p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Expansión reports that Gaytri Kachroo, founder of the law firm Kachroo Legal Services, who represents Harry Makropoulos (the financier who warned the SEC several times about the Madoff fraud), has announced that she will be filing a lawsuit at the end of November against the US regulator for incompetence and lack of diligence in the 20-year period during which it oversaw the business of Bernard Madoff. The suit will be filed in the name of North American clients, as well as Latin American, Spanish, French and German clients who will be represented by the Spanish law firm Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Barclays Capital announced on 11 October that its dedicated affiliate Barclays Infrastructure Funds has completed fundraising for its sixth infrastructure fund. The Barclays Integrated Infrastructure Fund raised GBP645m from long-term investors (pension funds, insurers, management firms and sovereign funds). Barclays Infrastructure Funds, which has offices in London and Paris, will concentrate the fund on infrastructure projects supported by the public sector, in the United Kingdom and Euro zone countries. Assets under management at Barclays Infrastructure Funds currently total about GBP1.2bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Janus Capital International Limited, the international division of Janus Capital Group Inc., has launched Janus US Fund, a sub-fund of Janus Capital Funds plc, its Dublin-domiciled range of UCITS III-compliant funds. The product will invest in US large caps, and will be managed with the same investment philosophy as the Janus Fund, based in the United States, which has a 40-year track record (since its launch in 1970, it has earned 12.06% per year, compared with gains of 9.76% for the S&P 500). Management is provided by the co-CIO of Janus Capital Management, Jonathan Coleman, and Dan Riff, who has co-managed the Janus Fund since 2007. “The launch of our flagship fund in Europe to target international investors is part of a strategy to optimise our product platform, and marks a new stage in the growth of our international activities,” says Dick Weil, president and CEO of Janus Capital Group, in a press statement. Several other funds (global and bonds) will be launched soon, reflecting the firm’s desire to extend its offerings outside the United States.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Financière de l’Echiquier has launched the Echiquier Global fund in Italy, an equities fund which invests in leading companies worldwide, FondiOnline reports. The product has been available in France since April, and has already received EUR30m in subscriptions.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } La Tribune reports that the liquidators of the Madoff victim funds Luxinvest and Luxalpha have been scheduled for 21 October and 9 November, respectively. The agendas for the meetings have not yet been released, but may include proposals related to negotiations with Irving Picard, the trustee for Madoff’s assets, the newspaper notes.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNP Paribas Investment Partners announced on 11 October that it has appointed Charlotte Dennery as Chief Operating Officer, and Pascal Biville, deputy CEO, to the newly-created position of head of the Europe, Americas, Middle East and Africa regions. He will be in charge of developing the region/country strategies and supervising the local entities and joint ventures. As Chief Operating Officer, Dennery will direct transversal functions including finance, IT systems and operations, as well as legal. Dennery will also retain her position has global head of FundQuest, which she has directed since 2009. Biville, who has been Chief Operating Officer since 2005 and deputy CEO of BNP Paribas Investment Partners since 2009, will oversee the merger with Fortis Investments. Dennery, who was hitherto global head of FundQuest at BNP Paribas Investment Partners, was previously director of finance and strategy at BNP Paribas Assurance for five years, director of development and strategy for the North American region for two years, and head of elaboration of strategy at BFI for the BNP Paribas group.

Groupama Asset Management has appointed Arnaud Ganet to the newly-created position of director of international sales, in order to “accompany the international development of these activities.”Ganet had been deputy director and CEO of Groupama AM SGR since January 2007. He remains deputy director of the Italian affiliate. However, his responsibilities as CEO of Groupama AM SGR will devlove to Alberico Potenza, who joined Groupama AM SGR as head of institutional clients, a position he held from 2007 to 2009. The Italian affiliate of Groupama, which has been in operation since 2006, now has over EUR1bn in assets under management from outside the group. Counting assets managed on behalf of the group, its assets are over EUR4.5bn, while Groupama AM has a total of EUR91.5bn in assets (as of 30 June 2010).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 8 October, Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management (PWM) announced the recruitment of Arnaud Apffel as managing director and head of global investment solutions for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He was previously co-head of private banking investment services and head of the key clients division at Lombard Odier. Apffel is based in Geneva, and reports to Marco Bizzozero, head of private wealth management EMEA and CEO of Deutsche Bank (Switzerland), and to Kevin Lecocq, head of global investment solutions for the PWM division of Deutsche Bank.

