The Zurich-based firm Swiss Investment Managers GmbH (SIM) in September launched a long/short fund entitled Directors Dealing Fund, which aims to outperform the equity markets through an analysis of legal insider trading, directors’ delaings, which is declared to the authorities. This approach identifies financial institutions which are the most exposed to heavy losses due to their exposure to the European debt crisis, AR Absolute Return + Alpha reports.The president and CEO of SIM and manager of the fund, Athanasios Ladopoulos, says that the portfolio is currently net short on European banks.The objective for SIM is to raise about EUR50m for the fund in one year, and EUR200m in two years.

The Hong Kong-based asset management firm Myriad Asset Management, created by a former Highbridge manager, Carl Huttenlocher, is to launch a multi-strategy fund in December, Asian Investor reports. The fund, Myriad Oppiortunities Master Fund, whose launch has been delayed by valuation problems, will start with about USD300m in funds. The multi-strategy approach from Myriad has an Asian bias, and includes long/short equity, convertible, capital structure arbitrage, event driven, and credit strategies. The capacity of the new fund is USD2bn. If this level is reached by the end of second quarter 2012, the fund will be closed.

On 25 November, the CNMV registered the Foncaixa Garantia Eurobolsa fund, whose depository is CaixaBank. The product is a variable return fund which guarantees 104% of the initial net asset value (as of 17 February 2012), or alternatively the initial net asset value plus a 60% participation in the revaluation of the EuroStoxx 50 (PriceEuro) index between February 2012 and January 2016, at maturity (1 February 2016).The portfolio will be invested in cash, Spanish government debt repos, and money market funds, with an average maturity of less than 3 months and a minimal rating of A.CharacteristicsName: Foncaixa Garantia Eurobolsa 6 FIISIN code: ES0137665008Front-end fee: 4%Management commission: 1.77%Early withdrawal penalty: 4%

The net number of funds available for sale in Europe decreased by 390 funds between January and September 2011, a consequence of a significant increase in the number of merged funds rather than a fall in newly launched funds, explains Dunny P Moonesawmy, head of Europe and Middle East research at Lipper, which has published the statistics. 1,260 funds were merged in the period, compared with 1,142 in the year 2010 overall, and 1,662 in 2009. The mergers were primarily of equity funds (423). Meanwhile, 1523 funds were closed between January and September, while 2,383 funds were launched. As of the end of September, the number of funds on sale in Europe totalled 35,017. A trend for fund mergers is expected to continue, says Lipper, as the process of rationalising product ranges at asset management firms continues and with the UCITS 4 directive. Lipper also notes that Luxembourg continues to dominate the fund industry in Europe, with 9,183 funds out of 35,017 domiciled in the grand duchy as of the end of September, followed by France, with 5,425 products.

Mark Parry, managing director and head of fixed income at Close Asset Management after serving as head of inflation bonds at Schroders, is joining Aberdeen Asset Management as senior investment manager in the multi-asset class team (9 people, GBP6bn in assets). He will report to Mike Turner, head of global strategy and asset allocation.

Cliff Pattenden has left Tudor Investment Corporation, a USD11bn hedge fund, to join former colleagues at Zafferano Capital, Financial News reports. He will be COO and chief financial officer at Zafferano.

One year after being granted a license by the SEC for its new actively-managed ETF activity (see Newsmanagers of 23 11 2010), Neuberger Berman is preparing the first product in its new range. According to Mutual Fund Wire, the New York-based asset management firm has submitted an application for a license for an ETF to be entitled Neuberger Berman Real Return Active ETF. It would invest in the US and international markets, in equities and bonds. Neuberger Berman has not stated what management fees the ETF will charge, Mutual Fund Wire reports.

The asset management firm Cosmo Asset Management, based in Seoul, is preparing to launch a mutual fund aimed at retail clients, Asian Investor reports. CosmoAM is also working on products for its Japanese parent company, Sparx, aimed at institutional clients. Cosmo is planning to offer a long-only equity strategy dedicated to the Korean market, which may be launched in January or February 2012. The alternative asset management firm Sparx, which controls 70% of Cosmo, manages about USD6.8bn in assets. Cosmo AM, for its part, manages slightly over USD3bn.

Goldman Sachs has priced the international asset management arm of Deutsche Bank at EUR2.5bn, Financial News reports. Among the potential buyers, the online news source cites BlackRock, State Street, Legg Mason and Franklin Resources.

