Selon L’Agefi, des fonds alternatifs américains, dont Greenlight Capital et Tiger Global, ont déposé une plainte à l’encontre de Porsche, faisant état d’un milliard de dollars de pertes du fait d’un défaut d’information de la part du constructeur automobile à l’occasion de son rachat avorté de Volkswagen en 2008.

Le gestionnaire new-yorkais Van Eck Global a annoncé le 15 mars le lancement d’un nouvel ETF consacré aux actions colombiennes, Market Vectors Colombia ETF dont l’acronyme sur NYSE Arca est COLX. L’objectif est de répliquer avant commissions et frais la performance du Market Vectors Colombia Index (MVCOLXTR) développé par 4AssetManagement.Cet indice couvre non seulement des sociétés domiciliées et cotées en Colombie mais des entreprises étrangères qui tirent une majorité de leurs revenus ou qui détiennent une majorité de leurs actifs en Colombie. Au 10 mars, 74 % des sociétés dans l’indice étaient colombiennes. Parmi les 27 sociétés de l’indice, 51 % sont des grandes capitalisations, 36 % des moyennes et 13 % des eptites.Le fonds est chargé 0,75 %.

Comme nous l’annoncions le 8 mars, la société de gestion Calao Finance va lancer cette semaine un FCPI Art de Vivre, un fonds éligible à la réduction d’ISF 2011 investissant dans des PME évoluant sur six domaines d’activités porteurs : accessoires haut de gamme (HBJO*, maroquinerie, prêt-à-porter de luxe…), cosmétique (parfums, services, soins...), décoration & design (art de la table, mobilier...), gastronomie( œnologie, produits régionaux haut de gamme, services...), loisirs et sport ( équipement, infrastructure, textile technique...) et multimédia ( applications Smartphone, e-commerce, édition...). Les entreprises cibles ont comme caractéristiques communes un savoir-faire reconnu, une forte R&D et une dimension exportatrice, indique la société de gestion.Pour se préserver une marge de manœuvre, et faire face à des aléas sur plusieurs années tels que le refinancement éventuel des participations ou les sorties anticipées des souscripteurs l’allocation ne dépassera pas 80% de PME – autorisant une réduction d’ ISF limitée à 40%.(*) : Horlogerie, Bijouterie, Joaillerie, OrfèvrerieCaractéristiques Période de souscription : jusqu’ au 14/06/2011 Droits d’ entrée : 5% maximum Frais de gestion maximum : 3,95% TTC/ an durée de vie du fonds : 6 ans minimum (prorogeable 2 ans, sauf cas légaux).Valeur d’ origine des parts A : 100 € / Souscription minimale : 10 parts Valorisation : semestrielle Allocation : 80% dans des PME éligibles à la réduction d’ ISF et 20% dans une allocation OPCVM diversifiée avec UFG-LFP

Fabienne Pasquet vient de rejoindre UFG-LFP en tant que responsable des relations banques. Elle était précédemment chez Rothschild & Cie Gestion, où elle occupait le poste de sous-directeur, responsable de la distribution – banques privées.

