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08/03/2010

London & Capital appoints a senior portfolio manager

Investment Week reports that London & Capital has appointed Sanjay Joshi as senior portfolio manager in the fixed income team. Joshi will be in charge of portfolio construction and allocation, as well as the new UCITS fund product range. Joshi was previously at F&C Asset Management, where he was co-manager of a fixed income fund, but his arrival is actually a return, as he previously worked at London & Capital from 2002 to 2006.
08/03/2010

Norwegian fund reports best performance in its history

Gains in international equity and fixed income markets led to a record annual return for the Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global in 2009. The fund returned 25.6 percent, equivalent to 613 billion kroner. This was 4.1 percentage points higher than the return on the benchmark portfolio. The fund’s market value was 2,640 billion kroner at the end of 2009, up from 2,275 billion kroner a year earlier.It had 62.4 percent of its investments in equities at the end of 2009.
08/03/2010

Government pension fund to invest in real estate

The Norwegian finance minister, Sigbjørn Johnsen, has announced that his ministry would be granting permission for the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), formerly known as the Oil Fund, to invest up to 5% of its assets in non-publicly traded real estate, from 1 March 2010. The assets will be reallocated from bonds, and the total currently corresponds to NOK130bn, which will be invested over several years. The regulatory guidelines for these investments will be specified by the Bank of Norway (the GPFG is managed by its affiliate, Norges Bank Investment Management, or NBIM). To reduce risk, the government will require the fund to stagger its investments over time, and to diversify it by country and type of property. The GFPG will invest primarily in developed markets with traditional real estate categories. The minister states that directives will require the fund to take environmental, social and governance issues into account. In the area of environmental issues, the management team will be required to give priority to energy efficiency, water consumption and waste treatment considerations.
08/03/2010

Italian insurance policy was invested in Madoff

Bernard Madoff was one of the unit-linked managers for a life insurance policy offered to Italian investors by AIG Life in Dublin, which has been frozen by the company since December 2008, Il Sole - 24 Ore reports. The total sums invested with the US fraudster are estimated at EUR2-3m, from a total portfolio of EUR82m, which was placed in 16 funds on behalf of 16,000 Italian investors. It is likely that toxic assets, in addition to the Madoff investments, were introduced into the portfolio of the funds, which explains the closure of the policy, the Italian newspaper reports.
05/03/2010
Fonds

Jyske Invest abandonne le DAX 100 pour le MSCI 10/40 Germany

Le danois Jyske Invest annonce avoir remplacé l’indice Dax 100, net dividend included, comme indice de référence de son fonds German Equities (24,5 millions d’euros fin décembre) par le MSCI 10/40 Germany, net dividend included. L’explication tient au fait qu'à compter du 1er mars la tarification pour le Dax 100 «n’aurait plus été en rapport avec la valeur de l’utilisation de cet indice».Ce changement de benchmark ne reflète aucun changement de stratégie d’investissement et ne provoque que des ajustements mineurs portant sur moins de 3 % du portefeuille, précise Jyske Invest.
Fonds
05/03/2010

Effects of AIFM directive should not be underestimated

The planned AIFM directive, whose 1,600 proposed amendments are currently under study by the European parliament, is continuing to inspire lively debate. In Germany, the directive was the subject of many remarks at a financial seminar which brought together several actors in the area of asset management. Bernd Vorbeck, spokesman for the management of Universal-Investment, pointed out that asset management in Germany was particularly well regulated. Of EUR1.7trn in assets, 84% consist of regulated products, compared with only 31% in the United Kingdom, he said, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. With this in mind, the impact that the planned AIFM directive may have must not be underestimated. Limitations related to the enactment of the legislation could lead to costs fo as much as EUR1bn, Vorbeck claims. In other words, excessive regulation in an environment which is already very highly regulated would have counter-productive effects. What the sector needs is constructive regulation, the head insists, citing asset pooling as an example.
05/03/2010

Intech recruits a head of client relations

Intech Investment Management, an affiliate of Janus Capital Group (USD159.7bn in assets under management as of the end of December), has announced the creation of a position for a senior managing director, which will be occupied by Stephen F. Brennan. Brennan will be in charge of developing relations with clients under the responsibility of Jennifer Young, president and co-CEO. Before joining Intech, Brennan was vice president, marketing at Research Affiliates. He was in charge of institutional sales in the United States.
05/03/2010

Former BGI head joins CalPERS

CalPERS on 4 March announced the recruitment of Janine M. Guillot has chief operating officer for the Californian pension fund. She will report to Joseph A. Dear, chief investment officer, and will be in charge of deploying strategy in real estate, alternative management and public markets. Guillot previously worked at Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which was taken over by BlackRock in December 2009. She was managing director and chief operating officer for global fixed income activities. She will assume her new role on 19 April, replacing Ken Marzion, who will be retiring.
05/03/2010

