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12/10/2009
Fonds

HSBC lance un fonds MENA

HSBC lance au Luxembourg le compartiment HGIF Middle East and North Africa, géré par Andrea Nannini et qui sera investi dans des pays comme le Koweit, les Emirats arabes unis, le Qatar, Oman, Bahrayn, la Jordanie, le Liban, le Maroc, l’Egypte et la Tunisie ; le gérant, un spécialiste des pays «frontière» chez Halbis, a la faculté de placer jusqu'à 10 % des encours dans d’autres pays comme la Libye, la Syrie et l’Arabie Saoudite. Les sociétés doivent afficher une capitalisation minimale de 50 millions de dollars.L’indice de référence est le MSCI Arabian ex-Saudi Index en dollars, et la souscription minimale pour ce portefeuille de 50-60 valeurs est fixée à 5.000 dollars (un million pour la part institutionnelle. La commission de gestion et les frais administratifs se montent à respectivement 1,50 % et 0,40 % pour la part retail et à 0,75 % et 0,30 % pour la part institutionnelle.
Fonds
12/10/2009
Fonds

HSBC lance un fonds Moyen-Orient et Afrique du Nord

HSBC Global Asset Management lance le fonds HSBC GIF Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Ce produit actions devait initialement voir le jour en octobre 2008, mais son arrivée a été retardée en raison de la crise financière. Aujourd’hui, HSBC GAM pense que le moment est venu d’investir dans le Moyen-Orient et en Afrique du Nord. Avec comme indice de référence le MSCI Ariabian ex-Saudi Arabia Total Return Index, HSBC GIF Middle East and North Africa sera investi dans des entreprises de la région ayant une capitalisation boursière de plus de 50 millions de dollars. Les pays inclus dans l’univers sont les Emirats Arabes Unis, Oman, le Koweït, Bahreïn, l’Egypte, la Jordanie, le Qatar, le Liban, le Maroc et la Tunisie. Géré selon une approche bottom up, le produit sera concentré autour de 50-60 actions. Le nouveau fonds, qui fera partie de la Sicav luxembourgeoise Global Investment Funds, est géré par Andrea Nannini et son équipe chez Halbis, l'équipe de spécialistes de la gestion active de la société de gestion. L’investissement minimum pour la part retail est de 5 000 dollars, tandis que le seuil d’entrée pour la part institutionnelle est fixée à 1 million. Les frais de gestion annuels sont de 1,5 % et 0,75 % respectivement.
Fonds
12/10/2009

Un nouveau responsable de la distribution en Asie chez Axa Investment Managers

Jean-Luc Eyssautier a récemment rejoint Hong Kong pour accompagner les efforts du groupe dans la région. Responsable du développement à Paris, Jean-Luc Eyssautier aura en charge la distribution «wholesale» à Hong Kong, Singapour et Taiwan, des marchés en Asie hors Japon où AXA IM vend ses produits en direct. Ailleurs en Asie, Axa a développé des «joint ventures» en Chine et en Corée du Sud, où elle ne peut distribuer des produits retail directement.
12/10/2009

Le fondateur de Renaissance prend du recul

Selon Les Echos citant Bloomberg, James Simons, le fondateur du hedge fund Renaissance, quittera son poste de directeur général avant la fin de l’année pour prendre celui de président «non exécutif». Ce mathématicien surdoué s’est entouré au cours du temps de chercheurs de haut niveau (physique, biotechnologies) pour concevoir les modèles statistiques à la base du succès et de la renommée de son hedge fund. Renaissance figurait à la 9e place mondiale en 2008, avec près de 20 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion.
12/10/2009

