Vanguard vient de nommer deux nouveaux managing directors. L'équipe Financial Advisor Services accueille Martha King en tant que managing director de la filiale. Chris McIsaac est nommé managing director de Institutional Investor Group.

BNP Paribas aurait mis sur le marché un portefeuille de prêts octroyés à des sociétés gazières et pétrolières pour 11 milliards de dollars, selon les informations du Financial Times. La banque négocierait avec au moins trois acheteurs potentiels.

Pour l’exercice au 31 décembre, Invesco Ltd fait état d’un bénéfice net ajusté de 781,6 millions de dollars, en hausse de 22 % sur 2010. Aux normes comptables US-GAAP, ce bénéfice net s’est inscrit à 729,7 millions, ce qui représente un bond en avant de 56,7 % par rapport à l’année précédente. Il convient de préciser que les résultats de 2011 comptabilisent une année complète d’activité pour les fonds retail achetés à Morgan Stanley, contre 7 mois seulement pour 2010.Les encours au 31 décembre sont ressortis en progression de 1,4 % sur un an à 625,3 milliards de dollars pendant que les encours moyens de 2011 se situaient à 634,3 milliards de dollars, soit 19,2 % de plus qu’en 2010.

A fin décembre, les actifs sous administration de Raymond James Financial ressortaient à 270 milliards de dollars, soit 5 % de plus que fin septembre et 3 % de plus qu’un an auparavant. Quant aux encours sous gestion, ils s'établissaient à 35 milliards de dollars, en hausse de 9 % sur un trimestre et de 5 % sur douze mois.S’agissant du bénéfice net d’octobre-décembre, le premier trimestre du nouvel exercice, il est ressorti à 67,32 millions de dollars contre 68,93 millions pour juillet-septembre et un record historique de 81,72 millions pour la période correspondante de 2010.Le bénéfice avant impôt de l’activité de gestion d’actifs s’est situé à 15,81 millions de dollars contre 17,76 millions le trimestre précédent et 15,59 millions pour octobre-décembre 2010.

AllianceBernstein a annoncé le 26 janvier le lancement européen du fonds AB Select US Equity Portfolio (*) géré par Kurt Feuerman. Ce fonds de droit luxembourgeois est axé sur les grandes et moyennes capitalisations américaines qu’il sélectionne en se fondant sur des analyses de type bottom-up et des informations de nature macroéconomique. Kurt Feuerman, qui a rejoint AllianceBernstein en juin 2011 après avoir quitté Caxton Associates, peut se prévaloir d’une expérience de près de 30 ans dans le secteur et d’un historique de performances éprouvé sur plusieurs cycles de marché. Ses portefeuilles d’actions américaines ont systématiquement surperformé le S&P 500 depuis leur création. La stratégie n’est assujettie à aucune contrainte en termes de capitalisation boursière, de style et de secteur. L’équipe cible des entreprises qu’elle considère caractérisées par une croissance bénéficiaire forte combinée à une valorisation raisonnable, des modèles d’activité transparents et bien établis, ainsi que de solides équipes de direction, une politique d’entreprise favorable aux actionnaires – versement de dividendes et rachats d’actions, un facteur déclencheur imminent, tel que l’annonce de bénéfices susceptibles de surprendre par leur fermeté ou la dissipation des craintes des investisseurs.(*) LU0683600562

