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Hedge funds returned -2.60 per cent in January as the asset class recorded its worst monthly performance since 2012, with macro hedge funds the only top-level strategy to post positive returns at 0.98 per cent, according to Preqin.
In a month when leading equity indices posted significant losses — the S&P 500 posted -5.07 per cent and MSCI World posted -6.05 per cent — hedge funds pursuing equity strategies returned -4.28 per cent.
By contrast, CTAs started 2016 with returns of 1.38 per cent, their best monthly performance since they made gains of 3.75 per cent in January 2015.
Victory Park Capital (VPC), an investment firm focused on private middle market debt and equity investments, has appointed Upacala Mapatuna as chief investment officer. Upacala will bring more than 20 years of financial industry experience and over 15 years of investing experience to VPC.
“We have known Upacala for many years and are thrilled that she has chosen to join VPC’s leadership team. She is well-respected in our industry with proven investment acumen that will position us for continued success,” said Richard Levy, CEO and founder of VPC. “Upacala will be able to contribute immediately and we view her joining us as a validation of our investment strategy.”
As chief investment officer, Upacala will sit on VPC’s investment and management committees
SimCorp has released version 5.9 of SimCorp Dimension, the first of two annual releases. Along with numerous other modules, new features, and further integration across the entire value chain, the release introduces new advanced additions to SimCorp’s Asset Manager.
The analytics functionality in the Asset Manager is now enriched with accounting analytics and tax lots enabling portfolio managers to measure and analyse data to better advise their clients on the accounting and tax implications of their investment decisions. The accounting analytics are particularly valuable to the insurance industry, and the tax lot visibility is particularly beneficial in countries such as
MUFG Investor Services, the global asset servicing arm of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, has appointed Mark Catalano (pictured) as Executive Director, Business Development.
Catalano will be responsible for driving new client engagement in the Americas with MUFG Investor Services’ asset servicing solutions. These solutions include fund administration, middle-office outsourcing, custody, depository, trustee, fund of hedge fund financing, FX and wider banking services. He will report into John Sergides, Managing Director, Global Head of Business Development & Marketing.
Formerly Head of US Business Development at Atlas Fund Services, Catalano brings a wealth of experience in understanding the needs of alternative
Institutional trading desks are approaching alternative trading systems with more caution and, at times, even skepticism, according to the Greenwich Associates 2015 Trade Desk Optimisation Study. And that’s despite dark pools’ share of total US equity volume holding steady at 14 per cent from 2014 to 2015.
“Traders are less likely to accept at face value the quality of execution they receive from dark pools,” says John Colon (pictured), Managing Director at Greenwich Associates, and author of a new report, What Lies Beneath: A Deep Dive Into US Equity Dark Pool Perceptions.
When asked about the pros and cons
Unigestion has hired a fund investment team from the London-based hedge fund group Cube Capital. As part of the deal, Unigestion has acquired the long/short fund managed by the team which identifies equity and credit opportunities linked to market dislocations.
The investment strategy of the fund will remain unchanged under the continued management of the team, which has achieved, as at the end of December 2015, an annualised return of 13.1 per cent with annualised volatility of 8.5 per cent since inception in May 2009. The team joining Unigestion to run the strategy is made up of Nicholas Linnane, Investment
Emerging markets asset management firm The Rohatyn Group (TRG) has appointed Christopher Seaver as a Partner. Seaver is a 24-year veteran in the industry with extensive experience in Asia-Pacific markets.
Based in TRG’s Hong Kong office, Seaver will be responsible for oversight of the firm’s regional initiatives in Asia including new business development and management of existing and new strategic partnerships. He will also serve on TRG’s Executive Committee.
Nicolas Rohatyn, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of TRG, says: “The addition of Chris to our leadership team reflects TRG’s continued enthusiasm for the dynamism of Asia’s diverse
Renewed selling pressure has translated into sharp losses for risk assets lately, with the European banking sector at the forefront of the selloff, according to the latest Hedge Fund Brief from Lyxor.
As usual in such episodes, equities, commodities and high yield credit were down, while “core” sovereign bonds posted gains.
Hedge funds have been pretty resilient in such adverse market conditions. As discussed in previous editions of this report, they have maintained a defensive allocation that proved highly supportive. The Lyxor hedge fund index was down 2 per cent during the period under review (2-9 Feb), while the
Cybersecurity specialist Cynet has secured a USD7 million investment from Lazarus, a US-based hedge fund.
Cynet was founded in 2015 by Eyal Gruner, Idan Amir, and Boaz Zilber, recognised leaders in Israel’s flourishing cybersecurity industry. Since its launch last year, Cynet has already experienced rapid growth with a global client base that includes dozens of large-scale enterprises in finance, healthcare, government, retail, and industrial sectors among others.
“We believe Cynet could be the next cybersecurity giant to come out of Israel,” says Brian Abrams, partner at Lazarus. “With their comprehensive solution and rapid proof-of-concept deployments, Cynet is going head-to-head
Powernext and the clearing house European Commodity Clearing (ECC) are to introduce a series of new measures throughout 2016 in order to further accelerate the positive development of the TTF futures market.
In 2015, the volumes traded on the TTF derivatives market via the PEGAS platform operated by Powernext increased to 429 TWh compared to 150 TWh in 2014. In addition, PEGAS set a new record with more than 100 TWh being traded in one month in January 2016.
Egbert Laege, CEO of Powernext, comments: “These new TTF initiatives will benefit our entire customer base and also attract further
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