F&C Investments has hired Henderson Global Investors’ Alice Evans to co-manage its Stewardship International Fund alongside Sophie Horsfall, says Responsible Investor. She will join in November.

Le 11 octobre, Kleinwort Benson Bank, qui appartient au capital-investisseur RHJ International après avoir été dans le giron de la Commerzbank et de la Dresdner Bank, a annoncé la nomination de Sally Tennant comme CEO à compter de la mi-janvier 2011 et sous réserve de l’accord du régulateur. Elle était jusqu'à présent CEO de la banque privée de Lombard Odier à Londres et remplacera Robert Taylor, qui était en poste depuis 2004 et qui a «l’intention de faire une pause». (take a breakA cette occasion, Kleinwort Benson indique que l’acquisition de KBC Asset Management Ltd (Dublin) a été bouclée le 11 octobre et que la société de gestion est rebaptisée Kleinwort Benson Investors Dublin Limited. Cette transaction porte les encours sous gestion à plus de 10 milliards d’euros.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Simon Brooks, who assisted Tom Caddick, head of multi-manager at LV= Asset Management (LVAM), will take over the complete range of eight funds previously managed by Caddick with the assistance of CIO Piers Hillier, as Caddick is joining Santander Asset Management with Toby Vaughan, principal fund manager in the multi-management division. Caddick and Vaughan will report to Keith Speck, head of multi-manager at Santander AM. They previously worked together at F&C until 2007.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Alice Evans, who most recently managed the Industries of the Future fund at Henderson Global Investors, has been recruited as a senior portfolio manager at F&C Asset Management, where he will assist Sophie Horsfall, head of global thematic equities, from next month, in managing the SRI fund Stewardship International (GBP310m). She will also be granted other sustainable development portfolios in the future.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jupiter is setting an example. According to the Independent newspaper, the success of the British management firm’s initial public offering, as its shares were trading at the end of last week at over 253 pence, compared with 165p at the time of the initial offering, has inspired two City groups, Standard Life and Prudential, to consider an IPO for their asset management activities, Standard Life Investments and M&G, respectively. Standard Life, which closed at 229.9p on 8 October, estimates its intrinsic value at about 300 pence per share.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Robin Parbrook, already fund manager of the Schroder ISF Asian Total Return fund, has been appointed as manager of the Schroder ISF Pacific Equity fund (USD598.2m in assets as of the end of August, LU0248184466), effective immediately, replacing Manish Bhatia. Since its launch in 2007, the Asian Total Return fund has generated returns of 34.9%, compared with 18.6% for its benchmark index, the MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan. The ISF Pacific Equity fund, for its part, showed returns as of 8 October of 24.60% since its launch on 22 March 2006. Parbrook, based in Hong Kong, will continue to report to Louisa Lo, head of equities Asia ex Japan. In addition to the management of the Asian Total Return and Pacific Equity funds, Parbrook will play a more active role in the management of other Asian equity funds, and to assist in the regional direction of the firm. He will help to oversee the investment offices of Schroders in Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia, to make sure they operato along the group’s investment methods.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swedish pension fund AP3, with about EUR22.2bn in assets under management, has voted against or abstained from 60% of votes on proposals related to the remuneration of management at general shareholders’ meetings in which it participated outside Sweden, according to the most recent annual report on corporate governance (July 2009-June 2010). In many cases, opposition to the board’s resolutions was due to inadequate information, as the requirements are generally higher for Swedish pension funds. More generally, AP3 abstained from or voted against one in four resolutions by boards of directors.

