Selon Investment Week, Henderson New Star va fusionner l’Equity Income Fund de Graham Kitchen et Andrew Jones avec le Higher Income Fund géré par ces deux mêmes personnes, pour former un produit de 250 millions de livres, indique Investment Week. D’autre part, les fonds new Star Hidden Value (13 millions) et Select OIpportunities (31 millions) vont être absorbés par le UK Alpha Fund pour créer un ensemble de 202 millions de livres.
Candover Investments Plc a annoncé vendredi que sa filiale à 100 % Candover Partners Ltd vend le cabinet d'étude et de conseil en énergie Wood Mackenzie à Charterhouse Capital Partners pour une valeur d’entreprise de 553 millions de livres. L’investissement dans Wood Mackenzie aura généré un rendement interne de 56 %.
Citywire révèle que Roger Guy et Guillaume Rambourg va abandonner la gestion du fonds phare Gartmore European Selected Opportunities (1,5 milliard de livres) à la fin de l’année, pour se concentrer sur les mandats hedge funds et de rendement absolu. La société de gestion a embauché John Bennett de GAM pour s’occuper du fonds ainsi que du Gartmore Sicav Continental European.
Adam Seitchik, qui était CIO de Trillium Asset Management et avait à ce titre la responsabilité de portefeuilles d’un total d’un milliard de dollars intégrant gestion traditionnelle et ESG, rejoint Auriel Capital où il sera chargé de développer des stratégies socialement responsable pour des clients institutionnels en Europe et en Amérique du nord, rapporte NewNet. Aureil Capital affiche un encours d’environ 500 millions de dollars.
JPMorgan Asset Management ambitionne de prendre la place de leader de M&G sur les taux au Royaume-Uni dans les 5 ou 6 ans à venir, selon Jasper Berens, patron des ventes UK de la société de gestion, interrogé par Ignites Europe. JPMorgan AM a récemment recruté Bob Michele, de Schroders, pour diriger son équipe de taux.
For a long time, German asset management firms based in Luxembourg have attracted far higher subscriptions than their counterparts based in Germany. But, according to a study by Kommalpha, German products earned EUR3.91bn in subscriptions in January-April, while their Luxembourg rivals saw redemptions of EUR3.22bn.The situation is all the more remarkable since the two management firms with the best results in the first four months of the year are the Luxembourg firms db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) and Pimco (Allianz Global Investors), with respective net subscriptions of EUR2.72bn and EUR1.6bn. They are followed by Deka and ETFlab (an affiliate of Deka), with EUR.37bn and EUR1.07bn, and then by DWS Luxembourg (Deutsche Bank) with nearly EUR1bn.However, four of the five companies showing the largest redemptions are based in Luxembourg also: IFM (EUR2.19bn), Deka Luxembourg (EUR1.76bn), AGI Luxembourg (EUR1.44bn), and Union Investment Luxembourg (EUR1.22bn). Only the fifth place in this list is a German firm: AGI (EUR0.73bn).
Candover Investments PLC on Friday announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Candover Partners Ltd., will sell the research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie to Charterhouse Capital Partners, in a deal that values the business at GBP553m. The firm’s investment in Wood Mackenzie generated an IRR of 56%.
The US Department of Justice announced on Friday that it is pressing criminal charges against the financier R. Allen Stanford, who was arrested on Thursday. The authorities are also filing charges against four people accused of acting as his accomplices, and against Leroy King, chairman of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC) of Antigua and Barbuda. The Wall Street Journal reports that the defendants are accused of operating a Ponzi scheme totalling USD7bn. The criminal charges come in addition to a civil suit filed by the SEC. King is accused of accepting USD100,000 in bribes to provide false information to the SEC, in his official capacity as a regulator.
Many hedge funds were relieved last week when the Obama administration’s financial overhaul plan included no big surprises or threats to their industry. It isn’t clear exactly why hedge funds escaped their worst fears. But maybe one explanation is that they have been spending a lot more time and money in Washington during the past few years. According to The Wall Street Journal, in 2008, major hedge funds and their trade groups spent USD6.1m lobbying Washington, up from USD4.2 million in 2007, which is about seven times the USD897,000 average from 2003 to 2006. The growth rate in hedge-fund lobbying far exceeds the 38% increase for the overall financial-services industry between 2006 and 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Fund Forum International is opening its doors on Monday in Monaco. ICBI, the organizer of the event, reports that 800 participants from 38 countries are attending this year, while there were 1,000 participants last year. This fall in attendance is hardly surprising given the crisis. However, ICBI points out that the quality of participants has remained high, ant that six professional organisations are present, including EFAMA (Europe), ALFI (Luxembourg), AFG (France), SFA (Switzerland), IFIA (Ireland) and KFIA (Hong Kong). The first Fund Forum was held in July 1990.
