Selon le Financial Times, Barclays cherche à acquérir une grosse banque «retail» aux Etats-Unis afin de réduire le poids de sa banque d’investissement. Les analystes pensent que les cibles potentielles pourraient être SunTrust, PNC Financial et US Bancorp.

Le groupe bancaire liechtensteinois Verwaltungs- und Privat-Bank AG (VP Bank) a indiqué le 9 mars qu’il avait dégagé l’an dernier un bénéfice net de 59,8 millions de francs suisses après une perte de 80,3 millions en 2008.Mais VP Bank a encore enregistré une sortie de fonds l’an dernier. Le reflux net a atteint 1,1 milliard de francs suisses, après 1,3 milliard en 2008. Les actifs sous gestion totalisaient 29,5 milliards fin 2009, après 28,5 milliards fin 2008.Le conseil d’administration proposera à l’assemblée générale le versement d’un dividende de 3,50 francs suisses par action au porteur contre 2,50 et de 0,35 (0,25) franc suisse par action nominative.

Selon le journal suisse Bilan, L’Union Bancaire Privée «s’apprête à embaucher 100 personnes dans le domaine de l’asset management (gestion institutionnelle, informatique, fonds et hedge funds)».

Selon L’Agefi suisse, Bank of America Merrill Lynch a recruté Arnaud Lambillon au poste de conseiller pour les clients britanniques non domiciliés et les citoyens britanniques résidant en Suisse. Il exerçait précédemment des fonctions similaires chez UBS et sera basé à Zurich.

La clientèle aisée (fortune supérieure à 1 million de francs suisse) constitue un créneau important pour Credit Suisse, indique Le Temps. Pour faire face à un afflux d’argent frais en hausse de 6% par an en moyenne, soit son objectif, Credit Suisse compte augmenter ses effectifs actuels (environ 21.000 collaborateurs) en Suisse, a annoncé la banque lundi.

Vendredi, La Française des Placements (UFG-LFP) a obtenu l’enregistrement des fonds obligataires LFP Index Long Terme et LFP Obligations émergentes par le régulateur espagnol, la CNMV.Le même jour, la CNMV annonçait aussi l’enregistrement des fonds Saint-Honoré Emerging Opportunities et Saint-Honoré US Opportunities.

Avec son associé José Rodriguez, ancien directeur du trading chez Bankers Trust, le fils cadet d’Emilo Botín (président du Santander), vient de créer la boutique d’investissement Renta Markets qui se spécialisera sur la trésorerie, les dérivés et les marchés de capitaux pour une clientèle d’investisseurs institutionnels, rapporte Cotizalia. Le courtier espagnol Renta 4 détient une participation de 35 % dans la nouvelle structure. Il fournira la plate-forme technologique et servira de courtier pour les transactions de Renta Markets.

Le capital-investisseur britannique 3i a chargé la banque d’investissement Arcano de gérer un appel d’offres pour la participation de 75 % qu’il a achetée en 2005 pour 48,5 millions dans la société de réactifs chimiques Panreac, rapporte Expansión. Panreac emploie 230 personnes et a réalisé l’an dernier un chiffre d’affaires d’une quarantaine de millions d’euros. Les 25 % restants du capital sont détenus par le management.

