On 15 September, Feri Finance Group announced that it has recruited Wilfried Hoffmann as director of the activities fo Feri Family Trust (which manages the assets of 250 families) for southern Germany. Hoffmann has spent more than six years as head of Merck Finck Treuhand. Merck Finck & Co was acquired in May by the Indien Hinduja group when the latter bought KBL European Private Bankers.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } IC Immobilien Holoding (EUR5bn in assets under management) has acquired PropertyOne (EUR2.8bn), financing the acquisition through a capital increase via an injection of capital. The merged entity will become a new firm, IC PropertyOne Asset und Real Estate Management GmbH, with assets of EUR7.8bn, according to a statement to the market dated 15 September. The business will have total staff of about 7,000, and the total area of properties will add up to about 3.7 million square metres, including about 700 properties. Shareholders in PropertyOne will control about 7% of the new entity, including a 4.8% stake for the US private equity investor Cerberus. The objective of IC Immobilien is to reach EUR10bn in assets under management by the end of 2011.

Jupiter is expanding its continental Europe sales team in Munich, Germany, to facilitate the company’s continued sales drive in the German, Swiss and Austrian markets. The office, managed by Martina Guenzl, sales director, Europe, will soon be joined by Daniel Blum, sales manager, Europe, who has worked for Jupiter since September 2005, and a dedicated sales support assistant.The local office has been expanded to address the growing demand for Jupiter’s funds from professional buyers including private banks, fund of funds, family offices and wealth managers, says a press release.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In a statement published on 15 September, Banque Sarasin announced that it is planning to exploit the current favourable prevailing conditions on the Swiss capital market with a mid-term bond issue, in order to “diversify financing strategy.” Banque Sarasin has mandated UBS to manage the issue.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Banque Sarasin announced on 15 September that it has added to its range of offerings for high net worth private clients, with the launch of the Private Solutions brand, which provides global wealth management advising and sophisticated solutions for the needs of non-bankable assets such as real estate properties, participations in private companies, intellectual property and lifestyle assets. The range is aimed to respond first and foremost to fundamental neets in relation to non-bankable assets, such as generating liquidity, improving returns, and reducing risk. Bankable assets, i.e. cash, securities, and precious metals, generally represent only a fraction of the total wealth of European high net worth clients. Most of the assets are located outside the world of banking, and are in principle declared in the country of domicile of the owner of the assets at book value. Real estate properties, stakes in private companies, intellectual property and lifestyle assets are a part of this largely unexploited and attractive realm of assets, the bank says in a statement.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For the second consecutive month, Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco, Allianz group) has reduced its allocation to US government debt, as returns on Treasuries has fallen to historic all-time lows, the Wall Street Journal reports. US public debt in the portfolio of the Pimco Total Return Fund (USD247.9bn), managed by Bill Gross, were down to 36% as of the end of August, compared with 54% in July, and 63% in June, while mortgage-backed securities (MBS) totalled 21%, compared with 18% in July and 16% in June.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The global transaction services unit at Citi is now offering a range of support services in relation to regulatory requirements and compliance issues for hedge funds and private equity funds, Hedgeweek reports. Similar services already exist for investment advisers and mutual funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } CamGestion, an affiliate of BNP Paribas which changed its name slightly over one year ago, is planning to develop abroad, particularly in Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Benelux. The wealth management specialist of the BNP Paribas Investment Partners group has seen inflows of about EUR500m since the beginning of the year, following EUR2.6bn in inflows in 2009. Assets as of 31 March totalled EUR12.6bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that Citi Private Bank has recruited Roger Bacon, previously at Union Bancaire Privée, as head of managed investments (MI) and advising for the Asia-Pacific region. In this newly-created position, Bacon will be in charge of sales of MI products, sales, and development of custom portfolios as well as administration of MI products. Bacon will report to Debashish Dutta Gupta, head of investments in the Asia-Pacific region.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 15 September, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) admitted 45 ETF funds from Credit Suisse to trading, 13 of which were also admitted to the ETFPlus market at Borsa Italiana in Milan (see list below). The London Stock Exchange now lists 327 ETF funds from 11 providers, while the Milan stock exchange had 478 products from 11 issuers.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } With the Luxembourg-registered fund Emerging Markets Corporate Value Bonds, the Danish Sparinvest is extending its range of typically value funds, with a product which will invest exclusively in corporate bonds from firms with low levels of debt in emerging markets, with no supplemental exposure to government debt, which differentiates the product from many competing products. The fund is also available in Germany and France from 15 September. Sparinvest has already obtained EUR45m in subscriptions from Danish institutional investors for the fund, managed by Sune Jensen and Toke Hjortshøj, with the method which has also been successful for the Sparinvest High Yield Value Bonds fund. Characteristics Name: Sparinvest Emerging Markets Corporate Value Bonds ISIN code: LU0519053697 Management commission: 1.25% Front-end fee: 2%

