Isam, le hedge fund fondé par l’ancien patron de Man Group, Stanley Fink, veut multiplier ses actifs sous gestion au moins par sept à court terme en se développant auprès des fonds souverains et des investisseurs institutionnels du Moyen Orient, rapporte l’agence Reuters.La société, dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à un peu plus de 700 millions de dollars, est actuellement en discussion avec des fonds souverains, des fonds de pension et des clients fortunés dans la région, a précisé Stankey Fink à Reuters.

Les fonds d’actions émergentes ont subi une nouvelle semaine de rachats, selon les dernières estimations d’EPFR Global. Depuis le début de l’année, la décollecte nette de ces fonds atteint 40,5 milliards de dollars.Cela dit, les marchés d’actions semblent un peu moins pessimistes que durant les dernières semaines. «Un certain équilibre semble s’installer entre optimistes et pessimistes. Et si vous regardez les flux sur les ETF, plus imméditament sensibles aux changements d’humeur des investisseurs, les optimistes semblent prendre le dessus», remarque le managing director d’EPFR Global, Brad Durham. La décollecte de l’ensemble des fonds actions s’est malgré tout inscrite à 1,37 milliard de dollars.

DWS Investments a lancé le 16 août le fonds luxembourgeois DWS Invest China Bonds qui investit en obligations libellées en yuans sur le marché «offshore» des emprunts en renminbi de Hong-Kong, qui représente actuellement un volume de 23 milliards d’euros ou 200 milliards de yuans.Avec ce nouveau produit, qui suit par exemple celui d’AllianceBernstein ou les ETF deVan Eck et Invesco, la filiale de la Deutsche Bank propose un produit à gestion active avec un portefeuille de 50 lignes maximum (des obligations de bonne signature et d'échéance à moyen terme) qui est géré par Philip Meier de l'équipe marchés émergents. Ce fonds est aussi un pari sur l’appréciation du yuan contre le dollar américain, et il comporte également des parts couvertes du risque de change euro/dollar.Philip Meier sera assisté par les spécialistes de la société de gestion chinoise Harvest, dont DWS détient 30 %.CaractéristiquesDénomination : DWS Invest China BondsCodes Isin :Part LCH en euros : LU0632805262Part FCH en euros (min. 0,4 million d’euros) : LU06322808951Part A2 en dollars : LU0616856422Part E2 en dollars (min. 0,4 millions de dollars) : LU0616856778Droit d’entrée :Parts LCH et A : 3 %Parts FCH et E2 : 0 %Commission de gestionParts LCH et A2 : 1,10 %Parts FCH et E2 : 0,60 %Banque dépositaire : State Street Bank Luxembourg SA

Fidelity a décidé à l'été 2006 de se lancer sur le marché allemand de la prévoyance d’entreprise. A l'époque, ce marché, pour les plans en unités de compte, était réparti entre Allianz Global Advisors, DB Advisors (Deutsche Bank) et Deka (caisses d'épargne), rappelle Klaus Mössle, qui dirige l’activité institutionnelle de Fidelity Allemagne, dans une interview à la Börsen-Zeitung.Il s’agissait donc d’un projet de longue haleine, et, entre-temps, JP Morgan et BlackRock se sont retirés de ce segment. Fidelity en revanche gère 437 millions d’euros dans ce domaine, ce qui constitue une base adéquate pour une croissance supplémentaire.

L’essentiel des engagements de retraite de la BHF-Bank a été externalisé début octobre auprès du fonds de pension BHF Pension Trust e.V. Cette opération concerne un volume d’environ 120 millions d’euros. Le portefeuille est confié à Frankfurt Trust, la société de gestion du groupe BHF.La Deutsche Bank est actuellement en négociations avec le capital-investisseur RHJ en vue de lui céder la BHF-Bank, qui est tombée dans son escarcelle lors du sauvetage de la banque privée Sal. Oppenheim fin octobre 2009.

