Altarea Cogedim on 30 June announced that on the same day, it signed an agreement to sell 39-41 avenue de Wagram in Paris, home to the 5-star Mariott Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe hotel, with 118 rooms and suites, the freshly-renovated Salle Wagram music hall, and 3 home interior shops, to the German open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienEuropa, for EUR113.8m. The average unit price per hotel room thus comes out at EUR620,000. Mariott will continue to operate the hotel. The Salle Wagram will be managed and operated by Eurosites. Assets in the German open-ended fund totalled EUR10.83bn as of 31 May.

Contrary to what is frequently said about the European ETF market, Valérie Baudson, director of Amundi ETF, argues that the market is still highly concentrated, with only three actors in Europe occupying 75% of the market. Competition remains limited, as many different actors who have arrived in recent years are using a variety of strategies to gain market share. Some have focused on the price of products, for example, while others have relied on product innovation. Amundi ETF, for its part, has chosen to offer attractive fee levels. This “angle of attack” has not exempted Amundi ETF from the need to construct a sufficiently large product range. After systematically covering the French market like a grid, the firm has 89 products on the NYSE Euronext in Paris. But the firm’s vision quickly became European. It now has more than 200 products listed on financial markets in Europe, and has followed a rate of 20 new listings per month since the beginning of the year. In numbers, this growth is already perceptible: according to recent statistics from Deutsche Bank, the Amundi affiliate was in fourth place as of the end of May in terms of net inflows in 2010, with EUR1.211bn, an increase of 27.6% compared with the previous year. With a range of ETF products worthy of the name, and which is set to grow further, Amundi ETF may now integrate a concept of “market timing” into its product release cycle, in order to take advantage of satisfactory market conditions for certain assets. Amundi ETF also aims to innovate or to accommodate the demands of investors, each time with “transparent products that offer excellent liquidity,” Baudson concludes.

The co-CEO of European activities at Tishman Speyer, Eric Adler, will join Pramerica Real Estate Investors, an affiliate of the US firm Prudential Financial, on 1 July, as CEO for Europe. He will be based in London, and will report to Allen Smith, CEO of Pramerica Real Estate Investors, in Parsipanny, New Jersey. In his new role, Speyer will be in charge of investments in western Europe and the emerging markets of central and eastern Europe. He is now responsible for offices in Luxembourg, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, and Istanbul.

SEB Asset Management has announced that it has dedicated about EUR20.4m to the acquisition of a 12,650 square metre commercial real estate property located in Munich-Passing. The property will be added to the open-ended real estate fund SEB ImmoPortfolio Target Return Fund (DE00009802314), a product aimed at institutional investors and high net worth retail clients. It will be the 13th German property in the portfolio of the fund, which includes 45 properties in 12 countries. The vendor is MG Grundbesitz Objekt Gleisdreieck Pasing GmbH & Co. KG, an ad-hoc affiliate of the Viennese UBM Realitätenentwicklung AG.

From 1 July 2010, Frankfurt Trust, an affiliate of BHF-Bank, has lowered its management commission by half, to 0.20%, for its money market fund FT AccuGeld. The move comes as a reaction to persistently low interest rates in the Euro zone, in order to allow the fund to remain an attractive receptacle for liquidity, says Karl Stäcker, CEO. The changes will not have any affect on the strategy of the manager, Matthias Bayer, who assigns the top priority to safe investments. Meanwhile, Frankfut Trust has announced that it will be launching two new classes of shares in the FT AccuGeld, including a distribution share class for retail investors (DE000A0YCBQ8) and a capitalisation share class for institutional investors (DE000A0YCBR6) with a minimal investment of EUR250,000.

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Invetment GmbH on Tuesday evening announced that the net asset value of its open-ended real estate fund P2 Value (EUR1.37bn in assets, EUR56m in net liquidity) has been lowered for the fourth time since 13 May (see Newsmanagers of 14 and 28 May and 24 June). This time, it has been reduced by EUR3.51, and the value of a share is down to EUR40.88. The downward revision is largely due to a new estimate of the value of the Itoche Headquarter Building in Osaka, Japan.

