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02/04/2010

Change of strategy at 3i

The British management firm 3i has decided to open its private equity unit to outside investors, La Tribune reports. Investors from Asia, North America, Europe and the Middle East contributed one third of the capital raised for the vehicle which the firm has recently put together (putting in EUR400m out of a total of USD1.2bn), whereas 3i had previously relied exclusively on capital from its publicly traded holding company. 3i says the decision to turn to external capital was motivated by opportunities offered by the market.
02/04/2010

Hedge fund managers' income reaches new highs in 2009

He bet on a bailout of the major US banks at a time when most investors were fleeing from the finance sector. The hedge fund manager David Tepper (Appaloosa Management) earned USD4bn in 2009, even though he lost USD425m the previous year, according to the AR Magazine ratings published by the New York Times. Second on the list of the most talented hedge fund managers of last year is George Soros, whose fund Quantum Endowment gained 29% in 2009, bringing in USD3.3bn, compared with only USD1.1bn the previous year. In third place is James Simons at Renaissance Technologies, with USD2.5bn in revenues. Some managers, like Tepper, lost money in 2008, and made a comeback to profitability in 2009. This is the case for Steve Cohen (5th place, SAC Capital Advisors), who gained USD1.4bn, after losses of USD750m, and Kenneth Griffin (8th place, Citadel), who made USD900m, after losses of USD2bn. The top 25 managers in the rankings last year made a record USD25.3bn, which averages out to a cool USD1bn per manager. The previous record (2007) was USD22.3bn.
02/04/2010

Large increase in the volume of M&As in asset management in 2009

Last year, the number of mergers and acquisitions in the asset management industry declined to 135 operations, from 199 in 2008, and 204 in 2007, but the corresponding volume of these transactions rose to USD31.7bn, from USD16.7bn the previous year, though this figure remains lower than the totals in 2007 (USD37.4bn for 204 operations) and in 2006 (USD47.2bn for 167 transactions), according to the Investment Management Industry Review 2010 from Berkshire Capital Securities. In total about USD3.3trn in assets changed hands, compared with USD1.148trn in 2008 and USD1.155trn in 2007. In 2006, assets concerned totalled USD2.34trn. In the areas of institutional and retail funds, the number of transactions fell to 65, from 77 last year, on a total of USD25.1bn, compared with USD8.7bn, while the amount of assets changing hands leapt from USD683bn to USD3.011trn.
02/04/2010

Global funds prioritize absolute returns

James Mashiter, head of the investment funds division at Standard & Poor’s (S&P), says global fund managers are privileging capital preservation over outperformance. According to Funds People, the most recent survey by S&P finds that the priority is to avoid losses, through the use of the means of hedging allowed by UCITS III, and due to investors’ preference for absolute returns, even though this may at times come at the price of underperformance compared with a benchmark index.
02/04/2010

Pictet integrates emerging government debts into asset allocation

Christophe Donay says he is fairly optimistic. This is to say that the head of asset allocation and macro analysis at Pictet remains cautious. There are many positive signs, but multiple subjects of concern remain. In the real economy, growth in global GNP has begun to return, with a projection of about 45 in 2010. But in the developed economies, private demand has not yet recovered. In finance, the problem of financing considerably large public debts is rearing its head sooner than expected. But hte Greek crisis has not provoked a global financial meltdown. Observers are becoming more and more pessimistic about debt problems in the Euro zone which is leading to a weakening Euro. In this context, Pictet is underweight in government debt from developed countries by 5 percentage points, but allocation to bonds is remaining constant, since current levels are at their “fair value,” Donay says at a press conference. And in parallel to this allocation, Pictet is adding a 5% allocation to emerging market debts in local currencies. This is a novelty and a strong conviction. Another strong conviction is equities, in which Pictet’s allocation is holding stable at 35%, with an equal weighting for emerging and developed markets. “It is not certain that emerging market equities will do better than those from developed countries,” says Donay.
02/04/2010

