Pioneer Investments prévoit de recruter et d’augmenter de 10 % son équipe commerciale cette année, a indiqué à Mutual Fund Wire Joe Kringdon, directeur commercial pour le retail et le marketing aux Etats-Unis. Actuellement, l'équipe commerciale se compose de 57 personnes dédiées à la vente wholesale en externe et 36 en interne. Pour 2012, la société de gestion basée à Boston prévoit une hausse de 13 % à 15 % de ses ventes de mutual funds.

Syz & Co renforce sa gamme de fonds à destination des investisseurs français. La société de gestion suisse annonce en effet avoir obtenu l’agrément pour la commercialisation de trois nouveaux compartiments de la sicav Oyster en France.Oyster Global High Yield est investi en obligations à haut rendement du monde entier. Le portefeuille est géré par Seix Investment Advisors, gestionnaire spécialisé établi aux Etats-Unis.Oyster European Selection s’adresse plus particulièrement aux investisseurs institutionnels. Sa stratégie vise les actions européennes dotées d’un fort potentiel de croissance sur les cinq années à venir. Le gérant Eric Bendahan privilégie les entreprises liées aux économies florissantes des marchés émergents, les valeurs de croissance de grande qualité et les sociétés sous-évaluées.Enfin, Oyster Absolute Return a pour objectif d’offrir un rendement absolu à travers un portefeuille diversifié composé d’actions, d’obligations, de fonds alternatifs et d’autres valeurs mobilières cotées. Le portefeuille peut également être investi dans des dépôts et des instruments du marché monétaire.La gamme Oyster accessible aux investisseurs français compte désormais 25 compartiments.Codes Isin OYSTER Global High Yield – Classe EUR : LU0688633683OYSTER Global High Yield – Classe I EUR : LU0688634061OYSTER Global High Yield – Classe USD : LU0688633410OYSTER European Selection – Classe I EUR : LU0688633170OYSTER Absolute Return EUR – Classe EUR2 : LU0536156861

La société de gestion écossaise Baillie Gifford a annoncé qu’elle prévoit de nommer cinq «partners» le 1er mai 2012, portant le nombre total d’associés à 37. Les nouveaux élus sont Larysa Bemko, Tim Campbell, Angus Franklin, Kave Sigaroudinia, et Tom Slater. Ils sont issus des équipes marketing, suivi de clientèle et gestion de la société.

Sous réserve d’un agrément de la part du régulateur, Baring Asset Management (Barings) prévoit pour mars le lancement du Baring Global Mining Fund, un OEIC coordonné domicilié en Irlande, compartiment de Baring Investment Funds.Ce produit sera géré par Clive Burstow et investira principalement en actions et titres assimilés de sociétés liées au secteur minier, avec une approche «toutes capitalisations». Le fonds pourra aussi investir en matières premières ainsi qu’en titres de dette émis par les sociétés minières ou assimilées.Le portefeuille se composera de 70 à 100 lignes, dont environ deux tiers de petites et moyennes capitalisations.L’indice de référence, aux seules fin de comparaison, sera le HSBC Global Mining Index.Il est prévu des commissions de gestion de 1,5 % pour les parts A et de 0,75 % pour les parts I.

L'équipe de gestion obligataire de Fidelity Investments à Londres compte désormais 20 professionnels de l’investissement à Londres, qui travaillent à la fois pour Fidelity (mutual funds aux Etats-Unis) et Pyramis Global Advisors (clientèle institutionnelle). Le groupe vient en effet de créer le poste de UK fixed income CIO pour Mark Flaherty, qui justifie de 12 ans d’ancienneté et qui sera basé à Londres, sous la responsabilité de Charlie S. Morrison, president of fixed income. Depuis 2005, l’impétrant était managing director of research for municipals.

Le britannique Schroder Property a annoncé le 16 janvier avoir remporté deux mandats auprès de Invista Foundation Property Trust (IFPT) et Equitable Life Assurance Society (Elas). La valeur brute cumulée des deux portefeuilles s'élève à environ 600 millions de livres. Une équipe de huit professionnels de l’immobilier d’Invista rejoint l'équipe de Schorder Property à compter du 16 janvier.Duncan Owen, précédemment CEO d’Invista Real Estate Investment Management (IREIM) rejoint Schroder Property en qualité de responsable des Property Funds, responsable produits et développement produits. Les actifs sous gestion de Schroders dans l’immobilier s'élèvent à environ 9,5 milliards de livres, soit quelque 11 milliards d’euros (au 30 septembre).