Comme nous l’annoncions en juin 2010, Harewood Asset Management, créé en 2004 à l’initiative des équipes de dérivés actions de BNP Paribas CIB, a été fusionné avec l’équipe Sigma de BNP Paribas Asset Management. Appelé Theam, l’ensemble issu de ce rapprochement désormais effectif devient une filiale à 100 % de BNP Paribas Investment Partners, a annoncé mardi Philippe Marchessaux, administrateur directeur général de BNP Paribas IP, au cours d’une conférence de presse. Ses encours sous gestion se montent à près de 50 milliards d’euros avec les 44,3 milliards de Sigma et les 4,7 milliards de Harewood. Un montant que Philippe Marchessaux espère doubler au cours des cinq prochaines années, grâce notamment au développement de la clientèle Asie et Amérique du Nord. Les effectifs, quant à eux, ressortent à 120 personnes, tandis que la structure est dirigée par Gilles Guérin, arrivé le 1er juillet pour conduire la fusion en provenance de HDF Finance où il était vice-président du directoire. L’activité de Theam se structure autour de quatre spécialités, sachant que Sigma apporte son savoir-faire dans les gestions indicielle et garantie, l’allocation de risque et les stratégies de performance absolue, tandis que Harewood était spécialisé dans l’offre de fonds systématiques et la multigestion alternative. La plus importante en termes d’encours (25,1 milliards d’euros) est la gestion de fonds garantis et protégés. Vient ensuite l’activité ETF et gestion indicielle, comprenant notamment la gamme EasyETF, avec 15,9 milliards d’euros. Le troisième pôle est la gestion alternative, qui représente 5,4 milliards d’euros. Elle se fera en direct au travers des stratégies discrétionnaires quantitatives logées dans des fonds Ucits III ou bien en architecture ouverte via des fonds de multigestion alternative. Enfin, avec 2,4 milliards d’euros, Theam compte aussi un pilier gestion systématique active. S’agissant de l’offre, Gilles Guérin indique que les deux gammes étaient plutôt complémentaires et qu’il n’y aura sans doute qu’une seule fusion de fonds (sur la volatilité). Par ailleurs, quelques ETF qui n’étaient pas suffisamment flexibles ont été éliminés, mais de nouveaux seront créés. Le seul grand changement, hormis des lancements de fonds, sera selon lui l’adoption du nom Theam pour les fonds Harewood. Notons tout de même que les fonds Opportunity et Serenity de Fauchier Partners, qui ont été rouverts, ont été repris par Theam et que d’autres fonds pourraient être transférés. Si la société devient filiale à 100 % de BNP Paribas IP, quittant ainsi le giron de la banque d’investissement, Theam sera dotée d’un conseil de surveillance commun aux deux grands métiers. La société sera présidée par Dominique Hoenn. Et Gilles Guérin sera assisté de Denis Panel (CIO), responsable investissement et structuration, et d’Alexandre Mojaisky (COO), responsable des ventes et des fonctions supports. Philippe Marchessaux, qui présidera le conseil de surveillance, souligne par ailleurs que pour son développement commercial, Theam s’appuiera sur les forces de vente de BNP Paribas IP et celles de BNP Paribas CIB. D’ailleurs, ce projet commun à la gestion d’actifs et à la banque d’investissement ne sera sans doute pas le dernier. BNP Paribas CIB travaille également par ailleurs à un projet avec BNP Paribas Securities Services pour le clearing d’OTC.

La société de gestion Dorval Finance, a annoncé, mardi 15 mars, le renforcement de son équipe de gestion d’allocations d’actifs avec l’arrivée de Gustavo Horenstein en tant que gérant des fonds flexibles internationaux. En pratique, avec sa double compétence d’économiste et de gérant allocataire, il devient co-gérant des fonds flexibles Dorval Flexible Monde et Dorval Flexible Emergents et sera notamment en charge du pôle «allocation d’actifs» aux côtés de Sophie Chauvellier, précise un communiqué.Âgé de 37 ans, Gustavo Horenstein était auparavant analyste-gérant depuis 2006 au sein de la division gestion diversifiée et multigestion de Oddo Asset Management, société qu’il a intégré en 2000 en qualité d’économiste de Oddo Securities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 15 March, a spokesman for the Luxembourg Financial Sector Surveillance Commission (CSSF) declined to comment “concretely,” but confirmed a statement published earlier that day by the KBC group announcing that the planned sale of KBL European Private Bankers (KBL epb), active in ten European countries, for EUR1.35bn, to the Indian Hinduja group, “will not take place.”The Belgian firm states that the CSSF on 14 March confirmed “its decision not to pursue evaluation of acquisition of KBL epb by the Hinduja group,” as the regulator arrived “at the conclusion that its decision would be to oppose” the deal. KBC adds that “the CSSF drew this conclusion in light of the application of criteria set out in the financial sector law and after consultation with other competent authorities.” Assets at KBL epb (2,522 employees, 418 of whom are private bankers) as of the end of December totalled EUR47bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the next few years, the investment fund industry in Luxembourg will confront “a veritable regulatory tsunami,” says Marc Saluzzi, head of asset management at PwC, in an interview at the Alfi Spring Conference, held on March 15 and 16 by the Luxembourg Investment Fund Association, in the capital city of the country.The specialist claims that the new regulations, such as the Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) directive, will have a particularly major impact on the hedge fund industry, “which has virtually no regulation,” he says. Saluzzi estimates that the new regulatory basis will offer Luxembourg, which already has a number of competitive advantages due to the UCITS standard, a chance to make a new start and to become a major global centre for hedge funds.”To make itself a point of reference for hedge fund managers, the Luxembourg market will have to make an effort to pursue a clear strategy “common to all the actors in the industry,” says Saluzzi. To get there, Saluzzi proposes putting institutional investors “at the core of the strategy to conquer” the market for Luxembourg. “These investors represent 50% of alternative assets worldwide.”The objective should be to “become the place of domicile of choice for institutional investors.” Saluzzi insists that the country needs to offer an effective “toolbox” for AIFM funds and to attract the best actors in the financial services industry to Luxembourg. It will also need to work to achieve the creation of a global brand for Luxembourg hedge funds, as it has for UCITS funds. Lastly, Luxembourg should aim to become the global distribution platform for hedge funds.Currently, only 4% of alternative assets are domiciled in Luxembourg, according to statistics from PriceWaterhouseCooper as of the end of 2009. There is thus some distance to go to make Luxembourg “the” market of reference in this area.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Financial Sector Surveillance Commission (CSSF) on Tuesday, 15 March, announced that global net assets in collective investment organisms and specialised investment funds as of 31 January 2011 totalled EUR2.184027trn, compared with EUR2.188994trn as of 31 December 2010. This reduction of 0.68% in one month represents a decline of EUR14.967bn, bringing the increase in the volume of net assets in the past twelve months to 17.38%. In detail, the decline is due to unfavourable market effects totalling EUR29.179bn (-1.33%), while net inflows totalled EUR14.212bn (+0.65%). For bond funds, the scenario was considerably different. OPC funds invested in bonds denominated in euros had market effects of +0.47%, and outflows of 1.74%, while OPCs invested in bonds denominated in US dollars posted losses of 2.03% and 0.70%, respectively.

