GLG Ore Hill, an affiliate of Man Investments, is a hedge fund management firm specialised in event-driven management. It has announced that as of 1 September, it had raised USD200m for a credit mandate from an institutional client. GLG Ore Hill manages a total of USD1.7bn in assets.

Since July, SEB Asset Management, the asset management division of the Scandinavian bank SEB, has a new head of client relations for France and Switzerland. Laurent Farcy-Briant succeeds Charles Vernudachi, who has left the firm to join Eaton Partners (see Newsmanagers of 22 September 2011). Farcy-Briant, who had previously served as director of sales for Europe at Old Mutual Asset Managers and as managing director for Europe at HFR AM, is planning to establish the SEB brand in France. In order to achieve this, he will foreground niche products in the group’s range. The five funds licensed for sale in France include a CTA fund, SEB Asset Selection, a Russia fund, SEB Russia, an eastern Europe small and midcaps fund, SEB Eastern Europe Small, a Scandinavia fund, SEB Nordic, and a UCITS fund of funds, SEB Key Select. “The idea is to sell products which might have a strong association with SEB,” Farcy-Briant tells Newsmanagers. This is particularly true of the SEB Nordic fund, whose management has recently been taken over by Tommy Saukkoriipi, who had previously managed a similar product for the firm’s rival Nordea. The head for France and Switzerland is also planning to add a few more products to the list, all focused on niche areas of expertise, such as corporate bonds with a Scandinavian exposure. With this product range, Farcy-Briant is hoping to target funds of funds and private banks, which have a short cycle, as well as pure institutional investors, such as pension funds, mutuals, and larger IFA agencies. For personnel, Farcy-Briant has constructed a French “task force” of two French-speaking staff who were already employed at the group. They are Michele Chiabaud, marketing manager Europe, and Catherine de Coninck, client services. The team is located in London and Luxembourg. But it is clear that the next step, in the next three to five years, depending on results, will be to open an office in Paris.

The head of sustainable investment at the French national pension fund, the Fonds de Réserve des Retraites (FRR), Nada Villermain-Lécolier, is returning to the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, where she had previously worked for thirteen years, IPE reports (see Newsmanagers of October, 4th).She joins a new team led by Catherine Mayenobe (former secretary general of the Cour des Comptes), and will manage and direct a part of the Investments for the Future (Investissements d’Avenir) programme, with EUR35bn in assets, created in 2010 by the French government.Villermain-Lécolier will be leaving the FRR, where she has served since its creation in 2003, on 14 October.

Francois Gouws and Yassine Bouhara, co-heads of global equities activities at UBS, have resigned in the wake of the recent scandal over unauthorised trading operations which resulted in losses of USD2.3bn for the Swiss bank. Their resignations are said in a statement to be due to “the overall responsibility which they had for the effective management of the Equities unit.”Mike Stewart, who joined UBS in July, has been appointed global head of Equities at UBS.

Barclays Wealth, the division of Barclays Bank dedicated to wealth management, via its affiliate Barclays Bank (Switzerland), based in Geneva, on 5 October announced the appointment of Isaac Topel as managing director, and Andres Cazenave as director in the International Private Bank, Latin America division, Agefi Switzerland reports. The two men will both be in charge of continuing the expansion of Barclays Wealth’s strategy in Latin America, serving high net worth and ultra high net worth clients from Geneva. For nearly ten years, Topel has served in a variety of positions at JP Morgan, most recently that of senior banker in the Swiss private banking division, for high net worth clients in the Latin American region. Cazenave, who is also a former senior banker in the same division at JP Morgan, has spent the past four years alongside Topel in wealth management for some key Latin American clients, from Geneva. Both men will report to Thomas Roiz, Market Head for Latin America, International Private Bank, Europe, Middle East and Africa division.

Michael Heijmeijer, founder of Cfinancials, has launched a platform dedicated to structured products, which is bringing managers and their clients genuine transparency for these products in the form of research and analysis aid tools, Agefi Switzerland reports. The interfaces are constructed to the custom needs of clients, banks or asset management firms, on the basis of a universe of 12 million financial products, including 2 million structured products, which are already available on the platform. The sub-set of structured includes all products available in Germany and Switzerland, through a partnership between Cfinancials and Scoach. Under the name Product Mastering, the service provides access to all pertinent information about a product, as well as detailed information and analysis of underlyings.

