Selon une analyse de l’agence de notation de fonds Scope, les fonds immobiliers offerts au public qui ont suspendu leurs remboursements mettent en danger les fonds de fonds, note le Handelsblatt. Lorsque les fonds immobiliers vont rouvrir le guichet des remboursements, il y a un risque que les fonds de fonds réclament tout de suite leur argent.Scope a passé au scanner des fonds de fonds d’un encours de 3,1 milliards d’euros, et constaté que 60 % de leur portefeuille est constitué de parts de fonds immobiliers. Dans trois cas, des fonds de fonds eux-mêmes fermés aux remboursements ont entre 70 et 90 % de leur encours gelés dans des fonds immobiliers fermés. Le Handelsblatt cite le cas récent du fonds de fonds Premium Management Immobilien-Anlagen, dont Allianz Global Investors a annoncé mi-août la liquidation (probablement ce mois-ci) et le versement de 500 millions d’euros, soit 19 euros pour une part, aux porteurs. Ce qui représente une perte sensible pour ces derniers.Beaucoup de fonds de fonds sont investis dans le Morgan Stanley P2 Value, qui va être liquidé. Les prochains fonds qui doivent rouvrir d’ici à la mi novembre sont le Axa Immoselect et le DEGI International (Aberdeen). Si l’opération échoue, ils devront aussi être liquidés...

Fonds Professionell rapporte qu’Evelyn Muth, promue en novembre 2010 Head of Global Relations Central Europe de Fidelity Allemagne, quittera la société officiellement en fin d’année, mais qu’elle a pris congé le 30 septembre. Elle était depuis 1995 dans le groupe.Rappelons que, fin juin, Fidelity avait recruté Kerstin Behnke, managing director et head of Norther Europe, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg chez Gartmore comme directrice de la distribution pour l’Allemagne (lire notre article du 17 mai). A l'époque, il avait été annoncé qu’Adam Lessing abandonnait la direction de la distribution en Allemagne pour se focaliser sur l’Autriche et l’Europe centrale…

Le gestionnaire britannique Schroders, qui a déjà lancé la commercialisation de son fonds GAIA CQS Credit en France (lire notre article du 11 juillet) et en Espagne (Newsmanagers du 31 août) va désormais présenter ce hedge fund coordonné aux investisseurs allemands et autrichiens durant ce mois d’octobre, rapporte Investment Europe. Ce produit affiche un gain de 6,8 % depuis son lancement en avril, et son objectif est une performance supérieure au Libor 3 mois.

Le 29 septembre, Aviva Gestión a fait enregistrer par la CNMV le fonds Aviva Renta Variable Zona no Euro qui, comme son nom l’indique, investira au moins 75 % de ses encours dans des actions de sociétés hors zone euro, ou dans d’autres fonds investis hors zone euro, y compris dans les pays émergents. La moitié du portefeuille au moins sera placée dans un minimum de quatre fonds externes ou internes. Ce fonds a été créé le 15 juin 2011.L’indice de référence se compose à 60 % du S&P 500 Total Return, et à 10 % chacun pour le Topix Total Return, le FTSE 100 Total Return, le MSCI Emerging Markets Total Return et l’EONIA 7 jours.La part non investie en actions sera affectée à des obligations de qualité moyenne de pays de l’OCDE mais pourra en partie être placée aussi en actions de la zone euro. La duration moyenne du portefeuille obligataire ne dépassera pas deux ans. L’exposition au risque devises peut aller de 0 à 100 %.Le produit est commercialisé principalement au travers d’Allfunds Bank CaractéristiquesDénomination : Aviva Renta Variable Zona No Euro, FICode Isin : ES0112186004Commission de gestion indirecte : 2,25 %Commission de gestion directe : 0,1 %Commission de banque dépositaire indirecte : 0,2 %Commission de banque dépositaire directe : 0,04 % Souscription minmale initiale : 10 euros

Désormais, la plupart des fonds d’InverCaixa afficheront trois classes de parts, annonce Funds People. La première classe concerne les souscriptions entre 600 euros et 50.000 euros, la deuxième couvre la gamme 50.001- 300.000 euros et la troisième, dite Premium, s’applique aux investissements supérieurs à 300.000 euros. Chaque classe de parts est assortie d’un taux de commission différent.Selon les dernières statistiques de la CNMV, le système des classes de parts multiples, autorisé en Espagne depuis deux ans et demi, ne s’est pas encore popularisé. Seuls 129 fonds comportent au total 300 classes de parts. InverCaixa est la dernière en date à s’associer au mouvement.