The investment committee for the open-ended real estate fund Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment P2 Value announced on Friday that it has resolved to audit the entirety of the properties in the portfolio of the fund on 1 July. The move comes at a time of turbulence on the real estate market and as redemptions, which were suspended in October, are expected to reopen, says Walter Klug , CEO of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment GmbH. The results of the audit will be published in short order once it is completed.
The Times reports that an agreement reached Thursday between Switzerland and the United States over information sharing about billions of dollars which US citizens have accumulated in secret Swiss bank accounts may not be ratified by the Swiss parliament if the US tax authorities, the Inland Revenue Service (IRS) do not call off civil lawsuits against UBS to obtain the names of 52,000 US clients with offshore bank accounts.
The international organisation of securities commissions (IOSCO) has published its definitive reports on regulation of short-selling, which lays out four general principles for effective regulation of these activities.The technical committee of IOSCO recommends that short-selling should be subject to “appropriate controls” to minimise potential risks that may affect the normal functioning and stability of the financial markets, and also recommends a reporting system, affective compliance mechanisms, and that exceptions be made for certain types of transactions.Regulation of Short Selling - Final Report
BlackRock, Brevan Howard, CQS, DE Shaw, Fauchier Partners, Lansdowne Partners, Man Group and Marshall Wace have formed a steering committee to spearhead a lobbying campaign against a planned European directive to regulate hedge funds. The committee is being led by the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the Sunday Times reports. Hedge funds in the alliance have GBP120bn in assets.
Citywire reports that Roger Guy and Guillaume Rambourg will no longer be responsible for management of the flagship fund Gartmore European Selected Opportunities (GBP1.5bn) after the end of the year, and will instead concentrate on hedge fund mandates and absolute returns. The management firm has recruited John Bennett from GAM to manage the fund, as well as the Gartmore Sicav Continental European.
Cazenove has placed the hedge fund managers Neil Pegrum and Paul Marriage in charge of its second absolute return fund for retail investors, the Cazenove Absolute UK Dynamic, which will be managed with the same strategy as the hedge fund which Pegrum launched in May 2005, Investment Week reports. The objective will be annual performance of over 10% in the mid-term; Pegrum’s fund has delivered annualised performance of 15.97%, compared with 1.12% for the FTSE All-Share index. The Cazenove product, with 30-50 positions, will focus on UK small and midcaps using a bottom-up approach, and short-selling will be undertaken using CFDs.The first absolute return fund from Cazenove, the UK Absolute Target, is managed by Tim Russell, and has attracted about GBP245m since July 2008.
Investment Week reports that Henderson New Star will merge the Equity Income Fund, managed by Graham Kitchen and Andrew Jones with the Higher Income Fund, managed by the same duo, to form a GBP250m product, Investment Week reports. The New Star Hidden Value (GBP13m) and Select Opportunities (GBP31m) funds will be absorbed by the UK Alpha Fund to create a GBP202m fund.
National Australia Bank will acquire the life insurance and wealth management activities of Aviva in Australia for a maximum of AUD925m (GBP450m), the Financial Times reports. Before the transaction is completed, Aviva will pay out a dividend of AUD40m.
Germany’s Deka Immobilien has purchased two properties in Melbourne for approximately EUR150m. An office and retail building (40,000 square metres) was purchased from AMP Capital Investors for EUR95m, and will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienGlobal.The management firm has also purchased the Australian Taxation Office building (22,000 square metres) for EUR54m, for its segregated fund Deka-S-Property Fund N° 2. The property received a five-star NABERS Energy Rating.
Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, CEO of Invesco Europe, has been elected president of EFAMA (European Fund and Asset Management) for a two-year term. He succeeds Mathias Bauer, CEO of Raiffeisen Capital in Vienna. Claude Kremer, chairman of the Luxembourg investment fund association, has been appointed vice-president of EFAMA. The election took place on 19 June in Athens at the association’s general assembly.
Adam Seitchik, formerly CIO of Trillium Asset Management, who in his previous role was responsible for a portfolio totalling USD1bn, including traditional and ESG management, is joining Auriel Capital, where he will be in charge of developing socially responsible strategies for institutional clients in Europe and North America, NewNet reports. Auriel Capital has assets of about USD500m.
Mohammed Paracha, CEO of Al Salam Europe, an affiliate of Al Salam Bank-Bahrain, has announced that his firm is planning to make acquisitions of private equity firms and real estate properties in continental Europe, in Spain, Portugal, and France. The firm is also planning an operation in Italy and has recently narrowly lost a deal in the United Kingdom, Gulf Daily News reports.Western countries with large Islamic populations are considered growth areas for Islamic finance. The private equity team at Al Salam Europe has six members, recruited from 3i and Bridgepoint.