Le ministère des finances norvégien a annoncé le 15 mars que le fonds de pension public norvégien s'était désengagé du groupe chinois Shanghai Industrial Holdings conformément à sa décision de ne plus investir dans les producteurs de tabac.Le fonds, qui pesait quelque 356 milliards d’euros à la fin du troisième trimestre 2010, va en revanche réintégrer l’américain L-3 Communications Holdings dans la liste des sociétés bénéficiant de ses investissements, car le groupe a cessé de produire des composants de bombes à sous-munitions. Shanghai Industrial Holdings a été exclu de l’univers d’investissement du fonds en raison de son contrôle à 100% du producteur de tabac Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company, a précisé le ministère des finances dans un communiqué. Début 2010, la Norvège avait annoncé que son fonds souverain allait se désengager des producteurs de tabac, une décision qui avait concerné dans un premier temps 17 grands groupes dont c'était l’activité principale. Une cinquantaine de sociétés internationales, dont Boeing, Wal-Mart, EADS, Safran et BAE Systems, figurent sur la liste noire du fonds souverain norvégien.

Dans le cadre de son recentrage sur la performance des portefeuilles actions et obligataires, Alliance Trust Plc a annoncé qu’elle va cesser progressivement sur les prochains mois son activité dans le domaine du private equity.Alliance Trust Equity Partners emploie six personnes et gère 110 millions de livres, soit 3,8 % des encours totaux du groupe à fin février.

Désormais, les fonds obligataires indiciels Overseas Government Bond Tracker (190 millions de livres d’actifs sous gestion) et BlackRock Overseas Corporate Bond Tracker (160 millions) de BlackRock qui répliquent respectivement les indices JP Morgan Global Government Bond Index ex UK index et Barclays Capital Global Aggregate Corporate ex UK index ont été ajoutés à la gamme de 12 fonds retail britanniques BlackRock Collective Investment Fund, suite à une demande importante des investisseurs. La commission de gestion se limite à 0,52 % pour chacun de ces produits.Ces deux fonds investissent physiquement dans les valeurs de l’indice mais peuvent également placer une partie du portefeuille en instruments monétaires ou dans d’autres fonds. Les gérants peuvent également utiliser des dérivés et des transactions à terme pour gérer plus efficacement le portefeuille.

Le fournisseur de données et d’indices FTSE a indiqué qu’il avait remporté trois nouveaux mandats représentant un montant total de 3,3 milliards de dollars auprès de deux des plus importants fonds de pension de Taiwan, rapporte Asian Investor.Le Public Services Pension Fund a ainsi jeté son dévolu sur l’indice FTSE All-World comme référence pour son mandat de 600 millions de dollars sur les actions des pays développés. Par ailleurs, le Labour Pension Fund, qui utilise déjà l’indice FTSE All-World, a renforcé son partenariat en choisissant deux nouveaux indices de référence, l’indice FTSE RAFI All-World 3000 pour un mandat de 1,8 milliard de dollars, et l’indice FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate pour 900 millions de dollars.