Le gestionnaire américain State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) a annoncé que les nouveaux fonds SPDR S&P® Aerospace & Defense ETF (XAR), SPDR S&P Health Care Services ETF ( XHS) et SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF (XSW) ont été admis à la négociation sur la plate-forme NYSE Arca le 29 septembre. Ils répliquent des indices de sous-secteurs de la gamme S&P Select Industry Indices et sont tous chargés à 0,35 %.L’encours des ETF de la marque SPDR représentait fin juin un total supérieur à 266 milliards de dollars.

La société de gestion montée par Jeff Gundliach et plusieurs transfuges de TCW (Société Générale), DoubleLine Capital a annoncé que DoubleLine Funds Trust a lancé le 30 septembre le produit obligataire DoubleLine Low Duration Bond Fund avec deux classes de parts «no-load» (sans frais). La classe I comporte une commission de 0,47 % et la part N est assortie d’une commission de 0,72 %.La souscription minimale initiale est fixée à 100.000 dollars pour les parts I et à 2.000 dollars pour les parts NC’est le cinquième fonds de la gamme DoubleLine.Les gérants du portefeuille sont Philip Barach, Luz Padilla et bonnie Baha. La duration effective du nouveau fonds sera en temps normal de 3 ans au maximum.

Head of sales chez SHUAA Capital, une banque d’investissement basée dans les Emirats Arabes Unis, Cormac Sheedy a été recruté comme senior executive officer for Middle East & Africa chez RBC Dexia Investor Services. Il sera chargé de diriger le développement de l’entreprise au Moyen-Orient à partir du bureau de Dubaï de RBC Dexia et sera subordonné à Simon Shapland, managing director of UK, Ireland and Middle East.

Dans un communiqué boursier publié le 3 octobre, le groupe pétrolier autrichien ÖMV annonce avoir été informé par l’International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC filiale du fonds souverain d’Abou Dhabi), que cette dernière a majoré sa participation dans son capital à 24,9 % contre 20,4 % précédemment. L’IPIC détient ainsi 81,49 millions d’actions ÖMV et la dernière transaction a représenté 320 millions d’euros.Le holding ÖIAG des participations de l’Etat autrichien demeure l’actionnaire principal de l'ÖMV avec environ 31,5 % des parts.

BlackRock has launched the BlackRock Absolute Return Bond Fund, a UK authorised unit trust, in response to growing investor demand to add value in an environment of low interest rates and stretched valuations across many areas of fixed income investments.The BlackRock Absolute Return Bond Fund is managed by Ian Winship, a senior portfolio manager.

Fonds Professionell reports that Evelyn Muth, who in November 2010 was promoted to Head of Global Relations Central Europe at Fidelity Germany, will officially be leaving the firm at the end of this year, but that she has taken a leave of absence beginning on 30 September. She had been employed at the group since 1995.At the end of June, Fidelity recruited Kerstin Behnke, managing director and head of Northern Europe, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg at Gartmore, to be director of distribution for Germany (see Newsmanagers of 17 May). At that time, the firm announced that Adam Lessing would be leaving his job as head of distribution for Germany in order to focus on Austria and central Europe.