The number of women sitting on the boards of directors of CAC 40 companies has leapt from 10.5% in 2009 to 15.3% this year, according to the most recent Capitalcom barometer of gender diversity on CAC 40 boards. In total, of 576 positions for directors in the CAC, 88 are held by women, compared with 29 in 2009, out of 562 positions. The “lady boom” may have been partly propelled by legislation proposed by Jean-François Copé and Marie-Jo Zimmermann, which has been passed by the French National Assembly, and which will soon go to a vote in the Senate, and by recommendations from Afep_Medef, published last April. At any rate, the objective of 20% women on boards of directors within three years has already been achieved at 12 groups (or 30% of the CAC 40), including Axa, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Dexia, Société Générale, Alstom, Essilor, PPR, and Vivendi, which is the “best of the CAC,” with more than 30% women. The barometer observes that 30 women attained positions on the boards of 28 groups this year, five times more than in 2009. But among these new women, only one represents employee shareholders: Michèle Vilain at Bouygues.

CPB Immobilien KAG (an affiliate of Semper Constantia Privatbank) has announced that the Austrian real estate fund Constantia Real Estate (EUR116m as of the end of March) has once again begun accepting redemptions, from 21 June. Redemptions had been frozen since 22 July 2009. The management firm says that major clients have given firm commitments of their desire to remain invested in the fund for the long term. Since 8 July 2009, the fund has changed managers. The new managers, Detlef Schumacher and Carsten Wirth, spent second quarter adjusting strategy. As of 18 June, net returns from rent since the beginning of the year represented 2.22%, which makes it one of the most profitable products in Austria and Germany, according to the management firm. The average occupancy rate for the 25 properties in the portfolio is 98%.

RWC Partners has recruited two bond managers from Threadneedle, Peter Allwright and Stuart Frost. The two bond market experts will manage the RWC absolute return and currency funds, and will monitor the RWC Strategic Reserve fund. RWC has recently recruited two former Schroders managers, who acquired a 49% stake in the capital of the British management firm (see Newsmanagers of 23 June).

The British management firm Threadneedle has launched a new sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav, benchmarked against the Dow Jones UBS Commodities index, entitled Threadneedle Enhanced Commodities Fund (TECF). The product is a UCITS-compliant version of the Commodities Crescendo hedge fund (launched in 2008), which is not permitted to use any leverage or short positions. It is actively managed by Nicholas Robin and Daniel Belchers, under the supervision of David Donora. The outperformance objective is 6% per year, after fees, with a tracking error less than or equal to 6%. The fund will initially invest nearly one third of its assets in equities from businesses in the energy sector (including 14.3% in oil), and less than 20% each for industrial and precious metals, while the allocation to grains is about 10%.

Invesco PowerShares Capital Management has acquired a license for the new StockInvestor Core index, which reproduces a diversified equities portfolio drawn from the Hare and Tortoise portfolios made popular by the StockInvestor newsletter from Morningstar. The portfolios include high-quality shares which are trading far below the estimations of Morningstar analysts. The StockInvestor Core Index will serve as the new benchmark for the PowerShares Value Line Industry Rotation Portfolio ETF, which will now be known as the PowerShares Morningstar StockInvestor Core Portfolio. The product is traded on the NYSE with the acronym PYH.

The US investment boutique Aladdin Capital has recruited Kenneth Innes for the newly-created position of global head of sales. Aladdin, who will supervise the entire Aladdin distribution network, will be a member of the executive board. Innes previously worked at Forum Partners, where he was head of sales and marketing.

Axa Rosenberg Group, which in mid-April belatedly admitted that a coding glitch had been detected and corrected last year, on Wednesday announced that Barr Rosenberg, one of the founders of the business, has resigned from the board, and that Thomas Mead has quit his job as director of research and board member, the Wall Street Journal reports. Both men “acted to limit the dissemination of information” about the software problem. Meanwhile, Agustin Sevilla has resigned from his position as global CIO, in favour of a “senior research role.” He did not “act in a manner in keeping with the house policy” in connection with the problem, the firm says. Assets under management by Axa Rosenberg have fallen to USD41bn as of the end of May, compared with USD62bn two months earlier. Charles Schwab will liquidate its four Laudus Rosenberg funds, which were closed to subscriptions in the weeks following the announcement of the problem.

On the fund’s fifth birthday, Marc Girault, CIO for HMG Finance, announced that the HMG Globetrotter fund has reached EUR85m in assets as of 29 June, compared with EUR73.5m as of 31 May, with a performance of 4.1%, compared with 0.1% for the benchmark index, the MSCI World. The fund invests in affiliates of European companies in emerging countries, or in European companies whose activities are largely in emerging countries (see Newsmanagers of 21 June). Meanwhile, the heads of HMG Finance have announced that separate analysis tools have been created for each fund in the range, which will allow them to better serve institutional investors, by providing them with more detailed performance contribution statistics. HMG Finance, which has brought its sales and marketing within the firm, is planning a drive in the IFA and private banking markets. The management firm is also considering a potential international expansion, though there are no concrete plans at present.

