Sonja Schemmann, qui gère le Schroder International Selection Fund (ISF) Global Equity Yield, souligne que les actions de sociétés servant des dividendes élevés ont surperformé l’ensemble du marché durant les six derniers mois, ce qui s’explique par le fait que, face à des perspectives économiques troubles, les investisseurs se focalisent davantage sur les facteurs fondamentaux. Il est clair selon Sonia Schemmann que l'évolution ultérieure des dividendes est plutôt contrastée. Si certaines sociétés vont réduire leur distribution, voire la passer complètement (ce qui est notamment le cas des institutions financières européennes et américaines recevant des aides de l’Etat), on peut s’attendre que certaines entreprises de secteurs défensifs comme l'énergie, la santé, les télécommunications, les biens de consommation durable et les utilities, dont la situation bénéficiaire présente une assez bonne visibilité, continueront de servir des dividendes.Pour la gérante de Schroders, les dividendes sont une composante importante du rendement global des actions. Comme la performance des actions risque de baisser, les dividendes prennent de l’importance. Leur rendement se situe actuellement à un niveau assez attrayant de l’ordre de 4 % et ils représentent un bon indicateur de la qualité d’une entreprise et de son potentiel de croissance. De plus, ils fournissent un éclairage sur la confiance que les managements peuvent avoir dans l'évolution ultérieure des bénéfices.
L’indice mondial HFRX des hedge funds a affiché pour mars une perte de 0,03 % après avoir déjà reculé de 0,38 % en février. Pour l’ensemble du premier trimestre, il affiche encore une performance de 0,68 %.
La société de gestion DWS passe sous le contrôle d’Hugo Bänziger, membre du directoire (directeur du risque) de la Deutsche Bank. Auparavant la tutelle était exercée par Kevin Parker, le patron de la gestion d’actifs et de fortune du groupe, qui ne fait pas partie du directoire et qui est actuellement sous pression en interne, rapporte le Handelsblatt. Cette nomination augmente les chances d’Hugo Bänziger dans la course à la succession de Josef Ackermann, le président du directoire.
Credit Suisse Real Estate Fund Green Property est le premier fonds immobilier de développement durable lancé en Suisse. Créé par Credit Suisse, ce fonds investit dans des projets de construction et des immeubles durables et efficaces du point de vue énergétique, dans la Confédération Helvétique. Leur durabilité est mesurée par rapport à cinq dimensions et vérifiée par des experts indépendants. La première émission aura lieu du 15 au 29 avril 2009 et seuls #les investisseurs qualifiés# pourront y participer.Ces projets et objets, situés principalement dans des zones urbaines économiquement fortes de Suisse, doivent satisfaire aux exigences du nouveau label greenproperty. Il a été développé par Real Estate Asset Management du Credit Suisse, de concert avec le bureau d"ingénieur et de planification Amstein + Walthert à Zurich. Le label mesure la durabilité d"un investissement selon cinq dimensions : l"énergie, les matériaux, l"affectation,l"infrastructure et le cycle de vie.La première émission du fonds de plus de 300 millions de francs suisses environ, est destinée aux #investisseurs qualifiés# dont la trésorerie est gérée à titre professionnel, aux banques et négociants en valeurs mobilières ainsi qu"aux particuliers fortunés. La souscription minimale est de 1.000 parts, ce qui correspond à un montant de 100.000 francs suisses.
Selon le palmarès établi par Expansión et relayé par Funds People, 23 % des quelque 350 fonds monétaires en euros commercialisés en Espagne ont accusé des pertes au premier trimestre. Il est probable que le nombre de produits dans le rouge va augmenter durant les prochains mois, si la BCE continue d’abaisser ses taux directeurs. L’une des solutions consisterait pour les gestionnaires à abaisser leur taux de commission, surtout ceux qui pratiquent des frais supérieurs à 1 % alors que la moyenne se situe à 0,72 %. Funds People souligne qu’une autre possibilité consisterait à intégrer des émissions d’entreprises pour améliorer la rentabilité des produits, certaines émissions investment grade offrant une rentabilité double de celle des obligations d’Etat.Expansión a néanmoins identifié quatre fonds monétaires qui ont affiché une performance supérieure à 1 % au premier trimestre, dont trois produits d’Ibercaja et un de Bankpime.
