Bloomberg reports that three German real estate funds, facing liquidation in spring, are seeking to sell EUR2.7bn in top-quality assets, including properties on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, and the London headquarters of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Agefi reports. The three funds, managed by KanAm Grund and the dedicated affiliates of Credit Suisse and the Swedish firm SEB (Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken), had total assets of EUR16.4bn in May 2010, when they were frozen.

It may become illegal for asset management firms owned by US banks to manage money for European or Asian investors, according to one interpretation of the Volcker rule, Financial Times Fund Management reports. According to the current version of the bill, US mutual funds regulated by the Investment Company Act of 1940 are exempt from the Volcker rule, which means that asset management firms owned by banks may continue to offer these services without restrictions. But there are no exemptions for European UCITS funds or Japanese trusts.

In early December, at a time when the euro zone debt crisis continues to dominate headlines, investors have confirmed their preference for US funds, amidst timid but positive signs about the evolution of the macroeconomic environment in the United States. In the week to 7 December, funds dedicated to US equities posted their seventh week of net inflows in the past nine weeks, and US high yield bond funds posted net inflows of over USD2bn, according to statistics from EPFR Global. Overall, equity funds have seen net outflows of USD481m, while bond funds have posted net inflows of USD1.4bn. Money market funds have attracted USD36.4bn, for their fifth consecutive week of inflows. Some of these inflows are related to the liquidation of assets in European banks by some major US money market funds. EPFR Global finds that equity funds which emphasize dividends have posted net inflows of over USD35bn since the beginning of the year. Equity funds dedicated to emerging markets have seen net outflows since the beginning of the year of about USD36bn, while equity funds dedicated to developed countries have posted net inflows of USD79.9bn, compared with USD77.1bn in the corresponding period of 2010.

The Asia Leaders fund from Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM), managed by Thomas Gerhardt, the new head of the emerging markets team, and David Gaud, Asian equity manager, is now available for sale in Germany. The product was launched on 26 October (see Newsmanagers of 14 November).As of 31 October, EDRAM had assets of EUR13.1bn, compared with EUR14bn as of the end of 2010.

Global X Funds has announced the launch of an ETF based on Greece, which it says is the first of its kind. The Global X FTSE Greece 20 ETF fund, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, provides investors with exposure to the FTSE/ATHEX 20 Capped index, composed of the 20 largest caps on the Athens stock exchange. Total capitalisation of the Athens Stock Exchange has fallen off a peak of USD200bn by nearly 90%, to USD28bn as of November 2011.

Financière de l’Echiquier has announced the arrival of Bertrand Merveille as head of compliance and internal control (RCCI). Merveille, 31, had previously been director of the investment services providers division of the French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). At the AMF, where he began in 2003 as a mutual fund analyst, Merveille then took charge of portfolio management firms, and then become deputy head of the investment services providers division, and then director of the division, in 2009.

Invesco Real Estate has added to its team dedicated to Europe, in order to improve solutions and services to international clients interested in investing in Europe. Sébastien Daguenet joins the team as fund and product manager – France. In this newly-created position, he will be in charge of the develpopment and management of funds in France, with the goal of offering French clients investment solutions from Invesco Real Estate. Daguenet, 34, had worked at CNP Assurances since 2004, where he served as a real estate portfolio manager for three years, and then as responsible for investments in non-publicly traded real estate funds. Tom Emson, currently head of transactions in France and Belgium, joins the New York office of the firm from 2 January 2012, to provide his European experience to international clients of Invesco Real Estate seeking to diversify their real estate portfolios in Europe, a statement says. Stéphanie Bensimon, who had previously been at CarVal Investors, where she was a specialist in opportunistic and high added value operations, joins the Paris office of Invesco Real Estate, replacing Emson as director of transactions for France and Belgium.

On 1 December, the Spanish regulator CNMV registered the Convictions Premium fund from the French asset management firm Convictions AM, the fifteenth foreign asset management firm to enter the Spanish market since the beginning of this year.Patrick Serre, a member of the executive committee and head of investor relations, tells Newsmanagers that Convictions is not opening an office in Spain for the moment, but that it has signed a partnership with the Madrid company Selinca AV, and with Pablo Chiodi in Paris.The French asset management firm, about 17% of whose EUR800m in assets come from abroad, is planning to register its other two flexible funds (Europactive and ActivInflation) in Spain, when they have EUR100m in assets and an adequate track record.Convictions is methodically continuing its expansion beyond the borders of France. Its flagship fund has been registered in Italy (March), Switzerland (September) and Germany (October), and the manager has recruited an Italian and a German in Paris to serve the Italian and German-speaking markets. Serre is optimistic about the firm’s penetration abroad, as the Premium fund has a “strong” qualitative rating from Fitch, and a AA+ from the German ratings agency Telos.

