Selon l’Agefi, le courtier Viel & Cie a pris une part significative (mais inférieure à 50%) dans Axcior Corporate Finance, une boutique de conseil en fusions-acquisitions et opérations financière.
BaFin has issued a sales license for Germany to the UCITS-compliant fund of hedge funds Thames River Absolute Return, whose launch was announced by the British asset management firm Thames River (currently in the course of being acquired by F&C) on 14 January. The objective of the fund, a sub-fund of the Irish Sicav Thames River Traditional Multi Funds plc, is total annual returns of 5% to 10%, with ex ante volatility of 5%, and weekly liquidity. It replicates the strategy used for the Sentinel multi-strategy fund of hedge funds, and aims to outperform the global Barclays Aggregate Bond Index. The fund is managed by Ken Kinsey-Quick, assisted by James Rous (see Newsmanagers of 19 January). Assets total about EUR75m, or about GBP62.1bn, compared with GBP47m when the fund was launched.
In May, mutual funds on sale in Italy saw net redemptions of EUR3.5bn, Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset managers, reports. Outflows were from equities funds (-EUR1.6bn) and money market funds (-EUR2.38bn). Hedge funds also saw outflows of -EUR55m. However, bond funds had net inflows of EUR343m, while flexible and balanced funds saw inflows of EUR173m and EUR49m, respectively. As of the end of May, assets in the industry totalled EUR444.5bn, lower than the EUR451.9bn level at the end of April. Groups with the heaviest net redemptions were Pioneer Investments (-EUR642.2m), Bipiemme (-EUR588.6m), and Anima SGR (-EUR586.7m). However, groups which did best in May, with the strongest net inflows, were Mediolanum (EUR185.1m), Banca Carige (EUR29.2m), and Azimut (EUR24.3m).
The major Spanish investment fund and pension fund management firms, BBVA and Santander, have managed to compensate in Latin America for net redemptions they have suffered in Spain. They have attracted more than EUR25bn in Central and South America, and their local affiliates have assets under management that now exceed those in Spain, Expansión reports. BBVA Asset Management is the largest Spanish actor in Latin America, with EUR77bn in assets, followed by Santander Asset Management, with EUR55bn.
Estonian SRI specialist Limestone Investment Management has taken a SRI fund which invests in central and eastern Europe to Swedish investors, says Citywire. The New Europe Socially Responsible Fund has an investment universe of 300 companies which actively seek to fulfill compliance with international norms on environmental, social and governance issues in accordance with the Principles for Responsible Investment. The fund also avoids investing in alcohol, etc.
Les Echos reports that the finance commission of the French legislature is proposing to shorten the time period permitted between settlement and clearance of shares traded on regulated markets from three days to one day, in the most recent version of its report on draft banking and financial regulations, which will be examined tomorrow in a public hearing. The bill, which has the support of the government, would require all parties selling shares to deliver them within 24 hours of the execution of the order on the stock market. Most of the major western European countries have a three-day deadline for settlement and clearance. Only Germany has opted for a two-day deadline.
Senate Democrats unveiled a proposal that would more than double the taxes on private-equity, hedge-fund and certain real-estate managers, says the Wall Street Journal. The proposed law would tax «carried-interest» income, or the share of profits that fund managers receive as part of their compensation. This income is currently taxed at a 15% rate. The new law would raise the tax rate for investment partnership income to an effective 30% in 2011 and 33% in 2013.
Louis Bacon, who has scored annual gains of about 20% on average over the past twenty years, shouldered losses of 9.2% in May in his biggest hedge fund, Moore Global Investments, according to investors cited by The Wall Street Journal. May was the worst month for hedge funds since November 2008, according to Hedge Fund Research, with an average loss of 2.3%.
The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), an association of traders specialised in carbon emission rights, on 8 June published proposals to restore order in their markets. The association would like to see a single supervisory body for carbon markets throughout the European Union.
The BarclayHedge hedge fund index, calculated on the basis of results from 948 funds which had published results as of 8 June, lost 2.89% in May. In the first five months of the year, performance totals 1.47%. The heaviest losses in May were for emerging markets strategies (157 funds), which lost 5.74%, equity long bias (91 funds), with losses of 4.46%). For January-May, the best results were for the distressed securities strategy, with returns of 8.07%. BarclayHedge also states that in April, hedge funds saw net redemptions of USD3.35bn, following net subscriptions of USD5.3bn in March. As of the end of April, assets were at their highest point for 18 months, at USD1.6trn.
