ABC News - European stock markets opened higher Tuesday after Japan’s Nikkei index recovered from 26-year lows, with Germany’s DAX further boosted by another steep rise in the value of Volkswagen AG shares.
The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 92.62 points, or 2.4 percent, higher at 3,945.21, helped along by a near 6 […]

Reuters - Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, which has watched Morgan Stanley’s share price plunge 58 percent last week, is seeking more favorable terms to its $9 billion deal, a person briefed on the matter said.
The Japanese lender will still buy a 21 percent stake from Morgan Stanley for $9 billion, but will amend […]

Trading Markets - Morgan Stanley is looking at scaling back its prime-brokerage operation, selling assets or buying a faltering regional bank, the New York Post said citing sources.
The firm may also try to work out a way to piggyback on to the $1.3 trillion deposit base of Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, […]

Reuters Tokyo - Global buyout firm Advent International said it has raised 60 billion yen (317 million pounds) for its first private equity fund in Japan.
The fund, which opened its office in Tokyo in 2001, will target companies with enterprise values from 5 to 50 billion yen, but could be involved in larger deals through […]

Reuters - China Investment Corp, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, will start investing in Japanese equity markets by March, a Japanese newspaper reported on Sunday.
The $200 billion (111 billion pounds) fund is screening Japanese banks at which it holds accounts to settle yen transactions, Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun daily reported.
The paper also said a Chinese government-affiliated […]

Bloomberg - Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co., with more than 30 trillion yen ($274 billion) in assets, will invest more money with hedge funds to safeguard returns as financial markets falter.
Tokyo-based Dai-ichi Mutual, Japan’s second-largest life insurer, currently invests in more than 100 hedge funds as well as funds of hedge funds, Yuji Hirai, manager […]

FT Alphaville- New figures from Singapore’s central bank bear out the (abundant) anecdotal evidence of the quickening exodus of Asia-focused hedge funds out of Japan and elsewhere and into Singapore.
Reuters reports that assets managed by fund managers in Singapore grew 32 per cent to S$1,173bn ($862bn) last year, driven by a doubling in assets held […]

Reuters Tokyo- Tokio Marine Holdings Inc plans to buy non-life insurer Philadelphia Consolidated Holding Corp for about $4.7 billion (2.4 billion pounds), in the largest acquisition by a Japanese financial firm in the United States.
Tokio Marine, Japan’s largest non-life insurer, said it would pay $61.5 in cash for each share of Philadelphia Consolidated Holding, a […]

MSN MoneyCentral- A British hedge fund said Monday it will accept the Japanese government’s rejection of its proposal to raise its stake in a major utility — although it added that it still doesn’t agree with the reasoning behind the order.
The Children’s Investment Master Fund had proposed raising its stake in J-Power — Japan’s largest […]

TOKYO, June 27 (Reuters) - Japan has relaxed its tax code so foreign asset managers and hedge funds can avoid dual taxation, as part of Tokyo’s push to revive itself as a global finance centre.
In a two-step process that began in April with the revision of a cabinet order and finished on Friday, the government […]

CityWire.co.uk- RWC Partners has recruited Carmel Peters and Kirsty McLaren for the launch of an Asian-focused fund.

Investment boutique RWC, which changed its name from MPC Investors earlier this month, has hired Peters and McLaren from Sofaer Capital.

The duo has been brought in to co-manage the RWC Asia Ascent Fund, which will be launched later in the […]

Wealth Bulletin- Odey Asset Management has created a fund of hedge funds subsidiary to broaden its offering to wealthy investors.
It has hired two people from Credit Suisse to run the business from Guernsey. The business marks a new direction for the hedge fund manager. Last week, Financial News reported the firm will close its $39m […]