Thames River Capital devrait lancer au premier trimestre 2010 un fonds immobilier conforme à la directive OPCVM III, le Thames River Real Estate Securities Fund. Piloté par James Wilkinson et Marcus Phayre-Mudge, il offrira une liquidité quotidienne et un niveau élevé de transparence par le biais d’investissements concentrés sur des sociétés immobilières cotées en Europe.Selon le communiqué de Thames River Capital, le fonds se propose de surperformer l’indice de référence, le FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Europe Capped Index en sterling. La sélection des valeurs obéira à une approche bottom-up enrichie d’une expérience sur le terrain. L’exposition brute aux titres immobiliers sera comprise dans une fourchette de 80% à 160% des actifs nets, l’exposition nette étant limitée dans une fourchette de 60% à 140%.Principales caractéristiques Structure : fonds OPCVM III domicilié en IrlandeClasses d’actions : parts de capitalisation et de distribution en sterling, parts de capitalisation en euro et en couronne norvégienneCommission de performance : 15% au-dessus du benchmark (FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Europe Capped Index en sterling)Frais annuels de gestion : 1,5% (retail), 1% (I)Investissement minimum retail : 10.000 euros/livres sterling, 100.000 couronnes norvégiennesInvestissement minimum institutionnel : 2,5 millions d’euros/livres sterling, 25 millions de couronnes norvégiennes
Selon L’Agefi suisse, le fonds Multi Stratégies de Jabre Capital sera bientôt fermé, afin que sa taille ne pénalise pas la performance. Il sera fermé à tout investissement additionnel pour une durée de deux ans quand il atteindra 2,5 milliards de dollars, contre 2 milliards actuellement. Ce fonds a dégagé une performance de 85,11% en 2009, après une perte de 36% en 2008.
Le Boha Industrial Fund et ses 6,1 milliards de yuans sont battus : CITIC Private Equity Funds Management Co, filiale du groupe CITIC, a réussi à lever 9 milliards de yuans ou 1,32 milliard de dollars, rapporte The Wall Street Journal. Wu Tibing, le président de CITIC PEFM, a indiqué que les deux tiers de l’encours seront attribués à des entreprises du secteur public. Le principal souscripteur du fonds est le fonds de pension National Council for Social Security Fund.
Selon L’Agefi suisse, les encours sous gestion du sélectionneur et gestionnaire de fonds alternatifs Gottex ont diminué une nouvelle fois au dernier trimestre 2009. Ils sont revenus de 8,23 milliards de dollars en septembre à 8,13 milliards à la fin de l’année. La performance des placements est toutefois positive. Gottex évalue leur contribution à 10 millions sur la dernière période et à 635 millions sur 2009.La fin des turbulences étant en vue, Gottex formule à nouveau des objectifs ambitieux. La bonne performance de ses principaux produits devrait lui permettre de capturer une partie du retour de fonds institutionnels attendu pour cette année. Sa principale stratégie, le market neutral, devrait dépasser son pic atteint en juin 2007 au cours du second semestre, signifiant ainsi le retour aux commissions de performance.Gottex s’est également mis au développement de produits conformes aux normes UCITS III, avec un premier lancement dans les prochains mois.
Le fournisseur d’indices Dow Jones Indexes, a annoncé mercredi 27 janvier l’homologation par Credit Suisse AG du Dow Jones Industrial Average pour servir de base à un de ses ETF, le XMTCH (IE) Dow Jones Industrial Average. A cela s’ajoute l’homologation de l’indice Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index pour le XMTCH (IE) Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50. Ces deux ETF seront disponibles sur la bourse suisse.
La BCE a déjà fait beaucoup pour la Grèce. A l’avenir, elle pourrait faire encore beaucoup plus sans même le laisser paraître... Regardons bien les choses d’abord. Le problème de financement de l’économie grecque va au-delà de la crise souveraine. Sur les 550 milliards de dette extérieure accumulée par ce pays (158% du PIB), 300 milliards sont certes de la dette publique, mais 160 milliards sont de la dette bancaire. Car ce sont bien les banques grecques qui financent pour l’essentiel le gouvernement hellénique. Et ces banques se refinancent auprès des marchés européens, si bien que 85% de la dette extérieure grecque est détenue par les autres pays de la zone euro, près de la moitié dans les portefeuilles d’assureurs, de banques et autres institutions financières françaises et allemandes. Aider la Grèce c’est donc assurer la stabilité du système financier de la zone euro, une tâche qui incombe à la BCE.
