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02/03/2011

Strong increase in profits at Fortress

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of 31 December, assets at Fortress Investment Group totalled USD44.6bn, 42% higher than one year previously, and its pre-tax distributable earnings for the year 2010 totalled USD372m, compared with USD172m. GAAP net income, excluding principals agreement compensation came to USD170m, compared with USD43m in 2009, while GAAP net loss attributable to Class A shareholders increased to USD285m from USD255m.Fortress states that it has raised new third-party capital totalling USD5.3bn, of which USD2.6bn were included in the books as of the end of December. The remaining USD2.7bn are commitments which have not yet been called in.Lastly, the asset management firm states that of this freshly-raised USD5.3bn, USD3.1bn will go to credit private equity funds, USD447m to credit hedge funds, and USD1.7bn to liquid hedge funds.
02/03/2011

Sparinvest takes over asset management activities of Atrium Partners

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Danish asset management firm Sparinvest announced on 1 March that it has acquired Atrium Asset Management, the portfolio management affiliate of Atrium Partners, for an undisclosed amount. The firm manages two European small caps funds with total assets of EUR55m, entitled Atrium Value Partners SICAV - European Small Cap (domiciled in Luxembourg) and Atrium Value Partners – Europa Small Cap (domiciled in Denmark).The two managers of Atrium Asset Management, Karsten Løngaard and Lisbeth Søgaard Nielsen, will join the value equities team at Sparinvest, led by Jens Moestrup Rasmussen, which currently manages EUR3.4bn.
02/03/2011

State Street extends its cooperation with Britain's PPF

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } State Street on 28 February announced that it has been reappointed for a five-year mandate by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), from 1 January 2011. The mandate, on assets of GBP5bn, has covered the provision of custody and administration services since 2005. In 2008, the mandate was extended to include risk analysis and independent valuation of OTC derivatives. The PPF has added securities lending services within the renewed mandate.
02/03/2011

Ed Rosengarten joins Eden Group

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The former head of equities at M&G. Ed Rosengarden, has joined Eden Group as head of asset management, Investment Week reports. In his new role, Rosengarten will be in charge of developing the client base and creating new products.
02/03/2011

FSA publishes first report on consumer protection

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As a part of its strategy to protect consumers and prepare for the application of the new regulations arising from the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), the British FSA has published its first study of the risks related to the conduct of businesses in regard to consumers, the Retail Conduct Risk Outlook (RCRO), which, along with the forthcoming Prudential Risk Outlook, will replace the former Financial Risk Outlook. The report draws particular attention to distributor influenced funds (DIF), structured funds such as open-ended investment companies (OEIC), in which the distributor, generally an advising firm, has some control over the architecture or the management of the fund. The FSA states that there are at least 40 firms which offer DIF products to their clients. Assets under management in these funds total about GBP2bn. The control exercised by advising firms on these funds, though partial, presents a number of risks, among them the risk of conflicts of interest, as the advising firms distributing DIF products often have a direct financial interest in the products, to which they are meant to be providing consulting services. The report also points to the increasing popularity of complex investment products, including ETFs, “relatively new products” both for retail investors and for advising firms. In addition to counterparty and collateral risks, the FSA mentions conflicts of interest related to the structuring of ETFs and legal issues related to the domicile of underlyings. The marketing and promotion of complex ETFs does not always appropriately reflect the various risks related to these products, and the FSA says it has intensified its surveillance in this area and is prepared to intervene if necessary.
02/03/2011

Ignis AM launches an absolute return government bond fund

Ignis Asset Management is to launch the Ignis Absolute Return Government Bond Fund at the end of March. The fund will target net returns of 2% to 3% per annum in excess of cash2 by actively trading a portfolio of global government bonds and currencies.The fund will be managed by head of rates, Russ Oxley, and chief economist, Stuart Thomson, and will be the first retail proposition from Ignis’s rates team, which manages in excess of GBP28 billion on behalf of institutional investors.The fund, a Luxembourg-domiciled UCITS III SICAV, will invest primarily in government bonds, but will also take long and short positions in money market instruments and derivatives. Foreign currency exposure will be limited to 25%.
02/03/2011

