Vincent Strauss, président de la société de gestion Comgest basée à Paris, a annoncé, mardi 1er février, l’ouverture d’un bureau à Singapour la semaine prochaine confirmant ainsi une information de L’Agefi parue le 16 septembre dernier. Pour monter ce nouveau bureau, deux collaborateurs sont détachés de la filiale de Hong-Kong qui cogère avec Paris les fonds Asie hors Japon : il s’agit de Yoon Lai Choo et de Vincent Houghton, tous deux gérants analystes disposant de 17 ans d’expérience professionnelle dont respectivement onze ans et deux années passés chez Comgest. Par ailleurs, la société dispose actuellement de 13 milliards d’actifs sous gestion dont 25 % via des institutions, 23 % des fonds de pension, 18 % de la multigestion, 12 % des sociétés d’assurances et 6 % des fondations. De leur côté, les réseaux de distribution et autres canaux ne représentent que 6 % et 11 % respectivement. Tout en admettant qu’il est important de diversifier la nature des investisseurs pour éviter des mouvements d’ensemble, Vincent Strauss a confirmé que sa société ne compte pas créer de nouveaux fonds, ni se lancer dans de grandes campagnes marketing afin de séduire de nouvelles clientèles. «Nous avons recruté des spécialistes produits depuis deux ans seulement», a expliqué le président de Comgest et cela essentiellement afin de libérer du temps aux gérants». En revanche, il est clair que la société de gestion cherche à mettre en évidence ses compétences de gestion dans d’autres parties du monde que les marchés émergents globaux où elle s’est forgée une belle réputation. D’où le fait qu'à eux seuls, ces marchés pèsent 7,4 milliards d’euros sur les 13 milliards. Résultat, la gestion met l’accent sur ses fonds «globaux» comme Comgest Monde – sorte de fonds «best ideas " d’une trentaine de valeurs élaboré à partir des portefeuilles des autres fonds Comgest – ou de fonds investis sur l’Europe. Justement, lors de son exposé sur la stratégie d’investissement de la maison, Laurent Dobler, directeur général, a insisté sur une année 2011 qui pourrait être celle du retour des pays développés et des grands groupes, notamment européens, ayant accès à la croissance des pays émergents. «Les marges des entreprises dans les pays émergents sont de plus en plus sous pression», a–t-il justifié, «compte tenu de la hausse du prix des matières premières, et de la pression de ces grands groupes internationaux». Enfin, d’une façon globale, les stratèges de Comgest ont rappelé que 2011 devrait être aussi l’année de la reprise des investissements, " les entreprises n’ayant jamais disposé d’autant de liquidité depuis 1952". Et de noter des signes de reprise des investissements technologiques et industriels d’ores et déjà perceptibles et qui devraient se poursuivre au cours des prochains mois.

Sagard, sponsorisé par la famille canadienne Desmarais, 21 Centrale Partners, lié aux Benetton en Italie et allié à L Capital, et LBO France sont retenus pour déposer des offres au second tour concernant le rachat du voyagiste en ligne Karavel-Promovacances, rapporte les Echos.

Créée en 2005, la société de gestion indépendante BDL Capital Management a franchi en 2010 la barre des 100 millions d’euros d’encours - 106 millions d’euros exactement - contre 60 millions d’euros environ début 2010. Il s’agit d’une étape importante pour Thierry Dupont, co-fondateur de BDL avec Hughes Beuzelin, qui souligne que sa structure a également dépassé le niveau de ses encours d’avant la crise. Le gros des actifs – 94 millions d’euros - est investi dans le fonds BDL Rempart Europe. Ce produit de droit français, qui a obtenu le statut d’OPCVM conforme à la directive Ucits III en 2009, est un «long-short sur les actions européennes liquides de plus d’un milliard d’euros de capitalisation ou de chiffre d’affaires», rappelle Thierry Dupont. «La stratégie d’investissement mise en oeuvre depuis cinq ans consiste à investir dans des entreprises européennes dont il est vraiment difficile pour un concurrent de prendre la place», précise-t-il. Outre les associés de BDL, «qui ont investi une part significative de leur patrimoine dans les actifs gérés», les souscripteurs du fonds sont à la fois des clients privés et des institutionnels.L’autre fonds, BDL Convictions, un produit purement actions qui reprend les paris acheteurs du long/short, ne pèse pour l’instant que 12 millions d’euros. En 2011, Thierry Dupont espère continuer à faire croître les encours de ses deux fonds dans un contexte qu’il juge plus favorable aux actions européennes, après des souscriptions nettes de 40 millions d’euros en 2010. Pour appuyer ce développement, il pourrait recruter éventuellement un commercial pour couvrir l’univers des conseillers en gestion de patrimoine indépendants, sachant que la structure compte déjà deux «vendeurs» sur un total de 10 collaborateurs, dont six au service de la gestion.