Dexia AM launches a website dedicated to SRI

Dexia Asset Management, already a leader in socially responsible investment, has launched a website at http://sri.dexia-am.com, dedicated to sustainable and responsible investment (SRI). The website will be regularly updated with news, research reports, publications, newsletters and press releases. As of the end of December 2009, Dexia AM managed EUR18bn in SRI assets, of which EUR4.8bn were fully invested in sustainable management and EUR13.2bn was in custom SRI products.
02/04/2010

Jensen launches a mutual fund

The US investment firm Jensen Investment Management on 31 March announced the launch of its second mutual fund, the Jensen Value Fund, 18 years after the release of its flagship fund, the Jensen Portfolio. The Jensen Value Fund will invest in high quality shares, selected through quarterly quantitative analysis from a universe of US firms with a minimal market capitalisation of USD1bn, Unlike the first fund from the firm, which has 20 to 30 positions, the new fund is not limited in the number of positions it will adopt. Minimal investment is USD2,500 for retail shares, and USD1m for institutional shares. As of 30 March 2010, assets under management at Jensen total over USD3.5bn.
02/04/2010

Vontobel launches Fiscal Risk Index

On the basis of seven factors, Vontobel is now calculating an exclusive index of fiscal risks for 17 countries and for the European Union (though France is not considered individually). The Vontobel Fiscal Risk Index (FRI) takes into account the fundamental fiscal situation, meaning that it does not limit itself to debt levels or to budget deficits, but takes into account other indicators necessary to establish a bigger picture. These include current debt levels, primary budget balance adjusted for growth, the relation of nominal interest rates and nominal growth in GDP, current account deficits, productivity gains, track record of successful fiscal consolidations, and average maturity of public debts. By these measures, Greece poses a high budgetary risk (5.7 out of 10), compared with with only Portugal (5.8) and Japan (6.9) rank higher. On the basis of CDS spreads, Greece is far above the fair value line, which makes it an attractive investment. The same is true of Ireland, Portugal and Sweden. Among the countries which are correctly valued according to the FRI, Vontobel cites Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Spain, and, a narrow shave, the EU. However, CDS from Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and the United States are too low, in light of the effective risk levels they entail.
02/04/2010

Natixis to recruit 150 people to develop asset management

Les Echos reports that Pierre Servant, CEO of Natixis, the financing, management and financial services arm of the French banking group BPCE, yesterday announced plans to scale up asset management personnel by 5% to 6%. The addition of about 150 people will aim to develop asset management in Europe, Asia and the United States. Natixis Global Asset Management, which had EUR505bn in assets under management as of the end of 2009, an increase of 13% over the previous year, is not planning to join the Amundi joint venture, created last year by Crédit Agricole and Société Générale. The asset management affiliate will start up an activity in the Netherlands this year, and will add to its presence in Belgium.
02/04/2010

David Tepper (Appaloosa) made USD4bn in 2009

Last year, the 25 most successful hedge fund managers made USD25.3bn, 13% more than in the previous record year of 2007, the Börsen-Zeitung reports, citing Absolute Return + Alpha. In 2008, their pay fell by half. This income comes from performance commissions as well as the performance of money they have invested in their own funds. Tepper, head of Appaloosa Management, made USD4bn in 2009, an all-time record. He bet on bonds and hybrid shares from US banks, following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, including a bet on AIG.
02/04/2010

Axa Private Equity interested in KBC Private Equity

La Tribune reports, citing the Thursday, 1 April edition of the Belgian newspaper De Standaard, that Axa Private Equity is expected to acquire the private equity affiliate of the Belgian bank KBC. For the operation, Axa is reported to have teamed up with the investment group Sofina, to present a joint bid for KBC Private Equity, which has 30 employees and manages a portfolio of about EUR350m.
02/04/2010

CESR launches new consultation

The committee of European securities regulators (CESR) on 1 April announced the launch of a consultation which will remain open until 30 April, into micro-structural problems on European equities markets. Slightly more than two years after the MiFID directive came into effect, several questions remain to be revisited in relation to technical innovations such as high-frequency trading (HFT), direct market access (DMA), commission structures, and tick-size regimes. On the basis of the information received, the CESR is hoping to determine whether regulators should impose more explicit regulatory limits on HFT activities, for example.
02/04/2010