A compter du 1er avril, le gestionnaire Helaba Invest KAG (72 milliards d’euros d’encours) prendra en charge l’administration de l’ensemble des placements financiers du groupe d’assurances Vereinigte Postversicherung (VPV), soit quelque 8 milliards d’euros.En dehors de la centralisation administrative de ces investissements, Helaba Invest prendra en charge la comptabilité, les déclarations aux autorités de surveillance, le suivi du collatéral, le reporting, la mise en œuvre de tests de résistance et la réalisation d’analyses de scénarios conformément aux instructions de la BaFin.

Aberdeen Immobilien KAG a annoncé que son fonds DEGI Europa (*) , dont la liquidation a été décidée le 22 octobre 2010, a vendu le centre commercial Sophienhof de Kiel au fonds immobilier offert au public UniImmo: Deutschland d’Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE). Cette transaction s’est effectuée à un prix légèrement supérieur à la dernière valeur d’expertise indépendante.Le produit de la cession a permis de rembourser un crédit, de sorte que le taux d’endettement du fonds a été ramené à 26,9 % contre 31,5 % et que le taux de liquidité a augmenté de 5 points, à 18 %.Fin octobre, le DEGI Europa affichait un encours de 917,7 millions d’euros, contre 1,3 milliard au moment de l’annonce de la liquidation d’ici au 30 septembre 2013.(*) DE0009807800

Le 30 mars, Union Investment (le gestionnaire central des banques populaires allemandes) lancera le fonds garanti UniGarantExtra: Deutschland (2019) dont l'échéance est fixée au 22 mars 2019. La souscription est ouverte jusqu’au 27 mars.Le produit promet à l'échéance le remboursement du capital initial augmenté d’une participation à l'évolution d’un indice d’actions allemandes, le «Aktien Deutschland RC (pour Risiko Control) - 10 %», sachant que le plus haut de cet indice durant la vie du produit sera capturé comme référence. A fin octobre, Union gérait 16,3 milliards d’euros dans 94 fonds garantis.CaractéristiquesDénomination : UniGarantExtra: Deutschland (2019)Code Isin : LU0707763248Droit d’entrée 4 %Pénalité en cas de sortie anticipée : 2 % Commission de gestion : 0,80 % (maximum 1,5 %)Commission de banque dépositaire : maximum 0,05 %

La Deutsche Bank a renforcé sa plate-forme Ucits dbSelect avec l’ajout d’un fonds systématique géré par la société de gestion alternative Fortinbras Asset Management.Le DB Platinum IV Fortinbras Prism Index utilise un algorithme pour traquer les tendances sur les marchés obligataires, des taux d’intérêt, des devises et des matières premières. Le partenariat avec la Deutsche Bank permettra la distribution du fonds non seulement en Europe mais également en Asie. dbSelect propose plus de 150 programmes de hedge funds pour un montant d’actifs sous gestion de plus de 5 milliards de dollars.

Depuis le 16 janvier, la cote du segment XTF de la plate-forme électronique Xetra (Deutsche Börse) compte un 908ème ETF : il s’agit du iShares Barclays Capital US Aggregate Bond, un fonds de droit allemand qui réplique un indice Barclays d’obligations américaines (Treasuries, titrisation, obligations d’entreprises) dont l'échéance résiduelle se situe à un an.Le fonds (DE000A1JNCQ2) est chargé à 0,25 %.

La Caisse Autonome de Retraite des Chirurgiens Dentistes et des Sages-Femmes (CARCDSF) est conseillée par Indep’AM dans ses réflexions sur l’allocation stratégique et tactique. En 2011, il a été décidé de lancer un appel d’offres sur la gestion de FCP dédiés sur les obligations zone euro indexées à l’inflation et sur la gestion diversifiée (200 millions d’euros). Sur les obligations indexées à l’inflation, deux lots de 140 millions d’euros chacun concernaient des FCP dédiés avec une maturité de 1 à 10 ans et une maturité de 10 ans. A l’issue de l’appel d’offres mené par Indep’AM, 4 sociétés de gestion ont été retenues: CPR AM, Natixis AM, Allianz GI et LBPAM.

