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Merger arbitrage is proving the most resilient hedge fund strategy amid the continued global volatility sparked by the coronavirus outbreak, according to Lyxor Asset Management.
Merger arb strategies were down just 0.4 per cent since the 18 February equity peak, while a traditional 50/50 equities and bonds portfolio has lost 4.6 per cent, based on the MSCI World and Barclays Global Aggregate Bond indices, up to 3 March, Lyxor strategists observed on Tuesday. The strategy was resilient in a context where deal spreads were stable up to 28th February and widened afterwards.
The recent widening of deal spreads offered opportunities
Close to a third of hedge fund firms have now slashed management and performance fees, according to a new industry study, which suggests managers increasingly must offer discounts and other novel fee models to retain investor mandates.
The report, ‘European Alternative Investments 2020: Matching Different Demands’, published by Cerulli Associates, explores how falling risk-adjusted returns and competition from rival products such as private equity have prompted hedge funds to overhaul their fee structures.
Almost half of the large institutional investors—those with assets of more than EUR15 billion (USD16.8 billion)—surveyed by Cerulli said that they now always receive discounts for onshore
Canoe Intelligence, a financial technology company providing alternative investment operations for institutional investors, allocators and asset servicing firms, has signed a deal with Prime Buchholz, an independent alternative investment advisory firm.Canoe will automatically convert manager reports received by Prime Buchholz into reader-friendly datasets, streamlining a labour-intensive process and helping to import data into workflows and reporting analytics systems such as Investment Metrics.
Headquartered in Portsmouth, NH, Prime Buchholz advises on USD53 billion in assets vital to educational institutions, health care organisations, public and private foundations, cultural and faith-based organisations, retirement plan sponsors, and private wealth.
“Our technology is system-agnostic, enabling
Tether, a blockchain-enabled platform that powers the largest stablecoin by market capitalisation, and Aave Protocol, an open source and non-custodial protocol, are working together to bring wider adoption of Tether (USDt) as a financing tool to the nascent decentralised finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
Euromoney TRADEDATA has launched its first reference data application that can be deployed into the Symphony secure team collaboration environment, in the second deliverable from its strategic partnership with data sharing and workflow platform ipushpull.The application will provide licensed Symphony users on demand access to Euromoney TRADEDATA’s reference data sets. Enabling secure data transfer between internal and external counterparties, to resolve trade-processing, including incorrect or missing trade data, pre-trade risk, clearing, settlement and regulatory reporting issues.
Commenting on the announcement, Mark Woolfenden, Managing Director of Euromoney TRADEDATA, says: “The release of our first Symphony application endorses our strategy of
Hazeltree, a provider of integrated treasury and portfolio finance solutions to hedge funds, asset managers and fund administrators, has appointed industry veteran, Marshall Saffer, as Vice President and Head of Americas Sales.Saffer comes to Hazeltree with over 25 years of experience in the alternative software industry across a variety of functions, from sales and business development to professional services.
Saffer has extensive experience in portfolio management and operational solutions alternative asset managers, as well as proven expertise in growing financial services companies. Prior to joining Hazeltree, Saffer held senior management positions at several industry service providers, including MIK Fund Solutions,
Investment managers stand at a crossroads today. Faced with a rapidly changing digital world, they must determine which path to take to help them transform their business models and respond to the needs of a younger generation of investors.
Nasdaq has acquired Solovis, a privately-held financial technology company offering multi-asset class portfolio management, analytics and reporting tools across public and private markets. Solovis solutions will be available through Nasdaq’s eVestment group and broaden eVestment’s capabilities with portfolio analysis and monitoring for institutional investors and consultants.
“Nasdaq’s mission is to provide transparency and data to the financial world, all through modern technology,” says Lauren Dillard, Executive Vice President and head of Nasdaq’s Global information Services Group. “The combination of eVestment and Solovis bolsters our capabilities to serve the investment community. Together, they create a global leader of proprietary content, insights and portfolio analytics.”
Solovis gives sophisticated investors a unified line
Sustainable investing proved to be the biggest structural investment theme for 2020 and beyond at the ninth annual Amsterdam Investor Forum, hosted on 5 February at the headquarters of ABN AMRO Clearing.
Oil prices plummeted on Monday morning as the impact from the coronavirus outbreak – coupled with a Saudi Arabian price cut – dragged global stock markets lower, with a number of major hedge funds standing to gain from the commodities crash.
Brent crude fell to just over USD36 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was roughly USD32 on Monday morning. Saudi Arabia has sparked a price war by slashing costs, souring relations between Opec and Russia, with the subsequent 30 per cent fall the biggest since the 1991 Gulf War.
Amid hefty slides not seen since the 2008 financial crisis, BP and
