p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The California pension fund CalPERS on 3 January announced that at the end of 2010 it transferred its real estate portfolio National Office Partners (NOP) from Hines to CommonWealth Partners. The portfolio, with nearly USD1bn in assets (USD998m), includes more than 5 million square metres of office space in all major US cities. Its transfer comes as part of a redeployment policy for CalPERS’ real estate investments. The Californian fund will continue to collaborate with Hines in the United States in sustainable real estate, and also in other countries via other partnerships, particularly in Latin America (Brazil).

The New York State Supreme Court has approved the first payment to investors in the Ariel Fund Limited, which was previously managed by J. Ezra Merkin and has been tied to Bernard Madoff’s investment vehicle, according to The Wall Street Journal.The cash distribution, totalling USD167 million, was paid by the end of 2010 to investors who suffered losses through the fund.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Les Echos reports that the largest bank in the United States, Bank of America, has paid USD2.62bn to the two public real estate mortgage organisms, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which accuses the bank of selling them high-risk debts via its affiliate Countrywide Financial. The settlement, which will require BofA to write down USD2bn on its books for fourth quarter, does not settle other, separate private suits.

Axa Real Estate targets EUR1 bn for its first dedicated real estate debt fund, the Financial Times says. The real estate manager has already raised EUR350m for the vehicle from a number of European insurance companies as well as its parent insurance group. Separately from the fund, the group has additional commitments of more than EUR1.15bn, taking the total war chest to invest in real estate debt to almost EUR1.5bn at present.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 23 December, BS Gestión launched the Spanish fund Global Value Selection (ES0142338005), a bond product with no benchmark index which was registered with the CNMV on 30 December. The fund may invest up to 100% in investment funds. Management commission is 0.9%, and performance commission is 9%. The fund is advised by GBS Finanzas Investcapital.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Once again in 2010, investment funds were sacrificed by Spanish banks and savings banks, which dedicated their sales efforts to capturing savings, to the detriment even of the management firms owned by them, in a phenomenon known as the “deposit war.”On Monday, Ahorro Corporación (savings banks) and the Inverco association of Spanish asset management firms both announced that assets last year fell 14.7% to EUR145.2bn, according to the former, and EUR138.64bn, according to the latter. This is relatively coherent with the decline of 15.35% to EUR144.54bn announced by VDOS Stochastics as of 24 December (see Newsmanagers of 3 January).Ahorro Corporación states that since 2007, when assets were at their highest level (EUR250bn), assets under management have fallen nearly 42%, while Inverco estimates that the contraction totals EUR115bn since the end of 2006.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Funds People reports that Renta 4 has launched the hedge fund SwingTrading KA’U Value, managed by KA’U Gestión de Activos, on the Spanish market. The fund charges fees of 1.5%, and a performance commission of 10%.The management team will aim for returns 1,000 basis points higher than the Euribor 12 month, with total volatility of 6% to 9%.The fund, specialised in equities, will invest in CFDs on 5 to 30 underlying shares from the Dax 30, Euro Stoxx 50, and/or Ibex 35 indices. It may also invest part of its assets in investment funds, particularly value style funds.Minimal subscription is set at EUR50,000.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the two years to the end of November, the number of Spanish funds fell to 2,473 from 2,941, a contraction of 15.91%, the CNMV reports.The process slowed down in 2010, however, with a decline of 4.6% in the first eleven months of the year, compared with 11.8% between the end of November 2008 and the end of December 2009.For the most part, rationalisation of product ranges involved mergers of similar products. The largest decline was 50.3% to 251 “global” funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 30 December, the CNMV granted a sales license for Spain to the British fund M&G European Inflation Linked Corporate Bond Fund (EUR A class, GB00B3VQKJ62; EUR C class, GB00B41DM324), a product focused on European inflation linked bonds. The product will be available from Allfunds Bank.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The investment bank arm of J.P. Morgan Chase has registered the absolute return convertible fund JP Morgan Mansart Investment CQS Convertible Alpha, which received a license from the Irish regulator nine months ago (see Newsmanagers of 2 April 2010), with the CNMV. The fund offers daily liquidity and complies with the UCITS III directive, and its assets total about EUR125m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi reports that, according to several documents relayed by Reuters, BNP Paribas Investment Partners has begun restructuring two funds of hedge funds based in Luxembourg, following “significant” redemption demands. While the “Opportunity” and “Serenity” funds are aimed at a recommended investment horizon of four years, and annual returns of Libor +6% and Libor +3% on a three-year horizon, respectively, as of the end of November they had lost 5.75% and 1.9% since the beginning of 2010. As Le Canard Enchaîné reported last week, BNP Paribas IP has decided to freeze the two funds, in a move which it claims is technical and administrative, and which the firm says has no connection to the redemption demands. The bank says the funds are still in a condition of adequate liquidity. In a message dated 8 December, BNP Paribas IP informed its clients that the two funds concerned are being transferred from Fauchier Partners, an affiliate controlled at 50%, to Harewood Asset Management, a firm which is wholly owned by BNP Paribas. The move is intended to “modify liquidity conditions” for the funds, the message says.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } With the assistance of the Luxembourg firm Axxion, the Nuremberg-based wealth management firm Catus on 22 November added to its Infinus range of profiled funds (Relaxed, Balanced and Dynamic, see Newsmanagers of 4 September 2009), with a sustainable development wealth management product, the Infinus – ecoConsort Fund.The product was granted a sales license for Germany by BaFin in late 2010. It is managed by Manfred Wiegel and Ernst Rudolf. The fund, with no benchmark index, may in case of need increase its exposure to cash to the detriment of equities. A risk budget defines the maximal tolerable loss in advance, though the goal is to generate stable returns over a longer period, and to avoid the usual high fluctuations of sustainable development funds, which may result from overly high specialisation.CharacteristicsName: Infinus – ecoConsort FundISIN code: LU0548331643currency of reference: euroFront-end fee: maximum 5%Management commission: up to 1.90%Minimal subscription: EUR500