KBC Goldstate, la société de gestion chinoise détenue à 51% par Goldstate Securities et 49% par KBC, vient de recruter Zhang Jiabin en tant que general manager en remplacement de Yi Qiang qui a quitté la société le 24 février dernier à la suite de contre-performances à répétition, rapporte Asian Investor. L’an dernier, les actifs sous gestion de la joint venture ont ainsi chuté de 60% à 197 millions de dollars.Zhang Jiabin, qui a pris ses fonctions le 1er mars dernier, travaillait précédemment chez Minsheng Royal FMC qui depuis mars 2009 a lancé six mutual funds (trois fonds actions, deux fixed income et un diversifié) et dont les actifs sous gestion s'élevaient au 11 mars à environ 3,7 milliards de RMB, soit quelque 563 millions de dollars.

Responsable du service d’analyse des fonds externes et des produits alternatifs chez Banco Banif ces quatre dernières années, José María Martínez-Sanjuán a été nommé à la tête des six analystes du service de sélection de fonds tiers de Santander Asset Management. Banif est la banque privée du Santander. Cette nomination doit permettre à Santander AM de standardiser à l'échelon de tout le groupe les règles de sélection de gestionnaires et de fonds tiers.

La publication de ratios de solvabilité des caisses d'épargne espagnoles la semaine dernière par la Banque d’Espagne n’a pas arrangé les choses : à présent les fonds-vautour exigent des ristournes allant jusqu'à 70 % ou 0,3 fois la valeur comptable, pour entrer au capital, rapporte Cotizalia. Les investisseurs appelés à l’aide pour recapitaliser les caisses sont notamment Apollo, Blackstone, Cerberus, J.C. Flowers et Paulson.Les exigences de ces investisseurs sont presque inacceptables : ils ont notamment indiqué à la Banque centrale qu’ils estiment le foncier à zéro.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } James K. “Kim” Miller, who has 20 years’ seniority in portfolio management focused on capital preservation at Fidelity Investments, has been handed the management of the new Fidelity Conservative Income Bond Fund, which as its name indicates is a bond fund investing primarily (at least 80%) in money market instruments as well as high-quality debt and investments, with short durations. The benchmark index is the Barclays Capital 3-6 Month U.S. Treasury Bills Index, and the average duration to maturity for the portfolio under normal conditions will be 9 months or less. The product is available in two share classes, one for retail investors (FCONX), and one for institutional investors (FCNVX). Miller says that the ageing demographic of the population in the United States and the recent volatility of equities and bond markets have increased investors’ demand for investment products with shorter durations to maturity, which enable them to better manage their portfolios. The Fidelity Conservative Income Bond Fund is aimed at relatively conservative clients, focused on income in the 6-month to one-year time frame, who are looking for exposure to high-quality debt assets and who are prepared to accept some fluctuation in net asset value, the manager says. From 2003 to 2011, he managed the VIP Money Market Portfolio and the Fidelity Institutional Money Market Portfolio, alongside the managed Fidelity Institutional Prime Money Market Portfolio (2004-2010).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The New York-based management firm Van Eck Global on 15 March announced the launch of a new ETF dedicated to Colombian equities, Market Vectors Colombia ETF, whose acronym on NYSE Arca is COLX. The objective is to replicate the performance, before commissions and fees, of the Market Vectors Colombia Index (MVCOLXTR), developed by 4AssetManagement. The index includes not only companies domiciled and listed in Colombia, but also foreign companies which earn a majority of their revenues or own a majority of their assets in Colombia. As of 10 March, 74% of businesses in the index were Colombian. Among the 27 companies of the index, 51% are large caps, 36% are midcaps, and 13% are small caps. The fund charges 0.75%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of December, assets in ETFs in Europe total EUR228bn, which represents an increase of EUR56bn in one year, half of which comes from net subscriptions, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) reports in a study (see pdf below). Equities ETFs continue to dominate the market, with 70% of assets.In 2010, subscribers concentrated on emerging markets equities, commodities, US, German and Japanese equities, as well as European government bonds, and ETFs which provide exposure to variations on the VIX. However, euro zone equities saw net outflows of EUR1.1bn, and money market ETFs in euros saw net redemoptions of over EUR1.5bn.The products which attracted the largest inflows were the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF and the db x-trackers MSCI emerging market TRN ETF, with net subscriptions of EUR2.01bn and EUR1.28bn, respectively. The iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN attrracted over EUR1.6bn. For products based on the Dax, the iShares and db x-trackers products attracted EUR1.12bn and EUR800m, respectively. This tends to prove that investors prefer physical replication products, such as the iShares product, to synthetic replication products like the db x-trackers fund, SSgA says.For 2011, specialists