On Wednesday, State Street announced that in second quarter it recorded a second quarter 2010 after-tax charge of USD251m or USD0.50 per share, including a related cash contribution to certain common and collective trust funds managed by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) that engage in securities lending (the SSgA lending funds). The USD330m transfer will allow SSgA to raise restrictions on redemptions from its lending funds from August 2010. State Street has also announced that in second quarter it had a revenue of USD2.3bn, and profits per share of USD0.87, taking into account the one-time charge of USD251m mentioned above, and a tax expense of USD180m for restructuring of assets in non-US conduits.

Nielsen has found that Franklin Resources was the US mutual fund manager which spent most on advertising in first quarter, with USD3.7m, compared with nearly USD0.51m in the corresponding period of last year, Mutual Fund Wire reports. Franklin Resources was followed by T. Rowe Price (USD2.97m), Vanguard (USD2.13m), Fidelity (USD2.05m), and Power Corp of Canada (the owner of Putnam Investments) with USD2.03m.

Fabrice Cuchet, head of alternative management at Dexia Asset Management, says UCITS III hedge funds, known as newcits, “do not aim to replace hedge funds, but to bring a complementary range of products, more liquid and more regulated.” But there are many pitfalls, and one should not assume that newcits create liquidity. “Newcits are not miracle products which will deliver the same performance as hedge funds while offering more liquidity and less risk,” he says. It is likely, in fact, that the average performance of UCITS hedge funds will be lower than those of the hedge fund industry, partly due to a more restrictive UCITS environment for managers, and partly since not all strategies and assets are eligible for UCITS, which reduces the potential sources of performance. Dexia AM offers 22 UCITS III funds, covering 15 different alternative strategies in all asset classes.

The head of emerging markets at Axa Framlington, William Calvert, is leaving the group, along with two of his managers, Ming Kemp and Neil Denman. Calvert is lead manager of the Framlington Emerging Markets fund (GBP241.4m). The team will continue to provide management of the product for three months, and will then be replaced by Mark Beveridge and Irina Topa-Serry until successors for the trio can be found.

Palatine Asset Management, the asset management entity from Banque Palatine, the business and wealth management bank of the BPCE group, in collaboration with C&M Finances, an independent management firm, on 7 July announced the launch of the FCP Export Europe Palatine, the first French-registered common investment fund (FCP) dedicated exclusively to European exporters. The objective is to profit from the performance of European, Euro zone businesses which are exposed to markets in which currencies are being revalued. The businesses the fund invests in export to the United States, Japan, China, and the major emerging markets. In the course of first half 2010, the currencies of these countries (dollar, yen, Yuan, Indian Rupee, Brazilian Real, Mexican Peso and others) have been revalued by an averge of 15%. Currently, the exposure of European publicly-traded groups to emerging markets alone, which are undergoing very strong economic growth, is 25%. Companies in the Exposure Europe Palatine fund will thus fully profit from the attractiveness of the Euro. The FCP Export Europe Palatine is currently concentrated on industrial shares and consumer goods, and excludes the following sectors completely: finance, banking, insurance, telecommunications, oil, and gas. Characteristics ISIN: FR0010915181 Legal format: French-registered FCP fund eligible for PEA AMF classification: Equities from within the European community Date of creation: July 2010 Benchmark index: Stoxx Europe 50 Valuation: Daily Management fees: 1.20% TTC max +10% outperformance of the benchmark index with dividends reinvested +3% Front-end fee: 2.00% maximum Exit fees: none Allocation of results: Capitalisation Minimal recommended investment duration: 5 years Subscriptiond and redemptions: Centralised daily before 11 am at Banque Palatine, and executed on the basis of the next daily net asset value

Acropole Asset Management on 7 July announced the launch of its first themed fund, Acropole Euro Convert’i, which will aim to profit from rising equities markets, without exposing itself to risk of rising interest rates. Acropole will also offer the Acropole Mix Income fund for higher yields. Acropole Euro Convert’i and Acropole Mix Income will be launched on 8 and 13 July, respectively. The strategy adopted for Acropole Euro Convert’i will be to construct a European convertible bond portfolio, which will privilege shares and sectors which are particularly highly correlated to inflation, with currency risks hedged at launch (with sensitivity of 0 to 2). As part of its conviction-based management, Acropole Asset Management has chosen the following themes: minerals, commodities, agriculture, real estate and realty assets, and pricing power.