On 3 October, a new sub-fund joined the Luxembourg SICAV from Sparinvest. The fund, initially entitled Atrium Value Partner SICAV European Small Cap, was launched in June 2006 by Atrium Asset Management, a Danish asset management firm specialised in value investments, which was acquired by Sparinvest in March 2011. The fund is now renamed as Sparinvest European Small Cap Value, and will retain its ISIN code (LU0256591552) and management team. The team consists of Karsten Løngaard and Lisbeth Søgaard Nielsen, who will continue to jointly manage the “new” fund as a part of the value equities team at Sparinvest, which is composed of 10 members. The fund thus joins the SICAV with a five-year track record. Although Sparinvest is specialised in long-term investment and does not believe in the virtues of market timing, it nonetheless considers the current prospects for the fund excellent, due to the massive divestment recently affecting the European stock markets. Due to the euro crisis, small companies based in Europe have all indiscriminately been devalued, and now represent a promising hunting ground for investors seeking opportunities. The Sparinvest European Small Cap Value index aims to earn positive returns over the long term, using Sparinvest’s value equities strategy a 100% bottom-up approach, which seeks out value investment opportunities in the small and micro-cap segments (as defined by MSCI), on stock markets of EU member countries plus Norway and Switzerland. Characteristics of the portfolio at launch: ISIN code: LU0256591552 R Launch date: 22 June 2006 Size: EUR3.31m Subscription commission: 3% Top five positions: Aareal Bank AG 6.1%, Wash Tec AG 5.3%, Wolford AG 4.8%, Derby Cycle AG 4.8%, Haldex Group AB 4.6% Top three sectors: Consumer goods 32.5%, industrial materials 27.5%, corporate services 10.3%.

The JO Hambro Capital Management group has launched two Asian equity funds, Investment Week reports. The funds are the JOHCM Asia ex Japan fund, a fund investing in all cap sizes which will be managed by Samir Mehta, and the JOHCM Asia ex Japan Small and Mid Cap fund, a small and midcaps fund which will be managed by Cho-Yu Kooi. The two managers are both veterans of the Singapore-based management boutique Silver Metis Capital Management, which was acquired a few months ago by JO Hambro Capital Management. The fund, which will be available to institutional and retail clients, will be available in Dublin in shares denominated in pounds Sterling, US dollars, and euros. Front-end dees are 5%, while management fees are 1.50% per year, and performance commission is 15%.

Louis N. Cohen, managing director of the global fixed income division of the New York firm MacKay Shields (USD56bn in assets), on a visit to Paris to present the US Corporate Bond Fund (LU0458979746), a sub-fund of the Nordea 1 Sicav, to investors, said a few words in praise of US investment grade corporate bonds, whose potential is at least as solid as that of high yield bonds, he says.The fund, whose assets as of the end of September totalled USD1.252bn, up from USD978m at the end of December, has not seen redemptions since the beginning of this year. Cohen’s confidence is partly due to the fact that he does not believe there will be a recession, but is still expecting a slow growth rate of 2% for the United States. This is in line with the results of a survey by Russell Investments published on 29 September, in which 79% of US asset managers predict that there will not be a double-dip recession. In addition, the profit situation for surviving US businesses has improved considerably, and US banks are not as vulnerable as they were in 2008. The “Twist” operation initiated by the Fed aims to dissuade banks from converting the maturities of their bonds to invest in Treasuries, but to convince them instead to “pump credit into the system.” For investors, the returns on investment grade corporate bonds is highly attractive, with spreads of 225 basis points. The Nordea fund invests 60% of its assets in BBB-rated bonds, 10% in BB bonds, and 25% in A-rated papers. The portfolio has about 225 positions, with a low turnover rate.

Cormac Sheedy, head of sales at SHUAA Capital, an investment bank based in the United Arab Emirates, has been recruited as senior executive officer for Middle East & Africa at RBC Dexia Investor Services. He will be in charge of directing the development of the business in the Middle East from the Dubai office of RBC Dexia, and will report to Simon Shapland, managing director of UK, Ireland and Middle East.

