Alors que plusieurs rumeurs faisaient état ces derniers temps de divergences d’opinion entre actionnaires, les caisses d'épargne et les Landesbanken, ainsi qu’entre les actionnaires et le directoire, le conseil d’administration de DekaBank a reconduit pour cinq ans le président Franz S. Waas ainsi que les membres du directoire Oliver Behrens (responsable des fonds de valeurs mobilières) et Friderich Oelrich (directeur financier), à compter du 1er janvier 2011. Les milieux financiers spéculaient sur une prorogation de seulement deux ans. Maintenant, ils peuvent se demander quelles concessions Franz Waas ont acceptées en matière de réduction des prises de risques.
La plate-forme Internet du BBVA Uno-e a été rebaptisée unoe dans le cadre d’une relance visant à attirer 100.000 nouveaux clients en trois ans, avec une refonte complète du site, un changement d’image et des services nouveaux. Il est cependant curieux que l’adresse IP du site soit toujours, le 24 juin en début d’après-midi, uno-e.com, alors que la nouvelle marque est déjà en place dans les contenus.Le groupe bancaire espagnol compte notamment sur son offre en architecture guidée en matière de fonds, qui devient l’un des trois piliers (épargne et investissement) de son business model, à côté de l’aspect hypothécaire et du compte d'épargne dont la rémunération augmente avec le degré de fidélisation du client.Actuellement, l’encours sous forme de parts de fonds d’unoe se situe à environ 120 millions d’euros avec principalement trois produits profilés investissant dans une trentaine de gestionnaires différents.
Selon le journal Negocio relayé par Funds People, le gestionnaire britannique Rubicon Fund Management (environ 1 milliard d’euros d’actifs sous gestion) va ouvrir incessamment une succursale à Madrid, au travers d’une entreprise de services d’investissement en cours d’enregistrement auprès de la CNMV.Le hedge fund Rubicon Global Fund, qui affiche une performance cumulée de 400 % depuis son lancement en 1999 et de 14,2 % annuels, devrait être le produit d’appel. Il investit principalement en obligations, en devises et sur les marchés émergents. La gestion en est assurée par Santiago Alarcó et Tim Attias. Il n’est pas exclu que la nouvelle entité espagnole puisse lancer un hedge fund de droit local.
Alto Invest a annoncé le 24 juin son arrivée au capital de la société Bazile Telecom pour le compte des fonds qu’elle gère. Alto Invest et Naxicap Partners ont finalisé un investissement de 3,7 millions d’euros dans le premier opérateur de téléphonie mobile dédié aux seniors.
Les Echos reports that an appeals court in Luxembourg has rejected an appeal from Oddo in its battle to recover money it had invested in Luxalpha. The verdict is far from ending the story, as other legal proceedings are still ongoing. “This decision of the appeals court affects only the case which was appealed, which was a provisional proceeding. However, in the main proceeding, the Oddo & Cie group has filed a restitution claim against Luxalpha, and a lawsuit against UBS on the basis of those claims,” says Grégoire Charbit, manager at Oddo & Cie.
The Spanish government says a list of 1,500 high net worth Spaniards with EUR6bn in 3,000 accounts at HSBC in Switzerland will result in the largest regularisation of “black” money since the Transition (to democracy after the rule of Franco), Expansión reports. According to sources familiar with the matter, it is not absurd to suppose that the offshore accounts of Spanish citizens abroad represent EUR100bn. Initially, only accounts at HSBC will be legalised, but the amnesty will be on offer only if the parties in question declare all their assets in other offshore countries and other Swiss bank accounts, meaning that the undertaking could turn up EUR15bn, according to unofficial figures. The Spanish authorities have given those concerned until 5 July to come forward and avail themselves of the amnesty, which assumes that they will pay off their tax debt, plus interest and an administrative sanction.
Banks and hedge funds will be hit with a USD19bn fee to pay costs associated with financial reform, Barney Frank, chairman of the US House financial services committee, said late on Thursday. According to the Financial Times, banks with more than USD50bn in assets and hedge funds with more than USD10bn will be required to pay into the fund as a proportion of their assets. Separately, banks will be allowed to invest up to 3 per cent of their tier one capital in hedge funds.
