Funds
Hedge funds were up 0.92 per cent in May, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index has gained 4.58 per cent year to date.
“Developed market equities lead the way to a profitable month for most hedge fund strategies,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. “Japan outperformed as the Nikkei rose 5.6 per cent driven by positive economic news, the S&P 500 gained 1.29 per cent in spite of expectations of rising US interest rates, and the MSCI Europe Index advanced 0.8 per cent in the face of Greek exit fears.”
All but
Markit has launched an Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) external valuer service providing independent valuations for alternative investment fund managers.
Markit’s aim is to help customers address the statutory and policy requirements of fund managers, regulators and investors for independent calculation of prices used in determining net asset valuations.
Massimo Catizone, chief executive officer, Athena Capital, says: “We were looking for a cost effective external valuer service which meets AIFMD requirements and allows us to focus on the management of our fund. We are pleased with the support and quality of the services provided by Markit in each
European policy makers have proposed money market fund (MMF) reforms relatively similar to the US changes slated to take effect next year, says Moody's Investors Service in a new report.
"As in the US, the goal in Europe is to enhance MMFs' ability to withstand stressed market conditions, reducing systemic risk. However, reforms will have diverging effects in these markets, given their very different starting points," observes Vanessa Robert, a Moody's Vice President – Senior Credit Officer.
"For investors, the new money fund regulations will generally translate to more conservative portfolios, because portfolio managers will want to limit net asset
May proved to be a tricky month for CTAs. According to Lyxor index figures, long term and short term CTAs were the only two strategies to post negative returns, down -0.95 per cent and -3.71 per cent respectively. Although they are still in positive territory, CTAs have not quite been able to kick on from the strong gains they made towards the end of 2014.
According to Lyxor, the majority of the drawdown suffered in May occurred during the first week due in large part to long USD positions, long US and EU bond positions, and shorts on commodities. What
Schroders has launched Schroder GAIA BSP Credit, an externally-managed fund on its GAIA platform managed by Benefit Street Partners (BSP), the debt investment arm of Providence Equity Partners.
The fund is a fundamental credit long short strategy that applies a bottom-up approach, combining deep credit analysis, sophisticated structuring and active trading to maximise expected returns while limiting downside risk.
Investing primarily in global high yield corporate credit with a focus in the US, the fund will aim to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns in both up and down markets and provide investors with an absolute return of 5-7 per cent per
Dedicated real estate secondaries vehicles that have successfully raised capital are concentrated among just a few established managers, more so than with private equity secondaries vehicles. Between 2003 and May 2015, a total of 21 real estate secondaries funds attained a final close, securing an aggregate USD10.1 billion; almost two-thirds of this capital was secured by just five managers.
Read the full factsheet here, containing more analysis alongside charts and tables featuring the latest Preqin data.
Elliptic has launched ‘The Bitcoin Big Bang’, an interactive visualisation that plots the emergence and interconnectivity of the key players in bitcoin since its genesis in 2009.
While the full transaction history of every bitcoin in existence (the blockchain) has always been a matter of public record, until now, the ownership of individual addresses has remained largely anonymous. This has allowed illicit marketplaces such as The Silk Road to proliferate and discouraged bitcoin’s mainstream adoption by the finance industry.
Elliptic CEO, Dr James Smith, says: “If digital currency is to take its legitimate place in the enterprise it inevitably
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has issued its recommendations on global data harmonisation to the CPMI IOSCO Harmonisation working group, detailing a proposed path towards a global data harmonisation, with credit derivatives identified as the first step.
The approach involves harmonising approximately 30 data fields across global trade repository providers, essentially creating a global data dictionary; these fields are viewed as critical to financial stability and systemic risk analysis. This recommendation is in alignment with ISDA’s perspectives on data quality, and DTCC believes this approach provides a path forward to promote more active dialogue between CPMI IOSCO and
Hedge funds have continued their run of solid performance with a fifth straight positive month, returning 1.01 per cent in May, according to the latest figures released by Preqin.
This means hedge funds have now returned 5.44 per cent for 2015 YTD, compared to 4.60 per cent for the whole of 2014.
All leading single-manager hedge fund strategies made gains in May, with equity strategies generating the highest return of 1.28 per cent.
CTA funds have suffered a second consecutive negative month in May (-0.07%), however the strategy is still positive for the year (+2.68%).
Lumentus – a specialist in online reputation management – is on a mission to enlighten hedge fund managers about the importance of defending their digital brands and reputations.
"Hedge funds are now scrutinised more than ever, particularly in traditional and social media," says Christina Bertinelli, senior partner at Lumentus, which will be a participant at the the 2nd annual Global Fund Forum in Bermuda later this month. "The new reality means that managing the digital reputation and perception of a hedge fund is critical. After all, potential investors, management recruits, rivals and peers first seek to find out about a firm