The Hartford and Wellington are scaling up their collaboration. Recently, the US insurer announced that Wellington will now be the sole sub-advisor for its 77 funds. The agreement also concerns bond funds from The Hartford, for which the sub-advisor had previously been its own asset management affiliate, Hartford Investment Management Company.

U.S. Bancorp Fund Services has launched ETF-Fusion, which offers a variety of services aimed at ETF professionals. The DASH interface puts providers and distributors in touch, while the GENUIS database offers inventory and accounting services.

“Our forecasting model is currently as bearish as it was at the start of autumn 2008, in spite of the optimism that spread through markets in October,” says Hans-Olov Bornemann, head of the quantitative team at the Swedish bank SEB and manager of SEB Asset Selection, a managed futures fund. “The problem in Europe is that it has been borrowing money for 30 years, and hasn’t been using that money to invest, but to spend. This problem applies to governments as well as to individuals,” says Bornemann in an interview with Newsmanagers. There is no easy fix to combat the perverse effects of this “addiction to consumption,” and whatever the solution is, it will be painful. According to the head of quantitative management at SEB, the only way to get out of the cycle is to confront reality and to attack the debts. The second major problem to sort out is the lack of competitiveness of some countries, such as Italy and Spain. The solution will need to involve considerable budgetary cutbacks and a clearing-out of the balance sheets of financial institutions, which will have an impact on demand and corporate profits, and means that we can look forward to several difficult years. But for Bornemann and his SEB Asset Selection fund, it’s not that important whether the markets are rising or falling when there is a clear underlying trend. His fund seeks to earn returns both long and short, via derivative instruments based on four asset classes (equities, bonds, currencies and commodities). SEB Asset Selection continues to be positioned for a negative equity market development, a positive bond market development, an appreciation of safe haven currencies such as the USD & JPY and a declining commodity market. SEB Asset Selection, launched in October 2006 by the quantitative management team at the Swedish bank, now represents assets of about EUR1.5bn.

Agefi relays reports by the news agency Reuters that China is planning to create another investment vehicle, which will aim to provide it with higher returns than its traditional investments. The vehicle will be controlled by the central bank, and will manage two funds, one of which will invest in the United States, and the other in Europe, with combined total assets of USD300bn. The new Chinese sovereign fund will have to outperform the CIC. Since its inception four years ago, the CIC fund has earned average annual returns of 6.4%.

Agefi relays reports in the Journal du Dimanche that the Caisse des dépôts et placements du Québec (CDPQ) is said to be at an advanced stage in negotiations to acquire Axa Private Equity for EUR500m. Axa would retain a minority stake in the affiliate.

Alain Wicker, one of the emblematic figures at the French asset management firm La Française AM, discusses developments in the sector. The firm, facing strong competition from multiple sides, has already entered a consolidation phase. But there is a lack of candidates in France, despite the good reputation that the French asset management firm enjoys.

La Tribune has procured a list of the companies which were invested in the Madoff feeder fund Luxalpha in December 2008 (on behalf of themselves, their clients, or as a settlement market maker). La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild the European urology association, the French Senate, Téthys (the holding company for Liliane Bettencourt), the International Olympic Committee, HSBC Private Banking Paris, and Aforge Capital Management: the list includes asset management firms, private banks, family holding companies, family offices, associations, and one French public institution, La Tribune notes.

Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the business interests of Bernard Madoff, has filed suit in a New York court against Julius Bär and the Zurich-based private bank Falcon, the news agency Bloomberg reports. It is seeking USD37m from Julius Bär and USD39m from Falcon. Picard says these are the sums placed by various investors in the Bernard Madoff firm Fairfield Sentry, which were then placed in the two Swiss banks.