OFI AM a annoncé, mardi 1er février, le lancement d’OFI MGA Latin America, un fonds de fonds alternatifs multistratégies investissant à la fois dans des fonds actions long/short, dans des fonds multistratégie et dans des fonds «global macro» gérés par des gestionnaires spécialisés sur l’Amérique latine. Destiné à la fois à une clientèle institutionnelle et aux investisseurs qualifiés, ce fonds annoncé par Newsmanagers le 15 juin 2010 a pour objectif de participer à l’essor et aux opportunités présentes dans la zone latino-américaine. La gestion du fonds est assurée par une équipe multi-culturelle qui sélectionne les gérants selon une approche bottom-up basée sur l’évaluation qualitative du potentiel d’un gérant, indique un communiqué.Le fonds laisse la possibilité aux investisseurs d’être investis soit sur une part en dollars, soit sur une part en euros couverte du risque de change. Il vise une performance absolue supérieure à 10 % pour une volatilité inférieure à 10 % sur un horizon de placement de 3 à 5 ans.Au 31 décembre 2010, l’encours du fonds s’élevait à 34 millions d’euros investis dans dix-neuf fonds sous-jacents.Caractéristiques :Codes Isin : Part EUR : FR0010912584 / Part USD : FR0010915231Droits d’entrée maximum : 1 % Frais de gestion maximum : 1,25 %Commission de performance : 15 % de la performance réalisée au-delà de 5 %Valorisation : Mensuelle, dernier jour de chaque moisSouscription : Mensuelle, préavis 3 jours ouvrésRachat : Mensuel, préavis 35 jours calendairesDevises : Euro et dollar

La mutuelle spécialisée en épargne, la Carac, a annoncé, mardi 1er février, la nomination de Robert Gravil au poste de directeur du patrimoine. L’intéressé sera en charge du pilotage de la politique financière, du renforcement de la gestion actif-passif, et de la gestion des risques, indique un communiqué. Depuis plus de 20 ans au sein de la Carac, Robert Gravil occupait jusqu'à présent le poste de gérant obligataire (80 % de l’actif de la Carac).

Selon Asian Investor, Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) vient de fermer au bout de cinq mois de levée de fonds le Baring Asia Private Equity Fund V à 2,46 milliard de dollars alors que l’objectif initial était de lever 1,75 milliard de dollars, rapporte Asian Investor. C’est le fonds de private equity le plus volumineux lancé en Asie depuis le début de la crise financière, et BPEA dispose désormais d’environ 5 milliards de dollars (le BPEA IV fermé en février 2008 affichait 1,52 milliard de dollars). Le nouveau véhicule rassemble plus de 30 nouveaux investisseurs institutionnels, avec 47 % des promesses d’investissement provenant d’Amérique du Nord, 28 % d’Asie et 25 % du Moyen-Orient ainsi que d’Europe.

Société Générale Private Banking vient de nommer Olivier Lecler en tant que directeur général de Société Générale Private Banking (Monaco) à compter du 1er février 2011. Il succède à Christian Zerry qui a décidé de faire valoir ses droits à la retraite. Précédemment, Olivier Lecler était directeur des opérations de Société Générale Global Investment Management & Services (GIMS), où il a notamment œuvré à la création et l’organisation d’Amundi. Il avait rejoint le groupe SGAM en 2006 où il a occupé plusieurs fonctions. A son nouveau poste, Olivier Lecler aura pour mission de poursuivre le développement de la banque privée depuis Monaco. Cette implantation qui conseille principalement une clientèle fortunée internationale propose des solutions sur-mesure, en s’appuyant sur les expertises du groupe Société Générale.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 1 February, DWS Investments announced the launch of a fund of high dividend equities in companies from emerging markets, managed by Jens Labusch, entitled DWS Dividende Emerging Markets Direkt 2015. In order to improve performance, the manager may sell options. The Luxembourg product, for which an annual distribution of EUR7 per share is guaranteed, will mature on 31 July 2015.It is the third fund in the Aktien-Direkt series. The first, DWS Dividende Direkt 2014, has EUR414m in assets under management, while the second, DWS Dividende Deutschland Direkt 2014, has assets of EUR275m.CharacteristicsName: DWS Dividende Emerging Markets Direkt 2015ISIN code: LU0418623780Front-end fee: 4%Management commission: 1.5%