On 3 October, Chi-X Europe, an alternative trading platform specialised in pan-European equities, and Russell Indices, an index provider affiliate of Russell Investments, unveiled their new range of pan-European indices: Chi-X Europe Russell Indexes (CHERITM). The new range was designed especially to bring users of pan-European and euro zone indices “high quality, tradeable” products. The two firms announced an alliance in this area slightly over five months ago (see Newsmanagers of 30 March).Currently, the new family of indices includes the Chi-X Europe Russell PanEurope Index (CHERI PanEurope), a large and highly liquid index of large caps from developed European markets (216 shares from 14 countries, in 5 currencies).Another CHERITM product is the Chi-X Europe Russell Eurozone Index (CHERI Eurozone), with 130 highly liquid shares form 1 countries, in a single currency.Chi-X and Russell have also launched the Chi-X Europe Russell PanEurope 60 Index (CHERI 60), a sub-index of the CHERI PanEurope, with the 60 largest caps of the general index, from 8 countries, denominated in 3 currencies. Lastly, the Chi-X Russell Europe Eurozone 40 Index (CHERI 40), a subset of the CHERI Eurozone index, includes only the 40 largest caps of the general index, from 8 countries, in a single currency.

Allianz Global Investors is launching its second renminbi fund, Allianz RMC Renminbi Currency Fund, a fund domiciled in Luxembourg, which offers investors exposure to the expected appreciation of the Chinese currency, Investment Week reports. The fund will be managed by Helen Lam, who has been working in the regional team dedicated to bonds since 1999, and who since May has been managing the firm’s first fund denominated in renminbi. According to Lam, the appreciation of the renminbi will range from 4% to 7% per year. “Despite the recent market volatility, the renminbi has appreciated more rapidly since August, which shows that the Chinese authorities have decided to take measures to improve the convertibility of the Chinese currency, with the ultimate objective of internationalising it.” The first fund, whose assets total EUR450m, was closed to new investors in August.

The UK asset management firm Baring Asset Management (Barings) on 3 October announced the recruitment of William Palmer as investment director for its global emerging markets (GEM) team. Palmer, who had previously been senior asset manager and head of Asia ex-Japan equities at KBC Asset Management, will report to Roberto Lampl, head of GEM equities. The Barings Global Emerging Markets fund as of the end of August had assets of USD1.7664bn.

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has announced the recruitment of James Carver as investment director for absolute return bond funds. Carver will co-manage absolute return bond funds with Juan Valenzuela. Carver previously spent ten years at Aberdeen Asset Management.

BlueBay Asset Management is planning to launch a range of funds with several billions of euros in assets, which will lend money to European businesses, to fill a gap currently left vacant by banks, the Financial Times reports. The new activity, which will start up in 2012 with a closed-end fund, will directly finance small and mid-sized businesses.

The hedge fund manager Cambridge Strategy Asset Management, a specialist in emerging markets, has recruited Adam Reynolds for the newly-created position of chief executive officer for the Asian region, Asian Investor reports. Reynolds, who will begin in January 2012, previously worked at Société Générale, where he was co-head of bonds and currencies for Asia.

According to an analysis by the ratings agency Scope, open-ended real estate funds which have suspended their redemptions are endangering funds of funds, Handelsblatt reports. Once real estate funds reopen their redemption windows, there is a danger that funds of funds will call in their money immediately.Scope analysed funds of funds with assets of EUR3.1bn, and found that 60% of their portfolios are composed of shares in real estate funds. In three cases, the funds of funds themselves which were closed to redemptions had 70% to 90% of their assets frozen in closed real estate funds. Handelsblatt cites the recent case of the Premium Management Immobilien-Anlagen fund of funds, which Allianz Global Investors announced in mid-August would be liquidated (probably this month), with EUR500m, or EUR19 per share, to be paid out to subscribers. This represents a considerable loss for clients.Many funds of funds are invested in the Morgan Stanley P2 Value fund, which will be liquidated. The next funds to reopen, in mid-November, will be the Axa Immoselect and the DEGI International (Aberdeen). If the re-opening is a failure, these funds will also have to be liquidated.

In the context of the sovereign debt crisis and global economic recession, investors are turning to hedge funds which aim to protect them from extreme risks, the Financial Times observes. Among the funds which are benefiting from the trend are tail-risk funds from Bennelong Asset Management, 36 South and Saba. All of them have seen increases in their assets of 10% in August and September, according to JP Morgan. Funds managed by Man Group, Capula and Universa also posted subscriptions.