Fidelity International in Hong Kong has suspended two of its most experienced managers, who are accused of violating the firm’s internal code of conduct. The market regulatory authorities have been informed, and Fidelity is conducting an internal enquiry. Asian Investor reports that Fidelity has confirmed the suspension of the two managers, but has not named them. According to a source who is understood to be a Fidelity client, the investigation is focusing on two well-known managers, Kevin Chang and Wilson Wong. Chang is responsible for the South East Asia Fund and several institutional portfolios, while Wong manages one of the Greater China retail strategies. Their portfolios will reportedly be managed in the interim by members of the Asia-Pacific equities team at Fidelity.
The US-based asset management firm American Century has announced the recruitment of Elizabeth Trinh as vice president of its Hong Kong office, Asian Investor reports. Since December she has been head of sales to institutional clients in Australia and South Asia. Trinh was previously associate manager and head of development for the Maquarie Professional Series fund range at Macquarie Bank in Australia. Assets under management by Macquarie worldwide total USD85.8bn. American Century specialises in actively managed equity strategies. The Hong Kong office opened in May to support the delivery of American Century’s equity growth strategies -- global growth, emerging markets and US growth equities -- in the Asia-Pacific region.
James Polisson and Andrew Arenberg, both of whom were involved in the setting up of the iShares operation at Barclays Global Investors (BGI), in mid-January joined Russell Investments (USD176bn in assets), Polisson as managing director of global ETF business, and Arenberg as managing director of global ETF distribution. They will be based in San Francisco. The two men will be responsible for the design of new-generation products and services related to ETFs, says Andrew Doman, president and CEO of Russell, who says the group is already one of the largest providers of indices to ETF management firms.
The management firm Van Kampen, which will be sold by Morgan Stanley to Invesco, is undergoing several changes to its personnel. Mark McClure and Mike Tobin will become the joint heads of sales and major clients, a position which was previously held by David Linton, who has left the firm, Mutual Fund Wire reports. Brian Binder, chief administrative officer, will succeed Elizabeth Hughes Eginton as head of product and marketing. Eginton joined Morgan Stanley Smith Barney on 21 January as director of marketing; she had joined Van Kampen from Legg Mason Capital Management only in February 2009.
Alan Robertson, who was previously president and CEO of Northern Trust Global Advisors (NTGA) has been promoted to the newly-created position of global head of sales and services at Northern Trust Global Investments (NTGI), the asset management firm for Northern Trust. He will be based in Chicago, and will report to Stephen N. Potter, president of NTGI. Robertson’s successor as head of NTGA is Joseph McInerney, who was previously COO, a position he had held since 2005. He will be based in Stamford, Connecticut, and will report to Robertson.
The Swiss asset management firm SAM Sustainable Asset Management (Robeco group) on Tuesday announced the publication of its 2010 sustainable development yearbook, assembled in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers. This is the eleventh annual yearbook, and the number of firms analysed has increased to 1,237 (in the first edition in 1999, only 468 companies were considered). Only companies that rank among the top 15% in their sector have been included in the yearbook, from a universe of approximately 2,500 companies. Further information is available on the website http://www.sam-group.com/htmle/yearbook
The Nomura group is continuing to develop its Fixed Income team in Europe, Africa and the Middle East with the construction of a research team to focus on macro strategy, and the recruitments of Nick Firoozye as head of the European Interest Rates strategy, and of Ann Wyman as head of European Emerging Markets research. Firoozye was previously head of quantitative research at Citadel Investments, while Wyman was a senior economist at Citigroup, for the group’s economic strategies and policies. The macro-strategy team will be led by Jim McCormick, head of fixed income research for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
According to the Belgian newspaper L’Echo, the Inno pension fund has filed a lawsuit in the Brussels commercial court against Petercam, which it accuses of poor management, leading to losses of about 20% for the fund, which includes a large part of the pension assets for employees belonging to the Inno labour union. The solidarity fund is seeking EUR2.3m in damages and interest from Petercam. The management firm blames the losses, however, on the poor performance of financial markets, and not on poor management.
