Glen Dailey, qui a été nommé mardi aux côtés de Matthew Baldassano co-head de la nouvelle division regroupant prime brokerage et prêt de titres chez Jefferies, a confirmé à The Wall Street Journal qu’il y a eu des discussions, «mais que personne ne quitte l’entreprise».Selon les informations du journal, une demi-douzaine de cadres de la branche courtage principal (qui compte 350 clients) avait menacé de quitter l’entreprise suite à la réorganisation. Ils ont apparemment été convaincus aussi par la promesse de primes plus élevées que prévu bien que le bénéfice net de Jefferies pour le quatrième trimestre 2011 ait accusé une chute de 23 % sur octobre-décembre 2010.
Le fonds obligataire phare de Pimco, le Total Return Fund, a pour la première fois en 2011 accusé des rachats nets, selon les chiffres de Morningstar, cité par le Financial Times. Le fonds de 240 milliards de dollars géré par Bill Gross avait toujours collecté chaque année depuis son lancement en 1987. Mais 2011 n’a pas souri au gérant. Les rachats sur l’année se sont montés à 5 milliards de dollars.
L'équipe gestion d’actifs d’Hervé Thiard, directeur général de la succursale parisienne de Pictet et chargé de la clientèle institutionnelle, vient d'être renforcée par l’arrivée d’un huitième membre. Frédéric Rollin, qui était en dernier lieu directeur des investissements chez Novalis Taitbout, a rejoint le groupe helvétique en tant que conseiller en investissement pour la clientèle institutionnelle et les professionnels de la distribution de fonds.L’intéressé a précédemment travaillé pour Robeco Gestion, HSBC Asset Management, JPMorgan AM, Cardif Gestion et BNP Gestion, où il a commencé sa carrière (en 1990) comme gérant obligataire.
Ofi Premium, la marque du groupe Ofi dédiée aux CGPI, annonce le lancement d’Ofi Rendement 2016, un FCP de droit français investi en obligations libellées en euro, émises par des entreprises privées de pays membres de l’OCDE - avec un maximum de 10 % hors OCDE. Le portefeuille, de 40 à 70 lignes, est composé de titres Investment Grade (51 % minimum) complété par des titres High Yield (49 % maximum). L’objectif de performance est un rendement moyen annualisé supérieur à 5 % net de frais de gestion sur un horizon d’investissement de 5 ans. La stratégie de gestion consiste à investir dans les obligations d’entreprises dans le but de les conserver jusqu’à leur date d’échéance, au 31.12.2016. Commercialisé par les équipes d’OFI Premium, OFI Rendement 2016 est disponible du 6 janvier au 2 mars 2012 auprès des principales plateformes de distribution. Caractéristiques Codes ISIN : FR0011153337 (Part C), FR0011153345 (Part D)Période de souscription : Du 30/12/2011 au 02/03/2012Droit d’entrée : 3 % TTC max (non acquise à l’OPCVM)Frais de gestion : 1 %Droit de sortie : néantDevise : Euro Valorisation : Hebdomadaire Montant initial de la part : 100 eurosInvestissement minimum : 1 part
M&G rationalise sa gamme Prudential Unit Trust, qui devrait à terme être intégrée au sein de la gamme de produits de M&G Investments. Dans cette optique, la société de gestion britannique prépare le lancement en février d’un nouveau fonds, le M&G International Specialist Equity Fund, qui intègrera le Prudential Global Growth Trust, actuellement d’un encours de 230 millions de livres. Le nouveau fonds sera géré par David Williams, qui pilote le fonds Prudential depuis décembre 2010, a indiqué à Newsmanagers un porte-parole du gestionnaire.
F&C Investments a nommé Mark Nichols en qualité de gérant de deux fonds d’actions européennes précédemment pilotés par Paras Anand, rapporte Citywire. Mark Nichols sera responsable des fonds F&C European Equity et F&C European Growth and Income après le départ fin 2011 de Paras Anand chez Fidelity où il a pris la tête des actions paneuropéennes. Mark Nichols a rejoint F&C en juin 2011.
