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04/07/2011

Prudential Real Estate Investors scales up pension activities

Prudential Real Estate Investors on 30 June announced that it has recruited David Skinner as head of development for companies in the 401(k) type defined-contribution pension fund sector. Skinner previously worked at JP Morgan, where he was head of distribution and sales for defined-contribution products to institutionals.
04/07/2011

Madoff: Criminal suit against managers of Alpha Prime Funds

The Austrian city of Hartberg is seeking EUR457,000 in damages from Stefan Sapotocky and Peter Fischer, former CEOs of Alpha Prime Funds, Fondsprofessionell reports. The criminal case, filed in the Vienna courts, also names the Viennese lawyer Christian Hausmaniger, and accuses the defendants of failing to undertake the necessary due diligence. The plaintiff claims that Alpha Prime Funds passed nearly all of its assets to Madoff without adequate analysis.
04/07/2011

Uniform tax regime will hit investment funds

Changes to the Italian tax regime will bring the withholding tax on all vehicles to 20%, except for government bonds, which will continue to be taxed at 12.5%.The changes will favour traditional products such as savings accounts, but will work to the disadvantage of futures accounts and directly held securities (equities and corporate bonds), ETFs, and other investment funds, for which the tax rate had previously been 12.5%, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports.In addition, the government is planning to raise the stamp duty on securities accounts to EUR120, from EUR34.20, which could lead savings investors to avoid types of vehicles for which holding a securities account is compulsory.
04/07/2011

F&C plans to scale up closed fund activities

The British management firm F&C has decided to place open-ended funds and investment trusts under the responsibility of Charlie Porter, who is already responsible for the former, Fund Web reports. Ed Morse will take up the newly-created position of head of development for activities related to investment trusts, while Mike Woodward will remain in his position as head of the unit dedicated to investment trusts.
04/07/2011

F&C moves to a new operating model

Very soon, F&C will choose a subcontractor from two final candidates, to receive administrative funds at a price which will depend on assets under management and the size of transactions. The arrangement will result in annual savings of GBP12m, of which GBP9m will be the result of restructuring, and GBP3m from reductions in rental costs associated with staff reductions, the firm announced on 1 July.The outsourcing agreement will affect about 110 people, 70% of administrative personnel (thus not affecting investment, distribution or customer service). A significant portion of these personnel will be transferred to the subcontracting firm.The reshuffle arises from a desire on the part of F&C to diversify and to extend its activities beyond its historic base of insurance mandates, says CEO Alain Grisay.
04/07/2011

Alken gets a fourth partner

Funds People reports that Isabel Ortega, who joined Alken Asset Management in 2007, has been appointed as global head of sales, and on 1 July became a partner at the management firm, joining Nicolas Walewski, Antoine Badel and Marc Festa. Festa has recently been appointed as co-head of strategy.
04/07/2011

Outflows from Spanish funds continue

For the third month in a row, Spanish securities funds have seen net redemptions estimated at EUR960m in May, compared with EUR973m in April, according to statistics from Inverco, the Spanish association of management firms. Total assets have fallen by 1.4% in one month, to a total as of the end of May of EUR135.325bn, compared with EUR137.813bn as of 30 April, and EUR139.017bn as of the end of March.The top seven Spanish asset management firms by asset volumes all saw net outflows in May. This was the case at Invercaixa Gestión (third in the rankings, with EUR16.34bn), which has seen net outflows of EUR269.26m, and at Santander Asset Management, top of the rankings with EUR22.75bn in assets under management, with EUR248.35m in net redemptions. At BBVA Asset Management, number two in the rankings, with EUR20.93bn, net outflows in May totalled EUR162.61m.
04/07/2011

Amber acquires 3.5% of FonSai

According to Italian financial sector sources, the US asset management firm Amber Capital has recently acquired two blocks of shares in subscription rights to new shares in Fondiara Sai, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports.Following the capital increase, Amber Capital is expected to control about 3.5% of capital in the insurance company, making it the third-largest shareholder after Premafin (41%) and UniCredit (6.6%).Amber Capital already holds stakes of under 2% in Italian businesses valued at a total of EUR426.7m, including investments in Iride, Cofide and Banca Popolare di Milano.
04/07/2011