The New York-based services group Direct Access Partners (DAP) has announced the launch of the Liquid ETF platform, which offers training at improved cost and more market depth to institutional clients of DAP.The new platform allows for international trading on the basis of net asset value (NAV) of underlying equities of ETFs, and not only on the basis of supply and demand on the US market.

From 1 April, the asset management firm Helaba Inest KAG (EUR72bn in assets) will take charge of the administration of all financial investments of the insurance group Vereinigte Postversicherung (VPV), totalling about EUR8bn.In addition to an administrative centralisation of investments, Helaba Invest will take charge of accounting, declarations to regulatory authorities, collateral monitoring, reporting, stress testing and analysis of scenarios according to BaFin instructions.

Ratings downgrades for France and other countries of the euro zone are causing concern to major investors such as pension funds, which are asking whether it might not be a better idea to pick indices which are not weighted on the basis of issue volumes for European government debt, which privileges the countries with the highest levels of debt, the Wall Street Journal reports. That’s why Italy accounts for 20% of indices, while the Netherlands, which still has a AAA rating, accounts for only 6%.The Netherlands-based Syntrus Achmea (EUR52bn in assets), which manages pension funds, has opted for an index weighted by GDP, and 75% of its portfolio of European government bonds is invested in German, French and Dutch securities.Robeco, for its discretionary mandates, invests over 60% in bunds and Netherlands government bonds.But the danger with this type of strategy is that it may create portfolios that are concentrated on a small number of countries, some of which, such as Norway for example, have very narrow bond markets.

The US investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors, with about USD200bn in assets under management, has recruited a Fidelity veteran, Carlo Venes, to develop its activities serving institutionals in the Asia ex Japan region, Asian Investor reports.Venes, former head of institutional management at Fidelity for Asia ex Japan, will move to Asia, to a location still to be determined.

Since summer 2011, when the euro zone crisis worsened, Coface has observed a net breakdown in the payment behaviour of businesses, with a net increase in outstanding payments, Coface reports at its 16th Country Risk conference. For 2011 as a whole, Coface has recorded a 19% increase in payment incidents worldwide, with a particularly pronounced increase of 28% for euro zone businesses. This degradation of the average solidity of businesses proves that the crisis has entered a new phase, and is reaching a global systemic dimension, since the crisis in Italy began. “In the absence of rapid response to the crisis on the part of institutions, negative anticipations on the part of the financial markets have caused actors in the real economy to become defiant. Paradoxically, businesses, which are better-managed than ever, have borne the brunt of this crisis. In 2012, the conjunction of very weak growth in Europe and a potential drying up of credit may noticeably affect credit risk for businesses concerned,” says François David, chairman of Coface.In this degraded context, Coface is lowering its valuation of Italy and Spain by one notch, to A4, as these countries have been rendered more fragile by their massive public debts on one hand, and debts in the private sector on the other. These two major southern European economies will also contract in 2012. Since the beginning of 2011, Coface has observed an increase of about 50% in business payment incidents in the two countries.The wave of political trouble in North Africa and the Middle East in 2011 has been a turning point for emerging ecnomies: the return of political risk. Coface in 2011 also recorded several payment incidents due to political risk. The valuation of Egypt, whose public finances and external accounts are under pressure, has been downgraded to C, partly due to major uncertainty about the political scenario in 2012. Syria has been downgraded to D, as the extremely tense situation and international sanctions will have unfavourable repercussions on economic growth and public finances.

In 2011, assets at Amundi ETF increased by 22%, from EUR5.3bn as of the end of December 2010 to EUR6.5bn as of the end of 2011, while the European market held stable overall. In terms of net inflows, according to the Deutsche Bank 2011 ETF Market Review of January 2012, Amundi was the third-largest ETF provider in Europe, with EUR1.7bn in assets.The firm extended its product range in 2011, and now offers 102 funds, following the launch of 8 new products last year. The Amundi ETF product range now includes more than 400 cross-listings and listings in six European countries: France (102), Germany (73), Italy (73), the Netherlands (73), Switzerland (50) and the UK (41).

