p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Dominic Rossi, who has left his job as chief investment officer (CIO) at Gartmore, has joined Fidelity Investment Managers as global CIO for equities. He will report to Robert Higginbotham, Investment Week reports. In his new position, Rossi will be responsible for the equities unit, including portfolio management, research, derivatives, trading and corporate finance.

Gartmore has entered a phase of strategic reflection with the assistance of Goldman Sachs, the asset management firm has announced, at a presentation of its interim results. Meanwhile, Gartmore will take measures to strengthen its firepower and improve its financial situation, with the deployment of a GBP10m per year cost reduction program.The Gartmore star manager Roger Guy is leaving the firm. As a result, Gertmore will be merging its teams dedicated to European equities (large cap and all-cap) into a single team, which will be led by John Bennett. Guy will continue to serve at the firm for the next few months in order to ensure a smooth transition. Guy’s large cap team managed GBP3.5bn as of 30 September, of which GBP1.3bn were in hedge funds, GBP0.5bn in mutual funds and GBP1.7bn in discretionary mandates.Gartmore has also announced the departure of Dominic Rossi, chief investment officer, who will take a new position at Fidelity. Until a successor can be appointed, Jeffrey Meyer, CEO, will serve in this role in the interim. Brian Mitchell, currently head of trading, has been appointed chief operating officer for the investment unit.Assets under management at Gartmore increased 4% in third quarter, from GBP19.9bn as of 30 June to GBP20.7bn as of 30 September. Positive market and performance effects were partially offset by net outflows of GBP700m. As of 31 October, assets under management totalled GBP20.9bn, despite net outflows of GBP300m in October. The group has also received GBP500m in redemption demands, of which GBP200m are for European large caps, and will be honoured by the end of the year.

According to Financial News, Fidelity Investment Managers has decided to cut its UK staff by 500 to 1,500 over the next five years, due to a less welcoming approach by UK regulatory authorities, higher income tax, and deteriorating prospects for new business. It will not be making anyone redundant, adds the website.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } LGT Bank in Liechtenstein offered more than EUR300m to acquire the Deutsche Bank affiliate BHF bank, Agefi Switzerland reports, citing Dow Jones Newswires. The valuation of BHF is estimated at EUR600m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Securities & Exschange Commission (SEC) on 8 November announced its decision to severely limit the use of stub quotes, a practice which involves issuing orders at irrational prices in relation to the market consensus. The decision is the result of investigations in the wake of the one-day crash of 6 May this year. Stub quotes contributed to a loss of more than 9% for the Doe Jones in the space of a few minutes. The US market regulator says in a statement that the limitation on stub quotes is essentially a pure and simple prohibition: “By prohibiting stub quotes, we are reducing the danger that market transactions may take place at irrational prices,” says Mary Schapiro, chairwoman of the SEC, cited in a statement. The new rules will come into force on 6 December.

