p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Since the end of September, assets in the three Sicavs owned by Amancio Ortega have fallen by one third, to EUR168m, Expansión reports. The founder and head of Inditex has withdrawn a total of nearly EUR1bn since 2008 from Keblar, Alazán Inversiones 2001 and Gramela Inversiones 2004, either because his other participations, such as Habitat, needed liquidity, or in order to reinvest in real estate outside Spain.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For more than one year, Edmond de Rothschild Asset Mangement (Edram) has included a dialogue/engagement approach to ESGP themes (environment, social, governance and stakeholders) as a part of the management of one of its flagship funds, Tricolore Rendement.The French asset management firm today officially announces that the fund has been made a part of its SRI product range. “Tricolore Rendement, which represents the interests of a significant number of shareholders, has a longstanding track record and a privileged position as an investor in French businesses. The integration of this approach is thus a natural step,” says Pierre Nebout, deputy director and head of European equities management at Edram.“Other funds may also eventually integrate this approach into their management process,” Nebout tells Newsmangers, “even if we have not yet taken any concrete steps in this direction.”As of 30 October, the management firm had EUR2.7bn in assets in its open-ended SRI funds.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The management firm Pimco, which has recently moved into equities management, on Wednesday, 24 November announced the launch of the EqS Pathfinder FundTM and Pimco EqS Pathfinder Europe FundTM, as Newsmanagers reported at the beginning of summer (see, e.g., Newsmanagers of 21 June 2010). The firm had recruited Anne Gudefin and Charles Lahr, two value managers from Templeton Mutual Series, a few months earlier. With the two funds, the firm offers its clients an “ultra-flexible” deep value equities investment strategy. Concretely, the Pathfinder strategy is the active equities strategy developed by Pimco, whose objective is to generate high returns by identifying shares which are trading below their value and investment opportunities in the areas of distressed debt and merger arbitrage, a statement says. The management of the EqS Pathfinder FundsTM from Pimco rely on bottom-up analysis of shares and a deep value philosophy and investment process, and invest primarily in equities, complemented by investments in distressed debt, merger arbitrage, and tactical strategies such as coverage. The two funds come as additions to the Global Investor Series (GIS) from Pimco, which complies with UCITS III regulations. The Sicav, domiciled in Dublin, now has 38 sub-funds, with assets of EUR46.8bn. The funds offer daily liquidity.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Dow Jones Credit Suisse hedge fund index for October came out at 449.66, up 1.92% in October, compared with gains of 3.43% in September, and cumulative gains of 8.02% in the first ten months of the year. Nine strategies out of 10 have posted gains in October, with the only losses for the dedicated short bias strategy, down 3.60%. The strongest gains (4.29%) were for managed futures. In January-October, dedicated short bias is down 15.64%, while equity market neutral has lost 0.03%. In the period under review, the top three were global macro funds, with returns of 11.10%, managed futures and bond arbitrage, with gains of 11% each.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi Switzerland reports that Pictet & Cie is rethinking its alternative management platform. Nicolas Campiche explains that the structure he is responsible for (Pictet Alternative Investments) would like to increase the percentage of its investments directed to “new and less well-known” managers to 60%, up from about half of the EUR10bn it currently has under management. The move will come to the detriment of established stars of the hedge fund industry. “We are trying to reorient our portfolio a little bit to focus more on less well-known, smaller, more flexible entities,” the CEO has told the news agency Bloomberg. Pictet is seeking flexibility and reactivity in an effort to improve returns. “It is a typical post-crisis situation,” says Campiche. “People tend to focus too much on risk and not enough on returns.” According to a survey by Pertrac Financial Solutions, hedge funds with less than EUR100m earned annualised performance of 16% between 1996 and 2007, compared with 11.5% for managers in charge of more than EUR500m in assets.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Australian management firm Ankura Capital Pty Ltd, an affiliate of BNY Mellon Asset Management, has obtained a management mandate from Russell Investments for an allocation from the Australian Shares Enhances Income Fund, BNY Mellon AM has announced. It is the second mandate for Akura’s high-yield Australian equities strategy. In May, the management firm also received a high yield mandate from IPAC for its diversified high yeild fund Axa Generator. Assets at Ankura for Australian and Japanese equities total about AUD1bn. The firm, based in Sydney, manages institutional funds, primarily for Australian clients.
