Henderson is about to sign off on an acquisition of the management firm New Star for GBP115m, the Financial Times reports. The newspaper states that about half of the 310 employees at New Star will be taken over by Henderson, including the manager Richard Pease. The founder of New Star, John Duffield, and Howard Covington, CEO of the asset management firm, will be leaving the company in March, once the acquisition has been completed.

Le Temps reports that Guillaume Lejoindre has been appointed as head of Swiss activities at SG Private Banking, the private banking affiliate of Société Générale. Lejoindre, 57, spent most of his career at Indosuez. He arrived in Geneva in 1999, to lead private client activities for Crédit Agricole (Switzerland). According to the newspaper, Lejoindre wants to develop high-end services to high net worth families, in collaboration with Rockefeller Financial Services. These plans go hand in hand with a desire to ?develop the middle eastern client base.? At the end of 2007, the private bank of Société Générale managed more than CHF30bn in Switzerland. Its 2008 figures have not yet been audited.

According to VDOS, Funds People reports, net redemptions from funds on sale in Spain in January totalled EUR1.34bn, in addition to which there have been negative market effects of EUR606m, bringing total assets down by EUR1.946bn to EUR173.791bn. Long-term bond funds and international bond funds nonetheless posted net subscriptions of EUR122m and EUR32m, respectively.

According to statistics from the BIS, German banks had debts of USD295bn in offshore financial centres, of which USD114bn were in the Cayman Islands and USD52bn in Jersey, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The exposure of British banks totalled USD516bn, of which USD190bn was in Hong Kong and USD90bn in the Cayman Islands. Japan and Switzerland, for their part, had debts on these islands of USD238bn and USD102bn, respectively.

According to calculations by IPE.com, ABP, PFZW, PMT and PME, the four largest pension funds in the Netherlands, posted a decrease in their assets of EUR71.6bn in one year (to a total of EUR291.9bn), and all now have coverage ratios of about 90%, instead of the required 105%.

In the past few days, the number of notifications to the Spanish regulator, the CNMV, that funds have lost more than 20% of their assets in a single day have increased considerably, Funds People notes. The two most spectacular were outflows of 68.3% on 8 January from the hedge fund Accurate Global Assets from Proxima Alfa, and of 54.1% on 31 December from the Copérnico fund from Banco Madrid Gestión. In traditional funds, the heaviest net redemptions were of more than 46% each from the Fondmapfre Diversificación from Mapfre Inversión (13 January) and the Seleción España from Espirito Santo Gestión (23 January).

After Allianz Global Investors, Cominvest, Pioneer and UBS, DWS (Deutsche Bank) and Union Investment (co-operative banks) have decided to liquidate their funds of hedge funds. The DWS fund, which will close on 1 May, has only EUR6m in assets, while the Union funds, liquidated on 1 January, lost 30% in 2008, twice as much as the sector average, Handelsblatt reports. The only remaining manager is Deka (savings banks), with a fund of hedge fund worth EUR93m. But db x-trackers, the specialised affiliate of Deutsche Bank, is planning to launch an ETF in February based on hedge fund indices.

The wealth manager HWB Capital Management, based in Trier, has teamed up with the Luxembourg-based firm Alceda to launch the real estate fund of funds HWB Immobilien Portfolio Plus, which will be managed by the CEO of HWB, Willi Brand, Das Investment reports. The portfolio will include 20 positions throughout the world, selected by the same mathematical system used for equities, diversified and bond funds from HWB. Brand will aim for total annual returns of 5% to 7%.

The administrators of the defined-contribution pension scheme for the Royal Mail, which is expected to register 9,000 new members per year, have chosen Zurich Corporate Pensions as investment, administration and information services provider, Professional Pensions reports. Zurich will be responsible for providing white-label investment funds. The defined-contribution plan will accept its first contributions in April, while the defined-benefit plan was closed to new entrants on 31 March 2008.

The German private bank Lampe (Oetker group), which manages about EUR10bn, has announced that it has increased its stake in the Austrian firm DALE Investment Advisors, whose assets under management for 25 high net worth licents represent about EUR1bn. The amount of the transaction has not been disclosed. Lampe bought a minority stake in Lampe at the end of 2007 (see Newsmanagers of 14 December 2007). The objective with the new transaction is to strengthen the German bank’s presence in the management of large family fortunes, ethical investment, and alternative investment. In addition, Austria may serve as a base for an expansion into eastern Europe, says Stephan Schüller, chairman of the board of managing partners at Lampe.

