In July, EUR7.5bn went into corporate investment grade bond funds on sale in Europe, on total net inflows of EUR46bn, according to the most recent Fund Flash from Lipper FMI. Since the beginning of the year, net inflows to these funds have totalled EUR40bn, a record which in fact exceeds the combined flows achieved during the last 5 years. Cross-border groups have been the big winners, hoovering up over half of this year’s new money. Specialist boutique BlueBay has taken full advantage of this explosion, but M&G and Schroders have also shared the take, Lipper FMI notes. In total, fixed income funds registered net inflows in July of EUR16bn, a four year high. Equities saw inflows of EUR12bn, no longer dominated by emerging markets, Lipper FMI observes. In July, the asset management firm with the strongest net inflows was Schroders, with EUR2.8bn. In Equities, a joint venture from SocGen and Russell stands out with EUR988m in investments for a multi-style fund and a multi-management fund.

Bernard Madoff’s two remaining federally seized properties, located in New York and Palm Beach, were listed on Thursday for USD9.9m and USD8.5m, respectively, the WSJ reports. Madoff’s beachfront house in Montauk was listed on 1 September for USD8.75m. The proceeds from the sales of the houses will go into a fund which will be used to reimburse victims of the Madoff fraud.

On Wednesday, Scotia Bank announced that it has made improvements to its asset management operations “in order to support client service and internal growth at its wealth management division.” The new centre of excellence which has been created, entitled Gestion d’actifs Scotia S.E.C. (Scotia Asset Management), will bring together research, communications and product design efforts with other activities which are currently dispersed throughout several operational units. Gestion d’actifs Scotia will bring asset management expertise from Fonds Scotia, ScotiaMcLeod and Scotia Cassels together in a single entity. This will represent more than CAD20bn in assets.

In August, funds on sale in Sweden had net inflows of SEK7.5bn (EUR166m), according to the most recent statistics from the Swedish fund association (Fondbolagens Förening), which emphasizes that this is the highest level ever recorded for August. Since the beginning of the year, inflows total SEK58bn, which also represents a record for the January-August period. In August, equities funds drove subscriptions in the sector, with net inflows of SEK7.7bn. Bond funds and balanced funds posted net inflows fo SEK2.4bn and SEK1.3bn, respectively. However, hedge funds and money market funds saw outflows of SEK1bn and SEK2.8bn. The Swedish fund association has been campaigning for the abolition of a tax on funds registered in Sweden, ahead of the introduction of UCITS IV. Fondbolagens Förening claims that this tax favours foreign-registered funds.

According to Wirtschaftblatt, the German private bank Hauck & Aufhäuser (H&A) is reported to have made a firm offer of about EUR50m to acquire the Viennese private bank Constantia Privatbank from Bank Austria, RZB, Erste Bank, Volksbank and Bawag (the five banks that saved the firm in October 2008). The newspaper reports that the banks had previously sought to obtain EUR100m for the business.

On Thursday, Natixis Asset Management announced that it has set up a scientific “Climate Change” committee, which will provide its management teams with ongoing clarification of major issues that they will need to integrate: analysis of the impact of climate change on certain sectors, countries or regions, depending on various scenarios; evaluation of government actions and regulation; identification of new technological developments which may help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and adaptation to the inevitable consequences of climate change. The committee will be chaired by Carlos July, one of the founders of UNEP-FI. It will also include Pierre Radanne, Yves Le Bars and Miklos Konkoly-Thege (former president of the environmental foundation Det Norske Veritas).

Morgan Stanley is said to be selling not only Van Kampen Investments, but the entirety of its retail activities, which also include Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Ignites reports, citing several sources. The bank would retain 20% of the unit, which represents about USD150bn in assets under management, and would sell the other 80%. Invesco is said to be a candidate to acquire the business.

A wave of consolidation in the banking sector in Germany may continue, La Tribune reports, with a takeover of Postbank by Deutsche Bank. A scenario seems to be taking form in which Deutsche Bank would control less than 30% of Postbank. This would allow the largest German bank to launch a takeover bid, but would be enough to hold off rival bids. The takeover bid proper would be launched later. According to other sources, the Spanish bank Santander could team up with Deutsche Bank in the operation.