Gonet & Cie, whose headquarters are located in Geneva, opened a branch office in the canton of Vaud on 3 October, Agefi Switzerland reports. From 1 November, Pierre-Alain Devaud and Roy Kienast, who had previously been members of the board of directors of the Banque de Dépôts et de Gestion (BDG), will be in charge of developing the activities of the new Vaud office. They will have a team of five employees by the end of the year. A Gonet office in Singapore will also be operational in the next few weeks. A team of seven people has been recruited to serve South-East Asia in particular. The group, which currently has 83 employees, is expecting to hit 100 staff in first quarter 2012.

The British asset management firm Liontrust Asset Management on 5 October announced that it has completed its acquisition of the asset management activities of Occam Asset Management. As assets under management at Occam have fallen under USD150m, the acquisition price has been revised downward by 30%. Liontrust is also acquiring four Dublin-based funds and two hedge funds domiciled in the Cayman islands, which bring it two new asset classes: Asia and emerging markets. The Dublin funds have been renamed, so that the Occam Asia Absolute Return fund becomes Liontrust Asia Absolute Return, Occam Asia Focaus becomes Liontrust Asia, Occam Europe Focus becoms Liontrust Pan European, and Occam Emerging Markets Opportunities becoms Liontrust Emerging Markets Absolute Return. The Cayman Islands funds are the Liontrust Sorbus and Liontrust Diversity. Assets under management (in British and European equities) at Liontrust totalled GBP1.3bn as of mid-June 2011.

Old Mutual Asset Management (OMAM), the U.S.-based global asset management business of Old Mutual, has appointed Julian Ide as head of OMAM Global Distribution and Chief Executive Officer of Old Mutual Asset Managers (UK) Limited (OMAM UK). He succeeds Peter Baxter who is leaving the firm to pursue other opportunities. OMAM UK is a London-based investment boutique and affiliate of OMAM with approximately GBP4.5 billion of assets under management. Julian Ide will report to Peter L. Bain, Chief Executive Officer of OMAM and will complete the formation of Mr. Bain’s executive team. As part of his role, he will spearhead OMAM’s global distribution efforts in Europe, Asia and the Middle East to support the continued growth of OMAM’s affiliate managers. In addition, he will oversee OMAM UK’s investment teams, product offerings and successful retail and institutional distribution efforts. Julian Ide’s arrival is coupled with OMAM’s simultaneous announcement today of its divestiture of its U.S. retail mutual fund business. He joins from BBVA Asset Management where he was head of Institutional business.

Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) is initiating a new campaign in wealth management. “By the end of 2012, we want to complete the integration of ABN Amro Switzerland, launch our activities in Asia,a nd strengthen our management capacities for European clients in London and Luxembourg,” Michel Longhini, CEO of the private banking division of the Geneva-based business since September 2010, has told Agefi Hebdo. In Asia, the group has only one capital market license, in Singapore, and an asset management office in Hong Kong, where it has recently announced the creation of two joint ventures with a Taiwan insurer. In both markets, “we are preparing our applications for banking licenses,” the head of wealth management says. Asia represents 7% of assets, “and we would like to see local clients account for 10% to 15% of our assets in five years,” while UBP is aiming for total inflows of EUR10bn from its private clients.

Raoul Luttik, senior portfolio manager for emerging market debt at ING Investment Management, announced in a presentation in Paris on 5 October that despite the poor performance of the markets in September, which resulted in net redemptions to some retail subscribers (a phenomenon which will be likely to continue for some time, unless there is a significant reversal of the market trend), institutional investors clearly continue to have confidence in this asset class.There is no shortage of arguments in favour of emerging market debt, denominated either in “hard” or in local currencies, and these arguments have not been nullified by the events of September. Economic and fiscal fundamentals remain considerably more positive in general than in industrialised countries, while emerging market bonds present high returns, and securities denominated in local currencies a priori offer an additional upside through revaluation of the currencies.As of the end of August, thus before the heavy corrections and retail outflows of last month, ING IM had assets of EUR12bn for its emerging market debt strategy, compared with EUR10.9bn as of the end of December 2010. Assets under management in local currency funds, whose benchmark is the ELMI+ (money markets, futures), as of the end of June totalled over EUR2.93bn, for an average rating of BBB+. Local currency bond funds (average rating BBB-), benchmarked against the BGI-EM GD index, totalled about EUR1.54bn.

