Funds
As we’ve seen recently, the hedge fund industry is going through hard times and many doubt it will ever return to the glory days when hedge funds were the crème de la crème of Wall Street, says James C Paine (pictured), founding partner at West Realty Advisors & the Head of Acquisitions…
2014 was a challenging year for hedge funds. Stating that hedge funds “don’t merit a continued role” due to complexity and high fees, the largest pension fund in the nation, Calpers announced in September it would exit it’s USD4 billion in hedge fund investments. Comparing the S&P 500
The dissident voice of the outspoken shareholder activist may have grown slightly louder in February, as Event Driven hedge funds led a strong month of hedge fund industry gains, with the HFRI ED: Activist Index posting the strongest monthly gain in two years.
Overall, the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index® posted a gain of +1.85 per cent for the month, the best performance for the broad-based composite since February 2014, with gains across all strategies led by Event Driven, Equity Hedge and a recovery in Energy-focused strategies. The HFRI Fund of Hedge Funds Index advanced +1.63 per cent for the
Sandell Asset Management has sponsored the launch of Sandell Re, a Bermuda based reinsurance company that can invest in the firm’s global event driven investment strategy.
The strategy will be managed in a separately managed account with an investment objective substantially similar to Sandell Asset Management’s main hedge funds.
Sandell Re was recently incorporated and licensed as a Class 3A reinsurer by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA). Sandell Re was sponsored by Sandell Asset Management Corp (SAMC) of New York, NY. SAMC, through an investment management agreement, will manage the assets of Sandell Re using the firm’s global event driven
Members of the New York Hedge Fund Roundtable, a non-profit industry organisation committed to promoting ethics and best practices in the alternative investment industry, believe oil prices will remain steady for the rest of 2015.
Questions about oil and energy were posed to members at the Roundtable’s February event, “Global Implications of the Current Energy Environment.”
More than a third of members polled stated that the price of a barrel of crude oil would be in the USD50 – USD60 range by the end of 2015; approximately 22% of members forecast that the per barrel price would be USD40
Asian debt is expected to outperform developed market bonds in 2015, thanks to healthy corporate credit dynamics, supportive global liquidity, stable economic and political environments and investors’ demand for yield.
Joep Huntjens, Head of Asian Debt at ING IM, says: “Although the anticipated rise in US interest rates may present a challenge for Asian bonds, the Federal Reserve is still only likely to remove its zero-rate monetary policy gradually. Furthermore, the impact of this will be outweighed by the spread cushion offered by Asian credit/high yield and the additional yield offered by the region’s local currency bonds.”
ING Investment Management
Temenos Group, a provider of software to financial institutions globally, has acquired Multifonds, a global provider of fund administration software.
The acquisition will give Temenos additional scale, access to highly complementary products, client relationships with more than 30 of the world’s largest financial institutions, and exposure to the fast-growing fund administration market. Following the acquisition, Temenos now provides mission-critical software to 38 of the top 50 banking institutions in the world. Temenos is paying EUR235m to acquire Multifonds from a shareholder group led by growth equity investor Summit Partners. The transaction is being funded through a mixture of cash and
Bermuda-licensed fund administrator ILS Fund Services has reported growth in assets under administration (AUA) to USD3 billion and the company now provides services to 27 ILS funds.
“We are extremely proud of this achievement and very thankful to our clients that have supported and grown with us since we opened our doors for business in early 2012,” says Brian Desmond, a Founder and Director of the Company. “It’s been a busy and exciting time in the ILS space the last few years and we see this trend continuing for the foreseeable future. Our growth in assets reflects the success of
February was a risk-on month in markets, with investors deploying capital and equities rallying globally, while perceived safe-haven assets, such as US Treasuries, UK Gilts, German Bunds and gold sold off.
The MSCI World index was up 5.9% in February, which more than offset January’s losses. This backdrop proved positive for hedge funds with the HFRX Global Hedge Fund index up 2.0%.
February’s buoyant equity and credit markets were largely a continued reflection of the expected impact of the ECB’s January QE announcement, according to Anthony Lawler, portfolio manager at GAM.
“Following the announcement, hedge fund exposures were rewarded
SYZ Asset Management’s OYSTER – European Corporate Bonds EUR fund has been ranked best fund in the UK over three years and ten years by Lipper in the “Bond Euro – Corporates” category.
OYSTER – European Corporate Bonds EUR is a UK-registered sub-fund of the OYSTER SICAV which is a Luxembourg domiciled UCITS managed by SYZ Asset Management (Luxembourg) SA. This accolade underlines the breadth of winning strategies offered by SYZ Asset Management, which is already well-known for its European equities franchise. Indeed, in the past, Absolute Return and Dynamic Allocation funds managed by SYZ Asset Management have received several
LCH.Clearnet’s SwapClear service will be launching new interest rate portfolio margining capabilities for its members and their clients around the world.
Under the new offering, market participants using SwapClear, the largest interest rate derivatives liquidity pool, and LCH.Clearnet's listed rates service will be able to maximise their margin offsets between OTC and listed interest rate derivatives, allowing them to more efficiently manage their collateral obligations.
Portfolio margining will be available on an open access basis, to regulated venues that list suitable interest rate derivatives. The initiative is expected to go-live within 12 months, subject to regulatory approval.
Daniel Maguire, Global
