Le Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement (FSI) vient de nommer Thierry Moulonguet membre du comité exécutif du FSI à compter du 2 avril 2012. Il exercera la fonction de directeur du FMEA – Fonds de Modernisation des Equipementiers Automobiles - et remplacera, à ce poste, Hervé Guyot qui a décidé de rejoindre une entreprise industrielle après avoir mis en place le FMEA début 2009, précise un communiqué.Âgé de 61 ans, Thierry Moulonguet a passé vingt ans au sein des Groupes Renault et Nissan, particulièrement aux postes de directeur financier, membre du comité exécutif de Nissan, puis de Renault.

Legg Mason Global Asset Management continue de se développer en France. La société de gestion multi-boutiques va viser cette année plus particulièrement les investisseurs institutionnels. «Nous avons un projet de recrutement pour un poste supplémentaire sur le développement», confirme à Newsmanagers Vincent Passa, directeur de la distribution France, Monaco et Benelux. «Une personne pourrait nous rejoindre dans les prochains mois, qui aurait un profil mixte pour une clientèle distribution et institutionnelle». Un certain nombre de produits devraient être mise en avant auprès des institutionnels. «Je pense plus particulièrement aux stratégies «absolute return» gérées par Permal ou Western Asset. Le fonds d’emprunt d’Etats monde de Brandywine correspond également très bien aux attentes de ce type de clientèle, avec son positionnement exclusif sur l’investment grade, tout comme la gestion actions américaines de ClearBridge avec sa volatilité contrôlée"", détaille Vincent Passa.Parallèlement à ces nouveaux développements en France, Legg Mason Global Asset Management avance ses pions en Suisse. Traité jusqu'à présent à partir du bureau de Paris, qui supervise désormais La France, Monaco et le Benelux, le marché helvétique disposera dès à présent de son propre bureau. Situé à Genève, il sera dirigé par Christian Zeitler, nouveau directeur de la distribution pour la Suisse. Arrivé chez Legg Mason Global AM en provenance de F&C Investments, où il était responsable pour l’Autriche et la Suisse, il aura pour mission de développer l’activité de distribution sur le marché suisse, notamment auprès des intermédiaires financiers, gestionnaires d’actifs, gérants de fonds de fonds, banques et plateformes de distribution haut de gamme.

Vendredi, Quest Software a annoncé qu’elle accepte une offre publique d’achat de la part du capital-investisseur Insight Venture Partners sur la base de 23 dollars par action en numéraire, soit au total environ 2 milliards de dollars. Le PDG Vinny Smith, qui a déjà accepté d’apporter ses 34 % du capital à l’acquéreur, restera à la tête de l’entreprise.Les 23 dollars correspondent à une prime de 19 % sur le cours de clôture du 8 mars.Quest met en place parallèlement une commission qui va gérer la période de 60 jours de «go-shop» pendant laquelle pourront être reçues des offres concurrentes supérieures. Quest devra payer à Insight Venture Partners un dédit de 4,2 millions de dollars pour une éventuelle rupture de l’accord avant la fin du délai de 60 jours et de 6,3 millions après cette date.

Antonio Palma, associé et CEO de Mirabaud, a indiqué selon Funds People que le groupe est en phase de redéploiement en Espagne après l’acquisition de Venture Finanzas. Cela se traduira par une gamme unique de fonds espagnols qui seront commercialisés dans tout le groupe et modernisés pour tenir compte de la directive OPCVM IV, ce qui passera par des suppressions de produits, une réorganisation et le changement de philosophie de gestion de certains fonds. La gamme se composera des fonds d’actions espagnoles et d’un produit monétaire local. Les fonds d’actions européennes de Venture seront fusionnés avec un de ceux de Mirabaud. D’autre part, Mirabaud enregistrera progressivement ses fonds auprès de la CNMV.

Très bon début d’année pour les hedge funds asiatiques après un exercice 2011 calamiteux. Selon les statistiques d’Eurekahedge, les hedge funds asiatiques hors Japon ont réalisé un gain de 4,40% en février après une progression de 4,26% en janvier. Sur les deux premiers mois de l’année, la progression est donc de 8,66%.A noter également que l’indice Mizuho-Eurekahedge Asie hors Japon affiche un gain de 9,55% depuis le début de l’année, suggérant que les fonds de grande taille ont surperformé sur les deux premiers mois de l’année.Les stratégies «event-driven» se sont particulièrment bien comportées avec un gain estimé sur deux mois de 19%.L’indice HFRI Emerging Markets: Asia Ex-Japan Index calculé par Hedge Fund Research a pour sa part progressé de 5,21% le mois dernier, ce qui porte la performance des deux premiers mois de l’année à 10,54%.

