, iShares (BlackRock) a sollicité de la SEC l’agrément pour un ETF d’obligations souveraines sélectionnées, le iShares Sovereign Screened Global Bond Fund dont le taux de chargement n’a pas encore été fixé.Il s’agira d’un produit à gestion active, sans réplication d’indice, investissant «en circonstances normales» au moins 80 % de ses encours en obligations libellées en monnaies locales et en dollars américains émises par des Etats de pays développés ainsi qu'émergents qui figurant dans l’univers du BlackRock Sovereign Risk Index qui comprenait fin septembre 44 pays «éligibles». L’objectif est de privilégier une exposition à des obligations souveraines de qualité supérieure à celles d’un fonds qui répliquerait la performance d’un indice large d’obligations d’Etat accordant une pondération plus élevée aux gouvernements qui émettent le plus de dette.iShares precise que cet ETF pourrait avoir un taux de rotation supérieur à celui de produits répliquant la performance d’un indice.Le prêt de titres sera plafonné à un tiers de l’encours total du fonds, valeur du collatéral incluse.

Dans un entretien à L’Agefi Hebdo, Alain Leclair, président de la sicav d’incubation de jeunes sociétés Emergence et président d’honneur de l’Association française de la gestion financière, revient sur les ambitions de ce fonds de place. Emergence, qui est déjà doté de 120 millions d’euros, «devrait s’accroître de quelques dizaines de millions dans les prochaines semaines», annonce Alain Leclair, qui précise que la structure vise «quatre à cinq dossiers d’ici à la fin de l’année».

La société de gestion Viveris REIM spécialiste de la gestion d’actifs immobiliers a été sélectionnée par l’Ircantec (Institution de retraite complémentaire des agents non titulaires de l’Etat et des collectivités publiques) pour la mise en place et la gestion d’un OPCI dédié. Ce dernier prendra la forme d’une SPICAV (Société à prépondérance immobilière à capital variable) à Règles de Fonctionnement Allégées et sans effet de levier (SPPICAV RFA SEL).L’encours cible est de 300 millions d’euros et la stratégie immobilière prévoit une diversification des actifs répondant à la politique d’engagement socialement responsable de l’Ircantec, précise un communiqué.

Generali a vu ses encours sous gestion baisser de 432,043 milliards d’euros fin 2010 à 424,433 milliards d’euros fin 2011, selon les résultats annuels du groupe d’assurances italien. Sur le total, les encours pour compte de tiers sont ressortis à 88,207 milliards d’euros, soit une hausse de 3,4 % à périmètre comparable. Le bénéfice d’exploitation du segment financier est ressorti à 342 millions d’euros, contre 354 millions fin 2010, soit un repli de 3,3 %. Cela s’explique par une réduction des commissions nettes.

S&P Capital IQ a annoncé qu’il applique désormais une méthodologie de notation de fonds représentée par les symboles Platine, Or, Argent et Bronze (précédemment AAA, AA, A et TR). Avec ce nouveau système, «seulement 90 des 1.026 fonds notés reçoivent la plus haute note Platine, près de trois quarts (72 %) de ce groupe d'élite étant composé de fonds d’actions», indique S&P Capital IQ. Les fonds actions de croissance de petite/moyenne capitalisation britanniques étaient proportionnellement les plus performants. 33 % d’entre eux ont obtenu la note la plus élevée. Parmi les fonds obligataires, près d’un sur dix (9 %) sont notés Platine avec la même tendance régionale, deux cinquième d’entre eux se concentrant sur le Royaume-Uni.Sur les 28 secteurs des fonds, cinq ne sont pas parvenus à atteindre une note Platine : les actions de la région Pacifique, les actions de petite capitalisation nord-américaines, les actions des marchés émergents MOAN, les marchés monétaires et la performance absolue.

Le Conseil d’Etat chinois a donné son feu vert à la province du Guangdong pour que cette dernière confie le mandat de gestion sur deux ans de ses 100 milliards de yuans d’actifs locaux des fonds de pension au Fonds de la sécurité sociale (NCSSF), rapporte Z-Ben Advisors. Une partie de ces actifs sera confiée à des gestionnaires d’actifs externes, et le NCSSF a déjà reçu des soumissions de 18 maisons.

L’ancien responsable des hedge funds d’Unigestion, Philippe Gougenheim, lancera son premier fonds Glasnost Fund en septembre, au lieu du 1er juin. C’est ce qu’il annonce dans un communiqué expliquant ce retard par un accident de ski au cours duquel son talon d’Achille de la jambe droite a été rompu.Philippe Gougenheim, qui a fondé Gougenheim Investments en février, indique néanmoins avoir sélectionné JPMorgan comme prime broker et Pictet comme dépositaire et administrateur pour le fonds.

Skandia IG vient de nommer General Electric Asset Management pour gérer son fonds Skandia European Equity Fund de 157,6 millions de dollars au 29 février. Le produit était précédemment géré par Goldman Sachs.

Le gestionnaire helvétique GAM a annoncé à Londres le lancement du fonds GAM Star Emerging Equity, un fonds coordonné long-only investissant en actions des marchés émergents. Le portefeuille de ce produit de droit irlandais disponible en dix monnaies comportera entre 100 et 150 lignes.Les deux co-gérants, Tim Love et Joaquim Nogueira, utiliseront une approche de valorisation fondamentale qui allie des outils exclusifs de sélection de titres avec un overlay thématique «top-down» et des stratégies de timing.Pour l’instant, ce fonds dispose d’un agrément de commercialisation en Irlande, au Royaume-Uni et au Luxembourg.CaractéristiquesDénomination : GAM Star Emerging EquityCode Isin : IE00B55Y9W63Commissions de gestion:parts institutionnelles : 0,90 %parts «ordinaires» : 1,50 %

Selon L’Agefi, le tribunal de commerce de Paris rendra son délibéré mardi 27 prochain, l’avant-veille de l’AG d’Altamir Amboise. L’Adam et Moneta demandent le respect de la séparation des pouvoirs et la limitation des droits de vote de Maurice Tchenio au seuil de 5%. Altamir a rétorqué par une demande reconventionnelle estimant que l’Adam agissait de concert avec Moneta à travers leur projet de résolution commun, note L’Agefi.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.