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Wilshire Consulting, the institutional investment advisory and outsourced-CIO business unit of Wilshire Associates Incorporated, has named Steven J Foresti as its chief investment officer (CIO).
Foresti, a managing director, will continue as head of Wilshire Consulting’s Investment Research Group, which oversees strategic investment research and the development of asset class assumptions for use in Wilshire Consulting’s asset allocation modelilng. Appointing him as CIO helps reinforce Foresti’s role in harnessing Wilshire’s investment and manager research into actionable recommendations for Consulting non-discretionary and OCIO clients.
“In this important role as Chief Investment Officer, Steve will continue to lead our investment research efforts
BNP Paribas Securities Services has completed the acquisition of Credit Suisse’s Prime Fund Services (PFS) business, a provider of fund administration, custody and banking services for alternative investment managers.
This acquisition makes BNP Paribas Securities Services a leader in the alternative fund administration space with USD237 billion in assets under administration.
Patrick Colle, General manager of BNP Paribas Securities Services, says: “This acquisition is a key step in the development of our global fund business and puts us in a good position to support the convergence of traditional and alternative managers.
“Our clients will benefit from the combination of PFS’
The current year is on track to be the best year for M&A ever. Since the beginning of the year, global M&A volumes have reached USD1800bn according to Bloomberg, the best first five months in twenty years. Such figures include announced, pending and completed deals and are thus subject to revisions. Overall, US deals dominate, accounting for 45 per cent of M&A activity year to date and in terms of sectors, health care is leading, followed by financials and communications.
By James Williams – Sovereign Wealth Funds are showing a lot of appetite for real estate assets as total AUM in this segment of the alternative funds space continues to build and investors look to diversify their portfolios.
North America remains the most favoured region, with 59 per cent of SWFs allocating to that market; down from 72 per cent in 2013 according to the latest research by Preqin in its 2015 Preqin Sovereign Wealth Fund Review.
Indeed, 57 per cent prefer a global approach, broadening out their portfolios to include trophy real estate assets as well as exposure to private
Following on from last week’s extract from the Preqin Hedge Fund Spotlight | May 2015, which focused on the largest hedge fund managers in the industry, Simon Dhadwal takes an in-depth look at the ‘USD1bn Club’ of institutional investors allocating at least USD1bn to hedge funds, including the significance of this group, investment preferences and new entrants to the Club.
The past 12 months have seen mediocre performance generated by the industry as a whole and a handful of high-profile pension funds publicly announced their intention to scale back their hedge fund allocations. Nevertheless, assets under management (AUM) across
State Street Corporation has appointed Effie Datson as global head of product for its Alternative Investment Solutions division. Datson’s initial focus will be on expanding the global footprint of InfraHedge, State Street’s USD15 billion managed account platform.
In this newly created role, Datson will be based in London and will report to George Sullivan, global head of Alternative Investment Solutions at State Street. Working together with Bruce Keith, global head of InfraHedge, her immediate focus will be to take responsibility for further developing the InfraHedge offering and introducing its bespoke, infrastructure-only managed accounts solution to large institutional investors globally. Datson
Irish accountancy firm MKO is joining with US accountancy firm, EisnerAmper, to form a new global network called EisnerAmper Global. MKO will now trade under the brand of EisnerAmper Ireland.
Alistair MacDonald, managing partner of EisnerAmper Ireland, believes the firm will now be better placed to serve its clients and continue to play a key role in bringing financial services and international trade to Ireland in advising leading Irish corporates and state bodies.
“Becoming part of EisnerAmper Global will give our clients access to global perspective and cutting-edge services by leveraging the expertise of circa 200 partners and 2,000 people
iPass Inc has reached an agreement with Maguire Asset Management, Francis Capital Management, Foxhill Opportunity Fund. and their respective affiliates and nominees, over the composition of the iPass Board of Directors.
iPass will appoint Damien Park, Richard Karp and Brent Morrison as new independent members of the Board, and Kenneth Traub will serve as an advisor and observer to the Board, all effective immediately. Park will also become chairman of the Board following the iPass 2015 annual meeting of stockholders, scheduled for 30 June, 2015. Park, Karp and Morrison join incumbent Board members John D Beletic, chairman of the Board,
Fred Alger Management, Inc., a leading asset management firm, announced today that
Ankur Crawford, PhD, is joining Patrick Kelly, CFA as Portfolio Manager on Alger SICAV – The Alger American Asset Growth Fund. Additionally, Kelly has been named Head of Alger Capital Appreciation and Spectra Strategies.
Alger SICAV – The Alger American Asset Growth Fund celebrated 10 years of strong performance under Patrick's stewardship last year. Patrick has served as Portfolio Manager for the Fund since 2004, and has nearly 20 years of investment experience. Additionally, the Fund has received numerous Lipper Fund Awards over the years, including six Lipper
Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets industry, has today announced that the
Minnesota-based hedge fund, Whitebox Advisors, has selected Options as its new managed IT provider. The deal has seen Whitebox migrate its entire global technology stack, which was previously managed internally, to the Options platform.
Whitebox, founded in 2000, currently has over USD4.4 billion under management with offices in New York, Austin, London and Sydney, in addition to its Minneapolis headquarters. Options is currently servicing over 120 users in the US, the UK and Australia as well as remote home offices.
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