Pour févirer, les fonds suédois dans leur ensemble ont enregistré des rentrées nettes de 5,4 milliards de couronnes, les souscriptions nettes de 12,4 milliards enregistrées par les fonds d’actions surcompensant largement les remboursement nets de 7,4 milliards subis par les fondés monétaires, indique l’Association suédoise des fonds d’investissement (Fondbolagens förening). Les fonds diversifiés ont pour leur part drainé 1,2 milliard de couronnes en net.Pour les deux premiers mois de l’année, les souscriptions nettes sont ressorties à 6,9 milliards de couronnes, grâce aux 25,7 milliards attirés par les fonds d’actions, alors que les fonds monétaires subissaient une saignée de 14,9 milliards et que les fonds d’obligations accusaient des sorties nettes de 3,6 milliards, les hedge funds ayant pour leur part 2 milliards de couronnes de rachats. Les fonds diversifiés ont bénéficié de rentrées nettes de 1,2 milliards.Au 29 février, l’encours total des fonds suédois se situait à 1.958 milliards de couronnes, soit 62 milliards de plus que fin janvier. C’est le montant le plus élevé après le record de 1.970 milliards enregistré pour mai 2011.Sur le total, les fonds d’actions représentaient 55 % ou 1.077 milliards de couronnes, les produits d’actions suédoises totalisant 298,6 milliards et ceux d’actions internationales, 247,52 milliards.

L’OEIC irlandais Thames River World Government Bond fund (82,4 millions de livres), qui a été lancé le 12 novembre 2008, va être liquidé le 31 mars par F&C, le client pour lequel il a été lancé ayant décidé de réviser son allocation et de ne plus investir en obligations d’Etat, rapporte Fund Web.

Skandia va regrouper ses activités de wealth management en Europe continentale, qui comprennent la France et l’Italie, avec Skandia Retail Europe, qui comprend l’Allemagne, l’Autriche, la Pologne et la Suisse, pour créer Wealth Management Europe. Cette nouvelle entité va représenter 736.000 clients, 800 collaborateurs et plus de 11 milliards d’euros d’actifs sous gestion. Par ailleurs, Skandia UK a pour projet l’extension des services disponibles pour les conseillers et ceux qui pourraient être accessibles en direct à la clientèle des conseillers.Fin 2011, les actifs sous gestion de Skandia outre-Manche s'établissaient à 33,4 milliards de livres, en recul de 500 millions de livres d’une année sur l’autre. Le bénéfice d’exploitation de l’exercice a reculé de 37 millions de livres à 103 millions de livres.

Universal-Investment, a specialist in white-label products, is planning to launch the Responsible Selection Fund UI, a “sustainable development” ETF fund which will invest primarily in ETFs which replicate equity indices such as the Dow Jones Sustainability World Enlarged and the S&P Global Water Index, as well as micro-finance funds, real estate products and forestry funds, for the wealth management firm Dr. Upgang Vermögensberatung.The fund is aimed primarily at IFAs who work on a commission basis, for which reason Universal is not planning to charge any front-end fee or performance commission. In addition, the composition of the portfolio will be viewable at any time, with weighting, on the website www.responsibleselection-fund.de.CharacteristicsName: Responsible Selection Fund UIISIN code: DE000A1JLRD2Management commission: 0.92%

Results like this haven’t been seen for twelve years. Hedge funds have posted their best start to the year since 2000. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index has posted gains of 2.14% for February, bringing performance in the first two months of the year to nearly 5%, Hedge Week reports. The largest contribution to the performance of the index came from the HFRI Equity Hedge Index, which gained nearly 7% in the two-month period. However, most strategies did well. The event-driven strategy gained 1.9% in February, and 4.6% since the beginning of the year, while relative value arbitrage gained 1.7% on one month, and 3.6% over two months. The HFRI Macro index shows gains of 1.2% in February, and 2.4% since the beginning of the year, despite losses for most hedge funds concentrated on commodities. There were significant gains for hedge funds investing in emerging markets, of 4.3% in February and 9.3% in the first two months of the year, with special mention for funds investing in Russia and Eastern Europe, which have gained 12.7% in two months.

