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By Don Steinbrugge, Agecroft Partners – Each year, Agecroft Partners predicts the top hedge fund industry trends through their contact with more than 2,000 institutional investors and hundreds of hedge fund organisations. The hedge fund industry is dynamic and both managers and investors can benefit from anticipating, and preparing for, the changes likely to occur. Firms that can effectively evolve with the industry improve their chances of success while stagnant firms do so at their own peril. Below are Agecroft’s predictions for the biggest trends in the hedge fund industry for 2020…
HFRI’s EM Index up 11.67 per cent in 2019, as market conditions hint at positive start to new year
Emerging markets-focused hedge funds rounded off a strong year with a 3.58 per cent monthly advance in December, to take their composite returns for 2019 to almost 12 per cent, new performance data from HFR shows.
Lazard Asset Management Limited (LAML) has launched the Lazard Global Thematic Focus Fund, a UCITS-compliant Fund seeks to achieve long-term capital growth by investing primarily in an actively managed, diversified portfolio of 35 to 50 established companies located around the world. The companies will have a market capitalisation of greater than USD1 billion at the time of purchase, with securities listed or traded on Regulated Markets worldwide.
The Lazard Global Thematic Focus Fund aims to identify structural and secular changes that will transform the global economy. Profound transformations are taking place in the global economy, as digitisation becomes universal and environmental
Marc Wolf, Financial Services Industry Practice Leader for the South and West Region at accounting, tax, and advisory CohnReznick, has been appointed as the Chair of California Alternative Investments
Association (CalALTs).CalALTs is a not-for-profit membership organisation whose members include alternative asset managers, investors and service providers dedicated to the continuing evolution of the alternative asset management industry in California.
“The California Alternative Investments Association (CalALTs) is fortunate to have Marc as our next Chairman. His passion and involvement with the organisation over the last ten years will provide CalALTs with the leadership nd vision to grow and evolve to fit
Hedge funds advanced in December to record their strongest annual returns since 2009, when the markets were recovering from the Global Financial Crisis, according to data released by HFR.
Options, a provider of cloud-enabled managed services to the global capital markets, has secured a significant growth investment from Abry Partners, a Boston-based sector focused private equity firm. The transaction will enable the firm’s executive team to significantly accelerate its growth strategy, pursue strategic M&A targets, invest further in the firm’s technology platform and expand Options’ reach in key financial centres globally. No further terms of the transaction were disclosed.
Options, founded in 1993 as a hedge fund technology services provider, has expanded rapidly in recent years and now finds itself as an established market leader in outsourced financial technology and managed
Invast Global is to donate all trading commissions earned on 31 January to the NSW Rural Fire Services to support the volunteer firefighters and the victims of the ongoing bushfire crisis in Australia. 
Australia is currently experiencing its worst ever bushfire season. The blazes first ignited in September 2019 and have continued to burn throughout the Christmas and New Year period. Experts forecast that the fires are likely to devastate the east coast of Australia for another two months.

A total if 25 people and over 400 million animals have been killed by the fires which have burned about 14.5
The Managed Funds Association (MFA), the trade association for the global hedge fund industry, has named Bryan N Corbett as its new President and CEO. Corbett succeeds Richard H Baker, who has served in the position since 2008. Corbett begins his new role on 21 January, 2020 and will be based in Washington DC.
Corbett comes to MFA from The Carlyle Group, a global investment firm, where he was a Partner and Managing Director. Corbett led Carlyle’s efforts to create value for portfolio companies by deploying the firm’s network of global resources and relationships. For the first five years of
QMA, the quantitative equity and multi-asset solutions specialist of PGIM, has strengthened its Europe-based team with the appointment of Paul Lambert to the role of client portfolio manager for its QMA Wadhwani (QMAW) investment platform.London-based Lambert reports to QMAW’s chief investment officer, Dr. Sushil Wadhwani, CBE, and started the role on 6 January, 2020. PGIM acquired London-based QMA Wadhwani LLP (f/k/a Wadhwani Asset Management LLP) in January 2019. PGIM is the USD1.3 trillion global investment management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU).
Lambert was previously at Insight Asset Management, where he was head of currency for seven years, and
Semper Capital Management’s Semper Short Duration Fund (SEMIX, SEMRX) has surpassed USD500 million in assets under management as a result of strong performance and investor demand since inception in December 2010. The Fund has a 5-Star Overall Morningstar Rating out of 161 ultrashort bond funds as of 31 December, 2019.
The Fund’s primary objective is to provide a high level of current income while maintaining a focus on preservation of capital. The Fund employs an ultrashort fixed income strategy offering low correlation to short and core fixed income, with current yield, low interest rate sensitivity, and seeking to limit downside volatility.