Seraient-ils en train de se refaire une santé ? Encore boudés l’an dernier, les fonds monétaires européens semblent à nouveau intéresser les investisseurs en quête de sécurité. Certes, les statistiques ne plaident pas vraiment en leur faveur mais la décollecte s’est nettement ralentie entre 2010 et l’an dernier.Et l’on observe même ici et là des signes de reprise de la collecte. En novembre dernier, les fonds monétaires suisses ont ainsi drainé près de 2 milliards de francs suisses, relève Cerulli dans une étude sur les fonds monétaires. Et le fonds phare de SWIP, le Sterling Global Liquidity Fund (17,8 milliards de livres) a drainé quelque 840 millions d’euros de fonds institutionnels durant les dix premiers mois de 2011. SWIP espère poursuivre dans cette veine en 2012, les institutionnels manifestant à nouveau de l’intérêt pour des véhicules sans gros risques de pertes.Selon le cabinet de recherche, les instruments très régulés que constituent les fonds monétaires devraient malgré tout attirer les investisseurs même s’ils ont perdu leur statut d’investissement sans risque pendant la crise financière.Les sociétés de gestion estiment en tout cas que le moment est venu de tirer parti de l’aversion au risque des investisseurs en lançant de nouveaux fonds monétaires. Ainsi d’ING Investments qui travaille sur une gamme de produits monétaires pour répondre à la demande d’investissements «ultra-sûrs». La boutique Prime Rate Capital, basée à Londres, vient pour sa part de lancer un nouveau produit «Cash Plus», à destination des investisseurs désireux de parquer leurs fonds non pour seulement quelques jours ou semaines mais pour quelques mois, et qui recherchent en conséquence une rémunération légèrement plus intéressante.Les gérants indiquent aussi que l’attrait des fonds monétaires devrait augmenter parallèlement à la révision par les investisseurs de leurs relations avec des banques dont la notation a souvent été revue à la baisse par les agences de notation et qui souhaitent diversifier leur exposition à court terme.

Le nouvel interlocuteur unique de la gestion alternative à Luxembourg chez BNY Mellon est Brian McMachon, managing director, business development executive. Il possède une expérience particulière dans les domaines du private equity et de l’immobilier, de sorte qu’il a pour mission de développer l’activité et les relations clientèle dans ces domaines pour la région Europe/Moyen-Orient/Afrique (EMEA). Auparavant, il a travaillé dans les services d’investissement chez Citi et State Street.Par ailleurs, Valeria Anderson, qui est depuis 6 ans chez BNY Mellon, a été nommée senior sales person, vice president, dans l'équipe développement Alternative Investment Services (AIS) à Londres. Elle est chargée de développer les relations avec les fonds de hedge funds ainsi qu’avec les plates-formes de comptes gérés et UCITS. Elle aura aussi à développer l’activité en France.Tant Brian McMahon que Valeria Anderson sont subordonnés à Marina Lewin, global head of business development pour l'équipe AIS.

The strategy of the former BlackRock Income Portfolio has been loosened in order to allow the management team a wider choice of potential sources of revenue and performance, including alternative sources of revenue such as master limited partnerships (MLP), REITs, and other instruments. The name of the fund has also been changed to BlackRock Multi-Asset Income Fund (acronym: BAICX); the product will be offered to retail and high net worth private clients.The product has no constraints, and will be managed by the team at BlackRock Multi-Asset Client Solutions (BMACS), which includes 150 people, and as of the end of December managed USD80bn for retail clients. BMACS develops institutional-type tactical allocation strategies for foundations, pension funds, sovereign funds, 401(k) corporate savings plans, and retail clients. The objective of the tactical allocation is to exploit a vast range of possibilities while limiting volatility. For the new fund, volatility will be maintained at a lower level than a traditional balanced portfolio (60/40).

The NYSE Euronext trading platform in Paris on 26 January admitted a new Amundi ETF based on government bonds, replicating the EuroMTS Highest-Rated Gvt 1-3 Y, to trading. The addition brings the listings on the European markets of NYSE Euronext to 586 ETFs, listed 684 times. Name: Amundi ETF HR 1-3 ISIN code: FR0011161215 TER: 0.14%

At the request of members seeking more intimate understanding of asset management techniques that are sometimes poorly understood and relatively underdeveloped in France, the French association of institutional investors (Af2i) on 26 January published its “Guide to alternative management investments and operational due diligence” (on sale form the website http://www.af2i.org/ for EUR100). The 50-page document was created by a working group led by Vincent Ribuot (UMR) and Francis Weber (Réunica), vice-presidents of the association, and composed in partnership with HDF Finance and Reinhold & Partners. The pedagogical guide aims to bring institutional investors better understanding of the particularity of alternative management funds, their strategies, and the various types of actors and vehicles encountered in the industry, and of regulatory constraints which apply to French investors.