Agefi reports that the US Financial Crisis Investigation Commission (FCIC) is accusing Goldman Sachs of obstructing its enquiry. Goldman Sachs has submitted a total of 5 terabytes of documents, or 2.5 billion pages, according to the estimate of the 50-person FCIC, the newspaper reports.
From 1 September, the German co-operative banks are planning to strongly develop their activities serving high net worth retail clients, says Stefan Schwab, head of the private banking group at DZ Bank. According to Schwab, it is not acceptable that the co-operative banks, with EUR15bn out of a potential market of EUR200bn, have a market share of only 1% to 2% in this segment, while they have a 30% market share in the general market, Die Welt reports. For the co-operative banks, high net worth clients start at EUR250,000 in financial savings. Schwab would like to launch an offensive on this territory against the major banks, such as Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, though he knows there is less chance of winning over clients of traditional private banks such as Berenberg and Metzler. Banks on the network will staff their branches with up to 300 specialists. In September, DZ Bank will open its first three locations in Hanover, Stuttgart and Munich. WGZ Bank, for its part, has been present for a long time in Düsseldorf, Koblenz and Münster.
The 2010 survey of institutional funds (Spezialfondsmarkstudie 2010), by the ratings agencies Kommalpha and Telos, based on a survey of 150 German institutional investors, finds that attitudes to local asset management firms are considerably more favourable than towards foreign firms. On average, professionals surveyed rely on the services of four German and two foreign management firms. Compared with previous studies, this is a net deterioration, as only 39% of institutionals say they work with foreign management firms, compared with 56% in 2008, and 71% in 2007. Though 41% of institutional investors say they are prepared to change management firms this year (compared with 52% in 2008 and 35% in 2007), 44% are planning to give top priority to German firms, while only 14% are planning to award mandates to foreign firms. This should lead foreign firms to critically reassess their strategies on the German market, Kommalpha says.
The French asset management firm Convictions AM announced on Tuesday, 8 June, that it has recruited Chloe Picandet as an addition to its risk management team. Picandet, 31, started her career in 2002 at SGAM Alternative Investments, and then joined Systeia Capital Management, as a financial engineer and then as a deputy head of futures funds (FCIMT). In 2009, she participated in the creation of the fund manager Ossiam.
On Tuesday, BlackRock announced that it has joined the French asset management association AFG, making it the first foreign asset manager to join the professional organisation via its local commercial affiliate, without having a local asset management structure in place. BlackRock currently has assets of about EUR11bn under management for French clients. The AFG now has 413 firms as members.
Natixis has announced the appointment of Christophe Ricetti as head of financial communications for Natixis. He will report to Luc-Emmanual Auberger, director of risk and finance. Ricetti joined Natixis Securities in 1998 as a sell-side analyst for European banking sector equities, specialising in French, Belgian and Spanish shares.
Laura Zimmerman, who has spent 14 years at Allstate Financial, most recently as chief strategy officer, is joining Legg Mason Inc (USD685bn in assets as of the end of April) as head of marketing & product for the group’s activities in the United States. She will be responsible for development and deployment of brand and marketing strategy, and investment and retirement solutions for the Americas division of Legg Mason. She will be based in Stamford, Connecticut.
José Eustasio del Castaño Villanueva and Alejandro Sarrate Bruno have joined the six partners at MCH Private Equity (EUR500m in assets), to set up the brokerage firm MCH Investment Strategies, which the CNMV registered on 16 October 2009, and which will function as a third-party marketer (TPM). Funds People reports that the new entity will aim to select at most six managers with stable performance, each in different asset class, and represent them exclusively to institutional investors in Spain and Portugal. They have already signed agreements with three independent managers: Ferox Capital, Fulcrum Asset Management, and Odey Asset Management.
BNY Mellon has appointed Sasha Evers as director of its Madrid office, following the departure of Jaime Gil-Delgado, head of the Bank of New York Mellon for Spain. Evers will retain his position as CEO of BNY Mellon Asset Management Iberia (see Newsmanagers of 11 September 2008). César Valcárcel, CEO, has also been appointed head of sales for the Iberian peninsula for the asset servicing operation and customer relationship management.
According to IPE.com, European institutional assets were EUR5.2trn at end-2009, up 8.3% from previous year. Due to its merger with BGI, BlackRock takes the lead in the rankings of the top 10 managers of European institutional assets, with EUR465.8bn under management, followed by Legal & General IM and Natixis Global AM. BlackRock is also the leader worldwide, with EUR2.334trn, ahead of State Street Global Advisors and Allianz Global Advisors. The largest French firm in the global rankings is Amundi, born of the merger of CAAM and SGAM, in eighth place, just ahead of its fellow French management firm BNP Paribas Investment Partners, which has absorbed Fortis Investments, IPE.com reports.
