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04/05/2010

M&G to launch a high yield bond fund

The British management firm F&C is planning to launch an “international macro” bond fund, which would invest in credit and government bonds, with high yield objectives Investment Week reports. The fund would be managed by Jim Leaviss, head of retail fixed interest, who recently placed three funds (Index-Linked Bond, GBP123m, International Sovereign Bond, GBP54m, and Emerging Markets Bond, GBP12m) under the management of Mike Riddell. Leaviss currently manages the Gilt & Fixed Interest (GBP645m), Global Macro Bond (GBP83m), and High Yield Corporate Bond (GBP1bn) funds. The managing director of M&G, Jonathan Wilcocks, says the new fund will strengthen Leaviss’ presence on global markets.
04/05/2010

PowerShares launches a smart ETF focused on Switzerland

Agefi Switzerland reports that PowerShares Global Funds (Invesco Group) has issued a smart ETF based on the SIX Swiss Exchange for Swiss equities, entitled PowerShares FTSE RAFI Switzerland Fund (ISN IE00B23LNR19), a fund in the smart exposure ETF range, which replicates the performance of FTSE RAFI strategy indices designed by the Research Affiliates group. These indices weight shares not as a function of the market capitalisation of businesses, but instead on the basis of four fundamental criteria: sales, cash flow, dividends and book value. This approach avoids an overrepresentation of overvalued shares, and underrepresentation of undervalued shares, making the selection of shares in the index less vulnerable to bubbles and speculation. The fund, denominated in Swiss francs, carries a management fee of 0.55%.
04/05/2010

Schroders sells fund administration services to JP Morgan

Schroders has announced that it has sold its private equity fund administration services activities, currently based in Guernsey and the Bermuda islands as Schroder Administrative Services (Bermuda) and Schroder Administrative Services (C.I.) to JP Morgan International. Gross assets at the two firms are expected to total about USD1.3bn when the transaction is completed.
04/05/2010

German government toughens regulations for real estate funds

The new version of the draft bill on open-ended real estate funds published by the German federal finance minister includes stricter terms than the last version of the bill, among other things altering the principle of daily liquidity, which would become half-yearly or annual, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. In addition, the German government would impose a systematic 10% markdown on the estimated market value of the assets. The new bill also includes a requirement that investors remain in the fund for at least two years, and imposes an advance notice period for redemptions of six months to two years.
04/05/2010

EDRIM aiming to quadruple assets in Spain

In an interview with Funds People, Guillaume Poli, chairman of the managing board at the French asset management firm Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers (EDRIM, LCF Rothschild group) says that his objective is to achieve EUR1bn in assets in Spain, compared with EUR250m currently. He admits, however, that in the current phase, there is not much growth, and that assets under management are holding stable. The range of products on sale in Spain from EDRIM (which has had a physical presence in Madrid for four months) includes 11 funds, but five more will soon join them. These will include a UCITS hedge fund, three equities funds with respective exposures of 0-35%, 25-75%, and 60-100%. The fifth fund will be a structured product with an exposure of 70-100% to emerging markets, with a capital guarantee and low volatility.
04/05/2010

RepRisk extends range of its corporate governance monitoring radar

From 1 May, the Swiss ratings agency RepRisk added categories to its online resource dedicated to corporate governance covering major fraud, tax evasion and anticompetitive practices. Currently, the RepRisk database includes more than 13,500 companies and 2,800 controversial projects. RepRisk has also announced that SAM Sustainable Asset Management (Robeco group) will now be using the RepRisk tool as part of its evaluation of the sustainability of businesses for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI).
04/05/2010

Anima acquires Etruria Fund Management

Anima Sgr, the Italian asset management firm founded on 31 December through the merger of Anima and Bipiemme Gestioni, which has assets under management of EUR24bn, has concluded its acquisition of Etruria Fund Management, a Luxembourg-registered firm dedicated to the creation and management of funds which had assets as of 31 March of EUR318.2bn. The agreement will concretely involve an acquisition of a 99.98% stake in the capital of Etruria Fund Management by Anima from Banca Etruria. As part of the operation, Anima will pay EUR6.3m to Banca Etruria, which is already a shareholder in the group with a stake of 2.91%. The acquisition will allow Anima to add to its range of products, says its CEO, Pietro Cirenei. “A presence in Luxembourg will be important for us from the point of view of diversification of our product range, but asset management will continue to be concentrated primarily in Italy,” he adds. Funds from Etruruia will continue to be sold by banks of the Banca Etruria group, a statement says.
04/05/2010

