11/04/2011
Collecte nette pour Azimut en mars
La société de gestion italienne Azimut a enregistré en mars des souscriptions nettes de 113 millions d’euros, portant ses encours à 16,7 milliards d’euros.
20 milliards d'euros pour le fonds stratégique italien
L’Agefi rapporte que l’Italie veut se doter d’un fonds à l’image du Fonds stratégique d’investissement français (FSI), pour contrer les prises de contrôle d’entreprises italiennes par des groupes étrangers. Selon le journal La Repubblica, il sera dotée d’une vingtaine de milliards d’euros.
11/04/2011
Neuberger Berman lance une société de gestion de droit australien
Neuberger Berman vient d’obtenir un agrément des régulateurs australiens pour le lancement d’une société de gestion de droit australien, baptisée Neuberger Berman Australia Pty Limited. L’entité s’est d’ores et déjà vu confiée un mandat alternatif pour un institutionnel local, indique le communiqué.
Barclays Capital lance un fonds obligataire libellé en renminbi
Barclays Capital Fund Solutions, la société de gestion de Barclays Capital, a lancé à Singapour un fonds d’obligations libellées en renminbi pour les particuliers, rapporte Asian Investor. Etant un produit Ucits III, il pourra facilement être vendu en dehors des frontières de Singapour et notamment en Europe.
11/04/2011
Two Paulson funds in the red
Reuters, relayed by fonds professionell, reports that the Advantage and Advantage Plus hedge funds from Paulson & Co have seen losses in first quarter of 1.24% and 1.74%, respectively, largely because they lost 3.1% each in March. The poor results for March are attributable to the Japanese disaster, and to unlucky speculations on banking and real estate shares in the United States.
11/04/2011
German real estate funds have 71% of their assets abroad
The BVI association of German management firms has announced that in 2010, open-ended real estate funds made a total of 173 transactions (91 acquisitions and 82 sales), compared with 149 in 2009 I58 acquisitions and 91 sales). The overall total amount of new investments came to EUR7.1bn, compared with EUR5bn, of which EUR5bn, compared with EUR3.5bn, were abroad. In terms of sales, which totalled EUR3.9bn, compared with EUR2.5bn, sales abroad totalled EUR3bn, compared with EUR1bn in 2009. The percentage of portfolios dedicated to Germany has been falling consistently since late 2005, from 42.4% to 29.1% as of the end of 2010. Foreign investments thus now represent 70.1%, of which 57.4% are in Europe outside Germany, and 13.5% in the rest of the world. France is the top destination country, with 18% of the portfolio, followed by the UK (9.1%) and the Netherlands (6.6%). Investments in the United States represent 4.3% of the total.
11/04/2011
Barclays launches a renminbi bond fund
Asian Investor reports that Barclays Capital Fund Solutions, the asset management unit of Barclays Capital, has launched a renminbi-denominated bond fund in Singapore in UCITS III format, which will invest 100% of its assets in renminbi-denominated bonds. The fund will be only the second retail fund in renminbi available in Singapore.
11/04/2011
max.xs to offer Rothschild & Cie products in Germany
The independent B2B retailer max.xs has been granted an exclusive mandate by Rothschild & Cie Gestion to introduce distribution and services for its funds and institutional mandates on the German market. A strategic cooperation agreement has been signed by the two businesses, by which the French firm will carry out the internationalisation strategy decided on by Jean-Louis Laurens, managing partner and chairman of the board of directors. Frank-Alexander de Boer, CEO, says the agreement will allow max.xs to extend its range of contrarian products and high-performance investment solutions.
11/04/2011
Warburg Invest rumoured to have recruited a partner from Hauck & Aufhäuser
According to reports in portfolio institutionell, Warburg Invest (EUR12bn in assets) is planning to recruit Volker van Rüth as CEO in charge of portfolio management. His appointment is suspended pending approval by BaFin. Until December 2010, van Rüth was a managing director at the private bank Hauck & Aufhäuser. He apparently left following a disagreement with his alter ego, Michael Schramm.
11/04/2011
Franklin Templeton hires a head from DWS
Jörg Spielberger, who spent 11 years at DWS (Deutsche Bank), most recently as head of insurance clients in Germany and Austria, has joined Franklin Templeton Investments Germany as sales manager in charge of insurance clients and brokers who serve them. He will report to Peter Stowasser, director of distribution to retail clients in Germany.
11/04/2011
Warburg in the running to take over Luxembourg private banking activities of HSH Nordbank
The German private bank M. M. Warburg is in talks with the regional public bank HSH Nordbank to acquire its private banking activities in Luxembourg, Financial Times Deutschland reports. The Bank of Luxembourg is also reportedly interested. A board member at HSH Nordbank has stated a few days ago that talks were underway with two serious candidates, and that he hopes to be able to say more “in eight to twelve weeks.” Assets under management at the Luxembourg entity total over EUR1bn.
