Next year, says François Carlotti, chairman of the board since September 2008, Sal. Oppenheim France will move into wealth management with at least five people, who will be recruited by the end of 2009. In the near future, the new affiliate of Sal. Oppenheim (25 people) will position itself on the French market, developing a management centre with areas of expertise to complement those of the group, and distributing this expertise commercially along with a selection of other management products and services from the group, and extending sales of management solutions to other countries in Europe. Initially (beginning in third quarter), this will extend to Switzerland and Italy. A dedicated team of four people will be involved in this extension.In other words, the business model in France will be based on the deployment already prevalent in the German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg), since, for its part, Sal. Oppenheim Jr. & Cie, the investment bank of the group, is already present in Paris, under the direction of Jefferson Count of Zeil, and has been active for slightly under two years (see Newsmanagers of 6 September 2007).

It is unlikely that investment in equities will mobilise French insurers, La Tribune predicts. From a 20% exposure to equities, Groupama will lower its exposure to between 5% and 7%, says Helman le Pas de Sécheval, CFO, and the 2% of assets invested in private equity will be reduced to 0. At Axa, exposure to equities has already been reduced, and exposure to private equity will be maintained at its current levels, says Henri de Castries, chairman of the board at Axa. French insurers are also seeking to incorporate measures to comply with the European prudential regulations included in the Solvency 2 legislation.

It is unlikely that investment in equities will mobilise French insurers, La Tribune predicts. From a 20% exposure to equities, Groupama will lower its exposure to between 5% and 7%, says Helman le Pas de Sécheval, CFO, and the 2% of assets invested in private equity will be reduced to 0. At Axa, exposure to equities has already been reduced, and exposure to private equity will be maintained at its current levels, says Henri de Castries, chairman of the board at Axa. French insurers are also seeking to incorporate measures to comply with the European prudential regulations included in the Solvabilité 2 legislation.

As Newsmanagers reported in March, the Belgian asset management firm Petercam is planning to found a management firm in Paris. The operation has begun, and will be completed by the end of this summer.The Belgian group has been ?commercially? present in France since 2004. It sells its funds in the country through the efforts of Ives Hup, sales and account manager, who is based in Brussels, but often on the road in France. French clients now represent as much as EUR2bn in assets, or slightly more than 10% of total assets, making France one of the most promising markets for the Belgian group. The decision to open a physical location in Paris is primarily due to the group’s desire to develop its presence among French institutional investors, who are increasingly seeking dedicated funds to manage their assets. These products must be registered in France. It is certainly possible to outsource such projects to intermediaries, but this solution is costly and complicated. Another practical advantage of having a physical location in France is that it lets Petercam show its attachment to the French market. This will also give the firm an opportunity to develop its management of new asset classes, particularly those which French investors are showing demand for. The creation of an asset management firm requires the presence of managers, clearly. Petercam will therefore take the opportunity to recruit two professionals in France specialised in professions which the firm does not practice at present: bonds and convertibles. The recruitment process is underway for these two managers. Once the firm has been launched, a product will be placed on the market, with assets housed in products which Petercam already offered, which will come from different funds. It has not been ruled out, if the project is successful, to launch other products in France, which would be managed in the country. These might include a enhenced money market fund or a tactical asset allocation fund.

The board of directors at SG Private Banking (Switzerland) has approved the appointment of the firm’s vice-chairman, Daniel Truchi, as chairman. It has also approved the appointment of two new directors, Jean-Pierre Jacquemoud and Yves Thieffry, to replace Truchi and Philippe Setton.The appointments follow the acquisition by the Société Générale group last year of minority stakes owned by the directors of the Groupe René de Picciotto/Philippe Setton in the capital of SG Private Banking (Switzerland).

Constellation Growth Capital, the former private equity group from Bear Stearns specialised in media, communications and technologies related to these sectors, has joined Highbridge Capital Management, a hedge fund firm controlled by JPMorgan Chase, the Financial Times reports. The move comes as Highbridge attempts to construct a diversified asset management activity alongside its alternative investments.