Groupama Asset Management s’apprête à créer cette année sa première Sicav de droit luxembourgeois. L’objectif est de toucher une clientèle de distributeurs européens, à savoir les banques privées et la multigestion. Dans cette perspective, la Sicav reprendra surtout les stratégies «typées» de la société de gestion française, et notamment celles du pôle gestion absolue. «Notre ambition est d’avoir 3 à 4 compartiments assez rapidement», indique Jean-Marie Catala, directeur du développement.Jusqu'à présent, l’expansion internationale de Groupama AM s’est faite au travers de sa gamme française, principalement en accompagnement de la croissance de sa maison mère à l'étranger. Mais Jean-Marie Catala reconnaît que pour aller plus loin, le Luxembourg est un passage obligé. «La coquille administrative la plus efficace dans le cadre d’une distribution européenne est la structure luxembourgeoise, qui a dix ans d’avance», estime-t-il. Il ajoute que cette création s’opère en anticipation de la directive Ucits IV en 2012. «Nous aurons alors deux ans d’historique», indique-t-il.A l’heure actuelle, 7 milliards d’euros, soit 8 % des encours de Groupama AM (88,8 milliards d’euros), sont gérés pour des clients étrangers. La société a notamment une présence marquée en Italie, au travers de sa filiale Groupama Sgr depuis fin 2006 et en Espagne, via une succursale créée mi 2008. La prochaine étape dans le développement européen est l’Europe du Nord, incluant la Scandinavie, la Finlande, les Pays-Bas, l’Allemagne et l’Autriche. Des accords de distribution ont déjà été mis en place, mais Groupama souhaite aussi cibler les institutionnels et donc étudie aujourd’hui la meilleure façon de les approcher.Au total, Groupama AM veut collecter 500 millions d’euros sur l’international en 2010, sur 3 milliards d’euros en dehors du groupe et 4-5 milliards globalement. En 2009, la société a enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 2 milliards d’euros, soit un niveau inférieur aux objectifs annoncés l’an passé de 5 milliards d’euros et à la collecte de 2008 (5,3 milliards d’euros). En fait, en milieu d’année, la société avait collecté 3 milliards, mais elle a ensuite accusé sur la fin de l’année des sorties sur les fonds monétaires.Ses encours ont néanmoins progressé de 9 % sur l’année à 88,8 milliards d’euros, soit son niveau le plus élevé. Son bénéfice net augmente de 58 % à 24,2 millions d’euros, sur un chiffre d’affaires en hausse de 21 % à 134,4 millions.

Depuis le début de 2009 et jusqu'à ce premier anniversaire du plus bas des marchés occidentaux des 8 et 9 mars, l’encours de Comgest est passé d’environ 6,8 milliards à 10,5 milliard d’euros (dont la moitié en mandats), l’effet de performance n’expliquant à lui seul «que» 2,2 milliards d’euros de cette hausse. Le gestionnaire a en effet enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 900 millions d’euros pour ses fonds marchés émergents, de 300 millions pour ses produits européens et de 300 millions d’euros encore pour les produits «globaux», comme l’ont expliqué mardi le président du directoire Jean-François Canton et son état-major.De surcroît, cette expansion s’est faite avec dix recrutements, dont ceux de trois gérants seniors, et l’effectif atteint désormais 75 salariés, dont 26 gérants analystes. 90 % des salariés sont actionnaires de Comgest. Au moins deux autres recrutements d’analystes sont dans les tuyaux, pour le Brésil et pour l’Inde.Comgest a aussi lancé de nouveaux produits, avec le Growth Greater Europe Opportunities et le Growth Latin America,, suivi au cours de ce premier trimestre 2010 de deux fonds conformes à la loi islamique, Growth Europe Shariah et Growth Emerging Markets Shariah.Le succès de Comgest s’explique en grande partie par le fait que le gestionnaire, qui compte un quart de clients français, a su faire partager aux investisseurs son approche de long terme, avec des titres conservés en moyenne entre 4 ½ et 5 ans en portefeuille. A ce rythme, les bons résultats économiques escomptés par les gérants finissent pratiquement toujours par générer une performance correspondant aux attentes des souscripteurs ainsi fidélisés.

Dans un avis financier paru dans Les Echos, EdRIM GESTION informe les porteurs de parts du FCP « GEO-ENERGIES » de la décimalisation des parts « C » et « I ». A compter du 11 mars 2010, les parts « C » (code ISIN : FR0010127522) et « I » (code ISIN : FR0010137653) seront émises en millièmes de parts. Les autres caractéristiques du FCP demeurent inchangées. Le prospectus du FCP est disponible sur le site Internet www.edrim.fr

Déjà présent à Bruxelles depuis trois ans, Lazard Frères Gestion (LFG) compte ouvrir une antenne en Suisse cette année, rapporte l’Agefi. Ensuite, la société française s’attaquera à d’autres marchés jugés porteurs, à commencer par l’Espagne, puis l’Italie et enfin l’Allemagne. Lazard Frères Gestion qui se consacre plutôt à une clientèle de banque privée, pour des comptes de plus d’un million d’euros, et au conseil d’institutionnels hors du circuit des grands appels d’offres ne craint pas de doublons avec la filiale américaine Lazard Asset Management (LAM), précise le quotidien. En 2009, la société affiche 9,2 milliards d’encours (+15%) et déjà 10 milliards à ce jour. La collecte, de 972 millions l’an dernier hors mandats, doit atteindre 1,1 milliard cette année grâce notamment au segment des conseillers en gestion de patrimoine dans lequel la société s’est lancée il y a un an.