L’allemand Credit Suisse Asset Management Immobilien KAG a annoncé que son fonds immobilier offert au public CS Euroreal a vendu trois immeubles pour un montant non divulgué mais supérieur à la dernière valeur d’expertise.Depuis la suspension des rachats en mai 2010, le CS Euroreal a revendu 11 immeubles (tous au-dessus de la valeur vénale) pour 880 millions d’euros. Cela porte la liquidité disponible au 5 octobre pour d'éventuels rachats à 1,29 milliard d’euros, soit 21 % de l’encours. La liquidité brute se monte à 1,65 milliard d’euros ou 26,9 % des actifs gérés. Les trois dernières cessions portent sur un immeuble commercial/résidentiel situé à Leipzig, un immeuble commercial situé à Dresde et un immeuble de bureaux situé à Londres.L’acquéreur des deux actifs allemands est RREEF (Deutsche Bank), qui destine celui de Leipzig à son fonds offert au public grundbesitz europa et celui de Dresde à un fonds immobilier institutionnel. L’immeuble londonien, St Katherine’s Estate (18.000 mètres carrés) a été vendu au malaisien Employees Provident Fund.

Le gestionnaire d’actifs central des banques populaires allemandes, Union Investment va bientôt élargir sa gamme de fonds garantis (90 produits, 16,4 milliards d’euros d’encours à fin août) avec le UniGarantPlus: Erneuerbare Energien (2018), qui sera lancé le 14 décembre 2011 et dont la souscription est ouverte depuis le 17 octobre et jusqu’au 9 décembre.Ce nouveau fonds en euros se focalise sur les actions de sociétés du secteur des énergies renouvelables (éolien, solaire, géothermie, bio-carburants éthanol, etc). CaractéristiquesDénomination : UniGarantPlus: Erneuerbare Energien (2018)Code Isin : LU0661713296Echéance : 21 septembre 2018Garantie : 104 euros par part à l'échéanceDroit d’entrée 4 %Commission de gestion : 1 % (maximum 1,5 %)Droit de sortie anticipée : 2 % (acquise au fonds)Commission de banque dépositaire (DZ Privat Bank SA, Luxembourg) : 0,05 % (maximum)

On 17 October, ING Investment Management announced the launch of the ING (L) Emerging Market High Dividend Fund, which will inherit the ISIN Code of the ING Invest Asia Pacific High Dividend fund (LU0300631982). The migration will be accompanied by an enlargement of the universe of the fund and a change of managers.The UCITS-compliant fund (whose launch had been planned; see Newsmanagers of 9 June) will be managed by Manu Vendenbulck (senior investment manager) and Nicolas Simar (head of the high dividend team at ING IM). It was previously managed by Pranay Gupta and Bing Li. The fund is not yet on sale in France, but has received sales licenses for Germany and the United Kingdom.The actively-managed fund may now invest in all emerging markets, rather than being limited to Asia-Pacific, as previously. It focuses on businesses which deliver high dividends, and is inspired by the closed fund ING Emerging Markets High Dividend Equity, launched this year by ING IM in the United States, which attracted USD385bn in assets. The objective for the new fund is to outperform the MSCI Emerging Markets index by at least 100 basis points, with low volatility and limited risk of loss. The original Asia-Pacific fund was managed in Asia with a quantitative methodology. It will now apply the high dividend strategy of the team dedicated to this theme.

Threadneedle Investments has launched the Threadneedle (Lux) US Contrarian Core Equities Fund in its Luxembourg SICAV range. The fund is managed by Guy W Pope, managing director and senior portfolio manager at Columbia Management, fellow asset management subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial. The Threadneedle (Lux) US Contrarian Core Equities Fund is managed with the same approach as the USD1.6bn Columbia Management Contrarian Core Fund which seeks out of favour income and growth stocks. Guy W Pope, along with his associate portfolio manager, Harvey Liu, use their proprietary screening method to find large cap US stocks which are in the bottom third of their 52-week price range. This leads to stocks being identified where it is felt that the price undervalues the company. The portfolio is constructed to seek above average returns whilst balancing risk and rewards. Guy W Pope commented: “This fund is all about pessimism – we are looking for those companies that have fallen out of favour due to undue pessimism about their future.” The investment approach is to be offered to clients in Europe, the UK and Asia. The fund has been registered with the CSSF in Luxembourg and the AFM in the Netherlands and registration is pending in other jurisdictions.

According to a verdict by a tribunal in the British Virgin islands, investors who made redemptions from Fairfield Sentry, one of the main feeder hedge funds used by Bernard Madoff, will not be required to repay the amounts they received, Hedge Week reports.The trustees for the fund, domiciled in the Virgin islands, are seeking more than USD1.4bn from the investors.The verdict confirms a judgement in September that the trustees are not authorised to seek reimbursement of sums withdrawn from the Fairfield Sentry fund in the six years preceding Madoff’s confession to fraud in December 2009.