In a letter to its investors which has been obtained by the Financial Times, TPG has revealed that it had planned 140 LBO operations in the past few months, but that it has not achieved any, illustrating the fact that this type of financial operation is used at certain points in the cycle but not at others. ?When debt is poorly valued and inexpensive, as it was before 2008, it makes sense to replace equities with debt. ? Now, it makes sense to replace debt with equities, which leads to restructuring and recapitalisations,? the letter says.

OFI AM, which signed the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI) last year, followed by its affiliate OFI Private Equity, is now making its sustainable development activities a key aspect of the brand, both for its products and internally. As part of this initiative, responsibility for sustainable development themed operations is being granted to Sophie Fiszman, deputy CEO, both at OFI AM and its affiliates, Sicavs, and management mandates. She will retain her responsibilities as manager of the OFI Core Energy fund, which invests in international large and midcaps related to the theme of the increasing scarcity of fossil fuels. A logical consequence of this move is that the director of multi-management, Jean-Lousi Mercadal, will replace Fiszman as CIO. He becomes deputy CEO, and will take over management of OFI AM, while retaining responsibility for the traditional multi-management unit, with the support of Éric Bouffort as deputy director. Bouffort has been deputy CEO of the OFI group since January 2007, and will support Mercadal, who will be increasingly absorbed by his functions as director of management.

Mary Schapiro, chairman of the SEC, has announced that the regulator is investigating target-date funds to ensure that they provide accurate information about their asset allocation. The Wall Street Journal reports that Schapiro finds it troubling that the 31 funds with maturity dates in 2010 have lost an average of 25%.

The French market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), has handed down a fine of EUR1m to Ulf Werner, director of the Swiss firm Center-Tainment, for distributing ?imprecise and misleading? information in November 2006, when his firm launched a hostile takeover bid for Euro Disney. The sanctions committee described the ?extraordinarily serious? crimes committed by Werner, who used ?a carefully orchestrated and staged? scheme to generate ?considerable illegitimate gains.?

After pre-tax profits on its ongoing activities of GBP1.4m in 2007, Integrated Asset Management, which has recently sold its 51% stake in Altigefi to Sal. Oppenheim France (see separate article), has posted losses for last year of GBP2.3m. Its assets as of the end of December totalled USD1.21bn, compared with USD2.89bn.

Babak Kiani and Christian Müller-Goedecke (co-head of portfolio management) are the managers of the new HSBC Trinkaus Multi Markets Select fund, launched by HSBC Global Asset Management (Deutschland), which will invest in five asset classes in addition to cash, largely via derivatives of shares in funds, CDS, ETS, and currency futures. The German-registered product, which may invest up to 100% of its assets in derivatives, aims for absolute returns of 5% per year, after fees. The selection process will occur in three stages to limit the risk of losses. After quantitative and selective stages, the portfolio is constructed with a horizon of one month, using an optimiser which takes into account the results of the two previous stages. The fund will only invest in asset classes which promise higher returns than the money markets. HSBC GAM Germany will charge a front-end fee of 5%, a 1% management commission, and a 20% performance commission on returns exceeding the 5% objective.

Credit Suisse has announced that its Luxembourg-registered Asian funds CS Bond Fund (Lux) Asia, CS Equity Fund (Lux) Asian Tigers, CS Equity Fund (Lux) Asian Property, CS Equity Fund (Lux) Greater China et CS Equity Fund (Lux) Japan Megatrend have been transferred to Aberdeen Asset Management (AAM), as part of a sale of the Global Investors division to the British management firm. The Asia-Pacific products represented assets as of the end of March of about USD7.1bn, and Credit Suisse has received in exchange nearly 32.53 million ordinary shares in AAM. The conclusion of the sale will take place as planned at the end of June.

Privalto UK, an affiliate of BNP Paribas, has announced the launch of the Privalto Millenium Tracker Fund, which replicates the performance of the BNP Paribas Millenium 10 Europe Series 3 (Sterling Hedged) Total Return index. The index is composed of liquid shares including US, European and Asian equities, as well as commodities, real estate, and foreign currencies, Hedge Week reports.

The Oyster Funds Sicav from the Swiss bank Syz & Co will soon contain two new sub-funds, including a convertible bonds fund, outsourced to Advent Capital Management, and an absolute performance fund using a strategy already deployed for institutional clients of Syz, Das Investment reports.