In September, net sales of funds marketed in Sweden totalled SEK 3.6 billion (EUR388m). Bond funds had a net inflow of 3.9 billion and balanced funds had a net inflow of 3.5 billion, according to the Swedish investment fund association Fondbolagens Förening. Also equity funds recorded net inflows of SEK 1.3 billion, mainly due to net inflows into Sweden-, Asia- and sector funds. Money market funds, on the other hand, recorded a net outflow of SEK 4.2 billion. So far in 2010, total net sales of funds amounts to SEK 54.3 billion. «New savings in funds have been positive in all months from December 2008, except in May this year when equity markets around the world were marked by heavy turbulence,» says Pia Nilsson, managing director of the Swedish Investment Fund Association. Total net assets of funds at the end of September amounted to SEK 1,823 billion (EUR196.6bn), of which more than 1,000 billion were invested in equity funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Personnel at the wholesale banking & asset management division of BBVA will be increased by 25% in the next three years, bringing it to 5,000 overall, Expansión reports. This will mean the recruitment of over 1,000 employees in one year in the United States, Europe and Asia. The Spanish group is seeking to gain clients by leveraging its knowledge of the Latin American markets and its position in China, where it controls 15% of Citic. A concentrated effort will go to courting major international funds and family offices, a client segment in which BBVA is still underrepresented.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) announced on 11 October that it is discontinuing its relationship with Pacific Corporate Group (PCG) following a strategic re-examination of its programs and partnerships in private equity. The Californian pension fund also announced that it will be retaining Aviva Capital LLC (Aviva), which will continue to manage over USD1bn in investment vehicles dedicated to emerging markets, Global Opportunities Fund 1 and 2. CalPERS has also called in Capital Dynamics, which will take over the management of its Clean Energy and Technology fund (USD480m in assets under management), launched in 2007, which was previously managed by PCG. The alternative management portfolio at CalPERS (AIM program), with about USD28bn in assets, earned 30.9% in the twelve months to the end of March 2010.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In a statement published yesterday in French newspapers Les Echos and Le Monde, Edouard Carmignac addressed the currency war between the major global economic powers. On the one hand, he explains, there are countries like China which is unwilling to revalue the yuan despite record and growing commercial surpluses, and on the other side are nations like the United States and Japan which appear determined to release large quantities of currency in order to become more competitive by lowering the value of their currencies. The big loser in the war, says Carmignac, is Europe, which is town between inflationary fears in Germany, and which therefore would not view an appreciation of the euro all that negatively, and countries of Southern Europe, where deflationary pressures are an issue. The president of the management firm sees the currency war as a historic opportunity for the European Central Bank to extend its mandate. “The strong upward pressures on the euro should reassure Germany over the inflationary pressure while justifying an ambitious program to buy up debt from countries of the Community in difficulty,” he explains. Therefore, Carmignac calls on the ECB to enter the fray of the currency war, rather than continuing to restrict the mass of money in circulation, which would have a positive effect on short-term interest rates.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jean-François Bay has been appointed CEO of Morningstar France. He was co-founder and CEO of Seeds Finance and Multiratings; he joined Morningstar at the time of its acquisition of Seeds Group in July 2010. Bay’s management team is composed of Ludovic Jouvray, COO, and Emmanuel Bordes, director of sales, who were both already at Morningstar, and Vianney Dubois, director of consulting, who comes from Seeds. Morningstar has 46 employees in Paris.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNP Paribas Epargne & Retraite Entreprises announced on Monday, 11 October that it has been granted a renewal of the socially responsible support label for its range by the inter-union employee savings committee (CIES). All of the funds are part of the Multipar Philéis range, created in 2003, which respects all criteria defined by the CIES, as “financial and administrative management, legal format and commercial diffusion are regularly analysed,” a statement says. As of 30 June 2010, BNP Paribas Epargne & Retraite Entreprises had assets under management of EUR207m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Just ahead of the Chinese national holidays, Bank of Communications Schroders has announced the resignation of its general manager, Mo Taishan. He will be joining the private funds promoter Chongyang Investment in Shanghai (about CNY4bn in assets), where he will take over as general manager. There, he will join the former CIO and former head of marketing from Bank of Communications Schroders, who joined Chongyang in 2009 and the beginning of this year, respectively. Z-Ben Advisors reports that Taishan was previously director of the investment funds department of the Chinese regulator (CSRC). His recruitment by Chongyang may mean that investment boutiques may hope that liberalisation of the market will also apply to them, and not only to the major firms. They have already begun to encroach on the client bases of the well-established asset management firms in segregated accounts and specialised wealth management products.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } GLG Partners has announced the launch of a UCITS-compliant version of the hedge fund GLG Atlas Macro (USD250m in assets). The new product, domiciled in Ireland, is entitled Atlas Macro Alternative Fund, and will aim for returns and volatility of 10-15% p.a., investing in all asset classes, with care to preserve the liquidity of the portfolio. It is the eighth absolute return newcits product from the British asset management firm. The manager is Driss Ben-Brahim, assisted by Jamil Baz, chief investment strategist.