La Tribune reports that a proposed banking tax which would have brought in USD19bn in tax revenue for the US government has been buried. Barack Obama had claimed that the tax would bring in not USD19bn, but USD117bn over the next ten years. Two other sources of financing have been found. One of them, for USD11bn, will be the early cancellation of the TARP program. The other, for USD5.7bn, will be an increase in commissions paid by major banks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The contributions, currently 1.15%, will be increased to 1.35%. Banks with less than USD10bn in assets will be exempted.

In December last year, the French national pension fund, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR), selected Standard Life Investments to manage a EUR1bn allocation to investment grade credit, along with five other management firms. This was a triumph for the discreet Scottish management firm, which began to cover the French market only two or three years ago. With another mandate which it has recently won, but which has not yet been assigned, the firm’s assets for French clients now total about EUR300m. In addition to mandates from institutionals, Standard Life Investments serves fund of fund clients, with 10 sub-funds housed in its UCITS III-compliant Luxembourg Sicav. The Sicav has not yet been licensed for sale in France, but this may be expected to be achieved soon. The management firm is planning to do so next year, in order to step up its development in France, though for the moment it is not planning to target the retail segment, says Phil Barker, head of pan-European sales at Standard Life Investments, in Monaco. The registration will not necessarily include all the funds in the range, but only the sub-funds which may be expected to interest French investors most, such as the corporate bond funds, one of the specialties of Standard Life Investments. In France, Standard Life relies on Jill Shaw, who also serves Switzerland. For the moment, she is based in Scotland. The opening of a French office is not currently planned, but it may be a possibility if activities develop. Standard Life Investments is present in Paris with a research office for real estate, an asset class which may be an axis of development in France. The other areas of expertise that Standard Life Investments is planning to foreground are socially responsible investment (particularly in corporate bonds), equities in specialised segments such as small caps, and high alpha.

La BCE leur a prêté hier 131,9 milliards d'euros à 1 % sur 3 mois, moins qu'attendu

La BCE leur a prêté hier 131,9 milliards d'euros à 1 % sur 3 mois, moins qu'attendu

La BCE vient de publier ses recommandations visant à «renforcer la gouvernance économique de la zone euro». La Banque centrale européenne se lance donc dans la politique; la nouvelle est de taille, mais elle ne doit pas surprendre.

Confronté à une demande croissante des hedge funds pour une conservation indépendante de leurs actifs, Goldman Sachs International (GSI) a fait appel à BNY Mellon pour lui fournir des services de sous-conservation à destination de la clientèle de prime brokers de GSI.

Le 17 juin, Santander Asset Management a lancé le fonds Santander 100 por 100 7 (ES0174942005), un fonds garanti dont l'échéance est fixée à 2 février 2015 et qui a été enregistré le 24 juin par la CNMV.Le montant de l’investissement à sa valeur du 9 août 2010 sera remboursé à sa valeur du 9 août 2010 plus quatre remboursements trimestriels d’au minimum 60 euros chacun à partir du 9 novembre 2010 et d’un remboursement final de de 28,48 euros le 30 janvier 2015 pour un montant, par exemple, de 6.000 euros, ce qui représente un taux effectif global de 2,4875 %.Le fonds sera investi jusqu’au 9 août 2010 à 75 % en rémérés (repo) sur de la dette publique notée au moins A par S&P, le reliquat étant placé en repo sur la dette publique ou des obligations d’entreprises notées au minmum A). L'échéance moyenne du portefeuille sera inférieure à 3 mois et tous les émetteurs appartiendront à l’UE. A partir du 10 août, le portefeuille se composera d’obligations d’Etat de liquidités, mais avec la faculté d’investir jusqu'à 20 % en obligations d’entreprises.La souscription minimale est fixée à une part et la commission de gestion sera de 0,3 % jusqu’au 9 août, puis de 0,9 %. La commission de banque dépositaire est de 0,1 %. Le droit d’entrée sera de 5 % à compter du 10 août 2010 ou auparavant si l’encours atteignait les 200 millions d’euros.

