Lazard Frères Gestion has announced three appointments as part of a reconfiguration of its activities. François de Saint-Pierre will become head of private management activities at the management firm. Saint-Pierre, who joined the group in 1993, became a managing partner at Lazard Frères Gestion in 2003, and then a managing partner at Lazard Frères Paris and Managing Director of Lazard LLC in 2007. He will work to continue and accelerate the development of private management activities, particularly in areas such as the organisation of wealth, asset allocation, and the investment process. Matthieu Grouès will assume the newly-created position of director of management at Lazard Frères Gestion. He will retain his responsibilities as head of strategy and asset allocation. His mission will be to coordinate and develop institutional and collective management in a manner that is coherent with Lazard Frères Gestion’s macroeconomic scenario. Régis Bégué has been director of research at the equities management firm since 1 January 2009. Before that, from 2005 he was in European equities management as an analyst, in charge of the pharmaceuticals, utilities and automotive sectors. His mission will be to maintain the good track record the firm has established over the past 10 years, while continuing to improve the investment process and enrich the product range.
On Tuesday, Deutsche Börse admitted seven new ETFs from iShares (a brand from Barclays Global Investors, or BGI) onto the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic trading platform. Three are bond products, while the other four are based on equities indexes. All of them are German-registered products.The new products include the iShares JPMorgan $ Emerging Markets Bond, ? Covered Bond et Global Inflation-Linked Bond. D’autre part, iShares fait coter trois ETF de petites capitalisations : S&P Small Cap 600, MSCI Japan Small Cap and MSCI AC Far East Ex-Japan Small Cap.The seventh new product is the iShares S&P Emerging Markets Infrastructure, whose underlying index includes the 30 largest companies involved in the development of infrastructure in emerging countries. With these new ETFs, the total number of products available on the XTF segment comes to 420.
The founder and now co-chairman of the board at AWD, Carsten Maschmeyer, has decided to quit his job as head of the German financial services provider. He will join the board of Swiss Life, a company in which he owns an 8% stake, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. In his new role, he plans to focus on development of strategy and internationalisation.
DWS (Deutsche Bank group) is launching the DWS Invest Sovereign Plus fund, which will aim for performance 100 basis points higher than the Iboxx Eurozone Sovereign, which measures returns on 3-5 year Euro zone government debt, Cinco Días reports. Management commission for retail shares in the fund in Spain is 1.2%.
Aviva is planning to suspend securities lending to hedge funds, the Financial Times reports. The insurer believes it has been targeted by short-sellers, and that hedge funds are responsible for a 40% fall in its share price in 48 hours two weeks ago. The British group has also shared its concerns with other European insurers.
The Clariden Leu private bank (Credit Suisse group) on Tuesday announced the appointment of Jimmy Lee Kong Eng as ?head Asia.? In this position he will succeed Stefan Hausherr, who held the position in the interim, and who will remain as head operations and branch manager in Singapore. Jimmy Lee Kong spent four and a half years as head of private wealth management South East Asia/South Asia at Deutsche Bank in Singapore, with a team of 150 people under his responsibility.
David Jiang, head of BNY Mellon Asset Management for Asia-Pacific, and Hani Kablawi, head of Middle East & Africa, will be co-chairs of the new Sovereign Advisory Board at BNY Mellon, which will be composed of high-level executives representing the group’s various professions (asset management, asset servicing, issuer services, compensation activities, and treasury). The goal of the new board will be to ensure the best possible service to sovereign funds, sovereign pension funds, central banks, monetary authorities, and other government-controlled entities among the firm’s clients.
In fourth quarter 2008, CalPERS (USD183.3bn in assets) posted losses of 13.7%, despite returns of 2.3% on its USD44.6bn bond portfolio, Global Pensions reports. Over one year, losses total 27.1%, and over three years, they total 2.5% per year.Documents examined on Monday by the board reveal that total risk for the fund has more than doubled in the past twelve months, to a total of 17% for the coming year.
BBVA has decided to close down its alternative management division. One of the firms affected, Próxima Alfa, has decided to negotiate with other managers to export its model as a white-label product under the brand name of the distributor. According to Expansión, the first fund concerned will be Próxima’s flagship, the Accurate Global Assets fund, managed by Narciso Vega and Igor Alonso. Assets in the fund fell to USD35.45m from USD100m when BBVA withdrew, but the fund has posted performance of 8.8% since the beginning of the year.
UBS has announced that two big names have returned to its asset management division, Handelsblatt reports. René Mottas has rejoined the group from Goldman Sachs, to lead European wealth management, while Joseph Stadler is leaving JP Morgan to lead the VIP clients division.
British tax authorities are investigating certain offshore financial transactions at Barclays to determine whether they helped the firm and other US and European establishments to reduce their tax burdens, the WSJ reports.