Putnam gets a new head of product development

As Chris Thompson left his job in March to become head of product management at Columbia Management (see Newsmanagers of 12 March), Putnam Investments on Monday replaced him with Kelly Marshall, who joined the asset management firm last year as director of market planning and analysis. She becomes head of investment product management, and will report to Jeffrey R. Carney, head of global marketing. She will be in charge of development for all products for retail and institutional investors and pension offerings. Putnam Investments had assets as of the end of March of USD118bn.
04/05/2010

TCW to give managers a stake in the business

In an interview with Pensions & Investments (P&I), the CEO of TCW, Marc Stern, announced that 175 investment professionals at the firm (an affiliate of Société Générale with assets of USD115bn), out of total staff of 700, will be made part of a program which will eventually grant them a 20% stake in the business. In 2007, Société Générale increased its stake in TCW from 51% to 100%, but did not keep to its pledge to gradually hand over 30% of capital in the firm to employees, instead preferring to grant them stock options in Société Générale. The managers in question will receive TCW shares which will be convertible after five years into unrestricted shares. The managers will also receive a portion of commissions. P&I states that TCW has lost more than USD18bn in assets since the dismissal of CIO Jeff Gundlach in December, as Gundlack ten days later founded the asset management firm DoubleLine Capital, and recruited 45 out of the 60 members of his former fixed income management team.
04/05/2010

Invesco retires AIM brand

As planned, Invesco on 30 April discontinued the AIM brand. Invesco AIM now becomes Invesco, to strengthen the visibility of the management firm. Funds from the management firm based in Houston, Texas, will be renamed with the Invesco name. The lists includes some new names and may be viewed at http://www.invesco.com/pdf/BRAND-FLY-1-E.pdf?contentGuid=3841df8e7fbc81…. The website of Invesco AIM will also be changing addresses, and will now become part of the larger Invesco group website.
04/05/2010

Insurers in new push in Solvency II consultations

Les Echos reports that the European Commissions will today hold a public hearing to discuss the terms of the proposed Solvency II directive, at which European federations of insurance companies will defend the modifications they have been campaigning for, which include a less restrictive definition of prudential owners’ equity and less strict calibration of capital requirements. European insurers will have until 20 May to submit their remarks to the Commission in an effort to convince them.
04/05/2010

Cayman Islands losing their cachet

The proportion of hedge funds domiciled in the Caymans has slipped from 40.1 per cent to 37.3 per cent since the end of 2008, with Ireland and Luxembourg seeing their share jump by 60 per cent to 7.3 per cent, according to figures from Hedge Fund Research. The passage of the European Union’s Alternative Investment Fund Manager directive is likely to accelerate this trend, says the Financial Times Fund Management.
04/05/2010

Pimco and Vanguard post largest inflows

In the United States, investors placed over USD395bn in bond funds between 31 March 2009 and the end of February 2010, and only USD24bn in equities funds, according to the Investment Company Institute. This has worked to the advantage of Vanguard, which has posted net subscriptions of USD96bn for its long term funds, according to Morningstar, and Pimco, which has brought in USD92bn for its long-term funds. JPMorgan Asset Management is in third place, with USD32bn.
04/05/2010

max.xs recruits head of Threadneedle Germany

Oliver Roll has been recruited as head of portfolio management and institutional management by max.xs financial services AG, a B2B fund distribution firm affiliated to cash life AG. Roll was previously country head for Germany at Threadneedle.
04/05/2010

Deutsche Bank appoints a fourth board member for Sal. Oppenheim

Josef Ackermann, chairman of the board at Deutsche Bank, announced on Monday that Gregor Broschinski, who for two years was head of the private wealth management division, will join the board of Sal. Oppenheim as head of wealth management, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. He becomes the fourth member of the board of directors at Sal. Oppenheim (out of six) appointed by Deutsche Bank.
04/05/2010

Madoff investors to get some of their money back

The estate of Jeffry Picower, an investor in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme who died last fall, is expected soon to pay at least USD2 billion to other Madoff investors burned by the fraud, according to a court order filed on Monday. That is approximately the amount Mr. Picower and other entities associated with him withdrew from Mr. Madoff’s investment firm in the six years before it collapsed, says the Wall Street Journal.
04/05/2010

Commerzbank seeking to build presence in wealth management

Thorsten Reitmeyer, a member of the managing board in charge of wealth management, has announced in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that Commerzbank would like to become a real leader in the German wealth management market, where it is already the second-largest firm, with assets of only EUR47bn, compared with EUR190bn, of which EUR55bn are in Germany, at Deutsche Bank. Metzler, Berenberg and Merck Finck are probably better known as high net worth retail banks than Commerzbank, which now combines good penetration in the SMB CEO market with the widely esteemed asset management talents of Dresdner Bank. Reitmeyer adds, however, that Commerzbank will not be able to undertake external growth operations in this area, due to the German government’s stake in the business and conditions imposed by the European Union.
04/05/2010