at SSgA predict continued internationalisation of portfolios, with an increase in the proportion invested in uncorrelated asset classes such as equities and emerging markets bonds. In addition, as investors are frustrated with the low returns on bonds, this year may bring an increase in subscriptions to ETFs which focus on high dividend equities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 15 March, the SEC filed charges against Eugenio Verzili and Arturo Rodroguez, the founders of the hedge fund management firm Juno Mother Earth Asset Management LLC, which it accuses of diverting about USD1.8m in assets from a fund managed by the firm, the Wall Street Journal reports. The two men are also accused of artificially inflating their assets and making false declarations to the regulator, including a claim that they had USD200m in assets under management.The money funnelled form the fund is said to have been used to cover Juno’s operating expenses.The financial authorities in the Cayman Islands and Liechtenstein cooperated with the SEC in the investigation.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Norwegian finance minister on 15 March announced that the Norwegian public pension fund has divested from the Chinese group Shanghai Industrial Holdings, due to its decision to no longer invest in tobacco producers. The fund, which had about EUR356bn in assets as of third quarter 2010, will return the American firm L-3 Communications Holdings to the list of companies in which the fund may invest, as the group has ceased to produce components for land mines. Shanghai Industrial Holdings has been excluded from the investment universe of the fund due to its 100% control of the tobacco producer Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company, the finance minister says in a statement. In early 2010, Norway announced that its sovereign fund would be disengaging from tobacco producers, a decision which initially affected 17 major groups for whom this was their main activity. 50 multinational companies, including Boeing, Wal-Mart, EADS, Safran and BAE Systems, are on the Norwegian sovereign fund’s black list.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Regulators in the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom have launched an investigation to determine whether major banks have conspired to “manipulate” the Libor, the index used to calculate the cost of billions of dollars in debt, the Financial Times reports. The investigation is focusing on a sample of 16 banks which help to British bankers’ association to determine the index. UBS revealed the existence of the investigation in its annual report, the FT states.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Financial Services Authority (FSA) on Tuesday, 15 March sentenced the currency trading firm ActivTrades Plc to pay a fine of GBP85,750, for failing to protect client assets.As client assets need to be separated from the business with “trust status,” in order to protect the capital of savings investors, the FSA found that between 14 April 2009 and 2 September 2010, ActivTrust did not ensure that the amounts in client funds, ranging from GBP3.4m to GBP23.6m, and averaging GBP12.2m, were properly isolated in case the firm were to go bankrupt.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British-registered fund (OEIC) Global Listed Infrastructure from First State Investments, launched on 31 October 2007, has returned 21.1% per year since its launch (retail A shares, before taxes), compared with 1.7% for the benchmark index, which until 1 June 2008 was the S&P Global Infrastructure Index, and since then has been the UBS Global Infrastructure & Utilities 50-50 Index. “In 40 months of existence, we have seen net redemptions in only two months,” Andrew Greenup, co-manager of the fund with Peter Meany, tells Newsmanagers.The product, whose assets totalled GBP210m as of the end of January, invests in 40 purely infrastructure businesses worldwide (including 7 French businesses which account for 12% of the portfolio), in all cap sizes, with 60% midcaps (from USD2bn to USD10bn), and 30% large caps. Only 4% are emerging markets equities (with a limit of 20%), and the turnover rate for the portfolio is low, “between 30% and 35%.”“These are not glamorous companies. They operate installations, their stable revenues offer good visibility, and they provide good insurance against inflation. In addition, they benefit from structural growth. And we pick good companies which are unjustly underpriced,” says Greenup.The infrastructure equities team at First State, which has seven members, “picks only the companies out of the 135 that it monitors which are likely to outperform the infrastructure asset class, for which returns are 12%, with dividends reinvested,” the manager says.The shares are analysed on the basis of their current cash flows (DCF) compared with the beta for the asset class and the category of similar shares, as well as on the basis of 25 qualitative criteria, including the three variables known as environmental, social and governance (ESG), which are important from a reputational risk point of view.