Bärbel Schomberg, CEO of DEGI (Aberdeen Property Investors group), estimates that the reopening of the real estate fund DEGI International to redemptions has been a success, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. After heavy initial redemptions, subscriptions and withdrawals have now reached near equilibrium.
As of the end of 2008, assets at LGT Group totalled CHF78bn, which represents a contraction of CHF24.8bn compared with the end of 2007. Most of the decline is due to market effects, while net redemptions totalled only CHF1.3bn, as the banking affiliates in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Singapore and asset management all posted strong net inflows.The bank owned by the royal family has declared net profits for last year of CHF163m, compared with CHF255m (-36%) and a cost/income ratio which has deteriorated slightly to 68% from 66%. As of 31 December, the ratio of Tier 1 owners’ equity stood at 16.5%, compared with 17.8% one year previously.
Les Echos reports that Lord Turner, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), will this Wednesday unveil a report calling for toughened supervision of banks, particularly in relation to distribution of real estate loans and dependence on refinancing markets. ?Morever, Lord Turner promises to extend the regulator’s reach to include hedge funds, to supervise bank’s off-book assets, and to control bonus levels,? the newspaper adds.
Some of the billions of dollars in aid provided by the US government to inject liquidity into American International Group (AIG) will profit hedge funds who bet that the residential real estate market would go down, say sources close to the investors. These are perfectly legal transactions, the Wall Street Journal reports: investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank sold CDS to hedge funds, which allowed the funds to bet that default rates on mortgages would rise, which ultimately forced AIG to provide billions of dollars in collateral, largely to the banks which were lending it the money. The newspaper reports that of USD173.3bn in government assistance received by AIG, these bets on residential real estate will cost taxpayers about USD52bn.
After a disastrous year in 2008, GLG Partners has lost four notches in the Hedge Fund Journal’s rankings of the world’s largest hedge funds. GLG Partners has lost its place as the largest European hedge fund, and is now fourth, the Financial Times reports. Brevan Howard has climbed to first place, with EUR19.6bn under management as of the end of January. The AHL fund from Man Group, also based in London, ranks second, followed by Barclays Global Investors and GLC. The 50 hedge funds in the rankings have posted decreases amounting to 26% of their assets over the last 12 months.
Guy Hands is withdrawing from day-to-day operational control of Terra Firma Capital Partners to concentrate on investments and investor relations, the Financial Times reports.
The alternative management firm Paulson & Co has bought the 11.3% stake in AngloGold Ashanti Ltd still held by Anglo American Plc for USD32 per share, the Wall Street Journal reports. The total price of the deal was USD1.28bn.
According to a Handelsblatt survey of open-ended real estate fund management firms, significant depreciations are not expected in the value of properties in the portfolios of these funds, since the properties are often of the highest quality, and are therefore less affected by the crisis than the rest of the market. On average, managers are predicting returns this year of 4-5%, at least for funds which are invested in Europe. The only exception is Axa IM, which is predicting return for the Immoselect fund of 3-3.5%. In 2008, the average performance of open-ended real estate funds was 4.7%. Performance averaged 4.3% over the past year as of February, according to figures from the German BVI association of asset management firms.
Victims of Bernard Madoff will be allowed to claim tax deductions for their losses and obtain reimbursement, according to new measures announced by the Internal Revenue Service.
Finalement, au lieu d’un milliard, le jumbo-Pfandbrief d’Eurohypo (groupe Commerzbank) porte sur 1,25 milliard d’euros et ans, rapporte le Handelsblatt. La demande s’est montée à 1,4 milliards et le coupon se situe à 3,625 % ce qui représente un spread record de 100 points de base sur les midswaps.
Malgré une perte nette de 3,9 milliards d’euros, la Deutsche Bank va servir un dividende au titre de 208. Le conseil de surveillance proposera à l’assemblée générale du 26 mai la distribution de 50 cents par action contre 4,50 euros pour 2007.
Telefónica souhaitait lever 500 millions d’euros et était prête à accepter un spread de 250 points de base. Cependant, note Cinco Días, le climat ne s’est pas amélioré que sur le marché des actions, de sorte que l’opérateur a été en mesure de placer en une heure 1 milliard d’euros en obligations à 7 ans, face à une demande de 400 investisseurs pour 5,5 milliards d’euros. Et le spread se limite à 235 points de base. Le taux est de 5,496 %. Avec cette opération, Telefónica a déjà refinancé 7 milliards d’euros de sa dette depuis le début de l’année.
Selon l’Agefi, citant Moody’s, d’ici à fin 2011, les sociétés non financières américaines de la catégorie investisseurs doivent refinancer 300 milliards de dollars d’obligations arrivant à terme, dont le tiers cette année, alors que les rendements se sont tendus. Même si la majorité des émetteurs s’avéreront capables de négocier de nouveaux accords, ils devront pour cela concéder des frais «substantiels», la communauté d'émetteurs n'étant pas à l’abri d’une avalanche de dégradations néfastes, indique notamment Moody’s. #100 milliards de titres restent notés un ou deux crans seulement au-dessus du statut d’obligations «pourries»#, rappelle le quotidien numérique.
