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04/04/2011

Aviva Investors takes back funds mandated out to FundQuest

Aviva Investors has confirmed plans to bring the management of the group’s multi-management mandates, representing GBP1.3bn in assets, back into the company, Investment Week reports. Ian Aylward and Peter Fitzgerlad, senior portfolio managers, will manage the funds of funds which were previously mandated out to FundQuest. The team will also take over the range of managers of managers, which was mandated out to Close Investments.
04/04/2011

Sanlam withdraws an international equities mandate from Pictet

Investment Week reports that Sanlam Universal Funds has transferred the management of its Global Equity fund from Pictet, and awarded it to Centre Asset Management. The US-based consulting firm Centre Asset Management will now take over management of the GBP8bn fund domiciled in Dublin, which Pictet has managed for the past 5 years.
04/04/2011

Hong Kong removed from Spanish tax haven blacklist

Hong Kong, which receives large volumes of investment from Spain, on Friday signed a double taxation agreement with Spain, which allows it to be removed from the blacklist of countries which do not cooperate with the Spanish finance ministry, Cinco Días reports.The treaty signed by the Spanish finance minister, Elena Salgado, and obtained by Cinco Días, covers personal income tax, company tax, and taxation of non-residents. It stipulates that corporate profits may be taxed in only one of the two countries. Spanish legislation provides for an exemption for dividends earned abroad, which did not apply to Hong Kong when it was considered an offshore tax haven.
04/04/2011

Luis Pérez Box promoted at Banif

Following the transfer of José María Martínez-Sanjuán to Santander Asset Management (see Newsmanagers of 16 March), Banif has appointed Luis Pérez Box, who had been a member of the third-party fund analysis team since 2007, as head of fund and alternative investment analysis. He had previously spent his entire career at BBVA Gestión.
04/04/2011

“Sin fund” with cloven hooves

The Prosperis Mephisto 1 fund, designed by Conrad Mattern, is aimed at investors who do not necessarily want to save the world, and who prefer to pocket comfortable returns. It thus invests in “sinful” investments, such as weapons, gambling, sex shops and luxury goods. However, Handelsblatt calculates, by 2016, when the fund matures, investors will have paid 43% of their input in commissions and various fees. And returns are not at all a foregone conclusion, as the fund is a blind pool.
04/04/2011

Amundi launches four ETFs in Italy

Amundi ETF has celebrated its first year on the Italian market with the launch of 4 new ETFs on Borsa Italiana, Bluerating reports. They are Amundi ETF MSCI Nordic, Amundi ETF MSCI Emerging Markets, Amundi ETF Global Emerging Bond Markit Iboxx and Amundi ETF AAA Govt Bond EuroMTS.
04/04/2011

BlackRock recruits a head of institutional management

BlackRock has announced the arrival of Edwin Conway Managing as director of its activities serving institutionals in the United States and Canada. He will be based in New York, and was previuosly managing director and head of investor relations at Blackstone Alternate Asset Management (BAAM).
04/04/2011

Banque Privée 1818 and Rothschild & Cie Banque launch a platform for IFAs

La Banque Privée 1818 and Rothschild & Cie Banque on 1 April announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to create Sélection 1818, a joint platform for independent financial advisers (IFAs), to be created from a merger of Sélection R and 1818 Partenaires. Cyril Chapelle, who was previously CEO of 1818 Partenaires, will become CEO of Sélection 1818 from 31 March 2011. The new group, which will be 66% controlled by Banque Privée 1818 and 34% by Rothschild & Cie Banque, will be known as Sélection 1818, and will be led by Cyril Chapelle, who has been named as CEO effective from 31 March 2011. It will have a hybrid management team, bringing together members of both companies. With combined assets of EUR6bn as of 31 March 2011, Sélection 1818 is a distribution platform offering a large range of investment products (banking, insurance, international, real estate), and a variety of services to assist independent financial advisers with their activities. The range, which uses open architecture, includes a variety of selections from among the best on the market.
04/04/2011

