Morgan Stanley country head of Italian operations Domenico Siniscalco Wednesday denied a press report the bank is in talks with Intesa Sanpaolo to take a stake of its soon-to-be-listed asset management unit Banca Fideuram SpA.

In February, fund sales in Europe topped EUR28bn, according to Lipper FMI. «Investors are clearly still keen to stash their cash where it can earn a better return than on deposit. However, investor attitude to risk is somewhat difficult to read,» says Lipper. Fixed income funds continue to lead the field with sales of EUR11.8bn indicating a relatively cautious approach, but investor choice is veering towards higher-risk bond sectors. Emerging Market and Global bonds funds together accounted for around 50% of sales. The second best selling asset class was equities which attracted EUR8bn. Once again it was Emerging Market funds which proved the top choice. But Japan funds were also in considerable demand. Allianz made it into the ranks of the top-selling groups in February with sales of EUR1.79bn. It was marginally behind Franklin Templeton, the leader, with inflows of EUR1.8bn and ahead of Carmignac with EUR1.6bn, says Lipper. SocGen took the top spot in the equity fund stakes with sales of EUR1bn.

The asset management firm Alto Invest announced on Thursday, 15 April that it has signed up to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI), for management of all its FCPI, FPI and FCPR format funds. In 2007, Alto Invest set up the first Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) analysis grid dedicated to investment in small and medium businesses by FCPI/FIP funds, the firm says in a statement.

US investors places USD47.5bn in mutual funds in the month of March, bringing total net inflows in first quarter to USD125.2bn, according to statistics from Morningstar. Investors continued to prefer bond funds to equities funds by a considerable margin, a trend which has continued for 27 consecutive months. In equities funds, inflows were positive in March, but for the quarter as a whole, net inflows totalled only USD1.6bn, despiite teh recovery of the stock markets. Foreign markets were preferred by investors: global equities funds posted net inflows of USD19.7bn in first quarter, the best quarterly result since fourth quarter 2007. Outflows from money markets funds totalled USD148.2bn in the month of March alone: for the quarter as a whole, outflows totalled USD324.4bn, a level never before observed since Morningstar statistics began. For ETFs, inflows totalled USD19.7bn in the month of March, which resulted in net inflows of USD7.7bn for the quarter as a whole. As of the end of March, ETF assets totalled USD815bn, compared with USD764.6bn at the end of february and USD484bn one year earlier.

Whitehall Street International, Goldman Sachs’ international real estate investment fund, has lost almost all of its USD1.8bn of equity following soured property investments in the US, Germany and Japan, according to the fund’s estimates cited by the Financial Times. By the end of 2009, the fund was down to its last USD30m, a paper loss of about 98 cents on the dollar. Goldman was Whitehall’s largest investor, with a commitment of USD436m.

In 2009, the German affiliate of the HSBC group HSBC Trinkhaus & Burkhardt posted net profits of EUR109.2m, up from EUR89.6m. Assets increased to EUR99.1m, from EUR87.2m at the end of 2008. Net profits from wealth management fell 29.3% to EUR20m, while assets increased to EUR19.7bn from EUR17.2bn. Net profits from institutional management increased 9.1% to EUR45.6m.

At a presentation of th ’09 resultats on Thursday, the chairman of the board at HSBC Trinkhaus & Burkhardt, Andreas Schmitz, announced that in the next two to four years, the firm is planning to double the number of advisers employed at its corporate banking operation to be able to serve a client base of high net worth heads of small and mid-sized businesses with highly international orientations, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. In private banking, Trinkhaus will invest massively in increasing its staff size in order to actively recruit new clients. This may involve the recruitment of former employees of Sal. Oppenheim, among others.

Die Welt reports that Aberdeen Asset Management Deutschland is in talks with Fidelity, and possibly also with Deutsche Bank, Deka and Union Investment, over a sale of the open-ended real estate funds Degi Europa and Degi International. The CEO of Aberdeen Germany, Hartmut Leser, was in London on Thursday, which may be a coincidence, and his deputy Robert Bauer declined to comment on the “rumours.” Many, however, estimate that the acquisition of the Degi real estate funds from Dresdner Bank was not necessarily a successful move for Aberdeen. The two open-ended funds Degi Europa (EUR1.67bn) and Degi International (EUR1.96bn) suffered due to the loss of the Dresdner Bank network, as Commerzbank acquired Dresdner Bank and resold cominvest to Allianz Global Investors. Rickard Backlund, CEO of Aberdeen Property Investors, recently told Property Investor Europe that he is planning to reopen the Degi Europa fund to redemptions this summer.