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Hamburg-based management firm Hansainvest, an affiliate of the insurer Signal-Iduna, on 30 December 2010 launched the German-registered UCITS-compliant fund Hansawerte, which will specialise in precious metals. Its benchmark is composed 50% of the price of gold, 30% of the price of silver, and 10% each those of platinum and palladium.It is an actively managed, US dollar-denominated product which uses ETCs, derivatives and indices, which is aimed primarily at institutional investors, although the minimal subscription is set at EUR50, which makes it also accessible to retail clients. The manager is Nico Baumach.CharacteristicsName: HansawerteISIN code: DE000A0RHG59Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 0.75%

Equities funds dedicated to emerging markets attracted a record net total last year of slightly over USD92bn, compared with USD83.29bn the previous year, according to statistics from EPFR Global. In fourth quarter alone, net inflows to emerging markets equities totalled about USD39.6bn.Among the various categories, equities funds dedicated to frontier markets posted record net inflows of USD2.65bn, while the previous year they saw a slight outflow (USD216m). However, BRIC funds attracted a total of USD1.02bn, compared with USD5.63bn the previous year.Interest in African funds, which with net inflows of USD1.14bn, compared with outflows of USD66m in 2009, are an illustration of a trend toward higher-risk markets.Equities funds in developed markets registered a net outflow of USD62.36bn, compared with outflows of USD73.97bn in 2009. European funds, undermined by the debt crisis, underwent net outflows of USD22.1bn in 2010, where they had seen net inflows of USD1.24bn the previous year.In sector terms, commodities funds attracted a good part of inflows, with a total of USD29.44bn for the year, compared with USD19.94bn in 2009. Funds dedicated to consumer goods and real estate also did well, with inflows of USD3.21bn and USD7.02bn, respectively. Despite concerns related to Irish, Spanish, Greek and Portuguese government debt, funds dedicated to financials came back with strong inflows in fourth quarter to finish the year in positive territory, with a total of USD2.19bn, compared with outflows of USD1.16bn in 2009.Despite outflows in the final weeks of the year, bond funds finished the year with record inflows of USD372.45bn in 2010, following Usd302.64bn in 2009. High yield bonds attracted USD30.19bn, following USD31.78bn in 2009, and international bonds attracted USD110.73bn, compared with USD27.38bn in 2009.Money market funds had their second consecutive year of massive outflows, totalling USD485.13bn, compared with USD512.75bn in 2009.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } More than 26,000 German taxpayers last year declared assets held offshore in Switzerland or Liechtenstein to the tax authorities, Les Echos reports. As a result, the federal, regional and local governments are estimated to have shared a total of nearly EUR2bn in added tax revenues, the German finance minister says. Proposed legislation will bring in stricter consequences for tax evaders who report their assets in future.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Carlo Gentili, deputy director of Nextam Partners, says there is no place for small independent asset management firms in Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset management professionals, Plus 24 reports. “Assogestioni should be a technical association which helps us with more complex issues. It should provide us with assistance and advice on standardising practices and usage across the sector. All of that is missing,” he says.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The German sustainable investment consulting firm versiko has announced that its Luxembourg fund management affiliate, ökoworld Lux, on 1 November recruited Tobias Geyer as a financial market analyst specialised in emerging markets. He joins the team formed by portfolio managers Alexander Fund and Felix Schnella, after serving as a buy side analyst specialised in emerging markets at Deka Investment and Cominvest Asset Management.Geyer’s expertise will be put to use for the ökovision Classic, ökovision Europe, ökovision Grant 20, ökoworld Klima and ökoworld Water for Life funds.Geyer will report directly to Alfred Platow, chairman and founder of ökoworld Lux.