The investment boutique from Robeco specialised in sustainable investment, SAM, on 26 January released its 9th annual report, The Sustainability Yearbook, at the Davos global economic forum. The report, undertaken in collaboration with KPMG, presents businesses recognised as leaders in sustainability in 58 different sectors. The businesses were evaluated through a detailed study undertaken annually by SAM. The leaders in each sector are businesses which set the standards in the industry for environmental, social and governmental practices. Three French businesses were recognised as standard-bearers in their respective industries for sustainability. These leaders in their respective sectors are Air France-KLM (airlines), Alcatel-Lucent (communications), and Sodexo (hotels, restaurants, bars and leisure).

The Cologne-based Oppenheim Fonds Trust GmbH (OPFT) has announced that on 1 March it will be extending its range to include open-ended funds from Investec Asset Management. OPFT has been retained as exclusive distrbutor for these products in Germany. The German firm, an affiliate of Sal. Oppenheim (Deutsche Bank group), as of the end of November managed EUR15.5bn, while assets at Investec currently total about USD83bn.

Open-ended funds on sale in Italy in 2011 saw net redemptions of over EUR33bn, according to the most recent statistics from Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset management professionals. No category of funds was spared. But the heaviest outflows were from money market funds (-EUR12.5bn) and bond funds (-EUR8.8bn). Equity funds, for their part, saw outflows of EUR4.1bn.The only market segment to have posted net subscriptions was foreign-registered funds, with EUR1.45bn. As of the end of 2011, assets in open-ended funds in Italy totalled EUR418.9bn. With the addition of outflows from closed funds, collective management in 2011 saw net redemptions of EUR30.7bn. Assets totalled EUR461.8bn. With portfolio management, outflows from the asset management sector totalled EUR40.8bn. The asset management sector as a whole has total assets of EUR937.7bn.

As a complement to the Focus Nordic Cities fund, laucnhed in 2007, the German firm Catella Real Estate (EUR1bn in assets) has launched the Catella Scandia Chances, an institutional real estate fund which will focus on Norway, Sweden, Finland, and potentially Denmark, and which will be aimed particularly at insurers and pension funds, Fonds Professionell reports.The objective is a maximum of EUR250m in inflows by 30 June 2013, which will be invested in core/core plus assets. The performance objective is 5.5%-6.5%, and distribution will total 3.5% to 4% per year.

The three open-ended real estate funds from Deka in 2011 posted net subscriptions of EUR500m in total, Handelsblatt reports. Institutional real estate funds had net inflows of EUR460m. Matthias Danne, CFO at Deka, says he is doubtful that the open-ended real estate funds CS Euroreal (Credit Suisse) and SEB ImmoInvest, which have EUR6bn in assets each, will bring in enough liquidity to be able to reopen to redemptions by May, the deadline for reopening the funds. The same question may be asked of the KanAm grundinvest fund, which is considerably smaller.

The Australian asset management firm First State Investments International has opened an office in Paris, as initially announced in Newsmanagers in September last year.The office, located at 14, avenue d’Eylau in the 16th district of Paris, will have a staff of 2 people, as reported previously.Philippe Taillardat, who in September was appointed as co-head of investments for Euorpean infrastructure, will work alongside Eva von Sydow, head of sales for Europe, who has managed distribution of First State products in the region for nearly 10 years.First State already knows the French market, as the firm first offered its products there in 2002. Now, 13 funds are licensed for sale in France, including Asian equity and emerging markets, global resources, global equities, publicly-traded real estate and infrastructure funds, which are the specialties of the firm, which had GBP87.7bn in assets under management as of the end of September.The firm had previously served French clients from London. These clients include funds of funds, private banks, insurance companies, and family offices, with an undisclosed total amount in assets under management.The Paris office is First State’s first address on the European continent, but the firm is not planning to stop there. The next step is Germany, with an opening planned in Frankfurt later this year.

In 2011, Janus has seen a decline in its assets from USD169.5bn to USD148.2bn. This is largely the result of net redemptions from long-term funds (USD12.2bn). Market effects played a role in this totalling USD91bn. The US asset management firm has also seen a decrease in its net profits, from USD169.5bn in 2010 to USD148.2bn in 2011.

