On 6 June, FTSE Group announced that it has signed a partnership with Tobam which will result in the inclusion of the “maximum diversification” (MaxDiv) range of indices from the Paris-based firm in the range of indices not weighted by cap size from the FTSE group. The Tobam indices offer investors an approach which may avoid concentration risks that cap-weighted strategies are subject to. Assets in “Anti-Benchmark” funds from Tobiam total USD1.8bn, and Yves Choueifaty, chairman, says that assets under management at the firm have increased by more than 30% since the beginning of the year.

State Street Corporation on Monday, 6 June announced that it has appointed Isabelle Brancart as head of sales and client relations for the Swiss market. Brancart will direct the sales and client account management teams for Switzerland. Before joining the State Street teams, Brancart served as sales manager for securities services in Western Europe in the global banking transactions division of Deutsche Bank.

A survey report released by RBC Dexia and KPMG predicts that hedge fund managers will continue to create EU-domiciled hedge funds to complement their Cayman Islands or other offshore offerings, but that other regulated structures were gaining popularity versus the UCITS framework.The survey challenges the notion that onshore domiciles could rival the supremacy of the Cayman Islands amongst hedge fund managers. Only a quarter (24%) of hedge fund managers said that they had already brought offshore funds onshore. Of those, more than half (55%) said they opted for co-domiciliation by creating onshore clone funds to complement their existing Cayman or other offshore offerings. Less than 5% of those with onshore funds said they had decided to transfer the domicile of their funds to the EU outright. The trend for hedge funds to create more EU regulated funds seems set to continue however, with 27% of respondents stating that they are considering doing so.The prominence of co-domiciliation could be short lived however due to uncertainty over the AIFM Directive: most hedge fund managers considering domiciling their funds in the EU said they would do so before the implementation of the AIFM Directive in 2013, and fully 69% of them said they were considering doing so by transferring the domicile of their existing funds to the EU.The research also shows that the UCITS framework, which some respondents said was an effective marketing tool to stem outflows during the financial crisis, has lost some of its appeal amongst hedge fund managers. Indeed, whereas those polled were just as likely to set up UCITS funds as other regulated structures, such as Irish QIFs and Luxembourg SIFs, in the past, 77% of those considering creating an onshore structure in the future now say they would prefer QIFs and SIFs instead.

Skandia Investment Group (SIG), the investment management arm of Old Mutual Wealth Management, has appointed Steve Wilson and Glenn Sussman of Lapides Asset Management to run a GBP45m US mid-cap value mandate in its flagship Skandia Global Dynamic Equity Fund. Lapides’ addition to the fund sees them taking over a portion of the portfolio previously managed by Epoch Investment Partners.The Skandia Global Dynamic Equity Fund, managed by Francois Zagame, has over GBP1bn of assets and aims to provide long-term capital growth predominantly through investment in global equities.

As a result of poor performance during the financial crisis, sovereign funds now prefer direct investment, rather than through third-party asset managers, according to a report by Monitor cited by the Financial Times. Meanwhile, the size of these direct investments has shrunk. Before 2008, sovereign funds rarely invested less than USD100m in a business. Now, there are many deals in the USD20m-USD60m range.

With the Smart-ISH fund (with the letters standing for Smart, and SpanISH), Abante Asesores on Monday unveiled a fund which will invest in up to 20 funds or Sicavs from the best Spanish managers, whose volume will be limited to EUR20m, Cinco Días reports. The objective will be to generate similar returns to those to be had from equities.Each position will represent between 4% and 8% of total assets, in funds half of which may not exceed EUR40m in assets. Management commission is 1.25%, and performance commission is 9%.Abante has already selected nearly 60 signature products, and is planning to select a total of 100 to create an investment universe. Among the star managers on the list (and whom Abante prefers to see invested personally in their funds) are Francisco Paramés (Bestinver), Gonzalo Lardiés (BPA Global Funds), Ricard Torrella (Gesinter), Alberto Espelosín (Ibercaja Gestión), Juan Antonio Bertrán (Cartesio), Ignacio Cantos (Atlas Capital) and Alfonso de Gregorio (Gesconsult). However, José Ramón Iturriaga, manager of the Okavango Delta fund, has not been chosen, since he manages for his own company, which could create conflicts of interest.