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The financial information specialist firm GFM on 15 March announced that it has launched a new data service to which access will be free of charge. Globalfunddata includes profiles of over 34,000 funds, hedge funds, ETFs and long-only funds which submit their results to Morningstar. Users will have several possible ways to search for funds, e.g. by name, domicile, and legal format. In the next few months, GFM is planning to improve the service, with the addition of graphs and portfolio tools.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the wake of the recent explosion in oil prices, investors are showing some concern about the profitability of businesses and continued global growth, according to the latest survey by BofA Merrill Lynch, undertaken between 4 and 10 March, of a sample of 203 managers with slightly over USD600bn in assets under management.Only a net 32% of investors predict that corporate profits will increase, compared with 51% last month. 31% expect that the consensus on profits is too high. Though in January 10% predicted that margins would progress, now 24% of investors predict that margins will fall in the next twelve months.This low level of confidence also extends to macroeconomic outlooks. Only 31% of allocators predict that growth will accelerate in the next twelve months, compared with 51% last month. In the United States, the decline is even more marked, to 21% compared with 52% the previous month.The prospect of stagflation has risen again. In the space of two months, the proportion of managers who predict that growth will be below the trend and that inflation will be higher than the trend has doubled to 38%. Investors no longer believe that interest rates will be increased in the near future due to the rise in oil prices. Three quarters of respondents predict that rates will be raised in the next twelve months. But at the same time, the rate curve may flatten out, 35% of managers predict, compared with 14% in February. In Europe, no less than 72% of managers estimate that the ECB will raise its rates before July. In February, nobody predicted that this would be the case.However, the period of stagflation may be short if the price of oil falls back again. “There has not been a massive selloff. Investors are adopting a wait-and-see attitude,” says Bary Baker, head of European equities strategy at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research.In this context, investors have increased their liquidity allocations: 18% say they are overweight in cash, while 3% of them were underweight the previous month. They have also reduced their allocation to equities and commodities. Only 45% are overweight in equities, compared with 67% in February. But this has not resulted in a regain of interest in bonds, as investors remain underweight in this asset class (59%).The erosion of confidence in emerging markets is also beginning to diminish. Only 15% of managers of funds which invest in this region predict that the Chinese economy will slow down, compared with 27% in February. Fears for the Chinese real estate market are also less marked than previously.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Vigeo announced on 15 March that the Aspi Committee, which undertakes the quarterly revision of the Aspi Eurozone® index, decided at its most recent session to remove Deutsche Postbank from the index. Deutsche Postbank was removed from the Euro Stoxx index on 1 February. The Spanish firm Criteria Caixacorp has been added to the Aspi index.The Aspi index includes the 120 best-rated publicly-traded businesses in the euro zone on the basis of Vigeo ratings. Changes affecting the composition and weight of shares in the index will take effect from the opening of trading on Monday, 21 March, Vigeo states.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } M&G Investments has signed an agreement with Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking, by which its funds will be offered for sale by the private banking network of the Italian banking group. The M&G Investments product range includes 25 funds registered in Italy. Among these are the M&G Global Basics Fund, a global equities fund managed by Graham French on the basis of major trends that might impact businesses, and the M&G Optimal Income Fund, a flexible bond fund managed by Richard Woolnough.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The index-linked bond funds Overseas Government Bond Tracker (GBP190m) and BlackRock Overseas Corporate Bond Trackerf (GBP160m) from BlackRock, which replicate the JP Morgan Global Government Bond ex UK index and the Barclays Capital Global Aggregate Corporate ex UK index, have now been added to the range of 12 British retail funds known as BlackRock Collective Investment Funds, in response to significant demand from investors. Management commission is limited to 0.52% for each product. The two funds invest physically in assets from the indices, but may also place a part of their portfolios in money market instruments or other funds. The managers may also use derivatives and futures transactions to more effectively manage the portfolio.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As part of its move to refocus on the performance of equity and bond portfolios, Alliance Trust Plc has announced that over the next few months will gradually wind down its operations in the area of private equity.Alliance Trust Equity Partners has six employees, and manages GBP110m in assets, 3.8% of total assets at the group as of the end of February.