As of the end of December, assets under administration at Raymond James Financial totalled USD270bn, 5% more than at the end of September, and 3% more than one year previously. Assets under management were up 9% for the quarter and 5% over twelve months, at USD35bn.Net profits in October-December, the first quarter of the new fiscal year, came out to USD67.32m, compared with USD68.93m in July-September, and an all-time record of USD81.72m for the corresponding period of 2010.Pre-tax profits for asset management activities totalled USD15.81m, compared with USD17.76m the previous quarter and USD15.59m in October-December 2010.

For the year to 31 December, Invesco Ltd has reported adjusted net profits of USD781.6m, up 22% compared with 2010. By US-GAAP accounting standards, these net profits total USD729.7m, representing an increase of 56.7% compared with the previous year. These 2011 results take into account a complete year of activity for the retail funds acquired from Morgan Stanley, compared with only 7 months in 2010.Assets as of 31 December were up 1.4% year on year, to USD625.3bn, while average assets in 2011 came out to USD634.3bn, 19.2% more than in 2010.

Vanguard has appointed two new managing directors. The Financial Advisor Services group welcomes Martha King as managing director of the affiliate. Chris McIsaac is appointed managing director of the Institutional Investor Group.

DWS Investments is releasing a range of more than 70 funds for French clients. The objective for DWS Investments is to become one of the top 10 foreign asset management firms in France. “We are going to concentrate on strategies which work well, while offering innovative strategies. Several new products are in preparation,” says Philippe Goettmann, director of DWS Investments for France and Monaco. In spring, the asset management firm will be adding to its range in this asset class in France, and will release a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav DWS Invest, German Equities, on the French market. In 2012, the asset management firm of the German Deutsche Bank group is planning to put the commercial emphasis on five groups of products on the French market: high dividend equities, convertible funds, emerging market funds (Africa, Russia, eastern Europe, and others), theme funds (agribusiness, infrastructure, new resources, and others), and of course, German equity funds. “We have found that French investors hve a strong interest in German equities,” says Goettmann. The DWS Deutschland fund, which has total assets of EUR2.9bn, attracted EUR900m in net subscriptions in 2011. DWS Investments manages EUR256bn in assets worldwide, of which about EUR1bn were for French clients as of the end of 2011, a stable level compared with the end of 2010.

Nexity and La Française AM have merged their real estate management, property management and real estate trading activities in a new joint venture (LFP Nexity Services Immobiliers). The new joint venture is 75% owned by Nexity, and 25% by La Française REM.

The largest hedge fund in the world, Bridgewater Associates, last year earned returns of 23%, at a time when the average hedge fund finaished the year with losses of 5%, the New York Times reports.The source of the good results for Bridgewater, whose assets under management total about USD120bn, was positions on US Treasury bonds, German bonds, and the Japanese yen, according to sources close to the firm.In the past 20 years, Bridgewater has earned annual returns of 14.7%, bringing USD50m in profits for investors. In the same period, the S&P 500 made returns of about 8.7%.

From 1 to 20 January, assets in Spanish funds increased by 1.42%, or EUR1.893bn, due to positive market effects of EUR1.271bn, and EUR622m in net subscriptions, according to statistics from VDOS reported by Cotizalia. The two largest firms by assets are Santander, with EUR24.284bn, and a market share of 18%, and BBVA with EUR21.251bn.

AllianceBernstein on 26 January announced the European launch of the AB Select US Equity Portfolio fund (LU0683600562), managed by Kurt Feuerman. The Luxembourg-registered fund is focused on US large and midcaps, selected on the basis of bottom-up analysis and macroeconomic information. Feuerman, who joined AllianceBernstein in June 2011 after leaving Caxton Associates, has nearly 30 years of experience in the sector, and a track record proven over several market cycles. His US equity portfolios have consistently outperformed the S&P 500 since their creation. The strategy is not subject to any constraints in terms of market capitalisation, style, or sector. The team targets businesses which it considers to be well-established, with strong profit growth combined with reasonable valuation, transparent activity models, solid management teams, business policies favourable to shareholders, payment of dividends and share repurchases, and an imminent catalyst factor, such as profit announcements that will be likely to surprise investors with their solidity or to dissipate investor concerns.

