Speaking at the Fourth Annual European Alternative Investments Conference hosted by Duff & Phelps in London on Thursday 20 September, Emmanuel Roman (pictured), President and COO of Man Group and CEO of GLG Partners, said that capital constraints being put on investment banks presented a great opportunity for hedge funds today. “I always said, 10 years ago our biggest competitors (in the hedge fund industry) were investment banks,” said Roman, adding that because of Basel III and the increased capital requirements being put on these institutions, there are attractive opportunities for managers to engage in direct lending and buy high

Altana Wealth, the investment management group launched by hedge fund manager Lee Robinson, has launched a distribution share class for the Altana Hard Currency Fund (AHCF). The distribution share class will pay four per cent annually by means of capital redemptions. It has been created in response to demand from investors who are looking for alternative methods to offset their recurring liabilities, whilst simultaneously seeking capital growth. Traditional instruments which have served this purpose in the past, such as government bonds, now have very low (and in some cases negative) yields.     Seeded with USD25m of Robinson’s own money, the

The Exchange Council of the European Energy Exchange (EEX) has paved the way for the launch of new day futures for the energy market. With this product, the exchange is responding to the trend towards trading in short-term products on the derivatives market which is observed, in particular, against the background of marketing of renewable energies. The Exchange Council approved the expansion of the product range with day and weekend futures for the base and peak load delivery of power for Germany and Austria. These maturities will supplement the existing Phelix Futures with a weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly delivery

In the 1990s Canada was a ‘basket case’ in terms of its public finances, but took the necessary action to rectify its situation, says Fundsmith founder, Terry Smith (pictured)… The UK had a record deficit in August, which is no surprise to me, any more than the fact that this is being followed by warbling by all and sundry, including some who should know better, about how the coalition government should be excused from its miniscule deficit reduction targets and polls about how people would like government to spend more. Really? How surprising-like all those rounds of applause from TV

Plenum Investment’s volatility-linked strategies are now available through a delta one certificate on the Pulsar Absolute Protect EUR TR Index. The current macro environment raises lots of interest in investment solutions that focus on tail-risk management. Plenum’s team around Dr Heiko Bailer has actively invested in volatility-linked strategies for a couple of years. The investable index is sponsored and calculated by BNP Paribas, with Plenum Investment as its investment adviser. The certificate offers absolute return and protects risky portfolios during tail events. The mechanism of the strategy switches between collecting carry (premium paid for protection) and going long volatility (offering