Funds
BlueBay Asset Management LLP announced this week the launch of the BlueBay Total Return Credit Fund, providing investors with exposure to sub-investment grade credit through the credit cycle.
Mark Poole, Chief Investment Officer, commented: “We have developed the product to meet investor demand for a more flexible approach to credit markets that is not benchmark driven, and allows active shifts between areas of the market in a timely fashion.”
The Fund aims to achieve a total return of 5 to 10 per cent per annum over the credit cycle. Sources of return are broad based, with alpha achieved via security
Schroders has launched the Schroder GAIA Cat Bond on its UCITS platform.
GAIA (Global Alternative Investor Access) is a regulated platform for UCITS funds designed to give investors easier access to hedge funds.
The new fund invests globally in catastrophe (cat) bonds (minimum 80 per cent) and other tradable insurance-linked securities (ILS). The fund’s exposure will be primarily in regions with a high concentration of insured wealth such as the US, Western Europe and Japan.
The fund will be managed by Daniel Ineichen, who has been manager of the NGAR Secquaero ILS Fund since inception in May 2011;
Long/short equity emerging market specialist Finisterre Capital this week announced the launch of a standalone UCITS-compliant fund in response to client demand stemming from Solvency II requirements.
The UCITS-compliant Finisterre Emerging Market Debt Fund launched with USD55m of seed capital and deploys a similar long/short approach to that operated across Finisterre’s existing strategies. The fund has an unconstrained mandate, and will invest in a blend of global emerging market sovereign and corporate credits, local fixed income instruments, local and hard currencies and other debt securities. The fund seeks to generate high single digit returns over the cycle and offers bi-weekly
Nikko Asset Management (Nikko AM) has acquired the Asia-Pacific investment manager Treasury Asia Asset Management Limited (TAAM).
TAAM’s Singapore and Sydney-based team of eight highly experienced and successful investment professionals significantly enhances Nikko AM’s ability to provide institutional-quality Asian equity products to its clients and prospects in markets worldwide.
“We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome Peter Sartori and his team to our company,” says Takumi Shibata, Executive Chairman of Tokyo-based Nikko Asset Management.
“This acquisition brings us sophisticated Asian equity strategies, which are gaining well-deserved traction among investors around the world,” says Charles Beazley, President and CEO of Nikko
Citco Corporate & Trust has reached an agreement to acquire Société Européenne de Banque’s (SEB) Corporate Management Services business. SEB plans to focus on its core banking activities.
SEB is the Luxembourg establishment of Intesa Sanpaolo Banking Group, Italy’s leading banking group and one of the top banking groups in Europe. Given its solid book of clients and SEB’s reputation of hiring and retaining quality staff, acquiring the Business is a significant and strategic move for Citco.
The Corporate Management Services portfolio consists predominantly of Luxembourg-domiciled entities comprising largely of corporate clients that are active across a whole spectrum of
ML Capital this week announced the launch of the FVC Alternative Risk Premia UCITS fund on its MontLake platform. London-based Future Value Capital is a quantitative macro specialist.
The fund has launched with USD20million in seed capital and becomes the first macro fund on MontLake. The fund aims to exploit alternative risk premias and market inefficiencies which are an attractive alternative to alpha, offering an innovative way of extracting systematic sources of return which are uncorrelated to traditional asset classes.
Cyril Delamare, CEO of ML Capital said that systematic macro strategies had been in high demand from investors
Amundi’s acquisition of Smith Breeden Associates has been finalised following completion of the customary conditions of informing regulatory authorities and gaining approval from certain clients and shareholders.
Smith Breeden Associates is now Amundi Smith Breeden.
Paris, France-based Amundi is a European asset management firm with close to EUR750bn in assets. Amundi Smith Breeden is the North American investment headquarters for Amundi. 


The creation of Amundi Smith Breeden, a fully-owned and controlled subsidiary within Amundi’s fixed income organisation, is a significant step toward Amundi’s goal of creating a global fixed income platform with established regional expertise.
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Peppercomm Strategic Communications has acquired Walek & Associates, an independent financial, capital markets and investor relations firm.
The move combines Peppercomm’s full suite of integrated marketing and communications offerings, including creative design, digital, social media, experiential and strategic licensing, with Walek’s concentrated expertise in asset management, capital markets and investor relations.
The announcement comes on the heels of Peppercomm’s recent acquisition of Janine Gordon & Associates and the formation of JGAPeppercomm, a specialty group focused on the consumer lifestyle and non-profit sectors. Together, these two acquisitions are part of Peppercomm’s move to deepen the firm’s expertise in key
Alternative UCITS funds made advances of 0.65 per cent in September to leave them exactly +2 per cent on a year-to-date basis, according to Alix Capital’s UCITS Alternative Index Global.
The best performing strategy was equity long/short, gaining +1.61 per cent last month to leave it +6.96 per cent YTD; way ahead of the next best performing strategy – event driven – which recorded further gains of +0.93 per cent to leave it +2.79 per cent YTD. The UAI Emerging Markets Index also did well in September, up +1.19 per cent. Four strategies found the markets to be challenging however.
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has completed its 100% acquisition of Omgeo.
By leveraging both companies’ capabilities under a unified strategy, the acquisition enables DTCC to further expand its global footprint, advance service innovation and reduce risks and costs in post-trade processing. The combination of DTCC and Omgeo will also foster increased collaboration among the buy-side, sell-side and custodian communities. With the addition of Omgeo, DTCC now has offices in 14 countries worldwide.
“Working together with Omgeo under a single integrated global strategy for post-trade processing, DTCC will leverage the strengths and breadth of both organisations to create