According to Ucits Hedge, Trafalgar Capital Management has announced it has teamed up with Chris Poil to launch its first UCITS fund. The Trafalgar Quadrant Fund, a European Long/Short UCITS equity fund, mainly invests in UK Equities drawn and focuses on recovery situations. Chris Poil was chairman of the Global Senior Management Team at ING Baring Asset Management. He acted as investment consultant to Cheyne Capital from 2006-2009.
According to Ucits Hedge, Heptagon Capital, a London based USD2.7Bn specialist asset management business, has announced the launch of a new Irish UCITS fund which will be managed by Yacktman Asset Management. Based in Austin, Texas, Yacktman is a long-only US Equity manager, which is 100% owned by its employees, and has over USD5.5Bn in assets under management.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Stewart Cowley, manager of the Global Strategic Bond fund at Old Mutual Asset Managers, has announced that he has liquidated the positions the fund had held on Spanish debt, according to Fundstrategy. As of the end of September, his portfolio still contained 3.8% Spanish government bonds.
Reeves Investment Management (RIM) has appointed Mike Sargeant as investment director with responsibility for developing its current range of investment strategies. He will also be a member of the senior management team responsible for the asset allocation and fund selection of the company’s discretionary portfolios.Prior to joining RIM, Mike Sargeant was managing director of Pharon IFA for 6 years from 2004, and also managing director of its associated company, Lawrence House Fund Managers, an independent boutique investment house dedicated to supporting IFAs, prior to its acquisition by Brooks Macdonald Asset Management in September 2009. RIM is part of Reeves & Co LLP, an accountancy firm. It provides discretionary management services to Reeves & Co clients, especially those advised by Reeves Financial Planning, the firm’s IFA arm. RIM currently has over GBP70million invested in portfolios across three main investment strategies, Income; Balanced; Growth, with exposure to most asset classes through the use of collective investments and structured products.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Investment Week reports that laying off the global equities team led by Ross Hollyman, who joined Liontrust from GAM in October 2009, cost the management firm more than GBP781,000 in severance pay and costs to close down the structures in Guernsey and Jersey. The team managed less than USD1m in assets.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For the half-year ending on 30 September 2010, Liontrust Asset Management has posted a pre-tax loss of GBP1.6m, compared with pre-tax profits of GBP0.7m, and performance commission revenues of GBP199,000, compared with GBP2.24m. Assets as of 30 September totalled nearly GBP1.13bn, compared with GBP2.18bn one year earlier, but they totalled nearly GBP1.25bn as of 23 November. In addition, the British management firm has posted net subscriptions of GBP41m since the beginning of the period as of 23 November, with more than GBP76m since the beginning of October. CEO John Ions says losses in the first half of the fiscal year should be viewed in the context of the rapid changes which have been taking place at businesses in the past few months, an increase in marketing spending to generate subscriptions, new activities, and a rebound in net subscriptions. The other reason for the loss is, of course, related to the fact that assets under management have declined, in a trend which has since then successfully been reversed. This has led to net subscriptions of GBP9bn in July-September, which was the first positive quarter since the first calender quarter of 2008. The CEO adds that the last fiscal year in which Liontrust posted positive net subscriptions was 2003-2004. Ions also says that due to the success of the marketing campaign so far, the firm has decided to allocate a further GBP0.7m to its budget for second half (until 31 March), meaning that the increased total marketing spending throughout the period will have been GBP1.2m.
According to Financial News, Man Group, that recently acquired GLG, is offering its employees the change to relocate abroad, GLG co-founder Pierre Lagrange told a roundtable of journalists this morning. He added that «very few» have moved so far.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Asian boutique Hamon Asset Management has launched a new absolute return fund focused on Greater China, Citywire reports. The Hamon Greater China Absolute Return Fund, based in Luxembourg, will be managed by the firm’s trio of China specialists, Nina Wu, Lisa Jiang and William Liu.
Selon DTZ, les besoins de refinancement en immobilier d’entreprise seront de 126 milliards de dollars en Europe sur 2011-2013. Le cabinet de conseil, qui constate que la situation est tendue au Royaume-Uni, en Espagne et en Irlande, plaide aussi pour une diversification des créanciers.
Dans le cadre de son plan d’austérité budgétaire 2011-2014 qui a suscité des réactions mitigées, l’Irlande a prévu de réaliser 40% des 15 milliards d’euros d’efforts budgétaires dès 2011.