In the first week of March, appetite for risk has not decreased, and investors have preferred emerging market bond funds and emerging market equity funds, which have posted over USD1bn in net subscriptions, according to statistics from EPFR Global. As Europe awaited the results of the Greek debt swap, Europeaan funds continued to see limited redemptions. Equity funds overall finished the week ending on 7 March with outfllows of USD4.3bn, while bond funds, for their part, have posted net inflows of USD6.9bn. Money market funds have posted net subscriptions of USD5.9bn. Since the beginning of the year, US money market funds have posted outflows of USD53.8bn, while European money market funds show inflows of USD3.49bn. In North America, US equity funds have seen outflows of over USD5bn, while net subscriptions since the beginning of the year fell under USD1bn. Most redemptions were from small and large cap ETFs. Japanese equity funds saw redemptions of nearly USD450m, as investors were concerned by rising energy costs and a sluggish reconstruction programme. Since the beginning of the year, outflows have totalled USD1.6bn, while Japanese equity funds have posted returns of 12%. Since the beginning of the year, high yield bond funds, still highly popular, posted net inflows of over USD23bn.

Only 13% of Germans who have invested in shares in funds or equities, and among those who invest in funds, 32% have shares in only one product, and 49% hold shares in only two or three funds, according to a survey by GfK on behalf of Gothaer Asset Management (GoAM), undertaken in January 2012.The study finds that Germans prefer safety (60.9% compared with 45% in 2010), and their favourite vehicle is the savings account (47%, compared with 31%), while 24% prefer sight deposits. But 29% say that they are not in a position to save.Also of note is the fact that among motives for savings, the macroeconomic picture, investment in the country’s means of production, plays virtually no role.

Klaus Kaldemorgen, an icon in German asset management, has admitted with irritation that he has been too defensive over the past two years, and that his cash allocation was in euros when it should have been in US dollars or in Swiss francs, Die Welt reports. His wealth management fund Vermögensbildungsfonds I from DWS (which still has EUR5.1bn in assets) lost 11% in 2011, 9 points more than the MSCI World index, and it made only 11% in 2010, again 9 points below the index.But the first weeks of 2012 are behind us and the fund has gained two points over its benchmark. The bet of increasing exposure to the financial sector paid off. And Kaldemorgen is also betting more on oil, gas, and commodities. It remains to be seen if this will be enough to hold onto a three-star rating from Morningstar.

Among the four or five strategies that Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) is planning to promote in France this year is the Global Convertible Bond Fund, a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav MS Investment Funds, a product which as of the end of January had USD1bn in assets, according to the product factsheet.The lead manager, Tom Wills, explains to Newsmanagers that, in a universe in which the range of convertible now stands at about 50% Americas, 25% Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and 25% Asia, including Japan, issuance is too low in Europe. “This universe includes 95 names. In other words, we feel European convertible bonds are not a diversified asset class in and of themselves. The idea, therefore, is that if investors want convertible bonds in their portfolios, because they like the optionality of this asset class, since that allows them to capture much of the gains and protect themselves against the losses, they need to invest in a global product which is not limited to Europe.”For these reasons, MSIM claims to be offering a more sustainable profitable international solution than those offered by competing firms, which often focus on a single region. Over five years, the Global Convertible Bond Fund has generated returns of 1.39% per year, compared with 1.32% for the UBS Focus index (in US dollars).Another factor which makes the product stand out from its rivals, according to Wills, is that “one of the particularities of our convertible fund is that we focus on convexity, the ‘sweet spot,’ while other providers are either defensive on the equities portion, or aggressive on the credit portion, while we push for the ‘right’ mix, with a delta of 40-50%.The portfolio includes about 100 positions. “We typically turn over our positions at a pace of about 6-10% per month, but due to market conditions, the turnover rate was lower in 2011. On average, our securities are investment grade,” says Wills.CharacteristicsName: MS INVF Global Convertible Bond FundISIN code: LU0360484504 (ZH institutional shares, hedged in euros) LU0410168768 (AH retail shares, hedged in eurosManagement commission:ZH shares: 0.60%AH shares: 1%

OFI AM on Friday, 9 March announced the departure of Thierry Callault from OFI AM, where he had served as deputy CEO. “Thierry Callault is leaving his position in order to pursue personal projects, after spending nine years at the group,” a statement says. At the next general shareholders’ meeting, Gérard Bourret, the CEO, will nominate Maxime du Chayla and Jean-Marie Mercadal to the board of directors as deputy CEO. OFI Asset management had EUR48.7bn in assets under management as of 31 January 2012..

