HFR Europe and Calyon have signed a license agreement to offer structured products based on the HFRX investable hedge funds indices.
HFR Europe and Calyon have signed a license agreement to offer structured products based on the HFRX investable hedge funds indices.
Calyon is the merged entity of Crédit Lyonnais’ corporate and investment banking unit and Crédit Agricole Indosuez. The license agreement takes effect immediately and permits Calyon to market products based on HFRX to its clients worldwide.
John Godden, Managing Director of HFR Europe, said: “This license agreement further increases the diversity and availability of products based on the HFRX family of Indices. Calyon is a premier European financial institution and we are delighted that they, like so many others, have decided to partner with HFR in offering new and exciting structured products to their clients worldwide.”
Calyon joins a growing number of premier global financial institutions that have formed strategic partnerships with HFR Europe to develop products based on the HFRX Indices. Since its launch in March 2003, the HFRX Index has rapidly established itself as the industry’s leading investable hedge fund Index with high usage levels across a wide variety of investors including private banks, fund of hedge funds and pensions funds.
The HFRX family of indices is published by HFR Inc., the parent company of HFR Europe. HFR Inc. has been providing hedge fund indices, data and performance measurement statistics since 1993 and produces the HFRI Index, which is the most widely utilised benchmark of hedge fund performance data in the world, accounting for more than 70% of the reference sources for analysis of the industry.
This agreement is being promoted by Calyon Global Funds Business unit which encompasses the following activities:
* Funds Derivatives business (underlying include Fund of Funds, Hedge Funds and Mutual Funds),
* Creation/Development of Formula Based funds (potential underlying asset classes include equity, mutual funds, interest rate,FX, commodities, credit or hybrids)
* The Capital Markets Asset Management Platform – EQUALT and,
* Fund Incubator
Calyon Global Funds Business has a presence in London, Paris, Asia and the US.
Commenting on the license agreement Jean-Philippe Bianquis, Head of Structuring and Packaging of the Global Fund Business at Calyon, said: “We believe HFR combines a very long expertise in benchmarking the hedge fund industry and a unique platform providing both transparency and liquidity.”
Eric Boussard, Head of Marketing and Origination added: “Through HFR’s partnership, hedge fund indices structured products will become a cornerstone in Calyon Global Fund Business’ extensive range of capabilities."
HFR Europe is an asset management company regulated by the SEC providing hedge fund investment services to the European institutional market. HFR Europe, a subsidiary of the HFR Group, specialises in the construction of custom-built funds of hedge funds focusing on transparency and risk management as building blocks for its products. The HFR Group is headquartered in Chicago and is a global leader in the provision of hedge fund data, research, indexation and asset management services to institutional clients.
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:Â convertible arbitrage, distressed securities, event-driven, equity hedge, equity market-neutral, macro, relative value, and merger arbitrage.
Calyon, Crédit Agricole Group’s Corporate and Investment Bank, is the merged entity of Credit Lyonnais’ corporate and investment banking unit and Crédit Agricole Indosuez.It specialises in Capital Markets, Investment Banking and Financing. With 15,000 staff, across the world and a local presence that complements the network of Crédit Agricole and Crédit Lyonnais branches, Calyon has increased its ability to operate in the world’s financial markets. One of the cornerstones of Calyon is its Capital Markets activity, with a strong presence in Europe, Japan and the United States.
To provide its clients with a full range of expertise in innovation, structuring and risk management, Calyon has created a new business unit, Global Funds Business. This new business pulls together the talents of five existing fund product groups in three regions.