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to statistics from the Austrian VÖIG association of management firms, assets in funds as of the end of August totalled EUR143.9bn, compared with EUR142.1bn as of the end of July. Compared with 31 December 2009 (EUR136.7bn), this represents an increase of 5.27%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 15 September, the Austrian management firm Raiffeisen Capital Management (RCM) launched its new Luxembourg Sicav container for several sub-funds which are clones of Austrian-registered funds: Raiffeisen Emerging European Equities, Raiffeisen Russian Equities, Raiffeisen Emerging Markets Equities and Raiffeisen Emerging Markets Local Bonds. The products will initially be registered in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Singapore, the main countries where RCM products are sold. Registration in other countries is planned. Aside from the Russian Equities fund, which is denominated in US dollars, all other funds are denominated in Euros. Shares in pounds Sterling, US dollars and Euros are planned for a later date. For retail investors, minimal subscription is set at EUR2,500. Management commission is 1.75% for equities funds, and 1% for bond products. The choice of a Sicav wrapper for the fund is due to the fact that about three quarters of cross-border sales are of products in this legal format. The Luxembourg Sicav vehicle will allow the firm to improve its access to major opportunities in Europe and Asia and to develop international distribution. RCM states that its assets increased by EUR1.6bn, or 6% in the first eight months of the year, to EUR28.5bn as of the end of August. Including advisory mandates, the total comes to EUR30.7bn. Profits are slightly superior to expectations.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Californian pension fund CalPERS, with about USD208bn in assets under management, on 15 September announced two “significant reforms,” which will aim to restore investor confidence. Firstly, a position has been created for a senior chief risk officer, who will concentrate on risk management; and secondly, an ethics helpline has been created, which will identify fraud, conflicts of interest, and all other types of abuse. These new efforts come in addition to those already engaged in by the pension fund in the past 12 months to “restore confidence, integrity, and accountability in everything we do,” CalPERS says in a statement.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 13 September, Rydex ETF Trust registered a series of 19 new ETF funds which do not rely on leverage, replicating 16 Russell indices and 3 MSCI indices, with the SEC. All the products carry the suffix “equal weight,” indicating that the securities in the index are considered equally weighted. Management commissions range from 0.55% to 0.90%.

Frankie Lee has decided to leave Henderson to join another asset manager based in Hong Kong. He has been managing the USD355 million Henderson HF Asia-Pacific Property Equities Fund since 2008. Henderson is currently in the market to hire an equal replacement for Frankie Lee but until it has done so, Patrick Sumner, head of property equities, will be responsible for the management for the USD800 million Asian property equities assets the asset manager manages on behalf of its clients on a segregated and pooled basis, including the Henderson HF Asia-Pacific Property Equities Fund. In addition, to ensure the smooth management and running of the Fund and to assist in finding a replacement Patrick Sumner will move to Singapore in October until such a time as Henderson feel is appropriate following the recruitment of a replacement, says Henderson. Frankie Lee will continue his involvement in the fund until his day of departure on the 1st of December 2010 or until his replacement arrives.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi reports that Export-Import Bank of China and the Chinese sovereign fund CIC have invested USD300m each in a fund which will finance projects in energy and infrastructure in South-East Asia. The fund will have USD10bn in assets in eight years’ time.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Premier Asset Management, whose assets under management total about GBP2.5bn, has launched a multi-asset class portfolio, which includes five funds, UK Money Market, Conservative Growth, Multi-Asset Distribution, Multi-Asset Growth and Enterprise Funds, which offer several ways to invest in money markets, equities, fixed income, structured products and real estate.

Jupiter Asset Management has announced that Simon Somerville has been appointed deputy manager of the Jupiter Global Managed Fund. The GBP275m fund covers a broad spectrum of global markets and sectors with individual stocks selected by eight of Jupiter’s regional managers including Cedric de Fonclare, manager of the Jupiter European Special Situations Fund, Derek Pound, co-manager of the Jupiter Primadona Investment Trust, Sebastian Radcliffe, manager of the Jupiter North American Income Fund and Ben Surtees, manager of the Jupiter Asian Fund,. Overall asset allocation is set by John Chatfeild-Roberts, who has lead-managed the fund since November 2001.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Axa announced on 15 September that it has finalised its sale of the following activities based in the United Kingdom: traditional life insurance and retirement; collective retirement planning and pensions distributed by independent financial advisers; and annuities, all for an overall sale price of GBP2.75bn (about EUR3.3bn). The amount received in cash by the group is EUR1.7bn, the group says in a statement. “The operation is a key element in our strategy to better optimise the allocation of capital within the group, while concentrating on higher growth and profit operations on the British life insurance, savings, and retirement market,” Denis Duverne, the deputy CEO of Axa says in a statement.