Are they beginning to recover their health? European money market funds, which were widely avoided by investors again last year, are beginning to draw interest from investors seeking safety again. Statistics do not really argue in their favour, but outflows have slowed considerably from 2010 to last year.Signs of recovery in inflows have even been observed. In November, Swiss money market funds atrracted nearly CHF2bn, Cerulli reports in a research on money market funds. And the flagship fund from SWIP, the Sterling Global Liquidity Fund (GBP17.8bn), attracted about EUR840m in institutional assets in the first 10 months of 2011. SWIP hopes to continue in this vein in 2012, as institutionals begin to manifest interest in these vehicles that present reduced risk of loss once again.According to the research agency, the highly-regulated instruments that are money market funds may attract investors even though they may have lost their status as risk-free investments in the financial crisis.Asset management firms claim that the time has come to tap the aversion to risk of investors by launching new money market funds. ING Investments is working on a range of money market products to meet demand for “ultra-safe” investments. The boutique Prime Rate Capital, based in London, has launched a new “Cash Plus” product, aimed at investors seeking to park their money not only for a few days or weeks but for a few months, and who are therefore seeking slightly more attractive returns.Managers also state that the attraction of money market funds is expected to increase in parallel with investors’ revisions of their relationships with banks, whose ratings have widely been lowered by ratings agencies, and who are seeking to diversify their short-term exposure.

Tony Johnson, global head of sales & distribution at RBC Dexia Investor Services, on 26 January announced the recruitment of four directors worldwide.In Toronto, Siu-Kei Chung joins the firm as relationship director. He had previously been managing director, client executive at Butterfield Fulcrum in Bermuda, and will now report to Nathalie Gagnon, head of relationship & client management for Canada.Riccardo Dalfiume, ex-relationship manager for institutional investors at BNP Paribas Securities Services (BNPPSS) joins RBC Dexia IS as relatinship director for top tier client base in Italy. He will report to Mauro Dognini, managing director, Italy.Moris Pranio, formerly of BNPP SS, joins the firm as bid manager for the preparation and management of complex operations, the development of client solutions, and offers. He will also report to Dognini, as well as to Duncan Lowman, senior manager in charge of global sales enablement.In December, RBC Dexia IS also recruited a director of business development from Credit Suisse: Pierre Aicardi, who now reports to Marco Siero, managing director for Switzerland.

State Street Corporation has announced the expansion of its global servicing capability for exchange traded funds (ETFs). Now leveraging state-of-the-art cloud-enabled technology, State Street’s ETF servicing solution, TotalETFSM, drives full automation throughout the lifecycle of an ETF from the basket-creation process to trade processing and settlement.The new enhancements provide complete integration to core applications, end-to-end automation and full client transparency via an ETF dashboard available on the company’s client website my.StateStreet.com. Additional functionality includes the geographic expansion of State Street’s Fund Connect ETF order management system and a daily performance attribution capability for ETFs.The ETF dashboard on my.StateStreet.com now allows portfolio managers to monitor the basket near real-time, and geographic expansion of Fund Connect ETF order management system includes coverage for Europe, Canada and the Asia-Pacific region. The enhanced daily performance attribution capability also allows for NAV decomposition to break down tracking error into specific components.

The new single interlocutor for alternative management in Luxembourg at BNY Mellon is Brian McMahon, managing director, business development executive. He has particular experience in the areas of private equity and real estate, and aims to develop activities and client relations in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA). He had previously worked in the investment departments at Citi and State Street.Valeria Anderson, who for 6 years has been at BNY Mellon, has been appointed as senior sales person, vice president, in the Alternative Investment Services (AIS) development team in London. She will be in charge of developing relationships with funds of hedge funds and managed account and UCITS platforms. She will also work to develop the activity in France. McMahon and Anderson will both report to Marina Lewin, global head of businesses development for the AIS team.

The Swiss firm Diapason Commodities Management has registered the UCITS-compliant fund Diapason Commodities with the CNMV, Funds People reports. The asset management firm will be represented in Spain by Atrium Portfolio Managers.