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } 15 out of 71 in Germany, 13 out of 50 in France, 10 out of 58 in Italy: these are the number of competitors in the Feri rankings for these markets who finished with less than 50% of their funds ranked A or B in the category of management firms with less than 24 funds ranked.There is a common element in all of these markets: Carmignac Gestion, which finished first in France, with 80% in a tie with Lazard AM), and in Italy (with 77.78%), does well. In Germany, the French asset management firm is in second place, tied with JP Hambro IM, with 75%, after DJE (78.57%).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The rankings as of 31 December 2010 published by Feri EuroRating on 1 February make it mathematically clear that only nine asset management firms out of those with at least 25 funds rated in Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom got 50% or more of their funds into the top two categories, A or B.In fact, in these four markets there are only 12 management firms with a rate of 50% or more funds rated A or B, but Threadneedle is mentioned twice (in first place for the UK and for Italy), while Schroders is cited three times, (second in France and Italy, and third in the UK).In France, the top three are Rothschild & Cie Gestion (59.46% with 22 funds out of 37), followed by Schroder and State Street, neck and neck at 50% with 18 A or B-rated funds out of 36, and 16 out of 32.In Germany, the leader remains Union Investment, with 59.04% (49 funds out of 83), followed by LBB-Invest (52%). In the UK, M&G Investment takes second place with 55.17%, behind Threadneedle (66.67%), and ahead of Schroder (53.42%) and BNY Mellon AM (51.61%).The top spot in Italy goes to Threadneedle (56.10%), followed by Schroder (52.94%) and BlackRock (51.02%).French asset management firms get widely varying rankings outside France. Axa IM places 12th out of 17 in Italy (23.81%), 18th out of 34 in the United Kingdom (30.77%), and 32nd out of 36 in Germany (17.65%).BNP Paribas IP is 8th in Italy (31.03%), 25th in the UK (24.59%), and 30th in Germany (20.91%).Lastly, Amundi ranks 15th in Italy (12.82%), 33rd in the UK (13.33%), and 31st in Germany (20%).

BNY Mellon Asset Management has announced the launch of the BNY Mellon Absolute Return Equity Fund, the first fund in its range to be managed by Insight Investment Management, an asset manager it acquired in 2009. The fund will be a sub-fund of the Dublin-domiciled, UCITS III authorised, BNY Mellon Global Funds, plc range.Launching on Monday 31 January 2011, the Fund will be managed by Insight Investment’s specialist equity team, who have established a five year track record of generating positive returns in the Absolute Insight UK Equity Market Neutral strategy.The new fund will aim to deliver positive absolute returns in all market conditions, over a 12 month period, investing in both long and short positions in the pan-European market by employing a paired trade approach.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Count of Custoza Family Office is holding a press conference in Paris on Friday to announce its Classic Car Fund, a Liechtenstein-registered fund which will invest in vintage cars, Fondsprofessionell reports. The product, managed by Filippo Pignatti, will soon be offered for trading in Germany. The investment team will include experts from Sotheby’s and Christie’s as well as collectors who have themselves worked in finance.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of December, assets in Spanish pension funds fell to less than EUR84.76bn, from EUR84.92bn twelve months previously, though they had increased 1% as of the end of September. The number of members increased 3% year on year to nearly 10.85 million accounts for about 8.5 million account-holders, the Inverco association of management firms reports.Assets were divided as of the end of 2010 with EUR52.55bn in individual schemes, EUR31.24bn in corporate schemes, and EUR971m in hybrid funds.The largest managers by asset volumes were BBVA, with EUR14.49bn (-1.7% for the year), Seguricaixa, with EUR13.73bn (+2.66%), Santander with EUR8.97bn (-2.5%), and Aviva, with EUR5.13bn (-1.8%).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In a statement, Citibank España announced that it has signed an agreement with the management firm Franklin Templeton, by which it engages to distribute the latter’s funds throughout all of its network of branches in Spain, Cinco Días reports. Citibank advisors have already begun to work with Franklin Templeton specialists to familiarise themselves with the very wide range of products.Franklin Templeton is the 14th management firm with with Citibank España has signed an agreement of this kind.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Santander Asset Management España has recruited Nathalie González Vierecker as part of its sales team as head of relations with Banif, the private banking affiliate of Santander, Funds People reports. Vierecker will be in charge of coordinating commercial relations between the two entities, with a particular emphasis on development and monitoring of new products as well as training and sales support activities at Banif.For the past few years, González has worked at Inversis Banco in development of international operations and commercial relations with asset management firms.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Michael Radin, head of pension & portfolio solutions and global head of the quantitative strategies product specialist team in the asset management division of Deutsche Bank, has been recruited by Schroder Invesment Management North America as head of multi-asset solutions for the Amerricas.Radin will be based in New York, and will report functionally to John McLaughlin, global head of multi-asset solutions, and locally to Jamie Dorrian-Smith, CEO, Americas.Radin will collaborate closely with sales teams and consultants to develop the multi-asset class activity and provide assistance to existing clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For the fiscal year to 31 December, Oppenheimer Holdings has reported a net profit of USD38.3m, or Usd2.87 per share, compared with USD19.5m and USD14.9 per share in 2009.As of 31 December, assets under administration totalled about USD73.2bn, while assets under managemnet totalled USD18.8bn, compared with USD66bn and USD16.4bn one year previously.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The independent French asset management firm BDL Capital Management, founded in 2005, topped EUR100m in assets in 2010, with EUR106m, up from EUR60m in the early part of 2010. This is a major step for Thierry Dupont, co-founder of BDL with Hughes Beuzelin, who says that the structure has also returned to its pre-crisis asset levels. Most of these assets – EUR94m – are invested in the BDL Rempart Europe fund. The French-registered product, which received a UCITS III-compliant OPCVM status in 2009, is “a long-short fund of the most liquid European equities with over EUR1bn in cap size or earnings,” says Dupont.