Smart-ISH fund of funds aims for returns of 10%

Cinco Días analyses the composition of the Smart-ISH d’Abante Asesores fund (see Newsmanagers of 7 and 29 June), concluding that the unstated objective is to generate annualised returns of 10%. The paper states that the selection does not aim to construct a balanced portfolio, but rather to have “a slightly aggressive slant.” The article goes on to list the various funds selected, and the qualities of each, as perceived by Ángel Olea, chief investment officer at Abante.
04/07/2011

Burton Malkiel speaks out against active management

Burton Malkiel, who has been well-known in the financial sector since the first publication of his work, “A Random Walk Down Wall Street,” in 1973, and for new sequels to that work every four years since that time, is continuing on that path. Despite the development of passive management and ETFs, Malkiel estimates that there are still too many active managers, Financial News reports. The Princeton economics professor claims that the optimal level of passive management is about three quarters of the management market, and that the “core of a portfolio should be passively managed. In the United States, only one quarter to one third of funds are passively managed,” Malkiel says.
04/07/2011

UBS launches an energy sector equities sub-fund

UBS Global Asset Management has received a sales license for Germany for the Energy sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav UBS (Lux) Equity, launched on 13 May. The product will be managed by portfolio manager James McLellan, who will prefer businesses in the drilling equipment and oil services segment (National Oilwell Varco, Baker Hughes, ENSCO and Drill-Quip) over integrated groups. In addition, the fund will bet on businesses such as Ultra Petroleum, QEP and Williams, which are active in the exploitation of natural gas deposits in North America. For diversification, the manager will select businesses which invest in renewable energies.The objective of the fund is to outperform the MSCI World Energy index by 250 basis points.CharacteristicsName: UBS (Lux) Equity Sicav – Energy (USD) P-accISIN code: LU0622290632Front-end fee: 6%All-in fee: 1.80%Exit fee: 2%
04/07/2011

Veritas launches two ETF funds

The Frankfurt-based asset management firm Veritas Investment Trust has announced the launch of the German-registered funds ETF-Dachfonds Emerging Markets Plus Money and ETF-Dachfonds Quant on 1 July. According to the specialist management firm, as the names of the funds indicate, they are ETF products.The first of these funds invests actively (0% to 100% equities) in the most promising emerging markets, with volatility about half the level of the MSCI Emerging Markets index.The Quant fund invests solely in equities and commodities markets, which are expected to rise sustainably through the use of a high level of portfolio diversification, with an equally-weighted portfolio of 20 positions (18 equities funds, 2 commodities funds). Markus Kaiser, CEO and CIO, says that the two new products are managed according to a trend-following model developed internally, with weekly updates to the portfolio, on the basis of data from the previous week.CharacteristicsName: ETF-Dachfonds Emerging Markets Plus MoneyISIN code: DE0009763326Front-end fee: 4%Management commission: 1.5%Performance commission: 15% on performance exceeding 7%Sales license: Germany, Austria, FranceName: ETF-Dachfonds QuantISIN code: DE0005561625Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 1.5%Performance commission: 15% on performance exceeding 5%Sales license: Germany, Austria
04/07/2011

Mediolanum releases a fund of funds with a semiannual coupon

Mediolanum International Funds has registered eight classes of shares in the Irish-registered fund Mediolanum Coupon Strategy Collection, the eighth product of its Best Brands range, with the CNMV. The product will be available in Spain from Banco de Finanzas e Inversiones.The fund is a flexible product, which invests in income funds, and will will pay out a half-yearly dividend. Initially, the portfolio, composed of products from the world’s largest management firms, will invest 75% in equities funds, 15% in high yield funds, and 10% in real estate funds.In its prospectus, Banca Mediolanum names 23 partner management firms: Aberdeen AllianceBernstein, Axa IM, BlackRock, BNY Mellon AM, DWS Investments, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Goldman Sachs AM, Henderson, ING IM, Invesco, JP Morgan AM, M&G, MFS IM, Morgan Stanley, Natixis Global Associates, Pictet, Pimco, RCM, Schroders, T. Rowe Price and UBS.The fund may invest up to 100% of its assets in equities, and up to 30% in real estate, convertible bonds, high yield, government or corporate bonds, or cash.Backtesting reveals that in the years 2007-2010, the strategy would have generated average annual dividend returns of 5.68%.
04/07/2011