The financial services group Aragon AG of Wiesbaden has announced that it has acquired an 82.25% stake in the Berlin-based firm SRQ FinanzPartner from DAB-bank (EUR27bn in assets under management or administration as of the end of June), while the remainder of shares in the firm will continue to be held by management, financial planning advisers and employees. The total sale price has not been disclosed. The permission of supervisory authorities is expected by the end of this year.SRQ FinanzPartner serves about 90 partners with 10,500 clients in the mass-affluent segment. Its assets under management total about EUR1.4bn.

The performance of hedge funds in the past three months have been the rose since third quarter 2008, according to Hedge Fund Monitor, relayed by Les Echos. Average losses total 5.02% in the three months to 28 September. This is the reason for the major adjustments at Man Group, which will be laying off one employee in five by first quarter 2012. Smaller, more agile funds are doing better, however. “These are the funds which many final investors are looking for, since they are more agile and can buy or sell their positions more easily,” Anne-Gaëlle Pouille of PAAMCO, a fund of hedge funds, explains to the newspaper.

BlackRock, the global leader in ETFs with its iShares brand, has issued a call for greater transparency in the ETF market, and for consistent regulation, at a time when this activity is under the eye of regulators. The US management firm has made five more presice proposals for regulations and market reforms. Firstly, BlackRock calls for a clear labeling of product structure and investment objectives. "“ETF” has become a blanket term describing many products that have a wide range of different structures. This has led to confusion among investors. Investors should know what they are buying and what a product’s investment objectives are.This can be achieved by establishing a global standard classification system with clear labels to clarify the differences between products,» the firm explains.Another recommendation is frequent and timely disclosure of all holdings and exposures . “Investors also need to understand what the product holds. To that end, sponsors should be required to disclose a clear picture of what the product holds and any other financial exposures it has,” BlackRock comments.The asset management firm also calls for clear standards for diversifying counterparties and quality of collateral loans. “In addition to disclosure, standards should be established regarding counterparty exposure and the quality of collateral posted by counterparties.”Fourth, BlackRock would like to see disclosure of all fees and costs aid, including those to counterparties . “Investors should have complete clarity regarding all the costs and revenues associated with any fund they buy, so they can clearly establish the total cost of ownership. Thus, in addition to clearly stating the management fee paid by the fund to the sponsor, the disclosure should include any costs or fees that affect the investors’ holdings, including those paid to companies related to the fund provider such as swap counterparties and securities lending participants”.Lastly, the asset management firm recommends universal trade reporting for all equity trades, including ETFs.

The Danish asset management firm Saxo Bank on 5 October announced the opening of an office in Moscow in order to offer Russian clients investment and brokerage services via its trading platform.The new rep-office will be led by Igor Dombrovan, who has also been appointed COO of Saxo Bank.

In the first eight months of 2011, total assets under management (in mandates and mutual funds) “has shown a certain resilience,” limiting its losses to 3.2%, to EUR2.651trn, very slightly above its levels at the end of 2009, according to a report on the French financial management market presented on 5 October by the French asset management association (AFG). Assets in mandates continued the momentum they have shown in previous years. They may have risen less rapidly, but show gains of slightly under 1%, to a total of EUR1.411trn. This growth is nearly all due to market effects, while net inflows are near zero for the eight-month period, due to a slowdown in life insurance due to uncertainty about taxation and the impact of increased competition from banking products. French-registered funds, however, saw an outflow of 7.1% to total assets of EUR1.24trn. The very poor performance of the market in summer affected all categories of funds, while market effects were particularly negative for equities and diversified funds. For equities funds, whose assets as of the end of August totalled EUR232.5bn, compared with EUR279.2bn as of the end of 2010, market effects totalled EUR36.3bn, while outflows totalled EUR10.4bn. Money market funds have seen a sharp slowdown in inflows in the eight-month period, compared with the same period in 2010, to EUR16.6bn, compared with EUR48bn in the same period of 2010. The relative weight of money market funds, which in May 2009 reached record levels (42% of total assets under management), now represent about 30% of assets under management, a normal level historically.

