Funds
Funds managed by Värde Partners have completed the acquisition of FirstCity Financial Corporation.
Mark B Horrell, who previously served as senior vice president and head of US acquisitions of FirstCity, has been appointed chief executive officer of FirstCity, succeeding James T. Sartain. Sartain will retire and join Värde as a consultant.
Terry R DeWitt, senior vice president and head of global acquisitions of FirstCity, and James C Holmes, senior vice president and managing director of FirstCity, will become chief credit officer and chief operating officer, respectively, and will assist Horrell in leading the operations of FirstCity. FirstCity will
With less than three months to go until new legislation ushers in major changes for the European hedge fund industry, a new report reveals that the continent’s share of the global market has remained surprisingly stable at just over a fifth.
TheCityUK’s Hedge Funds 2013 report also shows that London retains its position as Europe’s hedge fund capital, and is second only to New York for global hedge fund management with 18 per cent of the global share.
According to TheCityUK, hedge fund activity levels in London and Europe have held firm following the rise in UCITS compliant
RIMES, a leader in managed data services, has flagged the challenges presented by the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) consolidated guidelines on ETFs and other UCITS issues to investment managers throughout Europe.
Continual product innovation and sophisticated investment techniques in the UCITS funds market has continued to focus the regulators’ attention on these structures, and as a result ESMA’s new guidelines on ETFs and other UCITS came into effect in February.
While the guidelines seek to strengthen investor protection, mitigate counterparty risk and increase transparency and disclosure to investors, they also have a major impact on managers
Both the number of Alternative UCITS funds and assets under management grew in the first quarter of 2013 according to the Alceda Quarterly UCITS Review, produced by leading independent structuring specialist Alceda Fund Management S.A.
Tracking the Absolute Hedge Global UCITS Index, the Alceda UCITS review revealed that the sector advanced 2.56 per cent in Q1 2013. Assets under management stood at EUR96.6billion in March 2013, a 5.1 per cent rise over the first quarter, including the addition of 11 new funds.
All alternative UCITS strategies recorded positive performance in Q1 2013, making it one of the best quarters on
GFI Group has agreed to acquire certain assets of Phoenix Partners Group, an independent inter-dealer broker operating mainly in the international credit and equity markets.
As part of the transaction, GFI will be taking on approximately 32 brokers (divided between New York and London offices) and additional operational and management staff.
Headquartered in New York with an additional office in London, Phoenix Partners Group provides a range of intermediary services to a largely institutional, financial client base, in credit and equities. In credit, Phoenix follows a hybrid business model, combining voice broking with electronic execution.
Colin Heffron
Alternative UCITS funds have delivered a good start to 2013 with the sector growing in terms of number of funds as well as assets under management, according to the Alceda Quarterly UCITS Review.
Tracking the Absolute Hedge Global UCITS Index, the Alceda UCITS review revealed that the sector advanced 2.56 per cent in the first quarter of 2013. Assets under management (AUM) in alternative UCITS funds stood at EUR96.6bn in March 2013, a 5.1 per cent rise over the first quarter, including the addition of 11 new funds.
All alternative UCITS strategies recorded positive performance in Q1 2013,
Backstop Solutions Group, a Software-as-a-Service provider to the alternative asset management industry, has acquired the PerTrac CMS product line, a customer relationship management tool built exclusively for the institutional investment community.
The business was acquired from eVestment, a provider of institutional investment data and intelligence solutions. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
With this acquisition, Backstop now serves over 575 clients in the private investment community, including hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, endowments and foundations, institutional investors, family offices, pensions, private equity firms and consultants. Backstop also opened new offices in New York and London
Graham Stock (pictured), chief strategist at Insparo Asset Management comments on Bharti Airtel decision to sell a stake to Qatar investment group…
Bharti Airtel’s desire to raise fresh capital to finance further investment in its African operations highlights the continuing potential for growth on the continent. The roll-out of next generation data services in particularly will be an important driver of growth, as voice services trend to maturity. For example in Kenya where Airtel is the second largest operator, the number of internet subscribers rose 75% in 2012 alone, with mobile subscriptions accounting for 99% of the market. Mobile penetration,
The UCITS Alternative Index Global posted gains of 0.21 per cent in April according to Alix Capital, who host the index. This puts the index at +1.80 per cent for 2013, compared to +1.28 per cent through April last year. Continuing on from strong gains in March, the UAI CTA posted the best performance for April, up +1.81 per cent to leave it at +4.13 per cent for the year.
The next best strategy was UAI Multi-Strategy, up +0.80 per cent, followed by UAI Fixed Income, up +0.50 per cent. Conversely, the UAI FX and UAI Commodities recorded losses of
SPDR ETFs, the ETF platform of State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), announced this week that it had launched the SPDR Barclays EM Inflation-Linked Local Bond UCITS ETF on the Deutsche Borse; the world’s first ETF to offer pure exposure to EM inflation-linked debt. The physically-backed ETF tracks the Barclays EM Inflation-Linked 20 per cent Capped Index, which includes inflation-linked sovereign bonds issued by Brazil, Mexico, Chile, South Africa, Poland, Turkey, Israel, Korea and Thailand.
Scott Ebner, global head of product development for SSgA, said: “The SPDR Barclays EM Inflation-Linked Local Bond UCITS ETF gives investors simplified access to a diversified