Après l’examen des 61 candidatures reçues en février 2011 à propos de l’appel d’offres de prestation de services relative à la gestion d’actifs pour le compte de l’IRCANTEC, un deuxième questionnaire a été transmis mercredi 5 octobre aux 35 répondants pré-sélectionnés. Pour lire l’avis complet pour la deuxième phase: cliquez ici. Pour rappel, les prestations sont réparties en 4 lots. Le portefeuille de valeurs mobilières constitué en représentation des réserves est actuellement proche de 6 milliards d’euros d’actifs à fin septembre 2010. La nouvelle allocation stratégique cible comprend 25 à 30 % d’actions, 10 à 15 % d’obligations indexées sur l’inflation et environ 60% d’obligations nominales. Les marchés sont conclus pour une période de 4 ans à compter de la notification du contrat. La date prévisionnelle de début des prestations est le 4ème trimestre 2011. LOT 1: Mise en place et gestion de 2 FCP investis en actions et valeurs assimilées. L’allocation initiale indicative de chaque FCP est de l’ordre de 150 millions d’euros avec un volume cible de 500 millions d’euros par FCP ; La gestion sera une gestion active, principalement dans la zone euro(s). LOT 2: Mise en place et gestion de 3 FCP investis majoritairement en obligations à taux nominal, TCN et valeurs assimilées L’allocation initiale indicative de chaque FCP est de l’ordre de 200 millions d’euros avec un volume cible de 800 millions d’euros par FCP ; La gestion sera une gestion active dans la zone euro(s). LOT 3: Mise en place et gestion de 3 FCP investis en actifs financiers diversifiés. Ces fonds seront dédiés à l’Ircantec, avec une allocation indicative 50% actions et 50 % obligations. L’allocation initiale indicative de chaque FCP est de l’ordre de 200 millions d’euros avec un volume cible de 700 millions d’euros par FCP ; Ces FCP intègreront une gestion tactique en fonction des opportunités identifiées sur les marchés. Ils intégreront une part significative de titres en dehors de la zone euro(s). LOT 4: Mise en place et gestion de 2 FCP investis en obligations à taux indexés sur l’inflation. L’allocation initiale indicative de chaque FCP est de l’ordre de 200 millions d’euros avec un volume cible de 400 millions d’euros par FCP.

Isam, the hedge fund founded by the former head of Man Group, Stanley Fink, is planning to increase its assets under management by a factor of at least seven in the short term, by moving into the Middle Eastern sovereign fund and institutional markets, the Reuters news agency reports. The firm, with total assets under management of slightly over USD700m, is currently in talks with sovereign funds, pension funds and high net worth clients in the region, Fink tells Reuters.

The former head of the British retail division of Gartmore, Richard Pursglove, has joined Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), as head of third-party distribution activities. Pursglove will head up a team of nine people with the objective of promoting equity, fixed income and money market strategies to discretionary managers and funds of funds.

John Burns, who had been COO at Visor Capital in Almaty, Kazakhstan, after working at Fidelity and Schroders, has been appointed as chief operating officer (COO) at Barings Asset Management, Money Marketing reports.Burns replaces John Misselbroook, who will be retiring at the end of 2011, and will remain until that time to ensure a smooth transition.

A survey by the Edhec-Risk Institute of 104 European institutional investors has found that 68% of professionals are critical of equity indices which are cap-weighted, and 53% are critical of debt-weighted bond indices. However, despite their faults, these products remain a yardstick for investors and asset managers.When asked about the frequent confusion between indexing and passive management, 58% of specialists say that indices should not simply reflect passive strategies, but 75.2% are also of the opinion that indices should not be based on alpha.Sub-segment indices are relatively unimportant to investors in equities, but are highly important for those who use bond indices.Investors in equities are mostly irritated by the fact that standard cap-weighted indices give a disproportionate weight to overpriced shares, and do not offer sufficient diversification. For their part, users of bond indices pay more attention to reliable exposure to duration than to liquidity questions.Lastly, the adoption of alternative weighting models is perceived in a more positive light by investors who use equities indices (45.2%) than in the bond sphere (17.6% of respondents for indices of govies and 12.5% for corporate bond indices).

