Les actifs sous gestion de Man Group, qui a bouclé le 14 octobre dernier l’acquisition de GLG Partners mais qui n’intègre pas les fonds de GLG dans les chiffres qui suivent, s'élevaient au 30 septembre à 40,5 milliards de dollars, contre 38,5 milliards de dollars au 30 juin dernier.Au 14 octobre, les actifs sous gestion de GLG Partners s'établissaient à 25 milliards de dollars contre 22,7 milliards au 30 juin, dont 12 milliards investis dans des stratégies alternatives et 13 milliards investis dans des stratégies long/only. Les actifs sous gestion des deux entités, MAN et GLG Partners, devraient totaliser fin octobre quelque 67 milliards de dollars, selon les estimations de Man. Le bénéfice net de Man pour les six mois au 30 septembre ressort à 109 millions de dollars, contre 248 millions un an plus tôt du fait d’une baisse des commissions payées par ses clients et de frais liés au rachat de GLG. Le board a déclaré un dividende intérimaire de 9,5 cents par action, et maintient son objectif d’un dividende d’au moins 22 cents par action pour l’ensemble de l’exercice.

Sur les neuf premiers mois de cette année, les souscriptions nettes des fonds retail domiciliés et distribués au Royaume-Uni ont porté sur 17,9 milliards de livres, contre un record de 18,9 milliards pour la période correspondante de 2009, d’après les statistiques de l’Investment Management Association (IMA). Pour septembre, ces souscriptions nettes ont porté sur 2,4 milliards de livres, contre une moyenne de 2,1 milliards sur les douze derniers mois. Les rentrées nettes ont été supérieures à 2 milliards de livres par mois sur 15 des 18 derniers mois sous revue. Elles avaient atteint 2,8 milliards pour septembre 2009.A fin septembre l’encours des fonds «retail» domiciliés au Royaume-Uni ont atteint un record absolu de 542,6 milliards de livres, grâce à la hausse des marchés d’actions, contre 516,1 milliards un mois plus tôt et 463,35 milliards au 30 septembre 2009.L’IMA précise que pour le troisième mois consécutif, la classe d’actifs ayant drainé le plus de souscriptions nettes au «retail» a été celle des obligations, avec 914 millions en septembre et 3 milliards sur le troisième trimestre. Les fonds d’actions ont attiré 760 millions de livres pour septembre et 2,1 milliards pour juillet-septembre.Les fonds institutionnels on drainé 1 milliard de livres en septembre, nettement moins que les mois précédents où les assureurs avaient transféré leurs avoirs à des unit trusts et à des produits OEIC (5,36 milliards en août, par exemple)Enfin, l’IMA indique que les fonds domiciliés à l'étranger représentaient fin septembre 24,2 milliards de livres contre 23,1 milliards fin août et 24,9 milliards un an plus tôt.

Selon Asian Investor, trois nouveaux fonds QDII sont sur le point d'être lancés. Particularité de ces produits, ils se focalisent sur les marchés émergents «BRIC» (Brésil, Russie, Inde et Chine) . Le China Southern FTSE Bric Index Equity Fund et le Citic Prudential Bric Active Allocation Equity Fund sont en cours de lancement (le 3 et 8 novembre), alors que le China Merchant S&P BRIC Index Equity Fund vient d’obtenir un agrément et devrait être lancé prochainement.China Southern et China Merchant ont opté pour une approche de gestion passive, avec comme indice de référence le FTSE BRIC Index et le S&P BRIC Index. Citic Prudential, gérera le fonds activement, avec une allocation de 60% dans des ETF funds et le reste dans des actions individuelles. La société de gestion sera assistée par Prudential Asset Management (Singapore), qui sera le conseiller externe du fonds.

Le fonds pétrolier norvégien, le deuxième plus gros fonds souverain au monde, a dégagé un rendement de 7,2% au troisième trimestre et vu sa valeur atteindre 2.908 milliards de couronnes, soit environ 356 milliards d’euros, a annoncé le 4 novembre la Banque de Norvège."Les résultats meilleurs qu’attendu d’un certain nombre d’entreprises et le reflux des craintes d’un ralentissement économique en Europe ont contribué à la hausse du marché des actions"s, a expliqué Yngve Slyngstad, directeur général de la Direction des investissements de la Banque de Norvège. Le portefeuille actions a progressé de près de 10%. Au cours du trimestre écoulé, le fonds a aussi récolté 49 milliards de couronnes supplémentaires grâce au versement par l’Etat de ses revenus pétroliers. En revanche, les effets de change l’ont amputé de 132 milliards, l’appréciation de la couronne norvégienne réduisant mécaniquement la valeur d’investissements réalisés dans des devises étrangères. La Banque de Norvège a aussi annoncé avoir fait ses premiers pas dans l’immobilier en investissant dans Regent Street à Londres, avec la reprise de 25% du portefeuille d’actifs immobiliers détenus par le Crown Estate (Domaine de la Couronne) pour un montant de 448 millions de livres. Le fonds recevra pendant 150 ans une part des loyers des boutiques et bureaux localisés dans cette rue. A terme, 5% de la valeur du fonds doivent être placés dans l’immobilier, à l'étranger pour ne pas perturber le marché norvégien. Le fonds était jusqu'à présent investi à hauteur de 60% en actions et de 40% en obligations.

Schroder a annoncé avoir fait enregistrer auprès de la CNMV pour la commercialisation en Espagne de son fonds long/short marchés émergents Schroder GAIA Sloane Robinson Emerging Markets (lire notre dépêche du 24 septembre). De plus, le gestionnaire britannique a fait enregistrer deux autres fonds de sa plate-forme GAIA (Global Alternative Investor Access), le Schroder GAIA Opus Multi Strategy (multistratégie) et le Schroder GAIA QEP Global Absolute (obligations mondiales market neutral). Le Schroder GAIA Egerton European Equity était déjà enregistré en Espagne depuis quelques mois (voir notre dépeche du 11 février).

Le 2 novembre, la Banque centrale de Norvège (Norges Bank) a notifié à la CNMV détenir 3,152 % dans Gamesa Corp Tecnologica SA. Cette prise de participation est effectuée pour le compte du Governement Pension Fund - Global (GPFG), l’ancien Fonds pétrolier. Cette acquisition représente aux cours actuels environ 40 millions d’euros. Les autres grands actionnaires sont Iberdrola, qui vient de monter (le 3 novembre) à 16,137 % et BlackRock à environ 8,3 % au total, dont 4,93 points de pourcentage acquis le 3 novembre.

Le 24 septembre, March Gestión de Fondos a créé le fonds de droit espagnol March New Emerging World qui utilise comme indice de référence le MSCI Emerging Markets ; le produit a été enregistré le 29 octobre par la CNMV.Le portefeuille pourra être investi jusqu'à 70 % dans d’autres fonds. Il sera exposé au minimum à 75 % à des actions de pays émergents et jusqu'à 20 % en actions de sociétés de pays de l’OCDE dont entre 5 et 50 % des résultats proviennent des pays émergents. Le fonds pourra être investi d’autre part jusqu'à 20 % en matières premières au travers d’indices ou de dérivés.La gestion de ce produit a été confié à Santiago Montero Ruíz, head of multi-management.CaractéristiquesDénomination : March New Emerging WorldCode Isin : ES0160933000Commission de gestion 1,9 %

Jyske Invest International a annoncé le 4 novembre qu’il va liquider quatre fonds le 3 décembre. Il s’agit des produits Jyske Invest Telecom Equities, IT Equities BioTech/HealthCare Equities et British Equities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Of EUR16.54bn in net subscriptions in January-September to securities funds monitored by the German BVI association of management firms, the Allianz Global Investors group is well out in front, with inflows of EUR12.71bn, thanks to EUR13.88bn in inflows to Pimco Europe. The DWS/DB Advisors/DB group (Deutsche Bank), for its part, attracted EUR1.67bn, solely due to EUR3.57bn for its ETF affiliate db x-trackers. Among other ETF specialists, BlackRock, with its iShares funds, attracted EUR800.5m, and ComStage attracted EUR565.1m, However, ETFlab (Deka) saw net outflows of EUR390.2m. For the other two major generalist firms, Deka (savings banks) saw net redemptions of EUR4.48bn, and Union Investment (co-operative banks) saw ent outflows of EUR2.19bn.

AFG (the French investment management association) at a press conference on 4 November welcomed the publication of a report by the French high committee for the markets on the strategy and development of the French management industry. The president of AFG, Paul-Henri de la Porte du Theil, who co-chaired the working group whose proposals were approved on 15 October by the Minister for the Economy, Christine Lagarde, emphasized the need for a successful transposition of the UCITS IV directive. This means, among other things, a transposition which would be rapid, to be completed before the end of March 2011, with a public consultation launched before the end of December. It would be a literal transposition without gold plating, and would be an occasion to strengthen the readability and competitiveness of the regulatory framework and therefore of product offerings.With this in mind, de la Porte du Theil argues that there are too many technical obstacles discouraging investment by non-residents. “If we want to attract investors, it is indispensable for them to understand the rules,” he said. Therefore, the working group has made a certain number of recommendations, including setting up a reference for OPCVM funds on the Paris market by 2012, which would allow management firms to better understand the passive for funds that they manage, through order marking, and to promote direct orders in a secure framework, in oder to allow foreign investors to establish a direct relationship with the management firm, and to develop a system in France similar to that of the transfer agent.AFG will also actively participate in the international promotion of asset management, and set up better coordination of all parties concerned, including AFG, asset management firms, regulatory and public authorities, and will aim to mobilize the entire industry ecosystem. A framework dedicated to international promotion will be set up under the umbrella of the AFG, which will have added means to deploy this strategy.

The planned AIFM directive, which will be definitively passed on 11 November, is not a step in the right direction, says the AFG. “The directive includes positive aspects and negative aspects. The positive aspects are numerous, including maintaining freedom of investment for professionals and application waiting periods. But there is one major negative element: the passport,” Paul-Henri de la Porte du Theil, president of the French investment management association AFG, said at a press conference on 4 November.“Even the philosophy of the passport is bad,” de la Porte du Theil insisted. The problem is the extension of the passport to non-European companies by 2015, insofar as this widely-discussed opening of the doors will give them the same rights as European companies without subjecting them to the same requirements. “Non-European management firms should be required to set up in Europe, in areas with serious regulation. We missed an opportunity to repatriate funds and jobs, and we will be exposed to competition distortions, since the ‘light’ zones, even if they pledge to apply European governance principles, will remain ‘light.'” the AFG president claims.AFG therefore argues that it is essential to strengthen the role of the new European regulator, the ESMA, which will have the double duty of overseeing the establishment of a genuine European label, and ensuring a minimal competitive equity with offshore funds. “The most important responsibilities to devolve to the ESMA are determined, but the details of their application are not yet,” de la Porte du Theil warns.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The political consultant at the centre of the pay-to-play scandal concerning the Common Retirement Fund of the State of New York (USD125bn), Henry “Hank” Morris, has pleaded guilty in the corruption case, the Wall Street Journal reports. Morris, a political advisor to the former Comptroller of New York, Alan Hevesi, was accused by prosecutor general Andrew Cuomo of taking bribed “disguised” as investment commissions in exchange for intermediating mandates for management firms. Hevesi was last month the seventh person to plead guilty in the case.

According to new research by Hedge Fund Research and Glocap cited by the Financial Times, year-end bonuses for US hedge fund employees will increase by 5 per cent this year – after rising on average by 15 per cent in 2009. The average fund manager at a small hedge fund could expect an annual compensation, including bonus, of about USD1.23m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Michel Dumoulin on Friday retired from Martin Maurel Gestion Institutionelle. His funds will be taken over by Valérie Oelhoffen, formerly of Covéa Finance, who joined the institutional asset management firm of the Martin Maurel group one month ago. There she joined Brigitte Pascaud, who co-managed some funds with Dumoulin, including the MMGI Euromix Actions fund. The management team also includes Nathalie Bourdoncle.

“We have posted net subscriptions of about EUR50m per month since the beginning of the year,” says Brice Anger, head of development for M&G Investments in France. In other world, the British asset management firm has attracted about EUR500m YTD in France, and assets are now over EUR1.2bn, compared with EUR1bn at the beginning of September (see Newsmanagers of 7 September). Inflows went 50/50 to fixed income products and equities. For bonds, flexible funds and global bonds saw most of the inflows, while for equities, subscriptions went largely to the Global Basics and American Fund.Aled Smith, head of global equities and manager of the American Fund (an OEIC fund of US equities with EUR2bn, and about EUR300m in net subscriptions YTD), says that the 65-position portfolio earns 95% of its performance through stock-picking, and aims to minimise draw-down. Currently, the fund is underweight on financials, and overweight on tech stocks, where the management team is beginning to look for smaller caps. Allocation is weighted according to risk “so that investors can sleep easy.”