SG Private Banking has announced the appointment of Guillaume Lejoindre as CEO of SG Private Banking for Switzerland. Since September 2008, he has been deputy CEO of the private bank.

Franklin Templeton on Thursday announced that it has received licenses to release five new funds in Germany and Austria. Two of them, the Templeton Frontier Markets Fund and the Templeton Asian Smaller Companies Fund, are managed by Mark Mobius. The first invests in ?frontier? countries of the Middle Easy, Africa, and central and eastern Europe, as well as in Latin America and Asia, such as Bahrain, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Vietnam. These countries have the same characteristics which have established the reputation of classic emerging nations, including strong economic growth. The second new fund concentrated on Asian companies with cap sizes of less than USD2bn.The third new product is the Franklin World Perspectives Fund, which combines portfolios managed by various teams at Franklin Templeton throughout the world, including emerging and frontier countries, in a single product. It is not a fund of funds, but is a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav; its benchmark is the MSCI All Country World Plus Frontier Markets Index.Lastly, Franklin Templeton is offering the Franklin Euroland Core Fund, managed by Uwe Zöllner, on its new platform Franklin European Equity. The product is invested in equities of the Euro zone, like the Franklin Mutual Euroland Fund, managed by Philippe Brugère-Trelat, who since 2000 has also been manager of the Franklin Mutual European Fund, a product in the Mutual Series.

Sources cited by the Wall Street Journal say that two former CEOs of Merrill Lynch, Daniel Tully and David Komansky, as well as the head of the Merrill Lynch investment bank, Barry Friedberg, had personally invested in hedge funds exposed to Madoff managed by John ?Launny? Steffens, former head of brokerage at Merrill Lynch. Steffens in 2001 founded the fund of fund management firm Spring Mountain Capital with J. Ezra Merkin, one of the largest investors in Madoff. Spring Mountain invested in three Merkin funds (Ascot Partners LP, Gabriel Capital Corp., and Ariel Fund Ltd.) The most ironic part of the story is that Merrill Lynch, like Morgan Stanley, advised its clients not to invest in Madoff, since due diligence teams could not understand his opaque investment strategy.

The tax authorities of the Netherlands have officially admitted that they should not have withheld tax on dividends paid to tax-exempt organisations, such as pension funds based outside the Netherlands, but inside the European Union, Professional Pensions reports. The verdict, which came in a landmark case filed by the Strathclyde Pension Fund, which will be reimbursed the amounts withheld from it since 2003, will allow about 70 British pension fund clients of KPMG hope for reimbursement of about EUR100m in total. The Hague has admitted that its regulations in force before 2007 contravened EU law.

In 2008, net profits at T. Rowe Price fell to USD490.8bn, from USD670.6m on revenues of USD2.12bn, compared with USD2.23bn. Assets as of the end of December contracted by 31%, to USD276.3bn. In fourth quarter, net profits fell 87% to USD24.3m. CEO James A.C. Kennedy, states that the pace of recruitments has slowed considerably and that new hires will be limited to genuinely strategic positions for investment professionals.

The British insurer Standard Life has announced that redemptions have been frozen for six of its funds specialised in commercial real estate, with total assets of GBP2.7bn, managed on behalf of 212,000 clients, including institutional investors. The suspension of redemptions for six months is intended to avoid fire sales of properties, IPE Real Estate reports. The funds concerned are the Pooled Property Fund (GBP514m, 867 institutional clients), the Property One Fund, the Pension Managed Property Fund, the Individual Property One Fund, the Property Investment Life Fund, and the Property Fund.

The Swiss management firm Optimal Investment Services (OIS), an affiliate of Santander, has decided to liquidate seven hedge funds which have confronted heavy redemption demands in the wake of the Madoff scandal. They are the Optimal Arbitrage, Optimal Multi-Strategy, Optimal European Opportunities, Optimal US Opportunities, Optimal Asian Opportunities, Optimal Global Opportunities, and Optimal Global Trading, Funds People reports.However, OIS will continue to manage the Optimal Latin America, Optimal Elite, and Optimal Structural Opportunities funds, as well as two single manager hedge funds, and discretionary and advising mandates.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) on Thursday announced the appointment of Alan Rubenstein, who was managing director of Leman Brothers and set up the pensions advisory group at that establishment, as the new CEO of the firm, replacing Partha Dasgupta, who in August announced his intention to leave the job. Rubinstein will begin in his new position on 1 April, while Dasgupta will remain at PPF as an advisor until the end of his term on 30 June.

