Funds
JTC Group’s funds arm has invested in an IT platform, FrontInvest, to bolster its capabilities in the funds sector.
The platform, provided by eFront, follows best practice processes and systems and helps to ensure that JTC Group can fulfil regulatory, financial and tax reporting requirements for its growing roster of fund clients.
JTC Group’s international funds team administers both closed- and open-ended funds established in Guernsey, Jersey and Luxembourg, as well as other non-domiciled fund structures in financial centres, such as the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands.
Its expertise and scope has been enhanced by the
Deutsche Börse has acquired a stake in Bondcube, the new fixed income trading system, for a low sum in the single digit millions (GBP).


Bondcube is a London and Boston based electronic bond platform which links dealers and customers in a single marketplace in order to boost the liquidity of the global bond markets.
The firm uses tried and tested trading protocols from other markets, such as equities, to optimise liquidity discovery.
Bondcube is ideal for large, market sensitive bond orders that have now reverted to execution via telephone.


“The perception of a lack of liquidity in
European asset manager La Française and Tages Capital, an alternative multi-management solutions provider, have entered into a strategic partnership.
Under the terms of the partnership, La Française will acquire a 40 per cent stake in Tages Capital and delegate the management of its existing range of funds of hedge funds and UCITS funds with approximately USD1bn of AUM to Tages Capital.
Pascale Auclair, chief executive officer of La Française des Placements, and two other La Française executives will be appointed to the management committee of Tages Capital. The transaction is subject to the customary regulatory approval processes.
As
January proved to be a mixed bag in terms of strategy performance within the alternative UCITS universe. According to the UAI Global index, provided by Alix Capital, the average fund lost -0.38 per cent last month.
Eight of the eleven strategy indices ended the month in negative territory. Equity market neutral was the strongest performer, returning 0.51 per cent, followed by gains of 0.25 per cent within the UAI Fixed Income index and 0.12 per cent within the UAI Event-Driven index. The worst performing strategy was the UAI CTA index, ending the month with losses of -2.30 per cent, closely
The Carlyle Group has completed its acquisition of Diversified Global Asset Management (DGAM), a global manager of hedge funds with more than USD6.7bn in managed and advised assets.
Equity for the transaction came from Carlyle’s balance sheet. The transaction was first announced on 26 November 2013.
DGAM will join Carlyle’s Solutions platform alongside AlpInvest Partners, a global private equity fund of funds business with USD48bn of assets under management, and Metropolitan Real Estate Equity Management, a global real estate multi-manager with USD2.6bn in capital commitments. Including DGAM, the Solutions segment had assets under management of USD57.3bn as of 30
With the recent launch of the Cheyne European Mid Cap Equity Fund, Cheyne’s UCITS umbrella has reached USD575m of assets, from just under USD30m two years ago.
The programme now incorporates five funds which have each been launched in response to investor demand.
Jonathan Lourie, co-founder and chief executive, says: “We are enormously proud of the firm’s achievement in growing its UCITS offering to over USD500m during this period. It is testament to Cheyne’s expertise and innovation and demonstrates our commitment to adapting to the changing regulatory environment, enabling us to provide investors in different jurisdictions with access to
BATS Global Markets and Direct Edge completed their merger on 31 January, creating one of the world’s largest stock exchange operators.
In January, combined US market share of the BATS and Direct Edge exchanges reached 20.54 per cent compared to US exchanges operated by NYSE Euronext (20.58 per cent) and Nasdaq OMX (20.02 per cent).
In Europe, BATS again finished January as the largest stock exchange with market share of 22.11 per cent.
The combined company, which will operate under the BATS Global Markets brand, is the number one US exchange operator by market share for all exchange-traded
Gottex Fund Management has launched its Swedish multi-asset UCITS product on the Folksam unit linked platform and has opened its Scandinavian office.
Gottex recently launched the Gottex GMA Balanserad Fund, a daily dealing UCITS fund, on the Folksam unit-linked platform in Sweden.
The fund is a globally diversified core investment solution which invests in nine asset classes including global and Swedish equities, emerging markets, real estate, commodities and hedge funds. The asset allocation is inspired by top performing US University Endowments like Harvard and Yale, which have generated very strong returns over the last 25 years.
The Gottex
Kinetic Partners, the global professional services firm, is the first advisory and consulting group to be granted AIFM licensing by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF).
Kinetic Partners (Luxembourg) Management Company can now operate as a “Super ManCo”, offering outsourced fund management services to third party AIFs in addition to UCITS funds.
The solution includes a complete AIFM-licenced third party management platform, based in Luxembourg.
With this SuperManCo status, Kinetic Partners (Luxembourg) Management Company can provide a fully-fledged service offering to asset managers who are seeking to distribute funds across Europe or who are required to outsource AIFM
The Conifer Group and Vastardis Capital Services have signed a definitive merger agreement to combine their respective businesses.
The newly formed company, to be called Conifer Financial Services, will be one of the largest independent alternative asset services firms offering expanded capabilities to clients on a global scale.
At inception, Conifer Financial Services will have combined assets under administration (AUA) of more than USD70bn and offer trade execution services to over 200 clients worldwide.
Jack McDonald, currently CEO of Conifer Group, will become president and CEO. William Vastardis, founder and president of Vastardis, will be named chairman.
The merger brings