The pension fund for South Korean public sector employees (GEPS) has recruited a new chief investment officer (CIO), Yoo Seung Rok, who has an international outlook, Asian Investor reports. His predecessor’s contract was not renewed. Assets in the pension fund total about USD7bn. Yoo previously worked at Hi Asset Management Company, an affiliate of Hyundai Heavy Industries, where he was chairman and CEO. GEPS has announced plans to increase its exposure to equities to 23.2%, up from 19% currently, and to reduce its bond allocation (currently 60%). Yoo has announced that he plans to take advantage of international investment opportunities, particularly in alternative management. An additional allocation of USD160m has been set aside for alternative investment, which represents 16% of the current portfolio.

Profit margins have not been the highlight of the asset management industry in the past few years. In the United States, out of 21 independent publicly-traded asset management firms and 12 asset management affiliates belonging to major groups, the median operating profit was about 27% in 2010 and 2011, according to the most recent statistics from Casey, Quirk & Associates. The profit margins for independent firms is higher than for affiliates. The median profit margin for the former was 35% in 2010, compared with 25% for affiliates. In 2011, the profit margin for independent firms was 15%, compared with 6% for affiliates.

Legg Mason Global Asset Management is continuing its development in France. The multi-boutique asset management firm will target institutional investors in particular this year. “We have plans to recruit for an additional development position,” says Vincent Passa, director of distribution for France, Monaco and Benelux. “One person may join us in the next few months, with a mixed profile for retail and institutional clients.”Some products will be foregrounded to institutionals. “I am thinking more particularly of absolute return strategies managed by Permal and Western Asset. The global government bond fund from Brandywine also corresponds very well to the expectations of this type of client, with its exclusive positioning on investment grade. They could be interested in the US equity management fund from ClearBridge as well, with its controlled volatility,” says Passa.Alongside these developments in France, Legg Mason Global Asset Management is also taking strides forward in Switzerland. The Swiss market, which has hitherto been served from the Paris office, which also serves France, Monaco and Benelux, will now have its own office. The office will be located in Geneva, and will be led by Christian Zeller, the new director of distribution for Switzerland.Zeller joins Legg Mason Global AM from F&C Investments, where he had been head for Austria and Switzerland. He will aim to develop distribution activities on the Swiss market, particularly serving financial intermediaries, asset managers, fund of fund managers, banks, and high net worth distribution platforms.

The index of UCITS-compliant hedge funds calculated by the Swiss firm Alix Capital, the UCITS Alternative Index Global, has posted returns of 0.87% for February, compared with 1.37% in January, bringing total gains since the beginning of the year to 2.25%.All strategies finished February in positive territory, with emerging markets leading with gains of 2.12% for the month and 6.25% since the beginning of the year.

According to updated statistics from the BlackRock Institute, European ETPs in February saw net inflows of USD1.7bn, bringing the total for first quarter to USD5bn, and assets at the end of February to USD337.9bn (of which USD301.5bn were for ETF funds), compared with USD323.2bn (of which USD287.8bn as of the end of January were for ETFs, which represented USD266.6bn as of 31 December 2011).Of this USD5bn in net subscriptions in January-February, iShares (BlackRock) took on USD2.4bn, and db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) took in USd0.2bn. The top three products by net inflow volumes were funds from iShares (MSCI Emerging Markets, with USD661m, Barclays Cap Europ Corporate Bond ex-Financial, with USD535m, and Markit iBoxx Euro Corporate Bond, with USD463m.Though the figures are slightly divergent from one source to another as to the number of ETFs and total assets, BlackRock and ETF Global Insight, the new firm from Deborah Fuhr, agree that Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) saw the heaviest net outflows in February, with USD0.4bn.

Eagle Investment Systems LLC, a provider of financial IT services and an affiliate of BNY Mellon, has announced that it has opened a representative office in Beijing. The entity will be led by John Legrand.

