Managers
ALPS Fund Services is to expand its Denver-based hedge fund administration business with the acquisition of Kaufman Rossin Fund Services (KRFS), an independent, full-service provider of specialised administration services to the financial community.
Established in 1994, KRFS has offices in Miami, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas, and Grand Cayman. The company’s hedge fund services include accounting and valuation, back-office outsourcing, investor services, treasury services, and customised reporting. KRFS is an affiliate of Kaufman Rossin & Co
“We see this acquisition making us a top-20 provider in the hedge fund administration business,” says Ned Burke (pictured), CEO of ALPS Holdings, Inc., the
The State Street Global Investor Confidence Index (ICI) rose to 108.3 in December 2015, up 1.0 point from November’s revised reading of 107.3, driven by an increase in the European ICI from 96.2 to 103.7 along with the Asian ICI rising 4.6 points to 105.1.
By contrast, the North American ICI decreased by 5.9 points to 106.6.
The Investor Confidence Index was developed by Kenneth Froot (pictured) and Paul O’Connell at State Street Associates, State Street Global Exchange’s research and advisory services business. It measures investor confidence or risk appetite quantitatively by analysing the actual buying and selling patterns of
Exchange traded fund sponsor and asset manager WisdomTree has launched the WisdomTree Dynamic Long/Short US Equity Fund (DYLS) and WisdomTree Dynamic Bearish US Equity Fund (DYB) on the BATS Exchange.
DYLS offers a stock selection strategy designed to add alpha in the core long stock portfolio, while hedging market drawdowns with a dynamic hedge on the market. DYB also offers a stock selection strategy designed to add alpha in the core long stock portfolio, but is designed to provide “more bearish” net positioning. DYLS and DYB each have a net expense ratio of 0.48 per cent.
As markets have become
Japan is host to some of the largest pools of institutional investment assets in the world. It ought to be a magnet for asset managers of all kinds, and especially for the alternative investment managers that are garnering substantial shares of institutional assets in North America and Europe. Yet Japan has proved an exceptionally challenging market to penetrate, for reasons which range from the cultural to the structural.
However, says SumiTrust, there are now signs that Japan’s institutional investors are opening their portfolios to foreign and alternative assets. How should alternative managers approach this opportunity?
Japan is an
Vineer Bhansali has formed LongTail Alpha, a new investment management advisory firm that will provide qualified investors with the opportunity to benefit from the experience of one of the most accomplished tail risk experts in the financial industry.
LongTail Alpha believes that sustained portfolio performance comes from expecting the unexpected, and positioning portfolios to earn yield while maintaining convexity. The firm will blend a solutions approach with additional value provided through applying decades of experience in active portfolio implementation of these techniques.
“I am eager to embark on this new stage in my career, and apply my professional and
Royce & Associates is reopening the Royce Premier and Special Equity Funds to new investors as of Monday, 4 January.
Chuck Royce and Charlie Dreifus, the funds' respective portfolio managers, say they are comfortable accepting additional asset flows at each fund's current asset base.
Royce and Dreifus, both large shareholders in these portfolios, believe reopening at this time is in the best interests of each portfolio's shareholders. Dreifus says: "I would like the fund to be available to those investors who want to participate in its opportunistic purchases considering both current valuations for equities and the uncertain global economy.
Neptune, the open standards network utility for pre-trade indications in bond markets, is continuing to expand its business to the wider community.
The network launched in August initially, with a limited set of buy-side and sell-side sponsors. Neptune has already seen strong growth in the amount of quality data flowing through the network enhancing pre-trade transparency for those market participants already signed up.
Neptune is now extending the fixed income pre-trade information network to the global financial community. With over USD16 billion of gross notional and nearly six thousand line items, referencing over four thousand ISIN’s across IG/HY/EM bonds, the
The SS&C GlobeOp Forward Redemption Indicator for December 2015 measured 4.98 per cent, up from 4.90 per cent in November.
“SS&C GlobeOp’s Forward Redemption Indicator increased slightly to 4.98 per cent for December 2015 from 4.90 per cent in November,” says Bill Stone (pictured), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SS&C Technologies. “December is typically the heaviest month of the year for redemptions and while this was certainly the case in 2015, it is noteworthy that the 4.98 per cent reported was down sharply from the 5.87 per cent reported a year ago in December of 2014. In fact, this December’s
For the first time in almost a decade, the Fed has finally hiked rates as the FOMC decided that the US growth/ inflation mix was robust enough to absorb monetary tightening. Over the next twelve months, three to four additional rate hikes of 25 bps are on the cards.
Total hedge fund assets rose USD11.2 billion in November 2015, an increase of 0.36 per cent. Investors flows were very slightly positive during the month with an estimated USD3.2 billion added in November, according to eVestments latest hedge fund flows report.
Performance accounted for an additional USD8.0 billion increase. The combination of asset gains and net investor inflows lifted total industry assets to USD3.094 trillion. For the year, investors have added an estimated USD69.5 billion into the industry.
Overall industry flows were positive approaching year-end despite recent losses in the macro and credit segment having an increasing impact within
