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Commodities benefited from an uptick in global growth momentum in January.
Nelson Louie, global head of commodities in Credit Suisse’s asset management business, says: "Commodities increased in January, against the backdrop of a continued gradual improvement in global growth momentum, with the US data for the month of December suggesting that the fiscal cliff had little impact on spending. The Purchasing Managers Indices suggest that the fiscal cliff resolution has seen business begin to increase production in many regions. In addition to the positive data, risk appetite benefited from the decision by the US Congress to delay the debt ceiling
Maples Fiduciary Services has expanded its investment funds team in the Cayman Islands with the addition of Abali Hoilett as senior vice president and fund director.
Hoilett has extensive experience in providing director and trustee services to a wide array of investment fund structures and strategies.
In his new position, Hoilett will serve as an independent director on a limited number of hedge funds and private equity funds.
The investment funds team comprises 25 professional directors resident in the Cayman Islands, Delaware, Dublin, Dubai and Luxembourg, serving a broad range of investment fund structures.
“We are delighted to have Abali
Anthony Maniscalco, the former head of alternative asset management within Barclays’ financial institutions investment banking division, has joined Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), Blackstone’s hedge fund solutions business.
He will be a managing director on BAAM’s investment team, focusing his efforts with Greg Hall and other senior team members on building out its platform to purchase ownership interests in hedge fund businesses.
Hall says: “It is a great time for BAAM to focus on investing in leading alternative investment firms. Hedge funds continue to gain market share within the asset management industry, founder-owners are focusing on equity values and succession
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a call for evidence on the evaluation of the EU regulation on short selling and certain aspects of credit default swaps (SSR).
This follows receipt of a formal mandate from the European Commission (EC) seeking technical advice on the evaluation of the effects of the SSR.
In order to prepare its technical advice on the effects of the SSR, ESMA is inviting investors, market participants and any other interested stakeholders to provide responses to the questions outlined in the call for evidence by 15 March.
ESMA’s advice is expected to be
Hedge and private equity fund manager FSI Group has joined the AlphaMetrix TransparentFund platform. FSI Group will retain its existing service providers and enhance its already robust infrastructure by offering investors risk monitoring, reporting, customised transparency and a thorough background investigation via AlphaMetrix.
“FSI Group is an excellent addition to AlphaMetrix,” says Mikus Kins, chief product and business development officer at AlphaMetrix. “As a result of listing with AlphaMetrix, FSI will be able to provide investors with greater transparency that is independently verified and reconciled.”
Citi has been appointed by William Blair & Company to provide offshore fund administration services for its Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV funds.
Citi will provide an integrated range of services including custody, trustee, fund accounting, transfer agency and foreign exchange solutions.
William Blair launched its Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV funds in 2004 to allow European investors access to its investment strategies. Since then, the funds have grown to nearly USD1.6bn in assets as of 31 December 2012.
“As our overseas business continues to grow, we are excited to partner with an experienced fund administrator with a global footprint to support our expansion plans while
BTIG Australia, which specialises in institutional trading and related brokerage services, is expanding its Sydney office with the appointment of two experienced sales traders – Rob Farrington and Andrew Manchee.
“Australia is an important component to our expansion in the Pacific Rim,” says Steven Starker, co-founder of BTIG. “We are seeing an increasing level of opportunities in that region and the addition of Rob and Andrew will allow us to broaden our client coverage.”
Farrington joins BTIG as an equity sales trader. He has over 15 years experience in equity sales trading, most recently serving as head of sales trading
The Wine Investment Fund (TWIF) predicts that the fine wine index, the Liv-ex 100, will see the value of fine wine rise in 2013 by 14 per cent.
January provided evidence that the fine wine market is continuing its recovery. The main indices rose by 2.8 per cent (Liv-ex 100) and 2.5 per cent (Liv-ex Investables), the sharpest monthly increases since February 2011.
The volume and level of bids also continued to increase over prior months. This rise follows an increase of 1.3 per cent (Liv-ex 100) and 1.2 per cent (Liv-ex Investables) in December 2012 when the fine wine
A federal jury in Charlotte has convicted certified public accountant Jonathan D Davey, 48, of Newark, Ohio, of four criminal charges relating to a hedge fund investment fraud conspiracy.
The federal indictment, returned in February 2012, charged Davey with serving as the “administrator” for numerous hedge funds for the Black Diamond Ponzi Scheme; with soliciting over USD11m from victims with his own hedge fund, “Divine Circulation Services”; and with tax evasion.
The charges arise from the Black Diamond investigation, which has brought criminal charges against 11 individuals and CommunityONE Bank, relating to conduct that deprived over 400 victims of more
Opus Fund Services, an independent full-service fund administrator, has expanded its US platform with the opening of a New York office.
The Park Avenue location will initially focus on business development and will be headed by the new director of sales and business development, Jorge Hendrickson.
Hendrickson previously worked at Concept Capital Markets in its prime services group as vice president of sales and business development. Prior to Concept he worked for five years on the buy side, most recently at Trading Cross Connects, specialising in allocating capital and infrastructure services to emerging managers. He was previously at Intrepid Capital
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