Selon plusieurs sources citées par Les Echos, quelques grandes banques européennes et certains assureurs sont intéressés par l’entrée dans le capital de la filiale de gestion d’actifs de l’italien UniCredit, Pioneer Investments. En France, Amundi, Natixis AM et BNP Paribas regarderaient le gestionnaire, valorisé entre 1,5 et 2,5 milliards d’euros.

In second quarter 2010, TCW, the US-based asset management affiliate of Société Générale, posted net redemptions of USD2.7bn. For the banking group, which publishes its quarterly results this Wednesday morning, this represents a “net slowdown” compared with the first quarter of the year, when redemption demands totalled EUR12.6bn, in the wake of the departure of Jeffrey Gundlach and several other partners from the US management firm. SG states that outflows in second quarter include EUR5bn related to MBS activites, compared with EUR10.8bn in Q1. Other asset classes show net inflows of EUR2.3bn, particularly money market supports and equities, the bank adds. In light of market effects of -EUR2.7bn, currency effects of +EUR8.1bn, and perimeter effects of +EUR0.9bn, assets under management in the asset management activity of SG, which includes TCW and part of Amundi, totalled EUR88.7bn as of the end of June 2010, compared with EUR85.2bn as of the end of March 2010.

In second quarter, the alternative management firm Och-Ziff, publicly traded in the United States, has seen a 3% increase in its assets to USD25.5bn. Assets have increased 16% in one year. This increase of USD3.6bn in 12 months was driven by the performance of investments, which brought in USD2.4bn, and by net subscriptions of USD1.2bn. In second quarter, a USD647.2m increase in assets was due solely to subscriptions (USD1bn). As of 1 August, assets under management at Och-Ziff totalled USD25.9bn, after net subscriptions of EUR300m. In the first seven months of the year, the management firm posted net inflows of about USD2.2bn. Distributable profit at Och-Ziff incresed to USD57m in the three months to the end of June, compared with USD12.6m in the corresponding period of last year. Including ongoing costs, the firm shows a loss of USD89.4m.

China’s USD300 billion sovereign-wealth fund, China Investment Corp, is in advanced talks with Harvard University’s endowment to buy its stakes in half a dozen U.S.-focused real-estate funds for about USD500 million, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the Wall Street Journal. CIC has also made commitments to invest USD1 billion in funds managed by Brookfield Asset Management, headquartered in both Toronto and New York, and USD1 billion to Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers.

According to multiple sources, several major European banks and some insurers are interested in acquiring a stake in the capital of the asset management affiliate of the Italian UniCredit group, Pioneer Investments, Les Echos reports. In France, the interested parties are said to include Amundi, Natixis AM and BNP Paribas. The value of the affiliate is estimated at EUR1.5bn to EUR2.5bn.

BNP Paribas Fortis has signed an agreement with the employees of the US fund management firm Montag & Caldwell Funds, at the conclusion of which it will sell them 100% of capital in the business, L’Echo reports. The transaction price has not been disclosed. The US firm, active in large cap growth equities and led by CEO Bill Vogel, manages USD14bn in assets and has 49 employees.

The investing environment for the next 10 years won’t match the boom conditions of the 1980s and 1990s, but will be much better than that of the decade just ended, according to “10 Predictions for the Next 10 Years” developed by Robert C. Doll, Vice Chairman and Chief Equity Strategist for Fundamental Equities at BlackRock, Inc. Here are Doll’s “10 Predictions for the Next 10 Years”: 1. U.S. equities experience high single-digit percentage total returns after the worst decade since the 1930s. 2. Recessions occur more frequently during this decade than only once a decade as occurred in the last 20 years. 3. Healthcare, information technology and energy alternatives are leading growth areas for the U.S. 4. The U.S. dollar continues to be less dominant as the decade progresses. 5. Interest rates move irregularly higher in the developing world. 6. Country self-interest leads to more trade and political conflicts. 7. An aging and declining population gives Europe some of Japan’s problems. 8. World growth is led by emerging market consumers. 9. Emerging markets weighting in global indices rises significantly. 10. China’s economic and political ascent continues.