Amundi has decided to stay a step ahead of the final touches being put on the new AIFM directive, with the launch of an alternative managed accounts platform in Europe. The platform, Amundi Hedge, previously based in Bermuda, will be domiciled in Ireland, Florence Remy-Brunelle, Business Development Manager at Amundi Investments Solutions, announced yesterday at the 2010 institutional management conference organised by the Edhec Risk Institute. Amundi is currently putting the final touches on a master/feeder fund structure, in the form of an Irish unit trust, and will be launching its first managed account, a CTA, on the Irish platform by the end of this month. Offshore funds will also be transferred to the new European platform, and investments in some underlyings of existing funds of hedge funds will be transferred to the platform. Amundi AI is also developing a partnership with Seeds Finance to design and manage custom alternative multi-management solutions, which will be reserved for institutional investors, with the triple objective of returns, liquidity and transparency, in a French-registered and secure framework. The first fund of funds in this framework, Newis Completude, was launched on 31 March of this year. Last but not least, Amundi is also planning to ride the recent wave of UCITS III-compliant hedge funds, and will give priority to products of this type, which are proving highly successful in Asia, and which give Europe a lead in financial management.
The international organisation of securities commissions (IOSCO) on 8 June announced the appointment of Hans Hoogervorst as chairman of the technical committee of the international association. Hoogervorst, the president of the financial market authority of the Netherlands (AFM), and vice-chairman of the technical committee since 2009, will start in his new role following the IOSCO annual conference, which began on 7 June in Montreal. In this position he replaces Kathleen Casey, commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The vice-chairmanship will go to Masamichi Kono, of the Japanese financial services authority.
The asset management and advising firm Brooks Macdonald on 8 June announced that it is acquiring the real estate and structured products specialist Braemar for GBP4bn. As of 31 March, assets under management at Brooks totalled GBP2.05bn. The firm, which has more than 160 employees, is listed on the AIM exchange. As of 7 June, its market capitalisation stood at GBP79m.
The Swiss parliament on 8 June rejected an agreement which would have delivered the names of thousands of UBS customers suspected of tax evasion to the United States authorities, and instead referred the bill to the Council of States, the upper chamber of the Swiss legislature. 104 members of the National Council, the lower chamber, voted against the proposal to accede to the United States demand for information about 4,450 clients suspected of evading US taxes, while 76 members voted in favour, after debates which were carried live on Swiss television. They also resolved that approval of the agreement, signed between the Swiss and US governments in August 2009, and challenged in January of this year by the Swiss courts, should be subject to an optional referendum. Under Swiss law, any citizen can raise a referendum on any law by collecting 50,000 signatures in 100 days.
Le 2 juin, BBVA Asset Management a fait enregistrer par la CNMV le fonds de fonds de matières premières Quality Commodities créé le 26 mai. Ce nouveau fonds pourra investir au minimum 50 % de son encours dans d’autres fonds de manière totalement flexible.BBVA AM utilise comme référence un indice composite dans la composition duquel le DJ UBS Commodity TR représente 70 % tandis que le HSBC Global Mining TR pèse 19,5 % et le MSCI World Energy est pondéré à 10,5 %.L'équipe de gestion sera habilitée à opérer des ventes à découvert et à investir dans des dérivés négociés sur des marchés réglementés d’indices financiers de matières premières.La liquidité sera quotidienne, mais le prospectus précise qu’un préavis de 10 jours sera exigé pour toute demande de rachat. La durée minimale de détention recommandée s'établit à 5-7 ans et la souscription minimale est fixée à 3.000 euros, sauf pour les salariés, pré-retraités et retraités du groupe BBVA. Un accord de distribution a été conclu avec BBVA Quality Funds.CaractéristiquesDénomination : Quality Commidities FIProfil de risque : très élevéGestionnaire : BBVA Asset ManagementBanque dépositaire : Banco Depositario BBVACommissions de gestion - directe : 0,95 % sur l’encours et 9 % sur le résultat- indirecte : 3 % sur l’encours et 20 % sur le résultat
Désireuse d'élargir le cercle de souscripteurs aux particuliers, Dexia Asset Management a fait enregistrer par la CNMV son hedge fund coordonné Long Short Equity Arbitrage, rapporte Funds People. Au 30 avril, le portefeuille comprenait 75 lignes. Il était investi à 60 % en titres liés à des fusions-acquisitions et à 40 % à des paris de valeur relative.