IFAs see potential for fund sales

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A survey conducted in January by YouGov Psychonomics AG on behalf of Frankfurter Fondsbank (FFB, EUR16.6bn in assets under administration), an affiliate of Fidelity, covering 1,199 independent financial advisers (IFAs), finds that 66% of professionals see the most potential for sales of traditional investment funds to their clients until the end of this year. Other products are considerably less popular with IFAs: 47% favour Riester retirement savings products, 42% vote for current accounts, 30% for unit-linked life insurance, 28% for ETFs, and 22% for savings accounts. In terms of asset classes, IFAs clearly prefer equities, and recommend Asian equities (70%), followed by European equities (65%), while African equities are more popular even than American shares, at 27% and 18%.
02/03/2011

quirin bank turns a profit in 2010

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In its fourth fiscal year in 2010, quirin bank, founded by Karl Matthäus Schmidt, has posted its first profits, of EUR0.5m, compared with losses of EUR7.4m in 2009, and EUR12.9m in 2008. The first bank to operate exclusively on a fee basis now has 7,500 clients, and in 2010 posted net inflows of EUR553m. Assets as of the end of December totalled over EUR2bn, compared with about EUR1.6bn twelve months earlier.The number of employees at the bank was down to 227 at the end of 2010, from 236 at the end of 2009.The owners’ equity ratio stands at 10.3%, compared with 10.9%.
02/03/2011

comdirect offers a bounty on incoming transfers from rival banks

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Investors who transfer shares in investment funds from another bank or management firm to comdirect bank by 31 March will receive a 1% bonus on the amount transferred, up to a limit of EUR250. The bonus will not be applied to transfers from Commerzbank or ebase.The Commerzbank affiliate also announced on 1 March that clients opening a new share account will receive free account maintenance for three years. The offer will be extended if the shareholder makes at least two orders per quarter, uses the free comdirect current account, or makes payments to a securities savings plan.comdirect will also charge only 50% of the commission on orders for all German stock markets, excluding Eurex, and for all off-market transactions.Lastly, clients who buy or transfer fund shares totalling at least EUR5,000 in the three months after opening an account will receive a EUR50 bonus.
02/03/2011

VZ Holdings expands in Germany

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The financial services provider VZ Holding has opened a branch office in Düsseldorf, the firm announced on 1 March in a statement. The success of the VZ branches in Munich, Frankfurt and Nuremberg show that geographical proximity to the client is a major advantage in exploiting the potential of the market, the firm says. The new branch will be led by Michael Huber, director of VZ Frankfurt, and Oz Güven, a partner at VZ Munich.
02/03/2011

Europa Feldberg adds to its management team

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Frankfurt-based real estate fund management firm EuropaFeldberg, a 50/50 joint venture of Europa Capital and Feldberg Capital (EUR7bn in assets), on 1 March announced the recruitment of Stephan Schaal as investment director. He will be in charge firstly of the launch of the Core-Büroimmobilienfonds, which will be specialised in western Europe, soon to be launched by EuropaFeldberg. The management team now has five members.Schaal joins from Curzon/AEW, where he was director in London, after working at Henderson Global from 2005 to 2007.
02/03/2011

Deka invests in Bergheim

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The real estate fund management firm Deka Immobilien (German savings banks) on 1 March announced that it has acquired the TK Maxx logistical centre in Bergheim from an institutional investor for about EUR20m. The property, with 30,000 square metres of area near Cologne and the Dutch border, is primarily used by the discount retailer TK Maxx as a distribution and transloading centre. It will be added to the portfolio of an institutional real estate fund.
02/03/2011

New CEO for UBI Pramerica

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Andrea Pennacchia has been appointed CEO of UBI Pramerica SGR, the Italian management firm co-owned by UBI Banca and Prudential, from 1 March. He replaces Diego Cavrioli, who has left UBI Pramerica to take over as head of finance at UBI Banca. Since 2009, Pennacchia has been head of the Gruppo UBI Banca organisation.
02/03/2011

Aviva Investors is a shareholder in Azimut

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Since 24 February, Aviva Investors Global Services Limited has been controlling 2.01% of publicly-traded capital in the Italian management firm Azimut Holding spa, Bluerating reports, citing Consob.
02/03/2011

Threadneedle AM recruits in Hong Kong

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The management firm Threadneedle on 28 February announced the appointment of Albert Lee as a senior advisor. Lee, who will be based in Hong Kong, will be in charge of laying out the group’s strategy in Asia, in close collaboration with the president for Asia-Pacific, Raymondo Yu. Lee previously worked at Merrill Lynch Securities. He is currently also senior advisor to the wealth management department at Nomura International in Hong Kong.
02/03/2011

Assets under management up by over 14% at Cantonal Bank of Basel

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at the Cantonal Bank of Basel as of the end of 2010 totalled CHF33bn, compared with CHF28.9bn the previous year, the bank has announced in a statement. Net profits at the group totalled CHF254.3m, down 12.1% compared with the record results of the previous year, which were boosted by exceptional factors.
02/03/2011

GAM posts net inflow of CHF8bn in 2010

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For its first complete fiscal year, the Zurich-based asset management group GAM, which has been listed on the stock exchange since October 2009, posted an increase in its assets under management of 4%, to nearly CHF118bn, Agefi Switzerland reports. Net inflows totalled CHF8bn (CHF400m one year earlier) despite a downturn in second half. Net profits were up 35% to over CHF202m.
02/03/2011