La valeur du portefeuille détenu par le fonds australien avoisine 2 milliards d’euros, pour près de 10 % en Europe

Selon « El Mundo », le pays estimerait avoir besoin de recapitaliser le Frob de 15 à 30 milliards d’euros et chercherait à lever 5 milliards sur le marché

De nouvelles juridictions devraient compenser la baisse des émissions de Pfandbriefe et la fermeture des marchés périphériques

La loi de Finances pour 2011 durcit les règles de sous-capitalisation, ce qui va pénaliser les portefeuilles immobiliers. Selon le montage du financement, les investisseurs immobiliers risquent de ne plus pouvoir déduire fiscalement les intérêts d’emprunt.

En Europe, elle est détenue à 58 % par des investisseurs ne résidant pas dans le pays d'émission, dont 26 % situés hors de la zone euro

La loi de Finances pour 2011 durcit les règles de déductibilité des intérêts d'emprunts, ce qui va pénaliser les holdings immobilières

Alors que des inondations touchent l’Australie, les contrats sur le blé ont débuté l'année en hausse. La volatilité restera forte cette année

Les autorités chinoises pourraient retarder le projet de taxe sur l’immobilier pour des raisons de discordes au sein des différents départements de l’administration, indique le journal Oriental Morning Post qui cite des sources anonymes du ministère des finances. Les premiers tests de la taxe devraient être effectués à Shanghai et Chongqing en mars prochain.

Le prix Nobel d’économie annonce dans un article paru dans le quotidien que «2011 sera une année difficile pour la mondialisation». Dans un plaidoyer pro-keynésien, il déplore les politiques d’austérité mises en place et plaide pour une coordination internationale des politiques de régulation. En outre, il estime que le dynamisme de l’Asie se fait aux dépens de l’emploi dans le reste du monde.

De 30 à 35 milliards d'euros de dette seront proposés en 2011 et 2012, contre 13,4 milliards l'an passé, afin d'assumer des charges croissantes

Totalisant 282 millions d’euros, les fonds sont transférés à Harewood AM. La banque évoque une mesure technique et administrative

La banque a décidé de transférer deux fonds de hedge funds contre-performants gérés par Fauchier Partners à Harewood AM, une autre filiale du groupe.

Le groupe de capital investissement vient de réaliser en un seul closing son hard cap de 400 millions d’euros pour son sixième fonds LBO, Euroknights VI. Dans un communiqué, il souligne que 90% des investisseurs du fonds précédent ont souscrit à cette sixième levée. Le fonds est composé d’une trentaine d’investisseurs incluant des fonds de pension (45%), des fonds souverains (20%), des fonds de fonds (20%), des compagnies d’assurance (10%) et des family offices (5%). Alors que les investisseurs sont majoritairement basés en Europe, 25% d’entre eux proviennent des Etats-Unis et plus de 10% des souscriptions émanent d’Asie, d’Australie et du Moyen Orient. Argos Soditic a l’intention de poursuivre une stratégie déjà éprouvée, en investissant dans des entreprises de taille moyenne situées en France, Italie et Suisse avec des prises de participations majoritaires allant de 10 à 50 millions d’euros.