With the STS Schroder Global Dynamic Balanced Fund, a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Schroder Strategic Solutions, Schroders is now releasing a second multi-asset class, balanced fund of funds in Germany, 40% of which is invested in a defensive portfolio, and 60% in growth assets, though the fund may increase its allocation to defensive investments to 100% in difficult market conditions. The product, launched on 28 September 2009, is managed on the model of the STS Schroder Global Diversified Growth Fund, launched in 2006, but with a defensive dimension. It is managed by Gregor Hirt, CIO for multi-asset class management for continental Europe. One of the objectives of the product is to limit losses in case of difficult markets to 10% over a sliding 12-month period. Characteristics Name: STS Schroder Global Dynamic Balanced Fund ISIN: LU0451417645 (A-class shares) Front-end fee: 5% Management commission: 1.25% Minimal initial subscription: EUR1,000

As announced a few weeks ago (see Newsmanagers of 26 March), the Austrian-German management firm C-Quadrat on Thursday unveiled its future range of “intelligent” ETFs with the brand name “iQ,” the first of which is expected to receive a sales license for Germany in the near future, and will then be released on the XTF segment of Deutsche Börse. The fund will deploy a leveraged long/short/cash strategy investing from the universe of the Euro Stoxx 50, while the benchmark will be the C-QUADRAT European Equity Index. The objective will be to outperform the Euro Stoxx 50. The first ETF of the iQ range will be launched by the Luxembourg firm Commerz Derivatives Funds Solutions. The strategy is based on seven daily indicators developed by C-Quadrat, which will bring together in a single product limited risk, transparency, liquidity, and flexibility of use. Thomas Rieß, founder and CEO of C-Quadrat, says that iQ ETF products based on the FTSE 100, S&P 50-0 and future bunds may be launched in the second or third quarters of this year.

Due to strong demand in private banking, where clients were demanding a more conservative product than the FT MultiAsset VolaTarget 9 (see Newsmanagers of 16 March), Frankfurt Trust (BHF-Bank) on Thursday launched the FT MultiAsset VolaTarget 5, another multi-asset class ETF (equities, bonds, commodities, private equity, real estate, and money markets), with a more defensive volatility objective, of 5 instead of 9. The product is managed by Christoph Kind and Corinne Ament, like the Target 9. ETF and ETC products will be used largely to hedge positions. Characteristics Name: FT MultiAsset VolaTarget 5 ISIN: DE000A0YCBK1 Front-end fee: 5% Management commission: 1.50% Depository banking commission: 0.1% Minimal initial subscription: EUR2,500 Available from savings plans with monthly contributions starting at EUR50 Depository bank: BHF Asset Servicing

According to the most recent Robeco survey of 350 client advisers at banks, savings banks and co-operative banks, the index of adviser morale (BSI) has fell 0.5 points in first quarter to 100.3 points. This reflects a deterioration in the overall climate, as only 30% of respondents estimate that sales of shares in open-ended funds is currently satisfactory, while 33% said so in fourth quarter 2009. Meanwhile, the number of respondents who are optimistic about future sales of fund shares fell to 36%, from 43% the previous quarter. The situation is particularly severe for equities funds: only 12% of advisers considered the current sales situation good for these products in January-March 2010, compared with 13% in October-December 2009. The percentage of advisers who estimate that sales of equities funds will increase in the next six months has fallen 5 points, to 45%.