Only five major asset management firms (in the category of firms which offer “over 25 funds”), three of them French companies, managed to place at least 50% of their products on sale in Germany in the top two classes, those rated A or B by Feri EuroRating Services as of the end of December. In order, the companies are Oddo Asset Management, with 18 A or B-rated funds out of 31 products available in Germany, or 58.1%; State Street, with 17 funds out of 31 (54.8%); and Threadneedle, with 24 funds out of 44 (54.5%). The next two firms are Rothschild & Cie Gestion, with 17 funds out of 32 (53.1%), and Groupama AM, with 25 funds out of 50 (50%). Natixis Global Associates takes ninth place, with 39 A and B-rated funds our of 99, or 39.4%. Among firms with 25 or fewer products on sale in Germany, the top ten (out of a field of 59) all have over 50% of their products rated A or B: MFS takes first place, with 75% (9 funds out of 12); it is followed by Vanguard Investments, with 70% (7 out of 10), M&G Investments, with 64.3% (9 out of 14). CamGestion places 4th, with 60.9%, ProBTP Finance is 5th, with 58.3%, and Covea Finance is 6th, with 57.1%. Lazard Frères Gestion and Comgest are in seventh and ninth place, respectively, with 55.6% and 53.3% of funds rated A or B.
Allfunds Bank will be the sales platform in Spain for the first 14 funds from the Bank of Luxembourg (Crédit Mutuel-CIC group) to be registered by the CNMV, Funds People reports. The funds are the following: BL Bond Dollar, BL Bond Euro, BL Emerging Markets, BL Equities America, BL Equities Dividend, BL Equities Europe, BL Equities Horizon, BL Global 30, BL Global 50, BL Global Bond, BL Global Equities, BL Global Flexible, BL Optinvest, and lastly, BL Global 75.
Warren Buffett’s portfolio management firm, Berkshire Hathaway, will be included in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, which it was previously not allowed to join as the high price of its shares made it unable to satisfy liquidity criteria. This has changed since shares were split, with 50 new shares for every 1 B-class share, at the time of its acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Berkshire will replace Burlington Northern in the index. The market capitalisation of Berkshire is USD160bn.
Deutsche Bank has launched the DB Platinum Option Overwriting Plus Fund, a Luxembourg-registered, UCITS III-compliant product on several European markets, whose objective is to reduce volatility and drawdowns compared with equities markets through a dynamic options strategy. The product offers daily liquidity, and is aimed at institutional investors. It replicates the db Option Overwriting Plus index, and will be 100% invested in a benchmark index (DJ Euro Stoxx LU0462953588, Dax LU0462953745 or SMI LU0462954040), and will hedge its positions through the use of exchange-traded option contracts on the corresponding price return benchmark index. Each month, the strategy will involve an evaluation of two variables to predict the subsequent direction of the index. The two variables are price momentum and implied market volatility. Fees for the fund will total 1.16% per year.
GLG Partners will launch a UCITS III version of its UK Alternative long/short fund, managed by John White and Jason Mackay. The product will replicate existing market neutral strategies and will be limited to GBP200m in assets. GLG states that the fund will concentrate on fundamental stock-picking, top-down economic analysis and very strict risk management.
On Friday, Franklin Templeton will open its Emerging Market Bond Fund to retail investors. The product is a sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav, managed by Michael Hansenstab, with assets of about USD2.3bn. Two share classes will be available with a minimal subscription of GBP5,000: a sterling-denominated distributor-status share class and a US dollar denominated accumulation share class.
Investment Week reports that Fidelity on 22 January registered the China special situations fund to be managed by Anthony Bolton at Companies House, meaning that the product will be an investment trust. The fund, which will be launched in March, will thus be a closed fund, meaning that the manager will not be obliged to invest subscriptions immediately; he will also be able to use leverage when he sees fit.