Selon Investment Week, l"association des assureurs britanniques (ABI) a indiqué qu"elle envisage d"introduire une nouvelle catégorie de fonds monétaires afin d"aider les consommateurs à mieux appréhender la nature de cet investissement. Elle vient de lancer à cet effet une consultation jusqu"au 8 mai pour recueillir les avis de toutes les parties concernées. L"association britannique de la gestion d"actifs (IMA) a salué cette initiative et annoncé qu"elle était elle-même en train de revoir sa classification des fonds monétaires afin de mettre en place une définition européenne qui devrait voir le jour d"ici à l"été. Les deux associations se sont par ailleurs engagées à harmoniser leurs définitions autant que faire se peut.
iShares (groupe Barclays Global investors) a annoncé mardi le lancement de l’ETF iShares MSCI GCC Countries ex-Saudi Arabia qui est son premier fonds répliquant un indice de valeurs de la région du Conseil de coopération du Golfe (CCG) hors Arabie Saoudite.Ce produit est coté en dollars sur le London Stock Exchange (LSE) et affiche des parts en dollars et en livres. Le portefeuille comptera 70 lignes. Les financières et les télécommunications représentent respectivement 68,01 % et 12,71 % de l’indice. Les trois principaux pays dont le Koweit (53,59 %), les Emirats arabes unis (19,68 %) et le Qatar (16,48 %). La composition du portefeuille est disponible an totalité sur le site Internet de iShares au Royaume-Uni.
Les swaps en devises étrangères au profit de la Fed portent sur 285 milliards de dollars, contre 309,8 milliards pour les swaps en dollars annoncés en octobre
Citibank on Monday announced the appointment of Mike Corbat as CEO of Citi Holdings, a division which includes a significant proportion of the group’s activities in the areas of brokerage, asset management, consumer credit, and special assets. He had been interim CEO since 16 January.
The New York state prosecutor’s office on Monday filed a lawsuit against J. Ezra Merkin for fraud, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Andrew Cuomo accuses the financier of investing USD2.4bn with Bernard Madoff without informing his clients. It is claimed that he pocketed USD470m in the deal. Meanwhile, the market regulator for the state of Connecticut has filed a civil lawsuit against the fund management firm Fairfield Greenwich Group for neglect of its fiduciary duties when it invested USD7bn with Madoff without undertaking sufficient due diligence.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has learned that, to consolidate power in the hands of the management team at the bank, Kevin Parker, head of asset management at Deutsche Bank, is planning to impose a massive cost savings initiative. Restructuring will now also affect Europe, where the head of asset management was previously Stephan Kunze, who has recently resigned. Fund management in Europe may be concentrated in Frankfurt. The production of funds in Italy has already been abandoned, and the same may now occur in other European countries, such as Spain.
ETF Securities (ETFS) on Monday announced the forthcoming launch of ETF Exchange, which aims to become the world’s first multi-issuer ETF platform. The planned platform has been joined by 15 banks and asset management firms of global size, including the largest actors in the European financial centres (Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, southern Europe, Scandinavia), the United States, and Asia; it will aim to provide investors with ?highly liquid and creditworthy? exchange-traded products (ETP).
In March, mutual funds on sale in Italy saw net redemptions of EUR5.1bn, following redemptions of EUR2.9bn in February, according to the most recent statistics from Assogestioni, the Italian association of management professionals. All categories are in the red, particularly bond funds, which have seen outflows of EUR2.7bn for the month. Equities funds show net redemptions of EUR490m.Since the beginning of the year, mutual funds on sale in Italy have seen outflows of EUR12.4bn, confirming a trend which has continued for several months. Assets are down to EUR386bn, from EUR388bn in February.Among the leaders in the sector, Pioneer shows the heaviest net redemptions at EUR2.67bn, Mediolanum shows the largest net subscriptions at EUR145m.
At the end of 2008, assets at Meag, a management firm joint venture from Munich Ré and Ergo, had increased by 2% compared with their levels at the end of 2007, to a total of EUR184.7bn. The Börsen-Zeitung reports that this unusual development was the result of a prudent investment policy which led the firm to reduce its allocation to equities to EUR7.1bn, down from EUR24.4bn twelve months earlier. Now, says Robert Helm, CEO, Meag will work to take advantage of last year’s good results to win over new clients from outside the group.