Amundi ETF, which is already present on two major European stock exchanges, NYSE Euronext Paris and Deutsche Borse, has announced its first listings on Borsa Italiana. 15 equities ETF products are now listed there, including 7 previously unreleased funds. In the next few months, several more waves of listings will add to the product range on offer from Amundi ETF. Among the 15 ETF funds available on Borsa Italiana, managed with a synthetic replication strategy, are: 6 ETFs which provide investors with exposure with a single transaction to equities from the major developed markets: the Euro zone, Europe, the United States, and Asia, including Amundi ETF MSCi Italy, a new product, which replicates the evolution of nearly 40 of the largest companies on the Italian market, on Borsa Italiana. 3 ETFs which provide exposure to emerging markets, including China, India, and Central Europe, including 2 new products on Borsa Italiana: Amundi ETF MSCI China, which replicated the evolution of the 50 largest publicly-traded Chinese companies traded in Hong Kong, and Amundi ETF Eastern Europe ex-Russia, which allows investors to profit from exposure to about 30 major companies of Central Europe excluding Russia. 6 leveraged and short ETF funds, including 4 new products on Borsa Italiana, some of which allow investors to double their positions, and some of which provide them with a means to hedge their positions on specific markets. In particular, 3 leveraged ETFs provide double exposure to the daily performance of their respective indices. The 3 short ETFs offer inverse daily exposure, both in rising and falling conditions, to the evolution of the DOW JONES EURO STOXX 50®, MSCI Europe Daily and MSCI USA Daily indices. As with the complete Amundi ETF range, these products are distributed by dedicated sales teams from CA Chevreux and Amundi. Investors may learn more about the characteristics of these funds on the website amundietf.com.

The German management firm Hauck & Aufhäuser has announced the release of the Luxembourg-registered fund (LU0470205575) Structured Solutions Lithium Index Strategie Fonds, which replicates the S-Box Lithium Performance Index from Structured Solutions. The index includes the 25 largest firms active int he production of Lithium. The fund, launched on 7 January 2010, is licensed for sale in Luxembourg, Germany and Austria. It carries a maximal front-end fee of 5%, and a management commission of up to 0.80%.

F&C Asset Management has been granted permission to make an offer to acquire the Austrian firm C-Quadrat. On 12 February, ÜBK, the Austrian antitrust authority, suspended F&C, which failed to submit its bid within the required deadline. F&C may now continue its negotiations with C-Quadrat, which may result in a bid at EUR12.50 per share.

Groupama Asset Management is this year preparing to create its first Luxembourg Sicav. The aim is to reach a client base of European distributors, including private banks and multi-management. With this in mind, the Sicav will include largely the French management firm’s “typical” strategies, especially those of the absolute return unit. “Our ambition is to have 3 to 4 sub-funds fairly quickly,” says Jean-Marie Catala, director of development. Previously, the international expansion of Groupama AM was undertaken via the French product range, often alongside growth for its parent company abroad. But Catala admits that, in order to go further, the Luxembourg Sicav is a necessary step. “The most effective administrative shell for European distribution is the Luxembourg structure, which is ten years ahead of its rivals,” he says. He adds that the creation of the fund is being undertaken in anticipation of the passage of the UCITS IV directive in 2012. “We will then have two years of track record,” he points out. Currently, EUR7bn, or 8% of Groupama AM’s assets (EUR88,8bn) are managed for foreign clients. The firm has a particularly strong presence in Italy, via its affiliate Groupama Sgr, since late 2006, and in Spain the firm has been present since 2008 via an affiliate created there.

A growing number of Spanish asset management firms are founding Luxembourg structures, not only to sell their funds in other countries, but also to distribute their products in Spain, particularly to institutional and high net worth private clients, since Luxembourg has no withholding tax, unlike Spain, Cotizalia points out. Santander Asset Management and BBVA Asset Management have already set up structures of this kind, and A&G (EFG group) is in the process of creating an ad-hoc structure in the Grand Duchy.