James Simons va quitter la tête de Renaissance

Le fondateur, president & CEO du gestionnaire alternatif Renaissance Technologies (15 milliards de dollars d’encours), James Simons, a annoncé qu’il démissionnera de son poste de CEO début 2010, rapporte la Börsen-Zeitung. La direction opérationnelle sera confiée aux actuels co-presidents, Peter Brown et Robert Mercer.
12/10/2009

iShares launches an ETF of high-dividend equities

Barclays Global Investors on 25 September launched a German-registered ETF which focuses on equities in 100 companies worldwide that pay high dividends. The iShares DJ Stoxx global Select Dividend 100 DE, denominated in Euros, is invested in 40 American, 30 European, and 30 Asia-Pacific businesses. It was admitted to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform of Deutsche Börse on 9 October. Characteristics Name: iShares DJ Stoxx Global Select Dividend 100 DE ISIN: DE000A0F5UH1 Total expense ratio (TER): 0.47%
12/10/2009

Sovereign funds call for borders to be kept open

At the summit of the international forum of sovereign investment funds (IFSWF), held on Friday in Baku, Azerbaijan, representatives of the 20 member funds called on governments of countries that receive their investments to keep their borders open. They expressed their support for monetary and budgetary policies which aim to foster an economic recovery, though the recovery is not yet a certainty, Reuters reports.
12/10/2009

Aabar buys 0.6% stake in Santander affiliate

The sovereign fund of Abu Dhabi, Aabar Investments, an affiliate of the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), has invested EUR234m to acquire 0.6% of the Brazilian affiliate of Santander at its IPO, Cinco Días reports. The Spanish group earned capital gains of EUR1.43bn on the IPO.
12/10/2009

Commerzbank sells wealth management units

On Friday, Commerzbank announced that it is selling Dresdner Van Moer Courtens and the Belgian arm of Commerzbank International SA Luxembourg (Cisal), which specialise in high net worth private clients, to their respective management. The acquisition price of the firms has not been revealed. As of the end of 2008, the two establishments had a combined 48 employees and total assets of EUR615m. In May 2007, Dresdner Bank acquired Van Moer Santerre & Cie as well as Damien Courtens & Cie, which managed about EUR0.5bn for 3,000 clients. The two firms, affiliates of Dresdner Bakn Luxembourg, were merged nearly a year later to form Dresdner Van Moer Courtens S.A. (see Newsmanagers of 17 April 2008). The Brussels branch of Commerzbank Germany, which is focused on business banking, will remain a part of the Commerzbank group.
12/10/2009

Profit margins under pressure at management firms

According to an annual McKinsey study entitled “Asset Management Survey,” cited by Le Temps, of which the seventh edition is released this Monday, cumulative operating profits at European asset management firms are expected to fall 25% this year, to approximately EUR4.5bn. The development comes despite financial markets that are once again on the rise. Last year, after a record year in 2007, operating profits were down 40%, to EUR7.1bn. On two years, the cumulative decline is 55%. The factors driving this downturn are several. The major cause, naturally, is falling assets under management. With a 17% fall in Europe overall, 2008 was the worst year since 2000. The fall of share prices contributed 14%, while redemptions accounted for 3%. Investors’ migration to less risky assets, which are less profitable for managers, is the second-largest factor in the erosion of profit margins. The third factor was pressure from distribution channels. The priority for banks was to attract savings, in order to refinance their credit, rather than to sell funds. Competition for what remained of the market was intense, putting distributors in a more powerful position to demand higher discounts or soft commissions. Their share of the margin increased from 60% to 62%, leaving producers of funds with a smaller slice of 38%, rather than 40%.
12/10/2009

Aviva Investors recruits a manager from Henderson

Paul Whelan, who was manager of a bond hedge fund at Hendersons Global Investors, has been appointed credit portfolio manager at Aviva Investors in London, where he will report to Stephen Lee, director of the credit portfolio focus group. He will be specialised in risk analysis and portfolio structuring for international bond funds and absolute performance funds.
12/10/2009