Pictet is planning to launch a long/short Chinese equities fund that complies with UCITS III standards by this autumn. The new fund is a further sign of a need to attract investors to the country. The theme of China continues to be highly popular, but Lan Wang Simond, fund manager for the Pictet Greater China fund (about USD450m in assets as of the end of March), which has been uniquely Chinese in focus since one year ago, says that she is optimistics about the mid- to long-term, but more moderate in her outlooks for the short term. “A lot will depend on the evolution of inflation. Everything will play out in third quarter,” says Simond. Inflation, at 2.7% in the month of February, may rise sharply in the next few months due to the strength of the economic pillars in China: exports, investment, and consumer spending. Exports have nearly returned to their pre-crisis levels, and have offset the impact of the Lehman Brothers collapse. Consumer spending is also recovering, and the movement is not likely to lose steam, as “China will develop from a growth driven by exports to a growth led by domestic consumption,” which now represents only 35% of GNP, compared with 70% in developed countries. In this environment, Simond prefers the consumer and health sectors, and is steering clear of financials and technologies. The fund, which has 70 to 90 positions, also includes some midcaps, including consumer sector shares which may become heavyweights in their sectors in the longer term. However, the fund, launched in 2003, is still overweight on China, and continues to be highly attached to its bottom-up process. “In the current environment, stock-picking makes more sense than ever. One can do a lot with active management,” says Simond, adding that the fund has posted growth of nearly 260% since its launch.

Deka Immobilien has announced that it has invested EUR65m in the acquisition of the office building Rheinauhafen (16,500 square metres) in Cologne, from a joint venture of the city of Cologne and Deutsche Immobilien. The property will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka ImmobilienGlobal, which as of the end of January had assets of EUR2.62bn. The property is more than 75% occupied by the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. It is the first investment in Germany for the fund since the sale of two properties in 2006.

Threadneedle announced on Thursday that it has been granted sales licenses for its new Luxembourg-registered technology funds Threadneedle (Lux) Global Technology Fund and Threadneedle (Lux) US Communications and Information Fund in Germany and Austria (see Newsmanagers of 6 April). The two sub-funds of the firm’s Luxembourg Sicav were launched and continue to be managed by Seligman, which, like Threadneedle, is also an affiliate of Ameriprise. The Global Technology fund, managed by Richard Parower, was launched in 1994, and may invest in tech firms of all cap sizes, while the Communications & Information Fund, managed by Paul Wick, was launched in 1983, and invests through bottom-up stock-picking. So far, the funds are both of a small size, as the Global Technology has USD40.03m in assets, and the Communication & Information fund has USD50.0m.

On Monday, Changsheng will make its debut with a QDII fund, the Glboal Properous Industries Large Cap Equity Fund. The fund will invest 8% in equities from the 23 largest developed markets in the world, and exposure to equities will be permanently set at 60% to 95%. Z-ben Advisors states that Goldman Sachs has been retained as offshore advisor to the fund, and the two portfolio managers have a history with close ties to DBS, which is the minority shareholder in Changsheng. Subscriptions will remain open for one month, and will be limited to CNY4.7bn (Usd700m). Custody will be provided by the Bank of China and its Hong Kong affiliate. Distribution will be provided by five banks and seven brokerage firms. This is the first fund specifically focused on developed markets to be launched on the Chinese market, and it will even be benchmarked against the MSCI Large Cap index, while products have previously been focused on Asia and emerging markets.

Amundi ETF has announced the launch of the AMUNDI ETF CAC 40 (D), an ETF based on the CAC 40 which redistributes dividends, bringing the number of products in its range to 79. Characteristics ISIN code: FR0010878033 TER: 0.25%

Selon la Tribune, deux bureaux en Allemagne de la banque privée Sal. Oppenheim ont été perquisitionnés jeudi. La justice enquête sur des soupçons d’abus de confiance pesant sur d’anciens dirigeants.

Selon Die Welt, Aberdeen Asset Management Deutschland serait en pourparlers avec Fidelity mais probablement aussi avec la Deutsche Bank, Deka et Union Investment, pour leur revendre les fonds immobiliers offerts au public Degi Europa et Degi International. Le directeur général d’Aberdeen Allemagne, Hartmut Leser se trouvait jeudi à Londres, ce qui peut être une coïncidence, et son adjoint Robert Bauer a refusé de commenter cette «rumeur».Force est néanmoins de constater que l’acquisition des fonds immobiliers Degi auprès de la Dresdner Bank n’a pas nécessairement été un succès fulgurant pour Aberdeen. Les deux fonds offerts au public Degi Europa (1,67 milliard d’euros) et Degi International (1,96 milliard) souffrent d’avoir perdu le réseau Dresdner Bank comme débouché naturel lorsque la Commerzbank a acheté la Dresdner Bank et revendu cominvest à Allianz Global Investors. Rickard Backlund, CEO d’Aberdeen Property Investors, a récemment indiqué à Property Investor Europe qu’il envisage pour cet été une réouverture aux remboursements du Degi Europa.