A wave of new portfolio management firm creations has continued in 2011, according to a summary of activity on the French financial management market presented by the French asset management association on 5 October. 30 asset management firms have been licensed or are awaiting their definitive licenses, and 12 other firms are underway. At the end of September, the population of asset management firms active in France totalled over 600, compared with 592 at the end of 2010, and 567 at the end of 2009. The number of mutual funds, which has fallen sharply since mid-2008, began to rise again slightly in 2011, with creations offsetting the continuing rationalisation efforts. This increase in the number of mutual funds is said to be partly due to the launch of new product ranges to face up to the competition created by the entry into force of UCITS IV and sales efforts to adapt the product range and asset management strategies to new market conditions.

According to Luxembourg’s financial sector surveillance commission (CSSF), as of 31 August 2011, total net assets in specialised investment funds (SIF) in Luxembourg totalled EUR2.085941trn, compared with EUR2.189665trn as of 31 July 2011. This represents a decline to EUR103.724bn (-4.74% in one month). The negative variation in the month of August is the result of an unfavourable impact of financial markets (EUR93.174bn) and negative net subscriptions (EUR10.55bn), for declines of 4.26% and 0.48%, respectively. Considered over the past twelve months, the net volume of assets has increased by 0.82%.

L’UMR détient 275 millions d’euros d’engagements en Private Equity, alors que l’ensemble de ses actifs sous gestion s'élève à 7.8 milliards d’euros. D’après Charles Vaquier, Directeur Général de l’UMR, il était difficile dans le passé, de trouver des entreprises non cotées dans lesquelles investir. A cause, notamment, de leurs coûts mais aussi un EBIDTA peu satisfaisant. Mais la situation a changé ces dernières années. Les investisseurs institutionnels trouvent un certain nombre d’opportunités en France, avec des entreprises proposant de meilleurs TRI que les entreprises cotées. Mais Solvency II pourrait calmer l’appétit des investisseurs pour le private equity d’autant plus que Bâle III ne poussera pas les Banques à injecter des fonds dans ce type de compagnies. « L’UMR investit actuellement 4% dans le private quity via plusieurs fonds, pour la plupart en France. » détaille Monsieur Vauquier. « Parce que la plupart des investisseurs français se sont déjà conformés aux exigences de Solvency II, leur allocation d’actifs en gestions alternatives est limitée à 10%. » « La bonne nouvelle avec Solvency II vient directement du fait qu’une telle limite ne sera pas applicable, et nous pourrons par conséquence augmenter notre allocation en private equity de 5% à 10%. » La Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations est actuellement en train d'étudier la possibilité de lancer un nouveau fonds de private equity et est en discussion avec d’autres investisseurs. Monsieur Vauquier a indiqué que l’UMR pourrait s’accorder sur un apport de 20/30 millions d’euros à ce nouveau fonds. « C’est le rôle des investisseurs nationaux d’aider l'économie réelle à se développer. »

La Banque européenne d’investissement lance un appel à manifestations d’intérêt visant à sélectionner un ou plusieurs fonds d’aménagement urbain chargé(s) de gérer une enveloppe d’environ 66,2 millions d’EUR allouée par le Fonds de participation JESSICA pour la Sardaigne pour appuyer des investissements dans des projets urbains spécifiques liés à l’aménagement urbain, à la revitalisation urbaine, à l’efficacité énergétique et à l’utilisation de sources d'énergies renouvelables au titre de l’initiative JESSICA. Une présentation concernant l’appel à manifestation d’intérêt sera publiée le 11 octobre 2011. Cette présentation est fournie à titre indicatif uniquement et ne remplace aucune des dispositions de l’appel à manifestations d’intérêt. En cas de divergence, les dispositions de l’appel à manifestations d’intérêt feront foi. Pour lire l’avis complet: cliquez ici

Le groupe de services financiers Aragon AG de Wiesbaden a annoncé avoir acquis auprès de la DAB-bank (27 milliards d’encours gérés ou administrés à fin juin) une participation de 82,25 % dans le berlinois SRQ FinanzPartner, le reliquat des parts demeurant détenu par le management, des conseillers en planification financière et des collaborateurs. Le montant de la transaction n’a pas été dévoilé. L’autorisation des autorités de surveillance est attendue pour avant la fin de cette année.SRQ FinanzPartner dessert environ 90 partenaires avec 10.500 clients de milieu de gamme (mass-affluent). Ses encours sous administration se situent à environ 1,4 milliard d’euros.