Threadneedle Investments is in the process of opening a new office in Stockholm, following the registration of its SICAV funds with Sweden’s regulator Finansinspektionen last year and a distribution agreement with Avanza Bank in October. The Stockholm office will serve its existing institutional clients in the region and will allow Threadneedle to develop new relationships and expand its client base in Sweden. The opening reflects Threadneedle’s commitment to continue its international development and the encouraging demand for its funds in the Nordics.Jalil El Khalifi, sales manager and a Swedish national ,will focus on Swedish wholesale distribution, funds of funds and platforms and report to Nina Movin, Threadneedle’s Nordics Sales Director, who will continue to be based in Copenhagen. Threadneedle actively manages around EUR72bn of assets on behalf of individuals, pension funds, insurers and corporations (as of 30 Sept 2011).

The Bénédict Hentsch & Cie SA bank on 16 January announced that it has appointed Andreas Stricker as its new CEO, from 1 February 2012. In this position, he replaces Robert Pennone, who served in the position in the interim for five months. Pennone will take up the seat he had held on the board of directors.Enrico Chiabudini, former head of brokerage activities at Pictet & Cie, also joins the board at the bank, and has been in charge of private banking and asset management activities since 1 January 2012, according to a statement. The top priority for the new CEO will be to increase Swiss clients and to develop a range of multi-family office services. The new CEO has 25 years of experience in banking and has been on the board at Bordier & Cie and Union Bancaire Privée. Chiabudini previously worked at Pictet as deputy CEO in charge of brokerage activities serving institutional clients.

Pioneer Investments is planning to recruit to increase its sales team by 10% this year, Joe Kringdon, director of retail sales and marketing for the United States, has told Mutual Fund Wire. Currently, the sales team includes 57 people in wholesale and external sales, and 36 for internal sales. For 2012, the asset management firm based in Boston is aiming for an increase of 13% to 15% in sales of mutual funds.

The Mirabaud Group has acquired 100% of the capital of its Spanish subsidiary, Mirabaud Finanzas Sociedad de Valores, SA. This agreement, which has just been approved by the CNMV, completes the process of integrating the two entities, which began in 2010 when the Mirabaud Group took a 25% interest in the capital of the Spanish broker-dealer Venture Finanzas, the name of which was changed to Mirabaud Finanzas in mid-2010.Following the acquisition, the management team of Mirabaud Finanzas is made up of Antonio Palma as chairman, Alejandro Pérez Calzada as first vice chairman and CEO, Javier de Zunzunegui as second vice chairman, Luis Pujol as general manager, Lionel Aeschlimann (the head of asset management of the parent company) as chairman of Mirabaud Gestión (EUR100m in AUIM), Tomas Termens as head of Personal banking, Antonio Hormigos as the head of asset management in Spain, and Ignacio Méndez as head of strategy. Antonio Palma, partner and CEO of Mirabaud stated: “Our growth target for Spain is in line with our targets for the rest of the group, namely 10% a year for assets under management”. He underlines that “Spain is a very attractive market, as there are still very sizeable fortunes to be invested, in spite of the crisis. It also represents a magnificent stepping-stone to Latin America, where there are huge opportunities for our sector.” Mirabaud’s offer (EUR20bn of assets under management) in Spain and in the rest of the group focuses on three business lines : private banking, asset management and brokerage.

The Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) is planning to sell its stake in Swisspartners, Agefi Switzerland reports. The bank currently controls 67% of the firm active in wealth management. The sale will be completed in first half. The first talks have begun. The institution is planning to concentrate on its core profession. Last September, it already sold off a minority stake it had held in the life insurer Elips Life.

Aberdeen Immobilien KAG has announced that its DEGI Europa fund (DE0009807800), whose liquidation was announced on 22 October 2010, has sold the Sophienhof shopping centre in Kiel to the open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Deutschland from Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE). The transaction was made at a price slightly higher than the most recent independent expert valuation of the property.The proceeds of the sale have allowed for a loan to be repaid, bringing the fund’s debt level down to 26.9% from 31.5%, while the liquidity rate has increased 5 points, to 18%.As of the end of October, the DEGI Europe fund had assets of EUR917.7m, compared with EUR1.3bn at the time that the liquidation of the fund on 30 September 2013 was announced.

