Funds
Avoca Capital has launched a long-only convertible bond fund, Avoca Convertible Select Global, a UCITS compliant Luxembourg SICAV offering daily liquidity.
This follows Avoca’s move in November 2011 to further extend its product offering and partner with an experienced team of specialists in convertible bonds. This asset class is in increasing demand with investors attracted to the combination of debt protection with equity upside participation.
The new fund formally opens Avoca’s convertible bond offering, which was launched in April 2012 to manage partner capital, to a wider investor audience. The team has returned 16 per cent after fees
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management has added a euro-hedged share class for its db x-trackers MSCI World Index UCITS exchange-traded fund on the Deutsche Borse, reported indexuniverse.eu.
The EUR2.2billion ETF tracks the market cap-weighted MSCI World Index which is made up of more than 1600 companies spanning 27 countries. This
follows the launch earlier this month on the London Stock Exchange of a USD-hedged share class for its db X-trackers MSCI Japan Index UCITS ETF.
Simon Klein, head of exchange traded product sales, EMEA and Asia, was quoted as saying:
“Increasing numbers of our clients are asking for currency-hedged exposure as
Confluence, a provider of data management solutions, has acquired Data Agent, a provider of alternative investment industry data management and reporting solutions.
Already a provider of Form PF and Form CPO-PQR reporting solutions, Data Agent brings the experience and expertise to position Confluence to provide a data management and automated solution to solve the complex regulatory reporting demands of the Alternative Investment Management Fund Directive (AIFMD).
Confluence made the announcement as the company debuts its Unity NXT AIFMD Transparency Reporting solution at the ALFI Global Distribution Conference 2013 in Luxembourg.
Like Confluence, Data Agent delivers value to
Calastone, the independent cross-border transaction network for the global funds industry, has secured a USD18m round of investment led by Accel Partners with participation from existing investor Octopus Investments.
The investment will be used to accelerate the company’s global growth strategy, with a focus on Asia Pacific and Europe, in addition to expanding its product range.
Calastone was launched in 2007 with the primary objective of significantly reducing the cost and risks associated with mutual fund transaction processing. Calastone’s approach to introducing interoperability for the industry has been to build out a global network, complemented by a wide
The UCITS Alternative Index Global lost -0.40 per cent in August to leave it up 1.34 per cent on a year-to-date basis. By comparison the average hedge fund has returned 4.63 per cent (through July) according to Hedge Fund Research.
In many respects August was a sea of red in terms of strategy performance. Only two of 11 UAI strategies made gains, and even these were minimal: +0.63 per cent for UAI Commodities (still down -1.34 per cent YTD) and UAI Event-Driven, up +0.09 per cent (up +1.84 per cent YTD). The worst performing index was UAI CTA, down -1.42
Private equity fund Estancia Capital Partners has acquired a minority interest in Equinoxe Alternative Investment Services, joining XL Group as a strategic investor in the firm.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Equinoxe is a boutique full-service alternative investment fund administration company founded by a group of hedge fund administration professionals, with over USD12.5bn of assets under administration (AUA) currently from over 150 alternative investment funds.
"Equinoxe is a premier service provider within the global alternative investment fund administration space led by a proven management team that has previously successfully built two similar service businesses," says
Analysts at London-based Kepler Partners, whose research on UCITS funds is presented on the website Absolutehedge.com, have concluded that the UCITS version of Hugh Hendry’s Eclectica Absolute Macro fund has been a bit of a mixed bag.
Having only produced one strong period of performance (2011) since the UCITS fund launched in 2009, Kepler Partners awarded the fund three stars out of five. The problem seems to be the fund’s ability to generate all weather returns. Although the offshore hedge fund has generated 8.4 per cent annualised returns since 2002, helped by higher volatility, the volatility in the UCITS fund
FundAssist, an international service provider to the asset manager industry covering hedge funds, exchange-traded funds and UCITS funds, has added to its team with two management appointments.
Philip McKee, product development manager, has joined the senior management team focusing on software development and Tanya Merrigan, client reporting manager, has come on board to head up the Key Investor Information Document (KIID) and Factsheet business teams.
Managing director Jim O’Reilly says: “As the business grows we are always looking for dynamic and ambitious people to join our team. Philip and Tanya are the exact calibre of people we need
Sub-investment grade corporate credit specialist Alcentra, part of BNY Mellon, has invested in CorpAcq plc, a South Manchester-based company committed to the acquisition and investment in strong asset backed, profitable and cash generative owner-managed enterprises.
Headquartered in Altrincham and founded in 2006, CorpAcq has grown its business to manage eight portfolio companies representing more than GBP70m in revenues in the year ending December 2012.
The warranted loan investment transaction was underwritten by Alcentra and co-arranged with private-debt fund Prefequity. Graeme Delaney-Smith (pictured) and Frédéric Méreau of the European direct lending and mezzanine investments team will represent Alcentra on
Aquiline Capital Partners has made an investment, through affiliates, in Tourmalet Advisors, an alternative investment manager based in Fairfield, Connecticut.
Tourmalet, led by chief executive officer Michael Corasaniti, was founded in October 2009 and has a track record of managing, investing, structuring and trading distressed residential mortgage assets. The firm’s objective is to generate superior risk adjusted returns through the purchase, servicing and liquidation of distressed whole loans.
“We have known Mike Corasaniti and his team at Tourmalet for a number of years and have been impressed with their expertise and approach to investing in the residential mortgage
