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Hong Kong and Singapore have suffered a reverse of fortunes as they compete with New York and London as major centres for the world’s biggest hedge funds.
Referring to a survey produced by an industry publication, the Financial Times this week reported that the number of hedge fund groups managing more than USD1billion has fallen to 18, having stood at 21 six months ago. By contrast, New York has further strengthened its position as the hedge fund industry’s leading centre; its “billion dollar club” has grown from 139 to 153. London is pretty much unchanged, its number dropping by one
On 15 August the Singapore Exchange Derivatives Trading (SGX) requested an expedited Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) review of the SGX’s MSCI Indonesia Index futures contract so that it could be offered to US persons.
SGX also requested that the contract may be made available through direct access terminals in the US.
The CFTC’s division of market oversight reviewed the contract and determined that it satisfied the requirements of the Commodity Exchange Act and the Commission’s regulations, and approved both requests.
CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) has temporarily postponed the launch of S&P 500 Variance futures, originally scheduled to begin on 4 October.
The additional time will allow market participants to further prepare for the trading and clearing of S&P 500 Variance futures.
CFE plans to launch S&P 500 Variance futures later this quarter and will announce the new launch date when it has been determined.
Kim Frisinger has been appointed director at Kinetic Partners and will be joining the Hong Kong team to develop the firm’s forensic offering in Asia.
This appointment will further enhance Kinetic Partners’ forensic and disputes practice, making it easier for clients in the region to access the firm’s financial services expertise and broad experience of assisting clients involved in the most complex disputes and investigations.
Frisinger and the forensic team will increase the firm’s ability to serve clients facing difficulties in China and throughout the region. They will work closely with colleagues in the firm’s other offices.
Frisinger joins Kinetic
The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Core Hedge Fund Index closed up 0.47 per cent in September as five of the seven index component strategies reported positive results for the month.
Long/short equity (2.43 per cent) and event driven (1.46 per cent) were the top performers while emerging markets (-0.37 per cent) and managed futures (-2.72 per cent) were the two strategies to finish the month in negative territory.
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.
Benchmark Plus, a USD1.6bn fund of funds has launched a long/short equity tracking fund with an unusual "fee reserve" and clawback structure that has a 99 per cent correlation with the HFRI Equity Long/Short Index.
The Benchmark Plus HFRI Equity HedgeTrax fund is a response to two developments in the market: 1) the demand on the part of pension funds and other institutions for exposure to a broad swath of equity long/short strategies; and 2) the need for FoFs to change their value proposition in the marketplace, where institutions and others having been pulling assets from this market since the
Alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has purchased a 55 per cent stake in Vermillion Asset Management, a New York-based commodities investment manager with approximately USD2.2bn of assets under management.
Mitch Petrick (pictured), Carlyle managing director and head of global market strategies, says: “This is an important addition to Carlyle’s GMS platform. For many years Carlyle has successfully invested in a variety of energy, agriculture and infrastructure companies. Vermillion employs a liquid, relative-value, low volatility approach to trading both physical commodities and their derivatives to produce positive, uncorrelated returns.”
Drew Gilbert, co-managing partner and co-founder of Vermillion, says: “Our team
Maples Fund Services has expanded its hedge fund capabilities with the launch of a MaplesFS Connect risk dashboard that will complement the services provided to fund administration clients with a fully-integrated solution for online risk reporting.
This dashboard will further extend the MaplesFS Connect suite of online solutions.
The new dashboard leverages the technology platform that Maples Fund Services developed for its bespoke risk reporting mandates. Leading practices developed with individual clients have been incorporated into a pre-configured risk dashboard that can be rapidly implemented. Hedge fund managers can use the dashboard to obtain insights into their portfolio, enhance
The Shanghai Hedge Fund Association (SHFA) has appointment industry veterans, Anthony D’Silva and Christian Stoiber, as members of its International Advisory Council (IAC).
D’Silva (pictured) serves as managing director of Apex Investments/Apex Fund Services in Shanghai, a global fund administrator with presence in 15 countries, administering over 300 funds and over USD15bn in AUM.
Apex Investments, a subsidiary of the Apex group, was set up in 2008 in Shanghai to specialise in China deal sourcing and due diligence. Prior to joining Apex, D’Silva was director of investor relations and business development with SHK Fund Management. Before that, he worked with
IndexIQ is to launch its latest hedge fund replication exchange-traded fund on 4 October on the NYSE Arca.
The IQ Hedge Market Neutral Tracker ETF (QMN) will be the first ETF designed to offer investors liquid, transparent exposure to the performance characteristics of market neutral hedge funds.
QMN will join an IndexIQ hedge fund replication ETF family that already offers funds focused on global macro (MCRO) and hedge fund of funds (QAI).
