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25/02/2009

Spain - Santander real estate fund puts a shopping centre up for sale

Cinco Días reports that, two weeks after announcing a freeze on redemptions due to an avalanche of redemption demands, the managers of the real estate fund Santander Banif Inmobiliario announced that they have placed the Plenilunio shopping centre, the highest-valued property in its portfolio, up for sale. The complex was valued at EUR319m at the end of December.
25/02/2009

United States - Multiple lawsuits against Westridge Capital Management

Global Pensions reports that the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS) has withdrawn a mandate worth USD339m from Westridge Capital Management, but has been unable to recuperate the money, since the two principals of WCM and a broker-dealer with ties to them, WG Trading, have been suspended by the National Futures Association for refusing to cooperate with an investigation by the NFA into the activities of WG Trading. Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh have also filed lawsuits against WCM and WG Trading to recuperate USD114m in investments.
25/02/2009

France - Savings banks/co-operative banks: government to buy in for a 20% stake

The French government will finally take over a 20% stake in the bank to be created from the merger of the Caisse d'épargne and the Banque Populaire, and its investment will certainly take the form of preference shares, according to an announcement by the French president on Tuesday, reported by La Tribune. The two groups will Wednesday vote on the appointment of François Pérol as head of the merged bank, La Tribune adds, relaying reports by AFP.
25/02/2009

United Kingdom - Pension funds interest hedge funds and private equity

Watson Wyatt reports that British pension funds in 2008 continued to diversify into direct investment in hedge funds (with a 30% increase in the number of searches compared with 2007), while the percentage of mandates awarded for funds of hedge funds declined to 35% of total investment in hedge funds, from 44% the previous year. The preferred categories for pension fund managers among single hedge funds were long/short and multi-strategies. Meanwhile, Watson Wyatt has also observed an increased interest on the part of pension funds in private equity, with a 40% increase in the number of mandates. However, the number of research mandates to locate real estate management firms fell last year by more than 40% compared with 2007.
25/02/2009

Europe - Deka invests in Prague

The German asset management firm Deka has announced that it has acquired the Jungmannova Plaza complex in Prague, measuring 10,300 square metres. The vendor is the Austrian firm Immoeast. The complex, completed in 2004 and wholly leased, consists of four buildings. It will be added to the portfolio of an open-ended real estate fund reserved for institutional investors.
25/02/2009

Europe - Small caps funds penalised for low liquidity of their shares

According to statistics from Bloomberg, relayed by Handelsblatt, the number of illiquid shares in the MSCI Europe Small Caps Index (1,122 shares) increased in January by 85% to 724, and these shares now represent more than EUR50bn in capitalisation. According to the London-based firm Marwyn Investment Management, 90% of the market capitalisation in small caps (those with a cap of less than EUR100m) could not be traded in the past twelve months, and this percentage is expected to rise. On average, small caps funds in Europe lost 37% last year, compared with 31% for large caps.
25/02/2009

United Kingdom - Eiger AM launches four coffee funds

Eiger Asset Management, a management firm based in the Cayman Islands, is planning to launch four funds investing in coffee, of which two will be index-based products, one long, the other short. The funds will invest synthetically to replicate the composite International Coffee Organisation (ICO) index, Hedge Week reports. The new range, which is advised by Eiger Trading Advisors, with the assistance of the London-based alternative investment consultant Laven Partners, also includes a long/short absolute performance hedge fund (Alpha fund), which will aim for performance of 15% annually. Eiger is also planning to launch the Eiger Green Coffee Fund, which will invest in physical coffee, and will be aimed at clients seeking to invest in a Sharia-compliant manner.
25/02/2009

Germany - Egbert Sauer becomes a partner at Lupus alpha

The independent asset management firm Lupus alpha (EUR4.8bn in assets as of the end of December, compared with EUR5.8bn one year earlier) on Tuesday announced the appointment of Egbert Sauer as a partner at the firm. He has been a senior portfolio manager since last March, in charge of quantitative bond strategies; since April, he has also managed the absolute performance fund (registered in Germany) Lupus alpha LS Duration Invest.The appointment of Sauer brings the number of partners at Lupus alpha to six who have been appointed to join the four remaining founders of the firm (all of them Invesco veterans). Ralf Lochmüller, CEO of the firm, says that the directors of the management firm are planning to continue to enlarge the circle of partners, since talent cannot be retained with bonuses alone.
25/02/2009

World - F&C attentive to management pay scales

In 2008, F&C exercised its voting rights at general assemblies to vote on 29,165 propositions at 2,553 companies in 59 countries, the management firm has announced in its most recent ?Responsible Investment Report.? The manger opposed the recommendations of management or abstained in 14% of these cases, compared with 17% in 2007.Although votes against the management often reflected concerns over poor levels of risk control, inadequate surveillance by auditing committees, or pay scales.On the issue of pay scales in particular, which has now assumed a higher profile in the media, there has been some improvement, with votes in favour of the management 79% of the time in 2008, compared with 76% in 2007, and only 66% in 2006. This is due to progress on the British market, ?where six years of dialogue concerning votes on pay between shareholders and businesses have led to votes against propositions only 10% of the time.? F&C has also observed some improvement on other markets, including Germany and France.But the management firm emphasizes that 2008 votes were concentrated in the beginning of the year, and is concerned that businesses which have not achieved their performance objectives have nonetheless made efforts to pass measures to maintain high levels of pay. Vigilance is thus necessary in this area.
25/02/2009