Pour 2009, la filiale allemande du groupe HSBC affiche un bénéfice net de 109,2 millions d’euros contre 89,6 millions. Ses encours ont augmenté à 99,1 milliards d’euros contre 87,2 milliards fin 2008.Le bénéfice net de la gestion de fortune a diminué de 29,3 % à 20 millions d’euros pendant que l’encours passait à 19,7 milliards contre 17,2 milliards. Quant au bénéfice net de la gestion institutionnelle, il s’est accru de 9,1 % à 45,6 millions d’euros.

Lors de la présentation des comptes, jeudi, le président du directoire Andreas Schmitz a annoncé que sur les deux à quatre prochaines années HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt a l’intention de doubler l’effectif de ses conseillers pour la banque des entreprises pour pouvoir desservir une clientèle de patrons de PME fortunés et très tournés vers l’international, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. En ce qui concerne la banques privée, Trinkaus va investir massivement dans l’accroissement de son effectif pour recruter activement de nouveaux clients. Il se pourrait que cela se traduise entre autres par l’embauche d’anciens salariés de Sal. Oppenheim.

Avec le compartiment STS Schroder Global Dynamic Balanced Fund de sa sicav luxembourgeoise Schroder Strategic Solutions, Schroders commercialise désormais en Allemagne un second fonds de fonds équilibré multi-classes d’actifs composé d’un portefeuille défensif pour 40 % et de croissance pour 60 %, mais qui peut monter à 100 % en placements défensifs durant les phases de marché difficiles.Le produit, lancé le 28 septembre 2009, est géré sur le modèle du STS Schroder Global Diversified Growth Fund lancé en 2006, mais avec une dimension défensive. Il est confié à Gregor Hirt, CIO pour les multi-classes d’actifs Europe continentale, et l’un des objectifs consiste en cas de besoin à plafonner la perte à 10 % sur une période de 12 mois glissants. L’indice de référence est composé à 70 % par le Merrill Lynch Global Gov Bond Index II Euro Hedged, et pour 30 % par le MSCI World NDR Euro Hedged Caractéristiques Dénomination : STS Schroder Global Dynamic Balanced Fund ISIN : LU0451417645 (parts A) Droit d’entrée : 5 % Commission de gestion : 1,25 % Souscription minimale initiale : 1.000 euros

Deka Immobilien a annoncé avoir investi 65 millions d’euros dans l’acquisition de l’immeuble de bureaux Rheinauhafen (16.500 mètres carrés) de Cologne auprès d’une coentreprise de lodernier Stadt Köln et de Deutsche Immobilien.Cet actif est affecté au portefeuille du fonds immobilier offert au public Deka ImmobilienGlobal qui affichait fin janvier un encours de 2,62 milliards d’euros. L’immeuble est occupé à plus de 75 % par le cabinet d’avocats Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.C’est le premier investissement en Allemagne du fonds depuis la vente de deux actifs en 2006.

Selon le dernier sondage Robeco auprès de 350 conseillers-clientèle de banques, caisses d'épargne et banques populaires allemandes, l’indice du moral des conseillers BSI a baissé pour le premier trimestre de 0,5 point pour revenir à 100,3 points. Cela reflète une détérioration du climat général, dans la mesure où seuls 30 % du panel estiment que la commercialisation de parts de fonds offerts au publics est actuellement satisfaisante, contre 33 % au dernier trimestre 2009. De même, la proporition d’optimistes en matière de ventes de parts de fonds est tombée à 36 % contre 43 % le trimestre précédent.La situation est particulièrement nette en ce qui concerne les fonds d’actions : seuls 12 % des conseillers ont considéré la situation des ventes comme bonne pour janvier-mars 2010 contre 13 % en octobre-décembre 2009. Et la proportion de conseillers estimant que les ventes de parts de fonds d’actions vont augmenter dans les six mois à venir a baissé de 5 points, à 45 %.

