As gold hits new highs, hedge fund rush may herald volatility spikes

For Dixon Boardman, the CEO and founder of Optima Asset Management and renowned fund-of-hedge funds pioneer, the dramatic turbulence that shocked markets earlier this year is unlike anything ever seen during his three decades-plus of investing.

Short selling is essential in enabling investors to hedge against ESG risks, and has bolstered market transparency by uncovering corporate wrongdoing and environmental negligence, according to a new study by the Alternative Investment Management Association and global law firm Simmons & Simmons.

Investors like Bill Ackman are bringing SPACs back into vogue and while the size and sophistication of these ‘blank-check’ companies is evolving, it is unlikely to signal a long-term structural shift.

As manager of Cheyne Capital’s Thematic Long/Short Fund, Richard Woolf (pictured) brings what he describes as a “healthy dose of scepticism” to his portfolio management style and trading approach.

Jack Inglis, the CEO of the Alternative Investment Management Association, discusses hedge funds’ response to the assortment of operational obstacles arising from the coronavirus-imposed lockdown, how virtual conferencing has reshaped manager-investor relationships, and what the future holds for the industry’s traditional Mayfair nerve-centre following months of remote working.

Jim Chanos, the president and founder of Kynikos Associates and one of the industry’s higher profile short-sellers, said that the evidence was almost irrefutable late last year that something was wrong with Wirecard. 

There is precious little to celebrate in the precipitous collapse of Wirecard, the German payments group whose shares have lost 90 per cent in a matter of days amid what now appears to be incontrovertible evidence of a massive and sustained fraud involving at least EUR2 billion of ‘missing’ cash.

With long-term volatility likely to remain at elevated levels, the LFIS Vision UCITS – Perspective Fund is primed to capitalise on opportunities in rangy equity markets.

Westbeck Capital Management, the London-based long/short energy specialist hedge fund, is positioning for a continued recovery in oil and oil equities after making bumper returns amid frenzied markets during the first six months of the year.

R G Niederhoffer Capital Management, the New York-based quantitative trading advisor that employs a short-term contrarian investment strategy, has launched an alternative UCITS version of its flagship fund on Kepler Partners’ KLS UCITS platform. Kepler Liquid Strategies was established in 2016 and now has seven sub-funds with a combined AUM north of USD900 million.