Digital Assets Report

Latest News

Goldman Sachs veterans Rob Allard and Jonathan Egol are to launch Firebreak Capital (Firebreak) later this year, a dedicated private debt hedge fund focusing on the opportunities created by financial regulatory reform and bank capital requirements.   With the rapid evolution in financial services, Firebreak aims to be an alternative balance sheet in the illiquid lending and investment sector, leveraging the emerging disruptive trends in consumer and commercial direct lending, as well as providing private credit, asset-backed and structured finance solutions. Firebreak will prospectively add cutting-edge technology that delivers insight and an efficient approach to its private debt strategy.  
The hedge fund industry produced an aggregate return of 0.35 per cent in May, lifting YTD returns to +3.36 per cent, compared to the S&P 500 which increased +1.29 per cent in May and is +3.24 per cent YTD, according to eVestment Managed futures funds posted their second consecutive monthly loss in May, falling -0.23 per cent. The strategy’s two- month draw down comes after a five-month string of gains which saw the universe produce cumulative returns of nearly six percent. A strong USD and declining oil prices, the two major and dominant trends likely adding to prior gains, have
Aurum, a specialist investment manager focusing on hedge fund portfolios, has launched Project Regeneration, a unique scheme that will allow companies to build a meaningful environmental policy.  Developed in conjunction with the UK-based charity Synchronicity Earth to help Aurum meet its own environmental goals, the project addresses the environmental aspect – the ‘E’ – of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues high on the agenda of many investors. Kevin Gundle, chief executive officer at Aurum, says: "We take ESG seriously at Aurum, but we found that while the social and governance aspects of running an investment management business are
Nordea Asset Management has launched a high yielding renminbi-denominated Asian credit fund. Joining the multi-boutique Nordea 1 Sicav, the Renminbi High Yield Bond Fund is managed by Asian fixed income specialists Income Partners. The new fund invests in USD-denominated Asian high yield bonds, with the USD exposure actively hedged into CNH, as well as CNH-denominated high yield bonds. The managers also seek to provide downside protection against market volatility.   Both the Asian USD high yield and offshore CNH-denominated bond markets have undergone strong expansion in recent years, while the onshore CNY-denominated bond market is set to continue opening up
The Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index (the Broad Index) finished up 0.83 per cent for the month of May with eight of the 10 sub-strategies all finishing the month in positive territory. Long/Short Equity led the way with a return of 2.15% for the month, followed by Equity Market Neutral (1.00%), Event Driven (0.85%), Global Macro (0.71%), Multi-Strategy (0.65%), Convertible Arbitrage (0.52%), Fixed Income Arbitrage (0.48%) and Emerging Markets (0.37%). Managed Futures was the month’s biggest loser, down 0.84 per cent, while Dedicated Short Bias ended the month in negative territory too, with a return of -0.83 per cent.
Diamond Hill Capital Management, Inc has closed the Diamond Hill Long-Short Fund to most new investors effective 12 June, 2015.  The Fund will remain open to additional investment from existing shareholders and certain other new accounts as described in the prospectus supplement dated 8 May, 2015.   At Diamond Hill, portfolio managers have the authority to close their strategies before they reach an asset size where they believe they can no longer add sufficient value over a passive alternative, protecting existing clients. "Our primary focus is always on achieving value-added results for existing clients," says Chris Bingaman, Long-Short Fund portfolio
Over the last 15 years the fund administration industry has been dominated by the big banking behemoths at one end of the scale and small niche players at the other.  Gradually, some of those smaller entities have been consumed.  Yet at the same time, those operating in the middle tier of fund administration – those in the USD10 – USD100 billion AuA range for example – have grown organically and taken away some of the size advantage of the bank-owned administrators; remaining flexible, innovative, and able to adapt responsively to managers' ever-changing needs. "In today's marketplace, you don't have to
Focusing on bank-owned administrators, nobody knows the precise reasons as to why investment banks have been vacating the hedge fund administration space other than the banks themselves. One possible explanation is that the integrated model they have been running for years perhaps no longer aligns well enough with both clients and the ever-changing market regulations.  At the start of the century, investment banks were ideally positioned to build out fund administration as part of a bundled service including prime brokerage, research, execution and clearing, custody services and so on. Since then the risks to running a fund administration business have
In a report published by eVestment last March (Alternative Fund Administrator Survey 2014), 95 per cent of respondents answered `yes' when asked if mergers and acquisitions were expected to play a role in the hedge fund administration over the next few years, citing the desire for economies of scale as the most likely driver of future deals. "We agree with the eVestment findings. This is absolutely a scale game. Think how much regulation is being thrown at the funds themselves, the governance structure around those funds, the reporting requirements, compliance overlay. This is an expensive business to be in, and
U.S. Bancorp Fund Services LLC (USBFS) is finalising two significant integrations: AIS Fund Administration, which it acquired in 2012; and Dublin-based Quintillion Ltd, acquired in 2013. The two transactions combined added approximately USD43 billion in AuA to their existing business along with several organic growth opportunities. “Our alternative investment fund AuA is approximately USD120 billion right now. Although not included in that AuA number, it’s worth noting that we are one of the leaders in administering liquid alternative mutual funds. There are approximately 500 liquid alternative funds and we are the full service provider to 150 of them,” comments Joe

Special Reports

FeatureD

Events

16 May, 2024 – 8:30 am

Directory Listings