A Russell Reynolds’ annual survey suggests compensation for asset managers in Europe could go up by 20 per cent, compared with a 10 to 15 per cent rise in the US, according to the Financial Times Fund Management. “European based asset managers tend to have more asset classes that are doing well, so levels of optimism about bonus pools are higher,” said Amanda Foster, managing director of Russell Reynolds’ practice in London.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley, has told the Wall Street Journal that the investment bank he leads is planning to move ahead with its acquisition of the remainder of its joint venture with Smith Barney. It plans to «move forward on the first trigger,» referring to the May 2012 option the investment bank has to buy the next 14% of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Morgan Stanley has also announced that it expects pre-tax losses of USD70m due to restructuring of its hedge fund affiliate FrontPoint Partners.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On Wednesday, 10 November, the amLeague company will get together some of the asset managers participating in its championship (see Newsmangers of 6/10/2010) to study the potential interest and technical details of a possible new asset allocation mandate with an absolute return objective. In practice, asset managers would be allowed to use futures and ETFs to compensate for the lack of direct investment in equities or bonds. Of 19 asset management firms, the meeting is expected to be attended by seven or eight, who have expressed an interest in competing.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Société Générale Private Banking on 8 November announced the appointment of Laurent Joly as global director of wealth engineering, fiduciary services and life insurance. He will be based at the headquarters of the private bank in Paris. Joly, who has been employed at Société Générale since 1989, replaces Olivier Gougeon, previously international director of wealth engineering and fiduciary services, who has recently been appointed CEO of Société Générale Private Banking for the South Asian region. Claudio Bacceli is appointed as director of private banking activities at Société Générale Bank & Trust Luxembourg, replacing Joly. Bacceli joined Société Générale Bank & Trust Luxembourg in 2005 as director of wealth engineering for private banking, and later became deputy director of private banking in 2008, and head of sales in July 2009.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The monthly Lipper survey of major Spanish asset management firms reveals that they have increased their average allocation to equities to 42% in October, compared with 40.7% in September, Cinco Días reports. Meanwhile, they have not lost their confidence in bonds, which have increased to an exposure to 42.3% from 40.7%. This move was largely made to the detriment of cash, which fell to 12.25% from 14.15%, and alternative investments, down to 3.42% from 3.62%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Source on 8 November announced the listing of 15 ETC (exchange traded commodities) products on the Swiss stock exchange SIX. Source will initially list 14 T-ETC (Treasury Bill Secured ETC, ETCs which are secured by US Treasury bonds), replicating the performance of the S&P GSCITM Total Return commodities indices (dividends reinvested), and one P-ETC based on physical gold. The P-ETC Source Physical Gold replicates the evolution of the price of gold. Its assets are guaranteed by gold ingots held in the coffers of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, in London. The Source T-ETCs are collateralised by US Treasury Bills, and liquidity is held by an administrator in a separate account. Exposure to commodities indices is provided via performance swaps with diversification over several counterparties. All Source ETCs are available in US dollars on SIX. Annual management fees for the T-ETCs are 0.49%. Management fees for the P-ETC Source Physical Gold are significantly lower than for competing products, at 0.29% per year. In response to growing demand from investors for more efficient exposure to commodities, Source is also offering the T-ETC Source Crude Oil Enhanced (SEWTI). In the past few years, the performance of futures indexed on ETPs replicating the price of oil has been significantly hier than the evolution of the price of oil, due to the impact of the contango (report) situation on oil futures markets. The T-ETC Source Crude Oil Enhanced (SEWTI) aims to replicate the performance of the S&P GSCI Crude Oil Enhanced Total Return index. It is an optimised index, whose level of exposure to the futures curve on oil is adjusted on a monthly basis, which varies dynamically between NYMEX WTI contracts with maturities of up to six months, depending on the curve. The T-ETC Source Crude Oil Enhanced (SEWTI) has seen significant inflows in 2010, as investors have become more interested in the way in which ETCs replicate the performance of oil futures. In partnership with BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, Nyenburgh and 17 other market-makers, Source has collected more than USD7.5bn since its creation, in April 2009, of which USD850m have gone to its platform dedicated to ETCs. Growth in this segment is largely due to the success of the P-ETC Physical Gold (SGLD), which alone has collected over Usd600m in assets, due to the growing interest of investors in gold.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British management firm Aviva Investors has been granted a sales license in France, Germany and the United Kingdom for the UCITS-compliant absolute return fund Index Opportunities, managed by Iyad Farah and Ned Kelly, assisted by a team of seven managers and analysts, which follows up to 25 indices of Europe, North America, the Asia-Pacific region and emerging markets. The objective is to profit from inefficiencies and distortions related to the rebalancing of indices and therefore of passively-managed funds. This involves long positions on equities entering the indices and short positions on outgoing businesses. The fund, which was launched on 23 April, aims for returns 500 basis points higher than the Euribor 1 month, with ex ante volatility of less than 7.5%. Characteristics Name: Aviva Investors - Index Opportunities Fund AISIN code: LU0469930712front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 0.90%Minimal subscription: EUR2,000

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The global UCITS fund index calculated by Ucits Alternative Index gained 0.71% in the month of October, its fourth consecutive month of gains. Since the beginning of the year, the Global Index has gained 0.99%. The best returns of the month were for the Commodities Index (2.20%), CTA (1.45%) and the Emerging Markets index (1.34%). Since the beginning of the year, the Commodities Index and CTA Index have seen losses of 4.71% and 0.59%, respectively, while the Emerging Markets index has gained 2.56%. Event-driven strategies have gained only 0.13%, but are still among the best-performing strategies since the beginning of the year, with gains of 3.60%. Fixed income has continued to perform well, with gains of 0.44% for the month and 4.21% since the beginning of the year.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } European ethical and green retail funds have pulled out of their slump in a thus far disappointing year, with net inflows of EUR212.9m in August, according to the most recent statistics from Lipper FMI, collected on behalf of Responsible Investor. This category of fund, known as “RI extended,” includes exclusionary and normative funds, funds related to climate change and microfinance funds. “RI extended” assets totalled slightly over EUR22bn as of the end of August. Sales of funds which use filters for ESG criteria (“RI screened”), for their part, lost EUR192.3m in August. Only bond funds and money market funds remained highly positive. Assets in RI screened funds as of the end of August totalled EUR64.1bn.

Janus Capital International Limited, the international arm of Janus Capital Group Inc., has launched the Janus Global Investment Grade Bond Fund and the Janus Global High-Yield Fund, part of its Dublin-domiciled Janus Capital Funds plc range.The Global Investment Grade Bond Fund will invest primarily in fixed or floating rate Investment Grade bonds of issuers anywhere in the world and the Global High-Yield Fund will invest primarily in Debt Securities or preferred stock of issuers anywhere in the world which are rated either below investment grade or if unrated are of a similar quality to below investment grade. Both funds will be co-managed by Gibson Smith, who is the co-CIO of Janus Capital Management, and Darrell Watters. Both are co-PMs on all of Janus’ fixed income strategies. They will be supported by the fixed income research team based in Denver and London.

