Funds
European exchange group Euronext is to acquire a 20 per cent stake in central counterparty EuroCCP for around EUR14 million, subject to closing adjustments.
This follows the announcement on 12 May confirming Euronext was in exclusive talks to acquire a stake in EuroCCP.
The completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and the deal is expected to close towards the end of the year.
The transaction will enable Euronext to offer user choice in clearing for the equity markets within the Eurozone, through the implementation of a preferred CCP model followed by a fully interoperable service,
The latest Hedge Fund Tracker analysis from S&P Global Market Intelligence shows the top funds managed approximately USD150 billion in equity holdings, up from the USD141 billion under management in the first quarter.
These funds also decreased the number of positions to 399 in the second quarter from 408 in the second quarter, breaking last quarter’s record as the fewest stock positions held since S&P Global Market Intelligence began tracking this data in 2014. Information technology and healthcare sectors were the biggest net sells for the top ten hedge funds.
“Like other market participants, hedge funds were at the
Franklin Square Capital Partners is consolidating its brands under the name FS Investments, with its affiliated broker-dealer FS2 Capital Partners becoming FS Investment Solutions.
The transition coincides with the firm's expansion of its alternative investment solutions, as well as its education and distribution platforms.
An abbreviation of Franklin Square, “FS” precedes the names of the firm’s investment funds – FS Investment Corporation (FSIC) and its three successor funds, FS Energy and Power Fund and FS Global Credit Opportunities Fund – as well as its co-managed operating company, FS OneEquity. Since 2011, FS Investments has been the firm’s brand for all investor
Crestline Specialty Lending (CSL), a part of the opportunistic investment group of credit-focused institutional alternative asset manager Crestline Investors, is supporting benefitexpress’ add-on acquisition of benefitsCONNECT.
benefitexpress, headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, provides a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service platform for employee benefits and health exchanges. The company provides software and services, including benefit enrolment, management and administration, billing services and a call centre, to employers across the US.
benefitexpress was formed in 2001 and is a current portfolio company of LLR Partners, a Philadelphia-based private equity investment firm.
"Since completing the investment with LLR, benefitexpress has been committed to building on
Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has launched the CBOE-SMA Large Cap Index (SMLC Index), the first of a series of sentiment-based strategy benchmark indexes that measure short-term market momentum based on Social Market Analytics’ (SMA) social media metrics.
CBOE announced in June that it entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with SMA to develop a series of sentiment-based strategy benchmark indexes. Each index in the CBOE-SMA Index suite will track the performance of a portfolio of stocks or options referenced to a defined universe of stocks.
Chicago-based SMA is a provider of actionable intelligence from social media sources.
The hedge fund industry posted overall returns of 2.17 per cent in July, the fifth consecutive month of positive performance and largest cumulative period of gains since May 2013, with the industry returning 6.96 per cent since the beginning of March.
As a result, 2016 YTD returns now stand at 3.67 per cent, and 12-month performance has returned to positive territory for the first time since December, at 1.58 per cent.
All leading strategies posted positive returns for the month, with equity strategies (+2.78 per cent) and event driven strategies (+2.71 per cent) in particular making gains.
For
Bats Global Markets is to acquire Javelin SEF, a swap execution facility (SEF).
The deal is intended to accelerate Bats’ plans to offer trading of non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) for the foreign exchange market.
Javelin currently offers trade execution for swaps through a combination of an anonymous limit order book and a request for quote model.
Dodd Frank provisions mandate that certain market participants trade NDFs on SEFs. The market is regulated by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
“Our acquisition of Javelin underlines our commitment to the FX market and is an acceleration of our FX product
Alternative asset manager Mariner Investment Group has closed a USD503 million collateralised loan obligation (CLO), the third such transaction by Mariner's leveraged credit team.
Mariner has now closed approximately USD1.5 billion in CLOs in the past two years.
"We are pleased at the continued success our team has achieved with its first three CLO's, and with our ability to capitalise on the current market environment," says David Martin, co-head of Mariner's leveraged credit team. "Our success reflects the strength and talent of our growing team, as well as ORIX's continued support of the Mariner platform."
Mariner's leveraged
Hedge funds advanced 1.83 per cent in July, according to the gross return of the SS&C GlobeOp Hedge Fund Performance Index.
Hedge fund flows, meanwhile, as measured by the SS&C GlobeOp Capital Movement Index, advanced 0.69 per cent in August.
"SS&C GlobeOp's Capital Movement Index rose 0.69 per cent for August, a result in line with seasonal patterns and almost identical to the year ago figure of 0.71 per cent reported for August of 2015," says Bill Stone (pictured), chairman and chief executive officer, SS&C Technologies. "The 0.69 per cent gain reported this month was the net of both slightly
EEX Group has reported significant growth in during the first six months of 2016, with sales revenue up by 34 per cent compared with the same period in 2015 to a total of EUR117.5 million.
In the first half of the year, earnings before taxes (EBT) were EUR45.8 million as against EUR79.7 million during the reference period in 2015. However, after adjustment for special effects from the full consolidation of EPEX SPOT in 2015, the operating result has grown by 53 per cent from EUR29.9 million.
The Power Derivatives Market accounted for the biggest contribution to revenue in the
