Funds
By Gary Janaway (pictured), Chief Operating Officer, KNEIP – With MiFID II around the corner, now is a good time for asset managers to re-think their approach to distribution.
When MiFID II goes live on 3 January, it will be the first time regulation requires people to be more vigilant about where their funds are being sold, and who they are being sold to.
Traditionally, it would have been more of a paper exercise based on the content of legal contracts between asset management companies and their third party distribution partners.
Asset managers typically signed distribution agreements with a third
The Preqin All-Strategies Hedge Fund benchmark generated incremental gains in November of 0.40 per cent, making this the thirteenth consecutive month of positive returns.
This has helped increase the year-to-date figure to 9.93 per cent, cementing the expectation that it will be the best annual performance for hedge funds since 2013.
Equity strategies enjoyed continued success in November gaining 0.73 per cent and helping to bring the year-to- date return to 13.01 per cent. The strategy is currently on track to potentially doubling its 2016 returns (+7.19 per cent).
JPY-denominated funds outperformed all other major currencies with a
The flash estimate for the Barclay CTA Index, compiled by BarclayHedge, indicates a 0.06 per cent gain in November. Year to date, the index is up 0.25 per cent.
“Choppy waters made for tough sailing in November,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge. “Although ongoing rallies in US and Japanese equities provided profitable trading for momentum strategies, trend reversals in currencies, precious metals, and agriculturals weighed heavily on fund performance.”
Financial/Metals Traders were able to gain 0.10 per cent in November. Most other CTA sectors had a very small increase or a loss for the month.
The Wilshire Liquid Alternative Index, which provides a representative baseline for how the broad liquid alternative investment category performs, returned 0.32 per cent in November, outperforming the 0.07 per cent monthly return of the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index.
The Wilshire Liquid Alternative Index family is a joint offering between Wilshire Funds Management, the global investment management business unit of Wilshire Associates Incorporated, and Wilshire Analytics, creator of the Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM.
“Long-biased strategies outperformed in November, benefitting from strong equity markets, with notable performance from the Telecommunications Services, Consumer Staples, Consumer Discretionary, and Financials sectors. Value-oriented
Sector rotations caused headwinds for hedge funds last week with the Lyxor Hedge Fund Index falling by 1 per cent, according to the latest Weekly Brief from the Lyxor Cross Asset Research team.
L/S Equity funds underperformed. Variable biased funds were hit by sector rotations out of tech on their long portfolio books. On the other hand, Neutral funds suffered from their aggressive positions through long momentum and short low beta and quality stocks.
By contrast, Event-Driven funds were resilient. Merger Arbitrage funds outperformed as they benefitted from the tightening of deal spreads such as Time Warner / AT&T
After a strong October, Alternative UCITS funds produced slightly negative returns on average in November, according to the latest LuxHedge Alternative UCITS market overview.
The LuxHedge Global Alternative UCITS index lost 0.13 per cent during the month, bringing YTD gains to 2.16 per cent. The total universe currently consists of well over 1400 funds, with four out of 10 posting gains in November and largely more than 75 per cent in positive territory year-to-date. In line with the trend of past months and years, investors kept increasing Alternative UCITS allocations again in November. Assets under Management for the total universe
Rational Funds, a family of funds rooted in the investment philosophy of applying a rational approach to investing, has converted the Rational Real Strategies Fund into the Rational Hedged Return Fund (HRSTX).
The fund is now sub-advised by Warrington Asset Management and implements an options-based strategy that primarily invests in long and short call and put options on futures contracts on the S&P 500 Index.
“The Rational Hedged Return Fund relies on a proven investment strategy previously offered only as a separately managed account,” says Scott Kimple, Portfolio Manager of HRSTX. The Fund seeks total return consisting of long-term
Hedge Funds gained 0.62 per cent in November according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The index is up 9.08 per cent in 2017, and has had 13 consecutive winning months during which it gained 11.20 per cent return.
“The possibility that the US Senate might pass a tax bill rallied domestic equity markets,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge. “For each of the past 13 months, the monthly close of the S&P 500 has set a new record high.”
Once again, the Technology Index powered upward with a 3.63 per cent return in November.
Hedge funds marked their 13th consecutive month of positive returns in November with 0.47 per cent average returns for the month, bringing year-to-date returns for the industry to +7.70 per cent., according to eVestment’s latest Hedge Fund Industry Performance Report.
Asia-focused funds in general are performing exceptionally well: India-focused funds returned +1.77 per cent in November and +27.33 per cent YTD; Asia ex-Japan-focused funds returned +0.72 per cent in November and +19.74 per cent YTD; and Japan-focused funds returned +1.05 per cent in November and +12.64 per cent YTD.
In spite of overall strong returns, there were some losers
Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI) and Allianz Capital Partners (ACP) are joining forces to extend the range of investment expertise available to AllianzGI’s broad global client base.
From 1 January 2018, ACP will become a discrete entity under the umbrella of AllianzGI. ACP and AllianzGI will jointly develop an investment offering for external clients, based on ACP’s long-proven expertise and investment processes. ACP will continue to provide their offering to Allianz Group companies and their clients. Jürgen Gerke, CEO of ACP, will report to Andreas Utermann (pictured), CEO of AllianzGI.
Utermann says: “We are delighted to be extending our client