F&C Investments is rebranding its UK retail range to Thames River following the merger of the two companies, writes Money Marketing. The fund manager is going to retain the F&C brand for the UK institutional side and switch to F&C Thames River in the rest of Europe.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Sam Catalano, who was head of the equities research team specialised in metals and mining in Europe for Macquarie in London, has joined the global equities team at Schroders, led by Virgini Maisonneuve, head of global and international equities, as a portfolio manager specialised in the global materials sector. Giles Money, a recent university graduate, has also been recruited as a portfolio manager and analyst specialised in climate change. He will report to Simon Webber, co-manager of the Schroder Global Climate Change Fund.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Chris McGolpin, associate director of KPMG in the United Kingdom, has joined Schroders as head of client service & business management for institutional activities. The position is newly-created. McGolpin will report directly to Miles O’Connor, head of UK institutional.

Le rôle systémique des chambres de compensation nourrit le débat chez les professionnels

La baisse des transactions engagée depuis deux ans est enfin enrayée grâce à un rebond des grandes surfaces au premier trimestre

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Le mois d’août confirme la reprise en Ile-de-France, mais le volume d’actifs neufs tend à diminuer face à la chute des mises en chantier

Les chiffres sont éloquents : entre fin décembre et fin août, l’encours du fonds de droit irlandais Pimco GIS Unconstrained Bond (*) est passé de 255 millions à 1,65 milliard de dollars pendant que celui de son pendant aux Etats-Unis passait de 3,48 milliards à 10,99 milliards. Cela témoigne certainement de la capacité de persuasion des équipes commerciales d’Allianz Global Investors (AGI) mais un tel succès ne serait pas concevable si le produit ne répondait pas à une demande forte, a souligné mardi à Paris Dan Phillipson, senior vice president, product mangement. L'écho a notamment été très positif sur les marchés français, britannique, suisse et italien.Manifestement, la stratégie mise en œuvre par Pimco convient aux investisseurs institutionnels en cet environnement de «nouvelle normalité» avec une plus grande volatilité, des rendements bas et l’accumulation d’incertitudes. Comme l’indique le qualificatif «unconstrained», l'équipe de gérants ne se laisse pas enfermer dans un indice de référence et investit dans tous les compartiments de l’obligataire. Environ 20 % sont placés dans des obligations d’entreprise en ce moment. Le gros de l’exposition aux titres d’Etat est concentré sur des émissions allemandes et françaises.Les limites sont claires : duration comprise entre -3 et+8 ans (+ 2 ans actuellement), pas plus de 40 % de haut rendement (5 % actuellement, pas plus de 50 % dans les pays émergents (5-6 % actuellement), pas plus de 35 % en devises. Il n’y a pas de plafond pour les valeurs mobilières étrangères et le portefeuille doit globalement être de qualité investment grade (il se situe à AA- actuellement). Quant à la volatilité, elle est similaire à celle des marchés obligataires. A noter enfin que, pour ce produit, Pimco couvre ses positions mais n’utilise pas d’effet de levier.(*) Codes isin : IE00B464K924 pour la part retail et IE00B3FNF987 pour la part institutionnelle

Entre fin juillet et fin août, le nombre d’ETF en Europe avait augmenté à 985 unités contre 969, avec 3.140 cotations contre 3.117 et un encours total de 230,9 milliards de dollars contre 236,8 milliards. Le nombre de promoteurs a augmenté à 37 contre 35 et le nombre de Bourses cotant des ETF est passé à 19 contre 18, rapporte IShares. L’encours à fin décembre 2009 était ressorti à 226,9 milliards, de sorte que le total huit mois plus tard lui est encore de 1,76 % supérieur.iShares précise également, que les souscriptions nettes enregistrées par les ETF et ETP domiciliés en Europe ont porté sur 2,2 milliards de dollars en août (dont 1,6 milliard pour les ETF, contre 2,4 milliards en juillet), de sorte que sur les huit premiers mois de l’année les entrrées nettes ont représenté 29,3 milliards de dollars (dont 26 lmilliards pour les ETF, contre 24,2 milliards au 31 juillet).iShares a capté le plus gros des souscriptions nettes pour janvier-août, avec 6,6 milliards de dollars, devant db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) avec 3,1 milliards et Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) avec 3 milliards.En termes d’encours, iShares reste le numéro un avec 83,8 milliards de dollars, soit 36,3 % du marché (contre 36,1 % fin juillet), devant Lyxor (43,1 milliards et 18,7 %) et db x-trackers (37,4 milliards et 16,2 %).

La Hedge Fund Association a annoncé l’ouverture d’une antenne à Londres et a fait part de son intention d’ouvrir d’autres antennes dans d’autres grandes places européennes pour les hedge funds."L’Europe est l’une des régions les plus dynamiques dans les activités de gestion alternative et il est essentiel que la Hedge Fund Association, une association professionnelle américaine sans but lucratif dédiée à l’investissement alternatif ait une présence forte dans cette zone», indique dans un communiqué David Friedland, président de l’association et par ailleurs président de Magnum US Investments.