Vincent Strauss, chairman of the asset management firm Comgest, based in Paris, on Tuesday, 1 February confirmed the opening of a new office in Singapore next week, confirming reports that appeared in Agefi on 16 September last year. For the new office, two employees have been moved from the Hong Kong affiliate, who co-manage the Asia ex-Japan funds with Paris: Yoon Lai Choo and Vincent Houghton, both of them analyst managers with 17 years of professional experience, who have spent 11 years and 2 years, respectively, at Comgest.The firm currently has EUR13bn in assets under management, 25% of which is from institutions, 23% from pension funds, 18% from multi-management, 12% from insurers, and 6% from foundations. Distribution networks and other channels, for their part, represent only 6% and 11%, respectively. While admitting that it is important to diversify in terms of the type of investment client in order to avoid being affected by overall movements, Strauss confirmed that his firm is not planning to launch new funds, nor to turn to major marketing firms in order to win over new clients. “We have been hiring product specialists for only two years,” the president of Comgest explains, “and that’s largely only to free up time for the manager.”However, it is clear that the management firm is planning to make a show of its management abilities in other areas of the world besides global emerging markets, where it has forged a fine reputation for itself. Hence the fact that these markets alone account for EUR7.4bn of the total EUR13bn under management. As a result, management is emphasizing global funds such as Comgest Monde, a sort of best ideas fund with 30 positions selected from portfolios of other Comgest funds, and funds which invest in Europe.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jean-Michel Mépuis has been appointed as director of sustainable development for the Société Générale group from 1 March 2011. “He will aim to lead and amplify the social and environmental responsibility policies at the Société Générale group,” says a statement from the bank released on 1 February. Mépuis was previously head of strategy and development at Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Pershing (BNY Mellon group) has acquired a minority stake in HedgeMark International for an undisclosed amount, and has retained the option to subsequently acquire the entirety of the firm.HedgeMark operates a fully integrated hedge fund managed account platform, from due diligence through to a compliance surveillance search engine, portfolio construction, backtesting, risk monitoring and stress test analysis. This allows investors to analyse and monitor a diversified portfolio of alternative investments while integrating and aggregating traditional and alternative risk data.

In 2010, total compensation and benefits at publicly traded Wall Street banks and securities firms hit a record of USD135 billion, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal. The total is up 5.7% from USD128 billion in 2009. The increase was driven by a revenue rebound.

