Réconcilier banque privée et transparence. Telle est l’ambition de deux anciens conseillers à la clientèle d’UBS, Olivier Forgues et Thomas Le Forestier, qui viennent de créer une société de gestion «responsable». Appelée La Nouvelle Finance, la structure indépendante, qui a obtenu son agrément de l’Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) en juillet dernier, n’est pas une énième société d’investissement socialement responsable. L’idée des deux fondateurs est de proposer en architecture ouverte des produits de divers prestataires à une clientèle privée fortunée ou d’entrepreneurs dans un cadre qui se veut éthique et transparent. Et cela se traduit notamment dans le mode de rémunération. «Nous voulons offrir ce qui va dans l’intérêt de nos clients, et donc nous rétrocédons l’intégralité des rétrocessions sur produits structurés ou OPCVM à nos clients», explique à Newsmanagers Olivier Forgues, président de La Nouvelle Finance. Les frais de transaction et de droits de garde sont refacturés sans marges. Et les banquiers se payent par le biais d’une rémunération unique d’honoraire de conseil fixe calculée sur les avoirs sous gestion. «Plutôt que d’avoir un semblant de gratuité, nous préférons être transparents», insiste Olivier Forgues. L’autre credo de La Nouvelle Finance est d’offrir des produits simples. Le tout, dans l’intérêt du client. La société propose les produits d’autres entités. Mais ayant un agrément, elle n’exclut pas de lancer ses propres fonds toujours avec un souci d'éthique. D’ailleurs, elle s’apprête à lancer un fonds d’investissement de proximité qui sera investi dans des entreprises créant de l’emploi en région.Aujourd’hui, les deux fondateurs ont été rejoints par un associé et deux gérants privés, et la société gère un encours de 5 millions d’euros.
Le Conseil d’administration de la SFAF, réuni le 29 septembre 2009, a procédé à la constitution d’un nouveau Bureau, désormais composé de Geoffroy de Coatparquet, en qualité de Président, d’Antoine de Montille, en qualité de Trésorier, et de Gaël Faijean en tant qu’Administrateur.Après avoir exprimé ses remerciements au Conseil pour la confiance qui lui est ainsi manifestée, Geoffroy de Coatparquet a déclaré qu’il assumera cette présidence jusqu’à la fin de son mandat d’Administrateur arrivant à échéance le jour de l’Assemblée Générale du 23 novembre 2009. Le Conseil a remercié Patrick Leguil pour la mission qu’il a menée jusqu’à ce jour, en conformité avec la profession de foi qu’il avait exprimée au moment de sa campagne il y a trois ans: «rendre la SFAF à ses membres». «Avec le concours actif des membres du Conseil d’administration, de nombreux chantiers ont ainsi été lancés au cours de son mandat de Président. Ils attestent l’aura de la SFAF au sein de la Place Financière de Paris et son implication aux cotés des Instances de Place qui régissent nos professions d’analystes et de gérants», souligne la SFAF dans un communiqué.
La société de gestion quantitative française John Locke Investments, spécialisée dans les CTA (commodity trading advisor), annonce le lancement d’une plateforme de recherche. Baptisée Elisa RT, celle-ci permet de tester de nouvelles stratégies. Un des principaux avantages de ce nouvel outil est la réduction du temps de traitement des tests, ce qui permettra à John Locke Investments de valider plus rapidement les lancements de nouveaux produits. Parallèlement à la plateforme, le département de recherche de la société de gestion se verra renforcé. Il compte 14 personnes à ce jour, et avant la fin de l’année trois recrutements sont prévus.
Dolores Ybarra, administrateur délégué de Santander Asset Management, a indiqué à Expansión que son objectif est de commercialiser des fonds d’actions et d’obligations latino américaine au Luxembourg, ce qui est compliqué parce que les investisseurs institutionnels exigent que ces produits aient des encours importants avant d’y investir.La filiale de la banque espagnole dispose depuis 1993 d’une Sicav luxembourgeoise qui compte à présent 23 compartiments et affiche un encours de seulement 750 millions d’euros. Dès lors, le Santander a décidé de doper les ventes de parts au travers du réseau en Espagne afin que les fonds atteignent un volume suffisant pour les investisseurs institutionnels s’y intéressent. Les souscriptions nettes depuis le début de l’année ont porté sur 180 millions d’euros.Parallèlement, Santander Asset Management a fait enregistrer ses fonds au Royaume-Uni et a entamé la procédure pour faire de même dans deux pays asiaitques.