Deutsche Börse on 6 June announced that it has admitted three Irish-registered SPDR bond ETFs from State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) to trading on the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic platform.The funds are the SPDR Barclays Capital Sterling Aggregate Bond ETF (IE00B3T8LK23) and SPDR Barclays Capital US Aggregate Bond ETF (IE00B459R192), both of which charge 0.20%, while the SPDR Barclays Capital US Treasury Bond ETF (IE00B44CND37), for which the total expense ratio is 0.15%.The XTF listings now include 810 ETFs.

From 8 June, the FCP fund Prim’Kappa Agri, managed by the French asset management firm Prim’Finance, will be compliant with the UCITS III directive. At that time, it will adopt the name Prim’Agriculture. Several changes to the product have been made. While previously, the management objective was to obtain performance via an investment in soft commodity futures contracts, the fund will now be exposed via an investment in swaps based on indices or sub-indices of soft commodities and meats futures contracts. The benchmark for the fund is also changing, from the S&P GSCO Agricultural Total Return to S&P SGCI Agriculture & Livestock Total Return (code BLOOMBERG: SPGSALTR Index). The investment strategy used after the adaptation will differ from the strategy used previously mostly in the type of financial instruments which will be eligible to be used by the fund to expose the portfolio to its investment universe, and in the diversification rules which will be applicable. Exposure to commodities markets will remain the same, and will still vary between 0% and 100%.

Bernheim, Dreyfus & Co on Monday, 6 June announced the launch of Diva Synergy, a French-registered, UCITS-compliant FCP fund, with daily liquidity, whose event-driven strategy is focused on the theme of investment in mergers and acquisitions. The fund is an onshore version of an offshore product, which has been managed for the past five years by Lionel Melka, Amit Shabi and Sébastien Dettmar, co-founders of Bernheim, Dreyfus & Co.The Paris-based asset management firm, specialised in alternative and event-driven strategies, which received its AMF license in 2006, says thelaunch is “a response to strong demand on the part of French and European clients, who would like to have access to regulated products,” explains Shabi. The Diva Synergy fund, which includes 50 positions on businesses listed in Europe and North America, is primarily aimed at European institutionals, but is also available to private banks and high net worth private clients.Bernheim, Dreyfus & Co currently manage EUR250m in management and advisory mandates and offshore funds. The UCITS-compliant version of Diva Synergy will begin its life with a commitment for a EUR10m investment. Shabi confidently predicts assets in the fund on its first birthday of USD100m The fund will soon be offered on a variety of life insurance platforms.The asset management firm, which has also recently announced the arrival of a new member for its operational team, in charge of risk management (see Newsmanagers of 10/05/2011), is planning further recruitments. It is expected to soon recruit one person to oversee commercial development in France and Europe.A new fund will soon also be added to the product range. “It will probably be another variation on the event-driven strategy,” Shabi comments.Characteristics of Diva SynergyISIN codes:Institutionals: A euro class (FR0011042514)/B US dollar class (FR0011042316)Retail: E euro class ((FR0011042472)/ M US dollar class (FR0011042498)Minimal investment: EUR100,000 or USD100,000 for institutional shares/ EUR100 or USD100 for retail sharesSubscription fees: 2% for institutional shares / 2.5% for retail sharesManagement fees: 2% for institutional shares +20% commission on performance exceeding the Eonia / 2.5% for retail shares +20% commission on performance exceeding the Eonia.

On 17 March, Natixis Global Associates created the Climate Change Emerging Markets sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav Impact Funds. As its name indicates, the product is a thematic fund dedicated to climate change, with 40 to 50 positions corresponding to the strong convictions of the managers, Suzanne Senellart (senior portfolio manager and head of the sustainable investments unit) and Clotilde Basselier (senior portfolio manager and expert in climate change equities), with the assistance of Pierre Pedrosa (global emerging markets equities and climate change analyst).The product is now available from Natixis Asset Management (NAM), and is aimed at all investors prepared to accept a certain level of risk in an equities investment, for a minimal recommended duration of 5 years.CharacteristicsName: Impact Fund Climate Change Emerging MarketsISIN codes: LU0522854537 (shares in euros)LU0522854024 (shares in US dollars)Front-end fee: maximum 4%TER: 2%

The Euronext Paris platform from NYSE-Euronext on 6 June announced that it has admitted a further ETF of the SHBC line to trading. The HSBC MSCI CANADA ETF ( IE00B51B7Z02) has a total expense ratio of 0.35%. With the addition of the new product, NYSE Euronext currently lists a total of 564 ETFs 655 times on its European platforms, of which 88 funds and 144 listings are new since the beginning of this month.

