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With the UK’s coalition completing half of its term in government, the Chancellor was under pressure to deliver more measures to stimulate growth in his Autumn Statement, says Azad Zangana, European Economist at Schroders…
Facing a faltering economy largely knocked off course by external factors, George Osborne had little room to manoeuvre, especially as the Office of Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) had judged the government to be unlikely to meet its target to have debt as a share of GDP falling between 2014/15 and 2015/16.
The main headline from today’s statement was the downgrade of the UK growth forecast from the
Hedge fund Diamondback Capital is to close after investors asked for the return of USD520m – more than 25 per cent of the fund’s current assets.
Diamondback co-heads Richard Schimel and Larry Sapanski informed investors of the decision by letter on Thursday having seen assets shrink from around USD5bn two years ago to what would be less than USD1.45bn following the latest rash of redemption requests.
The firm, which was founded in 2005 by Schimel, Sapanski and Chad Loweth – all previously involved with Stephen A Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors – has been involved in a US government insider trading
The National Futures Association (NFA) has permanently barred Strategic Trading Associates, a New York-based commodity trading adviser, and temporarily barred Francis Littleton, a principal and associated person of the firm.
The action is a result of an NFA complaint filed 11 September and a settlement offer submitted by STA and Littleton.
The complaint, issued by NFA’s Business Conduct Committee, alleged that STA violated several NFA requirements, including: acting as a commodity pool operator without registration, acting as a forex firm without NFA approval, failing to file required pool reports, failing to file disclosure documents, using misleading promotional material, failing to
The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Core Hedge Fund Index closed up 0.33 per cent in November as six of the seven index component strategies reported positive results for the month.
Emerging markets (1.29 per cent) was the best perfumer while convertible arbitrage (-0.07 per cent) was the worst and the only component strategy in negative territory for the month.
The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Core Hedge Fund Index provides daily published index values which seek to enable investors to track the impact of market events on the hedge fund industry.
Asian ex-Japan hedge funds returned an estimated 1.28 per cent in November according to Eurekahedge, to leave in a reasonably satisfying position of +7.49 per cent YTD. What a sharp contrast to the same period last year, which saw losses of -3.89 per cent and a dismal YTD return of -11 per cent.
Strong performers last month included CTA/managed futures, gaining +3.48 per cent, and multi-strategy hedge funds, up +3.31 per cent. That leaves them +7.38 per cent and +7.65 YTD respectively. Long/short equity strategies recorded more modest gains of +1.07 per cent to leave them up +6.94 per cent
KPMG, the US audit, tax and advisory firm, is adding several new hires to its alternative investment funds (AIF) practice’s national team in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The practice is also making additional moves to boost experience and expertise in alternative investments in the firm’s West Coast offices.
"KPMG is clearly dedicated to serving the alternative investments industry and we are continuing to invest our resources to further broaden and enhance our team, which includes bringing in some of the very best people in the industry," says Al Fichera, national partner in charge, alternative investment funds – audit.
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The British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (FSC), the jurisdiction’s financial regulator, has published guidelines for a new type of investment management licensing regime targeting non-institutional investment managers of small and mid-sized investment funds.
The Investment Business (Approved Managers) Regulations, 2012 – known as the Approved Managers Regulations – come into force on 10 December 2012. The regime will provide eligible investment managers of BVI funds opting to also domicile their investment management vehicles in the jurisdiction with a streamlined regulatory framework, acknowledging both the sophistication of investing into such funds and the lower systemic risk posed by these funds
Orangefield Group, a provider of administration, management and trust services, has acquired hedge fund administrator Columbus Avenue Consulting.
The division will officially operate under the Orangefield-Columbus brand.
Orangefield-Columbus has over USD25bn in assets under administration. Clients will continue to work with their same management teams and benefit from a global suite of operational capabilities and services.
Joep Bruins, chief executive of Orangefield, says: “We enter North America by providing hedge fund services for which we are already leading the industry. Partnering with Columbus Avenue sets us up for success in North America. It also creates a strong base for offering
There are signs of optimism for funds of hedge funds as both investors and managers see the model as resilient and relevant to the long-term investing landscape, despite declining assets and recent negative headlines seeming to signal their decline, according to a study released by SEI.
Nearly three-quarters of investors and consultants polled (72 per cent) believe FoHFs still play a valuable role in institutional investment portfolios, while 84 per cent of those polled believe that FoHFs will exist 20 years from now – assuming they evolve to address growing investor concerns.
The report, titled: "The Evolving Funds of Hedge
The Credit Suisse Liquid Alternative Beta Index was down 0.24 per cent in November, according to Jordan Drachman, head of alternative beta strategies at Credit Suisse.
The merger arbitrage strategy was the most significant contributor to performance, finishing up 0.85 per cent for the month.
Event driven strategy is the second most significant contributor, finishing up 0.41 per cent, and continues to be the highest performing strategy year-to-date, up 9.57 per cent thus far in 2012.
The managed futures strategy was the most significant detractor from performance, finishing down 0.65 per cent for the month.
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