Funds
Many investors choose to disregard potential investment in an infrastructure fund due to terms and conditions. Utilising information from the 2015 Preqin Private Equity Fund Terms Advisor and the Preqin Investor Outlook: Alternative Assets, H2 2015, this extract from this month’s Preqin Infrastructure Spotlight examines the fund terms and conditions of unlisted infrastructure funds and their effect on the alignment of interests between investors and fund managers.
In Q3 2015, Preqin conducted a series of detailed interviews with active institutional investors in infrastructure in order to gain insight into their attitudes towards the asset class. The study revealed that
Preqin’s latest factsheet takes a detailed look at closed-end private real estate fundraising for emerging managers in the US.
Fundraising
Preqin’s Real Estate Online contains detailed information on 529 private real estate funds managed by US-based emerging managers*, which have secured a total of USD104 billion since 2007. Fundraising by US-based emerging private real estate managers has not emulated its pre-crisis peak in 2007 of 80 funds reaching a final close on USD17.3 billion in capital commitments (Fig 1). The downturn led to year-on-year declines in aggregate capital raised before recovering in 2011, when USD14 billion was raised by 70
BATS Global Markets (BATS) has launched its second US options market, EDGX Options, which is based on a customer priority/pro rata allocation model.
The new market launched on 2 November and implemented a phased rollout of symbols, which was completed on 17 November.
The launch of EDGX Options went as expected and the new market handled 668 million orders yesterday. EDGX Options now offers trading in all multiply-listed equity options available for trading in the US.
“We are pleased to report a successful launch and rollout of EDGX Options, which is a testament to the hard work, dedication,
Staff from the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight and the Office of the Chief Economist of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have issued a Preliminary Report regarding the swap dealer de minimis exception.
Under CFTC rules, market participants who exceed USD8 billion in gross notional swap dealing activity over a twelve-month period are required to register with the Commission as swap dealers during the phase-in period currently in effect. This phase-in period is scheduled to end, and the threshold will fall, to USD3 billion in December 2017, unless the Commission takes action to amend the de minimis
Hedge funds gained 2.19 per cent in October according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index rebounded in October after four months of losses, and is now up 0.69 per cent in 2015.
“A global rally in equities fuelled by continued easing in the US, Europe and Japan, together with stabilising economic signs from China helped propel the S&P 500 to a gain of 8.30 per cent in October, its strongest showing since October of 2011 when it gained 10.9 per cent,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge.
Fifteen of Barclay’s 18
Five out of six of IndexIQ’s proprietary IQ Hedge Investable Banchmark Hedge Fund Replication Indexes recorded positive returns in October.
The IQ Hedge Even Drive Index led the way with a return of 2.94 per cent closely followed by The IQ Hedge Long/Short Index (2.76 per cent.) The other three positive performers for the month were the IQ Hedge Global Macro Index (1.54 per cent), the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Index (1.08 per cent), and the The IQ Hedge Market Neutral Index (0.28 per cent).
The month’s only loser, with a return of -0.06 per cent, was the IQ Merger
Global Markets Exchange Group Limited (GMEX) has secured approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to offer its Interest Rate Swap Constant Maturity Futures (IRS CMF) to US-based firms by directly accessing GMEX Exchange.
Trade confirmation and clearing of the GMEX IRS CMF takes place at Eurex, the derivatives marketplace of Deutsche Börse. Transactions will be processed via the Eurex Trade Entry Service, which has been made available to US based exchange participants recently.
Hirander Misra (pictured), CEO and Co-Founder of GMEX Exchange, says: “With the CFTC approval, we can further expand by offering our IRS CMF to
Acuitas Investments has launched a long/short equity strategy aimed at delivering high absolute returns with low correlation to equity markets by building on the firm’s expertise in researching microcap and small cap managers.
The firm’s investment philosophy centres on exploiting the return opportunities available in the least efficient areas of the equity markets.
“Underfollowed areas of the equity markets such as microcap offer opportunities for skilled investors to generate an information advantage and deliver strong returns. This is the basis for Acuitas’s exclusive focus on microcap and small cap markets globally. Implementing in a long/short strategy enhances managers’ ability
Weighted average maturities remain tight, especially within US dollar money market funds (MMFs), says Moody’s and the firm expects managers to continue to maintain shorter portfolio WAMs as the likelihood of a December rate hike in the US increases.
Sterling MMFs' assets under management (AUM) hit their second lowest level in twelve months in the third quarter of 2015, registering a fall of 3.8 per cent to GBP93.1 billion. US prime funds recorded a 4 per cent growth in AUM, on the other hand, driven by a reduced appetite for risky assets; euro-denominated funds also experienced AUM growth, albeit smaller,
Aventicum Alternative Equities, an investment boutique focusing on European Long/Short strategies and part of Aventicum Capital Management has launched its maiden UCITS-compliant fund.
The Aventicum UCITS – Absolute Return European Equity Fund offers international investors the opportunity to access Aventicum Alternative Equities’ existing flagship equity strategy through a UCITS ICAV onshore structure. Focusing on being invested in – rather than exposed to – equities, the strategy will adopt a fundamental bottom up approach to seek non-consensus opportunities predominantly in large- and mid-cap European equities.
Domiciled in Ireland with daily liquidity, the Fund is targeting a 10-15 per cent annualised