The French-registered fund EdR Millésima 2016, launched by Edmond de Rothschilid Investment Managers on 15 November 2011, was registered for sale in Spain by the CNMV on 25 November. The horizon fund (maturing on 31 October 2016) is based on carry trade strategies on senior industrial and financial sector bonds, with a maximum of 35% in high yield. Subscriptions are open until 29 February 2012. The fund will be available from Allfunds Bank and Banco Inversis.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Schroder Investment Management’s (Schroders) ‘M1' Asset Manager rating. The rating covers the company’s London-based investment activities with the exception of the alternative asset management business. Asset manager operations in the ‘M1' category demonstrate the lowest vulnerability to operational and investment management failure. According to the ratings agency, Schroders’ key strengths reside in its global, diversified, long-established franchise and a solid risk management framework. Disciplined, research-driven investment processes across asset classes and a robust operational infrastructure also differentiate Schroders from peers.

The British asset management firm Aberdeen has confirmed to Newsmangers reports in Investment Week that the multi-management funds Aberdeen Multi-Manager Equity Managed Portfolio (GBP56m) and Aberdeen Multi-Manager Multi-Asset Distribution Fund (GBP16m) will be absorbing two and three other funds, respectively.The former fund will take over the assets of the Multi-Manager UK Growth fund (GBP17m), Multi-Manager International Growth (GBP25m), and the Multi-Manager Emerging Markets (GBP12m). The second fund will take over the assets of the Multi-Manager UK Income (GBP21m) and the Multi-Manager Sterling Bond (GBP14m).

The Dutch pension fund ABP (EUR240bn in assets) has filed suit against the investment bank JP Morgan Chase over losses on MBS investments, IPE.com reports. According to a spokesman for the bank, the firm alleged to the fund that CDOs were less risky than they actually were.

According to the most recent survey from Coller Capital, limited partners (LP) who have invested their assets with private equity funds remain confident for 2012.According to the study, undertaken in August and September, which covered 107 investors, 83% are planning to maintain or increase their allocation to the asset class in 2012, a percentage “similar to the intentions expressed in past years.” 24% of respondents are planning to increase their exposure. 68% of North American LPs and 56% of their European counterparts estimate that next year will be a good or excellent year.The study also finds that investors are planning to continue the skimming that they began two years ago. The study finds that 93% of LPs say they will refuse several managers «re-ups» in the next 18 months, meaning that they will not pledge them money for subsequent generations of a fund when requested.

The HFR composite weighted index of hedge funds in November has posted a loss of 0.92%, bringing losses since the beginning of the year to more than 4%, while the BarclayHedge index, which covers 1,034 funds that have submitted results as of 9 December, shows losses of 0.94%, and losses of 4.59% in the first eleven months of the year. The BarclayHedge index of (104) UCITS-compliant hedge funds lost 1.64% last month, and 8.20% in the first eleven months of the year.For hedge funds overall, only three strategies out of 17 show gains in November: 0.32% for equity market neutral; 0.07% for health/biotech, and 0.57% for merger arbitrage.In the first eleven months of the year, the heaviest losses have been for emerging markets, at 11.37%, followed by equity long bias (-8.56%). The two best-performing strategies were fixed income arbitrage, at 3.94%, and equity short bias (+3.40%).Among UCITS-compliant hedge funds, the heaviest losses in January-November were for the 12 emerging markets products, with 15.33%, and for 13 equity long bias funds, at 11.76%.

Of USD26.67bn in net inflows in January-November to European ETP products (ETF, ETC, and ETN), iShares (BlackRock) has accounted for EUR17.8bn, or two thirds. With EUR104.6bn in assets as of 30 November, the asset management firm has a market share of 33.9%, or 1.7 percentage points more than at the end of 2010.According to the most recent issue of the «ETF Landscape» newsletter from BlackRock, the second-best in terms of net subscriptions in the first eleven months of the year has been UBS Global Asset Management, with USD4.8bn in subscriptions, and assets as of the end of November of USD13.8bn. It is followed by Amundi ETF (USD2.6bn in net subscriptions and USD8.5bn in assets), Source Markets (USD2.5bn and USD7.6bn), and Credit Suisse Asset Management (USD2.3bn and USD16.2bn).db x-trackers/db ETC (Deutsche Bank) had net outflows of USD1.1bn in November, limiting net subscriptions in the first eleven months of the yar to USD1.8bn. Its assets totalled USD44.8bn as of 30 November, and its market share has fallen by one point since the beginning of 3011, to 14.5%. Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale), with USD36.6bn as of the end of November, has seen a contraction of USD15.8bn in its assets under management from January-November, of which USD8.4bn were due to net redemptions. Its market share has fallen 4.7 percentage points, to 11.9%.