F&C Thames River registers AR fund in Spain

The CNMV has issued a sales license to the absolute return bond fund Thames River Global High Yield Bond Fund, from the British asset management firm F&C (see Newsmanagers of 28 March), Funds People reports. The UCITS-compliant product with 30 positions, launched in May, is overweight on European high yield bond issues. The performance objective is 10%, with ex ante volatility of 10-12%.Minimal subscription is GBP10,000/EUR10,000/USD10,000 for the retail share class, and GBP/EUR/USD10m for the institutional share class. Management commission is 1.5% for retail shares, and 1% for institutional shares, in addition to which there is a performance commission with a hurdle rate and high watermark.
04/07/2011

Joachim Wilbois joins Nikolaus Rummler as head of IP Concept FM

WGZ Bank Luxembourg on 15 June merged with DZ Privatbank SA, and the head of the depository banking activity at WGZ,Joachim Wilbois, has been appointed as co-CEO of the asset management firm IP Concept Fund Management, an affiliate of DZ Privatbank, where he will be Rummler’s counterpart.The new recruit replaces Matthias Schirpke, who will be returning to DZ Privatbank as head of the investment fund division.
04/07/2011

Forte collecte pour le pôle marchés émergents de Franklin Templeton

Lors d’une présentation à Paris le 1er juillet, Mark Mobius, l’un des gérants vedettes de Franklin Templeton, a indiqué que depuis le début de l’année le Templeton Emerging Markets Group, à lui seul (donc en dehors des autres divisions du groupe) a enregistré des souscriptions nettes d’environ 20 millions de dollars par jour.L’encours se situe à quelque 54 milliards de dollars, dont 60 % en Asie (dont 11 % pour l’Inde), 15 % en Amérique latine (dont 11 points pour le Brésil) et 15 % également en Amérique latine. L’Europe du Sud et l’Afrique représentent chacune 2 % du portefeuille, et le Moyen-Orient, 1 %.Les flux de la clientèle se sont surtout portés sur le fonds Chine, sachant que le compartiment correspondant de la sicav luxembourgeoise pèse presque 2,36 milliards de dollars à fin mai, devant le fonds Asie (17,93 milliards), le fonds marchés émergents mondiaux (1,31 milliard) et le fonds marché frontière (1,13 milliard).Mark Mobius a également souligné que le taux de rotation des portefeuilles de son groupe est très bas, en dessous de 20 %.D’une manière générale, le gérant-star de Franklin Templeton est confiant pour l’avenir des pays de sa «juridiction». D’abord, l’offre et la demande de capitaux sont équilibrés, ensuite la croissance est forte et le ratio dette/PIB faible, enfin les valorisations sont raisonnables. Les grands thèmes retenus sont ceux de la consommation, qui va augmenter avec les revenus et grâce à la faiblesse de l’endettement des ménages, et des matières premières. Les deux risques majeurs, en revanche, sont l’expansion monétaires et la prolifération des dérivés.
04/07/2011

L'AMF précise les règles sur la tenue du passif des OPCVM

A la suite de travaux engagés avec l’AFG et l’AFTI sur la tenue du passif, l’AMF a inséré dans le livre IV de son règlement général de nouvelles dispositions qui définissent les différentes tâches liées à la centralisation des ordres et à la tenue du compte émission des OPCVM. Elles clarifient en outre le rôle des différents intervenants, sécurisent le circuit de passation des ordres et donnent une existence juridique aux ordres directs.
04/07/2011

La zone euro offre un répit à la Grèce

Le financement à court terme du pays est assuré, alors que les débats autour d’un deuxième plan d’aide vont se poursuivre dans les prochaines semaines.
01/07/2011

Les stress tests de l'assurance publiés le 4 juillet

L’Eiopa, la nouvelle autorité européenne de supervision des assureurs, publiera le 4 juillet à midi les résultats de la deuxième vague de tests de résistance menés sur le secteur à l'échelle de l’Europe.
01/07/2011

Le taux de chômage dans la zone euro stable à 9,9% en mai

Le taux de chômage de la zone euro est resté stable à 9,9% en mai, comme s’y attendaient les économistes. Selon Eurostat, 15,51 millions de personnes étaient dépourvues d’un emploi en mai, soit 16.000 de plus qu’en avril mais 551.000 de moins qu’en mai 2010. Le taux de chômage le plus élevé est en Espagne (près de 21%). Vient ensuite l’Irlande (14%). Le taux de chômage le plus bas est aux Pays-Bas (4,2%) et en Autriche (4,3%). En Allemagne, il a encore diminué, à 6,0% en mai contre 6,1% en avril.

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