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Hedge Funds have continued to deliver solid returns in 2015, with the Lyxor HFI up 1.3% last week and 3.4% year to date. The first quarter of 2015 is actually on track to be the best quarter for hedge funds since Q2-2007, when the Lyxor HFI was up 3.7%. At present, 85% of the funds included in our sample are positive year to date.
Investec Wealth & Investment (IW&I) has raised its allocation to alternative investments, specifically hedge funds, absolute return funds and defensive structured products, in a bid to ensure a balanced portfolio.
IW&I believes less correlated investments will provide a greater opportunity for outperformance over the next 18 months.
IW&I’s Asset Allocation Committee (AAC) has recommended raising the allocation to alternatives by 2%, at the same time as decreasing exposure to index-linked gilts and cash by 1% each. The switch was driven by the belief that these alternative investments can be sensible options for reducing portfolio volatility when the more conventional
The proportion of investment professionals that find Corporate Bonds overvalued has reached its highest level since the CFA Society of the UK’s (CFA UK) Valuations Index was introduced three years ago.
Some 76 per cent of respondents to the index, which polls the opinions of CFA UK’s 11,000 investment professional membership, consider Corporate Bonds as very overvalued or somewhat overvalued, an 11 per cent increase on Q1 2014. Furthermore, the proportion of investors who view the asset class as undervalued has fallen to its lowest level since the index began, halving year on year to 5 per cent.
Government
Coral Gables Asset Management has launched a new hedge fund, which employs a long-short trading strategy and seeks to exploit short-term and medium-term trading opportunities in the US equities market.
Dr Alok Kumar, Coral Gables Asset Management Chief Investment Officer, Gabelli Asset Management professor at University of Miami and leading researcher in behavioural finance, says: “We have a strong academic research background and have decided to go out on our own with cutting-edge proprietary quantitative investment models. We believe our models capture superior returns by systematically identifying cross-sectional investment opportunities that are often slowly aggregated by market participants.”
The fund
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued an order to Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (HKSFC) permitting US customers to deal directly with HKSFC-licensed brokers.
The exemption, which follows similar exemptions granted to other foreign exchanges or foreign regulators pursuant to Commission Regulation 30.10, means that licensed brokers will no longer need to register with the CFTC as futures commission merchants (FCMs).
The order has been submitted to the Federal Register to be published and the relief is effective as to each foreign firm upon the filing of certain representations with the National Futures Association.
Orders
Tower Fund Services today released the second video in a series designed to guide hedge fund managers through the common challenges faced by the emerging fund manager.
The latest video provides some simple steps and insights into the capital raising process for new hedge funds.
Tower’s Co-founder, Vince Sarullo, says: “AUM is the lifeblood of the investment management business and competition for assets is fierce. To grow AUM can be the single most difficult aspect of running a hedge fund business. Most small hedge funds are operated by former portfolio managers, traders or research analysts, who know how to manage
GFI Group, a provider of trading technologies and support services to the global over-the-counter (OTC) and listed markets, is to voluntarily delist and deregister its common stock from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
The Company has submitted written notice to the NYSE of its intention to voluntarily delist and deregister the common stock under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The delisting is expected to become effective 10 days after the filing of the required Form 25 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). GFI subsequently expects to no longer have obligations to file SEC reports with
Guernsey’s position as a leading centre for Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) transactions was underlined at a thought leadership event in London on Wednesday.
Hosted by Guernsey Finance, ‘ILS Insight London’ attracted more than 140 delegates and featured two panel sessions with ILS experts from Guernsey, the UK and mainland Europe sharing their expertise and insights into this fast developing asset class.
Dominic Wheatley, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance – the promotional agency for the Island’s finance industry, says the event was particularly timely as it coincided with the announcement by George Osborne, the UK Chancellor, that the UK was committed
Cornerstone Global Commodities is pleased to announce that it has been joined by
Duncan Preston, formerly of Vitol, has joined Cornerstone Global Commodities. He will be be based in London before opening Cornerstone's Dubai office.
Preston has substantial experience of commodity markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with particular expertise in structuring finance solutions, joint ventures and investments in physical commodity businesses.
Brian Murphy, Founding Partner at Cornerstone, says: "Duncan's expertise and skills are a powerful addition to the abilities of this energetic brokerage firm, as it expands its offering from traditional introducing broker services to comprehensive consulting
The SS&C GlobeOp Forward Redemption Indicator for March 2015 measured 3.91%, an increase from February’s figure of 3.64%.
“March redemption requests are in line with prior-year levels and represent quarter-end activity, plus slightly higher redemptions planned for the long-term,” says Bill Stone, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SS&C Technologies.
The SS&C GlobeOp Forward Redemption Indicator represents the sum of forward redemption notices received from investors in hedge funds administered by SS&C GlobeOp on the SS&C GlobeOp platform, divided by the AuA at the beginning of the month for SS&C GlobeOp fund administration clients on the SS&C GlobeOp platform. Forward redemptions
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