Funds
In the face of more than USD100 billion in investor redemptions in 2016, hedge funds continue to perform surprisingly well out of the gate in 2017, according to eVestment's January 2017 Hedge Fund Performance Report.
The industry started off 2017 with an average +1.16 per cent, with more than 70 per cent of hedge funds reporting positive results for the first month of the year.
In fact, despite some disappointing performance in a few hedge fund segments, industry results show the importance of using data and market insight to pick the right hedge funds and the importance of hedge
Castle Hall Alternatives is to integrate SwissAnalytics within its global due diligence platform.
Under a user rights and intellectual property agreement, Castle Hall has acquired SwissAnalytics’ operational due diligence practice, together with SwissAnalytics’ quantitative and qualitative investment risk due diligence tools.
“With this agreement, we are delighted to fully incorporate the SwissAnalytics due diligence capability into the Castle Hall offering,” says Chris Addy (pictured), president and CEO of Castle Hall Alternatives. “Castle Hall first reached a partnership agreement with SwissAnalytics in 2014, and the expanded diligence capabilities this relationship has brought us have been embraced by clients across Europe.
The Montreux Natural Resources fund is the world's second-best performing hedge fund in 2016, according to international analyst firm Preqin Research.
The Cayman Islands-domiciled fund, managed by Montreux Capital Management Cayman, has returned 142 per cent over the last 12 months, driven by the surging gold price and the performance of assets in which the fund invested.
The Montreux Natural Resources fund ranked second for net return during 2016 out of 14,500 hedge funds assessed, in the Preqin Global Hedge Fund Report, 2017.
The USD32 million fund, which generates returns through a range of commodity-related transactions, has during the
Blue Sky Alternative Investments has reported a significant rise in revenue, profitability, cash flow, margins and fee-earning assets under management for the half-year period ending 31 December 2016, driven by growth in alternative assets.
Underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) was up 130 per cent to AUD10.1 million (1H FY16: AUD4.4 million), while underlying EBITDA margins expanded to 41 per cent (1H FY16: 28 per cent).
Underlying income for the period was up 53 per cent to AUD36.4 million (1H FY16: AUD23.8 million); and net operating cash flow was up 200 per cent to AUD9.3 million (1H FY16: AUD3.1
CME Group has declared a first-quarter dividend of USD0.66 per share, a 10 per cent increase from the prior rate of USD0.60 per share.
The dividend is payable on 27 March 2017 to shareholders of record as of 10 March 2017.
Through its exchanges, CME Group offers a range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals. CME Group provides electronic trading globally on its CME Globex platform.
The company also offers clearing and settlement services across asset classes for exchange-traded and
Proper fund governance has long been championed by leading offshore law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman, which for the last decade has encouraged its hedge fund clients to hold at least annual directors meetings. Initially this was met with some resistance according to Robert Briant (pictured), Partner and head of Conyers’ BVI office, who confirms that such resistance has softened over the last few years.
“Even though there is no requirement in the BVI for the directors to meet annually, they do meet and are happy to meet when we suggest it. So that is a positive change. Some funds
Circle Partners is an independent fund administrator with offices in the BVI, Cayman Islands, and across the EU, the Americas and Hong Kong.
"We've seen a lot of growth in new BVI fund vehicles over the last 12 months – both the Incubator Fund and the more popular Approved Fund," reflects Peter Jakubicka (pictured), Business Development Manager at Circle Partners. "These vehicles have been the main driver of business for us in the BVI and we've seen continued interest in the first few weeks of January this year; this is partly due to the fact that Cayman has not introduced
"We see the funds industry as continuing to contribute to the overall offering of financial services. There remains good interest in the BVI product and we envisage that will continue," asserts Glenford Malone, Director, Investment Business Division, BVI Financial Services Commission, when asked to comment on the growth of the BVI's funds industry.
Like every fund jurisdiction, the estimated 40 per cent drop in new fund launches in the hedge fund industry last year negatively impacted the BVI. And as the costs of running a hedge fund business increase, some are choosing to call it a day and revert to
Hedge funds posted strong gains in early 2017 as Donald Trump was inaugurated as US President, led by the performance of equity hedge strategies, the largest area of hedge fund industry investor capital, according to data from HFR.
The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index (FWC) gained 1.2 per cent for the month, the strongest beginning to a calendar year since the +2.5 per cent return to begin 2013.
It extends the record Index Value to 13,107 and tops the return of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), as well as most European equity markets, over the same period.
Drawing on data compiled for the 2017 Preqin Global Hedge Fund Report, Preqin has created league tables of hedge funds that have most consistently delivered strong, stable performance.
Preqin says the intention is not to endorse these funds, but rather to illustrate those that have performed the most consistently over the period January 2012 to December 2016.
Seven strategies are represented: equity strategies, macro strategies, event driven strategies, credit strategies, relative value strategies, multi-strategies and CTAs.
These funds were determined as most consistent using a percentile rank methodology across four metrics (annualised return, annualised volatility, Sharpe ratio and