Nordea Bank S.A. (Luxembourg) on Thursday announced that it has signed an agreement to take over the private management activities of Landsbanki Luxembourg S.A. The operation, which received permission from the Luxembourg market regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), on 7 January, follows the acquisition of the private management activities of Glitnir Bank Luxembourg at the end of October. ?Clients have now been informed, and the transfer of their assets into the custody of Nordea is underway,? says Nordea.

The British manager F&C Investments has announced that it has been granted a sales license in Spain for eleven new funds, which brings the range of funds available on the market to 22, Funds People reports. The new offerings include equities, bond, absolute returns and SRI funds.

According to Oliver Rüdel, director of research at oekom research, if Barack Obama keeps his campaign promises, the United States may gain several places in the global sustainability rankings. The country currently ranks 40th out of 50. Among the areas which are likely to raise the overall rating of US government bonds are the closure of the Guantanamo detention centre, the abolition of torture, withdrawal from Iraq, ratification of the Kyoto protocol, the development and use of sources of renewable energy, and investment in infrastructure.However, Rüdel is sceptical that the United States will succeed in catching up with the countries of Europe in terms of sustainability during Obama’s first term. Currently, the country ranks just ahead of Turkey (41st) and after Mexico (39th). The top places on the list belong to, in order, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Germany, while France is 11th and the United Kingdom is 18th.

Selon la BCE, la masse monétaire en décembre a crû de 7,3% sur un an après 7,7% en novembre. Les prêts au secteur privé ont, eux, accusé le coup

Selon le Financial Times, Lloyds Banking Group se prépare à étudier des offres pour une partie de ses actifs d"assurance vie, la banque essayant de renforcer son bilan et commençant à intégrer HBOS. L"activité qu"elle envisagerait de céder serait celle qui vend par le biais des conseillers indépendants, selon des personnes proches du dossier.

Dexia a annoncé que Naïm Abou-Jaoudé est nommé président du comité exécutif de Dexia Asset Management, en remplacement de Hugo Lasat, qui quitte le groupe au 27 janvier 2009.Naïm Abou-Jaoudé avait déjà occupé le poste de président de Dexia AM de janvier 2007 à novembre 2008. Depuis cette date, il était devenu vice-président du comité exécutif de Dexia AM, Hugo Lasat en devenant le président pour une courte période. Contactés par Newsmanagers, la direction de Dexia n"a pas souhaité commenter cette décision, de même que Hugo Lasat.

2009 sera l"année des fonds obligataires. C"est en tout cas sur ce thème que les sociétés de gestion portent leurs efforts commerciaux. Nombre d"entre elles ont lancé des fonds à échéance (lire par ailleurs). Quant aux autres, elles mettent en avant les produits obligataires de leurs gammes. #Fin 2008, les investisseurs se sont réfugiés dans le monétaire, mais la baisse des taux et le possible resserrement des spreads de crédit interbancaires vont peser sur la performance des fonds monétaires. Ceux qui souhaitent du rendement, et qui ne sont pas encore prêts à repartir sur les classes d’actifs les plus risquées, vont donc naturellement se tourner vers l"obligataire#, affirme Christine Lacoste, directrice marketing de Natixis Asset Management. #Ce repositionnement sur l’obligataire se fera soit au travers de fonds directionnels, de fonds de portage ou encore de fonds #tout terrain# tel Natixis Absolute Quant Bond 18 M #, ajoute-t-elle. #Nous pensons que la thématique de l"obligataire offre de très bonnes opportunités, notamment sur le crédit investment grade #, note pour sa part Joseph Pinto, directeur commercial pour l"Europe du Sud d"Axa IM, qui compte particulièrement mettre en avant AXA World Fund Credit Investment Grade et AXA World Fund Euro Credit Plus, #deux fonds que nous avons lancés il y a quelque temps et que nous allons commercialiser activement dans les prochaines semaines auprès de tous nos segments de clientèle#. Lazard Frères Gestion renforcera de son côté en 2009 la commercialisation de son fonds obligataire Objectif Crédit Fi, précise le gestionnaire.Si les fonds actions sont bien moins à la mode, ils ne sont pas délaissés pour autant. Avec un accent particulier sur la simplicité. #Nous renforcerons nos efforts commerciaux sur ce segment à partir du second semestre, notamment sur les fonds actions grandes capitalisations et haut dividendes#, confirme Joseph Pinto. Axa devrait également mettre l"accent sur les fonds actions de la gamme d"Axa Rosenberg, dont un nouveau fonds sera enregistré en France très prochainement. Pour sa part, #SGAM travaille sur un produit absolute return actions géré avec des techniques alternatives long/short mais simple et transparent. Le fonds devrait être commercialisé dans les prochains mois#, indique Alain Pitous, directeur des gestions actions, taux, diversifiée chez Société Générale Asset Management (SGAM). On trouve également dans les projets de SGAM des fonds diversifiés gérés selon une approche de c?ur-satellite. De nombreux investisseurs hésitent à revenir sur les marchés actions, craignant de revivre les performances désastreuses de ces derniers mois. Les sociétés de gestion tentent donc de les rassurer en mettant en avant des produits sécurisés ou suivant un indice de marché. Soucieux de répondre à la demande des clients retail échaudés par la chute de la Bourse, BNP Paribas Asset Management joue ainsi la carte des fonds garantis ou à formule. #Nous commercialiserons activement des produits offrant une garantie partielle ou totale du capital à échéance avec en sous-jacent un indice ou un panier d"actions, comme Zanzibar 10 par exemple #, précise Denis Panel, responsable de l"équipe Sigma chez BNPP AM (produits garantis, allocation d"actifs et gestion indicielle). Les efforts de BNPP AM porteront également sur les ETF sur les indices actions et les fonds actions dividende, comme Parvest Europe Dividende, ainsi que sur la gamme absolute return, ajoute François Hullo, directeur grande clientèle France. Chez Natixis AM, les fonds garantis ou à formule seront également à l’honneur pour les réseaux. #Quant aux CGPI, ils se verront proposer pour leur clientèle patrimoniale des fonds flexibles (0 à 100% en actions), notamment ceux de Dorval Finance, société partenaire de Natixis AM #, ajoute Christine Lacoste.