11/04/2011
PRI to integrate ESG principles for bonds
The United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) network is in the process of setting up a working group for fixed income, which will aim to integrate ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria into the government, corporate and municipal bond space, the organisation has announced in a presentation of its strategy and its working program for 2011-2013. The steering committee for the new project will be assembled by mid-2011. The PRI is also planning to create working groups for hedge funds, commodities and infrastructure, to set up responsible investment principles for these activities.
11/04/2011
Assets in Spanish funds up by less than 1% in first quarter
As of the end of March, assets under management for Spanish funds totalled EUR145.67bn, which according to VDOS Stochastics represents an increase of 0.83% since the end of December. Only EUR14m of the total increase of EUR1.194bn is due to net subscriptions. The remainder is due to market effects. The strongest growth in percentage terms was for international bond funds (+21.56%), US equities funds (+11.21%), and European equities funds (+8.30%).
11/04/2011
Highbridge promotes COO
The hedge fund firm Highbridge Capital Management, owned by JP Morgan Chase, has appointed Todd Builione, its chief operating officer, to the position of president, the Financial Times reports, in a sign of the increasing maturity of the industry. Builione will share control of the firm with Glenn Dubin, CEO and co-founder, and Scott Kapnich, head of Principal Strategies activity.
11/04/2011
Net inflows for Azimut in March
The Italian management firm Azimut posted net subscriptions in March of EUR113m, bringing its total assets to EUR16.7bn.
11/04/2011
“In the emerging universe, the Russian market is probably the most open and the most liquid”
The Luxembourg-registered management firm Kaltchuga Capital Management, which has developed considerable expertise in the Russian market, has assets under management of about EUR200m. It hopes to double in size in the next two years, particularly with its flagship fund, Kaltchuga Fund-Russia Equities.
11/04/2011
Hedge funds post gains in March
The Hennessee Group and Hedge Fund Intelligence report that hedge funds have posted gains of between 0.07% and 0.3% in March, the Wall Street Journal reports. Hennessee estimates that returns totalled 2.5% for first quarter as a whole. According to a source familiar with the matter, the equities fund Ospraie Management (USD300m) lost 0.96% in March, and gained 5.7% in the first three months of the year, while the USD550m commodities fund from the firm made 3.18% in March. Fortress Investment Group, for its part, has notified the SEC that all of its hedge funds, liquid or illiquid, posted gains in March, with the new Asia Macro Fund earning 3.5% returns.
11/04/2011
Strong inflows to emerging markets equities in early April
In the week to 6 April, inflows to emerging markets rose strongly, according to statistics compiled by EPFR Global. Net inflows to equities funds totalled USD13.35bn, of which more than one third went to emerging markets equities, while bond funds, largely due to the high yield segment, attracted about USD3.84bn. Despite interest rate increases in the Euro zone and Portuguese debt troubles, European equities funds posted their first positive inflows since the third week of February. However, outflows continued from European bond funds.
11/04/2011
Axa IM launches a UCITS III fund of funds
AXA Investment Managers has announced the launch of AXA World Fund Multi Alpha, a fund which invests in “Newcits” funds. It is a UCITS III-compliant SICAV and it offers weekly liquidity.The AXA WF Multi Alpha Fund is Luxembourg regulated and is not currently registered for sale in any other jurisdictions.
11/04/2011
Dow Jones and Credit Suisse launch a hedge fund index
Dow Jones Indexes and Credit Suisse have announced the launch of the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Core Hedge Fund Index, the newest addition to their hedge fund index family. The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Core Hedge Fund Index uses multiple managed account platforms to track the liquid, investable hedge fund universe. Rebalanced quarterly, the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Core Hedge Fund Index is UCITS III compliant and includes 40 component funds diversified across seven style-based sectors: event driven, long/short equity, global macro, emerging markets, managed futures, fixed-income arbitrage and convertible arbitrage.
11/04/2011
Barings recruits a head for Asian debt
Baring Asset Management has appointed Thomas Kwan who joins the firm as head of Asian debt. He joins Barings’ Hong Kong team from ICBC Credit Suisse in Beijing, where his main responsibilities were for global macro research and asset allocation strategy and to develop and manage absolute return global fixed income, currencies and asset allocation products.
11/04/2011
Profits up at Sparinvest
The Danish management firm Sparinvest on 8 April announced that its pre-tax profits in 2010 have increased to EUR12.5m, which represents an increase of EUR2.4m compared with the previous year. Returns on owners’ equity have increased to 29% from 24%. The past fiscal year was marked by integration of environmental, social and governance criteria into the investment process for all actively-managed value funds, in line with a pledge made in 2009 when Sparinvest signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI). The past year was also marked by the signature of a cooperation agreement in the area of bonds with the US firm Brandes (EUR36.2bn), and the acquisition of the investment fund division of EgnsInvest (EUR700m) and Atrium (EUR53.7m), which have strengthened the position of Sparinvest on the Danish market.
11/04/2011
Antoine Delon leaves Adequity
Antoine Delon, head of distribution for France at Adequity, a firm specialised in the design and distribution of structured products for independent financial advisers and private banks, who was supposed to resign according to H24 Finance, will indeed be leaving the unit of the Société Générale group in one month’s time. According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, Delon will be joining a major US bank which wants to build a presence in France, where he will serve as head of France for equities activities. After a period of “gardening leave,” he will begin in his position at the new establishment at the beginning of September this year.
