Funds
Hedge funds that built major short positions against UK supermarkets at the start of the coronavirus lockdown have seen their bets go awry as share prices in the sector remained resilient.
Several high-profile hedge fund managers made sizable wagers against the likes of Sainsbury’s and Morrisons earlier in the year, with marquee names such as Pelham Capital, BlackRock and Citadel Europe among those making the biggest bets.
But new analysis by Ortex Analytics, the London-based equity analytics firm, shows that as supermarkets’ share prices have held up throughout the pandemic, many managers have been forced to close their positions without
Arca, a digital asset investment firm that blends traditional finance with cutting edge blockchain technology, has launched the Arca US Treasury Fund, an SEC-registered closed-end fund, is available for investment. The Fund is the first product registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (’40 Act) to offer its shares as digital securities, called ‘ArCoin.’ Shareholders can directly transfer ArCoin using blockchain technology, broadening the use cases within the digital ecosystem.
The Arca US Treasury Fund invests 80 per cent of its portfolio assets in interest-bearing, short-duration, US Treasury securities and seeks to combine the regulatory standards applicable to
Short-term trend-following hedge fund strategies stayed in positive territory in the first six months of 2020, despite June proving to be another tough month in which CTAs’ performance continued to slide as markets reverted and lacked direction.
Société Générale’s Short-Term Traders Index – which monitors the daily performance of a portfolio of CTAs and global macro managers with holding periods of up to 10 days – advanced 2.98 per cent in the period between 1st January and 30th June.
Though the index dipped slightly (-0.68 per cent) last month, close to half its constituents posted positive performance in June, Société
Brummer & Partners, the Stockholm-based multi-strategy hedge fund firm, has generated positive returns for the first half of 2020, with US long/short equity, credit and macro strategies all driving performance in its flagship strategy in recent weeks.
Despite a recent spike in market volatility, the Brummer Multi-Strategy multi-manager fund – which invests in a range of single-strategy hedge funds – gained 1.5 per cent in June, while the Brummer Multi-Strategy 2xL (BMS 2xL) added 2.8 per cent.
The recent positive momentum – June’s gains were the third consecutive month of positive returns – means the multi-strategy fund is now up
Rothschild & Co Asset Management Europe is to transfer its alternative multi-asset management business to CANDRIAM. The transaction concerns open-ended funds domiciled in France and Luxembourg and dedicated institutional funds, representing total assets under management of almost EUR350 million.
Under a partnership agreement between Rothschild & Co Asset Management Europe and CANDRIAM, the alternative investment funds of funds and a microfinance fund will be transferred to CANDRIAM, which will become the asset management company for these funds, subject to obtaining the required approvals, notably from the AMF and the CSSF market regulators. Under the terms of the agreement, the Rothschild
Hedge funds have emerged as the top pick among asset allocators heading into the second half of 2020, outflanking other products such as private equity and real estate as investors’ asset-class-of-choice, according to new data from Credit Suisse, which showed hedge funds have met or exceeded the expectations of some two-thirds of investors so far in 2020.
The bank’s 2020 Mid-Year Hedge Fund Investor Survey – titled ‘Navigating Unchartered Waters’ – probed evolving allocator appetite, surveying some 160 institutional investors during May and June, collectively representing around USD450 billion in hedge fund investments globally.
The wide-ranging study quizzed a broad
EEX’s Power Spot segment Intraday markets continued their growth trend in June, increasing by 15 per cent year-on-year to 9.1 TWh. A volume of 874 GWh has been traded in the new Nordic intraday and day-ahead markets (covering Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway) which are now available alongside the EPEX SPOT continental and UK products.
The European Power Derivatives Markets increased by 46 per cent year-on-year, driven by double-digit growth in the German (+57 per cent), French (+55 per cent) and Spanish (+59 per cent) Power Futures and triple-digit growth in Hungarian Power Futures (+120 per cent). Belonging to the smaller
Axiom Alternative Investments, the USD1.7 billion French investment manager, has launched its first global long/short credit fund in a UCITS format, which aims to capitalise on investment opportunities arising out of credit dislocations following the coronavirus pandemic.
Axiom Long/Short Credit, run by portfolio manager Gilles Frisch, trades US and European high yield debt instruments, specifically cash bonds along with vanilla high yield derivatives.
Launched with an initial EUR30 million in assets, and targeting a 4 per cent annual return with a volatility target below 5 per cent over the credit cycle, the new fund positions itself around a core view
European traders are backing a 90-minute reduction in trading hours in a bid to concentrate liquidity creating more efficient markets.
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Hedge funds that bet against Wirecard, the German e-payments firm which last week collapsed amid an apparent widespread EUR1.9 billion fraud, showed “bravery and belief” and their actions have ultimately been vindicated, according to Jack Inglis, CEO of the Alternative Investment Management Association.
Using “forensic analysis”, hedge funds knew something was amiss in the scandal-hit DAX 30-listed firm a while ago, Inglis said, noting how the first queries into the company’s accounting stretch back to 2014 when short positions began to emerge.
“Yet the share price still went up. It takes bravery and belief to commit to short positions but