On 28 September, Ee Fang Chen, who was previously in charge of development of institutional activities for Vanguard in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, will join Martin Currie Investment Management as business development director, Asia. In this position he will report to Kimon Kouryialas, regional head for Pan Asia. He will be based in Singapore and will be in charge of assisting client development in Asia.

The Spanish Cosmen family and the private equity firm CVC will soon take control of National Express, as the transportation firm has confirmed that it is in talks with the consortium over its EUR2.08bn bid to acquire the firm, Cinco Días reports. On Friday at 5 PM the deadline for new bids will expire. According to the British press, the board of National Express is reported to have voted on Wednesday in favour of accepting the Cosmen-CVC bid, at EUR5.75 per share, which values the firm at EUR875m, plus EUR1.2bn in debt.

L’Echo reports that the Netherlands-based broker Van der Moolen was declared bankrupt on Thursday, 10 September, succumbing to the credit crisis and to poor management decisions. It lost two thirds of its value on the stock market, bringing its capitalisation to EUR4m. Van der Moolen was one of the big names on Wall Street in the 1980s and 1990s. In recent years, the management firm sought to redefine the contours of its activities, and concentrated unsuccessfully on trading of options and derivative products.

Following the recruitment of Iñigo Calderón, formerly of Deutsche Bank (see Newsmanagers of 4 September), as head of the private banking and wealth management division, Barclays Wealth Managers España has recruited Pablo Martinez Alberola as director of sales, Funds People reports. This is a newly-created position, and the new recruit’s mission will be to co-ordinate commercial activities so as to place funds managed in Spain as well in the country as those registered in Ireland or Luxembourg.

Henderson New Star has announced that the new European Special Situations fund (see Newsmanagers of 28 May) will be launched on 1 October. Its assets will be limited to GBP500m, in order to allow the manager, Richard Pease (formerly of New Star) to have a small and midcaps bias. The portfolio will contain 35 to 55 positions, and the objective will be initial performance of 3-5%. Subscriptions will be open from 17 September.

F&C Asset Management will close its Special Situations fund as a part of a rationalisation of its product range, FT Adviser reports. In a letter to investors, the management firm explains that major shareholders have sold their shares, reducing assets from GBP36.5m to only GBP1m.

The Hanover stock exchange announced on Thursday that Michelin shares will be removed on 21 September from the Global Challenges Index (GCX), a sustainable development index launched in September 2007 with the assistance of the Munich-based agency oekom research. The statement says that environmental organisations accuse the French manufacturer of violating human rights during extensions of its rubber plantations in Nigeria. Michelin will be replaced in the index by the US firm EMC. The composition of the GCX index may be consulted online at the address http://www.gcindex.com/de/index/indexstruktur/unternehmens_uebersicht.p…

An ongoing “global realignment of the operational model” of the group and a “redeployment of operational and IT activities to Kuala Lumpur” may affect 110 positions out of 1,600 at RBC Dexia Luxembourg. This impact is before negotiations with representatives of labour, and a statement adds that since the creation of RBC Dexia in 2006, more than 600 jobs have been created locally in Luxembourg. The move to Malaysia may involve as many as 50 jobs.

Hermes BKP Partners is working on a new fee structure for its funds of hedge funds, which would be indexes on long-term performance, the Wall Street Journal reports. Commissions for each year of performance would be collected every three years.

Several London-based hedge funds are preparing to launch UCITS III-compliant products, the Financial Times reports. These firms include Cheyne Capital (USD6bn in assets) and Man Group (USD43.3bn).

Selon l’Agefi, la banque d’Angleterre (BoE) pourrait baisser la rémunération des réserves bancaires afin d’inciter les banques à utiliser ces liquidités. Cette mesure viendrait compléter le dispositif d’assouplissement quantitatif dont les effets tardent à se faire sentir. Pour l’heure, ces réserves sont rémunérées au taux directeur, à savoir 0,5 %.