Grapevault launches Grapevault Wine Fund No. 1

Grapevault Wine Investments is launching a new fund, which will invest in vineyards and rare wines, Citywire reports. 70% of the portfolio of the Grapevaule Wine Fund No. 1 will be invested in three segments of the wine industry: 30% in wine-related real estate, 30% in wine production, and 105 in marketing and distribution. The fund, which is planning a closing at EUR50m, will also invest 20% of its assets in rare wines and 10% in venture capital projects to support young start-up vineyards.
05/03/2010

Partnership to create indices themed on fight against diseases

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Dow Jones Indexes signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the creation of a series of indexes that could be licensed as the basis for investible products. It is envisioned that the flagship of this index series would be a blue-chip index to be called the Dow Jones Global Fund 50 Index. The announcement was made at the international conference on Innovative Financial Solutions for Development organized by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and the French development agency in Paris. Dow Jones Indexes intends to add to its range of socially-conscious indexes that will complement its increasingly diverse range of products.
05/03/2010

Rabobank management suffered last year

Rabobank, which has declared net profits of EUR2.28bn for 2009, compared with EUR2.75bn for the previous year, has posted a 25% increase in assets under management and custody, to EUR230bn. This includes Robeco, Sarasin, local Rabobanks and Schretlen & Co. Asset management and investment activities, however, earned net profits of only EUR13m, compared with EUR438m in 2008. Operating earnings for the division fell to EUR984m from EUR1.62bn, while operating costs fell to only EUR954m from EUR1.05bn.
05/03/2010

Fund managers reduce exposure to equities

The fund barometer by Lipper reveals that 69.23% of Spanish fund managers as of the end of February were neutral on equities, compared with 46.15% in January, while the percentage of managers who were overweight equities fell to 15.38%, compared with 38.46%. As Cinco Días reports, uncertainties related to the Greek debt crisis and the risk of contagion in Spain and other countries caused Spanish managers to put the enthusiasm they showed in 2010 in check. In general, the average weight of equities in portfolios fell as of the end of February to 39.35%, from 41.59% in January, while the average cash allocation rose from 18.92% in January to 19.03% last month.
05/03/2010

Asset managers launch hedge funds trading in bank loans

Renta 4, with the Spanish RMBS Fund, Altamar with its Senior Loans fund, and Arcano, which with DWS has recently launched the Arcano Credit Fund, have become the most recent Spanish asset management firms to date to release funds based on bank loans, Expansión reports. The next two firms to follow suit will be N+1, and Mercurio, who is planning to launch a product similar to the Arcano fund, and will raise EUR50m for the project with the assistance of Mercapital.
05/03/2010

Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund index down 1.2% in January

The Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund index fell 1.2% in January, largely due to a rising US dollar against the Euro and other currencies, which affected hedge funds denominated in Euros, Hedge Week reports. The Morningstar US Equity Hedge Fund limited its losses to 1.4%, less than half of the decline of the S&P 500. The Morningstar Distressed Securities Hedge Fund gained 1.7% in January.
05/03/2010

All Euronext Paris-listed ETFs become eligible for SRD

NYSE Euronext has announced that all ETFs traded on the NYSE Euronext Paris market of reference are, since 1st March 2010, eligible for the Deferred Settlement Service (SRD). This amounts to a total of 369 products, versus 147 previously. Thanks to this development, investors now have access to all Paris-traded ETFs with leverage from within a regulated and secure environment. These newly-eligible ETFs will not be admitted to trading on NYSE Euronext’s centralised borrowing and lending market. This category of assets, which are eligible for the SRD but not available for trading on the borrowing and lending market, is named “eligible for SRD, long only”.
05/03/2010

OMAM preparing a UK midcaps absolute return fund

Old Mutual Asset Managers (OMAM) is planning to launch the Old Mutual UK Specialist Absolute Return fund in May. The Irish-registered product will comply with the UCITS III directive, will offer daily liquidity, and will be managed by Luke Kerr. The product will invest primarily in UK midcaps which are not part of the FTSE 100 index. Management will follow that of the long/short hedge fund Old Mutual UK Specialist Equity, launched in March 2003 and registered in the Cayman Islands.
05/03/2010

Aviva Investors to launch absolute return funds

Andrew Moss, CEO of Aviva, has announced that the asset management affiliate of Aviva Investors will launch a series of absolute return funds based on various asset classes, as it has done in structured products, an area in which the firm has already released four funds based on the FTSE as underlying, Investment Week reports. Aviva Investors launched its first absolute return fund in August 2009, entitled UK Absolute Return Fund.
05/03/2010