Invesco a fait enregistrer le 24 juin par la CNMV sa sicav luxembourgeoise Invesco Funds II, qui comprend onze compartiments. Il s’agit du réceptacle de fonds retail de Morgan Stanley.

Mirabaud et Venture Finanzas ont annoncé le 29 juin qu’elles opèreront désormais en Espagne sous la marque Mirabaud, la marque «Venture Finanzas» étant appelé à disparaître. Grâce à cette nouvelle identité, l’entreprise renforce sa stratégie d’extension de ses activités en Espagne.Mirabaud est entrée dans le capital de Venture Finanzas en 2010, par une prise de participation de 25%. Depuis lors, les deux entités ont travaillé pour intégrer l’offre de Venture Finanzas dans celle de Mirabaud. Cette intégration vise à offrir, développer et lancer de nouveaux produits et services sur le marché espagnol. L’objectif de Mirabaud Espagne est une croissance annuelle de 15% des actifs sous gestion. « C’est un objectif assez ambitieux, précise Antonio Palma, CEO et associé de Mirabaud, mais réaliste à long terme, comme le montre notre historique au Royaume-Uni et en France. Bien que l’économie espagnole traverse une période délicate, nous sommes convaincus que notre offre apporte de la valeur ajoutée et attirera de nouveaux clients. » Mirabaud Espagne a des bureaux à Madrid, Barcelone et Valence. Ses activités vont du courtage d’actions, d’obligations et de dérivés à l’analyse, la recherche et la gestion de fonds.

D’après les données fournies par l’association espagnole Inverco des sociétés de gestion, le nombre de souscripteurs pour les fonds distribués en Espagne a atteint un record de plus de 8,8 millions à fin 2006. Depuis lors, avec la crise, ce nombre est retombé fin mai 2010 à 5,6 millions, soit une contraction de 31 %, souligne Funds People. Cela posé, le nombre de souscripteurs a progressé de 0,14 % par rapport au début de l’année. Sur les deux dernières années, le nombre de souscripteurs par fonds a chuté à 2.249 en mai 2009 contre 3.270 à fin 2005.

The Carlyle Group va investir 190 millions de dollars américains dans la société de pêcheries hong-kongaise China Fishery Group Ltd en souscrivant dans le cadre d’un placement privé 113,5 millions de nouvelles actions à 1,85 dollar singapourien l’unité plus 26,7 millions de warrants ouvrant chacun le droit à souscrire une action China Fishery pour 2,10 dollars singapouriens, rapporte The Wall Street Journal. Lorsqu’il aura exercé les warrants, le capital-investisseur détiendra 13,6 % du capital augmenté de la société chinoise.

Charlemagne Capital vient d’annoncer le lancement d’un fonds de rendement sur les marchés émergents, le Magna emerging Markets Dividend Fund. Il y a quelques jours, Charlemagne avait déjà lancé le Magna Undervalued Assets Fund.Le nouveau fonds au format Ucits III domicilié en Irlande se propose d’investir dans 30 à 40 sociétés des marchés émergents affichent des dividendes élevés et une forte croissance de leurs bénéfices. L’objectif de rendement est de 6%.

Les six fonds Spectrum de Skandia Investment Group (SIG) sont désormais disponibles auprès des conseillers financiers utilisant les outils d’analyse des risques de Distribution Technology.Ces fonds n'étaient jusqu’ici disponibles que sur la plate-forme de Skandia.

Selon Fund Strategy, le board du fonds de hedge funds F&C Balanced Alpha a décidé de retirer le fonds de la cote de la Bourse irlandaise (Irish Stock Exchange). Le fonds sera officiellement rayé de la cote le 30 juin prochain.Un autre fonds devrait sortir de la cote, le F&C UK Select investment trust.

Selon Russell Investments, le taux de couverture des fonds de pension américains va reculer d’environ 10% en 2011. Autrement dit, estime Russell, de nombreux fonds de pension pourraient alors se trouver «en risque» («at risk») et seront alors contraints d’envisager des augmentations singificatives des cotisations ou/et des révisions à la baisse des prestations.

D’après une étude de FundQuest portant sur 31.991 mutual funds américains avec plus de 7.000 milliards de dollars d’encours et sur la période janvier 1980-février 2010, les gestionnaires actifs surperforment dans plusieurs configurations de marchés et notamment durant 66 % des hausses, rapporte le Financial Times. Cette surperformance s’entend après ajustement pour le risque et après commissions. En revanche, la gestion active sous-performe dans 68 % des cas dans les marchés baissiers.