Désormais, Thorsten Winkler a officiellement quitté Veritas Investment Trust et son patron Markus Kaiser pour rejoindre la société Ad-Vanced Dynamic Asset Management qu’il a créée au troisième trimestre 2010 (lire Newsmanagers du 22 septembre) avec Marc Sattler et Klaudius Sobczyk, également anciens de Veritas.Depuis le 1er janvier, Thorsten Winkler est responsable chez Ad-Vanced de la gestion de portefeuille des fonds de fonds (en réalité des fonds d’ETF, comme chez Veritas), la recherche, le développement de produit et la gestion du risque.Thorsten Winkler était l’un des gérants-vedettes de Veritas (ex filiale de Boursorama) qui ont mis au point les premiers fonds d’ETF commercialisés en Allemagne. Quand à Ad-Vanced, elle a déjà lancé il y a deux mois et demi deux fonds d’ETF multi-classes d’actifs de droit luxembourgeois (lire Newsmanagers du 20 octobre).
Après avoir démissionné de chez Schroders Investment Management Allemagne, où il a été remplacé par Carlos Böhles en tant que head of institutional business pour l’Allemagne et l’Autriche (lire Newsmanagers du 6 décembre 2010), Robert Schlichting vient d'être nommé managing director et head of distribution pour l’Allemagne et l’Autriche chez l’américain Neuberger Berman. Il sera basé à Francfort et subordonné à Dirk van Lomwel, head of Europe and the Middle East.
Christopher Wolter a rejoint avec effet au 1er janvier l'équipe de recherche sur les fonds obligataires et immobiliers de Deka, la société de gestion centrale des caisses d'épargne allemandes. L’intéressé était depuis 6 ans et demi analyste fonds et dérivés chez Feri EuroRating Services.Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, il se focalisera sur l’analyse des fonds obligataires, dont ceux spécialistes des marchés émergents.
Depuis le début de décembre, la gestion du fonds d’actions européennes PEH Q-Europa, assurée depuis des années par PEH Asset Management et dont l’encours a fondu à 3,6 millions d’euros, a été transférée à la nouvelle société de gestion Ad-Vanced Dynamic Asset Management fondée à Oberursel (près de Francfort) par Marc Sattler et Klaudius Sobczyk (lire Newsmanagers du 23 septembre).Désormais, le Q-Europa sera piloté en utilisant la stratégie de gestion du risque «indexpicking» et avec la méthode de valorisation Value-Modell d’Ad-Vanced.
Pour un montant non divulgué, l’allemand Deka Immobilien a acheté au développeur Yareal International l’immeuble de bureaux Mokotowska Square (10.200 mètres carrés) situé à Varsovie.Cet actif sera versé au portefeuille du fonds immobilier offert au public WestInvest ImmoValue qui est en fait réservé aux investisseurs institutionnels.
La banque directe comdirect bank (groupe Commerzbank) a annoncé le 3 janvier «une offensive ETF» qui consiste à proposer 50 fonds indiciels cotés de db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), ComStage (Commerzbank) et ETFlab (Deka) avec une commission de seulement 3,90 euros par ordre d’achat ou de vente sur Xetra d’un montant compris entre 1.000 et 25.000 euros.D’autre part, pour les plans d'épargne en unités de compte, comdirect renonce à sa commission sur les ordres concernant les ETF sélectionnés pour sa nouvelle offre.
Dans Option Finance, Denis Metzger, directeur financier de la Mutuelle Générale se penche sur les évolutions à venir au sein du portefeuille d’actifs: Nous nous intéressons au private equity, car nous considérons que c’est le rôle d’un investisseur institutionnel d’accompagner le développement des entreprises. Nous proposerons au prochain comité stratégique de placement d’augmenter notre poche en private equity pour passer de 1.5% à 3% d’engagements. Par ailleurs, notre dernier appel d’offres sur les mandats de gestion remonte à 2004. nous aurions déjà dû le renouveler, mais nous avons décidé de le reporter à 2012 à cause de la crise.
The Singapore sovereign fund Temasek Holdings has created a fund which will invest up to USD2.5bn in North Asia, primarily in China, the Financial Times reports. The fund, entitled Pavilion Capital, will be managed by Tow Heng Tan, former chief investment officer at Temasek.