La société d’investissement, via son fonds Carlyle Europe Partners III, a annoncé hier le rachat auprès de Primondo Specialty Group (filiale d’Arcandor) d’un portefeuille de six actifs dans le secteur de la distribution de détail (Versandhaus Walz, Planet Sports, Bon’A Parte, Elégance, Mirabeau et 50% de Vertbaudet Germany). Les termes financiers de l’opération n’ont pas été précisés. Carlyle a par ailleurs réalisé, aux côté d’Accel Partners, un investissement minoritaire dans OzForex Group, une plate-forme en ligne de services forex.
La multiplication des dark pools et le trading à haute fréquence (HFT) posent des problèmes et doivent être remis en cause, a déclaré mercredi Christian Noyer, membre du conseil des gouverneurs de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE). Devant les membres de la commission d’enquête parlementaire sur les mécanismes de spéculation, le gouverneur de la Banque de France a d’autre part souligné la nécessité de réduire l’effet de levier des institutions financières pour limiter les risques. «Cette multiplication de dark pools a été une erreur tragique, je souhaite qu’on revienne là-dessus et qu’on remette les choses en ordre», a-t-il estimé. Prié de dire si les réflexions en cours sur le sujet se traduiraient par des décisions, il a souligné que ces problèmes relevaient plutôt des superviseurs des marchés, comme l’Autorité des marchés financiers pour la France. Christian Noyer a par ailleurs jugé que «le trading à haute fréquence est un vrai problème».
KKR aurait selon Reuters et Bloomberg reçu le soutien de Vestar Capital Partners ainsi que d’un fonds dirigé par l’associé de Centerview James Kilts pour concrétiser le rachat du groupe américain d’agroalimentaire Del MPonte Foods. L’offre serait de 18,50 dollars par titre, soit une valorisation de la cible de 3,58 milliards de dollars.
L’Allemagne a placé mercredi 4,8 milliards d’euros d’obligations à dix ans mais les rendements peu élevés n’ont pas suscité suffisamment d’intérêt pour que tous les titres proposés trouvent preneur. Le nouveau Bund, assorti d’un coupon à 2,5% et mis à prix au rendement moyen de 2,59%, a attiré 5,667 milliards d’euros d’offres alors que l'émetteur visait six milliards d’euros. Au final, 4,8 milliards d’euros de titres ont été vendus. Les investisseurs semblent vouloir rester à l'écart en raison du climat sans précédent d’incertitudes et de volatilité. La Bundesbank a conservé de 20% de l'émission, une proportion supérieure à la moyenne de 17% observée depuis le début de l’année, a estimé Crédit Agricole qui précise que le ratio de couverture de 1,2 est le plus faible enregistré depuis février 2009.
Le cours de l’or coté en euro a atteint mercredi son niveau le plus haut depuis le 9 juin, la monnaie européenne ayant accentué son recul contre le dollar dans le contexte de défiance des investisseurs à l'égard de l'économie du bloc monétaire européen. L’or en euro a touché un plus haut de séance à 1.037,92 euros l’once. L’once d’or en dollar a atteint 1.379,02 dollars, contre 1.376,20 mardi soir à New York. En fin de matinée, l’euro se traitait à un peu plus de 1,33 dollar après avoir touché un plus bas de deux mois à 1,3284 dollar et enfoncé sa moyenne mobile à 100 jours.
Alors que le gouvernement irlandais dévoilera les détails de son plan d’austérité à 15 heures, les rendements irlandais subissent de nouvelles tensions. Le taux des obligations à dix ans s’est écarté ce matin de 24 points de base (pb) à 8,5 %. Standard & Poor’s vient de dégrader de deux crans la note du pays qui passe de AA- à A. Parallèlement, les discussions sur un plan d’aide se poursuivent. «L'étendue d’un programme n’est pas encore décidée mais la somme de 85 milliards d’euros est discutée», a déclaré le Premier ministre Brian Cowen devant le parlement. Les rendements se tendent également sur les obligations grecques, espagnoles et portugaises, entre 10 et 20 pb.
L’Agence France Trésor annonce qu’elle a servi mercredi 896 millions d’euros de soumissions non compétitives à l’issue de son adjudication de bons du Trésor (BTF) du 22 novembre. Le montant total des BTF émis dans le cadre de cette opération s'élève à 8,42 milliards d’euros.