L’Agefi reports that the Bank of England (BoE) may lower the interest rate it pays on banking reserves, to incite banks to use this capital. The measure would come as a complement to the quantitative easing policy whose effects are proving slow in making themselves felt. At present, reserves earn the prime rate of 0.5%.

La Tribune reports that Bank of America announced on 10 September that it has settled a dispute with US authorities and the State of Massachusetts by buying back auction-rate securities (ARS) that it sold to individual investors, whose rate is set at auction, at their nominal value, totalling EUR4.5bn.

According to statistics from VDOS Stochastics, the most conservative funds have attracted the largest net subscriptions in Spain since the beginning of the year, Cinco Días reports. The European long-term bond fund category has seen the strongest inflows, with more than EUR2.34bn, ahead of guaranteed bond funds (EUR1.49bn). La Caixa and Ibercaja are the leaders for net inflows, with EUR242bn and EUR455m, respectively. The most popular fund was the Santander Rendimiento FI B, a bond fund which attracted more than EUR2.75bn, followed by the Foncaixa Garantía Renta Fija (also a bond fund), with EUR994m.

La collecte s’est établie à 8,52 milliards d’euros en août, portant les encours hors fonds alternatifs à 871,1 milliards, selon EuroPerformance

PricewaterhouseCoopers, l’administrateur européen de Lehman Brothers Holdings, prévoit de rencontrer jeudi les anciens clients de la banque d’investissement, notamment des hedge funds, pour discuter de la façon dont accélérer le remboursement d’environ 9 milliards de dollars d’actifs. PwC va aussi tenter de faire appel d’une décision de la Haute Cour britannique qui a repoussé la demande de l’administrateur d’utiliser une procédure qui aurait permis de traiter les clients de manière collective, ce qui serait plus rapide que des négociations bilatérales.

Le bureau de Credit Suisse à Dubaï entame la commercialisation du compartiment luxembourgeois SICAV One (Lux) Equity Middle East and North Africa, un fonds (lancé le 21 juillet) qui sera proposé aux particuliers et aux institutionnels, rapporte Gulfnews.com. La gestion du portefeuille de 40-60 lignes est confiée à Farid Samji, qui dirigera l'équipe de Dubaï.

La National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD, 1,5 milliard de dollars d’encours) a l’intention de lancer dans deux mois le premier ETF du Moyen-Orient, qui sera coté sur l’Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), rapporte The National. Ce produit répliquera un indice fourni par l’un des grands spécialistes des indices et devrait couvrir une cinquantaine de grandes entreprises du Golfe, selon Giyas Gokkent, co-head of asset management et chief economist de NBAB.

Dennis G. Lopez, CEO de Sun Real Estate depuis 2008, a été nommé global CIO d’'Axa Real Estate Investment Managers (Axa REIM, 39,5 milliards d’euros d’encours). L’impétrant, qui reprend après une redéfinition de poste les prérogatives précédemment assumées par Christian Delaire (qui était global head of fund management), sera chargé de superviser l’ensemble des activités de gestion de fonds d’Axa REIM «avec un accent particulier sur la qualité et la cohérence des services d’investissement, ainsi que la réalisation des objectifs de performance». Basé à Londres, il sera subordonné à Pierre Vaquier, directeur général d’Axa REIM.

EFG Asset Management France a procédé au changement d’appellation de sa gamme de fonds. Cipango Maxima, Cipango Patrimonia et Cipango Monétaire Etats zone Euro deviennent respectivement EFG Maxima, EFG Patrimonia et EFG Monétaire Etats zone Euro. Ce changement de noms constitue l’étape ultime de l’intégration d’EFG Gestion Privée (ex Sycomore Gestion Privée) au sein du groupe EFG International.Le Maxima et le Monétaire Etats Zone Euro sont désormais conformes à la directive OPCVM III afin de permettre leur commercialisation dans le reste de l’Europe

