Funds
For the first time in almost a decade, the Fed has finally hiked rates as the FOMC decided that the US growth/ inflation mix was robust enough to absorb monetary tightening. Over the next twelve months, three to four additional rate hikes of 25 bps are on the cards.
Total hedge fund assets rose USD11.2 billion in November 2015, an increase of 0.36 per cent. Investors flows were very slightly positive during the month with an estimated USD3.2 billion added in November, according to eVestments latest hedge fund flows report.
Performance accounted for an additional USD8.0 billion increase. The combination of asset gains and net investor inflows lifted total industry assets to USD3.094 trillion. For the year, investors have added an estimated USD69.5 billion into the industry.
Overall industry flows were positive approaching year-end despite recent losses in the macro and credit segment having an increasing impact within
MarketAxess is ending the year on something of a high after reporting a new daily volume record in high-yield (HY) trading of approximately USD1 billion on Friday, 11 December, 2015.
Recent market volatility has also driven an increase in estimated market share for MarketAxess, with over 10 per cent share of TRACE HY volumes on 11 December, compared to an estimated 5.9 per cent share during the third quarter.
“Recent volatility in high-yield markets has prompted investors and dealers to use electronic trading more than ever. Our all-to-all Open Trading technology allows participants on MarketAxess to seamlessly trade with all
Emerald Asset Management and Beltraith Capital, investment holding companies with approximately USD5.8 billion in assets under management, have teamed up to form EmStone Advisers.
The companies say that EmStone combines the experienced portfolio management teams from Beltraith subsidiary StoneRidge PMG Advisers and Emerald subsidiary Emerald Direct Lending Advisers to offer investors enhanced fixed income portfolio management solutions. Both StoneRidge PMG and Emerald Direct Lending also continue to operate independently.
“Our combined team averages over twenty-five years of institutional portfolio management experience with specific expertise tailored to today’s low-yield environment,” says Beltraith CEO Steven L Sanders.
“We are bringing
The Railways Pension Trustee Company (Railpen), the GBP21 billion pension fund for UK rail workers, has been unwinding its exposure to hedge funds. And it’s not the only European private sector pension fund to be doing so, according to Preqin.
Globally, the number of private sector pension funds investing in hedge funds has risen over recent years. These investors have also increased their exposure to hedge funds; the average allocation of private sector pension funds is over 10 per cent as of December 2015. However, over this timeframe the number of European private sector pension funds investing has fallen.
Hedge fund launches and liquidations both increased in Q3 2015, as energy commodities and equities posted sharp declines, and high yield credit spreads began to widen, according to HFR's latest Market Microstructure Report.
Hedge fund liquidations totalled 257 in Q3 2015, up from 200 in the second quarter, and the highest quarterly total since Q1 2014, according to the latest HFR , released today by HFR, while total liquidations in the first three quarters of 2015 stand at 674, up from 661 liquidations during the first three quarters of 2014.
The number of hedge fund launches also rose in Q3 2015
MPMF Fund Management (Ireland) Limited (MPMF), the Maples group’s alternative investment fund manager (AIFM), has been authorised as a UCITS management company by the Central Bank of Ireland.
“The UCITS management company authorisation will allow MPMF to gain investment momentum and ensure that managers have the resources and support they need to meet the risk and reporting requirements of UCITS funds,” says Scott Somerville (pictured), Chief Executive Officer at MaplesFS.
MPMF provides AIFM and UCITS management company solutions via both a fully hosted/outsourced solution as well as a delegation solution. Both models provide local management and fulfilment of all
Strategic advisory and consulting firm Berkeley Research Group has appointed Michael Athanason as a managing director. Athanason joins the BRG Capstone group in New York where he will lead the Private Funds Group Valuation Team.
Athanason brings over 25 years of valuation and corporate finance advisory experience and has been involved in the valuation of alternative investment portfolios for the past 10 years. He joins BRG from KPMG, where he was the US national leader of the Alternative Investments Valuation practice, and he was previously the global leader of Duff & Phelps’ Alternative Investment Valuation Services business.
Athanason specialises
HazelTree and Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) have formed a strategic partnership to assist hedge funds, fund administrators, managed account providers and family offices in improving their cash management.
The partnership is in response to the changing regulatory environment for systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs), particularly Basel III guidelines on capital requirements and balance sheet composition.
“Because of these new requirements, banks’ desire to accept or retain short-term cash deposits on their balance sheets has become challenging for SIFIs, and many institutional investors may not be able to keep cash balances on deposit in the same way they have
in association with HRH The Duke of Cambridge’s ongoing patronage of non-profit organisation’s philanthropic initiatives.
SkillForce is a national education and veterans charity dedicated to helping young people flourish through motivational mentoring and education programmes for five- to nineteen-year-olds. Their mission is to help young people develop the skills they need to succeed in education, work and life, drawing upon the military experience and values of ex-services personnel.
100WHF has a strong track record of supporting charities and has raised more than USD38 million (gross total) for philanthropic causes in the areas of women’s and family health, education and
