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07/04/2010

Lombard Odier on the move in Russian market

Agefi Switzerland reports that Lombard Odier has received a license from the Russian central bank, which will allow it to open a branch office there. Michael Kuenzi, who set up the private management unit of UBS in Russia before joining Lombard Odier last year, has been appointed to represent the Geneva-based bank locally. The process is continuing, the bank says, but it declines to name a date for the opening of the future Moscow office. Lombard Odier is aiming for USD20bn in assets held by Russians in Russia, Alexander Kotcoubey, executive vice president, has told Bloomberg.
07/04/2010

Pictet launches its first UCITS III-compliant long/short equities fund

Pictet will on 12 April launch its first UCITS III-compliant long/short equities fund, the Luxembourg-registered Corto Europe, which will be managed with a process and philosophy similar to that of the Pictet Corto European Ltd (EUR230m), registered in the Cayman Islands. A license for the fund was issued by the CSSF on 17 March. The capacity of the fund, which will offer weekly liquidity (with 5 working days’ advance notice) will be limited to a nominal EUR250m, due to the fact that market exposure will be about 1.9 times, including leverage and the short positions, explains Philippe Sarreau, one of the managers of the fund. The objective will be to earn returns of about 15-20%, with volatility of 7-8%, half the level of the benchmark index (MSCI Europe TR). For retail investors (P-class shares), management fees will total 1.60%, while administration and custody fees will total 0.40%. Performance commission is 20%, with high watermark. The Pictet Corto Europe will use the Euro as its currency of reference, with share classes hedged in US dollars and Siwss francs. Under normal market conditions, the fund will have 60 to 80 long positions, and 50 to 70 short positions. The long positions will range form 1% to 5%, while the short ones will be between 1% and 3%. While the original fund, with monthly liquidity, was launched on 1 August 2006, and is now 80% a province of US investors, the new UCITS III-compliant version targets more specifically European clients.
06/04/2010
Fonds

software-systems lance une notation de fonds "3D"

L’autrichien software-systems lancera le 5 mai lors du congrès Finance & Ethics (FER) son nouveau concept de notation de fonds tridimentionnelle, le FER3D. Les composantes en seront une notation de risque du fonds selon les normes réglementaires européennes, la performance par rapport aux autres fonds de la même catégorie (peer group) et enfin la notation éthique/dynamique EDA (lire notre article du 13 juillet 2009).
Fonds
06/04/2010

Aviva Investors restructure son business development

Après les départs fin décembre d’Adam Lessing, head of business development Europe, et de Dirk Skarba, head of business development Central Europe, il semble qu’Aviva Investors soit en train de restructurer son activité de business development mondial, rapporte Fondsprofessionell. La nouvelle organisation ne s’appuierait plus sur les différents pays mais sur les trois typologies de clientèle : établissements financiers, institutions et Aviva. D’après Fondsprofessionell, cette réorganisation fait peut-être partie d’une réduction des coûts parce que les rentrées n'évoluent pas aussi positivement que prévu.
06/04/2010

ABP confirms interest in microfinance

ABP, the pension fund for Dutch civil servants, has invested USD30m (EUR22.3m) in a global private equity microfinance fund from Grassroots Capital, says IPE.com. It means ABP’s holding in microfinance debt and private equity has now grown to USD215m since it first invested $5m in this strategy with Dexia Asset Management in 2005.
06/04/2010

Aviva Investors restructures its business development

Following the departures of Adam Lessing, head of business development Europe, and Kirk Skarba, head of business development Central Europe, at the end of December, Aviva Investors appears to be in the process of restructuring its global business development activities, Fondsprofessionell reports. The new scheme is said not to be organized around countries, but instead on three types of clients: financial institutions, institutions, and Aviva. Fondsprofessionell suggests that the reorganization may be a part of a cost reduction effort, as revenues are not developing as positively as expected.
06/04/2010

Carlyle recruits former head of private equity for Dubai sovereign fund

Carlyle, the US-based private equity group, has poached Eric Kump, head of Dubai International Capital’s European private equity team, says the Financial Times. Eric Kump will on Tuesday be unveiled by Carlyle as a new managing director in its European buy-out team, only two years after he was hired by the sovereign wealth fund.
06/04/2010