The Luxembourg-based provider of services to the asset management sector Kneip announced on 24 June that it has acquired the entirety of the 3i group’s stake in its capital from 3i. The firm, which has about 150 employees, says in a statement that its strong international growth in the past three years has allowed it to finance the operation. 3i acquired a large minority stake in the capital of Kneip in May 2007, to help the firm to extend its range of services and develop internationally. Since then, Kneip has opened offices in London and Paris, and has made three acquisitions, including La Cote Bleue in Paris last year. Kneip serves major actors in the management industry, with assets under management of nearly EUR1.8trn.
With Karl Ohl, Bärbel Schomberg, who suddenly quit her job as chair of the executive board at Aberdeen Immobilien KAG and head of Continental Europe at Aberdeen Property Investors (see Newsmanagers of 2 March), a few weeks ago founded the consulting firm Schomberg & Co Real Estate Consulting GmbH in Koenigstein, near Frankfurt. The new firm covers three areas of activity: investment strategy, fund management, and asset management.
After leading its fund management activities, Volker Noack has become a member of the board at Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE), where he will oversee finance and participations, in addition to fund management. The board has two other members, in addition to chairman Rienhard Kutscher: Frank Billand (Asset Management Germany, AM Shopping-Center, AM Hotel, project management) and Karl-Josef Hermanns-Engel (AM Europe, AM Americas, AM Asia/Pacific).
The Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Aabar, which owns more than 9% of Daimler (see Newsmanagers of 23 March and 17 November 2009), on Thursday notified the Italian regulator Consob that it has acquired a 4.991% stake in UniCredit from the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), which owns a majority stake in Man Ferrostaal, 37.5% of Cepsa, and 19% of ÖMV. The transaction was completed on 16 June. According to the website of the Italian banking group, the largest shareholders are Mediobanca, with 5.143%, Central Bank of Libya (4.998%), and the savings banks foundation of Verona, Vicenza, Belluno and Ancona (4.984%).
The internet platform from BBVA, Uno-e, has been renamed unoe as part of a relaunch which aims to attract 100,000 new clients over three years, with a complete redesign of the wise, a change of image, and new services. However, the web address of the site as of the afternoon of 24 June was still uno-e.com, though the new branding is already in place there. The Spanish banking group is counting on its guided architecture fund offerings, which are becoming one of the three pillars of its business model (savings and investment), alongside mortgages and savings accounts, as profitability increases the longer clients remain. Currently, assets in the form of unoe fund shares total about EUR120m, largely in three profiled products which invest in funds from 30 asset management firms.
Asian Investor reports that Blair Pickerell is leaving Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) in Hong Kong, where he was managing director and CEO for Asia-Pacific. His departure is said to be due to a decision by Morgan Stanley to reduce its presence in retail activities, as illustrated by its sale of its US retail unit, Van Kampen Investments, to Invesco last year. Pickerell has said that he will soon take up another job in the asset management industry, but has not given any details.
In a statement, the ETF and ETC provider Source announced that it has assets under management of over USD6bn, after 14 months in existence. This amounts to an increase of 86% since the beginning of this year, due to heavy inflows to several of its products. The two Source ETFs specialised in emerging markets saw rapid growth in the month of May. The Source ETF replicating the MSCI Emerging Markets index, launched in May, already has USD869m in assets, while the RDX (Russia) fund has gained USD272m, Source says. In emerging markets, assets under management now total over USD1.1bn. The ETF DJ EURO STOXX 50 has gained nearly USD575m since the beginning of the month of June, bringing its assets under management to more than EUR1bn, up 150% since the beginning of the year.
According to Financial News, five out of 15 partners are in the process of leaving Stark Investments, a USD4.4bn hedge fund firm based in the United States. Assets are understood to have fallen by almost half over the past 18 months.