KIA and GIC take control of 4.5% of TPG

The Kuwait sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority (USD200bn in assets) and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC, USD100bn) have acquired about 4.5% of TPG Holdings (USD48bn in assets), in an operation which values the US private equity investor at about USD11bn, the Wall Street Journal reports. This will allow TPG to bring in several hundred million dollars, avoiding a potential IPO.
04/04/2011

The fund industry is destroying value

The fund management industry is destroying USD1,300bn of value each year, according to an unpublished draft report conducted by IBM and seen by FTfm. This includes USD300bn in excess fees for actively managed long-only funds that fail to beat their benchmark, USD250bn in fees for wealth management and advisory services that fail to deliver above-benchmark performances, and USD51bn in fees for hedge funds that also fail to deliver their targeted returns.
04/04/2011

AXA finalises AXA APH transaction

AXA announced on 1 April that it has finalised its AXA APH transaction, including the sale of its life insurance, savings, and retirement activities in Australia and New Zealand, and the acquisition of the life insurance, savings, and retirement activities of AXA APH in Asia. The Australian insurer AMP has acquired 100% of the existing shares in AXA APH, for AUD13.3bn (about EUR9.5bn). AXA then acquired 100% of the Asian activities of AXA APH from AMP, for AUD9.8bn.
04/04/2011

Aviva Investors overweight in equities

At a press conference on Friday, Pascal Heurtault, chief investment officer at Aviva Investors France, announced that compared with a balanced portfolio consisting of 50% equities and 50% bonds and money markets, the asset management firm is currently overweight in equities (58%), after taking some profits (the proportion was previously 63%).This predilection for equities, despite the recent oil crisis and the Japanese disaster, are due to good corporate results and positive surprises in terms of profits and earnings. Margins are at their highest, and crisis management at businesses has proven effective. “The markets are not all that expensive, and they are earning more than Bunds,” says Heurtault. In addition, the context for a recovery in merger and acquitions activity is shaping up.Prime rates are expected to increase slightly, and the manager, which is cautious about German and French long-term rates, still holds some positions in Spain and Italy. The credit market has now reduced many of its spreads, but there is still potential there. Aviva Investors therefore remains positive about the banking sector. In light of continuing low interest rates, the manager is “reserved” about money markets.
04/04/2011

Two Allianz entities join BVI

The German financial management association BVI on 1 April announced that Allianz Global Investors Europe GmbH and Allianz Global Investors Europe Holding GmbH have joined the professional organisation. The two firms have their headquarters in Munich. Allianz Global Investors Europe GmbH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Allianz Global Investors Europe Holding GmbH, which is 100% owned by Allianz Global Investors AG. The association says in a statement that, counting these two new additions, it now has 85 members, including 65 investment firms, 13 management firms, and 7 holding companies, with overall assets under management of EUR1.8trn, largely in open or closed funds.
04/04/2011

Nestor-Fonds-Vertrieb adds to sales team

Katrin Altmann, who previously worked at ebase and DJE Kapital, has been recruited as senior sales manager at Nestor-Fonds-Vertrieb, the German affiliate of the Luxembourg-based Nestor Investment Management SA. From 1 April, she is head of wholesale distribution, IFAs, and distribution partners. Nestor has created the new position following a strong increase in its assets. Altmann will report to Tobias Pfab, head of distribution.
04/04/2011

Franklin Templeton planning to promote multi-asset class funds

Reinhard Berben, CEO of Franklin Templeton for Germany, has announced that the firm is planning to increase its presence in the diversified fund niche in Germany, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. In addition to the classic products in this category, such as the Global Fundamental Strategies Fund, the manager is also planning to boost sales of multi-asset class funds, such as profiled products of the Strategic Allocation range, overseen by Matthias Hoppe in Frankfurt.
04/04/2011

Commerzbank planning to pull out of KGAL

According to financial industry sources, Commerzbank and Sal. Oppenheim are planning to sell their stakes of 45% and 10%, respectively, in the Bavarian asset management firm KGAL (EUR25.2bn in assets), Handelsblatt reports.The shares may be bought by BayernLB, which owns 30% of capital, and the Hambourg savings bank (Haspa). However, as BayernLB is required by the European Union to reduce its balance sheet, it will not acquire a majority stake in KGAL, which it would then be required to completely consolidate.
04/04/2011

