Funds
The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index slumped 0.63 per cent in May as hedge fund managers struggled to generate returns during the risk-off month.
The Trump administration’s decision to raise tariffs on USD200 billion of Chinese imports signalled the escalation of the trade conflict between the US and China, leading to retaliatory tariffs from the other side. The worsening global economic outlook pushed global equities into the red for the month, as indicated by the 6.12 per cent decline posted by the MSCI ACWI (Local).
On the other hand, the US 10-year treasury yield dipped to its lowest point in almost
The Marlborough Group has strengthened its international proposition with the launch of a new risk-graded range of UCITS funds of funds domiciled in Ireland.
The four funds – Marlborough Defensive, Marlborough Cautious, Marlborough Balanced and Marlborough Adventurous – have been launched in response to investor demand.
They will invest across a range of key asset classes, with underlying funds selected primarily from Marlborough’s award-winning UK-registered range. Maximum equity exposure will range from 20 per cent for Marlborough Cautious to 100 per cent for Marlborough Adventurous.
The portfolios will be managed by the Marlborough Investment Management team, who are based in
Barnes & Noble is to be acquired by funds advised by Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited (Elliott) for USD6.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately USD683 million, including the assumption of debt.
Elliott’s acquisition of Barnes & Noble, the largest retail bookseller in the United States, follows its June 2018 acquisition of Waterstones, the largest retail bookseller in the United Kingdom. James Daunt, CEO of Waterstones, will assume also the role of CEO of Barnes & Noble following the completion of the transaction and will be based in New York.
The USD6.50 per share purchase price represents a
Angel Oak Capital Advisors, an investment management firm specialising in value-driven alternative credit, has surpassed USD10 billion in assets under management across its platform of public funds, private funds and separately managed accounts.
In addition, the firm also holds one of the largest books (approximately USD3 billion) of servicing assets in the non-qualified mortgage market. Crossing USD10 billion in AUM coincides with other important milestones and growth accomplishments for the firm, including adding talent and continuing to establish itself as a clear leader in the structured credit space.
“Since we founded Angel Oak Capital Advisors in 2008, the key to
Liquidnet has continued the expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) investment analytics platform with the acquisition of Prattle, a provider of automated investment research solutions for portfolio managers, research analysts, and other financial professionals.
Prattle has developed a proprietary Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) system to produce analytics that measure sentiment and predict the market impact of publicly available content including central bank and corporate communications (such as company earnings calls and press releases). Asset managers can use these analytics to understand and anticipate relevant market movement, strengthen investment theses, and inform trading strategies.
The announcement follows
A bad month for share prices made relatively little impact on investors in May, according to the latest Fund Flow Index (FFI) from global funds transaction network Calastone, but mainly because buyers have been on strike now for months.
Calastone says that having shunned equity funds for six months in a row, investors showed that they still preferred to sit on the sidelines as share prices fell, just as they had during the market rebound earlier in 2019. The FFI: Equity registered 50.5 in May, staying very close to the neutral 50 mark where it has been since December. In
The European Fund and Asset Management Association’s (EFAMA) Quarterly Statistical Release for the first quarter of 2019 reports a strong increase in net assets of UCITS and AIFs, driven by the rebound of financial markets.
Net assets of UCITS increased by 7.8 per cent to EUR10,004 billion, while net assets of AIFs increased by 6.4 per cent to EUR6,247 billion.
The release also reports a sharp increase in the demand for bond funds in response to a move towards more dovish monetary policy in Europe and the United States.
Net sales of UCITS and AIF bond funds sales turned positive
PEGAS, the pan-European gas trading platform operated by Powernext, registered in May 2019 the highest total volume ever traded on the platform: 254.3 TWh. The previous record dates back February 2016 when 228.4 TWh were traded.
This performance resulted from a volume record on PEGAS spot segment with 149.3 TWh (previous record in March 2018: 133.4 TWh), which, in turn, was driven by a new record on the PEGAS TTF spot segment, where 66.9 TWh were traded (previous record in March 2019: 53.1 TWh).
Derivatives trading amounted to 105.0 TWh, an increase by 39 per cent compared to the previous year
The European Energy Exchange (EEX) significantly increased trading in Austrian power futures in May, achieving a volume of 862,481 MWh (May 2018: 52,486 MWh), completing the shift in liquidity from the former combined DE/AT contract to the current individual DE and AT contracts.
In addition, the Central- and South-Eastern European power derivatives markets also saw a strong upswing, increasing volumes by 62 per cent to 15.9 TWh (May 2018: 9.8 TWh). In total, EEX reached a volume of 269.4 TWh on its power derivatives markets (May 2018: 306.9 TWh). The decline is mainly driven by decreased trading volumes in power options
By Lisa Shea, Manager, Fund Governance Solutions – While some may have dragged mutual funds out to the cart to be hauled away, they remain a sizeable and still growing presence in our industry. Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are also growing, but it’s important to look at the full picture. As of 31 March, 2019, the Investment Company Institute (ICI) reports that there are more than USD19 trillion in assets in open end mutual funds, compared to USD3.77 trillion in ETFs, with AUM growing for both categories.
Furthermore, the ICI’s 2019 Investment Company Fact Book notes that there were more than