L’Agefi reports that Italian investors are preparing to demand reparations from the Italian affiliate of BNP Paribas, claiming that they will be damaged by the closure of a real estate fund, Crescita, planned for 30 June. BNP Paribas denies the accusations, which have damaged its reputation in Italy.

Henry Azzam CEO of Deutsche Bank for the Middle Eastern region, based in Dubai, says that Arab sovereign funds last year lost USD450bn, the equivalent of one year in revenues from oil exports. The consensus estimates that they lost a total of 25% to 30%, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports, but the American Council of Foreign Relations estimates that the decline in assets at 88%, to USD1.2trn.These funds are becoming more prudent, and are now turning to industrial investments, focusing on businesses in the chemical, petrochemical, energy, and transport sectors.

Une vingtaine d’entre elles ont fait appel aux investisseurs le mois dernier, proposant des primes très attractives

At the end of April, assets in securities funds on sale in Spain totalled EUR162.35bn, which represents an increase of EUR1.08bn, or 0.7%, compared with the end of March. This is the first increase in assets under management in two years, following 23 consecutive months of falling assets, and the increase comes despite net outflows of EUR624m, the lowest level since August 2007. The largest net outflows were from Santander Gestión de Activos, at EUR444m, and Ahorro Corporación Gestión, at EUR209.2m, The largest net subscriptions were for Invercaixa Gestión, at EUR174.6m.The two largest management firms in terms of assets are BBVA Asset Management with EUR32.81bn as of the end of April, followed by Santander Gestión de Activos, with EUR30.29bn. The third-largest is Invercaixa Gestión with EUR11.88bn.

Morningstar Research Inc., a Canadian affiliate of Morningstar Inc., which has recently announced its acquisition of two activities from the Canadian firm C.P.M.S. Computerized Portfolio Management Services (see Newsmanagers of 27 April), on Friday announced the acquisition of Andex Associates, based in Windsor, Ontario, a leading firm in the provision of financial graphs and communications material aimed at IFAs. The financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed. Andex Associates was founded in 1993 by Anthony DiMeo and Dexter Robinson. Andex serves most of the largest financial services firms in Canada, including BMO Financial Group, CIBC, Great West, Investors Group, London Life, RBC, Scotiabank and TD Canada Trust.

The independent management firm Wallberg, launched in late 2007 and specialised in multi-management, currently manages assets of EUR520m. Its product range includes 18 funds for retail and institutional investors, though the range will not exceed 30 products under any curcumstances, says Thorsten Schrieber, CEO and founder of the group, who is one of the former heads of the Munich-based independent management firm Dr. Jens Ehrhardt Kapital.The Wallberg group is also active in multi-management for wealth management, via its Swiss affiliate SUCCESS Internationale Vermögensverwaltung AG, and already has 150 ?international? private clients. The objective if to reach 250 clients by the end of this year.

Le gestionnaire alternatif Citadel Investment Group ($ 11 milliards d’encours) élargit son activité à la banque d’investissement et recrute encore trois spécialistes chez Merrill Lynch, selon les informations du Wall Street Journal. Il s’agit en l’occurrence de Todd Kaplan, un spécialiste du financement par effet de levier, pour diriger cette nouvelle entité sous la responsabilité de Rohit D"Souza, également un ancien de Merrill Lynch, et qui est le CEO de Citadel Securities. Brian Maier et Carl Mayer rejoignent en tant que head of industry groups et head of leverage finance, respectivement et ils seront subordonnés à Todd Kaplan. Depuis la reprise de Merrill Lynch par Bank of America, Citadel a ainsi recruté plus d’une douzaine de spécialistes de Merrill.

L’ancienne star de Paulson & Co, Paolo Pellegrini, qui avait aidé le gérant éponyme à réaliser d'énormes gains en 2007 et 2008 et qui a depuis créé son propre hedge fund, s’est adjoint les services de l’ex-économiste en chef de Merrill pour l’international, Alex Patelis, qui a quitté Merrill en janvier dernier, selon le Wall Street Journal. Paolo Pellegrini a de son côté quitté la firme de John Paulson en décembre dernier pour créer son propre hedge fund, PSQR Management LLC, qui devrait commencer à lever des fonds auprès d’investisseurs extérieurs dans le courant de l'été.