The amLeague company announced on Monday, 17 October that it has formed a partnership with the index provider Stoxx Limited. From 1 January 2012, the European equities indices Euro Stoxx 50, Stoxx Europe 50 and Stoxx Europe 600 will be used exclusively for European mandates. The agreement will also allow international mandates established in the future (see Newsmangers of 11 July 2011) to also have a bechmark index developed by Stoxx. The investment universe and performance comparisons will be based on a coherent and homogeneous family of indices in terms of their methodology and periodical revision of their perimeters, a statement says.

On 16 August, DWS Investments launched the Luxembourg fund DWS Invest China Bonds, which invests in bonds denominated in Chinese yuan on the offshore market for renminbi debt in Hong Kong, which currently has a total volume of EUR23bn, or CNY200bn.With this new product, which follows similar products from the likes of AllianceBernstein and ETFs from Van Eck and Invesco, the Deutsche Bank affiliate is offering an actively-managed product with a portfolio of up to 50 positions (bonds with a good ratings and mid-term maturity), which will be managed by Philip Meier and the emerging markets team. The fund is also a bet on the appreciation of the Chinese yuan against the US dollar, and also has shares which are hedged for euro/dollar currency risks.Meier will be assisted by specialists from the Chinese asset management firm Harvest, in which DWS holds a 30% stake.CharacteristicsName: DWS Invest China BondsISIN codes:LCH share class in euros: LU0632805262FCH share class in euros (minimal investment EUR0.4m): LU06322808951A2 share class in US dollars: LU0616856422E2 share class in US dollars (minimal investment EUR0.4m): LU0616856778Front-end feeLCH and A share classes: 3%FCH and E2 share classes: 0%Management commission:LCH and A2 share classes: 1.10%FCH and E2 share classes: 0.60%Depository bank: State Street Bank Luxembourg SA

The German asset management firm Credit Suisse Asset Management Immobilien KAG has announced that its open-ended real estate fund CS Euroreal has sold three properties for an undisclosed total price higher than the most recent expert valuations.Since redemptions were suspended in May 2010, the CS Euroreal fund has sold 11 properties (all above market value) for EUR880m. That brings liquidity available for potential redemptions as of 5 October to EUR1.29bn, or 21% of assets. Gross liquidity totals EUR1.65bn, or 26.9% of assets managed.The past three sales have included a commercial/residential property in Leipzig, a commercial property located in Dresden, and an office property in London.The buyer of the two German properties is RREEF (Deutsche Bank), which will add the Leipzig property to tis open-ended fund grundbesitz europa, and the Dresden property to an institutional real estate fund.The London property, St Katherine’s Estate (18,000 square metres) has been sold to the Employees Provident Fund of Malaysia.

The central asset management firm for the German co-operative banks, Union Investment, will soon be extending its range of guaranteed funds (90 products, EUR16.4bn in assets as of the end of August), with the addition of the UniGarantPlus: Erneuerbare Energien (2018), which will be launched on 14 December 2011, and for which subscriptions have been open since 17 October and will remain open until 9 December.The new fund, denominated in euros, will focus on equities in the renewable energies sector (wind, solar, geothermal, biocarbons, ethanol, etc).CharacteristicsName: UniGarantPlus: Erneuerbare Energien (2018)ISIN code: LU0661713296Maturity: 21 September 2018Guarantee: EUR104 per share at maturityFront-end fee: 4%Management commission: 1% (maximum 1.5%)Premature withdrawal fee: 2% (paid to the fund)Depository banking commission (DZ Privat Bank SA, Luxembourg): 0.05% (maximum)

Most of the pension liabilities of BHF-Bank were outsourced in early October to the BHF Pension Trust e.V. pension fund. The migration involved a volume of about EUR120m. The portfolio will be managed by Frankfurt Trust, the asset management firm of the BHF group.Deutsche Bank is currently in talks with the private equity investor RHJ over a sale of BHF-Bank, which was inherited by Deutsche Bank along with the private bank Sal. Oppenheim, which it took over in late October 2009.

The British asset management firm Neptune is planning to launch a glboal long/short fund in the near future, the firm announced on 17 October, confirming reports in Money Marketing. Though it confirms the reports, the asset management firm did not wish to give further details about the new vehicle. “We are not in a position to comment further or to confirm other details at this stage,” Neptune added in a note. According to Money Marketing, the fund may be managed by Robin Geffen.