Robert Schlichting, who left Schroders Investment Management Germany, where he was replaced by Carlos Böhles as head of institutional business for Germany and Austria (see Newsmanagers of 6 December 2010), has been appointed as managing director and head of distribution for Germany and Austria at the US firm Neuberger Berman. He will be based in Frankfurt and will report to Dirk van Lomwel, head of Europe and the Middle East.
Thorsten Winkler has officially quit Veritas Investment Trust, and left his boss Markus Kaiser, to join the firm Ad-Vanced Dynamic Asset Management, he has founded in third quarter 2010 (see Newsmanagers of 22 September) with Marc Sattler and Klaudius Sobczyk, also formerly of Veritas.From 1 January, Winkler is head of portfolio management for funds of funds at Ad-Vanced (actually ETFs, as at Veritas), as well as research, product development and risk management.Winkler had been one of the star managers at Veritas (a former affiliate of Boursorama), which set up the first ETFs to be released in Germany.Ad-Vanced has already launched two Luxembourg-registered multi-asset class ETFs two and a half months ago (see Newsmanagers of 20 October).
The direct bank comdirect (Commerzbank group) on 3 January announced an “ETF offensive” which will offer 50 tracker funds from db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), ComStage (Commerzbank) and ETFlab (Deka), with a commission of only EUR3.90 per buy or sell order on Xetra, for trades of EUR1,000 to EUR25,000.For unit-linked savings plans, comdirect will charge no commission on orders for ETFs included in the new offer.
Christopher Wolter on 1 January joined the bond and real estate research team at Deka, the central asset management firm for the German savings banks. Wolter had been a fund and derivatives analyst at Feri EuroRating Services for six and a half years.In his new role, Wolter will focus on research on bond funds, including funds specialised in emerging markets.
The structured products market Scoach last year had a trading volume of EUR62bn in Zurich and Frankfurt, making it the leader in Europe. With a total of over 800,000 products vailable for trading, Scoach has the most complete range internationally, the asset management firm says in a statement released on 3 January. In Frankfurt, EUR19.6bn were traded in 2011, while the number of transactions topped the 2010 total by 8.6%, at 2.7 million. One new development is that the Hong Kong dollar (HKD), a trading currency, was introduced in 2011, among others. On the German market, the number of products listed had risen to 780,000 at the end of 2011 (50% more than at the end of 2010). Every day, as many as 6,000 papers are admitted to trading, and an increasing proportion of these are Collateral Secured Instruments (COSI), which minimise issuer-related risks for investors. Earnings for the market have increased 31% to CHF51.8bn, or EUR42.4bn. Wealth managers and institutional clients are increasingly using regulated markets for these trades. The number of listings has increased 27%, to over 52,000 products, a record, while the number of tradeable pproducts has topped 40,000. Since October, Scoach Switzerland is the largest market in the world supporting trading of structured products in currency trading (XAU), and offers the widest range of currencies for trading, with 24 currently.
Asset management firms are hoping for a better year in 2012 than the one which has just ended, but it is not certain that their prayers will be answered, the Financial Times observes. Analysts at Deutsche Bank estimate that the impact of recent downturns on the market will be fully felt in 2012. With this in mind, directors of asset management firms are becoming highly aware of their break-even point, the FT reports. Cutting staff may reduce costs, but the most effective measure is to increase assets. However, growing has become an unlikely proposition for asset management firms owned by European banks, whose parent companies are facing stricter regulations. And many banks are considering the solution of selling off their asset management divisions.
The Qatar Holding company has announced that it may increase its stake in Lagardère, but that it is not planning to take control of the group, the French market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) announced in a statement on 3 January. The investment company has recently increased its stake in the firm above the 10% threshold in Lagardère SCA, making it the largest shareholder in the firm (see Newsmanagers of 30 December 2011). In a declaration of intent sent to the AMF, Qatar Holding adds that it is “planning to hold talks with all interested actors, over possible strategic partnerships to create long-term value for shareholders in the firm,” but states that it has no specific plans in this regard at present.
According to the list published on the website of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI), there are now 81 signatories to the charter in France, including nine asset owners, 60 asset managers and 12 service providers.The most recent French additions are Astorg Partners, Weinberg Capital Partners, Jasmin Capital, Cap Décisif Management and Eurazeo.Overall, the signatories now include 246 investors, 570 asset managers and 161 service providers, for a total of 977 entities, of which only 24 are in Germany, but 133 in the United States and 122 in the United Kingdom. Switzerland has 50.