Assets under management up 1.1% at BCGE

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management and administration at the Cantonal Bank of Geneva (BCGE) as of the end of 2010 totalled CHF18.2bn, largely due to the arrival of new clients, compared with CHF18.05bn one year earlier, the bank announced on 1 March. Net profits were down 21.2% to CHF56.4m, due to one-time charges (ongoing project to transfer IT infrastructure, for CHF10m, and provisioning for business risks and trade finance for EUR30m).
02/03/2011

Swiss Life doubles profits in 2010, partly due to AWD

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In 2010, net profits at Swiss Life more than doubled, from CHF277m to CHF560m. Swiss Life says in a statement published on 2 March that the Investment Management sector took in CHF4.6bn in net returns on owners’ equity for its insurance portfolio. This corresponds to a net return on investment of 4.1% (compared with 3.9% the previous year). With earnings up 34% compared with the previous year, the Investment Management sector contributed CHF103m to the group’s profits. The successful reorientation of AWD, whose earnings were up 4% last year to EUR547m, has had impressive results: an operating profit of EUR49m (compared with -EUR41m the previous year), and an increase in the margin on earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to 9% (from -8% the previous year).
02/03/2011

Ole Søeberg joins Skagen Funds

Ole Søeberg is joining Skagen Funds as a portfolio manager to further strengthen the global and Norwegian equity fund SkagenVekst. He will be responsible for analysing existing and potential investments alongside a team comprising 9 fund managers. Søeberg has extensive experience in both global and Danish capital markets. He joins Skagen from his position as managing director of the insurance company Tryg where he was responsible for investor relations since 2006. For the past four years Søeberg has been a member of the board of directors of Skagen AS. He has stepped down from the Board to assume his new position. Ole Søeberg will take up his new role at Skagen in the first half of 2011.
02/03/2011

A label for ethical funds at last?

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to L’Echo, the Belgian Socialist senator Philippe Mahoux has tabled a bill which would promote socially responsible investment (SRI). The ethical character of funds of this type has previously been subject to internal control by issuers. The bill would give the CBFA authority to issue a label, the newspaper states. Currently, 197 funds are billed as socially responsible investment products, according to statistics from the Belgian Asset Management Association. Their assets under management have quadrupled since 2004, to EUR7.66bn (according to statistics as of second quarter 2010).
02/03/2011

Sparinvest acquiert Atrium Asset Management

La société de gestion danoise a fait part du rachat de l’activité de gestion de portefeuille de la société de conseil financier Atrium Partners. Deux fonds (Atrium Value Partners SICAV - European Small Cap et Atrium Value Partners – Europa Small Cap), dont les encours sous gestion s’élèvent au total à 55 millions d’euros, intègrent ainsi le périmètre de Sparinvest.
02/03/2011

Les actionnaires de J. Crew donnent leur feu vert à TPG

Les actionnaires du distributeur ont approuvé en assemblée l’offre de rachat de 2,86 milliards de dollars lancée par TPG Capital et Leonard Green & Partners. La transaction, annoncée en novembre, devrait être close le ou autour du 7 mars. La société de conseil aux actionnaires ISS avait recommandé de rejeter la proposition en raison de «problèmes sérieux» dans le processus de vente.
02/03/2011

Le Canada gèle 2,4 milliards de dollars d'actifs libyens

Les autorités canadiennes ont gelé l'équivalent de 2,4 milliards de dollars d’actifs appartenant au dirigeant libyen Mouammar Kadhafi, a indiqué à l’agence Reuters un responsable officiel sans plus de précisions. Ces derniers jours, un certain nombre d’autres pays, comme les Etats-Unis, la Grande-Bretagne et l’Autriche, ont pris des mesures similaires à l’encontre de Kadhafi et de son entourage proche.
02/03/2011

Ralentissement de l’activité australienne

La croissance du PIB australien a atteint 0,7% au dernier trimestre 2010, soit 2,7% en rythme annuel, pénalisée par les inondations qui ont dévasté le pays. Ce chiffre est légèrement inférieur aux attentes, entrainant une légère baisse du dollar australien à 1,0132 dollar. La Banque centrale du pays a laissé mardi ses taux directeurs inchangés à 4,75%.
02/03/2011

La dette américaine sous tension

Le Trésor a repoussé la première date à laquelle il estime qu’il pourrait atteindre le plafond légal d’endettement, de 14.294 milliards de dollars, qui risque d'être atteint entre le 15 avril et le 31 mai et non plus entre le 5 avril et le 31 mai. Le Secrétaire au Trésor presse le Congrès de relever ce plafond faute de quoi, dit-il, le pays risquerait d'être en situation de défaut sur leur dette, ce qui aurait des conséquences économiques «catastrophiques».

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