Last week, BlackRock lowered the management commission for its iShares Comex Gold Trust ETF (acronym IAU) be more than one third, to 0.25%. The fund has assets of only USD3.3bn, though it is nearly identical to the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) fund from State Street, which has USD50.6bn, and charges a management commission of 0.40%, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to specialists, the new range from BlackRock is highly attractive, but those who make frequent trades and who already have shares in SPDR would probably do best, for tax reasons among others, to stay put. However, the new range from BlackRock is priced more attractively than the ETF Securities offering, with the ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (SGOL), with USD587m, which charges 0.39%.

Since the beginning of the month, Alexander van den Berg has become sales manager Germany at Henderson, where he will be in charge of wealth manager, fund of fund, and IFA clients. He will report to Lars Albert, head of sales, Germany. Van den Berg was previously head of wholesale distribution for Germany and Luxembourg at the German fund management firm SEB Asset Management.

According to a survey of 60 German institutional investors, of whom 17% have assets of over EUR10bn, the Kommalpha agency has found that professionals are clearly intending to increase their exposure to the health sector. 68% of them say this taste is due to a megatrend which profits the sector, while 50% are attracted by the potential for growth, and only 29% cite an attractive return/risk ratio as a motive in their investment decision, while 15% explain it as related to the low correlation of the sector with other asset classes. The three best-known funds in the sector are the BB Biotech Lux from Bellevue Asset Management (cited by 56% of those surveyed), the PF (Lux) Biotech I from Pictet Funds, and the DWS Biotech-Aktien from DWS, cited by 50% and 46%, respectively.

For 2009, BHF-Bank has declared net profits of EUR13m, compared with EUR198m, and a cost-income ratio up to 95% from 52.4%. At the end of last year, the private bank had assets of EUR43bn, and profits of EUR18m, compared with EUR21m. Assets under management at the affiliates Frankfurt Trust Investment Gesellschaft (Allemagne) and Frankfurt Trust Invest Luxembourg as of the end of December represented EUR17.1bn, of which EUR7.7bn were in open-ended funds, and EUR9.4bn in institutional funds and mandates. The total represents an increase of about 8% over their levels at the end of 2008. Profits for asset management are down to EUR12m from EUR14m. In 2010, BHF, which was taken over by Deutsche Bank at the time of its acquisition of Sal. Oppenheim, is planning to open a private banking affiliate in Singapore. In asset management, Frankfurt Trust will continue to develop quantitative and asset allocation products.

BNY Mellon Asset Management announced on Wednesday that the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has authorised BNY Mellon and Western Securities to create a fund management joint venture in China, BNY Mellon Western Fund Management Company Limited. The joint venture will be 49% controlled by BNY Mellon, and 51% by Western Securities. BNY Mellon FM will start out managing Chinese “domestic” securities in several funds aimed at retail investors. It will later develop new products, relying on the expertise of the BNY Mellon group. Distribution will focus on banking and brokerage networks in China. The CEO of the new firm is Bin Hu.

The Federation of European Stock Exchanges (FESE) on 7 July announced in a statement that it is hostile to the planned creation of a mandatory Consolidated Tape (MCT) which would record market data for all of Europe, and that it would not like to see a limitation on prices. “From our point of view, these proposals will not serve the objective of improving transparency or reducing costs, but will instead represent a serious threat to the competitive environment which the MiFID directive has made it possible to create,” the European stock exchanges claim.= The federation is also making several pledges, among them, that it will make various market data publicly and freely available for final users one quarter of an hour after the trades are completed, by fourth quarter 2010, and that it will offer pre-trade and post-trade market data separately, at reasonable prices, by the end of the year.

Fund Strategy reports that Charles Wilson, managing director at Lazard Asset Management, is leaving the firm to join Investec. Wilson worked at Lazard AM for 13 years. Fund Strategy reports that Bill Smith, CEO for the UK, will take over Wilson’s responsibilities until a successor can be found.

The Scottish management firm Martin Currie on 6 July announced that it has added to its sales team with the arrival of John Long as sales manager. He will aim to develop intermediated activities of the firm in London. Long will join Martin Currie on 2 August, and will report to Alan Burnett, head of intermediated distribution for the United Kingdom. Long previously worked at Stenham Group.