Some hedge funds have already regained high watermark

On average, according to Hedge Fund Research, hedge funds have posted returns of 17% since the beginning of the year, which has put some managers back above the famous high watermark, which allows them to begin collecting performance commissions, the Wall Street Journal reports. This is the case for most funds from SAC Capital Advisors, as well as for the Master Fund from Och-Ziff Capital Management. Fortress Investment states that the Drawbridge Global Fund will be able to begin accepting performance commissions again by the end of the year, if results continue to be as good as they are at present.
12/10/2009

Santander AM redeems EUR12.1m

Santander Asset Management has announced in a regulated statement published by the CNMV that it will redeem a total of EUR12.1m to subscribers who held shares in the Santander Corto Plazo Plus and Santander Dinero Plus funds as of 14 November 2008 and 25 January 2008, respectively. The funds were exposed to the consequences of an exceptional evolution of the financial markets and a boom in redemption demands, which created an imbalance in the composition of their portfolios compared with the investment policies set out in their prospectuses, which had a negative impact on the performance of the funds.
12/10/2009

HSBC launces a Middle East and North Africa fund

HSBC Global Asset Management launches the HSBC GIF Middle East and North Africa (MENA) fund. The fund was initially scheduled for launch in October 2008 but was postponed until now amid the extreme global market volatility at the end of 2008 and early 2009. With a more secure outlook for the region, HSBC Global Asset Management considers now is a more suitable time to launch this fund. Benchmarked against the MSCI Arabian ex-Saudi Arabia Total Return Index, the HSBC GIF MENA fund will invest in companies from this region with a market capitalisation of greater than USD50 million. Countries within this universe include United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia. The fund can hold up 10 per cent of its portfolio in Saudi Arabia. The fund is managed by Andrea Nannini and his team at Halbis, the active management specialist within HSBC Global Asset Management. It will form part of HSBC’s flagship Global Investment Funds SICAV, domiciled in Luxembourg. It will typically hold around 50-60 stocks.
12/10/2009

HSBC launches a MENA fund

HSBC is launching the HGIF Middle East and North Africa sub-fund, managed by Andrea Nannini, in Luxembourg. The fund will invest in countries including Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia; the manager, a specialist in “frontier” markets at Halbis, will be allowed to place up to 10% of assets in other countries including Libya, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. Companies must have a minimal capitalisation of USD50m. The benchmark index for the fund is the MSCI Arabian ex-Suadi index in US dollars, and minimal subscription for the portfolio of 50-60 shares is set at USD5,000 (USD1m for the institutional share class). Management commission and administrative fees are 1.50% and 0.40%, respectively, for the retail share class, and 0.75% and 0.30% for the institutional share class.
12/10/2009

Many funds will be merged by the end of December

Currently, 1,444 of the 2,709 funds in Spain, or 53%, have less than EUR20m in assets, compared with 39% as of June 2007, Expansión reports. Due to toughening regulations and falling volumes of assets under management, profits at management firms fell 50% in first half, while the number of managers reporting losses rose to 39 in June from 34 at the end of 2008, which explains why a majority of management firms initiated processes to merge funds in first half (affecting 224 funds), while 324 funds disappeared in third quarter. Managers have been driven to mergers as 261 funds had asset levels below the minimum required by the CNMV, meaning that a large majority of these may be expected to be closed in the next few months. Expansión presents a graph which shows that Ahorro Corporación, La Caixa and Santander are the management firms with the most funds with assets of under EUR20m, with 181, 111 and 108 funds, respectively, while Gesmadrid is in fourth place, with 60 funds.
12/10/2009

Blackstone to list 8 companies

Blackstone is planning to list up to eight companies it owns and sell at least five others, says the Financial Times. Steve Schwarzman, Blackstone’s founder, told investors in a letter sent on Friday: “We see the world changing once again. At least for private equity, the worst is behind the industry.”
12/10/2009

Soros invests in green technologies

George Soros announced on Saturday plans to invest as much as USD1bn in clean-energy technologies while forming a new climate-policy arm to combat global warming, said the Financial Times. “I will look for profitable opportunities, but I will also insist that the investments make a real contribution to solving the problem of climate change,” he said.
12/10/2009