L’Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) donne un nouvel élan à sa gestion de fortune. «D’ici à fin 2012, nous voulons achever l’intégration d’ABN Amro Suisse, lancer notre activité en Asie et renforcer nos capacités de gestion auprès des clients européens à Londres et Luxembourg» a déclaré à L’Agefi Hebdo Michel Longhini, directeur général de la division de banque privée de l’établissement genevois depuis septembre 2010. En Asie, le groupe dispose seulement d’une licence de marchés de capitaux à Singapour et d’une antenne de gestion d’actifs à Hong Kong, où il a récemment annoncé la création de deux coentreprises avec un assureur taïwanais. Dans les deux places, «nous préparons notre demande de licence bancaire», confie le patron de la gestion de fortune. L’Asie représente 7 % des actifs «et nous voulons que la clientèle locale pèse 10 % à 15 % de nos encours dans cinq ans», sachant qu’UBP vise d’ici là une collecte totale de 10 milliards d’euros auprès de ses clients privés.

Old Mutual Asset Management, la société de gestion américaine d’Old Mutual Plc gérant 260 milliards de dollars au 30 juin, vient de recruter Julian Ide en tant que responsable d’OMAM Global Distribution et CEO d’Old Mutual Asset Managers UK, la filiale d’OMAM basée à Londres gérant environ 4,5 milliards de livres. Il succède à Peter Baxter qui quitte la société. Julian Ide vient de BBVA Asset Management, où il était responsable de l’activité institutionnelle. Il sera placé sous la responsabilité de Peter L. Bain, CEO d’OMAM et complétera l’équipe dirigeante. Dans le cadre de ses fonctions, Julian Ide va piloter la stratégie de distribution d’OMAM en Europe, en Asie et au Moyen-Orient. Il supervisera également les équipes d’investissement d’OMAM UK, l’offre de produits et la distribution retail et institutionnelle. L’arrivée de Julian Ide intervient alors qu’OMAM vient d’annoncer la cession de son activité de fonds retail aux Etats-Unis (lire par ailleurs).

Les paris baissiers de plusieurs gros hedge funds commencent enfin à payer, constate le Wall Street Journal. Brevan Howard Asset Management, qui gère 34 milliards de dollars, voit son fonds vedette gagner 13 % environ au 23 septembre, selon une personne proche du dossier. SAC Capital Advisors, de Steve Cohen, est en hausse de 6,5 % cette année à fin septembre.

Les performances enregistrées par les hedge funds au cours des trois derniers mois sont les pires depuis le troisième trimestre 2008, selon Hedge Fund Monitor, rapporte Les Echos. La perte moyenne a atteint 5,02% sur les trois mois s’achevant le 28 septembre. D’où de sévères ajustements, à l’instar de Man Group qui va supprimer un emploi sur cinq d’ici au premier trimestre 2012. Toutefois, les petits fonds, plus agiles, s’en sortent mieux. «Ce sont eux que de nombreux investisseurs finaux recherchent de plus en plus car ils sont plus agiles et peuvent vendre ou acheter leurs positions plus facilement» , explique au quotidien Anne-Gaëlle Pouille, de PAAMCO, un fonds de «hedge funds».

La dynamique de création de sociétés de gestion de portefeuille s’est poursuivie en 2011, selon le bilan du marché français de la gestion financière présenté le 5 octobre par l’Association française de la gestion.Une trentaine de sociétés de gestion ont été agréées ou attendent leur agrément définitif, et pour une douzaine d’autres les dossiers sont en cours d’instruction. A fin septembre, la population des sociétés de gestion opérant en France dépassait ainsi la barre des 600 unités contre 592 fin 2010 et 567 fin 2009. Le nombre d’OPCVM, en forte diminution depuis mi-2008, croît à nouveau légèrement en 2011, les créations compensant l’effort de rationalisation qui se poursuit. Cette remontée du nombre d’OPCVM serait due en partie au lancement de nouvelles gammes de produits pour tenir compte de la concurrence induite par l’entrée en vigueur d’UCITS IV et aux efforts commerciaux consentis pour adapter l’offre et les stratégies de gestion aux nouvelles conditions de marché.