AAA rating for UK government bonds under pressure

Pimco continues to be highly negative about the outlooks for British government debt. Scott Mather, director of international portfolio management at the largest manager of bond funds in the world, estimates that the UK may lose its AAA rating in the next twelve months, according to reports by Reuters. He also estimates that the European Union’s plan in support of Greece will be ineffective. “There will need to be miracles in the next six months to maintain economic growth in the developed world,” Mather said in Taipei. As a result, Pimco recommends an underweight exposure to government bonds from the UK, the US and Europe. In January, the co-founder and co-head of investment at Pimco, Bill Gross, expressed his reservations about UK government debt, remarking that gilts were sitting on a “bed of nitroglycerine.” Standard & Poor’s has recently placed its AAA rating for the United Kingdom on a watch with negative outlook.
06/04/2010

software-systems launches a “3D” fund ratings concept

The Austrian firm software-systems will on 5 May launch its new three-dimensional ratings concept, FER3D, at the Finance & Ethics (FER) conference. The components will include fund risk ratings according to European regulatory standards, performance in comparison with other funds in the same peer group, and ethical/dynamic EDA ratings (see Newsmanagers of 13 July 2009).
06/04/2010

Reputation of Berkshire Hathaway up, AIG and Citigroup down

According to a survey by Harris Interactive, the reputation of the business world is “not good” or “catastrophic” in the opinion of 81% of those surveyed. Agefi reports. At the top of the list of businesses with the worst reputations are AIG and Citigroup. At the other end of the spectrum is Berkshire Hathaway, whose head, Warren Buffett, is regarted as a man who effectively leads his business without excessive remuneration.
06/04/2010

Nationwide hands a new mandate to JP Morgan

Nationwide Funds Group (NFG), which includes the asset management activities of Nationwide Financial Services, has asked JP Morgan to provide it with more services. In addition to custody and securities lending, JP Morgan will take charge of accounting, administration and settlement. NFG manages about USD32bn in 92 mutual funds.
06/04/2010

Star managers striking out on their own

According to a study by Prince Associates, 48% of private banking clients in the United States withdrew their assets from their bank between September 2008 and January 2010. 40% of them opted for a multi-family office, while 26.4% chose an independent management firm, Expansión reports. This development coincides with an increase in departures of star managers to found their own businesses. For example, Joan David Grimá left Santander to create Tegri Asesoramiento, while Zoe Cruz, former co-president of Morgan Stanley, is launching the hedge fund management firm Voras Capital Management. Eric Brugel and Jeff Erber (formerly of Merrill Lynch) have gone into the wealth management business, with Grey Own Capital Management, while Erich Thurber, Fred Molfino and Mrett Sharkey (formerly of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney) have followed their example, founding Three Bridge Wealth Advisors. The four founders of Old Lane (Citigroup) and their executive director, Guru Ramakrishnan, at the end of 2009 launched the hedge fund Meru Capital Group (EUR200m in assets), while Justin Kennedy (formerly of Deutsche Bank) is preparing to launch a real estate fund. Florian de Sigy, director of structured products for Europe at Deutsche bank, has launched a hedge fund management firm, Gamma Finance, with Javier Rodriguez, a former director of Barclays Global Investors. Lastly, Andrew Bodner has joined his father Martin, also formerly of UBS, to found a firm in New Jersey, while Arié Assayag (formerly of SocGen) has joined 30 senior managers to launch a hedge fund.
06/04/2010

Hedge fund managers are often copyists paid princely sums

In a study of 8,650 funds on sale in Germany, the wealth management firm Gecam has found that 2009 was a good year in terms of performance, but that managers are not responsible for much of it, Die Welt am Sonntag reports. Nearly half of German equities funds outperformed the MSCI Germany, compared with 30% in 2008; for global equities, the percentage of funds which outperformed their benchmarks rose from 36% to 41%, while the percentage has more than doubled for North American equities funds, from 165 to 35%. However, the percentage of emerging markets equities funds which outperformed their benchmark has fallen to 22% from 23%. To better judge the results, Gecam has added a measure of correlation. It came in at 0.97 for German equities funds in 2009, compared with 0.94 over the past three years, which shows that managers have become even more passive and are now content to follow the index for 97% of their investments. The correlation and performance of larger funds is naturally respectively higher, and weaker, than those of smaller funds, which are more easily maneuverable. This high level of correlation raises questions about whether it is genuinely worth paying at least 2% in management commissions per year, rather than investing in a tracker fund for considerably less money.
06/04/2010