Lower returns expected for UCITS III hedge funds

The specialised boutique Trinity Fund Administration, which provides back and middle office services to the alternative management sector, is betting on continues growth at hedge funds and funds of hedge funds that comply with UCITS III, Money Marketing reports. But the corollary of this development, motivated by regulatory uncertainties among others about the planned AIFM directive, is that investors will have to settle for lower returns, due to restrictions on investments which will constrain these products, for example, in their use of derivatives for short positions.
02/04/2010

Man Group wins USD1bn mandate

Man Group has been awarded an unprecedented USD1bn mandate by the UK’s second largest pension fund, the USS. The money is to be put in Man’s fund of fund business.
02/04/2010

Invesco PowerShares launches nine ETFs

The ETF range from Invesco PowerShares on 7 April will grow to 127 products, with the launch of nine new products, which will charge fees of 0.29%, replicating sectoral versions of the S&P SmallCap 600 Capped Sector Index. The new products are the PowerShares S&P SmallCap Consumer Discretionary Portfolio, Consumer Staples Portfolio, Energy Portfolio, Financial Portfolio, Health Care Portfolio, Industrials Portfolio, Information Technology Portfolio, Materials Portfolio and Utilities Portfolio ETFs.
02/04/2010

Robeco lists its Small Cap Euro fund in Spain

The CNMV has granted permission for the French-registered fund Robeco Small cap Euro (EUR19.45bn in assets), managed by Dominique Dequidt and Anne-Sélime de Murard, to be released in Spain. The objective of the Euro zone small caps fund, launched on 8 January 2008, is to outperform the MACI EMU Small Cap Total Return index, but with lower volatility than this benchmark.
02/04/2010

John Malkovich dans "More From Madoff"

Le John Malkovich Pension Plan & Trust a déposé jeudi une réclamation devant le tribunal contre la décision du liquidateur de Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, Irving Picard, de ne lui rembourser que 670.000 dollars. Il réclame 2,23 millions de dollars.
02/04/2010

Fewer hedge funds with more assets, PerTrac study finds

In 2009, the number of hedge funds and funds of hedge funds declined by 8.6%, with a 8.4% decline for single hedge funds and 7.1% for funds of hedge funds. At the same time, assets in the sector increased by 5.5% to USD1.41trn, according to the PerTrac 2009 Hedge Fund Database Study. Nearly 200 funds had assets under management of over USD1bn. Meredith Jones, managing director of PerTrac, says that a decline in the number of funds which release their results for use in the database does not necessarily mean that a corresponding number of funds has shut down, as some are ceasing to share their data due to disappointing results, excessively high results, changes in personnel, hard or soft closes, or other reasons. Among the other major findings of the study, PerTrac states that about 18,450 funds reported their performance in 2009; meanwhile, PerTrac identified about 14,650 single-manager hedge funds and about 7.050 funds of hedge funds in existence, compared with 15,150 and 7,200 in the 2008 study. The study also identified about 5,000 hedge fund management firms. Of the 14,650 single-manager hedge funds, about 12,000 disclosed their results for 2009. Of this subset, about 29% were domiciled in the United States. And of the 6,300 funds of hedge funds which published their results for 2009, about 10% were based in the United States. The number of funds domiciled in the United States fell 3.4%, while funds domiciled outside the US fell by 3%.
02/04/2010

J.P. Morgan launches an absolute return convertible fund

J.P. Morgan Mansart Investments and CQS have announced that the J.P. Morgan Mansart Investments CQS Convertible Alpha Fund has received regulatory approval from IFSRA, the Irish regulator. The fund is UCITS compliant and is designed to respond to institutional investors’ demand for a regulated vehicle able to deliver exposure to absolute return strategies in the global convertible bond markets. It will offer an actively managed portfolio of convertible bonds, underpinned by fundamental credit research and quantitative analysis and will mitigate risks through the use of equity, credit and interest rate hedges. The fund will provide weekly liquidity. J.P. Morgan Mansart Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase and Co. and a part of the J.P. Morgan’s investment bank will delegate to CQS the investment management responsibility for the fund whilst retaining oversight of the sub-manager, the risk management processes and the compliance with investment guidelines. The fund will be distributed by J.P. Morgan Securities Ltd. and is expected to start trading in April.
02/04/2010