BNY Mellon has completed its acquisition of BHF Asset Servicing GmbH from BHF-BANK Aktiengesellschaft and Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. S.C.A in Germany. The transaction, first announced on March 8 2010, also includes the purchase of BHF Asset Servicing’s wholly-owned fund administration affiliate, Frankfurter Service Kapitalanlage-Gesellschaft mbH (FSKAG). The new combined German business has EUR569 billion in assets under custody and administration and a depotbanking volume of EUR122 billion.

Europe’s fund industry could reap savings of EUR2bn to EUR3bn a year by making full use of the master-feeder fund structure arrangements allowable under the Ucits IV regime, according to based Alpha Financial Markets Consulting, cited by Financial Times Fund Management.

The German asset management firm Deka Bank has launched a new fund for former Union Investment manager Thomas Meier. The Deka-DividendenStrategie will invest in shares in large caps which pay sustainable dividends, with a defensive bias. The manager estimates that the coming period will bring high dividends. The fund will bet on the telecommunications and consumer sectors as its first priorities. Subscription fees for the Deka-DividendenStrategie are 3.75%, while annual management fees are 1.25%.

Among a pool of 1033 managers within the global equity sector, only 323 managers beat the MSCI World benchmark which rose 5.9% in the six months to the end of June, according to the latest Citywire analysis. Top of the performance list are two Lombard Odier managers, Philippe Cornu and Daniel Lenhard, who came joint first for the performance of their LO Funds - Selective Global Equity fund (+19.11%). In joint third place we find Marc Girault and his colleague Paul Girault of HMG Finance. Their HMG Globetrotter fund returned 17.65%.

The Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the Chinese sovereign fund China Investment Corp (USD300bn) is in advanced talks with the Harvard University endowment to buy its stakes in several real estate funds which invest in the United States, for about USD500m. CIC has already pledged to invest USD1bn in funds managed by Brookfield Asset Management, based in Toronto and New York, and USD1bn with Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers.

Pirelli RE SGR has launched two new real estate funds, Anastasia and Monteverdi, with a total market value in excess of EUR400 million. They take its total assets of some EUR6.3 billion. The funds are dedicated to institutional investors, and specialized in properties primarily used as offices.

Deux hedge funds lancés par d’anciens traders vedettes de Goldman Sachs vont fusionner, rapporte le Financial Times. Ainsi, TPG-Axon, l’un des plus gros hedge funds du monde, basé à New York, va se rapprocher de Montrica Investment Management, l’un des plus importants hedge funds de Londres spécialisé dans les stratégies événementielles. TPG-Axon gère plus de 9 milliards de dollars d’actifs, tandis que les actifs de Montrica ressortent à 1,1 milliard de dollars.

Selon Financial News Online, Union Bancaire Privée s’apprête à dépenser une partie de sa trésorerie dans des acquisitions. La banque privée suisse s’intéresse particulièrement aux marchés émergents. Son nouveau directeur de la banque privée, Michel Longhini a notamment été chargé de croître en Asie, au Moyen Orient et en Europe orientale. UBP espère porter la part de ses encours sous gestion dans les marchés émergents à un tiers du total sur trois ans, contre 10 % actuellement, précise FN.

Selon Reuters, cité par l’Agefi, la banque japonaise MUFG souhaiterait reprendre la participation de BNP Paribas dans une coentreprise chinoise de gestion d’actifs pour 38,2 millions d’euros.

Alain Dromer, le directeur général d’Aviva Investors, sera le prochain président du comité Investissement de l’ABI, l’association des assureurs britanniques qui représente les intérêts du secteur. Il prendra ses fonctions le 15 septembre, succédant à Keith Skeoch, le directeur général de Standard Life Investments, dont le mandat arrive à son terme.Alain Dromer, qui rejoindra également le conseil d’administration de l’ABI, a occupé diverses fonctions dans la finance, et notamment celui de global head of groupe investment businesses chez HSBC.