In 2011, hedge funds are set to invest as much as USD2.09bn to IT stocks, equivalent to about 9 basis points as a proportion of their assets under management, according to a study by Citi Prime Finance covering hedge funds based in the United States and Europe. Hedge funds with assets under management of over USD5bn will spend an average of USD7.9m in 2011, 13 times the amount estimated for funds with assets under management of less than USD500m.

In third quarter overall, redemptions affected most investment categories monitored by EPFR Global. Funds dedicated to emerging market equities saw net outflows of USD23.32bn in third quarter and USD36.33bn in the first nine months of the year. Funds dedicated to equities in developed markets, for their part, saw net outflows of USD77.37bn in third quarter, and USD51.31bn over three months. For bonds, however, emerging market funds posted record inflows of USD4.83bn in third quarter, and nearly EUR20bn in nine months. US bond funds attracted USD3.57bn in third quarter and USD39.6bn in the first nine months of the year. European bond funds finished the quarter with outflows of USD5bn, and ended the nine-month period with outflows of USD21.1bn. For bond funds overall, third quarter brought net outflows of USD8.3bn, but for the nine month period, the category shows net inflows of USD77.15bn. Money market funds finished third quarter with outflows of USD51.2bn, while the outflows for the first nine months of the year totalled over USD151bn. In the same period in 2010, redemptions were close to USD508bn. In the week ending on 28 September, money market funds posted net inflows of USD8.8bn. In the same period, bond funds posted net inflows of USD4.3bn, while equity funds saw redemptions of USD8.9bn. Sectoral analysis reveals that commodity funds have posted net inflows of USD4.13bn in third quarter, and USD11.85bn over nine months. Another big winner is utilities funds, which have seen inflows of over USD1bn in third quarter, and of USD1.7bn in the first nine months of the year. However, funds dedicated to financials finished the quarter with outflows of nearly USD2bn, and the first nine months of the year with outflows of USD3.33bn.

The British asset management firm Schroders, which has already released its GAIA CQS Credit fund in France (see Newsmanagers of 11 July) and in Spain (see Newsmanagers of 31 August) will now make a roadshow for the UCITS-compliant hedge fund for German and Austrian investors in the month of October, Investment Europe reports. The product has gained 6.8% since its launch in April, and its objective is returns higher than the Libor 3-month.

The UBS group is expected to report a slight net profit for third quarter, and net inflows to its wealth management activities, the Swiss bank announced in a statement on 4 October. The results include a loss of USD2.3bn due to unauthorised trades previously announced, and about CHF0.4bn in restructuring costs associated with the firm’s cost reduction programme. Results were also boosted by gains for the firm’s own financial sector engagements, which at fair value made about CHF1.5bn, largely due to a narrowing of credit spreads at UBS in third quarter. In addition, UBS will announce a capital gain on its sale of cash investments, which allowed it to make nearly CHF0.7bn at the Wealth Management & Swiss Bank division. Currently, the group’s tax costs for the quarter come out to near zero. UBS will also post a net inflow to its wealth management activities at a level comparable to the previous quarter. Global Asset Management will for its part announce a limited net outflow.

The Swiss asset management firm Unigesion has appointed Bill Foo as its president for Asia and its Singapore office, Unigestion Asia, from 1 October. Since 1999, Foo had served as chairman and CEO at ANZ Bank in Singapore. He will remain as vice-chairman of ANZ South & South East Asia. In his new role, Foo will assist Bernard Sabrier, chairman of Unigestion and CEO of Unigestion Asia Pte Ltd., and Nicholas Hulme, executive director based in Singapore, to develop the activities of Unigestion in Asia.

InvestmentEurope reports that Martin Currie has decided to close two funds, the Pan European Alpha and Global Financials. The first of these funds is to be closed due to the departure of its co-manager, Eric Woehrling, while the second is being closed because its net asset value has fallen below USD10m.

The US asset management firm State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has announced that the new SPDR S&P® Aerospace & Defense ETF (XAR), SPDR S&P Health Care Services ETF (XHS) and SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF (XSW) funds were admitted to trading on the NYSE Arca platform on 29 September. They replicate the sectoral sub-indices of the S&P Select Industry Indices range, and each charge fees of 0.35%.Assets in ETFs of the SPDR range as of the end of June totalled over USD266bn.