Selon Les Echos, le bénéfice opérationnel du groupe de Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, s’est réduit de de 12 %, de1,9 à 1,7 milliard de dollars. La valeur de ses actifs a reculé de 6 % au premier trimestre. La publication des résultats complets du premier trimestre a été repoussée au 8 mai, rappelle le quotidien.

La succession de Warren Buffett, 78 ans, au sein de Berkshire Hathaway suscite des interrogations, rapporte le Financial Times. Lors de l"assemblée générale samedi, l"investisseur a déclaré qu"il avait trois candidats internes à l"esprit pour le remplacer comme directeur général et quatre candidats qui pourraient venir de l"entreprise ou en dehors pour reprendre son poste de directeur des investissements.

Pour le premier trimestre, Morningstar Inc fait état d’une baisse de 6,9 % de son chiffre d’affaires à $ 116,7 millions, d’un tassement à $ 34,6 millions de son bénéfice d’exploitation et d’une hausse à $ 25 millions (51 cents par action) de son bénéfice net, contre $ 23,1 millions (47 cents). Hors acquisitions et un effet de change négatif de $ 5,9 millions, le chiffre d’affaires a diminué de 7,1 %.Le chiffre d’affaires généré par la division investment information s’est tassé de 0,3 % à $ 96,2 millions pendant que celui de la division investment management se contractait de 29,2 % à $ 20,5 millions. Les recettes de commissions assises sur les actifs sous conseil ont diminué parce que ces derniers se sont contractés à $ 63,3 milliards au 31 mars contre $ 66,8 milliards fin décembre $ 95,8 milliards un an plus tôt. Morningstar, qui a réduit ses charges en diminuant notamment les primes de $ 7,3 millions en janvier-mars, indique que ses liquidités au 31 mars se situaient à $ 286 millions fin mars contre 297,6 millions au 31 décembre.

Selon plusieurs portails américains, Sovereign Bancorp, filiale à 100 % du Santander depuis janvier, supprime avec effet immédiat 950 emplois, ce qui affecte 9,3 % de son effectif, rapporte Expansión. Sovereign affiche fin mars un coefficient d’exploitation de 74,5 %, alors que la moyenne du groupe s'établit à 43,2 %.

Erste Sparinvest (23 milliards d’euros d’encours) compte lancer le 1er juin un fonds à échéance d’obligations d’entreprises visant une distribution minimum de 4,25 % par an. Ce produit de droit autrichien, ESPA Corporate Basket 2013 affiche une échéance à 31 mai 2012. Le portefeuille se compose d’une centaine de lignes, des obligations «investment grade» avec au maximum 50 % de titres BBB. La souscription sera ouverte le 4 mai et fermée définitivement le 29 mai. Pendant sa durée de vie, le fonds sera géré de manière passive. Si la notation d’un emprunt venait à changer, les obligations ne seraient pas changées mais conservées jusqu'à l'échéance du fonds. Le fonds est profilé de telle sorte qu’un taux de défaut de 0,85 % par an sur le portefeuille n’ait pas d’incidence sur le dividende envisagé. S’il est inférieur, la distribution sera majorée pour atteindre au maximum 5 %. S’il était supérieur, la valeur liquidative serait ajustée à la baisse. Le droit d’entrée et la commission de gestion sont fixés à respectivement 2 % et 0,40 %. La pénalité de sortie anticipée de 2 % est acquise au fonds.

Selon L"Echo, une analyste connue de la banque suisse Julius Baer, qui venait d'être licenciée, s’est suicidée, a confirmé vendredi un porte-parole du groupe. Début février, le spécialiste de la gestion de fortune avait déjà été ébranlé par la mort inattendue de son directeur général, Alex Widmer, présenté comme un suicide par la presse helvétique.

SIX Group affiche au titre de 2008 un bénéfice net de CHF 306,1 millions (+ 25,3 %), nettement supérieur aux attentes, mais il devrait s’avérer inférieur cette année du fait de la baisse du volume de transactions et de «la pression exercée sur les prix par les banques». Le chiffre d’affaires est ressorti à CHF 1,35 milliard contre 510,9 millions pendant que les charges d’exploitation explosaient à CHF 830,6 millions contre CHF 179,1 millions.