La boutique spécialisée Silk Invest a lance un nouveau fonds obligataire centré sur les marchés «frontières» d’Afrique, du Moyen-Orient et d’Asie centrale, rapporte Citywire. Le fonds domicilié au Luxembourg sera géré par un ancien de Renaissance Capital, John Bates.
Tout en reconnaissant que le Governement Pension Fund - Global (GPFG) est probablement le plus transparent de tous les fonds souverains et qu’il est probablement le seul à avoir un mandat éthique explicite, deux chercheurs d’Oxford s’interrogent sur l’efficacité réelle de la stratégie éthique de ce fonds. Gordon Clark et Ashby Monk, dans l'étude «Resource Wealth and the Ethics of Global Investment: The Legitimacy and Governance of Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund» publiée sur le site du Social Science Research Network (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1473973), soulignent que la mission éthique du GPFG s’entend mieux en termes de justice sur le plan de la procédure que sur celui de l’efficacité.En particulier, relève Daniel Brooksbank, de Responsible Investor, les auteurs constatent que le fait d’exclure publiquement certaines sociétés n’a pratiquement jamais eu d’incidence sur les marchés, le Fonds étant simplement remplacé par d’autres investisseurs. Et pratiquement rien ne prouve qu’avoir été publiquement stigmatisées par le GPFG ait augmenté le coût du capital à long terme pour les sociétés concernées.
Anne Kvam, global head of corporate governance de NBIM, la filiale de la Banque de Norvège qui gère le Government Pension Fund - Global (GPFG), a annoncé que le fonds de pension va lancer une campagne pour obliger les sociétés américaines Harris Croporation, Clorox Company, Parker Hannifin et Cardinal Health à séparer les fonctions de président et de directeur général, rapporte Responsible Investor.Par ailleurs, le fonds souverain va s’associer aux initiatives visant à obtenir que les administrateurs des sociétés britanniques soient soumis à réélection tous les ans. Le GPFG possède des actions britanniques cotées pour 32 milliards de livres.
Le gestionnaire américain T. Rowe Price va payer selon Reuters relayé par Mutual Fund Wire entre 125 millions et 135 millions de dollars pour une participation de 26 % dans la plus vieille société de gestion indienne, UTI Asset Management.
Selon The Sunday Times, Blackstone, qui possède Legoland et Madame Tussaud’s, achèterait à Anheuser-Busch InBev, pour 2,5-3 milliards de dollars Busch Entertainment Corp, qui exploite dix parcs d’attractions aux Etats-Unis.
Lors d’une conférence à Boston, Matt Schiffman, head of retail de Legg Mason, a reconnu que son entreprise a manqué le train des ETF mais qu’elle pourrait envisager de lancer des ETF gérés activement, rapporte Mutual Fund Wire. Cependant, la décision définitive n’a pas encore été prise.
Since the beginning of the month, Jens Ehrhardt has handed over his duties as lead manager of the DJE Alpha Global fund (EUR125m, 76.7% returns since its launch in 2003) to Eberhard Einberger, Citywire reports. Einberger will be assisted by Ulrich Kaffarnik and Jan Ehrhardt. This will allow Jens Ehrhardt to concentrate on other global and European funds. Growth in assets at DJE Kapital, which have icnreased from EUR1bn to EUR10bn in six years, have made a redistribution of fund management responsibilities necessary.
German fund manager Dr. Jens Ehrhardt has handed over the reins of one of the DJE - Alpha Global fund to Eberhard Weinberger, who will be lead manager, says Citywire. Dr. Jens Ehrhardt will concentrate on his other funds.
Warburg Invest on Friday announced the launch on 1 October of the Photovoltaik Global 30 fund, which will be the first German equities fund of companies specialised in solar power. Its benchmark index is the Photovoltaik Global 30, launched by Deutsche Börse on 1 June 2009, but with changes due to the fact that the index is based purely on the criterion of capitalisation, while the management team reserves the right to overweight small caps, which have strong potential for growth. Characteristics Name: Warburg Photovoltaik Global 30 Fonds ISIN: DE000A0RHE51 (R share class, from EUR50/month), and DE000A0RHE44 (I share class, from EUR1m) Promoter: HWM GmbH Stuttgart Front-end fee: 5% Management commission: 1.7% (R class) 0.7% (I class)
At the 15th annual Efama conference, Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, president of the association, has announced that in January-July, net subscriptions to European funds that comply with the UCITS III directive totalled EUR92bn, of which EUR38bn were in July, including EUR28bn for so-called long-term funds, which do not include money market funds. Assets in UCTIS funds, like non-UCITS funds, increased by 4% in July. In second quarter, net inflows to UCITS funds totalled EUR30.44bn, compared with EUR22bn in January-March. These two consecutive quarters of net inflows follow an 18-month period of net redemptions. In detail, Efama reports that only the money market and miscellaneous UCITS fund categories saw net outflows in January-June, with EUR25bn and EUR4bn in net outflows, compared with net inflows of EUR52bn and net redemptions of EUR13bn in first quarter. Net subscriptions to equities, diversified and bond funds totalled EUR23bn, EUR17bn, and EUR20bn, respectively, compared with net outflows of EUR4bn, EUR10bn, and EUR4bn.