F&C put under RWN by Standard & Poor's

Following the acquisition of Thames River by F&C (see Newsmanagers of 29 April), Standard & Poor’s announced at the end of last week that it has placed its long and short-term counterparty ratings of F&C (BBB-A-3) under rating watch with negative implications. The rating agency points to high levels of leverage at F&C, which has less capacity to ensure servicing for its debt than other management firms subject to ratings of this kind.
04/05/2010

Apax veut vendre ses parts dans Ifco

Le capital-investisseur Apax Partners compte lancer dans les prochaines semaines une OPV secondaire en Allemagne et aux Pays-Bas ainsi qu’un placement privé aux Etats-Unis pour placer les 89 % qu’il détient dans le logisticien Ifco, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Cette société spécialiste des caisses pliantes affiche actuellement une capitalisation boursière de 550 millions d’euros. Elle compte dans le monde plus de 90 chaînes de distribution comme clientes, dont Wal Mart, Kroger, Metro, Rewe, Carrefour, Migros ou Spar, de même que quelque 5.500 producteurs. En dernier lieu, Ifco a réalisé un ebitda de 129 millions de dollars pour un chiffre d’affaires de 736 millions de dollars.
04/05/2010

Anima acquiert Etruria Fund Management

Anima Sgr, la société de gestion d’actifs italienne née le 31 décembre de la fusion d’Anima dans Bipiemme Gestioni et gérant 24 milliards d’euros, a bouclé l’acquisition d’Etruria Fund Management, société de droit luxembourgeois dédiée à la création et à la gestion de fonds qui affichait au 31 mars un encours de 318,2 millions d’euros. Concrètement, l’accord prévoit le rachat de la part d’Anima de 99,98 % du capital d’Etruria Fund Management à Banca Etruria. Dans le cadre de cette transaction, Anima devra payer 6,3 millions d’euros à Banca Etruria, qui se trouve être son actionnaire avec une participation de 2,91 %. Cette acquisition permet à Anima d’enrichir sa gamme de produits, indique son directeur général, Pietro Cirenei. «La présence au Luxembourg sera importante pour nous dans une optique de diversification de l’offre, mais l’activité de gestion restera concentrée principalement en Italie», ajoute-t-il. Les fonds d’Etruria continueront à être commercialisés par les banques du groupe Banca Etruria, précise le communiqué.
04/05/2010
Fonds

M&G veut lancer un fonds obligataire à haut rendement

Le britannique M&G envisage de lancer un fonds obligataire «international macro» qui investirait à la fois dans le crédit et la dette souveraine, avec un objectif de haut redement, indique Investment Week.Le fonds serait piloté par Jim Leaviss, responsable du retail fixed interest, qui a récemment confié trois de ses fonds (Index-Linked Bond -123 millions de livres, International Sovereign Bond -54 millions de livres et Emerging Markets Bond -12 millions de livres) à Mike Riddell. Jim Leaviss gère actuellement les fonds Gilt & Fixed Interest (645 millions de livres), Global Macro Bond (83 millions de livres) et High Yield Corporate Bond (1 milliard de livres). Selon le managing director de M&G, Jonathan Willcocks, le nouveau fonds devrait renforcer la présence de Jim Leaviss sur les marchés internationaux.
Fonds
04/05/2010

F&C mis sous surveillance par Standard & Poor's

Suite à l’acquisition le 28 avril (NewsManagers du 29 avril) de Thames River par F&C, Standard & Poor’s a annoncé en fin de semaine qu’il plaçait sous surveillance négative les notes de contrepartie à long et court terme de F& C («BBB-A-3»).L’agence de notation évoque le levier élevé de F&C qui dispose d’une moindre capacité à assurer le service de sa dette par rapport à d’autres sociétés de gestion notées de la même façon.
04/05/2010

Schroders cède des services d'administration à JP Morgan

Schroders a annoncé avoir cédé à JP Morgan International ses services d’administration dans le private equity, actuellement basés à Guernesey et aux Bermudes au sein de Schroder Administrative Services (Bermuda) et Schroder Administrative Services (C.I.).Les actifs bruts de ces deux entités devraient s'élever à environ 1,3 milliard de dollars au bouclage de la transaction.
04/05/2010

Progression des actifs sous gestion de Eaton Vance

Le total des actifs sous gestion de la société de gestion américaine Eaton Vance s'élevait au 31 mars dernier à 173,1 milliards de dollars contre 161,6 milliards au 31 mars 2010, terme du premier trimestre de son exercice 2010-2011.
04/05/2010