11/04/2011
Bill Gross turns negative on US debt
Bill Gross, founder and co-CIO at Pimco, has become even more bearish about US government bonds, including Treasuries, the Wall Street Journal reports. After selling off all of its positions from the Total Return Fund (USD235.98bn) in February, the manager in March became negative about US government debt. His position was -3% as of the end of March, compared with zero in February and 12% in January.
11/04/2011
Norwegian sovereign fund earned 9.6% in 2010
In a report to parliament (Storting) on 8 April, the Norwegian finance minister announced that the Government Pension Fund – Global (GPFG) as of the end of December had NOK3.077trn, or USD525bn, in assets, which represents an increase of NOK437bn year on year, of which NOK185bn came from transfers of oil revenues, and NOK264bn in returns on investments. The appreciation of the Norwegisn kroner wiped out NOK8bn in assets, and operating costs represented NOK3bn. In percentage terms, the GPFG, which is managed by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), posted returns of 9.6% for 2010, 1.1 percentage points more than the benchmark index, compared with 25.6% (4.1 points of outperformance) in 2009 Isee Newsmanagers of 30 March 2010). The finance minister, Sigbjørn Johnsen, says that he considers private equity investments to offer insufficient results compared with their cost. The same applied to some extent to infrastructure. The fund is now in the process of constructing a portfolio in real estate investment, which is the largest and most mature segment of private equity, but is doing so cautiously and in an exploratory manner.
11/04/2011
Newton IM recruits a head of private clients and charities
Newton Investment Management, an affiliate of BNY Mellon Asset Management, has added to its team in Edinburgh dedicated to private clients and charities. The entity manages GBP86m. June Jessop has been appointed as head of the team. Jessop was previously director and head of development for charitable initiatives and entities at Cornelian Asset Management in Edinburgh.
11/04/2011
Edhec-Risk Institute opens a London office
On 7 April, Edhec-Risk Institute opened its London office, and celebrated the launch of the EDHEC Risk Institute-Europe. Noël Amenc, director of Edhec-Risk Institute, commented: “Edhec Risk Institute– Europe will serve as a platform for the continued generation and dissemination of academic insights into the key investment management issues of practical relevance to European investors and financial institutions». As part of six research programmes, Edhec-Risk Institute currently has 14 research chairs and strategic research projects with financial institutions: Amundi ETF, AXA Investment Managers, BNP Paribas Investment Partners, CACEIS, CME Group, Deutsche Bank, Eurex, the French Banking Federation (FBF), Newedge Prime Brokerage, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Rothschild & Cie, Russell Investments, Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking and UFG- LFP.
11/04/2011
Neuberger Berman creates an Australian-registered asset manager
Neuberger Berman has received permission from Australian regulators to found an Australian-registered asset management firm, to be known as Neuberger Berman Australia Pty Limited. The entity has already received an alternative management mandate from a local institutional client, a statement says.
11/04/2011
Gestion d'actifs
L'ERAFP entend continuer la diversification sur l'immobilier, les marchés émergents et le non coté
Dans un entretien accordé à Instit Invest, Philippe Desfossés, Directeur de l’ERAFP révèle que le régime compte poursuivre la diversification des actifs débutée en 2007 par le lancement de nouveaux appels d’offres. L’ERAFP dont l’encours s'élève à un peu plus de 10 milliards d’euros, travaille actuellement sur l’adaptation de son dispositif ISR à l’Immobilier et a déjà lancé une consultation pour se doter des services d’un consultant spécialisé. L’appel d’offres sur les gérants sera lancé au second semestre 2011. Il portera sur 80 à 90 millions d’euros par an, sachant que l’ERAFP peut détenir jusqu'à 10% de son actif en immobilier mais que l’allocation définie par le Conseil d’Administration a, pour l’instant, fixé l’allocation à 6,5%. D’autres projets d’appels d’offres font l’objet de réflexions, notamment les actions des pays émergentes, et le non coté. S’agissant des émergents, une première étape pourrait consister à investir dans les titres de groupes eux même très exposés à la croissance de ces pays. Pour le non coté, les infrastructures ont les faveurs du Régime sachant qu’elles constituent, selon son Directeur, une bonne protection contre l’inflation.
11/04/2011
Gestion d'actifs
L'OCDE s'intéresse à l'ISR
La direction financière de l’OCDE à Paris dit vouloir s’inspirer de la politique de placements mise en ??uvre sur l’ISR au sein du Conseil de l’Europe. Ainsi, des discussions sont en cours, qui devraient aboutir d’ici la fin de l'été 2011 pour initier des investissements sur des fonds ouverts uniquement. Les classes d’actifs concernées seraient plutôt les obligations d’entreprises ainsi que les actions internationales. A ce stade, aucune approche n’est privilégiée même si certains doutes persistent sur l’efficacité des gestions basées sur l’engagement actionnarial.