On Thursday, Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) announced that at the end of September it recruited Shawn McNinch, senior vice president, who has now been appointed as global ETF product & sales head. McNinch was previously senior principal in the product strategy group at iShares, before the ETF management firm was acquired by BlackRock. He will now be in charge of directing global product servicing, development, and advising on new products. BBH points out in a statement that it is the third-largest custodian in the United States, and that it works with eight ETF issuers worldwide, including three of the five largest ETF issuers in the United States. Total assets in custody at BBH totalled USD2.3trn as of 31 December.

Lazard Frères Gestion (LFG), which has already been present in Brussels for three years, is planning to open an office in Switzerland this year, Agefi reports. Then, the French firm will move in on other markets it considers promising, starting with Spain, followed by Italy and Germany. Lazard Frères Gestion, which focuses primarily on private banking clients with more than EUR1m in assets, and on advising institutional clients who are off the beaten track of calls for tenders, is not concerned about overlapping with the US affiliate Lazard Asset Management (LAM), the newspaper reports. As of the end of 2009, the firm had EUR9.2bn in assets (+15%), and now already has over EUR10bn. Inflows were EUR972m last year, excluding mandates, and are expected to total EUR1.1bn this year, largely thanks to the IFA segment, which the firm entered one year ago.

UBS has announced that it has submitted an application to the FSA, the British market authority, to create an electronic trading platform for European equities markets (MTF), Agefi reports. The new platform is one in a series from financial establishments seeking to develop electronic trading platforms. For the moment, the newspaper notes, UBS will have to wait for the regulatory environment, and in particular for the MiFID directive to be overhauled. The creation of an MTF such as the planned UBS platform offers a higher level of available liquidity and improves most-market transparency, the newspaper adds. UBS also guarantees that it will provide added liquidity to its clients if necessary.

With his partner José Rodriguez, former head of trading at Bankers Trust, the youngest son of Emilio Botín (president of Santander), emilio Botín O’Shea, has created the investment boutique Renta Markets, which will specialise in money markets, derivatives, and capital markets, serving institutional investor clients, Cotizalia reports. The Spanish brokerage firm Renta 4 owns a 35% stake in the new venture, and will provide the IT platform and act as broker for the transactions of Renta Markets.

As of the end of February, European ETF funds had gained USD2.2bn compared with the end of January, to a total of USD220.1bn, which nonetheless remains 3% lower than the USD226.9bn in assets as of the end of December, according to statistics compiled by BlackRock. There were 901 ETF funds in Europe, compared with 807 in the United States, 72 more than at the end of last year, after 72 new product launches. Net subscriptions in the first two months of 2010 totalled USD8.7bn, of which USD2.1bn were for European equities funds, USD1.2bn for bond funds, and USD1.4bn for emerging markets equities ETFs. iShares (BlackRock) remains the largest provider by far, with 172 products and USD81.7bn, which corresponds to a market share of 37.1%. Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) holds second place, with a market share of 20%, assets of USD44bn, and 127 ETF products. db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), with 118 funds and USD35.9bn in assets, has a market share of 16.3%. The other actors share the remaining 26.7%. The next two asset management firms in the rankings are Credit Suisse with 4.6% of the market, and Zurick Kantonal Bank, with 3.2%. EasyETF and Amundi Investment are in seventh and eighth place, with 2.6% and 2.3% of the European market, respectively.

Franz Tudor, who was a trader at the alternative management firm Schottenfeld Group, and who has confessed to complicity in fraudulent trading of securities in the Galleon scandal, has admitted that last year he used registration material supplied by the prosecutor’s office and the FBI in an effort to entrap two of his friends and colleagues also implicated in the scandal, the Wall Street Journal reports. In the Galleon insider trading case, there are a total of 21 suspects, at least eight of whom have admitted guilt and are cooperating with the authorities against their co-defendants.