Transparency is the leading concern institutonal investors share about the global hedge fund industry, followed by fees and managers’ pay, a report due to be released by Ernst & Young on Tuesday and cited by the Financial Times shows.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 8 November, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) and Deutsche Börse announced that the asset management firm from State Street Corp has listed 12 French-registered SPDR ETF funds on the Xetra platform, including 10 based on super-sectors of the MSCI Europe, one product based on the MSCI Europe, and one on the MSCI Europe Small Cap index. The admissions bring the total number of ETFs listed in Frankfurt to 751. In detail, the newly-created funds are the following: – SPDR MSCI Europe (FR0000001885) – SPDR MSCI Europe Small Cap (FR0010149880) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Consumer Discretionary (FR0000001752) management commission: 0.40%– SPDR MSCI Consumer Staples (FR0000001745) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Energy (FR0000001810) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Financials (FR0000001703) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Health Care (FR0000001737) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Industrials (FR0000001778) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Information Technology (FR0000001695) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Materials (FR0000001794) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Telecommunication Services (FR0000001687) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Utilities (FR0000001646) management commission: 0.30%

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Finles index of 28 hedge funds in the Netherlands as of 1 October measured 112.74, for a gain of 2.18%, its third consecutive monthly gain, following increases of 0.31% in August and 0.2% in July (see Newsmanagers of 29 and 8 September). The five best performances since the beginning of the year have been for the Trade Wind Equity fund (27%), QTR fund (20%), HIQ Invest Market Neutral fund (17%), Flonds Bloemendaal (12%) and Antaurus Europe Fund (12%). From 1 October, the Finles index includes a 29th fund, the Frog Fund.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that Michael McManus is joining Kima Capital to serve as chief financial officer, after previously working for Kima Capital as an accountant. He will report to Michael Gallagher, CEO of the hedge fund management firm.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Michael Clark in London will be the manager of the new Luxembourg-registered product Fidelity European Dividend Fund, launched on 2 November, whose portfolio will invest in equities in European firms which already pay attractive dividends, or which are likely to increase their dividends significantly in the future. So far, the investment team is preferring businesses in the consumer goods, utilities, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications sectors, with stable business models and strong competitive positions. The benchmark index is the MSCI Europe. In addition to this new fund, Clark has also been the manager of the Fidelity Income Plus Fund since 2008, and of the Fidelity Enhanced Income Fund since 2009. CharacteristicsName: Fidelity European Dividend FundISIN codes: LU0353647737 A-Acc Euro capitalisationLU0353647653: A-Euro distribution LU0353648032: Y-Acc-Euro capitalisationManagement commission: 1.5%

«Notre part sera mise en vente d’ici à quelques jours et ce sera complété à la fin du premier trimestre» 2011, a déclaré Lionel Zinsou, le président de PAI, sur la radio BFM. Il a affirmé avoir reçu «beaucoup de marques d’intérêt venant d’industriels ».

La modification du règlement général de l’AMF insérant les obligations de déclaration des positions courtes a été publiée au JO du 6 novembre. Une instruction du régulateur sur les conditions d’application de ce nouvel article 223-37, qui entrera en vigueur le 1er février 2011, sera publiée dans les prochains jours.

La présidente de la Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Schapiro, a indiqué hier lors d’une conférence que ses services traiteraient la question des algorithmes «fous» dans le cadre du trading à haute fréquence.

La société de private equity a dévoilé deux acquisitions dans les secteurs de la chimie et des cosmétiques. TPG va reprendre une filiale d’Ashland pour 930 millions de dollars en numéraire ainsi que la filiale japonaise d’Avon pour 7,3 milliards de yens (65 millions d’euros environ).

La société de private equity a officialisé la reprise de Vue Entertainment, troisième chaîne britannique de cinémas. Doughty Hanson a conclu le rachat pour 450 millions de livres auprès de l’équipe dirigeante et d’un fonds affilié à Och-Ziff Capital Management Group. Le fondateur et PDG, Tim Richards, procèdera à un réinvestissement.

La maison de courtage a annoncé lundi des nominations destinées à renforcer son activité «cash equity» à Hong Kong et à Londres. Louis Capital Markets a notamment engagé Nick McDonald, en provenance d’Instinet, pour diriger cette activité sur la zone Asie.

Reuters rapporte que l’assureur américain pourrait bien céder son activité de gestion d’actifs immobiliers en Asie à Invesco. La valeur brute de ces actifs avoisinerait 5 milliards de dollars, et la transaction pourrait se chiffrer en dizaines de millions. Un accord pourrait être signé ce mois-ci, les deux parties d’étant pour l’heure refusées à tout commentaire.

Le premier opérateur boursier américain sur les futures a porté à 25 dollars par action, contre 22,5 dollars précédemment, son offre de rachat des titres détenus par ses anciens membres. CBOE a réduit de 13,3 millions à environ 12 millions le nombre de titres concernés par l’offre.

Un juge fédéral a rejeté hier une demande de Goldman Sachs visant à lui épargner une sentence d’arbitrage de 20,6 millions de dollars concernant l’ancien hedge fund Bayou. Les créanciers ont reproché à une filiale de la banque américaine d’avoir compensé des ordres pour Bayou tout en ignorant des signaux de fraude.

En visite dans le pays, le commissaire européen à l'Economie et aux Affaires monétaires a indiqué qu’aucune aide de l'Union européenne n’est envisagée