Funds
By Xavier Parain (pictured), CEO, FundRock Management Company – The impact of Covid-19 has altered the mechanics of almost every profession, and the fund management is no different. Here are four things that we have learnt about the way that fund managers have mitigated systemic risk during the crisis and slowed the spread of market contagion.
BNP Paribas Asset Management has launched a long/short global equity hedge fund which will invest in companies grappling with looming environmental challenges, as interest in ESG (environmental, social and governance) themed hedge fund strategies continues to soar.
BNP’s new Environmental Absolute Return Thematic (EARTH) Fund will trade energy, materials, agriculture and industrials stocks in both developed and emerging markets with market caps of more than USD1 billion.
It will take long punts in innovative companies that are addressing an assortment of environmental challenges – such as carbon emissions, waste production, and food, water and energy concerns – and pair them
The gross return of the SS&C GlobeOp Hedge Fund Performance Index for June 2020 measured 2.51 per cent.Hedge fund flows as measured by the SS&C GlobeOp Capital Movement Index declined 1.10 per cent in July.
“SS&C GlobeOp’s Capital Movement Index was -1.10 per cent for July 2020, indicating net outflows from funds, as is typical for the month based on normal seasonal patterns,” says Bill Stone, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SS&C Technologies. “Taking seasonality into account, -1.10 per cent reported for the month is actually quite favourable. Improving on a year-over-year basis from the -1.51 per cent net outflows reported for July 2019
Hedge funds continued their positive ways in June, riding a continuing stock market recovery and reopening economies to a 2.04 per cent monthly return, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index, compiled by BarclayHedge, a division of Backstop Solutions. By comparison, the S&P 500 Total Return Index was up 1.99 per cent in June.
Year-to-date, the hedge fund industry was down 2.71 per cent. The S&P 500 Total Return Index was down 3.08 per cent over the same period.
All sectors but one tracked by the Barclay Hedge Fund Indices were in the black for June. The lone exception was the
TheWilshire Liquid Alternative Index, which provides a representative baseline for how the broad liquid alternative investment category performs, returned 0.92 per cent in June, underperforming the 1.75 per cent monthly return of the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index.
The first half of 2020 has proved tricky for activist hedge fund managers, as performance remained in the red and the number of companies targeted by activists fell to its lowest level in five years.
Activist strategies were hit hard earlier in the year by the coronavirus pandemic, but more recently performance has recovered, according to new eVestment data, with managers soaring almost 23 per cent during the second quarter of the year.
But despite recent the recent resurgence – which included a 4.71 per cent advance in June – activist hedge funds remain down 6.44 per cent for the
The price of natural gas is predicted to surge amid stalling US production levels, says Russell Clark Investment Management, London-based global equities hedge fund.
Russell Clark’s contrarian long/short firm, which is well-known for its bearish calls in global stock markets, is betting on natural gas prices to spike as a result of tightening supply heading into the winter months.
Earlier this year, Clark suggested future rises in the cost of natural gas following the oil price crash could squeeze utilities’ profits – with US companies proving a lucrative short bet for hedge funds.
Now, the long-running firm – which was
Graham Capital Management, the long-running US quant hedge fund manager, is launching its multi-asset diversified quant strategy, the Graham Quant Macro fund, on Lombard Odier’s PrivilEdge UCITS fund platform.
Westbeck Capital, a London-based oil-focused hedge fund, continues to generate stellar double-digit returns in 2020’s lively energy markets, and believes short-term mis-pricings in oil equities offers further buying opportunities ahead of a potential price recovery later this year.
The firm’s Westbeck Energy Opportunity Fund – managed by co-founders Will Smith, CEO and former partner and head of natural resources at Sir Michael Hintze’s multi-strategy hedge fund CQS, and CIO Jean-Louis Le Mee, ex-founding partner of BlueGold Capital – gained almost 9 per cent in June.
That rise was the fourth consecutive month of positive returns for the strategy, which has
iM Global Partner has launched the US Small and Mid Company Growth fund as part of the OYSTER range. The fund is managed by Polen Capital, which has more than 31 years of experience investing in high-quality growth companies. The strategy targets high-quality small and medium-sized companies with attractive growth characteristics, predictable cash flows, and sustainable high returns on capital. The strategy seeks to benefit from both the inherent growth advantage of investing early in a company’s lifecycle and long-term compounding. The OYSTER US Small and Mid Company Growth fund replaces the OYSTER US Selection fund on the platform, allowing European