Chris Rothery and Andrew Keirle, who since 2007 have managed the Emerging Local Markets Bond Fund, a sub-fund of the Sicav T. Rowe Price Funds, for international institutional investors, have been appointed to manage the new T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond Fund, which will invest at least 80% of its assets in bonds from emerging countries denominated in local currencies.The bonds will be largely government issued from more than 15 countries of Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, with an approximate duration of 4-5 years, and average returns at maturity of about 6.4%. More than 70% of the securities in the portfolio will be investment grade.The asset management firm says that minimal initial subscription is set at USD2,500 (and USD1,000 for the advisor share class), while the total expense ratio will be 1.10% (and 1.20% for the advisor class).

On 30 June, the Austrian asset management firm Erste Sparinvest will launch the ESPA Corporate Plus Basket 2016 fund, with maturity in five years. The management firm is planning to distribute at least 4% per year in dividends over the life of this corporate bond product. The fund is designed so that its commercial objective will not be compromised even if as man y as 0.5% of bond issuers have been defaulting every year.The manager, Herbert Matzinger, will invest in a portfolio of about 50 positions, of which half will be investment grade, and the other half high yield securities. Currency risks are now fully hedged.CharacteristicsName: ESPA Corporate Plus Basket 2016ISIN code: AT0000A0PK61Launch: 30 June 2011Maturity: 29 June 2016Management commission: 0.60% maximumEarly withdrawal penalty: 2% maximum

Peter Cieszko will be joining American Century Investments as its senior vice president for North America, a newly-created position, “later this summer.” The Kansas City-based management firm says that the new arrival will be responsible for institutional clients and North American intermediation. He will report to Michael Green, head of global client relationships. Cieszko left his position at Fidelity Investment Institutional Services Company (FIIS) in January, and has not been replaced since then, while Scott Couto, executive vice president and head of investment production management, marketing and investor consulting services, handles those responsibilities in the interim.

The US management firm Prudential Financial has recruited Kathryn Sayko has managing director of its Strategic Solution division, which offers a range of services for institutional clients of the asset management firm. Sayko previously worked at J.P. Morgan, where she provided investment banking services to professional clients of the bank.

Olivier Maestracci today joined Financière de l’Echiquier, where he will take over as head of the team dedicated to institutional client segment development, which has fuor members. The former director of studies and research at Europerformance, and later head of institutional clients at Bfinance, Maestracci previously served as head of sales at Invesco Asset Management. The recruitment is a sign of a desire on the part of Financière de l’Echiquier to develop its presence serving institutional investors, multi-managers and private bankers, who now represent over 40% of the management firm’s total assets (about EUR2.5bn), a statement says, confirming the strategy recently described by Stéphane Toullieux, CEO of the firm, to Newsmanagers (see Newsmanagers of 02/05/2011).

Olivier Maestracci today joined Financière de l’Echiquier, where he will take over as head of the team dedicated to institutional client segment development, which has fuor members. The former director of studies and research at Europerformance, and later head of institutional clients at bfinance, Maestracci previously served as head of sales at Invesco Asset Management.The recruitment is a sign of a desire on the part of Financière de l’Echiquier to develop its presence serving institutional investors, multi-managers and private bankers, who now represent over 40% of the management firm’s total assets (about EUR2.5bn), a statement says, confirming the strategy recently described by Stéphane Toullieux, CEO of the firm, to Newsmanagers (see Newsmanagers of 02/05/2011).

According to the Wall Street Journal, Pimco lost more than USD3.4bn on investments in bonds from Lehman just before its bankruptcy. In September 2008, Pimco held more than USD4.5bn in senior bonds from the bank. Bill Gross, the star Pimco manager, was 100% certain that Lehman would avoid bankruptcy. However, for 2008, the Pimco Total Return fund earned returns of 4.32%.