Selon Les Echos, Bercy a tenu hier à faire une mise au point en précisant que «l’Etat n’a pas l’intention de demander la nomination d’un représentant au conseil d’administration de BNP Paribas». Interrogée mardi pour savoir si l'émission d’actions de préférence par BNP Paribas se traduirait par une entrée de l’Etat à son capital, à hauteur de 20 %, la ministre de l’Economie, Christine Lagarde, n’avait pas tout à fait exclu que l’Etat demande la présence d’administrateurs au conseil d’administration.

BlueBay Asset Management a indiqué que son encours à fin décembre ressortait à 16,7 milliards de dollars contre 20,5 milliards fin septembre et 21 milliards un an plus tôt. La diminution de 18,4 % enregistrée au deuxième trimestre de l’exercice au 30 juin, soit 3,8 milliards de dollars, s’explique par des remboursements nets de 800 millions, un effet de marché de 2,8 milliards et une perte de change de 200 millions.Sur le total des actifs sous gestion, les fonds long/short représentaient au 31 décembre 3,7 milliards de dollars contre 5,4 milliards trois mois plus tôt, tandis les fonds long-only se situaient à 13 milliards contre 15,1 milliards. Les recettes de commissions de performances se sont montées à 3,2 millions de livres pour octobre-décembre contre 4,9 millions en juillet-septembre.

Legg Mason a annoncé mercredi avoir subi une perte de 1,5 milliard de dollars sur les trois mois à fin décembre (la pire en 25 ans), contre un bénéfice de 155 millions sur la période correspondante de 2007. La société de gestion a subi des rachats de 77 milliards de dollars de la part d"investisseurs sur le trimestre. Ses encours se situent désormais à moins de 700 milliards de dollars, 30 % de moins qu"il y a un an.

Selon L"Echo, le holding et le gouvernement belge se sont lancés dans une véritable course contre la montre pour parvenir à un nouvel accord avec BNP Paribas. En effet, le 11 février, les actionnaires devront se prononcer pour ou contre le démantèlement du bancassureur orchestré dans l’urgence par le gouvernement belge et son adossement à la banque française pour lui éviter la faillite. Mais les procurations en vue de cette assemblée doivent déjà être remises pour le 4 février, ce qui laisse bien peu de temps. Le jour de la divulgation du rapport préliminaire des experts désignés par la Cour d’appel, mardi, des négociations avaient déjà commencé entre Fortis Holding, l’Etat et BNP Paribas, souligne le quotidien.

Selon le site internet de l’Expansion, Le directeur général du Crédit Agricole, Georges Pauget, devrait quitter ses fonctions #en avril ou mai prochain#.