Alors que cet été, de nombreux fonds flexibles ont connu leur premier test grandeur nature avec un plongeon de plus de 15 % du DJ EuroStoxx 50 en août, Franck Nicolas, directeur de l’allocation globale de Natixis Asset Management, estime dans L’Agefi Hebdo que «la gestion flexible ne sortira ni renforcée, ni affaiblie de cette crise». Mais on assistera selon lui à «une hiérarchie entre les produits ayant rempli leur mission et les autres». Cette mission consiste à accompagner les hausses du marché et à résister en phase de baisse. Chez Natixis AM, l’heure est avant tout à la personnalisation de l’offre pour les investisseurs institutionnels, via des mandats plutôt que des fonds flexibles. Cela permet de proposer des solutions calibrées en fonction des besoins du client, tant sur le degré de flexibilité que sur les actifs autorisés en portefeuille.

Un an après avoir lancé le DWS Top Dividende en France, DWS Investments renforce sa gamme de fonds dividende offerts aux investisseurs français. La société de gestion a annoncé mercredi 5 octobre le lancement dans l’Hexagone du fonds DWS Invest Emerging Markets Top Dividend Plus, géré par Andreas Wendelken. Le compartiment de sa sicav luxembourgeoise (184 millions d’encours à fin août), fondé sur une approche thématique et régionale, est investi en actions des marchés émergents susceptibles d’offrir des taux de dividendes supérieurs à la moyenne du marché. «La région regorge d’une large variété de sociétés aux chiffres d’affaires stables et aux bilans solides et dont la politique de dividendes est durable. Les opportunités résident avant tout dans la région des pays de l’ASEAN, notamment l’Indonésie et plus encore le Taiwan qui possède les rendements de dividendes le plus attractif de tous les émergents», souligne le gérant.La stratégie dividende de DWS Investments totalise plus de 8 milliards d’euros sous encours.Caractéristiques Code ISIN :LU0329760002Droits d’entrée : 5 % maximumFrais de gestion : 1,5 % par an

Au cours des huit premiers mois de 2011, l’encours des actifs globaux sous gestion (mandats et OPCVM) «a fait preuve d’"une certaine résilience» en limitant sa baisse à 3,2% à 2.651 milliards d’euros, très légèrement au-dessus du niveau de fin 2009, selon le bilan du marché français de la gestion financière présenté le 5 octobre par l’Association française de la gestion financière.L’encours des seuls mandats a même poursuivi sur sa lancée des années précédentes en progressant certes moins vite mais en affichant un gain d’un peu moins de 1% pour atteindre 1.411 milliards d’euros. Cette croissance résulte presqu’en totalité de l’effet de marché, la collecte nette, presque nulle pendant ces huit mois, pâtissant du ralentissement de l’assurance-vie suite aux incertitudes relatives à sa fiscalité et à l’impact de la concurrence accrue des produits de bilan bancaires. Les fonds de droit français ont en revanche subi un recul d’encours de 7,1% à 1.240 milliards d’euros. La très mauvaise tenue des marchés pendant l'été a eu pour conséquence que toutes les catégories de fonds ont été touchées, l’effet marché ayant été particulièrement négatif pour les fonds investis en actions et diversifiés. Pour les fonds actions, dont l’encours à fin août s’inscrivait à 232,5 milliards d’euros contre 279,2 milliards fin 2010, l’effet de marché s'élève ainsi à 36,3 milliards d’euros, la décollecte représentant 10,4 milliards d’euros. Les fonds monétaires ont connu une forte décélération de leur décollecte sur huit mois par rapport à la même période en 2010, de 16,6 milliards d’euros contre 48 milliards d’euros entre janvier et août 2010. Ainsi, le poids relatif des fonds monétaires, qui avait atteint vers mai 2009 des niveaux record (42% des encours gérés totaux, FCPE et FCPR compris), représente aujourd’hui environ 30% des encours gérés, un niveau historiquement normal.

Le danois Saxo Bank a annoncé le 5 octobre l’ouverture d’un bureau à Moscou pour proposer aux clients russes des services de courtage et d’investissement au travers de sa plate-forme de négociation.Cette nouvelle implantation sera dirigée par Igor Dombrovan, qui a aussi été nommé COO de Saxo Bank.