According to the most recent quarterly survey by Russell Investments, nearly half (47%) of US managers surveyed estimate that the market is undervalued, while only 28% thought so in the March survey. Only 9% see the market as overvalued. “Managers estimate that the market is undervalued, but they would also like to see a very significant increase in profits and some improvement in the job market before taking risks,” says Mark Eibel, director and head of client investment strategies at Russell Investments. 73% of managers cite economic trouble in Europe as a significant risk to the performance of US equities in the next 12 months. A vast majority of managers, showing a high sensitivity to risk, have given more weight to defensive sectors. Interest in money markets rose 10 percentage points to 16%, from the all-time low observed in March of this year. Treasuries gained only 6 points to 12%, while consumer sectors and utilities gained 5 points and 9 points, respectively. The IT sector lost 10 points, but remains the most popular, with 69% positively inclined.
Henderson Global Investors, which manages more than USD90bn in assets, has announced the appointment of Nancy McNally as director of relations with investment advising firms in North America. McNally, who previously worked at Gartmore, began in her new position on 1 June. Henderson, which is well-placed in the institutional markets in the United Kingdom and Europe, is seeking to gain a foothold in the US and Canada markets, particularly for its real estate and hedge fund products.
Though a number of rumours had recently hinted at differences of opinion between shareholders, the savings banks and the Landesbanken, and between shareholders and the managing board, the supervisory board at DekaBank has re-elected chairman Franz S. Waas and board members Oliver Behrens (head of securities funds) and Friedrich Oelrich (CFO) for a new five-year term, beginning on 1 January 2011. Financial industry circles were expecting them to be re-elected for only two years. Now, they may wonder what concessions Waas agreed to in terms of risk reduction.
Asian Investor reports that Chris Lee, who left UBS last March, will join Deutsche Bank has head of retail sales and private banking. In this position he replaces Nitin Nath. At UBS, Lee was head of equities risk management products, and in this position he was one of the foremost specialists in the equities derivative market, particularly publicly-traded products. Lee will also be head of the db-x structuring platform.
Investment Week reports that M&G is planning to grant its chief economist and strategist, Stephen Andrews, his first position as principal manager, with the launch of a multi-asset class income fund, which will aim for returns of 4.4.5% per year. Andrews is a member of the multi-asset class team, with David Jane and George Tsinonis. He is already deputy manager of the M&G Cautious Multi Asset fund (GBP281m), whose principal manager is David Jane.
Jean-Paul Gauzès, reporter for the proposed EU hedge fund legislation, has told Reuters that following the breakdown of negotiations to reach an agreement between European parliament members and member states before summer, a vote on the bill has been postponed until the second plenary session in September, to be held in Strasbourg from 20 to 24 September. Further meetings are planned in the meantime, this time under the Belgian EU presidency, on 28 June, 7 July, and in mid-July.
On Thursday, Vanguard announced plans to extend its range of tracker funds, with the launch of 19 equities and bond products with ETF share classes. The products were registered with the SEC the same day. In addition, the asset management firm is planning to issue ETF shares in its flagship Vanguard 500 Index Fund. The new ETFs will have “substantially” lower fees than competing funds. Next year, the new funds, along with 20 other new ETFs, will be added to the Vanguard equities product range, with core funds replicating indices from a number of providers, index-based municipal funds for the bond range, and an international real estate fund with an ETF share class.
The AAA-rated flagship money market fund from ING Investment Management ING (L)Liquid Euro has seen about EUR800m in inflows since the beginning of the year, and now has about EUR4bn in assets, says Vincent Juvyns, money market strategist at ING IM. Juvyns admits, however, that the fund, which has about half of all assets in ING IM money market funds, is not representative of all its strategies, as some funds have also seen redemptions, particularly in Belgium. The Liquid, however is aimed at institutional and industrial clients, who are more attentive than ever to preservation of capital and returns, as well as liquidity. The fund maintains a permanent minimum cash allocation of 20%, while also limiting the percentage of less liquid assets in the portfolio. Meanwhile, the fund has a diversified presence both in terms of clients (businesses, institutionals, and pension funds) and of regions, with about EUR1.5bn from Belgium, but also about EUR1bn from the Netherlands, and EUR800m from France.
StartFragment--> Vanguard Group plans to introduce an exchange-traded fund based on the S&P 500-stock index and 19 new index funds with corresponding ETFs, says the WSJ.Vanguard’s S&P fund will be the third in the U.S. to track that stock index.
