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Hedge funds gained an average of 1.26 per cent in April, the fourth consecutive month of positive returns, following a five-month string of aggregate declines closing out 2018, according to the latest eVestment April 2019 hedge fund performance data.
Year to date (YTD) 2019 industry average gains of 6.52 per cent lag a global balanced benchmark but represent the industry’s best first four months since 2006, when aggregate gains were 7.62 per cent.
Among primary strategies, Event Driven – Activist strategies were big winners in April and YTD 2019, returning an average of +2.79 per cent last month and
The funds industry in Ireland contributes EUR837 million annually in direct taxes to the country’s exchequer, with 16,000 people now directly employed in the funds sector across the country, according to a new report from Indecon.
Indecon’s Economic Impact Assessment report launched today by the Minister for Financial Services, Michael D’Arcy and Pat Lardner (pictured), CEO of Irish Funds, found that the growth in the sector brings with it a EUR14 billion contribution to economic output which is being dispersed in communities across Ireland. The independent report focused on the profile and contribution of the investment funds industry to the Irish economy.
LFIS (La Française Investment Solutions), a Paris-based quantitative asset manager with USD12.5 billion AUM, is to fund two new research projects across important themes in quant investing and asset management, the next step in its long-term partnership with the Quantitative Management Institute (QMI).
The projects will explore new methodologies in quantitative investing and are being led by prominent academics in the field. The first, led by Hugues Langlois, Assistant Professor of Finance at the HEC Paris, seeks to develop a novel approach to portfolio optimisation and corresponds with QMI’s focus on addressing real-world implementation challenges. The second project, led by
SEA Asset Management (SEA AM), a boutique fund manager based in Singapore, and Seahawk Investments based in Eschborn, Germany, have formed a fund distribution partnership.
The collaboration of the two firms brings together the capabilities and services required to successfully launch and distribute alternative mutual funds. Among the benefits of the cooperation are synergies on all levels as the two boutique managers pool their industry and regional expertise and experience.
“Joining forces with Seahawk Investments in this collaboration helps us to mutually expand our reach in Singapore and Germany amid increasingly complex regulatory requirements,” says Alexander Zeeh, CEO of SEA
Drawbridge Partners, a cybersecurity consulting firm specialising in the needs of hedge fund and private equity managers, has acquired inCyber Security, inCyber Compliance’s consultancy division.
The acquisition gives Drawbridge Partners a portfolio of high-profile and long-term clients as the firm continues its impressive growth and focus on expanding its advisory, product and application portfolio.
Through the acquisition of inCyber’s best-in-class cyber advisory business, Drawbridge reinforces its holistic consultancy and solutions-based offering, providing financial services firms more tailor-made cyber programs, technical assessments, and strategic advice to ensure they have access to the highest degree of protection against internal and external threats.
Institutional alternative asset manager Crestline Investors has appointed Steven List as a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager of the firm’s Recovery Funds. He will be based at Crestline’s Fort Worth office.
“Steven joins us with over 25 years of asset management and corporate restructuring experience. His unique skill set is a great fit to help manage Crestline’s Recovery Funds while also providing the firm a great senior resource,” says Douglas Bratton, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Crestline.
List was previously a Partner at CR3 Partners, a national restructuring firm where he focused specifically on interim management, bankruptcy and
Commonfund Capital has held the closing of its second secondaries fund, Commonfund Capital Secondary Partners II with USD450 million of capital commitments sourced from investors including endowments, foundations, pension plans, insurance pools and family offices.
The total raised is more than double the USD170 million committed to Commonfund Capital Secondary Partners I in 2016.
“We are pleased to have received such a strong response from limited partners for our latest secondaries fund,” says Cari Lodge, Commonfund Capital Managing Director and Head of Secondaries. “With the size of the private capital secondaries market more than tripling since 2008, this fund
Mediolanum International Funds Limited (MIFL), the Irish management company of the Mediolanum Banking Group, has added four new Funds to add to its growing Best Brands umbrella offering.
The MBB Chinese Road Opportunity, MBB Emerging Markets Fixed Income, MBB European Small Cap Equity and MBB Global Leaders products will give investors exposure to today’s most promising investment universes, including emerging market debt, Chinese equities and European small caps.
Adopting a combination of top down and bottom-up approaches, all funds will seek to exploit the strengths of the different asset classes they invest in, whilst consistently integrating ESG factors into
Following on from an improvement in February and a strong March, April has been another positive month for CTAs. The SG CTA Index was up 2.76 per cent, and now it’s firmly in positive territory for 2019 year to date (+4.74 per cent).
The strong performance has been driven by trend-followers as the SG Trend Index was up 4.15 per cent and 7.16 per cent for year-to-date, ahead of the other indices, and all ten of the index constituents were positive. However, the Short-Term CTAs continued to find market conditions challenging and as a result were down slightly by 0.30
The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index was up 1.13 per cent in April, supported by the global equities which advanced on encouraging economic data and accommodative central bank policies.
Positive earnings surprises helped renew investors’ optimism in the global equity market, which rallied 3.38 per cent during the month as represented by the MSCI ACWI (Local). Returns were positive across geographic mandates, with hedge fund managers focusing on North America leading the pack as they gained 1.37 per cent in April. Asian hedge funds trailed behind their peers focusing on other regions, but still managed to generate positive returns. Looking at
