Horizon Cash Management, Chicago, has announced plans for an extended drive for European business.
The 20-year old operation which manages some USD2.5 billion in cash deposits and near assets, said it have made the decision to push further ahead in Europe in reflection of increasing manager and investor recognition, on both sides of the Atlantic, of the importance of the cash process within investment portfolios and the value of independent, third party cash management services to maximise investment returns.
Horizon Cash Management was founded in 1991 by Diane Mix (now Chairman) and since then has been offering cash management solutions to global clients including managed futures funds, family offices, hedge funds and institutional investors. Horizon’s cash management services are complemented by Secure Deposits solutions which have become increasingly popular as the current financial crisis has taken its toll on some participants.
“A key driver of our European plans is the increasing success and popularity of CTAs or managed futures managers,” says Pauline Modjeski (pictured), Horizon’s CEO. “Horizon has a particular expertise in this area arising from the fact that managed futures regularly require the holding of a higher proportion of cash than other alternative investment strategies. We have upwards of 70 separate managed accounts but recent growth in numbers has been largely from the US and we’re actively looking to expand this number by reflecting the strength of the European sector.”
Managed futures are on the rise. Barclayhedge (no relation to Barclays Bank) records almost 100 new fund launches in 2010 and 2011 although performance has been down with the CTA Index falling a little over 3% during 2011 (the Hedge Fund Research fund weighted composite index of all alternative investment strategies fell nearly 5% during the same period).