La Deutsche Bank a annoncé mardi à l’issue de la réunion du conseil de surveillance la nomination en tant que membres du directoire de Michael Cohrs, head of global banking, de Jürgen Fitschen, global head of regional management, d’Anshu Jain, head of global markets et de Rainer Neske, head of private banking. Ces quatre personnalités font déjà partie du group executive committee (GEC) dont ils restent membres.Parallèlement, la banque a indiqué que Werner Steinmüller, head of global transaction banking, et Seth Waugh, regional CEO Americas, ont été nommés membres du GEC. Un autre nouveau membre du GEC doit être désigné ultérieurement.
La banque de Volkswagen, Volkswagen Financial Services, qui a obtenu une garantie de crédit fédérale de 2 milliards d’euros, déclare pour 2008 un bénéfice net en baisse de 20 % à 580 millions d’euros (à cause du changement de la fiscalité des entreprises) et un bénéfice avant impôt en progression de 2 % à un record de 790 millions d’euros, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.Le président du directoire Frank Witter a annoncé que VWFS achètera l’an prochain les 50 % du néerlandais Leaseplan détenus pour moitié chacun par le fonds souverain Mubadala et par le groupe saoudien Olayan. ABN Amro avait vendu ce gestionnaire des flottes de voitures en 2004 à Volkswagen et aux deux investisseurs arabes pour 2 milliards d’euros.
Le conseil de surveillance de la Dresdner Bank a approuvé mardi les comptes de 2008 qui se soldent par une perte record de 6,3 milliards d’euros et un ratio de fonds propres de premier rang de 3,7 %. La Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung précise qu’en données pondérées du risque, les fonds propres tier 1 ressortent à tout juste 4 %, parce qu’apparemment la BaFin a autorisé la banque à ne pas prendre en compte un maxi-crédit fourni à Allianz. La Commerzbank a acheté la Dresdner début janvier. Sous 4 % de fonds propres, la BaFin peut ordonner la fermeture d’un établissement. Le conseil de surveillance a aussi adopté le projet d’une augmentation du capital de 4 milliards d’euros souscrite par la Commerzbank.
D’après la cinquième étude annuelle de creative analytic 3000 auprès de 455 représentants du secteur de la distribution, en 2008 les investisseurs attendaient principalement des sociétés de gestion un bonne gestion du risque et une politique adéquate de l’information, avec des taux respectifs de 92 % et 86 %. La gestion du risque ne figurait pas dans les préférences lors des éditions précédentes, tandis que la politique d’information était la première préoccupation en 2007, avec 84 %. Une performance supérieure à la moyenne n’arrive qu’en troisième position dans la liste des priorités, avec 80 % contre 84 % (deuxième position) pour 2007. Les investisseurs attendent en moyenne que les sociétés de gestion s’améliorent en matière de gestion du risque et de politique d’information.Le sondage a été commandé par sept gestionnaires : BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, invesco, JPMorgan AM, Robeco et Threadneedle.
Selon L"Echo, le cabinet Modrikamen lance une action de groupe à l’encontre de la banque allemande IKB via la création d’un syndicat de défense de détenteurs d’obligations émis par l'établissement. La banque semi-publique spécialisée dans le crédit aux PME a été l’un des premiers établissements européens à payer le prix d’investissements trop gourmands dans le subprime américain. En août 2007, au bord de la faillite, elle a été sauvée de justesse par le gouvernement allemand mais les investisseurs ont été lésés.
Dans un entretien au Temps, le premier ministre luxembourgeois, Jean-Claude Juncker, estime que « brandir une explication simpliste de la crise en surchargeant la responsabilité des pays pratiquant le secret bancaire relève d"une vision malsaine. Lutter contre les paradis fiscaux est indispensable. Le Luxembourg y prend sa part. Mais n"oublions pas les faits: le krach mondial est, avant tout, dû aux dérapages des marchés hypothécaires américains ». Jean-Claude Juncker se dit « personnellement très inquiet de la surenchère actuelle, en France et en Allemagne notamment, contre le secret bancaire suisse ou luxembourgeois. Il y a là non seulement de l"exagération, mais une arrogance et une condescendance perturbante. Ce matraquage me dérange, car il s"appuie sur une imposture en associant secret bancaire et paradis fiscal, et car il ne tient aucun compte de nos opinions publiques. Nous faisons face, ces jours-ci, à une pensée dominante qui n"a plus lieu d"être. Humilier ainsi des pays voisins européens est inacceptable et pourrait engendrer des gestes de refus ». Il assure qu"il exigera, lors du sommet européen des 19 et 20 mars, des concessions du Royaume-Uni