Au travers de son hedge fund «constructiviste» Trian Fund Management, l’actionnaire activiste Nelson Peltz a acquis 4,3 % de Legg Mason (700 milliards de dollars d’encours) et obtenu un siège au board, rapporte The Wall Street Journal. Il est convenu que Trian montera jusqu'à 9,9 % sous deux ans, et qu’en attendant il votera en faveur de la liste de candidats administrateurs présentée par la direction. Trian a acheté le gros de ses 6,94 millions d’actions en début d'été lorsque le titre cotait environ 20 dollars. Vendredi, l’action Legg Mason a clôturé à 31,90 dollars. Elle a triplé depuis son plus bas de mars.
L’Agefi Suisse reports that UBS, like Credit Suisse, has revised its bonus policies. But it has done so much more discreetly, without informing the media. Partners at the bank were informed in a letter published on the establishment’s web page. Like Credit Suisse, UBS will strongly increase the fixed portion of salaries for its top directors, and will reduce variable pay. Among the other measures which will be taken, bonuses will be tied to the performance of the bank, as measured by profits earned, and this will apply for each division of the firm. Shares received from the bank will be embargoed for three years. Meanwhile, the weekly newsmagazine Sonntag reports that UBS will massively increase the bonuses it pays its employees.
The wealth management arm of Morgan Stanley, in partnership with the family office arm of Citi, have now created Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. The entity is now creating Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, to serve the class of very high net worth private clients with USD20m in assets or more. The new operation, led by Michael Armstrong, managing director, will have 25 offices worldwide, and will eventually have 500 highly specialised advisors.
The real-estate deal maker Victor MacFarlane has resigned from his position as advisor to the pension fund CalPERS, the Wall Street Journal reports. His firm, MacFarlane Partners, was largely responsible for CalPERS’ investment of USD970m in LandSource, a firm which had billions of acres of undeveloped land on the outskirts of Los Angeles, which filed for bankruptcy barely 18 months later. CalPERS is also in the process of reexamining its longstanding partnership with the private equity investor Apollo Global Management, as its investments in Apollo funds saw heavy losses early in the year, although the situation has since improved.
Federated Investors on Friday declared net profit of USD56.9m for the third quarter, compared with USD56.2m for July-September 2008, while commission revenues fell due to the fact that money market funds were unable to charge fees, the Wall Street Journal reports. After having digested the acquisition of Clover Capital Management and assets in two Prudent Bear funds in 2008, Federated is seeking to develop its distribution activities, and to make further acquisitions, of which one will be in the money market fund sector, and others abroad, says president & CEO J. Christopher Donohue.
Via its “constructivist” hedge fund Trian Fund Management, activist shareholder Nelson Peltz has acquired a 4.3% stake in Legg Mason (USD700bn in assets), and has obtained a seat on the board, the Wall Street Journal reports. It has been agreed that Trian will increase its stake to 9.9% in two years, and that in the meanwhile it will vote in favour of a list of candidates for directorial positions presented by the firm’s executives. Trian bought most of its 6.94 million shares early in the summer, when they cost about USD20 each. On Friday, Legg Mason shares closed at USD31.90. The share price has tripled since its low point in March.
Frederic Lejeune has been appointed Head of Business Development in Paris, covering France and Monaco. Previously, he was a Director of Credit Suisse’s Asset Management business (2001-2009), based in Paris. He was Head of Retail Distribution for France and Monaco.Gilles Texier remains Head of Institutional Business Development within the combined team.
At a press conference to announce results for third quarter on Thursday, Tim Armour, interim CEO of Janus Capital Group, announced that he expects to be able to announce the name of the future permanent CEO of the firm at the announcement of its results for the October-December quarter, in January 2010, Mutual Fund Wire reports.
In third quarter, T. Rowe Price has posted net profits of USD132.9m, compared with USD152.8m in July-September 2008, which brings the total for the first nine months of the year 2009 to USD281.1m, compared with USD466.5m in the corresponding period of last year. As of 30 September, total assets came to USD366.2bn, compared with USD276.3bn as of the end of December 2008. Net subscriptions in third quarter for mutual funds totalled USD2.6bn, despite net redemptions of USD9bn from money market funds, while market appreciation generated an increase in assets in mutual funds of USD26.8bn.
Federal investigators in charge of an insider trading enquiry at Galleon Group have asked to see the trading book of Richard Grodin, a hedge fund manager who worked previously at SAC Capital Advisors under Steven A. Cohen, and who employed witnesses who are “cooperating” with investigators, the Wall Street Journal reports. The subpoena is the first sign that the range of transactions under investigation is widening.
The purpose of this consultation is to highlight some of the observed industry practices (based on a questionnaire CESR members distributed to investment firms) on the MiFID inducements rules and to provide investment firms with an understanding of how CESR views such practices. CESR invites responses to this consultation paper by 22 December 2009.