After months of uncertainty, Value Partners has officially announced that the Chinese regulator, the CSRC, has approved the acquisition by Value Partners of a 49% stake in KBC Goldstate, for an officially announced total of CNY40.5m. However, Z-Ben Advisors reports, the question is how much Value Partners really had to pay in total, which would be instructive for the next deals involving valuation of small, loss-making asset management firms.

According to a statement from JPMorgan, relayed by Agefi, US money market funds have increased their portfolio of debt from euro zone banks by 30% in February, bringing their total exposure to USD211bn. This increase follows an increase of USD27bn the previous month.

Assets under management by Skandia in the UK as of the end of 2011 totalled GBP33.4bn, down by GBP500m year on year. Operating profits for the fiscal year are down by GBP37m to GBP103m. Skandia UK has also announced plans to extend the range of services available to independent financial advisers, and services available directly to clients of advisers. Skandia has also announced a merger of its wealth management activities in continental Europe, including France and Italy, with Skandia Retail Europe, which includes Germany, Austria, Poland, and Switzerland, to create Wealth Management Europe. The new entity will have 736,000 clients, 800 personnel and over EUR11bn in assets under management.

Despite EUR650m in net inflows for high-risk assets in 2011, EdRAM has opted for diversification. It has constructed an expertise in less volatile real estate assets. Philippe Couvrecelle, chairman of the board, discusses the motives for this enlargement of the capabilities of the firm, the next steps in building the team dedicated to this activity, and the launch of the first house OPCI funds. But if such a development were to take place to the detriment of the equities unit, it would be a step too far.

CamGestion, whose prudent flexible fund CamGestion Active 20 posted significant losses in 2011 (-7.94%) despite its prudent design (equities may not exceed 20% of the portfolio), has decided to make some modifications to the ex-ante and ex-post risk management mechanisms for the fund. The objective is to limit the possibility that exceptional movements such as those which occurred last year might impact the performance to such an extent, the firm says. As a result, CamGestion has opted firstly for deployment of a double management of the fund, with the addition of a bond manager and a live share manager to manage the fixed income portfion. Management has also decided to add further elements to the management policy and risk limits for the CamGestion Active 20. The management objective for the CamGestion Active 20 has not been modified. The ranges for exposure to various asset classes remain the same. Equities may vary from 0 to 20%, bonds from 0 to 100%, convertibles from 0 to 100%, sensitivity from -1 to +5, emerging markets from 0 to 10%, and currency risk is limited to 50%.

The arbitrage fund from the New York-based alternative management firm Water Island Capital will be reopened to all investors from 15 March, Mutual Fund Wire reports. The fund has been closed to new investors since 19 July 2010. Its assets under management currently total USD2.9bn, Morningstar reports.

The Hennessee hedge fund index in February posted gains of 1.72%, following performance of 2.30% in January, bringing total gains of 4.07% since the beginning of the year.The only strategy to show losses is short bias funds, with losses of 5.06% in February, compared with 5.08% in January, and losses of 9.89% for first quarter 2012.Excluding financial and regional strategies, the best performer was event-driven, with gains of 1.66% in February, compared with 3.78% in January and gains of 5.50% for the first two months of the year.

As investors go for high yield bond funds, Financial Times Fund Management predicts that the returns on these products may be far lower than those of high yield bond indices, due to high transaction costs and market inefficiencies. This observation is particularly true for ETFs. Figures from Lipper reveal that in the past five years, the average high yield ETF was 46 basis points below its index on one month, or 552 points per year, which is far higher than the management fees of 40-50 basis points.

It has been a very good start to the year for Asian hedge funds, after a calamitous year in 2011. According to statistics from Eurekahedge, Asia ex Japan hedge funds earned gains of 4.40% in February, after growth of 4.26% in January. In the first two months of this year, thw growth comes to 8.66%. The Mizuho-Eurekahedge Asia ex Japan index has also posted gains of 9.55% since the beginning of the year, suggesting that larger funds outperformed in the first two months of the year. Event-driven strategies have done particularly well, with estimated gains over two months of 19%. The HFRI Emerging Markets: Asia Ex-Japan Index, calculated by Hedge Fund Research, gained 5.21% last month, bringing performance in the first two months of the year to 10.54%.