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Investors increased allocations to hedge funds in Q4 2014 as financial market volatility soared into year-end led by a steep decline in oil, Euro currency weakness and sharp drops in both the Russian Rouble and equity markets.
Investors allocated USD3.6 billion of new capital to hedge funds globally in the quarter, bringing the full year of inflows to USD76.4 billion, the highest calendar year of inflows since 2007, as reported today in latest edition of the HFR Global Hedge Fund Industry Report, released today by HFR®, the established global leader in the indexation, research and analysis of the global hedge
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued an order filing and simultaneously settling charges against Singapore-based Olam International and Olam Americas.
Olam operates a futures trading desk in London, England, and its subsidiary, Olam Americas, Inc. (Olam Americas), which is based in Summit, New Jersey, operates a futures trading desk there. Both companies purchase, sell, and trade cocoa and other agricultural products. The CFTC Order requires Olam International and Olam Americas to pay a USD3 million civil monetary penalty and prohibits them from committing future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC Regulations, as charged.
The
Houlihan Lokey, has appointed Patrick Collins as managing director in the firm’s Financial Sponsors Group based in New York.
Collins will primarily focus on assisting the firm's hedge fund and financial sponsor clients with distressed and special situations investment opportunities.
Collins joins Houlihan Lokey from Collins Investments LLC, the investment firm he founded in 2008, where he managed private equity and debt investments in small- and mid-cap companies. Prior to Collins Investments, he served as a Portfolio Manager and Head of Distressed Private Equity and Special Situations Private Equity at DE Shaw, during which he built a team of investment
Convergex, an agency-focused global brokerage and trading related services provider, has added two industry veterans to its international leadership team.
Philip Gough has joined the firm as chief executive officer of Convergex Limited, Convergex’s London-based brokerage. Gough will oversee all aspects of Convergex’s international business operations and will serve on the firm’s Executive Committee. In addition, John Holl has joined the company as managing director and head of Convergex Limited’s sales and trading. Both Gough and Holl will be based in London.
“Phil and John are proven leaders and seasoned managers; we couldn’t be happier to have them joining
The Cayman Islands Stock Exchange has appointed Eva Holtas Deputy Head of Listings and Compliance, effective 5 January 2015.
In this role, Holt assumes responsibility for supervising and processing listing applications and ensuring compliance among existing participants with the Exchange’s listing rules and procedures.
“Holt maintains the long standing practice of having first class expertise available to all users
of the Exchange to facilitate the listing process,” says Valia Theodoraki, Chief Executive Officer, CSX. “Her experience, gained through her previous roles, and her specialised knowledge of corporate finance make her a welcome addition to the team as the Exchange continues
MIK Fund Solutions, a provider of decision support software solutions for alternative asset managers, has expanded its geographic footprint into Asia, basing its APAC headquarters in Shanghai, China.
This is the latest in a series of strategic initiatives by MIK. The new office serves as a core piece of the foundation for the implementation of MIK’s 24 x7 global delivery model for software development and client support. MIK has resourced the expansion with a staff of 9.
Over 50 multi-billion dollar hedge funds, fund of funds, and private equity funds rely on MIK for sophisticated software solutions for real-time PNL,
FxPro Financial Services Limited (‘FxPro’) has launched a Prime-of-Prime service in a bid to attract institutional investors and enable them to benefit from greater transparency and trading cost efficiencies. With FxPro Prime, hedge funds, in particular start-ups (as well as other asset managers), will be able to trade against the high quality liquidity pool that FxPro has across 11 liquidity providers and avoid having to establish prime brokerage relationships.
“Those initial set-up costs can be high, the manager has to put up a lot of collateral, making it quite inaccessible for start-up funds or small operators. The way a prime-of-prime
Pershing Square Capital Management has appointed Stephen Fraidin, as a Senior Partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, has joined the firm as Vice Chairman.
Fraidin, a highly regarded mergers and acquisition advisor, has served on Pershing Square’s Board of Advisors since its inception in 2004.
“It’s an honour to welcome Steve to Pershing Square in a full-time role,” says Bill Ackman, Pershing Square’s founder and chief executive officer. “Over the past decade we have benefitted enormously from Steve’s wisdom, experience and judgment. Steve has been a key advisor on many of our most important investments, including our joint bid for
“Basel III and other regulatory issues and restrictions have a number of driving factors and downstream effects on tier one primes, which drives our whole investment thesis here at PrimeOne Solutions,” states Chris Chanod pictured), Global Head of Business Development, PrimeOne Solutions, part of CoreOne Technologies.
PrimeOne Solutions provides a gateway for new entrants to the prime finance space as well as an avenue for Tier 1 and Tier 2 prime brokers to reduce infrastructure and technology costs.
One of the key driving factors Chanod refers to is a reduction in profitability for primes. Margins have shrunk. This is pushing
“Our history is that we’ve been very welcoming to start-up hedge funds. Even as the opportunities to service larger managers grow, we’re not just walking away from what has been a significant part of our business,” says Jack Seibald (pictured), managing member at Concept Capital Markets LLC, one of North America’s leading introducing brokers.
Introducing primes like Concept Capital face a unique situation: on the one hand, they are well placed to grow as the quality and size of managers coming through the door increases as tier one primes reduce the number of managers they serve directly. On the other
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