Coordinator appointed for joint ACP-AMF unit

Danièle Nouy, secretary general of the French pension regulatory body Autorité de contrôle prudentiel (ACP), and Thierry Francq, secretary general of its financial counterpart, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AFP), on 2 April announced the appointment of the deputy secretary general for pension control, Fabrice Pesin, as coordinator of the joint ACP-AMF unit for supervision of relations between professionals and their clients, created by an ordnance passed on 21 January 2010. His counterpart at the AMF is Natalie Lemaire, director of the office for relations with savings investors. The coordinator has been appointed for a period of two years, and the position will be held alternately by individuals from the ACP and the AMF. Pesin has been appointed until 31 December 2011. From 1 January 2012, Lemaire will succeed him. Pesin, a graduate of the École Polytechnique and of the École Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Économique (ENSAE), and director of INSEE, joined the ACP in March 2010 as deputy secretary general.
06/04/2010

Roc Capital Management touts transparency

The hedge fund management firm Roc Capital Management has raised more than USD1bn since the financial crisis, a success which it owes partly to its transparency campaign, the Wall Street Journal reports. The team, led by Arvind Ragunathan, is the former Equitech team from Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank invested the first USD500m, and owns 10% of the firm. Unlike other quant funds, Roc Capital provides details of its investments by sector and by geographical region, as well as other data, all of which are certified by an external company. Roc Capital also relies on the resources of a team of more than 50 analysts based in Chennai, which systematically combs through the public data provided by US companies in real time, but without a knowledge of the fund’s positions. Roc Capital limits its use of leverage and specializes in US large caps. It often holds its stakes for several weeks.
06/04/2010

Goldman Sachs fund buys a stake in a hedge fund

Petershill Fund Offshore LP, a fund from Goldman Sachs with USD1bn in assets which invests in minority stakes in hedge funds, has acquired a minority stake in a hedge fund from David Ganek, entitled Level Global Investors LP. Bloomberg reports that Level Global, founded in 2003, has 64 employees, of whom 25 are investment professionals. Petershill also has stakes in three London firms: Capula Investment Management, Winton Capital Management, and Trafalgar Asset Managers, as well as in a firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut, entitled Shumway Capital Partners LLC.
06/04/2010

Private equity fund buys a stake in a hedge fund

La Tribune reports that Petershill Fund Offshore LP, a private equity fund from Goldman Sachs, has announced that it has acquired a minority stake in a USD4bn hedge fund by David Ganek, entitled Level Global Investors LP. The business bank says that it will not take part in investment decisions, the newspaper adds.
06/04/2010

Bono's fund buys 1% stake in Facebook

Elevation Partners, an investment fund in which Bono, the singer for the group U2, is one of the shareholders, at the end of 2009 bought a 1% stake in the social network Facebook for USD90m, Cinco Días reports. Facebook has declined to comment. In early 2010, Elevation Partners went on to invest USD25m in Yelp, a social networking startup; the fund has since confirmed its plans to increase its investment in the firm to USD100m.
06/04/2010

Bankinter launches a guaranteed fund to bet on US economic recovery

Bankinter is releasing the Bankinter Consolidación América Garantizado fund for sale until 13 April. The product guarantees initial capital, plus a participation (limited to 2% per month) in any gains on the American S%P 500 index until 14 April 2015, Cinco Días reports. Minimal subscription is set at EUR600, and management commission totals 1.90%, while the depository bank charges 0.10%.
06/04/2010

Offshore funds now integrated into IMA classification system

The British investment management association (IMA) on 2 April announced that it has now integrated offshore funds into its classification system. 91 funds will be included in 17 existing classes.About 180 funds were candidates for integration into the IMA grid; the association says that 69 more are nearing approval.
06/04/2010