On 1 January 2012 the total number of monetary financial institutions in the euro zone (MFIs, which include financial institutions based in the euro zone and money market funds) stood at 7,533, according to statistics from the European Central Bank (ECB). This is a net decrease of 332 units (4%) in comparison with the situation a year ago. In relative terms, the decrease was particularly pronounced in Ireland (-15%), Luxembourg (-8%), Cyprus (-6%), France (-5%) and Greece (-5%). In absolute terms, Ireland (-106), France (-59), Luxembourg (-48) and Germany (-43) were the main contributors to the net decrease of 332 units in the euro area. 2011 saw a substantial decrease in the number of money market funds, as an MFI sub-sector, owing in part to their new definition, under Guideline ECB/2011/13, which is more closely in line with that used for supervisory purposes. The contraction in this sub-sector was most prominent in Ireland (-97), Luxembourg (-46) and France (-29).

Syz & Co is adding to its range of funds aimed at French investors. The Swiss asset management firm has announced that it has obtained licenses to sell the three new sub-funds of the Oyster Sicav in France. Oyster Global High Yield invests in high yield bonds worldwide. The portfolio is managed by Seix Investment Advisors, a specialist asset management firm based in the United States. Oyster European Selection is aimed more particularly at institutional investors. The fund invests in European equities with strong potential for growth in the next five years. The manager, Eric Bendahan, prefers businesses with ties to flourishing economies in emerging markets, high-quality growth shares and undervalued businesses.Finally, Oyster Absolute Return aims to deliver absolute returns via a diversified portfolio composed of equities, bonds, hedge funds and other publisly-traded securities. The portfolio may also be invested in savings accounts and money market instruments. The Oyster range, available to French investors, now includes 25 sub-funds. ISIN codes OYSTER Global High Yield – EUR share class: LU0688633683OYSTER Global High Yield – EUR I share class: LU0688634061OYSTER Global High Yield – USD share class: LU0688633410OYSTER European Selection – EUR I share class: LU0688633170OYSTER Absolute Return EUR – EUR2 share class: LU0536156861

Investors who had a highly wait-and-see attitude at the beginning of the month appear to be slightly more optimistic about the ability of the European Union to make it through the year without plunging the global financial system into another major crisis. The result is that bond funds have earned net inflows in the week to 11 January of USD6.39bn, a level not seen in 18 months, according to statistics from EPFR Global.Global bond funds attracted a net total of over USD2bn, while high yield bond funds attracted over USD1bn, and for the first time since the beginning of September, investors returned to European bond funds. Only emerging market bond funds have seen redemptions.Equity funds have seen inflows of over USD6bn, while emerging market equity funds alone represented USD1.84bn. For the first time since the beginning of November 2011, actively-managed funds posted net subscriptions.Inflows to money market funds ttoalled USD15.8bn, while European money market funds represented 60% of this total.

The bond management team at Fidelity Investments in London now has 20 investment professionals, working both for Fidelity (US mutual funds) and Pyramis Global Advisors (institutional clients). The group has recently created a position for a UK fixed income CIO, and appointed Mark Flaherty, who has 12 years of seniority and who will be based in London, where he will report to Charlie S. Morrison, president of fixed income. Since 2005, Flaherty had been managing director of research for municipals.

The British asset management firm Schroder Property on 16 January announced that it has won two mandates from Invista Foundation Property Trust (IFPT) and Equitable Life Assurance Society (ELAS). The gross cumulative value of the two portfolios is about GBP600m. A team of eight real estate professionals from Invista are joining the team at Schroder Property from 16 January.Duncan Owen, previously CEO of Invista Real Estate Investment Management (IREIM), is joining Schroder Property as head of Property Funds, in charge of products and product development.Assets under management at Schroders in real estate total about GBP9.5bn, or about EUR11bn (as of 30 September).

Pending agreement from the regulator, Baring Asset Management (Barings) is planning to launch the Baring Global Mining Fund, a UCITS-compliant OEIC fund domiciled in Ireland, a sub-fund of Baring Investment Funds, in March.The prodcuct will be managed by Clive Burstow, and will invest primarily in equities and securities from businesses in the mining sector, with an “all-cap” approach. The fund may also invest in commodities and in debt issued by mining companies or their associated firms.The portfolio will include 70 to 100 positions, about two thirds of which will be small and midcaps.The benchmark index, for comparative purposes only, will be the HSBC Global Mining Index.Management commissions of 1.5% will be charged for A-class shares, and 0.75% for I-class shares.