Agefi Switzerland reports that Pictet estimates that hopes of a V-shaped economic recovery are in vain, and that a W-shaped recovery from the current economic downturn is to be expected. “We are on the upturn, but with contrary forces set to influence this in the future, such as the withdrawal of stimulus packages and the end of quantitative easing, which will lead to a slowing of growth,” Daniel Becker, manager of the Pictet US Equity Growth Selection fund at Waddell & Reed, explained on Friday. The fund is focused on the best-positioned growth large caps, which, from the manager’s point of view, will be likely to benefit from a recovery in growth in developed countries. This advantage is all the more appreciable when these firms may also benefit from a possible recovery of the weak US dollar. They will also be capable of maintaining strong organic growth, the manager claims, and these growth shares have not been valued accordingly - particularly tech stocks, which have suffered from a bear market for nine years, he says.
According to reports in Die Welt am Sonntag, Deutsche Bank will not settle for 45%, but is aiming to acquire a stake of at least 75% in Sal. Oppehmeim. The problem of the Oppenheim-Esch funds is reported to already be sorted out, with a fiduciary account to which the owning families will have access only when the funds are liquidated. The situation is reported to have caused significant losses at Sal. Oppenheim in first half, and the financial statement of the private bank has still not been released.
Heinrich Haasis, president of the federation of German savings banks (DSGV) has stated that several of the Landesbanken would like to sell their stake in the management firm Deka to the German savings banks, in order to free up owners’ equity, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Currently, Deka is half-owned by the savings banks, while the other half belongs to the Landesbanken, and the two camps have been divided for months over the strategic orientation of the asset management firm.
In the first six months of the year, European co-ordinated funds have attracted EUR51.7bn in inflows, according to the sector association Efama. France leads with net inflows of EUR33.8bn, followed by the United Kingdom with EUR15.59bn. The performance of French funds is due to EUR34bn in net subscriptions to money market funds, despite outflwos of EUR7.3bn in second quarter. The poorly performing markets were Spain and Italy, with net outflows of EUR9.16bn and EUR8.68bn in first half.
Having now received permission from regulators, BNY Mellon on 1 October proceeded with the absorption of its Netherlands affiliate BNY Mellon Asset Servicing BV into its Belgian bank, founded in May. The Belgian bank will take over all activities of the Dutch affiliate in London, Amsterdam, Breda, Luxembourg and Frankfurt. Staff will total about 1,400, of whom 500 are from the Dutch affiliate. The Belgian bank was founded in order to become the leading platform for the group in Europe for asset servicing. It has about EUR36bn in assets.
Following the Italian firm Mediobanca, the British firm Barclays has become the next bidder to back out of talks to acquire the investment banking division of Sal. Oppenheim, Handelsblatt reports. The only bidder still in the running is the Australian firm Macquarie, which is already in negotiations and which is conducting due diligence currently.
RBC Dexia Investors Services has announced the appointment of Frank Van Hoornweder as chief risk officer, based in Luxembourg. He was previously CEO and general manager of Adinfo, a Belgian business which he joined in 2005, after leaving Dexia Bank.
Net inflows to the 79 funds from private equity firms which underwent a final closing in third quarter 2009 totalled USD38bn, down 55% from their total in April-June, and 68% less than in the corresponding period of last year, according to a report from Previn. This is the lowest level recorded since fourth quarter 2003, when the total was USD37bn. The record was set in second quarter 2007, with a total of USD208bn. According to Preqin, 90 private equity funds this year called off plans to raise capital, up from 30 last year and 15 in 2007. This month, there were 1,574 funds in active fund-raising, nearly 100 fewer than at the beginning of the year. In addition, these funds are aiming for USD754bn in inflows, while a total of USD900bn in capital was aimed for in first half. In these conditions, the average duration of fundraising until the final closing has lengthened to more than 18 months, from 15 months in 2008, 12 months in 2007 and 9 ½ months in 2004. Eight funds which had a final close in July-September raised over USD1bn, of which the largest is Hellman & Friedman VII, with USD8.8bn, though it had iniitally aimed for USD13bn. The TA XI fund from TA Associates attracted USD4bn.