La société de gestion de portefeuille spécialisée dans l’immobilier a annoncé le 9 septembre le lancement de PFO2, une SCPI favorisant la prise en compte du développement durable. Perial juge le contexte actuel particulièrement propice à l’investissement immobilier sur fonds propres. «Le marché est assaini, avec des opportunités très nombreuses», a estimé Eric Cosserat, président du directoire de Perial, à l’occasion d’un point de presse."L’immobilier d’entreprise étant en bas de cycle, il nous semblait nécessaire de profiter de ce contexte et de créer une nouvelle SCPI. De plus, PFO2 représente un atout important pour les investisseurs qui recherchent des performances sur le long terme tout en favorisant les principes de développement durable. En effet, sur le long terme, un tel parc immobilier permettra de réaliser des gains grâce aux économies de charges, ce qui aura un impact sur la performance du placement», a précisé Jean-Christophe Antoine, directeur de Perial Asset Management.Pour répondre aux défis de la problématique environnementale dans le bâtiment qui représente 40 % de l'énergie primaire consommée en France, Perial a l’ambition de diminuer significativement l’empreinte énergétique du patrimoine immobilier de PFO2 d’ici à 2018 aussi bien pour les immeubles ancients que pour les immeubles neufs.Pour les bâtiments anciens, des process seront mis en place avec comme objectif, entre autres, de réduire d’au moins 40 % la consomation d'énergie et de diminuer la consommation d’eau entre 20 à 30 % par rapport à la consommation initiale. En ce qui concerne les bâtiments neufs, ils respecteront les règlements thermiques en vigueur, et Perial recherchera des bâtiments à haute ou très haute performance énergétique. Perial va ainsi mettre en place pour ses acquisitions un référentiel développement durable portant justement sur la gestion de l'énergie, la diminution de la consommation d’eau et sur une charte de bonnes pratiques environnementales. Ce référentiel permettra en outre le suivi dans le temps de la performance développement durable du patrimoine ainsi constitué et de la maîtrise des charges d’exploitation des immeubles. Perial étudie actuellement l'établissement de ce référentiel avec l’aide d’un intervenant extérieur. Perial plaide à ce propos pour un consensus de place sur un label Exploitation.Avec ce nouveau produit, Perial vise sa clientèle habituelle de particuliers mais aussi les investisseurs institutionnels et des banques de gestion privée à qui elle souhaite proposer une offre immobilière complète. D’où le choix pour la première fois d’une SCPI à capital variable.Caractéristiques de PFO2- Dénomination : SCPI PFO2 - SCPI de rendement à capital variable investit dans en immobilier d’entreprise- Durée de vie statutaire : 99 ans- Société de gestion de Portefeuille : PERIAL Asset Management- Prix de souscription : 178€- Minimum de souscription : 30 parts- Délai de jouissance : 1er jour du 4ème mois suivant la date d’enregistrement de la souscription- Commission de souscription due à l’acquisition de parts nouvelles de 8,5% HT maximum, TVA en sus au taux en vigueur soit actuellement 10,17% TTC, du prix de souscription des parts, dont le montant est inclus dans la prime d'émission- Commission de gestion des biens sociaux d’un montant égal à 11,5% HT, TVA en sus au taux en vigueur (actuellement 13,75% TTC des produits locatifs hors taxes encaissés et des produits financiers nets)

Après l’annonce que le gestionnaire français a démissionné de l’association allemande BVI des sociétés de gestion, une démarche tout à fait inédite apparemment liée à la volonté de ne plus publier de statistiques-pays en Allemagne, Carmignac Gestion indique être «tout a fait disposé à publier ses chiffres pays par pays si cette information s’impose à tous les acteurs, en particulier les acteurs transfrontaliers», ce qui n’est pas encore le cas.Dans ces conditions, le gestionnaire français «a choisi de communiquer globalement sur son développement et non marché par marché car le jeu concurrentiel est faussé si Carmignac Gestion diffuse ses chiffres alors qu’il ne dispose pas de ceux de ses confrères». Carmignac Gestion souligne aussi être «la seule société présente à l'échelle européenne à diffuser systématiquement l’intégralité des portefeuilles» de ses fonds tous les trimestres, et ce, depuis 20 ans.