United Kingdom - Profits and assets down at St James's Place

For the fiscal year ending on 31 December, St James’s Place has declared operating revenue of GBP204.3m, or GBP244.7m by EEV standards, and GBP80.7m in pre-tax profits, or GBP96.1m by IFRS accounting standards. Final dividend will be maintained at 2.55 pence per share, bringing total dividends for 2008 to 4.39p per share, compared with 4.3p the previous year.The manager states that its assets as of the end of the year totalled GBP16.3bn, compared with GBP18.2bn twelve months previously.
25/02/2009

Germany - Franklin Templeton to woo institutional investors

With laudable transparency, Franklin Templeton on Tuesday issued a news release stating that its assets in Germany have nearly halved, to a total of EUR8bn as of the end of 2008, compared with EUR15.6bn twelve months earlier. However, says Richard Berben, CEO of Franklin Templeton Investment Services GmbH, more than four fifths of this contraction is due to market effects, as net redemptions have totalled EUR1.3bn, or 17% of the total decline in assets under management. The heaviest losses have affected the global equities segment (EUR1.1bn), including EUR700m from the flagship fund in the range, the Templeton Growth Fund, which has clearly suffered due to the fact that investors have been driven by changes in tax regulations to move their assets into capitalisation equities Sicav funds.The fund management firm states, however, that in the European equities segment, it has posted net subscriptions of EUR500m, thanks to an inflow of EUR540m to the Franklin Mutual European Fund.Berben states that in 2009, which began with the release of five new funds for sale in Germany (see Newsmanagers of 30 January), the core focus of development will be to continue sales efforts for Marathon I (Franklin Templeton Fundamental Strategies Fund) and Marathon II (Franklin Templeton Equity Strategies Fund) strategies.Meanwhile, the long-term objective of the firm is to improve reputation of the Franklin Templeton Investments brand among institutionals as specialists in open-ended funds as well as ?Spezialfonds.? To achieve this, the firm will need to improve its reputation in areas other than equities, by foregrounding its expertise in the areas of bonds, private equity, and real estate.
25/02/2009

United Kingdom - Martin Currie relaxes access to AR funds

Martin Currie has announced that from 2 March, minimal subscriptions to its range of ten absolute return funds will be lowered from USD1m, to USD250,000, Hedge Week reports. In addition, the advance notice period for redemptions will be reduced from 90 days to 30 days for the Global Energy and Global Financials funds, as well as for the UK fund, which will be renamed Equity Market Neutral Fund.Lastly, the Scottish fund manager is planning to introduce a class of shares denominated in pounds sterling for the Equity Market Neutral and Global Resources funds. Martin Currie has applied for a distributor license in the United Kingdom for these shares, which will be listed on the Irish Stock Exchange from 3 March.
25/02/2009

Europe - iShares ? Corporate Bond has over EUR2bn in assets

The publicly-traded, Irish-registered, index-based fund iShares ? Corporate Bond has passed the EUR2bn threshold, with inflows of more than EUR500m in the past three months. Eric Wohleber, director of BGI and iShares in France, says that iShares is planning to extend the range of funds in the bond ETF sector in the near future, ?to better respond to increasing demand on the part of French investors.?
25/02/2009

United States - Fidelity says 2008 was a washout

In a letter to investors, the head of Fidelity Investments, Edward C. Johnson III, says the current economic climate has developed due to ?well-intentioned policies ? which made money ridiculously easy to obtain,? the Wall Street Journal reports. He calls the year 2008 a shambles in terms of investment. Last year, assets at Fidelity fell 25% to USD1.2trn.
25/02/2009

United Kingdom - Jonathan May leaves Fidelity for Aviva Investors

On Tuesday, Aviva Investors announced that it has recruited Jonathan May, head of consultant relations at Fidelity International, as UK head of consultant relationship management. May will report to Richard Warne, head of UK institutional business development, and will be responsible for relationships with investment consultants in the United Kingdom and some consultants worldwide.
25/02/2009

World - AIMA announces transparency initiative

The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), which represents the hedge fund sector, on Tuesday announced a ?major transparency initiative.? The association states that it will support the principle of full transparency and full disclosure by hedge fund managers to their national regulators of all systemically significant positions and risk exposure.The AIMA also supports an aggregated regime for disclosure of short positions to national regulators, and will back measures to reduce settlement failure, including in the area of naked short selling. The association also declares its support for a global manager-authorisation and supervision template based on the model fo the UK’s FSA. The association also calls for unified global standards for the sector.
25/02/2009