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The New York-based commodities trading firm Systematic Alpha has appointed Solomon Josue as its sales representative for Asia, Hedgeweek reports. Josue is the founder and president of Asia Pacific Advisors, an alternative investment advising firm focused on the Asia-Pacific region. Assets under management at Systematic Alpha total USD640m.

Pierre Simonet on 1 October joined the portfolio management firm PIM Gestion France, with assets of over EUR500m, as CEO and director.Béatrice Philippe remains chairwoman of the board of directors at the French firm, and CEO of its sister company Philippe Investment Management, based in New York.Simonet was a member of the French regulator CMF from 1998 to 2002. He also served as director and CEO of CPR Asset Management.

Next week, the US high yield asset management firm Muzinich (USD9bn) will announce the launch of a sixth sub-fund of its Irish Sicav. After the Short Term Duration High Yield (see Newsmanagers of 30 September and 22 October), which was recently released for sale, the firm will release the Bond Yield ESG in France, a largely Euro SRI fund, with 80% of its positions rated investment grade, and 20% high yield investments.The new product was licensed by the AMF on 27 August, at the same time as the Short Term Duration fund. It will have a duration of 5-6 years, and will be seeded with USD50m from Scandinavian clients. The consultant for the new best-in-class fund will be Sustainanalytics.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi Switzerland reports that Christian Gast has been appointed director of iShares Switzerland from 1 November 2010. iShares offers exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from BlackRock and is hoping to strengthen its presence on the Swiss market. Previously, Gast was executive director at UBS Global Asset Management. Andreas Zingg also joined iShares on 1 November, taking over as head of sales for German-speaking Switzerland. He also previously worked at UBS Global Asset Management. “We will invest in the Swiss market and strengthen our team in the next few months,” says David Gardner, head of sales for iShares in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Clariden Leu, an affiliate of Credit Suisse Group, on 4 November announced in a statement that it has opened a representative office in Abu Dhabi. The office, which opened on Wednesday, is a sign of the bank’s ambition to strengthen its strategic presence in the Middle East. The bank is also present in Dubai and Cairo. “Our presence in Abu Dhabi will help us in the future to respond more quickly and individually to the wishes of our Middle Eastern clients,” says the CEO of Clariden Leu, Hans Nützi.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a research by Reinhold & Partners, cited by Agefi, the French alternative management industry is not competitive. “A detestable image and no domestic market are two major obstacles to any slight inclination to setting up in the country, and any possible development for existing companies,” conclude the writers of the research, who spoke to about 200 international players, in partnership with the French asset management association (AFG). French alternative asset management does not attract investments from major funds of funds, family offices, or pension funds, which further accentuates the gap from managers based in the United Kingdom or Switzerland. 66% of French-speaking managers surveyed, and 80% of English-speaking managers, say that setting up in France brings no competitive advantage. The research also blames the French tax regime, which is unattractive.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Government Pension Fund - Global (the former Petroleum fund), the second-largest sovereign fund in the world, earned returns of 7.2% in third quarter, bringing its value to NOK2.908trn, or about EUR356bn, the Bank of Norway announced on 4 November. “Better-than-expected results for some businesses and easing fears of an economic downturn in Europe contributed to rises for equities markets,” explained Yngve Slyngstad, CEO of the investment direction at the Bank of Norway. The equities portfolio gained nearly 10%. In the past quarter, the fund took on an added NOK49bn the to the contribution of oil revenues by the government. However, currency effects wiped out NOK132bn, as the appreciation of the Norwegian kroner mechanically reduced the value of investments in foreign currencies. The Bank of Norway also announced that it has made its first foray into real estate investment, in Regent Street in London, with the acquisition of 25% of a real estate portfolio owned by the Crown Estate for GBP448m. The fund will receive a share of rents from shops and offices in the street for a period of 150 years. 5% of the value of the fund will eventually be invested in real estate, in other countries, so as not to distort the Norwegian market. The fund was previously 60% invested in equities, and 40% in bonds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jyske Invest International announced on 4 November that it will be liquidating four funds on 3 December. The products affected are the Jyske Invest Telecom Equities, IT Equities, BioTech/HealthCare Equities and British Equities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that three new QDII funds are about to be launched. The particularity of these products is that they focus on BRIC emerging markets (Brazil, Russia, India and China). The China Southern FTSE Bric Index Equity Fund and the Citic Prudential Bric Active Allocation Equity Fund are in the process of being launched (on 3 and 8 November), while the China Merchant S&P BRIC Index Equity Fund has been granted a license and will be launched soon.China Southern and China Merchant have opted for a passive management approach, with the FTSE BRIC Index and the S&P BRIC Index as their benchmark. Citic Prudential will manage their fund actively, with an allocation of 60% to ETF funds and the remainder invested in individual shares. The fund management firm will be assisted by Prudential Asset Management (Singapore), which will be the external advisor to the fund.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Thames River has delayed the launch of its global emerging markets absolute return fund until next year, Money Marketing reports. The boutique, bought by F&C this year, received considerable support for the fund, which was to be managed by Kristof Bulkai and Hugo Rogers.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the first nine months of this year, net subscriptions to retail funds domiciled and distributed in the United Kingdom totalled GBP17.9bn, compared with a record GBP18.9bn in the corresponding period of 2009, according to statistics from the Investment Management Association (IMA). In September, these net subscriptions totalled GBP2.4bn, compared with an average of EUR2.1bn in the past 12 months. Net inflows were over GBP2bn per month in 15 of the 18 months under review. They totalled GBP2.8bn in September 2009.As of the end of September, assets in retail funds domiciled in the United Kingdom totalled an all-time record GBP542.6bn, due to rising equities markets, compared with GBP516.1bn one month earlier, and GBP463.35bn as of 30 September 2009.The IMA says that for the third consecutive month, the asset class which attracted the most retail net subscriptions was bonds, with GBP914m in September and GBP3bn in third quarter. Equities funds attracted GBP760m in September and GBP2.1bn in July-September.Institutional funds attracted GBP1bn in September, less than in the previous months, as insurers transferred their assets to unit trusts and OEIC products (GBP5.36bn in August, for example).Lastly, the IMA states that foreign-domiciled funds as of the end of September represented GBP24.2bn, compared with GBP23.1bn as of the end of August, and GBP24.9bn one year earlier.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 24 September, March Gestión de Fondos created the Spanish-registered fund March New Emerging World, which uses the MSCI Emerging Markets index as its benchmark; the product was registered by the CNMV on 29 October.The portfolio may be up to 70% invested in other funds. It will be at least 75% exposed to emerging markets equities, and up to 20% in equities in businesses in OECD countries which earn 5% to 50% of their profits from emerging markets. The fund may also invest up to 20% in commodities via indices or derivatives.Management of the product will be undertaken by Santiago Montero Ruíz, head of multi-management.CharacteristicsName: March New Emerging WorldISIN code: ES0160933000Management commission: 1.9%