In January and February 2010, Allianz Global Investors (AGI) earned net subscriptions in Germany of over EUR7bn, of which EUR2.8bn were for open-ended funds, and EUR4.2bn for institutional products. However, in 2009, the asset management firm earned only EUR4.2bn in net subscriptions, only thanks to EUR6bn in inflows to institutional funds (compared with EUR8bn in 2008), while open-ended funds saw net outflows of EUR1.8bn, largely due to EUR4.4bn in net redemptions from money market funds (compared with EUR6bn in 2008). Equities funds saw net inflows of only EUR0.5bn, while bond funds attracted EUR1.6bn, says James Dilworth, CEO of the firm since October of last year. In 2008, AGI Deutschland saw net outflows of EUR0.5bn from equities funds, and net subscriptions to bond funds totalled EUR3.1bn. As of the end of December, AGI Germany had assets under management and administration of EUR328bn, compared with EUR259bn at the end of 2008, and EUR290bn at the end of 2007. Thomas Wiesemann, chief market officer at AGI Europe and co-CEO of AGI KAG, says the integration of cominvest is now nearly complete. As a part of this process, the combined product range has been reduced by 118 funds, and 100 other funds will be merged this year. The management firm says that about one third each of overall sales of AGI funds pass through the Allianz network, Commerzbank, and external distributors. Institutional assets represent two thirds of the total, but only one third of profits.

In January, hedge funds attracted an estimated total of USD7.1bn in investment, according to Hedge Week, citing data from Trim Tabs Investment Research and BarclayHedge. This is a development worth noting, as the first month of the year normally involves outflows due to redemptions. Assets in hedge funds totalled USD1.5trn as of the end of January, a 23.6% increase compared with their levels in April 2009. Distressed equities in January saw their largest inflows and best returns (1.8%). Multi-strategy funds, meanwhile, had their largest outflows, while long-only equities earned the most mediocre results.

Following a 5% decline in January, to USD984bn, total assets in ETF funds worldwide, as calculated by BlackRock, increased to USD1.0015trn as of the end of February. Compared with the end of December, assets under management as of 28 February were still down 3.3%. As of the end of February, BlackRock counted 2,090 ETF funds listed 3,997 times, compared with 2,053 ETF funds listed 3,928 times as of the end fo January. Since the beginning of the year, the number of products increased by 7.3%, compared with 143 new product launches. There are currently plans to launch 840 more ETF products in the next few months. The top three providers of these funds remain unchanged: iShares (BlackRock) remains the largest, with 437 funds and USD471.9bn, corresponding to a market share of 47.1%. State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) is in second place, with 107 products and USD144.5bn, and a 14.4% market share. Vanguard ranks third with USD95.4bn in 47 funds, which represents a market share of 9.5%. The fourth and fifth-largest providers are Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale), with a market share of 4.5%, and db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) with a market share of 3.6%.

The Hennessee hedge fund index gained 0.96% in February, which brings performance in the first two months of the year to 0.42%, compared with a 0.95% decline for the S&P 500 index. “Hedge funds have outperformed equities since the beginning of the year. Despite lower returns in February, most hedge funds have been in positive territory since the beginning of the year, due to their capacity to limit losses during the selloff in January,” asid Lee Hennessee, managing principal of Hennessee Group.

Le board du Bramdean Alternatives investment trust (Bral) se propose de renommer le trust Aberdeen Private Equity, suite à l’acquisition de ce portefeuille par Aberdeen en novembre dernier, selon Fund Strategy.La modification reflètera le nouvel objectif d’investissement du trust, les fonds de private equity. Précédemment, le fonds de hedge funds investissait dans les actions, les hedge funds et les classes d’actifs spécialisées.

Nikko Asset Management is planning to release its green fund, Nikko Am World Bank Green Fund, to investors in Asia outside Japan, following the launch of a UCITS-compliant version for European and Middle Eastern clients, Asian Investor reports. The time frame has not yet been definitively set, but the fund may be registered in Singapore and Hong Kong, and will be made available largely to institutional clients.

Kristian Falnes is replacing Filip Weintraub, who has chosen to pursue investments in a different setting after nine years at the helm of Skagen Global. Filip Weintraub will remain a shareholder in Skagen AS and set aside time so that he can be available for the company going forward. In the coming months he will also work with Kristian Falnes to ensure a smooth transition of the lead portfolio manager responsibility for Skagen Global. Torkell Eide and Chris-Tommy Simonsen will continue to work on the team with Kristian Falnes. Kristian Falnes started as portfolio manager for Skagen Vekst in 1997, and was given sole responsibility for the fund in 2000. He continues as investment director, and will receive additional administrative support from Managing Director Harald Espedal. Beate Bredesen, who has 13 years experience in investment management, will take over as the lead portfolio manager for Skagen Vekst. She has been with the asset manager since 2004 and has worked on Skagen Vekst since 2006 with Kristian Falnes.