According to a study by the British association of investment companies (AIC), the average TER of investment companies, including performance commissions, came to 1,83% in 2009, compared with 1.56% in October 2008, and 1.74% in June 2007. In January 2010, 54% of companies charged a performance commission, compared with 51% in October 2008. Excluding performance commissions, 60% of investment companies had TERs of less than 1%, and 58% had a TER under 1.5%.

La parité entre les volatilités implicite et historique offre des opportunités d’achats à bon compte

Le nombre de positions vendeuses de contrats à terme non commerciaux sur l’euro s’élevait le 29 juin, en net, à 73.670, contre un pic de 113.890 à la mi-mai

Selon Immostat-IPD, les investissements en Ile-de-France sont en forte hausse au second trimestre 2010 par rapport à 2009, mais loin de 2007

Selon le Crédit Agricole, la demande étrangère sera le principal moteur d’une croissance faible. L’automobile capitalisera sur un bon début d’année

Depuis le 5 juillet, Ramsay Urquhart a rejoint Scottish Widows Investment Partners (SWIP) comme finance director ; il est directement subordonné à Dean Buckley, managing director. Depuis septembre 2006, l’impétrant était head of investment operations chez Barclays Wealth. Auparavant, il avait passé 14 ans chez ING, en dernier lieu comme global head of financial markets operations.

L’américain Incapital, spécialiste des financements structurés et de l’obligataire, a annoncé le 5 juillet l’acquisition du spécialiste britannique de l’investissement structuré Blue Sky Asset Management.Blue Sky sera intégré dans la structure d’Incapital basé au Royaume-Uni, Incapital Europe, qui devrait annoncer des initiatives au Royaume-Uni mais également en Europe continentale. L’alliance stratégique de Blue Sky avec le spécialiste de la recherche Redtower Asset Management est maintenue en l'état, souligne Incapital dans un communiqué.

Selon Financial News, Tom Sargeant, director of international product development chez Tudor Europe, la filiale londonienne de la société de hedge fund américaine créée par Paul Tudor Jones, quitte la société pour rejoindre, à compter du mois prochain, Sankaty Advisors (Groupe Bain Capital) en tant que head of European investor relations, selon des sources proches du dossier citées par Financial News.

Selon Hedge Week, le britannique Oakley Alternative Investment Management renforce ses équipes londoniennes avec la nomination de Fabio Cortes en qualité de responsable de la macro du fonds de hedge funds Oakley Absolute Return. Fabio Cortes travaillera avec Nick Hannan, chief investment officer, et Teun Johnston, responsable des investissements.Fabio Cortes travaillait précédemment chez Amundi AI SAS en tant que managing director.

Sanlam Investment Management commence à commercialiser en Europe un fonds coordonné de droit irlandais, le Sanlam African Frontier Markets fund, un produit de droit irlandais qui a été lancé en janvier 2009 et dont les parts sont libellées en livres ou en dollars. Le portefeuille géré par Eric Kibe est très concentré sur des titres très sous-évalués sans se préoccuper de reproduire un indice. Il s’agit d’actions de pays sub-sahariens hors Afrique du Sud. La souscription minimale est fixée à 1.000 livres.

Au 30 juin, Dominik Kremer a officiellement quitté son poste de directeur général de Pioneer Investments KAG (lire notre dépêche du 25 mai) où il était aussi responsable de la distribution institutionnelle pour l’Italie, l’Autriche, l’Allemagne ainsi que l’Europe centrale et orientale : mardi, Threaneedle annonçait sa nomination comme head of European distribution.Il rejoindra le gestionnaire britannique le 19 juillet et sera subordonné à l’australien Campbell Fleming, head of distribution depuis moins d’un an (lire notre dépêche du 9 octobre 2009).

A compter de mardi, NYSE Euronext a admis à la négociation des Amundi ETF en euros de droit français Euro Stoxx Small Cap (FR0010900076) et Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 (D) (FR0010908251), ce qui porte à 542 le nombre de cotation de 494 ETF. Le premier est chargé à 0,30 % et le second à 0,15 %.A fin juin,NYSE Eurnoext déclarait 541 cotations pour 493 ETF de 17 émetteurs sur plus de 300 indices couvrant plusieurs classes d’actifs (actions, obligations, matières premières, short, avec effet de levier etc).Par rapport à fin juin 2009, le nombre d’ETF s’est accru de 18,5 % et 46 nouveaux ETF ont été admis à la cote de NYSE Euronext. A fin juin 2010, l’encours de tous les ETF cotés sur les marchés européens de NYSE Euronext représentait 116,7 milliards d’euros, soit 39,3 % de plus que les 83,7 milliards de dollars de fin juin 2009.