Les fusions et acquisitions progressent de 13% au premier trimestre 2010

Les opérations de fusions et acquisitions dans le monde ont progressé au premier trimestre de 13% par rapport aux trois premiers mois de 2009 à 470,8 milliards de dollars, selon les données communiquées par mergermarket. Ce chiffre marque toutefois un recul de 19% par rapport au premier trimestre 2008.C’est la zone Asie-Pacifique (hors Japon) qui a été la plus dynamique en ce début d’année avec un montant record d’opérations de 103 milliards de dollars, en hausse de 122% par rapport au premier trimestre 2009.L’Europe et les Etats-Unis sont en revanche en retrait. En Europe, l’activité a reculé de 3,6% à 114,4 milliards de dollars pour 823 transactions (-6,5% en volume). Il s’agit du plus faible résultat trimestriel enregistré depuis 1998. Aux Etats-Unis, l’activité a totalisé 148,7 milliards de dollars, en recul de 25% par rapport au premier trimestre 2009. Avec 661 transactions, le volume d’activité a reculé de 16% par rapport au premier trimestre 2009 et de 15% par rapport aux trois derniers mois de 2009. Dans le private equity, les opérations de buyout se sont accrues de 7% à 32,3 milliards de dollars, l’Europe représentant 44% de ce total. A noter enfin que les opérations annoncées de faillite ont chuté de 69,4% en valeur au premier trimestre 2010 par rapport au premier trimestre 2009 et de 90% par rapport au sommet du deuxième trimestre de l’an dernier. L’activité en valeur est à son plus bas niveau depuis le troisième trimestre 2008.
02/04/2010

Changement de stratégie chez 3i

Le britannique 3i a décidé d’ouvrir son pôle de capital-développement à des investisseurs extérieurs, rapporte la tribune. Originaires d’Asie, d’Amérique du Nord, d’Europe et du Moyen-Orient, ces derniers ont apporté un tiers des capitaux collectés dans le véhicule que la société vient de lever (400 millions d’euros sur 1,2 milliard) tandis que 3i puisait jusqu’ici uniquement dans les fonds propres de son holding coté. 3i a motivé cette décision de faire appel aujourd’hui à des capitaux extérieurs par les opportunités que recèle le marché.
02/04/2010

"Il faudrait que l'international représente 50 % de nos encours"

Acropole Asset Management, société de gestion dédiée aux obligations convertibles créée il y a un peu plus de trois ans, cherche à se développer auprès de la clientèle étrangère et auprès des investisseurs institutionnels basés en province, indique son président et fondateur, Jacques Joakimides, dans un entretien à NewsManagers.
02/04/2010
Fonds

Blue Sky AM lance une stratégie de croissance

Blue Sky Asset Management vient d’annoncer le lancement d’une stratégie de croissance baptisée Enhanced Growth Plan FTSE 100 series. Le véhicule à six ans se propose de doubler toute hausse du FTSE 100 avec une rentabilité maximale de 90% (45% sur six ans) et une rentabilité minimale de 25%, si, à l'échéance, l’indice se trouve au-dessus ou à son niveau de départ.
Fonds
02/04/2010

Man Group obtient un mandat de 1 milliard de dollars

Man Group s’est vu accorder un mandat de 1 milliard de dollars sans précédent par le deuxième plus gros fonds de pension britannique, le USS, rapporte le Financial Times. L’argent sera investi dans l’activité de fonds de fonds de Man. USS veut à terme investir jusqu’à 20 % de ses actifs dans des placements alternatifs.
02/04/2010
Fonds