According to statistics from ECOreporter, assets in sustainable development funds in German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) as of the end of December totalled EUR23.7bn, compared with EUR21.5bn one year earlier, while the number of sustainable development, ethical and renewable energies products increased in 2009 to 331, up from 279 one year previously. The best sustainable development fund, an equities product, earned returns of 122%, while on average sustainable development equities funds earned 28% compared with 25.9% for the MSCI World index. All funds combined earned an average of 22%. Germany was the largest German-speaking market, with 279 funds and total assets of EUR30.08bn as of the end of the year.
The alternative management affiliate of Legg Mason, Permal, has been granted a license by BaFin to release an Irish-registered fund denominated in US dollars, the Legg Mason Permal Global Absolute Fund (IE00B465X304), an absoulte return product managed by Christopher Zuehlsdorff and Alexander Pillersdorf. The fund may invest in several asset classes. Initially, the fund will be about 35% exposed to global bonds, 20% to global equities, 20% to real estate strategies, 14% to alternative products, and 11% to cash and money markets. The goal is to generate returns of 8% to 10% over a 3-5 year cycle, with low liquidity. The fund will have share classes in Euros, pounds Sterling, Canadian dollars, and yen, hedged for currency risks, with a management commission of 1.25%. Permal will not charge a performance commission.
The five SEC commissioners were scheduled to vote on Wednesday on draft regulations which would require money market funds to declare minor fluctuations in their net asset value around USD1, once per month and with a 60-day gap, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal reports that the move is a reaction provoked by the fact that in 2008, following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Reserve Primary Fund became the first to “break the buck,” as its value fell below USD1 per share.
According to the ratings agency Moody’s, cited by Agefi, the Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee, which would bring in USD90bn for the US government over the next ten years, would have a severe effect on banks. Moody’s claims that the tax would raise financing costs significantly for banks required to pay it. The maintenance of liquidity pools would also become more costly. “If a bank decides to reduce its pools due to increased costs related to the tax, its solvency would be weakened,” concludes Peter Nerby, an analyst at the ratings agency.
Fortis Investments announced on Tuesday that the Greater China Environmental Fund, developed with the Chinese management firm Fortis Haitong Investment Management, was released in Japan on 18 December, and that it has already attracted JPY106bn, or EUR830m, equivalent to USD1.18bn, in assets. The product offers subscribers access to the “green revolution” now taking place in China.
In order to maintain their lead on the Spanish ETF market as new foreign competitors arrive, BBVA and Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) will launch new products this year. Now that ETFs in Sicav vehicles will be allowed, iShares from BlackRock and db x-trackers from Deutsche Bank will become available in Spain. Lyxor is planning to launch 10 to 15 new products in first quarter, says Adrián Juliá, director of index products at Société Générale in Spain. Among the new ETFs, Lyxor is planning to release commodities products, “short” funds and, if the BME grants a license, a fund replicating one of the indices of the Ibex range. BBVA, for its part, is planning to extend its range largely with bond, commodity, and short ETFs. It is also planning to list its ETFs in other Latin American countries, following its entry into the Mexican market.
As of the end of December, assets under management at Fidelity International in Germany totalled EUR10.46bn, up from EUR6.97bn one year previously, while assets under administration on the Frankfurter Fondsbank (FFB) fund platform, which the group acquired in August from BHF-Bank, represented EUR16.6bn (of which EUR2.7bn were from FundsNetwork), compared with EUR11.83bn one year previously. In total, Fidelity thus administrates or manages slightly over EUR27bn in Germany. Net subscriptions totalled EUR902m in 2009, compared with EUR60m the previous year, largely thanks to EUR525m from institutional clients (compared with EUR402m), while assets under management for institutionals as of the end of last year totalled EUR2bn, compared with EUR1.1bn the previous year. Net subscriptions from retail clients represented EUR377m, of which EUR290m were for the FAST (Fidelity Active Strategy) Europe Fund. Including FFB, personnel at Fidelity International as of the end of last year totalled 316 people, compared with 206 one year previously. The number of accounts administrated by FFB numbered 912,290 (including 153,000 from FundsNetwork), compared with 729,263 at the end of 2008.