Deutsche Bank partners with Hedge Fund Research Europe

Chicago-based HFR Inc., the parent company of HFRE, launched HFRX, the world’s first global daily investible index, in March this year.

Jean-Marie Barreau, head of Structured & Investment Products at Deutsche Bank, said: "Deutsche Bank is glad to team up with HFR on its new investible hedge fund indices. They have been constructed with considerable attention to detail both in terms of their structure and their methodology, and they meet Deutsche Bank’s liquidity and transparency requirements. HFR has taken a leadership role in designing and defining indexation of the hedge fund industry and their new indices are a valuable addition to the range of underlying assets available for hedge funds structured products."

Deutsche Bank joins Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Barclays Capital, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns as banks that will be marketing and distributing products based on the HFRX ‘family’ of indices.

All five banks started to formally offer products to their investment clients this month following a two-month European roadshow to introduce the indices to fund management institutions.

HFR has been providing hedge fund indices, data and performance measurement statistics for the past decade. Its HFRI Index is the global industry’s most widely utilised benchmark of hedge fund industry performance information, accounting for more than two thirds of the reference sources for analysis of the industry.

Deutsche Bank has long been a key player in the construction and distribution of products linked to a wide variety of investment formats and has developed numerous hedge fund-based products for retail and institutional investors alike, as well as educating investors about hedge funds as a separate asset class.

The involvement of another major global bank in the creation of products based on the HFRX Indices in addition to the four already announced will further expand the number of asset variations available to the investment community globally and add to recognition of hedge funds as a valid, sensible form of investment as part of a managed portfolio.

HFRX consists of eight primary hedge fund strategy indices and an asset-weighted Global Index each providing a statistically pure proxy to the universe of hedge funds.

The individual strategy indices, and the overall composite Global Index, have each been designed to offer full transparency, daily re-pricing, consistent fund selection (asset-weighted and rebalanced on a quarterly basis), stringent risk management, and strict reporting standards, thus directly addressing the concerns of many investors regarding hedge fund investing.

The eight single strategies that comprise the HFRX Global Index are reflective of the strategies that dominate the asset class: convertible arbitrage, distressed securities, event-driven, equity hedge, equity market-neutral, macro, relative value, and merger arbitrage.

HFR Group and HFR Europe expect to make further announcements in the future as additional institutions in Europe complete agreements to market structured products based on the HFRX Indices.

Background Note: Chicago-based HFR Group L.L.C, founded in 1993, is one of the global leaders in hedge fund data, research, indexation and asset management. The HFR Group companies include Hedge Fund Research, Inc., and HFR Asset Management L.L.C. Hedge Fund Research produces the HFR Database, considered to be the industry’s definitive source of hedge fund performance and information, and distributes the HFR Indices and HFRX, benchmarks of the hedge fund industry. HFR Asset Management offers a range of hedge fund investment products: funds of funds, single-manager funds and customized multi-manager funds in addition to the licensing rights for the investable indices. The HFR Group also has offices in London and Milan.

With roughly € 802 billion in assets and approximately 70,900 employees, Deutsche Bank offers its 13 million clients unparalleled financial services in 76 countries throughout the world. The Bank aspires to be a leading global provider of integrated financial solutions for demanding clients and the pre-eminent bank in Germany generating exceptional value for its shareholders and people. Deutsche Bank ranks among the global leaders in corporate banking and securities, transaction banking, asset management, and private wealth management, and has a significant private & business banking franchise in Germany and other selected countries in Continental Europe.

HFR’s other partner banks (announced on March 24, 2003) are Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Barclays Capital, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns.