Funds
While the market sell-off triggered by last month’s SVB/Signature/Credit Suisse banking crisis left many hedge funds nursing losses, Citadel notched up gains across its portfolios during March, according to a report by Reuters.
Digital asset investment products saw inflows totaling a lacklustre $2.5 million, with trading volumes falling by 33% compared to the prior week, according to the latest Digital Assets Fund Flows Weekly report from CoinShares.
Sentiment for bitcoin was fairly supportive, seeing inflows of $8.8 million, while short bitcoin saw outflows of $2.5 million.
CoinSHares says the outflows in ether ($2.8m) and inflows into short-ether ($0.5m) suggest investors remained concerned for the upcoming Shanghai upgrade.
New hedge fund launches were on the rise in Q4 2022 as the industry headed into 2023, with 96 funds making their debut, rising from 71, the lowest level since Q4 2008, in the prior quarter, according to the latest HFR Market Microstructure Report.
After eleven straight months of redemptions, hedge fund industry flows reversed course in January as the industry posted $3.94 billion worth of net inflows, equivalent to about 8 basis points in asset growth, according to the Barclay Fund Flow Indicator published by Backstop-BarclayHedge.
A $151.82 billion trading profit in January brought total hedge fund industry assets back over the $5 trillion threshold to settle at $5.05 trillion.
“After a string of monthly redemptions reaching back to April, investors turned the page in January and began returning to hedge funds,” said Ben Crawford, Head of Research at Backstop-BarclayHedge. “It was
Schuss Capital, a New York-based hedge fund that specialising in arbitrage strategies, has launched a new fund, with a target of $300 million, which will employ a small-cap merger arbitrage strategy.
New York-based hedge fund firm Mass Ave Global, has written to investors informing them that it has decided to liquidate its China and Asia-focused funds and close its office in Hong Kong, according to a report by Reuters.
In a letter to investors in the firm’s flagship Mass Ave Global Partners fund, seen by Reuters, the firm wrote: “After careful consideration, we have determined that it is in the best interest of the master fund, the offshore fund and the US fund that all investors will be compulsorily redeemed and withdrawn.”
While not specifying a reason for the fund closures,
Nomura Private Capital has launched its first investment product, the Nomura Alternative Income Fund, which it says marks a significant milestone in the firm’s global push into private markets. Nomura has provided an initial $100 million to seed the fund.
South African retail investors are increasingly including hedge funds in their investment portfolios as they look to mitigate the effects of ongoing market volatility and high inflation, according to a report by News24.
The report cites figures from the Association of Savings and Investments South Africa (ASISA) as revealing that the country’s hedge fund sector enjoyed “unprecedented” growth of 30% over the past year, attracting ZAR5.33 billion of new money during 2022, including ZARR4.19 billion from individual or retail investors.
According to a data from HedgeNews Africa, the funds have proved their worth as a valuable source of return diversification
Ironshield Capital, a London-based European credit hedge fund manager, has launched the Ironshield Credit Opportunities Fund, a closed-end vehicle which look to take advantage of opportunities materialising in private credit and illiquid public credit.
Pierre Andurand’s main hedge fund has lost about 40% since the start of 2023 after the banking crisis caused panic in commodities markets, making the famed oil trader one of the hedge fund world’s biggest losers so far this year, according to a report by Bloomberg.