Threadneedle to offer two tech funds

According to Citywire, Threadneedle is planning to transfer two US technology funds from its sister company Seligman into its Sicav. The two funds, Threadneedle Global Technology and Threadneedle US Communication, will thus be opened to investors in Europe.
06/04/2010

BNP Paribas cède sa gestion privée dans trois juridictions "exotiques"

BNP Paribas et la Banque Scotia ont annoncé vendredi 2 avril avoir signé un accord prévoyant le transfert des activités de gestion privée de BNP Paribas à Panama, Grand Cayman et aux Bahamas à la Banque Scotia. De fait, l'établissement français respecte l’engagement qu’il avait pris en septembre 2009.Sous réserve de l’approbation des différentes autorités compétentes, la transaction doit préserver «dans des conditions optimales», précise le communiqué de BNP Paribas, les emplois localement et garantir aux clients le maintien d’un service de qualité avec la Banque Scotia, banque canadienne internationale qui offre des services financiers aux particuliers et aux entreprises au Panama depuis 1974, aux Îles Caïmans depuis 1968 et aux Bahamas depuis 1956.La réalisation de l’opération est prévue pour le troisième trimestre 2010. Les termes de l’accord ne sont pas publics mais BNP Paribas note que ce dernier n’a pas d’impact financier significatif pour le groupe.
06/04/2010
Fonds

Le groupe UFG-LFP lance un fonds de dette décotée

L’Agefi rapporte que Delff Management, filiale londonienne du groupe UFG-LFP, lance Delff Senior Corporate Loans Fund 2016, son premier fonds commun de titrisation (FCT) ayant pour objet le rachat de dettes décotées en euros sur le marché secondaire des prêts syndiqués (LBO ou corporate). Racheter à moins de 80% les tranches seniors sécurisées d’entreprises comme Vivarte, Frans Bonhomme, TDF ou Materis laisse entrevoir un rendement intéressant, composé d’un spread de 250 à 450 points de base au-dessus de l’Euribor et de la plus-value sur le remboursement final, détaille le quotidien.
Fonds
06/04/2010
Fonds

Dépréciation de deux actifs du Weltfonds de TMW Pramerica

TMW Pramerica Property Investment GmbH a annoncé jeudi après-midi que la valeur liquidative de son fonds immobilier offert au public TMW Immobilien Weltfonds a été abaissé de 67 cents à 51,81 euros du fait que que l’estimation de deux actifs, l’un à Londres et l’autre en Floride, a été revue à la baisse lors de l’audit de routine.Les remboursements du Weltfonds sont de toutes façons suspendus à nouveau depuis le 8 février (lire notre article du 10 février). Ce fonds affichait fin février un encours de 791,67 millions d’euros.
Fonds
06/04/2010

Nevsky Capital subit des rachats

La société de hedge funds britannique Nevsky Capital, qui gère 7 milliards de dollars, a subi la semaine dernière plus de 1 milliard de dollars de demandes de remboursements de la part d’investisseurs souhaitant quitter son fonds vedette, le Nevsky Fund, rapporte le Financial Times. Les rachats font suite à l’annonce du départ de Martin Taylor et Nick Barnes, les deux gérants stars du fonds de 3,3 milliards de dollars. Dans une lettre aux investisseurs, les dirigeants du Nevsky Fund avaient indiqué qu’il était peu probable que le fonds continue après leur départ.
06/04/2010

Gartmore s'allie à Hermes dans le private equity

Gartmore a annoncé mardi 6 avril le bouclage de sa joint venture avec Hermes Fund Managers Limited visant à fusionner leurs activités de fonds de fonds de private equity dans un nouveau véhicule, Hermes GPE LLP. Ce dernier, lors de son lancement, affichera un encours sous gestion de 4,1 milliards de livres sterling.
06/04/2010

Nouveau mandat de Nationwide pour JP Morgan

Nationwide Funds Group (NFG), qui regroupe les activités de gestion d’actifs de Nationwide Financial Services, a demandé à JP Morgan de lui fournir de nouveaux services. Outre la conservation et le prêt de titres, JP Morgan va prendre en charge les services de comptabilité, d’administration et d’agent de transfert. NFG gère quelque 32 milliards de dollars dans 92 mutual funds.

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