Sarasin bank buys a stake in Douglas

In a regulated statement, Douglas Holding announced on Friday that the Banque Sarasin had notified it that on 17 July it passed the 10% threshold in its capital, and held 10.80% of voting rights in the firm as of that date. The statement says that the investment has purely financial objectives, and that the Swiss bank states that it has no intention of exercising an influence over the board of directors or supervisory boards at the German group. The Basel-based bank also says that it has no plans to make any modifications to the capital structure of Douglas Holding, particularly in terms of the ratio of internal to external financing, or the firm’s policies in the area of dividends. Lastly, Banque Sarasin says that it acquired the shares with its own capital.
12/10/2009

Shell pension fund to invest in "alternative" assets

The new strategic investment plan agreed last summer by the UK pension fund for Royal Dutch Shell Group PLC (GBP10.G billion) includes a 5% allocation to alternative assets (hedge funds, infrastructure and commodity funds), in addition to the 5% it already has invested in private equity, the Wall Street Journal reports.
12/10/2009

Edhec warns of dangers of IAS 19 revision

EDHEC warns that the proposed revision to IAS 19 by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) would lead pension funds to shed risky assets. According to EDHEC, the IASB proposal gives pension funds no incentives to manage risk properly.
09/10/2009

Stuttgart stock exchange launches ETF Bestx segment

On 13 October, the Stuttgart stock exchange will open trading of ETF funds on a specialised segment, the ETF Bestx, for which Deutsche Bank (db x-trackers) and Commerzbank (CamState) will be the first market-makers, and which will provide binding quotes of more than 300 products. The range will be specifically tailored to retail investors. The platform will be open for trading from 9 AM to 8 PM.
09/10/2009

Growth on emerging markets related to growth in developed countries

A very clear rebound on emerging markets observed since second quarter is continuing, supported by a rise in values in developed countries and also a number of technical factors (depleting stocks of manufactured goods, base effects), Crédit Agricole claims in the most recent edition of its periodical Eclairages, dedicated to emerging markets (“Pays émergents : une reprise à confirmer,” October 2009).The study adds that there is still come uncertainty about mid-term outlooks, though most emerging markets are showing solid fundamentals. From the point of view of experts at Crédit Agricole, emerging markets will not rebound on their own. And the crisis has put rest to the hypothesis that emerging markets are no longer tied to developed ones. “In the long term, the weight of emerging markets will increase, but currently, there is not enough autonomy due to demand in emerging markets,” says Jean-Louis Martin, head of emerging markets in charge of economic research at Crédit Agricole S.A.Though the short-term rebound has emerged, doubts persist about the sustainability of the recovery in developed countries. “Overall,” writes Jean-Louis Martin, “though it is therefore highly probable that the pace of growth in emerging markets will be sustainably higher than that of developed countries, it cannot become disconnected from them. This is a further argument in favour of strengthening the influence of emerging markets in regulation of the global economy.”
09/10/2009

Sales of assets continue to dominate M&A activity

In fourth quarter, sales of assets by major financial institutions are expected to continue to dominate merger activities in the global asset management sector, the Financial Institutions Group at Jefferies, formerly known as Jefferies Putnam Lovell, estimates. In Q3, 68% of transactions were attributable to operations of this type (compared with 38% in July-September 2008), particularly the sale of Columbia Management by Bank of America to Ameriprise, the acquisition of Insight Investment Management by BNY Mellon from Lloyds Banking group and the acquisition of a 64% stake in Nikko Asset Management by Sumitomo Trust & Management from Citigroup. In the first nine months of the year, sales of asset management activities represented 57% of transactions, a record, compared with 32% in the corresponding period of last year. Aaron Dorr, managing director of Jefferies FIG, points out that major financial institutions will continue to refocus themselves on strategic professions, and will continue to separate distribution of asset management products from production, retaining the former and selling off the latter.

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