Roger Guy and Guillaume Rambourg will hand over most of their responsibilities in retail fund management at Gartmore to John Bennett, who has been recruited from GAM, where he was manager of the Star Continental European Equity Fund. Bennett, who will begin in his new role in early 2010, will be in charge of the European Select Opportunties Fund (GBP1.5bn); he will also be in charge of developing a range of pan-European products. He will report to Dominic Rossi, CIO of Gartmore, MoneyMarketing reports. Guy and Rambourg, for their part, will apparently remain at Gartmore, and will continue to manage the long/short European Absolute Return fund, launched in January, and three institutional hedge funds.
JPMorgan Asset Management has ambitions to overtake M&G as the leading provider of fixed income products in the United Kingdom in the next 5 to 6 years, says Jasper Berens, head of UK sales at the management firm. JPMorgan AM has recently recruited Bob Michele from Schroders as head of its fixed income management.
Fidelity Investments on Friday announced that it will be closing its private equity division by the end of July. The division was set up two years ago, but is now encountering difficulties in raising capital due to the crisis, the Wall Street Journal reports. The division had USD500m, contributed by Fidelity more than by subscribers, and has investments in four companies.
The Financial Times reports that among those who bought Lehman debt at a heavy discount were several of the largest hedge funds, including Elliott Associates, Paulson & Co, King Street and Centerbridge Partners. But the investment does not mean easy money. It will take years to regain any value, which means that investors will have to pay high legal costs and patiently wait for the courts to reach their verdicts. According to official documents, Elliott, King Street and Paulson hold USD12.5bn in Lehman debt.
La Tribune reports that since January, Carmignac Gestion has received EUR5bn in investments, and now has EUR20bn in assets under management. In 2008, the firm received EUR3.1bn, largely for actively-managed funds. Specifically, Garmignac Patrimoine, the firm’s flagship fund, contributed significantly to this increase in assets, and has grown from EUR5.2bn at the end of 2008 to EUR10bn as of the end of May, the newspaper stated. The fund “has received a lot of investments from baby-boomers who are seeking to keep their savings safe,” says Eric Le Coz, director of product development at Carmignac Gestion, cited by La Tribune. This fund is not the only one, the newspaper adds, pointing out that the Carmignac Emerging Discovery fund, which invests in emerging markets small and midcaps, has gained 56.61% since the beginning of the year. The diversified range was also spared from the exodus of clients last year, even though performance was less good for these products. Funds have been selling well in the eight countries where Carmignac is present (Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg, and Switzerland). The management firm is planning to continue its development: an analyst and a bond manager have recently been added to the team of 15 at the firm. In terms of international development, distribution of products from Carmignac Gestion on the British market has also now commenced. In Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore are two markets the firm hopes to enter soon.
SEB Fund Services S.A., the Luxembourg-based affiliate of the Swedish firm Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, announced on Friday, 19 June that it has decided to outsource its fund administration services in Luxembourg to European Fund Administration (EFA). The agreement includes the outsourcing to EFA of valuation, accounting, transfer agency, risk monitoring and compliance, support, and distribution of funds. Migration of funds from SEB Fund Services to the administration and accounting platform of EFA has now been completed after a four-month process. It included assets totalling EUR1.6bn, and a diversified range of 59 products, from the simple (SICAV & FCP - Part I) to the more complex, including hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, Private Equity and Emerging Markets products.
Swiss-based Banque Sarasin is opening a rep office in the 1st district of Vienna. The firm says it considers Vienna an attractive market in private banking. “Representatives in Vienna will not only serve high net worth private clients in Austria, but will also bring the Sarasin group closer to growth markets in central and eastern Europe,” says Fidelis M. Götz, head of Private Banking.
Selon L’Agefi suisse, les prévisions sur les sociétés cotées sont de meilleure qualité lorsque les analystes financiers se spécialisent sur un pays en particulier, et non sur un secteur. D’après un article paru dans l’édition du mois de mai de la Review of Financial Studies, entre 70% et 80% des analystes couvrant des sociétés cotées à Paris, Francfort ou Zurich étaient classifiés en 1995 en tant que spécialistes d’entreprises françaises, allemandes ou suisses. Neuf ans plus tard, ils n’étaient plus que 25% à 30% à l’être. La majorité des maisons de courtage avaient alors restructuré leurs divisions en une composition sectorielle. L’article démontre que les erreurs de prévision des analystes sectoriels sont près de 6% plus importantes que ceux spécialisés sur un pays spécifique.