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.

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.

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%.

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.

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.

63 percent of pension executives now employ an LDI investment approach – more than triple that of 2007 (20 percent), according to a new survey by SEI*.In terms of asset allocation, long-duration bonds continue to be a popular strategy (74 percent in 2011), as bonds and liability values are similarly sensitive to interest rates. Short-duration cash management is also commonly used with 40 percent of respondents using it this year. Newer LDI products, such as emerging market debt (37 percent), continue to grow in popularity, but investments in interest-rate derivatives remained low again this year (26 percent).*The global poll was conducted by SEI’s Pension Management Research Panel and included 100 pension executives from the United States, Canada, Netherlands, and United Kingdom.

Guy d’Albrand, formerly of Société Générale and Newedge, has been appointed as head of securities lending at RBC Dexia Investor Services, which has also unveiled its new global Market Products & Services (MPS) business model. D’Albrand will begin in his new role in London in 2012. He will report to Susan Pike, global head, MPS.Meanwhile, Morgan McDonnell, head of foreign exchange, will assume the newly-created position of head of global foreign exchange, cash & credit markets. He will be in charge of the new grouping resulting from the merger of the product management and development teams of the forex and cash & investment finance (IF) unit.Susan Coleman, who had been head, cash & IF product management, becomes head of cross-product initiatives, a position in which she will be in charge of cross-product and collateral management strategy for the MPS division.Fay Coroneos, who had been head of risk & investment analytics, becomes head of MPS service delivery, the team which handles all delivery functions.Blair McPherson, currently head of portfolio solutions, has been appointed as head of market product innovation.

Institutional investors, including pension funds, insurers and sovereign funds, are prepared to increase their exposure to real estate as an asset class, according to the findings of the Vision Focus study “Real Estate: New Opportunities for Institutional Investors,” published by State Street Corporation. But these investors, made awake to risks by the financial crisis, are demanding more control and flexibility for their exposure to this market. “Investors want closer relationships with fund managers, and are demanding more information, not only at the start, but also over the life cycle of the fund,” State Street says. Institutionals are also looking for more transparency in their underlying investments and management fees. Investors are becoming more prudent, and are taking their time to make a final decision, and paying much more attention to the due diligence process. Since 2007, the typical length of time between the start and the completion of an agreement has nearly doubled, State Street notes. These expectations taken together will lead to increased reporting requirements for asset management firms. According to State Street, major fund managers may respond to these requirements by strengthening their internal systems. Others, meanwhile, may decide to outsource their operations to service providers. Consolidating these functions with other fund managers may allow for economies of scale.

After insurers, pension funds are the largest investors in German institutional funds (Spezialfonds). Complementary retirement schemes, retirement funds and pension funds as of the end of October held nearly EUR138bn in assets of this type, the BVI association of asset management firms reports. Since 2004 (EUR49.4bn) these assets have nearly tripled.

The supervisory board at Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems (TKMS) on Friday decided to sell the civil operations of the Blohm+Voss shipyards o the British private equity firm Star Capital, according to reports in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The sale is reported to have been for a double-digit amount in millions of euros.The activities sold include construction, repair and engineering, with 1,500 employees and a turrnover of EUR500m.

“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 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.

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.

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.

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%.

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.

Dans un article paru dans Option Finance, Denis Metzger, directeur financier de la Mutuelle Générale évoque les projets d’investissement en cours: Jusqu'à début septembre, nous n’avons ni vendu ni acheté de nouvelles positions. Par chance, notre politique de gestion d’actifs n’est pas contrainte par des rachats comme dans l’assurance vie. Cela nous a donc laissé le temps de repenser plus globalement notre allocation d’actifs. Nous avons ensuite donné de nouvelles orientations à cette dernière mi-octobre. Nous nous intéressons désormais à la dette émergente en devise locale. Les pays émergents sont souvent en bien meilleure santé financière, offrent des taux de rendement très intéressants et leurs devises s’apprécient contre le dollar. Ce sont donc des placements qui font vraiment du sens en termes de diversification. Nous souhaitons par ailleurs mettre en avant une deuxième catégorie obligataire, à savoir le high yield. Nous nous intéressons, plus particulièrement, aux titres notés BB ou B. Ils offrent des spread de 300 à 400 pb avec un taux de défaut très peu supérieur à celui de l’investment grade. Et de plus, crise aidant, on y trouve de très grands noms comme Renault, Lafarge, Peugeot... Du côté des actions, nous avons décidé d'être exposés aux pays émergents au sens large, c’est à dire l’Europe de l’Est, l’Amérique latine ou l’Asie du Sud Est à travers des fonds thématiques globaux. Nous allons donc diversifier notre allocation d’actifs avec ces nouvelles catégories qui pourront représenter un maximum de 5% de nos encours.

«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.

Le groupe de private equity pourrait lancer une offre en numéraire de 150 millions de livres en vue du rachat de Mothercare, un distributeur britannique d’articles de grossesse et de puériculture, selon le Sunday Telegraph. Les réflexions en sont encore à un stade précoce.

La Caisse des dépôts et placements du Québec (CDPQ) serait en négociations avancées en vue d’un rachat d’Axa Private Equity pour 500 millions d’euros, selon le Journal du Dimanche. Axa garderait une participation minoritaire dans sa filiale, précise le journal.

Londres avait une main bien faible pour aborder cet historique sommet européen et David Cameron l’a mal jouée. Il est vrai que sa situation intérieure limitait sa marge de manœuvre et qu’après l’accord franco-allemand de lundi, celle-ci tendait vers le zéro absolu. Reste que l’idée que la Grande Bretagne pût espérer bénéficier d’une clause d’« opt out » tout en exigeant des engagements de ses partenaires en matière de régulation financière était inconcevable pour tout Etat continental tant soit peu conscient de ses intérêts. La logique du « un pied en dedans, un pied en dehors » a trouvé sa limite. Il n’est pas sûr que la City de Londres, qui a beaucoup poussé Downing Street à cette erreur, trouve son avantage à la perte d’influence dont le Royaume-Uni va souffrir à Bruxelles. Reste pour l’Europe à limiter les conséquences de cette rupture majeure dans l’histoire de l’Union. Pour que celle-ci ne signifie pas une rupture dans l’Histoire européenne tout court, il importe essentiellement que le dialogue avec Londres soit maintenu par tous les moyens possibles pour que notre voisin d’outre-Manche puisse, sans déchoir, retrouver quand il le décidera la place éminente qui est la sienne dans le concert européen. La France doit y veiller en premier lieu, elle dont les intérêts et l’influence s’entremêlent si inextricablement en toutes matières avec ceux de sa voisine, y compris dans la défense comme la victoire en Libye vient tout juste de le rappeler.

Antoine Lacourt, DG de EFG AM France

Même si elles vont dans le bon sens, les réformes annoncées ne provoquent pas de choc de confiance