OppenheimerFunds has announced the recruitment of Kamal Bhatia, who becomes vice president, and joins the fixed income and alternative investments team as director of products. Bhatia worked previously for TIAA-CREF, where he was managing director in charge of real asset and socially responsible products.

Hedge fund managers expect global growth to slow next year, in a context of probable sovereign defaults in the euro zone and a slowdown in China, the Financial Times reports, citing a survey of hedge fund managers with USD800bn in assets under management. Many of them predict that the European Central Bank will have to ease its monetary policy, and slightly under 80% predict that the Federal Reserve will need to do the same.

The French asset management firm La Financière de l’Echiquier has set itself an ambitious goal, the Börsen-Zeitung reports: “In the mid to long-term,” says Didier Le Menestrel, its founder and president, the firm is aiming for assets of EUR1bn in Germany, up from EUR100m currently. After all, he adds, it might be ambitious, but the firm will have needed 10 years to reach EUR200m in assets under management in France.

As of the end of November, the online B2B bank ebase GmbH has taken over account and service management for over 30,000 clients and EUR1bn in assets from the real estate fund management firm KanAm Grund. It will also be responsible for new accounts to be opened in future.The agreement allows KanAm to focus on its core profession, management, distribution and administration of open-ended real estate funds, says Heiko Hartwig, CEO of KanAm Grund.ebase, for its part, says that the range of products and services KanAm clients are offered will be extended with a wide range of ways to interact with the firm. Opening hours will be extended for the telephone service, and clients will receive “comfortable” online account access, says Rudolf Geyer, CEO of ebase.

A German federal court in Frankfurt (Oberlandesgericht, or OLG) has found that victims of the Lehman bankruptcy have the right to file lawsuits in Germany against S&P, seeking damages and interest, as the ratings agency has a legally independent affiliate in the country with its own assets, Handelsblatt reports.With this verdict, the OLG has authorised the district court (Landgericht) to rule that a lawsuit filed by an investor who lost about EUR30,000 in September 2008, which were invested in Lehman certificates four months earlier, due to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, may be heard. The plaintiff claims that he made the investment decision based on S&P ratings.Lawyers are now expecting a wave of lawsuits against S&P in Germany. S&P had no comment.

The perception of financial risks by institutional investors in Europe has risen sharply. But the rankings of these risks has changed considerably in the past six months. The RiskMonitor survey from Allianz Global Investors, published yesterday, shows that European institutional investors now consider volatility the major risk they will need to confront in the next 12 months, followed by sovereign debt and falling equity markets. In the last survey, interest rates were the most cited concern, while volatility was only in fourth place. In numbers, the percentage of investors surveyed who consider volatility a major risk rose from 16% to 89%. However, sovereign debt is now perceived as a major risk by more than one third of the investors surveyed, a higher percentage than all other risk categories, the study finds. Thomas Wiesemann, chief market officer at Allianz Global Investors in Europe, says a prolonged aversion to risk could prove costly for investors. “The current low interest rates,” he explains, “will not let them manage sufficient returns to meet their payment liabilities, and may even result in real negative returns,”The full results of the survey may be consulted at the following address: http://www.allianzglobalinvestors.de/docs-produkte/global/RiskMonitor-N…

Dans l’optique d’améliorer la performance de ses actifs, la Caisse de Retraite des Sénateurs belges a lancé en août 2011, un appel d’offres pour désigner plusieurs « specialty managers ». Pour rappel, il s’agit de mandats de gestion discrétionnaire sur plusieurs thèmes d’investissement spécialisés: énergie (lot 1), agri-food (lot 2), real assets (lot 3), actions européennes large cap (lot 4), actions à haut dividende (lot 5). Un gestionnaire sera mandaté pour chaque lot, à l’exception des actions à haut dividende et actions large cap, où il y aura deux gérants retenus. Au total, la Caisse de Retraite des Sénateurs de Belgique prévoit de sélectionner 7 gérants, dont certains pourront assurer la gestion de plusieurs lots. Avec une exigence de performance située à 2% au-dessus de l’inflation et une allocation stratégique qui se porte davantage sur l’obligataire (60/40 contre 50/50 aujourd’hui), Lode Vanhaverbeke, en charge du dossier au sein de la caisse de retraite des sénateurs ASBL, s’est dit « déçu » devant le faible nombre de sociétés, 8 au total, qui ont répondu. « Nous voulons investir entre 5 et 10 millions d’euros pour chacun des 5 lots, uniquement au travers de mandats de gestion discrétionnaire. Or, beaucoup de sociétés de gestion ont souhaité nous imposer d’investir dans leurs fonds ouverts phares ajoute-t-il. La société de conseil Econopolis Strategy va rendre dans les prochains jours un rapport à partir duquel les dirigeants de la caisse de retraite désigneront fin décembre au plus tôt les sociétés mandatées. Il s’agit uniquement de gestions actions puisque les obligations sont gérées en direct grâce au soutien du manager fiduciaire (Econopolis pour le moment en attendant les résultats d’un autre appel d’offres en cours dans ce domaine). La Caisse de Retraites des Sénateurs de Belgique a souhaité ajouter une composante ISR aux gestions des specialty managers, en reprenant les principes éthiques du principal fonds de pension norvégien.

