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Dallas-based alternative investment manager Highland Capital Management has appointed Terry Jones as President of Institutional Products.
Jones will report to James Dondero (pictured), Co-Founder and President for Highland Capital Management, and will be based in Dallas.
Bringing more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, ones will lead Highland's discussions with strategic institutional allocators to drive solutions-oriented business development and serve as a complement to Highland's broader institutional sales platform. In addition, Jones will be integral in aligning portfolio risk management across the Highland platform and optimising Highland's risk management infrastructure with respect to identifying, assessing and
Hedge fund launches are under the spotlight in this extract from the Preqin Quarterly Update: Hedge Funds, Q3 2015.
Alternative mutual funds saw a significant rise in their share of new fund launches in Q3 2015. These structures accounted for 13 per cent of the new launches monitored by Preqin’s Hedge Fund Analyst, a 10 percentage point increase on the previous quarter (Fig 1). Their European equivalent, UCITS vehicles, also accounted for 13 per cent of fund launches in Q3 2015, an increase from 9 per cent in Q2 2015. Single-manager hedge funds maintained their dominance: these funds
This extract from the Preqin Quarterly Update: Real Estate, Q3 2015 examines current closed-end private real estate funds in market, looking at target capital, primary geographic focus, time spent on the road and a sample of the largest funds currently fundraising.
The number of closed-end private real estate funds in market has increased slightly since Q2, with 463 vehicles currently seeking USD160 billion in capital (Fig 1). The make-up of funds in market at the start of Q4 2015 remains relatively consistent, with the majority of funds in market and aggregate target capital focused primarily on North America (Fig 2).
The Abbey Capital Futures Strategy Fund, alternative investment manager Abbey Capital’s first liquid alternative mutual fund, which launched on 1 July 2014, has surpassed USD250 million in assets under management as at 30 September 2015.
The fund, which has returned over 22 per cent since its inception, offers individual and institutional investors access to a multi-manager managed futures mutual fund, comprising leading managed futures managers, and leveraging Abbey Capital’s expertise in manager selection, portfolio construction and risk management.
“The performance of the Fund since inception shows its value for investors as part of a diversified portfolio,” says Tony Gannon
In May 2014, MS Management Services SA, a Luxembourg-based subsidiary of the Maitland group, a leading global fund administrator, received authorisation from the CSSF to act as a third-party AIFM to alternative investment funds. At the same time, it established its own umbrella fund platform, MS SICAV SIF, to support managers wishing to fast track the process of launching a readily passportable EU product.
Kavitha Ramachandran (pictured), Director of MS Management Services, notes that managers in Europe are increasingly aware that the AIFMD brand is becoming popular with investors. "Initially, people were trying to look for ways to avoid it
Collaboration is extremely important for any service provider looking to do business in Luxembourg and in that respect, Circle Partners (`Circle'), an independent fund administrator, is no exception.
Having first established a footprint in the Grand Duchy in 2011, Circle has invested considerable time and money and is now beginning to see the fruits of its labours as it prepares to establish an umbrella SIF. The platform will act as an incubator for managers wishing to create a sub-fund as opposed to taking on the burden of establishing their own standalone fund structure.
Michel van Zanten (pictured) is a Switzerland-based director
One of the biggest challenges of AIFMD is that it directly impinges on investment activities at the manager level, as opposed to the fund level under the UCITS IV framework. This has required a shift in mindset, not just for managers, but also fund authorities in well-established fund jurisdictions such as Luxembourg.
For Luxembourg to take full advantage of AIFMD, it needs to build on its success as a UCITS hub by also becoming a manager hub. One where global investment managers use the Grand Duchy to establish management company operations, or appoint a third party AIFM, and run their
This summer, to further enhance the strength of its global network, BNP Paribas Securities Services) (BNP Paribas) chose to integrate EY's Global Fund Distribution (GFD) product into its wider Fund Distribution Services (FDS) offering. This gives clients access to a comprehensive range of information to help them determine which product to distribute, which jurisdiction(s) to choose, which investors to target and the most appropriate distribution channels.
As Jean Devambez, head of asset and fund solutions at BNP Paribas Securities Services said at the time, the partnership with EY gives clients "access to a wealth of information at the click of
MultiConcept Fund Management SA ("MultiConcept") is an AIFM and UCITS IV fund Management Company. Established in Luxembourg in 2004, MultiConcept has approximately CHF10.7 billion in assets under administration. It currently has 20 umbrella structures with 89 sub-funds.
With the AIFM Directive now in full swing, the demand for management company services as well as the ability to get to market quickly with a new fund offering is growing exponentially among alternative fund managers of all shapes and sizes. Cindyrella Amistadi is the CEO of MultiConcept. In her view, the potential growth is particularly strong in the more illiquid market (i.e.
Luxembourg has carved out a significant position as Europe's leading onshore fund domicile over the last 20 years. This has largely been based on the popularity of UCITS funds, and the fact that the UCITS brand is now one with genuine global investor appeal.
According to the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI), Luxembourg funds (including AIFs as well as UCITS) have grown 23 per cent over the last 12 months to EUR3.58 trillion. The jurisdiction is home to nearly 4,000 funds and 14,000 fund units.
More than 75 per cent of UCITS funds distributed globally are based in
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