Managers
The vote by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on 27 November 2014 to not reduce oil production levels was widely publicized and had a significant effect on managed futures and CTAs throughout Q4 2014, particularly on funds with a focus on trading oil. Throughout this period, the Brent Crude Oil price index fell by nearly 40%, from $94.80 at the close of September to $57.55 on 31 December. It is clear that the volatility of this commodity provided opportunities for funds implementing short strategies but exposed those unable to navigate the market.
As the chart below illustrates,
Lionpoint Group has launched a new service to help alternative investments clients address manager and investor requirements for greater transparency of underlying portfolio companies and investment holdings.
Primary services include process optimisation, operational efficiency improvements and the implementation of enabling technologies to support the collection, validation, normalisation, performance reporting and analytics associated with underlying holdings in Private Capital, with a focus on Private Equity, Real Estate and Infrastructure. Offerings also include support with risk and compliance monitoring as well as Portfolio Company and underlying investment valuations.
While remaining product agnostic, the Lionpoint Group team has solution expertise with products including AssetEye,
Digital Vega, provider of the award-winning Medusa multi-dealer FX Option platform, saw year-on-year growth of over 160% in 2014 with daily trading volumes breaking all previous records.
Mark Suter, Executive Chairman, says: “We were really pleased with last year’s progress and we remain very optimistic for 2015 given the continued pick up in volumes; we have always been at the forefront of what was a fledgling market, and based on last year’s strong performance, we have proven the model conclusively and have achieved critical mass both in terms of available liquidity and client adoption. We feel that this is further
Morgan Stanley has launched a new fund, the MS Tremblant Long/Short Equity UCITS Fund under its FundLogic Alternatives Plc umbrella.
The fund provides exposure to Tremblant’s Long/Short Equity Strategy (the Strategy), which employs a fundamental and research driven approach. The Strategy aims to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns by identifying potential investments trading at material dislocation from fair value across sectors and regions. The FundLogic Alternatives Platform currently has more than USD2.4bn in assets under management, as of 31 December 2014, and this latest addition expands Morgan Stanley’s offering of Long/Short Equity strategies.
“We are delighted to announce the launch of
Four out of seven of IndexIQ’s IQ Hedge family of investable hedge fund replication and alternative beta indexes recorded positive performance in January.
The IQ Hedge Fixed Income Arbitrage Beta Index led the way with a return of 1.28% followed by the IQ Hedge Long/Short Beta Index (0.60%) and the IQ Hedge Global Macro Beta Index (0.28%). The other indexes to end the month in positive territory was the IQ Hedge Composite Beta Index with an increase of 0.05%.
The IQ Hedge Emerging Markets Beta Index was the month’s biggest loser, down 1.23%, while the IQ Hedge Event-Driven Beta Index
Preqin has analyzed the performance of over 5,200 hedge funds worldwide throughout 2014 to identify the top performing funds. In an excerpt from the 2015 Preqin Global Hedge Fund Report, league tables reveal the 10 top performing hedge fund vehicles by various strategies and regions, and looks at the characteristics of these successful funds.
The data reveals that three-quarters of the 20 top performing hedge funds employed equity strategies. Other interesting findings include:
• Fifty-seven percent of all top performing funds in 2014 have been active for more than five years.
• Twenty-seven percent of all top performing funds in
Pioneer Underwriters (Pioneer) has launched a new EU regulatory compliant product for alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs).
This specialist product is aimed at AIFMs domiciled outside of the EU, which in addition to providing traditional financial lines cover, also ensures policyholders are compliant with the insurance provision requirement of the EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) which came into force in July 2013.
Pioneer believes that this is the market’s first solution addressing the needs of non EU domiciled fund managers and forms part of a suite of products covering the specialist risks faced by a wide range
FTSE Group has expanded of its established FTSE Infrastructure Index Series with the launch of two capped indices to complement the FTSE Core Infrastructure Indices
The new indices are: the FTSE Global Core Infrastructure Capped 50/50 Index and the FTSE Developed Core Infrastructure Capped 50/50 Index.
These capped versions of the infrastructure indices adjust the exposure of certain infrastructure sub-sectors, whilst still representing the developed and global universes of companies included in the FTSE Core Infrastructure Indices.
The expansion of the index series is in response to increased interest in this relatively young asset class, led by institutional investors diversifying
Euronext is to launch a new premium milling wheat no3 contract, subject to final regulatory approval, at the beginning of March 2015.
Based on premium specifications, this new contract consolidates Euronext’s expertise in milling wheat and is fully adapted to the needs of stakeholders in the agrifood industry, providing a higher quality contract available for trading from September 2015.
The launch of the new premium milling wheat contract no. 3 is aimed at strengthening Euronext’s offering in one of its flagship products, now a benchmark for the wheat industry in Europe. Developed in partnership with industry requirements as expressed
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is extending the deadline for public comment on related applications submitted by LedgerX for registration as a derivatives clearing organisation and registration as a swap execution facility.
The original comment period ended on 30 January, 2015, but due to commenters requesting additional time, the CFTC is extending the deadline to Feb. 20, 2015. LedgerX plans to list and clear fully collateralised, physically settled options on bitcoins.
Comments may be submitted electronically through the CFTC’s Comments Online process. All comments received will be posted on the CFTC website.