The Schroder GAIA Opus Multi Strategy and the QEP Global Absolute, UCITS-compliant hedge funds managed by Schroders itself, have joined the Egerton European Equity and Sloane Robinson Emerging Markets funds on the GAIA platform from Schroders, Expansión reports. The Schroder GAIA Opus Multi Strategy is, as its name indicates, a multi-strategy fund of funds. Selection of managers and allocation to various strategies is provided by NewFinance Capital, the fund of hedge funds management affiliate of Schroders. Liquidity is weekly, and the product aims for performance 200-600 basis points above the Eonia, with volatility of 3% to 7%. The QEP Global Absolute is a long/short fund with an absolute performance objective of 8-10% per year.
Selon Asian Investor, Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management a recruté douze banquiers privés au cours du premier semestre dans son équipe dédiée à l’Asie septentrionale. Sept des douze recrutements correspondent à des créations de postes. L'équipe de la zone Asie septentrionale compte désormais 70 chargés de clientèle (relationship managers) et conseillers en investissement. La banque emploie quelque 200 chargés de clientèle dans la région sur un effectif total de 700. L’objectif est de recruter 30 chargés de clientèle supplémentaires d’ici à la fin de l’année.
Les hedge funds commercialisés dans une enveloppe Ucits III représentent 7 % de l’univers total des hedge funds qui est de 1.500 milliards de dollars, mais ils ont attiré 20 % des souscriptions nettes du secteur depuis le début de l’année 2010, souligne Eurokahedge, qui vient de lancer une base de données sur ces «Newcits».Depuis janvier 2010, les encours des hedge funds Ucits III ont ainsi bondi de 15 % pour atteindre 100 milliards de dollars. Sur la période, 125 produits de ce type ont été lancés, portant le total à 980 fonds. Et ils ont enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 12 milliards de dollars. Compte tenu des futurs lancements de produits, Eurokahedge prévoit que le nombre de hedge funds sous format Ucits III atteigne les 1.200 d’ici la fin 2010.
La société américaine de gestion de fonds BlackRock a franchi en hausse le seuil de 5% du capital du groupe français BIC, a annoncé mercredi l’Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) dans un avis.L’AMF précise que ce franchissement, réalisé le 18 juin, résulte d’une acquisition d’actions BIC sur le marché. BlackRock détient désormais 2.826.942 actions du fabricant de stylos à bille, briquets et rasoirs, soit 5,79% du capital et 3,84% des droits de vote.
La nouvelle responsable de la gestion ISR chez Dexia AM, Isabelle Cabie, est plutôt confiante. Outre que le passage de relais avec Gaëtan Herinckx, parti sous d’autres cieux, s’est très bien passé, Isabelle Cabie, qui a pris ses fonctions en mars dernier et qui était hier de passage à Paris, relève un intérêt grandissant des investisseurs institutionnels pour l’investissement responsable et durable (IRD). Les problématiques de développement durable, qui suscitaient la méfiance il y encore quelques années, s’imposent progressivement auprès des clients institutionnels qui souvent ces derniers temps ont souhaité créer des poches ISR au sein de leurs portefeuilles ou développer des approches spécifiques.Au premier trimestre, la collecte nette a fortement progressé et cette tendance s’est poursuivie au cours des derniers mois sans que le coup d’arrêt d’avril/mai ne brise cette dynamique. En attendant les chiffres du premier semestre qui seront communiqués début juillet, les actifs sous gestion en IRD s'élevaient à fin mars à 19,9 milliards d’euros, en progression de près de deux milliards d’euros par rapport à fin décembre 2009. Un montant qui représente 24% des actifs sous gestion de Dexia AM qui revendique une part de 5,6% sur le marché des fonds IRD en Europe.Le montant des actifs à fin mars comprend 6 milliards d’euros en gestion durable et 13,9 milliards d’euros en gestion IRD sur mesure. Les actifs de la clientèle institutionnelle, le fonds de commerce de Dexia AM, s'élevaient à fin mars à 16,5 milliards d’euros, contre 3,4 milliards pour la clientèle retail.