La société de gestion remportant l’appel d’offres de l’IRCANTEC concernant un OPCI de 100 millions d’euros (d’après les projections) va être sélectionnée à l’occasion du prochain conseil d’administration de la caisse de retraite au mois de décembre. Comme indiqué dans l’appel d’offres, seules quatre candidats ont été pré-sélectionnées lors de la seconde phase qui a débuté en septembre. A noter que l’un des acteurs majeurs de la gestion d’OPCI intégrant une composante ISR, La Française AM, ne s’est pas porté candidat.

L'OCDE, qui exhorte l'Europe à une action rapide et efficace, prévoit une phase de légère récession dans l'union monétaire

Le commissaire européen au Marché intérieur Michel Barnier, qui dévoilera sa proposition demain, rend l’audit conjoint optionnel mais insiste sur la rotation des cabinets.

Malgré la mise sous perspective du « AAA » américain par Fitch cette nuit, le rendement des obligations d’Etat à 10 ans restait stable à 1,99%

Il s'agit du deuxième échec consécutif pour Julius Baer qui a déjà tenté d'acquérir ABN Amro cette année

Des voix s'élèvent pour qu'elle renforce encore le programme d'achat de dette afin de maintenir les taux en dessous d'un certain seuil

Pour se recapitaliser, Santander, BNP Paribas et Société Générale ont lancé des offres d'échange ou de rachat de dettes hybrides, très décotées. Les termes sont donc peu attractifs mais ces offres constituent pour les investisseurs une porte de sortie dans un marché peu liquide.

Peu attractives, les opérations de BNP Paribas et Société Générale apportent cependant de la liquidité sur un marché quasiment gelé

La composante optionnelle de ces titres est devenue quasiment gratuite sur certains marchés, notamment en Asie

L’agence estime dans un rapport que l’exposition aux CDS souverains a progressé de 1.500 milliards de dollars depuis fin 2008, avec l’Europe représentant environ les deux tiers de la hausse totale. Alors que le notionnel brut a fortement augmenté au cours des dernières années pour certains pays, l’exposition finale nette apparaît faible, à moins de 2% de la dette totale.

Le groupe de private equity a fait part d’un accord pour le rachat pour 1,12 milliard de dollars du fabricant britannique d’équipement de sécurité Capital Safety Group. Le vendeur est Arle Capital Partners, issu de Candover Partners à la faveur d’un MBO.

Le financier américain entend racheter le recycleur de ferraille d’acier pour 1,73 milliard de dollars. Icahn Enterprises, qui détient déjà 10% du capital de la cible, offre 15 dollars par action sans aucune condition de financement ou de due diligence. L’acquéreur souhaite combiner la société avec ses propres activités de recyclage et nommer une nouvelle direction.

La banque japonaise a indiqué avoir réduit de 83% sa détention d’actifs liés à l’Italie entre fin septembre et le 24 novembre, à 467 millions de dollars. Celle liée à l’Espagne a été réduite de 62% à 175 millions et celle liée à la Grèce de 43% à 27 millions.

Selon une note interne consultée par Reuters, le président de la filiale londonienne de courtage de JPMorgan, David Mayhew, va à 71 ans se retirer de la gestion au quotidien de la société pour assurer un rôle de conseil aux clients en tant que vice-président de la banque d’investissement de la banque américaine au niveau mondial. Il sera remplacé par son second, Tim Wise.