In a market statement to the Deutsche Börse, MLP has announced that it was informed by Swiss Life on 1 April that its participation in the firm has passed below the 20% threshold, and now totals 15.90%. Meanwhile, the insurance firm Talanx (HDI group) announced to MLP on the same day that is now controls 9.89% of its capital.
Deutsche Börse announced on Monday in a market statement that the Boston-based asset management firm Wellington Management Company informed it on 3 April that it has acquired 3.05% of its capital. Recently, the alternative managers TCI and Atticus liquidated almost all of their participations in the capital of the stock market company.
According to a draft European Union directive which has been obtained by Handelsblatt, the EU is planning to require private equity firms, hedge funds, open-ended real estate funds and institutional funds with assets of over EUR250m to register. The proposed legislation will be unveiled in Brussels on 21 April by single market commissioner Charlie McCreevy, if approved by other commissioners. The directive would come into force in early 2011.Aside from the registration requirement, the bill does not include much new regulation. The authorities will not be allowed to intervene in investment policies, and short-selling will continue to be allowed. However, sale of the products will be restricted to professional investors. The license will be issued to the fund only once the managers have provided detailed information, after the fund has amassed sufficient capital and provided details of its risk management. Rules relating to funds using high levels of leverage will be more severe. Funds which take large stakes in companies will also be required to satisfy stricter transparency requirements.
According to a survey by the Norwegian finance ministry reported in IPE, the Government Pension Fund - Global will refrain from investments in high-yield bonds and emerging market bonds which present undesired risks in times of economic downturn. Meanwhile, the fund is also giving itself a period of ?several years? to complete construction of a real estate portfolio to eventually account for 5% of assets.
Investors worldwide withdrew more than USD60bn from funds investing in developed markets in first quarter, while emerging markets saw inflows of a net total of USD3.2bn, according to statistics from Emerging Portfolio Funds Research, cited by the Financial Times.
SEB Asset Management has announced that on 30 April it will liquidate six of its funds (five of them registered in Luxembourg and one in Germany), whose assets do not allow for a profitable operation of the fund for the management firm or investors. Assets under management in the funds concerned range from EUR0.23m to EUR8.75m. SEB AM is offering subscribers a free transfer to four funds with similar objectives.
DekaBank has announced the launch of another guaranteed fund, the Deka-CapGarant 1, which offers full participation in the performance of the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index, up to a maximum of 37%, and a guarantee on full invested capital minus the front-end fee. The Luxembourg-registered fund has no fixed maturity date, but the counters will be reset to zero after six years, and Deka will charge a restructuring commission of 3% when that time has completed on 30 April 2015. Front-end fee and management commission are 4% and 15, respectively.
Uwe Bachert, who was formerly director of sales for Sauren Funds Services, has been appointed director of distribution (a newly-created position) at Neue Vermögen Asset Management, Das Investment reports.
The manager of the UK Growth Fund from New Star, Trevor Green, who joined New Star in June 2008 from Credit Suisse, has announced that he is planning to remain in his current position and also to join the UK equities team at Henderson Global Investors (HGI) when New Star is taken over by HGI, Investment Week reports. Roger Dossett, chief executive for real estate funds, has also decided to join HGI, where he will continue in the same position as at New Star. However, Stuart Webster, manager of the International Property fund and head of global property, has announced that he will not follow his colleagues to HGI, but will remain an advisor to the fund.
Management firms have a tendency not to place surveillance or risk management at the top of the list of priorities in their hierarchies, according to a survey by Copenhagen business school, in partnership with SimCorp StrategyLab, cited by Financial Times Fund Management. ?Risk management is considered an obstacle to be surmounted in an activity,? says Steen Thomsen, a professor at the Danish school.
The French minister of the Economy on 5 April published an announcement in the official journal dates on 2 April, which contains a summary of modifications to the general regulations of the AMF related to public calls for capital and prospectuses. Article 212-16 stipulates that ?when one or more investment services providers participate in an initial admission to a regulated market for the trading of capital securities and/or any public offers or the admission to trading on a regulated market for such securities in the three years after the first admission to trading of these capital securities, this provider or providers must confirm to the AMF that they have undertaken the professional diligence required and that the diligence has not found any imprecisions or significant omissions in the prospectus of a nature which would induce error in investors or mislead their judgment.?