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Alpha Strategic, an investment company focused on acquiring minority interests in fund management businesses, has appointed Alistair McKay as chief executive with effect from 1 October 2012.
His appointment follows Nicola Meaden Grenham’s resignation in early July 2012, who remains on the Alpha board as a non-executive director.
McKay (pictured), a chartered accountant, developed his career in investment banking, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, capital raisings and IPOs in the financial services sector with a particular focus on the investment management industry. He held senior investment banking positions at Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley and most recently was a senior
SS&C Technologies, a provider of financial services software and software-enabled services, has acquired full-service fund administrator Gravity Financial.
The transaction, which adds 40 fund services customers and 10 staff, supports SS&C’s strategy of targeted growth and leadership in the alternative fund services industry.
The acquisition will provide Gravity’s clients with access to the same team they work with today, backed by SS&C’s broader range of software and services for the alternative investment management industry.
“This acquisition expands our fund services capabilities with a talented group of professionals,” says Bill Stone (pictured), chairman and chief executive officer, SS&C Technologies. “The
The Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) has directed the Financial Services Authority to fine Stefan Chaligné, a Swiss-based hedge fund manager, GBP900,000 plus disgorgement of the financial benefit he obtained of EUR362,950 and Patrick Sejean, a former senior salesman on Cantor Fitzgerald Europe’s (CFE) London-based French desk, GBP650,000.
The FSA did not seek to fine Tidiane Diallo, a former junior trader on the same desk, as it accepted that he was in a position of serious financial hardship. Had this not been the case, it would have sought to fine him GBP100,000. The Tribunal also directed the FSA to
Edhec-Risk Institute and CFA Institute are reinforcing their executive education partnership (initiated in 2008 with the Advances in Asset Allocation Seminar) by offering the Advances in Equity Portfolio Construction Seminar.
The course aims to provide investment practitioners with the tools to better understand the limits and benefits of different portfolio construction approaches, and to discuss alternative equity index strategies.
The two-day programme is intended for finance practitioners who contribute to the design and implementation of portfolio construction models and is also insightful for investment professionals who analyse or decide on the adoption of appropriate model portfolios or benchmarks for equity
Maples and Calder’s global managing partner, Henry Smith, has been appointed to the global Council of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) following a membership vote at the association’s AGM in London on 20 September.
Smith (pictured) will be one of two representatives for the Americas region on the Council.
Smith has extensive experience in all aspects of offshore transactions, focusing particularly on private equity funds, hedge funds and structured finance transactions. He has advised on the formation of hedge funds and private equity funds in the Cayman Islands for some of the world’s largest and most recognised alternative investment fund
Assets of the Matrix Lazard Opportunities Fund have merged with the newly created Dublin-domiciled Lazard Opportunities Fund following the recent decision by Matrix Group to close its dedicated UCITS platform reported Investment Europe this week.
It becomes part of Lazard Global Investment Funds, an Irish-registered open-ended investment company. Lazard Opportunities Fund is a relative value capital structure and convertible arbitrage fund focused on special situations and events trading and offers investors weekly liquidity. Commenting on the new fund Mike Wariebi, head of alternative investments in Europe and the Middle East at Lazard Asset Management said that they anticipated “significant demand”
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed a civil enforcement action against Wisconsin resident Eric N Schmickle and his company, Q Wealth Management.
The CFTC complaint charges Schmickle and Q Wealth Management with operating a commodity futures Ponzi scheme. The complaint alleges that the defendants made misrepresentations to induce investment, misappropriated customer funds, and created and sent false account statements, invoices for commission, and tax forms.
Specifically, the complaint, filed on 24 September 2012, in the US District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, alleges that from at least May 2009 through approximately April 2012, Schmickle operated his fraudulent scheme
With effect from 1 October, bond trading on Xetra will be expanded to include over 2,000 international government and corporate bonds and 60 German government bonds.
Trading participants will benefit from a transparent and liquid bond market and gain access to a broad investor network via Xetra.
For the first time, the open Xetra order book will have a depth of five, showing the five best bid- and ask-limits and the market data dissemination offers trading participants complete transparency in pre and post trading. Xetra Bonds thereby meets the highest transparency requirements.
Designated sponsors and specialists provide additional liquidity in
Pacific Fund Systems has included an automated Form PF solution in the latest release of its PFS-PAXUS fund accounting and share registry software platform.
The solution, which is fully integrated into PFS-PAXUS, provides for the automated generation of an xml file for submission to FINRA’s Private Fund Reporting Depository.
The application also contains a user-friendly Form PF submission editor and an enrichment function to calculate and populate automatically those data elements which can be calculated directly from the PFS-PAXUS database.
Further functionality has been provided for file storage and organization of incomplete and complete submissions in the PFS-PAXUS database itself.
The Alternative Investment Management Association, the global hedge fund industry association, has formed a new AIMA Council, its board of directors.
The new non-executive chairman was named by AIMA last week as the former US Securities and Exchange Commissioner Kathleen Casey (pictured). She replaces outgoing AIMA non-executive chairman Todd Groome, who had been in the role since 2009.
Casey is joined on the new AIMA Council by Olwyn Alexander, partner, PwC; Mark O’Sullivan, partner, Ernst & Young; Phil Schmitt, president, Summerwood Capital; and Henry Smith, global managing partner, Maples and Calder.
Those continuing their directorships of AIMA are Andrew
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