The 241 largest US hedge funds (with USD1bn or more in assets under management) grew by USD102bn in first half, bringing assets to USD1.399trn, according to the most recent semiannual “Billion Dollar Club” study by AR. Despite mediocre results for many managers in the sector, several major funds were launched in first half, including a USD5bn fund, and young firms are showing strong growth, the study finds. The number of firms counted in 2010 was 225, with total assets of USD1.297trn.

No major European bank is sufficiently transparent about its employees’ pay scales, which need to be disclosed in fuller detail, the European Banking Authority (EBA) claims. “Disclosure of pay policies and practices observed could be considerably improved for the majority of banks in our sample,” the EBA stated in a report on bank transparency on 17 October. According to the report, one quarter of the banks in the sample provide “insufficient” information about their pay practices, while half of them could improve their communications in this area. The organisation also recommends giving more emphasis to the ties between practices and risks. It also considers that disclosure of credit counterparty risks and risks related to interest rates need to be improved. The report is available at the following address: http://www.eba.europa.eu/News--Communications/Year/2011/EBA-publishes-f…

The US group Franklin Templeton is planning to launch a real estate fund dedicated to emerging markets or to the Asia-Pacific region, Asian Investor reports. Franklin already offers two real estate funds, one of which is international in scope, while the other is focused on the United States. Assets in the two vehicles total about USD1bn, of which 70% are in the international fund.

The Parisian office of the Australian asset management group First State Investments, which will open soon, will be composed of two people, according to information obtained by Newsmanagers.The two staff will be Eva von Sydow, sales director - Europe, who has been working with the asset management firm for nine years. She will cover the French and Swedish markets (she is Swedish). The second is Philippe Taillardat, formerly of Amundi, who has recently joined First State to co-direct the asset management team for infrastructure investments in Europe.First State, which belongs to Colonial First State Global Asset Management, the largest fund management firm in Australia (with GBP99.2bn in assets as of 30 June), is already present in London and Edinburgh, but not yet in continental Europe, an area where it has ambitions to develop. The firm manages Asian and emerging markets equity, global resources, global equities, publicly traded real estate and infrastructure funds.

A quarterly survey by Financial Times Deutschland of the major asset management firms has found that a majority of strategists are doubtful of the effectiveness of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF). For example, Kurt Schappelwein (Raiffeisen Capital Management) claims that the EFSF does not solve any of the fundamental problems, while Stefan Rondorf (Allianz GI) says that it lacks the dissuasive capacity that would allow it to intervene on the necessary scale in the Italian or Spanish bond markets.For fourth quarter, strategists recommend a positioning on defensive shares such as equities in the health and food sectors. On the other hand, banking sector shares which appear to be directly affected by the debt crisis in peripheral European countries figure at the bottom of the list of recommendations.

Emerging markets equities funds have seen another week of redemptions, according to the most recent estimates from EPFR Global. Since the beginning of the year, net outflows from these funds have totalled USD40.5bn.However, equities markets appear to be in a slightly less pessimistic phase than in the past few weeks. “Some balance seems to be developing between optimists and pessimists. And if you look at flows to ETFs, which are most immediately sensitive to changes in investors’ moods, optimists appear to be gaining the upper hand,” says the managing director of EPFR Global, Brad Durham.Outflows from equity funds as a whole nonetheless totalled USD1.37bn in the second week of October.

Pictet & Cie has opened a representative office in the Italian city of Bologna. The Swiss firm already has headquarters in Turin, Milan, Florence and Rome. The new structure will be led by Alessandro Andreoli, former partner and director at Banca Esperia.The new office aims to address the needs of local clients and to strengthen ties with the city of Bologna and the region of Emilia-Romagna, which is considered strategic for the development of the Private Wealth Management division of Pictet in the next few months.

Alberto D’Avenia has been appointed as head of external distribution in Italy and the Mediterranean countries (Greece, Israel, Malta and Cyprus) at BNP Paribas Investment Partners Sgr. He had previously been responsible for the Group Networks Italy unit at the French asset management firm, where he was coordinating the sales offer for the Italian bank BNL. Mario Mosca has also been appointed as head of the Group Networks Italy unit, where he will be in charge of coordinating the asset management product range for the Italian BNL network, in synergy with the private and retail banking division. He was previously working for BNL.

Le Fonds de sauvetage européen pourrait ainsi aider les pays périphériques en difficulté à se refinancer à bon compte sur le marché