Weak net subscriptions in Asia in 2009

In Asia, overall sales flows for the year totalled USD95bn, which was the smallest volume since 2004 and just 19% of the sales in Asia’s peak year of 2007, says Lipper FMI in its latest Fund Flash. Individual market contributions varied considerably. Four markets (Singapore, China, South Korea and Australia) posted net redemptions for the year, dragging down the overall sales total. But two markets offset the negativity and delivered this year’s sales flows, keeping Asia as a whole in the black. The more established market of Japan trebled its annual sales to USD46bn, a figure on a par with its 2005 sales, though some way short of its 2006 peak. India, meanwhile, was more emphatic in its support with flows of USD62bn that were the best on Lipper FMI records and three times higher than its previous high of US$20bn in 2007. Sales in India and Japan were heavily tilted towards bonds. As a result, bonds were the clear winners of the year with two thirds of all Asian sales (USD63bn). The best bond sectors were Indian bonds (US$39bn) followed by Emerging market bonds with annual flows of USD13bn. Equity funds took second place overall but were a long way behind bonds with flows of USD18bn. China was the biggest player with an equity contribution of USD24bn, but China closed the year with its first ever negative total (USD18bn). Change could be in the pipeline. Indian support for equity funds has been knocked by a ban on commissions. China is to introduce sliding back-end charges to encourage long-term savings and less short-term trading, meanwhile South Korea’s capital gains tax rule, which favoured onshore funds, has expired.
05/03/2010

Aberdeen AM launches a fund of emerging markets debt in local currency

In early April, Aberdeen will release the Aberdeen Global - Emerging Markets Debt Local Currency fund, a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Aberdeen Global which invests in emerging markets debt in local currency, for sale. The fund will be released in France as well as in other countries. The sub-fund is managed by the emerging markets debt team at the Scottish management firm.
05/03/2010

Asset management boutique Agathon Invest founded

Two executives from Deka Investment and HSBC Global Asset Management, Michael Hallacker and Erich Schilcher, have gone independent to found the management firm Agathon Investment in Frankfurt. The firm will specialise in bonds and currencies. The two men will be joined by Christian Schiweck, former star manager from Deka and DWS, who last year bought a stake in the London-based management boutique MT Thaler, and who manages the Luxembourg fund m4 Alpha Bonds from Alceda Fund Management, which is advised by Agathon Invest. Agathon Invest, which is planning to specialise in serving institutional investors in the German-speaking countries, will launch open-ended funds and Spezialfonds; it will also accept mandates.
05/03/2010
Fonds

Aberdeen AM lance un fonds dette émergente en devises locales

Aberdeen va entamer début avril la commercialisation du Aberdeen Global - Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond Fund, compartiment de la Sicav luxembourgeoise Aberdeen Global investi en dette de pays émergents en devises locales. Le lancement concernera aussi la France.Le compartiment est géré par l'équipe dette émergente de la société de gestion écossaise.
Fonds
05/03/2010
Fonds

Oddo AM en tête du classement Feri des fonds français

Selon le classement trimestriel des fonds français que publie désormais l’agence de notation allemande Feri EuroRating Services AG, Oddo Asset Management occupe la première place dans sa catégorie pour le palmarès au 31 décembre 2009. Feri a attribué les meilleures notes à 18 des 31 fonds d’Oddo Asset Management, ce qui la place en tête du classement avec un quota de fonds bien notés de 58%. Arrivent ensuite State Street et Threadneedle avec un quota de près de 55% chacune (voir aussi NewsManagers du 27 janvier).Au cours de l’automne 2009, Feri a élargi ses services au marché français des fonds et propose désormais une notation pour plus de 3.000 fonds. Plus de 1.000 produits ont reçu un A ou un B, ce qui correspond à un «très bien» ou un «bien». Ainsi, Feri met à disposition des investisseurs privés et institutionnels intéressés des informations et des évaluations sur les fonds pour six pays européens: l’Allemagne, la France, l’Italie, l’Autriche, la Suède et la Suisse. La plateforme en ligne www.feri-fund-rating.com permet aux investisseurs français d’obtenir plus d’informations sur l’ensemble des fonds agréés dans le pays. Selon Tobias Schmidt, membre du directoire de Feri EuroRating Services AG, «la crise économique et financière nous a fait prendre conscience de l’interconnexion mondiale des marchés financiers. Les investisseurs européens ont de plus en plus besoin d’analyses fiables sur les produits d’investissement. Le développement permanent de nos évaluations sur les fonds répond à cette demande croissante d’information. C’est un pas en avant vers l’unification de l’évaluation des fonds au-delà des frontières.»
Fonds
05/03/2010

La gestion de Rabobank a souffert l'an dernier

Rabobank, qui déclare pour 2009 un bénéfice net de 2,28 milliards d’euros contre 2,75 milliards pour l’année précédente, a enregistré un gonflement de 25 % de ses actifs sous gestion et conservation, à 230 milliards d’euros. Cela recouvre Robeco, Sarasin, les Rabobank locales et Schretlen & Co.L’activité de gestion d’actifs et d’investissement n’a plus dégagé cependant qu’un bénéfice net de 13 millions contre 438 millions en 2008. Les recettes d’exploitation de la division sont en effet tombées à 984 millions contre 1,62 milliard d’euros tandis que les charges d’exploitation diminuaient seulement à 954 millions contre 1,05 milliard.

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