Les Echos reports that the British bank Nationwide is this week launching a securitisation operation for at least GBP3.5bn in real estate securitisations backed by residential mortgages (RMBS). The move follows securitisation issues from Lloyds Banking Group and Volkswagen. These deals do not mark a return to normal, as the Nationwide offer includes maximal guarantees to reinsure investors who continue to be cautious. The preliminary rating from Fitch gives the maximal rating (AAA) to the first two rounds of issues, while the selection of loans to be included in the securitisations means that Nationwide will retain 5% of the structured debts on its books, which is a gauge of the quality of the underlying assets.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Deutsche Bank may announce on Wednesday or Thursday that it will finally acquire more than 75% of Sal. Oppenheim, with 4,000 employees and EUR132bn in assets, for less than EUR1bn, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The owning families will be interested in results at the firm, in order to motivate them to try and keep clients. Of the current directors, only Christian, Baron von Oppenheim, will remain, for the sake of his name. Meanwhile, Sal. Oppenheim is also reported to be about to sell its investment bank, with 300 employees, to Australian-based Macquarie, for a maximum of EUR300m. Sal. Oppenheim’s stake in the real estate funds Oppenheim-Esch (EUR4bn), which represent EUR200-300m, will be placed in a trust fund, and, if better times return, the family shareholders in Sal. Oppenheim will share into the profits.
ING announced on Monday that it has earned net profits in third quarter of EUR500m, excluding sales of assets and one-time elements. This represents profits of EUR0.24 per share, compared with 3 cents in second quarter, and losses of 22 cents per share in the corresponding period of 2008. The group, which will undertake a capital increase totalling EUR7.5bn to pay back the EUR5bn in aid which it received from the Netherlands government in December, has also announced that it will gradually sell off all its activities in insurance and asset management via initial public offerings, sales, or combinations of the two.
With changes to legislation in Spain which will probably allow ETF promoters to create Sicav funds from December, BlackRock, with its iShares brand, and Deutsche Bank with db x-trackers, will arrive directly on the Spanish market, where hitherto only BBVA and Lyxor (Société Générale) have been present, Expansión reports. For the moment, BlackRock and Deutsche Bank are selling their products in Spain via foreign platforms. Expansión also reports that ETF Securities, the world’s leading provider of ETC funds, is preparing to register its products in Spain.
Crédit Agricole and Société Générale on Friday revealed the name of their joint asset management venture: Amundi Asset Management. The announcement of the name is a part of the merger process for the asset management activities of Crédit Agricole (CAAM) and Société Générale (SGAM), “which is proceeding on schedule,” says a statement. The plans were approved in September by the regulatory authorities (Autorité des marchés financiers and CECEI). Pending permission from the European antitrust authorities, Amundi will be created on 1 January 2010, with assets of nearly EUR650bn under management (as of the end of September 2009).
The acquisition of the retail asset management activities of Morgan Stanley will allow Invesco to increase its assets from USD119bn to USD535.6bn, Funds People reports. The acquisition price is equivalent to only 1.26% of the assets acquired (of which 49% are bonds), and the newly-acquired activities are 90% concentrated in the United States, meaning that the proportion of US assets in the overall total rises to 67% from 61%. Loren Starr, CFO of Invesco, estimates that the operation will bring an IRR of about 30%.
Asian Investor reports that BNP Paribas has announced the appointment of Peter Foo as senior banker in charge of relations with sovereign funds and central banks (SSCB). Foo will, however, continue to serve as CEO for the local affiliate of Fortis Bank in Singapore until the complete integration of Fortis into the French banking group. Foo, a member of the Financial Institutions Group (FIG), will begin in his new position on 1 November, and will report to Véronique Omezzano, global head of FIG SSCB.
For USD15m, Standard Life Investments (SLI) has made its first acquisition in the Brazilian real estate market. It is the Alana II office building, which has 13 stories and 7,500 square metres; it is 88% occupied, and is located in Sao Paulo. The vendor is Brazilian Capital, and the property will be added to the portfolio of the Select Property fund from SLI (GBP600m in assets as of 30 September). With its local partner Eccelera, SLI is planning to renovate the property in 2010.
Pour 15 millions de dollars, Standard Life Investments (SLI) a réalisé sa première acquisition dans l’immobilier sur le marché brésilien. Il s’agit de l’immeuble de bureaux Alana II, qui compte 13 étages sur 7.500 mètres carrés ; il est occupé à 88 % et situé à Sao Paulo. Le vendeur est Brazilian Capital et cet actif est affecté au fonds Select Property de SLI (600 millions de livres au 30 septembre). Avec son partenaire local Eccelera, SLI envisage de restructurer l’immeuble en 2010.
Selon Hedge Week, Cheyne Capital a nommé Max Nardulli au poste de responsable de la distribution et des ventes internationales. Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, Max Nardulli sera responsable du marketing de la gamme de produits de Cheyne au niveau mondial, à l’exception du Royaume-Uni. Max Nardulli était précédemment chez Goldman Sachs Asset Management, managing director, responsable alternative capital markets pour la zone EMEA et Asie hors Japon.
Selon The Times, la société de gestion britannique Gartmore se prépare à une introduction en Bourse qui pourrait avoir lieu avant Noël. Son propriétaire, la société américaine de private equity Hellman & Friedman, a nommé Morgan Stanley et Citibank dans cette perspective. Le prix du gestionnaire sera sûrement inférieur au montant de 1,5 milliard de livres évoqué en juillet 2007 lorsqu’une cotation de Gartmore a été sérieusement envisagée, commente The Times.