En juin, les souscriptions nettes au fonds dédiés aux particuliers au Royaume-Uni ont rebondi à plus de 2 milliards de livres, après une chute en mai, selon les dernières statistiques de l’IMA, l’association britannique du secteur de la gestion d’actifs. Sur les six premiers mois de l’année, la collecte nette des fonds retail atteint ainsi 10,8 milliards de livres, soit le deuxième meilleur score de tous les temps. Les encours sont gestion sont ressortis à 488,2 milliards de livres, en léger retrait par rapport à mai, mais en hausse de 25 % sur un an. L’IMA note que les investisseurs particuliers continuent à se diversifier, les souscriptions ayant été reparties sur plusieurs classes d’actifs. Ce sont néanmoins les obligations qui ont été les plus prisées, avec des souscriptions nettes de 579 millions de livres, devant les actions avec 525 millions de livres.

Au cours du deuxième trimestre 2010, AllianceBernstein, filiale d’Axa, a vu ses encours reculer de 43 milliards de dollars ou 9 % à 458 milliards de dollars (ils sont en hausse de 2 % sur un an). Ce déclin est dû aux performances négatives des investissements ainsi qu’à des rachats nets de 4,7 milliards de dollars. Le gestionnaire d’actifs précise néanmoins que le rythme des retraits ralentit, puisqu’ils sont inférieurs de 28 % par rapport à ceux du premier trimestre 2010 et de 81 % par rapport à ceux enregistrés un an plus tôt. Dans ce contexte, le chiffre d’affaires est tombé à 688 millions de dollars (contre 721 millions un an plus tôt) et le bénéfice net a reculé de 16% à 32,3 millions de dollars.

Selon L’Echo, BNP Paribas a déjà réalisé 402 millions d’euros de synergies liées à l’intégration de Fortis, dont 148 millions au deuxième trimestre sur un objectif total de 900 millions en année pleine. «L’intégration a pratiquement six mois d’avance. Il faut que les travaux continuent à se dérouler, et l’on pourrait à un moment donné envisager de réviser ces objectifs», a déclaré Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, le CEO de BNP Paribas Fortis, lors de la présentation des résultats de la banque.

La société de gestion d’actifs suisse GAM (54,1 milliards de francs suisses sous gestion) annonce le lancement d’un fonds de placement au format Ucits III en instruments financiers, systématique et à liquidité élevée. Ce produit, appelé GAM Star Keynes Quantitative Strategies, est géré par Sushil Wadhwani, fondateur et CEO de Wadhwani Asset Management, une société de gestion basée à Londres et spécialisée dans la gestion macroéconomique quantitative. Le fonds utilise des modèles actions et obligations directionnels afin de générer des rendements présentant une faible corrélation avec les marchés traditionnels. «Ces modèles d’investissement exclusifs, fruit de l’expérience de plus de 25 ans de Sushil Wadhwani en matière de modélisation quantitative, cherchent à exploiter les facteurs économiques qui sous-tendent chaque marché. Ils peuvent ainsi produire de meilleurs résultats que les autres stratégies de trading grâce à la combinaison d’indicateurs de momentum et d’influences macroéconomiques. Par ailleurs, la prise en compte de données non relatives aux cours est essentielle puisqu’elle permet aux modèles d’anticiper les changements d’orientation du marché», explique un communiqué de presse. «Les stratégies suivent une approche multidimensionnelle de la gestion du risque, le processus de contrôle du risque étant intégré dans les modèles systématiques et les positions risque faisant en outre l’objet d’une surveillance et d’une analyse continues par le comité des risques et l’équipe de recherche. Les versions offshore de ces stratégies ont surperformé les marchés d’actions mondiaux de plus de 8% par an ces cinq dernières années, avec des pertes maximales nettement moins élevées», indique encore GAM. Caractéristiques du fonds GAM Star Keynes Quantitative Strategies Type de fonds: UCITS III de droit irlandais Objectif de rendement: rendement absolu net de 12 à 15% par an Souscription minimale: 10 000 USD Catégories de devises: USD, GBP, EUR, CHF Négoce: hebdomadaire

Crédit Agricole Luxembourg, filiale du groupe Crédit Agricole SA spécialisée dans la gestion privée, vient de conclure un accord portant sur l’acquisition de la majorité des actions de Dresdner Van Moer Courtens (DVMC), société de bourse belge spécialisée dans l’activité de gestion privée, sous réserve de l’obtention de l’approbation des autorités de contrôle.Crédit Agricole Luxembourg intégrera les activités actuelles de gestion privée exercées par sa filiale CAGP Belgium, dans DVMC, qui prendra le nom de Crédit Agricole Van Moer Courtens. Crédit Agricole Van Moer Courtens deviendra ainsi le pôle de développement des activités de gestion privée de Crédit Agricole SA en Belgique.