To prevent future scandals similar to the Madoff scandal from polluting their reputations, Spanish private banks are moving from open architecture to controlled architecture, and the CEO of Pictet Funds for the Iberian peninsula and Latin America, Gonzalo Rengifo, predicts that the range of foreign products on offer from private banks will soon shrink to 15 providers, compared with 80 before the crisis, Expansión reports. Security is being preferred over profitability, as specialists focus on major management firms with high volumes and good reputations. This process has two other causes: on one hand, conducting fewer due diligences costs less, and on the other hand, redistributing capital among fewer managers produces larger soft commissions. Between the end of December 2007 and the end of August 2009, assets at foreign asset management firms in Spain fell from EUR50.04bn to EUR27bn; they totalled EUR25bn as of the end of June 2009. The major players are currently JPMorgan (EUR5.23bn), BNP Paribas (EUR2.17bn), Crédit Agricole (EUR2.08bn), Pioneer (EUR1.49bn), and Schroders (EUR1.16bn), followed by Fidelity and Société Générale with EUR1.07bn and EUR1.04bn. Deutsche Bank, BlackRock and Pictet follows with EUR934m, EUR803m and EUR718m.
Cotizalia has calculated the actual profits to RREEF from a sale and lease back operation in which it will take over the BBVA bank branches from Deutsche Bank at 10-12%, above the announced 6-7%; the announced rate did not include rent revenues. The effects of strong leverage should also be taken into account, as RREEF financed 80% of the EUR1.2bn acquisition through loans. BBVA and RREEF have also agreed that the fund will have six months to find financing corresponding to 25% of the initial project, as not all the properties could be acquired in the recently announced operation (see Newsmanagers of 18 September).
According to figures from VDOS Stochastics, 88% of Spanish equities funds have lost money in the past three years, while only 53 out of 439 showed positive returns. Among the funds specialised in Spanish equities, 24% have posted gains in this period, Cotizalia reports. Currently (as of September 2009), equities funds represent 7% of total assets in funds, compared with 39% for bond funds and 29% for guaranteed funds. In September 2006, equities funds accounted for 12%, while bonds and guaranteed funds accounted for 32% and 22% of the total.
The German firm SEB Asset Management announced on Friday that it has acquired the KPN Büroneubau building from OVG Real Estate for EUR98.5m. The 23,000 square metre property with 190 parking spaces, located in Amsterdam (Sloterdijk), is leased for 10 years to KPN Telecom BV. It will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund SEB ImmoInvest, whose assets currently total EUR6.1bn, with investments in 18 countries of Europe, North America, and Asia.
The Singaporian Marc Tan has been appointed as CIO of UBS SDIC, a joint venture in which UBS controls 49% and the Chinese State Development and Investment Corp (SDIC) controls the remaining 51%, Asian Investor reports. UBS SDIC is also launching a tracker fund which will be traded on the Shenzhen stock exchange. It will replicate the CSI300 index (the most actively-traded shares in Shenzhen and Shanghai) for 95%, while the remaining 5% will replicate the local inter-bank interest rate. The product, whose net asset value will be calculated once per year, will employ 1.6 times leverage.
Specialist boutique Silk Invest has launched a new fixed income fund focusing on frontier markets across Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, said Citywire. The Luxembourg-domiciled Silk Road Income fund will be run by former Renaissance Capital man John Bates.
Clients at private banks are once again taking more risks in their investments. It appears that the worst has past and that assets at the various establishments have bounced back above their levels at the end of 2008, Cinco Días reports. This is the case at Banif (Santander), where assets under management have been above EUR30bn since July, after hitting bottom at EUR27.7bn at the end of March, down from EUR29.1bn at the end of December. The same trend has been observed at the private bank from Banco Madrid, at Altae, Merrill Lynch and Popular Banca Privada. However, if assets are increasing, that does not necessarily mean that results at banks will follow suit. It would appear that in this area the recovery is proving much slower. Commissions have fallen, as have profits per product and per client advised.