Three French managers rank among the 10 managers most liked by readers of Citywire Global in the past twelve months: Nicolas Walewski (Alken), in fourth place, Edouard Carmignac (Carmignac) in fifth place, and Patrice Lemonnier (Amundi) in ninth place. The top three are, in declining order, Gregor Tachsel (Credit Suisse), Markus Brück (Metzler) and Kristoffer Stensrud (Skagen). Carmignac, a regular in these rankings, has risen one place since mid-2011, while Lemonnier, who manages four emerging market funds, has gained one place since the end of 2010. Walewski, in fourth place, has lost one place since the end of 2010. The other managers in the top ten are Jürgen Hackenberg (Union Investment) in sixth place, Nigel Bolton (BlackRock) in seventh place, Devan Kaloo (Aberdeen Asset Management) in eighth place, and Ronald Slattery (Fidelity). Four of the ten managers selected are emerging markets specialists: Lemonnier, Kaloo, Stensrud and Brück.
The asset management team led by Hervé Thiard, CEO of the Paris office of Pictet and responsible for institutional clients, has gained the addition of an eighth member. Frédéric Rollin, who had most recently been chief investment officer at Novalis Taitbout, has joined the Swiss group as an investment advisor for institutional clients and fund distribution professionals.Rollin has previously worked for Robeco Gestion, HSBC Asset Management, JPMorgan AM, Cardif Gestion and BNP Gestion, where he began his career in 1990 as a bond manager.
The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts reports that US REITs raised USD37.5bn in 2011 through initial public offerings and capital increases, 32% more than in 2010.The figure is an all-time record since the segment’s creation in 1960, the Wall Street Journal notes, adding that in the past three years REITs have attracted highly significant sums, but have primarily used the capital to restructure their balance sheets and reduce debts in order to survive the economic downturn.But now that most of the real estate firms have been recapitalised, analyst and investment bankers are predicting that the latest rounds of fundraising will be primarily dedicated to acquisitions.
Glen Dailey, who on Tuesday was appointed alongside Matthew Baldassano as co-head of the new division including prime brokerage and securities lending at Jefferies, has confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that there had been talks, “but nobody is leaving the company.”According to the newspaper, half a dozen executives in the prime brokerage arm of the firm (which has 350 clients) threatened to leave the company following its reorganisation. They were apparently convinced to stay with the promise of higher than expected bonuses, even though net profits at Jefferies in fourth quarter 2011 were down 23% compared with October-December 2010.
Capital Fund Management (CFM), the largest French hedge fund, has completed a reorganisation of its shareholding structure, following the accidental death of its founder, Jean-Pierre Aguilar in 2009, Agefi reports. Following the sale of a part of Aguilar’s shares to four other shareholding directors (Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, Marc Potters, Jacques Saulière and Philippe Jordan), the remaining minority, non-controlling stake was sold in December 2011 to Dyal Capital Partners. Employees of the fund will continue to hold shares in its capital.
In 2011, at a time when the total trading volume on the Spanish stock exchange fell 10.8% compared with the previous year, to EUR925.33bn, despite a 13.2% increase in the number of transactions, at 45.8 million, ETF trades have fallen by 41.4%, to nearly EUR3.5bn, according to Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME). Of this total, EUR305m were traded in December, 67% more than in the corresponding month of the previous year.The number of ETF trades has fallen by 31.1% for last year as a whole, to 43,461, of which 2,848 were in December (-6.6%).
Of 95 funds in the Spanish equities category monitored by VDOS in Spain, 78 outperformed the Ibex 35 in 2011, meaning that they lost less than 13%.But only one fund has finished the year with gains, Fund People reports: the Lyxor short ETF, launched in summer 2009, which gained 3.3%.
The flagship bond fund from Pimco, the Total Return Fund, in 2011 for the first time saw net redemptions, according to statistics from Morningstar, cited by the Financial Times. The USD240bn fund managed by Bill Gross had seen inflows every year since its launch in 1987. But 2011 was not a good year for the manager. Redemptions for the year totalled USD5bn.