In second quarter 2010, AllianceBernstein, an affiliate of Axa, has seen its assets fall by Usd43bn, or 9%, to USD458bn (an increase of 2% year on year). The decline is due to negative performance of investments and to net redemptions of USD4.7bn. The asset management firm states, however, that the pace of rede4mptions is letting up, as they were 28% lower than in first quarter 2010, and 81% lower than the redemptions recorded one year ago. As a result of this decline, earnings have fallen to USD688m (from USD721m one year earlier), and net profits are down 16% to USD32.3m.

Crédit Agricole Luxembourg, an affiliate of the Crédit Agricole SA group specialised in private management, has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Dresdner Van Moer Courtens (DVMC), a Belgian stock market company speicalised in private management activities, pending the approval of the supervisory authorities. Crédit Agricole Luxembourg will join the private management activities of the group’s affiliate CAGP Belgium as a part of DVMC, which will become known as Crédit Agricole Van Moer Courtens. Crédit Agricole Van Moer Courtens will become the private management activity development unit of Crédit Agricole SA in Belgium.

Agefi relays reports in Reuters that the Japanese firm MUFG would like to buy BNP Paribas’ stake in a Chinese asset management joint venture for EUR38.2m.

Two hedge funds launched by former star Goldman Sachs traders are to merge, the Financial Times reports. TPG-Axon, the largest hedge fund in the world, based in New York, will merge with Montrica Investment Management, one of the largest hedge funds in London, specialised in event-driven strategies. TPG-Axon manages more than USD9bn in assets, while Montrica’s assets total USD1.1bn.

One of the key recommendations of the Committee of European Securities Regulators last week was that a “consolidated tape” – a complete record of all trading – should be established for ETFs and other equity-like instruments, says the Financial Times FM. This development would bring the European Union into line with the US, where all ETF trading has to be reported.

The Swiss asset management firm GAM (CHF54.1bn in assets under management) has announced the launch of a UCITS III-compliant quantitative, high liquidity investment fund which invests in financial instruments. The product, entitled GAM Star Keynes Quantitative Strategies, is managed by Sushi Wadhwani, founder and CEO of Wadhwani Asset Management, a fund manager based in London specialised in quantitative macroeconomic management. The fund uses directional equities and bond models to generate returns with a low correlation to traditional markets. “These exclusive investment models, the fruit of Sushi Wadhwani’s experience of more than 25 years in quantitative modelling, aims to exploit economic factors which underly each market. They may thus produce better results than other trading strategies, through a combination of momentum and influence indicators. The inclusion of data unrelated to prices is essential, as it allows models to anticipate changes in market orientation,” a press statement explains.

In the second quarter of 2010, UK pension funds decreased their inflation hedging by nearly a third compared to the first quarter of the year, but have maintained similar levels of interest rate hedging, according to the latest F&C LDI Survey. Inflation hedging was unusually high at the start of the year, but by early April RPI swap levels looked unattractively high, with 30 year RPI swap rates reaching 3.9% - as high as at any time since summer 2008. This fall in inflation hedging can be attributed to the combination of unattractive market levels, an acute and prolonged period of pre-election wariness and renewed concerns about the prospects of a “double-dip” recession and deflationary fears, all of which has meant that a considerable volume of potential hedging activity was put on hold.

Alain Dromer, chief executive of Aviva Investors, is to become the next Investment Committee Chairman of the ABI. Dromer will take on this new role on 15th September 2010, replacing Keith Skeoch, Chief Executive of Standard Life Investments, who will step down, having completed three years in office. As a result of this appointment, Dromer will join the Board of the ABI. Dromer has been chief executive of Aviva Investors since September 2007. He has enjoyed an extensive career in financial services including roles as Global Head of Group Investment Businesses at HSBC.