Managers
Lyxor Asset Management operates the largest commingled hedge fund managed account platform (MAP), but over the last couple of years it has made inroads to build out a similar offering in the UCITS space.
The Lyxor Alternative UCITS platform has seen its stable of funds grow to nine in total – six external single manager funds, two internal single manager funds and one internal multi-manager fund. Through May 2015, the platform had a combined AUM of EUR1.6 billion.
At the end of 2014, Capricorn Capital Partners launched the Lyxor/Capricorn GEM Strategy Fund – a global emerging markets long/short strategy. Then,
The liquid alternatives space, which by definition includes alternative UCITS funds in Europe and '40 Act registered alternative mutual funds in the US, is not only attracting strong inflows. According to latest research from Preqin, the average alternative mutual fund returned 4.36 per cent in 2014. This compares to returns of 3.78 per cent for the average hedge fund.
The average alternative UCITS returned 1.45 per cent but if one considers performance at the strategy level, CTAs and equity market neutral funds held up well; according to Alix Capital, who run a series of alternative UCITS indices, their UAIX
SYZ Asset Management, the investment funds arm of Swiss banking group SYZ, offers investors two unique long/short strategies in its OYSTER UCITS-compliant fund range. The main differentiators between the two funds are summarised in the table.
Both funds are Luxembourg-domiciled, with each product providing its own diversification benefits as investors take steps to guard against expected equity market volatility on the one hand, and additional sources of returns to complement their fixed income portfolios on the other.
OYSTER market neutral
Market neutral strategies, as their name suggests, are non-directional in nature. As Joseph G. Nicholas, founder and chairman of HFR
Five years ago, UCITS funds weren't exactly a prominent blip on the radar screen at Société Générale Prime Services, but over the last two years, excluding managed accounts, they have accounted for approximately 50 per cent of all new funds onboarded by the business in Europe.
Andrew Dollery (pictured) is Director, Origination & Structuring at Société Générale Prime Services. He looks after many of its UCITS fund clients and is also actively involved in the structuring and servicing of '40 Act funds, as well as hedge funds and managed accounts.
"It is relatively easy to launch a UCITS fund. We
The TCW Group has partnered with Gargoyle Investment Advisor to offer its first alternative mutual fund, the TCW | Gargoyle Hedged Value Fund (TFHIX / TFHVX).
In conjunction with the offering of this Fund, TCW has formed TCW Alternative Funds, a new family of alternative mutual funds.
The TCW | Gargoyle Hedged Value Fund, which is advised by TCW and sub-advised by Gargoyle, seeks long-term capital appreciation with lower volatility than a stand-alone stock portfolio. The Fund aims to achieve this outcome through a combination of buying undervalued stocks and selling overpriced index call options. The Fund has a three-year
Following the strongest first quarter since 2008, managed futures endured a challenging second quarter of 2015, according to the latest performance data for Societe Generale Prime Services’ Newedge CTA indices.
June saw CTA managers experience losses at both the beginning and at the end of the month, resulting in all indices ending the month in negative territory.
The Newedge CTA Index declined 4.20 per cent during the month of June. However, the performance of the index at the end of the first half of the year was somewhat protected by stronger returns at the beginning of the year, standing
The Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) is to launch two RMB FX futures contracts, the USD/CNT FX futures (RTF) and the USD/CNH FX futures (RHF) on 20 July, 2015.
RTF and RHF are with contract sizes of USD 20,000 and USD 100,000 respectively. Trading hours for both contracts will be from 8:45am to 4:15pm to cover the trading hours of Taiwanese interbank spot FX market.
In addition, TAIFEX launched two new ETF Futures associated with China’s stock indices (FTSE China A50 Index and SZSE 100 Index) on 8 July, 2015. They added to TAIFEX current ETF Futures suite, and made it
La Française Inflection Point (LFIP) has launched an innovative, climate-themed global equities fund, just six months ahead of a pivotal United Nations climate change summit to be convened in the French capital.
La Française Lux-Inflection Point Zero Carbon (ZC), a long only Luxembourg SICAV sub-fund, was launched in mid-June with EUR25 million in seed capital provided by La Française.
Working with Paris head-quartered La Française, a multi-class asset manager with over EUR50 billion in assets under management, IPCM provided the in-depth carbon finance research underpinning the ZC fund, which is managed by LFIP. LFIP is now running close to
June proved another difficult month for managed futures hedge funds, with the strategy declining an additional -2.64 per cent during the month, the universe’s third consecutive monthly decline, according to eVestment’s latest hedge fund performance report.
Losses dropped the average Q2 return to -3.99 per cent and dragged returns for the first six months of 2015 into negative territory, -1.11 per cent.
Large managed futures funds, those with greater than USD 1 billion in AUM, experienced elevated losses in June, declining an average of -4.79 per cent. The decline surpasses the magnitude of early 2015 gains and pushed large managed
It was once again a decisive week for the EU with market participants granting an ever rising probability of Grexit. European assets experienced sizeable pressure during the period under review, though there has been a respite towards the end of the week following the conciliatory tone of the Greek government.