The financial ratings agency Moody’s on 12 December confirmed that it will be reevaluating its sovereign debt ratings for euro zone and European Union countries, in first quarter 2012, due to the lack of decisive action at the European summit last week. The lack of measures to staibilize the markets in the short term is a sign that the euro zone, and the European Union more broadly, continues to run the risk of more shocks, and the cohesion of the euro zone continues to be in danger, the agency explains in a statement.

Ahead Wealth Solutions AG has announced that it has become the first local asset management firm to have been issued a license under UCITS standards from the Liechtenstein Financial Market Authority (FMA), concluding an application process of several months and a reorganisation to meet the requirements of the authority.Ahead may now create and administer investment funds in the 30 countries of the European Economic Area (EEA), where its previous license had limited it to Liechtenstein. In addition, compliance with the European directive allows the firm to sell its funds to retail investors in all EEA countries without seeking local licenses.As part of the move to European standards, the managing board at Ahead has been enlarged from two to four members, CEO Wolfgang Mayer says.

In October, net redemptions from open-ended funds in Germany totalled EUR962.7m, compared with EUR2.766bn in September. In the first ten months of the year, outflows have totalled EUR8.56bn, compared with net subscriptions of EUR21.83bn. Since the beginning of 2011, institutional funds (Spezialfonds) have seen net inflows of EUR25.73bn, compared with EUR51bn, while mandates managed outside investment funds have seen outflows of EUR1.52bn, compared with EUR582m.In the first ten months of the year, the top score for net subscriptions goes to BlackRock, for its iShares ETFs, totalling EUR8.01bn, followed by Allianz Global Investors (AGI), with EUR1.98bn (thanks to EUR6.18bn for Pimco Europe). Meanwhile, Deka (savings banks) has seen net outflows of EUR6.59bn, followed by the DWS/DB Advisors/DB family, with EUR4.2bn, and Union Investment (co-operative banks, EUR2.14bn).Among the ETF promoters other than BlackRock, db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) attracted EUR1.48bn, and ComStage (Commerzbank) took on EUR33.7m. ETFlab (Deka) has seen net outflows of EUR965m.

«Je suis plus optimiste qu’il y a un mois, je pense que des progrès ont été faits», a déclaré Olivier Blanchard, l'économiste en chef du FMI, lors d’une conférence à Tel Aviv. «Ce qui s’est passé la semaine dernière est important: c’est une partie de la solution (à la crise) mais ce n’est pas la solution», a-t-il ajouté.

Dublin pourrait être contraint de revenir sur son engagement de ne pas toucher aux salaires des fonctionnaires, a déclaré hier le ministre de l'énergie Pat Rabbitte. « En fonction de la façon dont les choses évolueront en zone euro, nous pourrions devoir nous asseoir et discuter avec les syndicats d’une renégociation de cet accord», a-t-il indiqué sur RTE. «Mais cela dépend des taux et des projections de croissance et de leur réalisation» a-t-il ajouté.

La Hongrie a revu ses prévisions de croissance pour 2012 à la baisse à 0,5%, selon des déclarations faites ce matin par le premier ministre Viktor Orban. «Nous devons réduire notre projection de croissance de 1,5% à 0,5%, mais c’est la limite maximum, peut-être même plus bas et accroître significativement le taux de change du forint». Une révision qui va impliquer de nouvelles coupes budgétaires pour atteindre les objectifs de déficit budgétaire fixée par le FMI et l’UE.

Washington a rejeté le plan de l’Union européenne pour supprimer les subventions à Airbus et va demander l’autorisation à l’OMC d’imposer des sanctions. «Notre action aujourd’hui souligne ce que nous avons toujours dit: que les Etats-Unis ne peuvent accepter rien de moins que la fin de ce financement subventionné», a déclaré Ron Kirk, le délégué américain au Commerce. Les Etats-Unis envisagent 7 à 10 milliards de dollars (5,2 à 7,5 milliards d’euros) de sanctions commerciales annuelles. La France, par l’entremise de son secrétaire d’Etat au Commerce extérieur a jugé cette demande «excessive et prématurée». «En tout état de cause, les Etats-Unis ne sont ni compétents pour déterminer de façon unilatérale si l’UE a bien mis en œuvre les conclusions du panel Airbus ni actuellement autorisés par l’OMC à mettre en œuvre des sanctions», a rétorqué Pierre Lellouche dans un communiqué.