Le ratio de l'indice MSCI EM sur le PIB nominal des pays concernés apparaît encore en deçà de sa moyenne historique

Mardi 12 octobre, Dexia Asset Management entame à Paris son dixième «road show» européen sur la gestion alternative, qui coïncidera presque avec le lancement de nouveaux produits d’ici trois semaines.La gestion alternative représente chez Dexia AM un encours de 5,5-5,6 milliards d’euros hors mandats et dans 22 fonds coordonnés, a indiqué vendredi Fabrice Cuchet, qui dirige cette activité. Depuis le début de l’année, cette division a levé 500 millions d’euros de souscriptions nettes, dont 150 millions depuis le début de septembre. Les deux stratégies attirant actuellement le plus d’investissements sont l’arbitrage de risques sur les fusions/acquisitions et les marchés émergents. Mais celui qui a attiré le plus de souscriptions depuis le début de l’année et qui est actuellement en «soft close» avec près de 2 milliards d’euros d’encours est le Deixa Index Arbitrage géré Emmanuel Terraz.Fabrice Cuchet a par ailleurs rapporté qu'à fin août on recensait 615 fonds alternatifs coordonnés (newcits) dont 38 % en long/short equity, avec 46 % de gérants britanniques et 16 % de gérants français. L’encours représentait 100 milliards d’euros. Sur ce point, le responsable de Dexia rappelle que ce type de produits a été le résultat d’une adaptation accélérée à la nouvelle donne financière et réglementaire, favorisée par la recherche de liquidité, de transparence et de stabilité réglementaire. A telle enseigne que l’on pouvait escompter voici un an que ces produits, avec des contraintes supérieures à celles des hedge funds non régulés, généreraient des perfoirmances inférieures à de 200-300 points de base aux hedge funds qu’ils répliquent. A présent, Fabrice Cuchet est d’avis que l’on manque encore du recul suffisant pour être conclusif sur l'écart de performance entre les deux variétés de produits.Concernant l’impact de Bâle III et la directive Solvabilité II sur la clientèle, Dexia AM a annoncé, dans un souci de transparence, son intention d’intégrer bientôt dans ses fiches de reporting mensuel la consommation de fonds propres de chacun de ses produits.

Les flux dans les fonds émergents ont atteint des niveaux records la semaine dernière. Les fonds actions dédiés aux marchés émergents ont ainsi enregistré plus de 50 milliards de dollars d’entrées depuis le début de l’année, dont plus de 6 milliards de dollars pour la seule semaine au 6 octobre, selon les données communiquées par EPFR Global.Du côté des obligations, la collecte a dépassé le milliard de dollars pour la troisième semaine consécutive, portant le total depuis le début de l’année à plus de 39 milliards de dollars.

La Deutsche Bank a consolidé ses activités de dérivés cotés avec la mise en place de services de règlement et de compensation pour toutes les classes d’actifs, rapporte Hedgeweek.La banque a par ailleurs renforcé ces activités avec le recrutement de huit personnes. Un chiffre qui pourrait être revu à la hausse dans les prochains mois.

Muzinich & Co a annoncé le 8 octobre l’arrivée de Laurence Remusat en qualité de directeur clientèle institutionnelle au sein du bureau parisien dirigé par Eric Pictet.Laurence Remusat a travaillé précédemment jusqu’en décembre 2008 chez Carmignac Gestion en qualité de directeur commercial et développement institutionnel.Spécialisée dans la gestion de dettes d’entreprises à haut rendement, Muzinich & Co totalisait 5,6 milliards d’euros d’encours à fin août 2010 gérés pour le compte de clients institutionnels européens (85%) et américains (15%).

L’investisseur émirati qui avait injecté des milliards de livres dans Barclays a vendu des actions de la banque, note l’Agefi, réalisant ainsi une plus-value de plus de 2,2 milliards d’euros. L’opération intervient, note le quotidien, alors que la division banque d’investissement Barclays Capital pourrait décevoir les attentes au troisième trimestre, voire l’an prochain.

UniCredit ne devrait pas choisir de partenaire pour fusionner avec sa filiale de gestion d’actifs Pioneer avant la fin de l’année car la banque prévoit de discuter avec au moins quatre candidats, indique Bloomberg Businessweek citant deux personnes ayant une connaissance directe du dossier. La banque italienne cherche un partenaire stratégique pour Pioneer Global Asset Management et prévoit de rester actionnaire de l’entité issue de la fusion, ont ajouté ces personnes. L’opération impliquerait sûrement une société française ou européenne. Les projets concernant l’avenir de Pioneer ne semblent donc pas avoir été remis en cause par l’arrivée d’une nouvelle direction chez UniCredit.