Funds
JCRA Group, a provider of hedging, financial risk and debt consultancy services, including interest rate and foreign exchange advice, has secured the backing of private investor clients of Connection Capital, the specialist private client investment business, for its GBP13.6million management buy-out (MBO).
Connection Capital clients invested GBP6.7 million in the deal, which will support JCRA’s management team in executing its business development plans: driving growth by maximising synergies within its business, continued geographic expansion across their existing areas of operation, and implementing technological enhancements to drive efficiency.
Founded in 1989, the company is now the market leader in its
Recently released data on hedge fund flows confirm that investors are currently divesting from CTAs. As usual, outflows tend to track recent underperformance with a lag, which can be substantial at times. Between late August 2016 and late August 2017, CTAs experienced a 10 per cent drawdown according to the Lyxor CTA Broad Index.
Other measures of CTA performance paint a similar picture. Underperformance over the recent quarters has been caused by frequent trend reversals in the FX, commodity and fixed income spaces.
Jean-Baptiste Berthon (pictured), of Lyxor writes: “Investors have nonetheless started to divest near the trough, which
Preqin’s latest survey of hedge fund managers finds that they are adopting a bearish attitude in the second half of 2017, despite indications that fundraising and performance environments may be improving.
Net inflows to hedge funds totalled USD25 billion in H1 2017, following five consecutive quarters of outflows. At the same time, the industry recorded its highest H1 performance since 2009, and two-thirds of fund managers met or exceeded their returns objectives over the preceding 12 months. However, fund managers do not feel optimistic about the months ahead: 69 per cent predict that net asset flows will be flat or
Asian hedge fund platform OP Investment Management (OPIM) has partnered with Global Traveller Asset Management Company to launch an equity long-biased, Cayman-domiciled hedge fund for professional investors.
The fund, managed by Portfolio Manager and CEO Zheng Wang, utilises thematic macro strategies, as well as fundamental analysis to build on a large cap portfolio. The strategy leverages on both macroeconomic and cyclical industry analysis whilst leveraging on big data and quantitative fundamentals to discover opportunities in the US, Hong Kong, and China A-share markets. The portfolio positions can range from high tech and new economy sectors to traditional cyclical industries.
Jaisal Pastakia, Investment Manager at Heartwood Investment Management comments on sterling’s fall to an eight-year low…
The single currency’s strength this year is a far cry from the days when investors feared its demise. Year-to-date the euro is up 8 per cent against sterling and 12 per cent against the US dollar.
The euro’s resurgence this year has come on the back of an improving growth backdrop – note yesterday’s flash PMI reading for August – together with receding political risks, following the market favourable election results in the Netherlands and France. At this point, the upcoming German election
Amenity Analytics has raised USD7.6 million in a Series A round of funding led by an investment from State of Mind Ventures.
Additionally, Yuval Baharav (pictured), managing partner of State of Mind Ventures, has joined the company’s board of directors. The funding will be used to accelerate product development and to scale sales and marketing.
Amenity Analytics’ platform uses self-correcting artificial intelligence to unlock insights in any kind of text. Their highly-accurate natural language processing requires minimal coding or special information technology support – a significant hidden cost in other AI approaches. Clients have used Amenity’s platform to identify
Volatility management specialist Runestone Capital is to launch its first ever US fund. The systematic strategy buys or sells US equity index volatility on a one-day forward basis based on statistical probabilities.
The strategy allows investors to access pure volatility as an asset class through trading VIX related instruments such as VIX futures, exchange traded notes, and options. Historical returns have been shown to typically be uncorrelated to traditional equities and fixed income since inception in May 2015.
“The strategy has delivered returns in very different market conditions as the strategy is agnostic to being long or short and
ITI Group has acquired a 100 per cent stake in Walbrook Capital Markets Limited, an FCA-regulated brokerage house providing direct access to global exchanges and bespoke wealth management services.
Employing an expert team of experienced brokers, Walbrook specialises in a fully comprehensive range of asset classes and account types including personal trading accounts, SIPPs, ISAs and QROPs.
ITI Group financed the Walbrook acquisition by a recent round of private equity investment by Da Vinci Capital and several experienced fintech co-investors.
Da Vinci Capital managing partner Oleg Jelezko, says: “ITI Group have acquired Walbrook because it is a sound
The Phelix-DE product suite, which launched on the European Energy Exchange (EEX) in April this year, has been widely welcomed by the market, and is quickly establishing itself as the new benchmark product for German power.
EEX says that increasing confidence from market participants has resulted in a significant shift of liquidity from the old Phelix-DE/AT into the new Phelix-DE contract, particularly in contracts which cover maturities following the split of the original bidding zone, which is currently planned for 1st October 2018.
In the first half of August 2017 more than 40 per cent of the volumes in
New York-based hedge fund firm Gondor Capital Management says that remaining disciplined in its research and carrying out the proper execution of its strategies has enabled it to consistently deliver strong returns.
Vincent Au, portfolio manager of Gondor Capital says that his onshore hedge fund Gondor Partners, LP returned 13.86 per cent in the first seven months of this year (+1.74 per cent in July) while his offshore fund, the Gondor Partners, Ltd, generated 12.28 per cent gains during the same period (+1.74 per cent in July).
“By remaining disciplined in my research and the execution of the strategy