France - New head of IFAs at CMNE

Christophe Citerne was appointed on 1 December 2008 as head of the wealth management division of Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe, replacing Jean-Nicolas Grzybowski. He leads a team of 23 wealth management advisors and 4 partners at the Paris headquarters. ?His primary missions are to coordinate and develop IFAs’ activities within the network of local bank branches, to offer products and packages of products, conduct the marketing activities necessary to develop Wealth Management within the Group, and to promote CNME as a wealth manager, particularly through internal and public events,? says a statement.Citerne joined Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe in 2003 as a wealth management advisor serving the regions of Avesnois/Valenciennois and Picardie/Cambrésis. In 2008, he transferred to the regions of Métropole Nord-Est, Lille, Vallée de la Lys and Pévèle. Citerne previously worked at Crédit Agricole Nord de France for 12 years as a wealth management advisor, before moving to Banque Scalbert Dupont, where he spent 4 years.
25/02/2009

United States - Madoff: Investor's request refused

Martin Rosenman, who invested USD10m with Bernard Madoff only a few days before he was arrested, will not come before other investors to get his money back, according to a verdict announced on Tuesday, reported in the WSJ. The judge found that there is no reason to give him special treatment.
24/02/2009

Canada - L'IPIC achète Nova Chemicals

Le Handelsblatt rapporte que l’IPIC, fonds souverain d’Abou Dhabi, acquiert le chimiste canadien Nova Chemicals pour 6 dollars par action. Avec la reprise de dette, cela représente 2,3 milliards de dollars.
24/02/2009

Asie - Dubai lance un maxi-emprunt

L’Emirat de Dubai émet un emprunt de 20 milliards de dollars sur 5 ans avec un rendement de 4 % pour faire face à ses engagements de court et moyen termes tout en finançant les projets en cours, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. La Banque centrale des Emirats arabes unis a indiqué qu’elle souscrira pour 10 milliards de dollars.
24/02/2009

Espagne - Les principales banques ont des filiales dans les paradis fiscaux

Les sept pays européens du G-20 sont convenus dimanche à Berlin de prendre des mesures contre les paradis fiscaux. Les banques espagnoles se retirent graduellement de ces paradis fiscaux, mais, d’après leurs rapports annuels de 2007, elles y entretiennent encore des filiales, rapporte Cinco Días. Le Santander et sa filiale Abbey avaient alors encore 19 filiales chacune dans les paradis fiscaux comme les Bahamas, Hong-Kong, Panama, les îles caïman, l'île de Man ou Guernesey. Toutefois, la banque indique avoir pris toutes les mesures pour conjurer les risques de réputation et juridiques, et avoir entamé un processus de réduction du nombre de ces filiales. Le BBVA a pour sa part trois succursales aux îles Caiman et une dans les Antilles néerlandaises. Le Popular, le Sabadell et le Banesto ont aussi des participations dans des sociétés situées dans des paradis fiscaux.
24/02/2009

Espagne - Le Santander et Fenosa vendraient leurs parts dans Cepsa à l'IPIC

D’après Expansión, l’opération semble sur les rails et se négocierait sur la base de 30-40 euros par action, valorisant la compagnie à 10,7 milliards d’euros maximum, pour une capitalisation de 17,88 milliards : le Santander et Unión Fenosa seraient sur le point de vendre leurs participations (31,6 % et 5 %, respectivement) dans Cepsa au fonds souverain International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) d’Abou Dhabi, qui détient déjà 9,5 % de Cepsa. Le français Total, qui détient pour sa part 48,8 % de la compagnie espagnole, verrait d’un bon ?il l’IPIC monter à 46,1 %. Mais il faudrait aussi que l’IPIC soit dispensé de lancer une OPA sur la totalité de Fenosa s’il franchit le seuil des 30 %, une exemption qui devrait lui être accordée. Si l’opération se réalise, elle portera sur environ 5,8 milliards d’euros en numéraire.
24/02/2009

Allemagne - Les capital-investisseurs ouvrent une banque de données aux chercheurs

Le groupement «large buy-out» de l’association allemande BVK des capital-investisseurs a présenté lundi une banque de données du private equity destinée aux chercheurs. Ces données, accessibles gratuitement et présentées sous forme anonyme, portent sur 35 acquisitions suivies d’une revente pour la période 1997-2007. Elles ont été fournies par Advent International, Allianz Capital Partners, Apax Partners, Bain Capital, BC Partners, The Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, Cinven, CVC Capital Partners, KKR, Permira et TPG Capital.Le chiffre d’affaires moyen des entreprises se situait au moment la cession à 1,05 milliard d’euros, ce qui représente une augmentation de 16 % par rapport à la date de l’acquisition. Le nombre de salariés a augmenté en moyenne de 4 % à 4.424 personnes et la durée moyenne de détention a été 4,8 ans.
24/02/2009

Etats-Unis - Banques : les aides gouvernementales sous formes d'actions préférentielles

Selon La Tribune, le Trésor américain a dévoilé les modalités de son aide aux banques. Après évaluation de leurs besoins réels, l’aide gouvernementale se fera sous forme d’actions préférentielles obligatoirement convertibles, probablement sous forme d’actions communes avec droit de vote. Ces modalités pourraient être inaugurées avec le sauvetage de Citigroup.

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