Selon nos informations, Federal Finance, la société de gestion de Crédit Mutuel Arkea va prendre un ticket de 35 % dans le capital de la société de gestion indépendante Schelcher Prince, spécialisée dans la gestion obligataire - plus précisément dans le domaine du crédit et des convertibles. Si l’opération est concluante, la banque mutualiste devrait monter à 51 % dans un an. Actuellement, Schelcher Prince dispose de deux milliards d’euros d’actifs sous gestion et s’adresse essentiellement à une clientèle d’investisseurs institutionnels parmi lesquels les caisses de retraites (42,5 %), les assurances (17 %) et les associations (16,5%) se présentent comme les acteurs les plus importants. A noter également que les fonds dédiés et ouverts représentent peu ou prou une part égale (45 % et 40 % respectivement), les mandats représentant le solde. Cette opération n’entraîne pas de changement pour les équipes de la société de gestion. Crédit Mutuel Arkéa pousse actuellement les feux sur l’obligataire. Fin mai, l'établissement a pris une participation de 15% - avec la possibilité de monter à terme jusqu'à 34% - dans le capital de Tikehau Investment Management (TIM), une société de gestion dédiée à tous les segments de la dette. En outre, le partenariat doit s’accompagner d’un engagement dans les fonds sous gestion de la petite société de gestion parisienne qui gère 375 millions d’euros répartis entre 5 fonds.

BNP Paribas a annoncé, mardi 6 juillet, les nominations de Thierry Augier à la fonction de directeur de la Distribution et des Partenariats et d’Edouard Clarke de Dromantin au poste de directeur commercial. Thierry Augier qui a créé Fortis Epargne Retraite (FER) en était le directeur général avant de rejoindre les équipes de BNP Paribas Epargne et Retraite Entreprises suite à l’intégration de FER. Il prend désormais la direction de la distribution des offres en épargne salariale et en assurance collective auprès des réseaux du groupe. Il est également en charge du développement de partenariats auprès de distributeurs externes en France. Edouard Clarke de Dromantin a intégré BNP Paribas Epargne et Retraite Entreprises en 2001, et était depuis juin 2009 responsable Epargne Salariale. Il a désormais pour objectif de renforcer l’offre tant en épargne salariale qu’en assurance collective avec, sous sa responsabilité, cinq équipes commerciales dédiées aux différents segments d’entreprise. Dans son communiqué, BNP Paribas précise que Thierry Augier et Edouard Clarke de Dromantin rejoignent également le Comité Exécutif de BNP Paribas Epargne et Retraite Entreprises.

Russell Investments a annoncé mardi 6 juillet la composition de la nouvelle direction de son bureau parisien. Dominique Dorlipo et Michaël Sfez deviennent directeurs généraux associés de Russell Investments pour la France. Les deux associés superviseront le renforcement des activités de gestion d’actifs et de services d’implémentation de Russell en France, Benelux, Suisse et Afrique du Nord, et le suivi des relations stratégiques avec les clients et partenaires du bureau parisien, précise le communiqué.Agé de 44 ans, Dominique Dorlipo partageait jusque là la direction générale du bureau parisien avec Serge Heringer, arrivé en 2008 et qui a quitté l’entreprise cette année pour poursuivre d’autres projets entrepreneuriaux. Agé de 36 ans, Michaël Sfez était depuis 2009 au sein de l’entreprise directeur des ventes et partenariats pour la France, la Suisse, le Benelux et l’Afrique du Nord.

Les actions KKR seront introduites sur le New York Stock Exchange le 15 juillet, suite au feu vert donné mardi par le régulateur après que le capital investisseur ait publié les détail sur les participations et la rémunération de ses co-fondateurs Henry Kravis et George Roberts, rapporte The Wall Street Journal.Chacun d’eux possède 13 % du capital, ce qui leur confère ensemble une participation de 1,65 milliard de dollars, KKR valant 6,35 milliards de dollars si l’on se fonde sur le cours des actions KKR qui se négocient en Europe.Henry Kravis et George Roberts ont perçu chacun l’an dernier 22 millions de dollars en numéraire et 250.000 dollars de salaire. KKR gère 54 milliards de dollars d’actifs.