Comme annoncé voici quelques semaines (lire notre dépêche du 26 mars), le gestionnaire austro-allemand C-Quadrat a présenté jeudi sa future gamme d’ETF «intelligents» de la marque iQ dont le premier produit est sur le point d’obtenir l’agrément de commercialisation en Allemagne et qui devrait être lancé prochainement sur le segment XTF de la Deutsche Börse. Ce fonds mettra en œuvre une stratégie long/short/cash avec effet de levier sur l’univers de l’Euro Stoxx 50, l’indice de référence étant le C-QUADRAT European Equity Index. L’objectif consiste donc à surperformer l’Euro Stoxx 50.Le premier ETF de la gamme iQ sera lancé par le luxembourgeois Commerz Derivatives Funds Solutions.La stratégie repose sur sept indicateursjournaliers développés par C-Quadrat, ce qui doit permettre de grouper en un seul produit la limitation du risque, la transparence, la liquidité et la souplesse d’utilisation.Thomas Rieß, fondateur et directeur général de C-Quadrat, a précisé que des ETF «iQ» sur le FTSE 100, le S&P 500 et le bund future pourraient être lancés au deuxième ou troisième trimestres de cette année.

Compte tenu d’une forte demande de la part de la banque privée, qui réclamait un produit plus conservateur que le FT MultiAsset VolaTarget 9 (lire notre article du 16 mars), Frankfurt Trust (BHF-Bank) a lancé jeudi le FT MultiAsset VolaTarget 5, un autre fonds d’ETF multi-classes d’actifs (actions, obligations, matières premières, private equity, immobilier, monétaire) avec un objectif de volatilité plus défensif, de 5 au lieu de 9. Ce produit est géré Christoph Kind et Corinne Ament, comme le Target 9. De fait, les ETF et les ETC servent surtout pour la couverture.Caractéristiques Dénomination : FT MultiAsset VolaTarget 5 ISIN : DE000A0YCBK1 Droit d’entrée : 5 % Commission de gestion 1,50 % Commission de banque déposaitaire : 0,1 % Souscription initiale minimum : 2.500 euros Possibilité de plan d'épargne à partir de 50 euros/mois Banque dépositaire : BHF Asset Servicing

Threadneedle a indiqué jeudi avoir obtenu l’agrément de commercialisation de ses nouveaux fonds technologiques de droit luxembourgeois Threadneedle (Lux) Global Technology Fund et Threadneedle (Lux) US Communications and Information Fund en Allemagne et en Autriche (lire notre dépêche du 6 avril). Ces deux compartiments de la sicav luxembourgeoise ont été lancés et restent gérés par Seligman, qui est aussi filiale d’Ameriprise, comme Threadneedle.Le fonds Global Technology géré par Richard Parower a été lancé en 1994 et il peut investir dans des technologiques de toutes tailles de capitalisation, tandis que le Communications & Information Fund, géré par Paul Wick a été lancé en 1983 et investit par sélection de valeurs («bottom up»). Pour l’instant les deux fonds sont de taille modeste, puisque le Global Technology affiche 40,03 millions de dollars tandis que l’encours du Communication & Information se situe à 50,0' millions de dollars

La plateforme d’information dédiée aux utilisateurs et fournisseurs de services d’administration de titres GlobalCustody.net a annoncé le 15 avril la publication de la dernière édition de son guide à l’intention des investisseurs institutionnels, asset managers, broker/dealers et autres utilisateurs de ce type de prestations.

Dans le sillage de la reprise des activités d’investissements directs d’Hermès, ayant donné naissance en 2009 au pôle Bridgepoint Development Capital (BDC), Bridgepoint s’organise, note l’Agefi. Les fonds repris s'élèvent à 600 millions d’euros, dont la moitié était investie. Une filiale dédiée à la gestion pour compte de tiers a été créée gérant la part investie, qui pourrait avoir vocation à se développer avec la reprise d’autres portefeuilles, explique la direction de Bridgepoint en France. Cette dernière envisage de réaliser deux opérations en moyenne par an en France, et approximativement six en Europe. L’objectif étant, dans le cadre d’opérations de LBO, d’aider les PME françaises à acquérir une taille critique à l'échelle européenne

Norbert Dentressangle, administrateur indépendant de l’assureur Axa depuis 2006 est pressenti pour devenir à la fin du mois vice-président du conseil d’administration aux côtés d’Henri de Castries, qui deviendra PDG, rapporte la Tribune.