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Schroder has announced that it has registered its emerging markets long/short fund Schroder GAIA Sloane Robinson Emerging Markets (see Newsmanagers of 24 September) with the CNMV for sale in Spain. In addition, the British management firm has registered two other funds from its GAIA (Global Alternative Investor Access) platform: the Schroder GAIA Opus Multi Strategy (multi-strategy) and Schroder GAIA QEP Global Absolute (market neutral global bonds). The Schroder GAIA Egerton European Equity had already been registered in Spain for several months (see Newsmanagers of 11 February).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 2 November, the Norwegian central bank (Norges Bank) notified the CNMV that it controls 3.152% of Gamesa Corp Technologica SA. The investment is on behalf of the Government Pension Fund – Global (GPFG), formerly known as the Oil Fund. The acquisition represents about EUR40m at current prices.The other major shareholders are Iberdrola, which as of 3 November held 16.137%, and BlackRock, with about 8.3% of the total, of which 4.93 percentage points were acquired on 3 November.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Only two asset management firms of those with more than 25 funds rated by Feri in Germany in third quarter had 50% or more of their products rated A or B. They are Union Investment (co-operative banks), with 57.1% (48/84), and LBB-Invest, with 50% (13/26). Following them in the rankings are Erste Asset Management (48%), Threadneedle (47.6%), LGT Group (46.2%), and BlackRock (45%). Then come Universal-Investment (43.9%), JP Morgan (42.9%), DWS Investment (41.7%, but out of 103 funds), and then Franklin Templeton and State Street (40% each).Among the managers with 8 to 24 products rated, Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) comes top with 87.5% of its products rated A or B, followed by DJE (78.6%), Vitruvius (77.8%), and Carmignac (75%, 6 funds out of 8).