Assets up at LVAM

LV= (Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society) on 31 March announced that its profits totalled Gbp21.3m in 2010, compared with losses of GBP172.2m in 2009. In the past year, assets increased by 13%, to GBP8bn as of the end of December, up from GBP7.1bn.
04/04/2011

Andrew McCaffery rejoins Aberdeen

Andrew McCaffery, a founding member of Alignment Investors, a division of BlueCrest, is returning to Aberdeen Asset Management, a firm he left in 2008, as head of absolute return strategies. He will return as head of institutional hedge funds, and will belong to the fund of hedge fund management team (over GBP4bn in assets), alongside Graham Duce and Aidan Kearney, the British management firm announced on 31 March. McCaffery will report to Anne Richards, CIO and head of alternative investment strategies.
04/04/2011

Head of marketing at Ignis joins Ardevora

The head of marketing at Ignis Asset Management, Rob Page, is leaving the firm to join his former colleagues at Liontrust, Jeremy Lang and William Pattison, at Ardevora Asset Management. He will be a partner at the firm, which was launched in January 2010. James Senior, assistant head of marketing at Ignis, will replace Page.
04/04/2011

Sparkassen Immobilien makes an investment in Bratislava

The real estate fund management firm Sparkassen Immobilien, which is an affiliate of the German savings banks, on 31 March announced that it has made its third investment in the Galvaniho office complex under construction in Bratislava. The property, which will have a total of 23,700 square metres of area (offices, restaurants and shops) will have an overall cost of EUR45m.
04/04/2011

Le Portugal s'offre une petite bouffée d'air

Lisbonne a placé vendredi 1,645 milliard d’euros d’obligations à court terme mais a dû proposer un taux de 5,79%, soit 2,5 points de plus que lors des adjudications similaires l’an passé. Selon le marché, cette opération ne sera pas suffisante. Fitch a abaissé vendredi la note du Portugal de «A-» à «BBB-». L’agence craint que le pays ne reçoive pas un soutien extérieur en temps et en heure compte tenu des élections législatives fixées au 5 juin.
04/04/2011

L'EFSF «prêt» si le Portugal demande de l'aide

Le Fonds européen de stabilité financière (EFSF) est prêt à venir en aide au Portugal si celui-ci le demande, assure son président, Klaus Regling, dans un entretien accordé à La Tribune. Le Portugal, dont le Premier ministre a démissionné faute de pouvoir faire adopter au parlement un nouveau programme d’austérité, est considéré par les marchés comme le prochain pays susceptible de devoir faire appel à une aide financière extérieure, après la Grèce et l’Irlande.
04/04/2011

Athènes exclut une restructuration de la dette grecque

«Une restructuration de la dette grecque est absolument exclue», a déclaré le ministre grec des Finances, George Papaconstantinou, à Reuters, en réponse à un article de l’hebdomadaire Der Spiegel selon lequel le Fonds monétaire international pousserait pour une restructuration rapide de la dette d’Athènes. «Ceux (qui parlent de restructuration) ne parviennent pas à comprendre que les coûts excéderaient largement les bénéfices», a expliqué George Papaconstantinou.
04/04/2011

Le FMI active le fonds de crise

Le Fonds monétaire international a activé vendredi comme prévu un fonds de crise de 581 milliards de dollars avec le soutien des Etats membres. Ces nouveaux accords d’emprunt (NAE) avaient été développés en 2009 après un appel du G20. «Les montants disponibles pour le FMI via les mécanismes multilatéraux d’emprunt ont été multipliés au total par dix depuis 2009 (...)», a précisé le ministère français de l’Economie et des Finances.
04/04/2011

L'AMF alerte sur les émissions obligataires destinées au grand public

Le régulateur attire l’attention des investisseurs non professionnels sur les risques liés aux émissions obligataires de PME. L’AMF rappelle que la rémunération «qui peut sembler attractive» doit être rapprochée du risque de crédit, et invite à surveiller le risque de très faible liquidité de l’obligation.

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