Funds
Investors redeemed an estimated net USD9.45 billion from hedge funds in March. Total Q1 asset flows remain positive at +USD14.33 billion, bringing overall industry AUM to USD3.32 trillion, according to the March 2018 eVestment Hedge Fund Asset Flows Report.
Among hedge fund types, Equity funds were big winners in March, with assets up USD3.95 billion for the month and USD10.43 billion for Q1. Multi-Asset funds were among the big losers for the month, with AUM falling USD10.55 billion in March.
Among primary strategies, Long/Short Equity funds were among the big winners in March, with AUM up +USD2.37 billion for
Deutsche Bank’s liquid alternatives group has teamed up with Selwood Asset Management to launch a Market Neutral Credit strategy on Deutsche Bank’s UCITS platform.
The DB Platinum IV Selwood Market Neutral Credit UCITS launched on 13 April and has gathered at launch an AUM of USD300 million.
“With the alternatives UCITS industry maturing allocators need to have a diverse range of alternative strategies. The Selwood Market Neutral Credit UCITS fund is further proof of our commitment to our investors for orthogonal returns. We are pleased to be partnering with Sofiane and his team in delivering their expertise in UCITS,”
Hedge fund capital increased in the first quarter of the year, rising to a seventh consecutive record as investors reduced equity market beta in favour of M&A-focused Event-Driven (ED) exposures and fixed income-based Relative Value Arbitrage (RVA) strategies.
Total hedge fund industry capital globally increased USD4.5 billion to a new record of USD3.215 trillion, according to the latest HFR Global Hedge Fund Industry Report.
Following inflows of nearly USD10 billion for 2017, Q1 2018 net inflows totalled USD1.1 billion, with the gain moderated by a concentrated capital outflow within Equity Hedge strategies. This was the fourth consecutive quarter of
BarclayHedge’s newest index, the Barclay Cryptocurrency Traders Index, dropped 29.2 per cent in March. Year to date, the Index is down 43.1 per cent after three consecutive monthly losses.
“Within days of the launch of Bitcoin futures, Bitcoin rose to its all-time high of just under USD20,000 on December 18 last year. Today’s prices are just over USD8,000. Folks have their opinions, but no one really knows if it’s a bubble or a correction,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), president and founder of BarclayHedge.
The Barclay Cryptocurrency Traders Index is an equal-weighted index of the monthly returns of a representative
Hedge Funds lost 0.64 per cent in March according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge, versus a 2.54 per cent decline in the S&P 500 Total Return Index. Year to date, the Barclay Index is down 0.07 per cent, while the S&P has lost 0.76 per cent.
“Driven by trade war fears, equity prices declined for a second month as the U.S. announced tariffs on steel and aluminium, which were quickly reciprocated by the release of China’s tariff hit list,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge.
All but three of Barclay’s 17 hedge fund indices
In line with the broader hedge fund market, the average Alternative UCITS fund showed negative performance in Q1. The LuxHedge Global Alternative UCITS index declined by 0.56 per cent in March, bringing 2018 YTD to -0.69 per cent.
Most Alternative UCITS funds went down because of a small long equity bias. To put things in perspective, the MSCI Europe Index stood at -4.17 per cent YTD by the end of March.
In view of increased market volatility and declines in equities globally, portfolio allocations to Alternative UCITS funds grew considerably. Assets under Management for the total universe advanced with
A Q&A with Greg Wojciechowski, President and CEO at Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX)…
How would you summarise 2017 from a business growth perspective for BSX?
Strong global market conditions contributed to positive listing activity across most sectors of the BSX’s business. Listing activity was particularly strong in international debt and insurance linked securities (ILS), both of which reached record levels.
International debt listings grew to 167 securities, up 44 per cent from 116 the previous year with their nominal value growing from USD2.0 billion to USD4.6 billion.
New ILS listings totalled 103 securities for the year with a nominal value
There is a sense of optimism in Bermuda that the success it has enjoyed over the years in respect of the ILS industry can, over the coming years, be replicated in the cryptocurrency and blockchain arena.
ILS fund managers like the fact that Bermuda has a lot of professionals working on the ground, from legal to administration and auditing. This is particularly important under Solvency II, which places a big focus on substance and physical presence.
“This has been fantastic for the funds industry,” says Dawn Griffiths, Director and Head of Bermuda Funds Practice at Conyers Dill & Pearman, one
A Q&A with Brian Desmond, CSO and EVP Head of Fund Services at Horseshoe Group.
For readers unfamiliar with ILS Funds, can you give a brief summary of the asset class?
Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) are financial instruments sold to investors and whose value is affected by an insured loss event. Two examples of the financial instruments used are catastrophe bonds and collateralised reinsurance contracts.
The buyer of protection, or the entity that is transferring the insurance risk is called the cedent and the seller or writer of the protection could be an individual investor or a hedge fund. For investors in
BlackRock is to acquire Tennenbaum Capital Partners, an investment manager focused on middle market performing credit and special situation credit opportunities.
The acquisition augments BlackRock’s position as a leading global credit asset manager and advances its goal of providing clients with a diverse range of alternative investment products and solutions to meet their evolving needs.
TCP complements BlackRock’s Global Credit business with seasoned investment talent and a strong long-term track record at a time when clients are increasingly turning to private credit as a higher-yielding alternative to traditional fixed income allocations. A key element of the transaction is the