Putnam pourvoit le poste de directeur du développement produit

Chris Thompson ayant quitté son poste pour devenir head of product management chez Columbia Management en mars (lire notre dépêche du 12 mars), Putnam Investments l’a remplacé lundi par Kelly Marshall, qui avait rejoint la société de gestion l’année dernière comme «director of market planning and analysis».Elle devient head of investment product management et sera subordonnée à Jeffrey R. Carney, head of global marketing. L’impétrante sera chargée du développement de tous les produits tant pour le grand public que pour les investisseurs institutionnels et dans le domaine des retraites.Putnam Investments affichait fin mars un encours de 118 milliards de dollars.
04/05/2010

TCW va intéresser ses gestionnaires à l'entreprise

Dans un entretien avec Pensions & Investments (P&I), le CEO Marc Stern annonce que 175 des professionnels de l’investissement chez TCW (115 milliards de dollars d’encours, filiale de la Société Générale), sur un effectif de 700 personnes, bénéficieront d’un programme qui leur donnera à terme une participation de 20 % dans l’entreprise.En 2007, la Société Générale avait porté sa participation dans TCW de 51 à 100 %, mais elle n’a pas tenu sa promesse de laisser progressivement 30 % du capital aux salariés, préférant leur distribuer des stock options Société Générale. Les intéressés recevront des actions TCW convertibles au bout de cinq ans en actions sans restriction. D’autre part, les gérants percevront une partie des commissions. P&I indique que TCW a perdu plus de 18 milliards de dollars d’encours depuis le licenciement du CIO Jeff Gundlach en décembre, l’intéressé créant en dix jours la société de gestion DoubleLine Capital et débauchant 45 des 60 membres de son équipe de gestion obligataire.
04/05/2010

Pimco et Vanguard affichent les plus fortes collectes

Aux Etats-Unis, les investisseurs ont placé plus de 395 milliards de dollars dans les fonds obligataires entre le 31 mars 2009 et la fin février 2010 et seulement 24 milliards de dollars dans des fonds actions, selon Investment Company Institute. Cela a profité à Vanguard, qui a enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 96 milliards de dollars pour ses fonds long terme, selon Morningstar, et à Pimco, qui a engrangé 92 milliards dans des fonds long terme. JPMorgan Asset Management arrive troisième avec 32 milliards de dollars.
04/05/2010

Invesco supprime la marque AIM

Comme prévu, Invesco a supprimé la marque AIM le vendredi 30 avril. Invesco AIM devient donc Invesco pour renforcer la visibilité de la société de gestion. Les fonds du gestionnaire basé à Houston aux Etats-Unis seront repabtisés «Invesco». La liste complète des nouveaux noms peut être consultée à l’adresse suivante : http://www.invesco.com/pdf/BRAND-FLY-1-E.pdf?contentGuid=3841df8e7fbc8110VgnVCM1000000a67bf0aRCRD.Par ailleurs, le site Internet d’Invesco AIM a changé d’adresse et a subi un relooking pour adopter la charte graphique du groupe Invesco.
04/05/2010

Vontobel lance des certificats sur le platine

C’est aujourd’hui que commence le négoce du certificat capped-outperformance émis par Vontobel sur le platine: le VonTT sur Platinum (Troy Ounce) à échéance 5 mai 2011 (CH111816671), rapporte L’Agefi suisse. Le cours du produit à la date du fixing initial est de 1713 dollars pour un cap de 2007,64 dollars. Depuis le 4 mai 2009, le platine a pris plus de 55% à environ 1742 dollars, sans que la ligne de tendance haussière ne présente de cassures intermédiaires significatives. Le 31 mars dernier, Vontobel avait également émis 20.000 contrats VonTT sur le platine, qui ont enregistré depuis leur lancement une performance de 5,44% contre un peu plus de 4% pour la référence Platinum Troy Ounce. Les VonTT permettent à l’investisseur de participer plus que proportionnellement à la performance totale du sous-jacent entre le prix d’exercice et le niveau du cap.
04/05/2010
Fonds

PowerShares lance un ETF intelligent sur la Suisse

Selon L’Agefi suisse, PowerShares Global Funds (groupe Invesco) vient d’émettre un ETF intelligent sur le SIX Swiss Exchange portant sur les valeurs helvétiques. PowerShares FTSE RAFI Switzerland Fund (ISIN IE00B23LNR19) fait partie des fonds ETF «intelligent exposure», qui répliquent les performances des indices de stratégie FTSE RAFI conçus par le groupe Research Affiliates. Ces derniers pondèrent les valeurs non pas en fonction de la capitalisation boursière des sociétés, mais selon quatre critères fondamentaux, à savoir le chiffre d’affaires, le cash flow, les dividendes et la valeur comptable. Cette approche permettrait d’éviter la surpondération des actifs surévalués et la sous-pondération des actifs sous-évalués, rendant ainsi le panier moins vulnérable aux bulles et à la spéculation. Libellé en CHF, le fonds inclut des frais de gestion de 0,55%.
Fonds

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