Jensen lance un mutual fund

Jensen Investment Management a annoncé le 31 mars le lancement de son deuxième mutual fund, le Jensen Value Fund, dix-huit ans après la mise sur le marché de son fonds de référence, le Jensen Portfolio.Le Jensen Value Fund se propose d’investir dans des valeurs de qualité, sélectionnées à partir d’une analyse quantitative trimestrielle sur un univers de sociétés américaines d’une capitalisation de marché minimale de 1 milliard de dollars. A la différence de son premier fonds, qui comporte de 20 à 30 lignes, le nouveau fonds n’est pas limité en termes de lignes.L’investissement est de 2.500 dollars minimum pour les parts retail et de 1 millions pour les parts institutionnelles.Au 31 mars 2010, les actifs sous gestion de Jensen s'élevaient à plus de 3,5 milliards de dollars.
Fonds
02/04/2010

David Tepper (Appaloosa) a gagné 4 milliards de dollars en 2009

Pour l’an dernier, les 25 gérants de hedge funds les mieux payés ont encaisser 25,3 milliards de dollars, soit 13 % de plus que le record de 2007, rapporte la Börsen-Zeitung, citant Absolute Return + Alpha. En 2008, leur rémunération avait chuté de moité. Ces revenus proviennent des commissions de performance ainsi que de la performance des sommes investies dans leurs fonds.David Tepper, qui dirige Appaloosa Management, a touché 4 milliards de dollars en 2009, ce qui constitue un record historique. Il a misé sur les obligations et les titres hybrides de banques américaines après la faillite de Lehman Brothers tout en pariant sur AIG.
02/04/2010
Fonds

Invesco PowerShares lance neuf ETF

La gamme d’ETF d’Invesco PowerShares s’allongera le 7 avril à 127 références avec le lancement de neuf produits chargés à 0,29 % qui répliquent des versions sectorielles de la série des S&P SmallCap 600 Capped Sector Indices. Il s’agit des ETF PowerShares S&P SmallCap Consumer Discretionary Portfolio, Consumer Staples Portfolio, Energy Portfolio, Financial Portfolio, Health Care Portfolio, Industrials Portfolio, Information Technology Portfolio, Materials Portfolio et Utilities Portfolio.
Fonds
02/04/2010

13 new ETF funds from Amundi released in Italy

Amundi ETF on Thursday, 1 April announced that 13 new ETFs have been listed on Borsa Italiana, bringing the total number of products from the firm available on Borsa Italiana to 28. The funds in question, all of which are previously unreleased, according to Amundi ETF, are sectoral products. They include two ETF World products, one of which is focused on the energy sector, and one on the financial sector - entitled Amundi ETF MSCI World Energy and Amundi ETF MSCI World Financials, respectively. In addition to these funds come ten Euorpean sectoral ETF funds based on MSCI benchmark indices for the major sectors of the European markets. The last of the new ETFs invests in real estate, via an index which includes nearly 25 European publicly traded realty firms. Aside from the first two ETFs and the real estate fund, whose annual management fees are 0.35%, the other products charge fees of 0.25%.
02/04/2010

Nomination officielle d'Antoine Gosset-Grainville à la CDC

Il en était question depuis la mi-mars. Antoine Gosset-Grainville, directeur adjoint du cabinet de François Fillon, rejoindra le 1er mai la Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC) comme numéro deux, rapporte l’Agefi. Il pilotera notamment les filiales et participations du groupe, comme Dexia, Transdev, et bientôt La Poste, note le quotidien.
02/04/2010

Coup de frein à l'acquisition d'AGF PE par l'IDI

Après la contestation de l’acquisition par l’IDI d’AGF Private Equity (PE), filiale d’Allianz par son comité d’entreprise jeudi devant le tribunal de grande instance (TGI) de Paris, suite à un référé déposé le 12 mars, le TGI doit se prononcer d’ici le 15 avril, rapporte l’Agefi. L’objectif est d’aboutir à la suspension de cette vente et à la reprise de l’information-consultation entre Allianz et le comité d’entreprise d’AGF PE. Chargé de la défense du comité d’entreprise, Jean-Pierre Fourrier, l’avocat associé au sein du cabinet LMBE, a également confirmé qu’il comptait « lancer une plainte pénale, pour délit d’entrave, à l’encontre de dirigeants d’Allianz. Cinq à six dirigeants seraient visés.

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