According to an agreement signed on June 1st, 2011, SwissLife Banque Privée has bought a 25% stake in the French asset manager Prigest. This is supposed to be a first step on the way to a merger into a single private bank. Taken together the two entities show about EUR4bn in AUM, mostly from private clients.Christian Cambier remains chairman of Prigest, the fund management company he founded almost 30 years ago. The deal aims to develop a range of funds combining both companies’ know-how. For Swiss Life Banque Privée, this acquisition fits into its development strategy to become an important player on the French private banking scene. The Prigest range enables it to acquire products that complement its own ones, especially in the field of equity fund management.

Threadneedle announced on Monday, 6 June that it has appointed two specialists to its emerging markets equities team. Georgina Hellyer, who previously served as a technical and commodities analyst in the emerging markets and Asia equities team at Aviva Investors, is joining Threadneedle as a global emerging markets analyst. Ilan Furman will be joining Threadneedle as an analyst for Latin American markets, from 1 August this year. He was previously a member of the emerging markets equities team specialised in Latin America at Pictet. Both will also be made members of the Asia (ex Japan) equities and emerging markets team, led by Vanessa Donegan, with 10 professionals based in London. The team has more than GBP6.1bn in assets under management.

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) is creating “The Selection Specialists,” a blog edited by its multi-management team (available at www.swip.com/selectionspecialists). The members of the team will share their points of view on the site about asset allocation, fund selection, and the markets.

At a hearing before a Manhattan federal court, Eric S. Lipkin, a former employee of Bernard Madoff, confessed to falsifying documents submitted to the SEC in relation to the trading positions of some Madoff clients. In addition, the Wall Street Journal reports, Lipkin admitted to fraudulently declaring people as employees of Madoff who were not employed by him, so that they would be eligible for 401(k) retirement savings plans. These included the son of Daniel Bonventre, Madoff’s former COO.However, Lipkin made no admissions as to whether he knew about the fraud perpetrated by his employer.

In the past ten days, Funds People reports, nine Spanish management firms have merged 43 funds into only 15 products. Ahorro Corporación has merged 13 products to create five; Banesto merged five into one, and Santander, four into one. BNP Paribas Investment Partners has merged two products into one; Invercaixa has merged three into one, as has Ibercaja, while A&G Fondos has merged four funds into two, and Renta 4 Gestora has transformed a Sicav into a fund, while Espiritu Santo has merged seven funds into two.

East Capital, asset manager specialising in Eastern Europe and China, is strengthening its advisory committees by appointing three new advisors:• Al Breach, an expert on global emerging markets with a long research background as an economist at UBS and Goldman Sachs;• Torbjörn Becker, an expert on Eastern European economies and currently Director of the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) at the Stockholm School of Economics;• Christer Ljungwall, an expert on China development, specialising on growth, institutions, regional development, financial stability and China’s banking system.

Maple Group Acquisition Corp, le consortium qui livre bataille pour prendre le contrôle du Toronto Stock Exchange (TMX), serait en négociations avec au moins trois sociétés de services financiers qui pourraient lui venir en aide. Desjardins Financial Group, GMP Capital et Dundee Capital Markets figureraient parmi les prétendants à l’accès au consortium, aujourd’hui composé de neuf banques et fonds de pension canadiens.

Si Richard Fisher estime que la Fed « en a fait assez », les craintes d’une rechute de l’économie incitent Eric Rosengren à ne pas écarter un « QE3 »

Aabar Investments,le fonds souverain d’Abou Dhabi qui détient 1,4% de Glencore suite à son IPO, envisage d’investir conjointement avec le groupe minier et de négoce de matières premières. C’est ce qu’a confié au quotidien le directeur général d’Aabar, Mohamed Al-Husseiny. La coopération pourrait concerner les secteurs de l’agiculture, du pétrole ou du gaz naturel.

L’approbation d’un nouveau plan de soutien à la Grèce lors de la réunion des ministres des finances européens le 20 juin prochain pourrait échouer du fait de la résistance de la Slovaquie, selon le quotidien allemand qui cite un officiel européen. Le pays n’avait pas participé au premier plan de sauvetage de la Grèce mais a contribué au financement du fonds européen de stabilité.

La filiale de banque privée, absorbée en 2012, doit réduire drastiquement un coefficient d'exploitation qui flirtait récemment avec les 100 %

Les nouvelles obligations à l'habitat françaises ont animé le marché le mois dernier. Les émetteurs des pays core devraient rester actifs