BlackRock has awarded Larry Fink, its founder and chief executive, USD13m in restricted stock and options, the Financial Times writes. The stock award, which forms part of Larry Fink’s bonus for 2010, consists of 46,031 restricted shares and 18,712 options vesting over three years, more than double the USD6m worth of restricted stock he received in 2009.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 1 February, Allianz Global Investors Investments Europe (EUR118bn in assets as of 30 September 2010), the European investment platform for Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI), announced that at the end of 2010, it signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI). The move follows a similar step at Allianz Global Investors France S.A, in 2007.AllianzGI Investments Europe has a dedicated SRI team composed of 10 managers and analysts. Nearly EUR10bn in assets assets under management and advisory are in SRI strategies.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The international investment advising agency bfinance on 1 February published the results of the fifth edition of its half-yearly survey of asset allocation by pension funds and insurance companies, which includes 50 institutional investors in Europe and North America, representing total assets under management of EUR149bn.In the short and mid-term, institutional investors are planning to reduce the proportion of their portfolios dedicated to traditional assets (equities and bonds) in favour of alternative asset classes, particularly real estate, infrastructure and private equity. This trend is similar to what was observed in June 2010, by the previous edition of the survey.However, contrary to expectations, international pension funds became negative on bonds between June and December 2010, due to tensions that developed for European government debt. The survey shows a total of 12% of respondents who reduced their allocation to bonds in second half 2010.This trend away from bonds is expected to continue in first half 2011 (with a total of 27% of respondents planning to reduce their allocations to bonds). However, it is less marked on a horizon of three years (total 6%).For equities, the trend is still significantly negative on a three-year horizon (a total of 14% planning to reducer investment). This suggests that the recent rise in interest in this asset class may be short-lived.A desire to diversify portfolios, which is highly marked on the six-month and three-year horizons, will largely benefit real estate and other alternative asset classes. Infrastructure and private equity have the strongest number of investors planning to increase exposure (14% and 10% on six month and three year horizons, respectively).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that Allianz Global Investors will outsource its middle office as part of a move to establish a common back-office platform for RCM, the Allianz group’s institutional asset-management arm. The plans, which will also affect activities in the Asia-Pacific region, are in the process of being finalised. AllianzGI has not disclosed the identity of its service provider.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } OFI AM announced on Tuesday, 1 February that it has launched the OFI MGA Latin America, a multi-strategy fund of hedge funds which invests in long/short equities funds, multi-strategy funds and in global macro funds managed by asset management firms specialised in Latin America. The fund, which is aimed at institutional and qualified private clients, and which was announced by Newsmanagers on 15 June 2010, will aim to participate in growth and in opportunities that present themselves in the Latin American region. The management of the fund will be undertaken by a multicultural team which will select managers with a bottom-up approach based on qualitative evaluation of the potential of a manager, a statement says. The fund will allow investors to be invested either in shares in US dollars, or in shares in euros hedge for currency risks. It aims for absolute returns of over 10%, with volatility of less than 10% on an investment horizon of 3 to 5 years. As of 31 December 2010, assets in the fund totalled EUR34m invested in 19 underlying funds. Characteristics ISIN codes: EUR shares: FR0010912584 / USD shares: FR0010915231Maximum front-end fee: 1 % Maximum management commission: 1.25%Performance commission: 15% on perfofmance exceeding 5% Valuation: Monthly, on the last day of each month Subscription: monthly, with advance notice of three working days Redemption: Monthly, with notice of 35 calendar days Currencies: euro and dollar

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In light of events in Egypt, which have provoked the closure of the Cairo stock exchange until further notice, the US firm Van Eck Global on 31 January decided to exercise its right to suspend issue of new shares in the Market Vectors Egypt ETF (acronym: EGPT).However, redemption orders will continue to be honoured, as stated in the prospectus.The fund will recommence its normal activities once the Egyptian stock exchange reopens.

Quinze sociétés de gestion sur 71 en Allemagne, treize sur 50 en France, dix sur 58 en Italie : tels sont les résultats des palmarès Feri qui recensent les établissements disposant de 50 % de fonds notés A et B dans la catégorie des maisons ayant jusqu'à 24 produits notés. A noter un point commun aux trois marchés européens cités : le classement de Carmignac Gestion. La société de la Place Vendôme termine en tête en France, avec 80 % de fonds élus (ex-aequo avec Lazard AM), en Italie, avec 77,78 %, et en deuxieme position en Allemagne où le gestionnaire français s’affiche ex-aequo avec JO Hambro IM, (avec 75 %). Un carton presque plein, le «lauréat» outre-Rhin étant DJE (78,57 %).

BNY Mellon Asset Management vient de lancer le BNY Mellon Absolute Return Equity Fund, le premier fonds de sa gamme géré par Insight Investment Management, la société de gestion britannique qu’il a rachetée à Lloyds en 2009. Ce sera un compartiment de BNY Mellon Global Funds, Sicav Ucits III domiciliée à Dublin.Le nouveau fonds aura pour objectif de dégager un rendement absolu positif quelles que soient les conditions de marché sur une période de 12 mois, via des positions acheteuses et vendeuses, sur le marché paneuropéen, en employant une approche de «paires». Le nouveau fonds sera géré par l’équipe actions d’Insight, qui gère notamment la stratégie Absolute Insight UK Equity Market Neutral.