By Olivier Sciales – The European Union’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive is finally on the way to become law next July, at least in Luxembourg and other EU countries with ambitions to attract a larger share of the continent’s alternative investment business. However, the grand duchy is already benefiting for the preference among some hedge fund managers for a regulated structure that is already in place and benefits not only from free distribution throughout Europe but widespread acceptance elsewhere in the world – UCITS.     The drive toward use of the UCITS regime for alternative funds, despite

  Interview with Daniel Haefele of ACOLIN Fund Services in Zurich – Why should fund managers in the UK consider Switzerland?     The Swiss financial centre is attractive to both international and domestic investors alike. As of the end of 2010, assets under management in Switzerland totaled around CHF5,500bn, of which slightly more than half were invested by foreign clients. At the same time, competition is intense: more than 670 banks and securities dealers sell almost 7,500 funds.   Which market segments should fund managers target?   Market entry is fastest if you have a sales strategy detailing your

Interview with Rhodri Mason, Head of UCITS Management at Man Group – What are some of the benefits of QIFs that managers should be aware of? The key benefit is that QIFs give you Cayman-style investment flexibility, while speed to market can be significantly quicker than UCITS; QIFs can be authorised by Ireland within 24 hours. However bear in mind that QIFs have a minimum investment of EUR100k and SIFs of EUR125k.   How will AIFMD potentially increase adoption of QIFs?   One of the potential upsides of the Directive is that for the first time it will introduce a

By James Williams – It has been an encouraging first six months of 2012 for the alternative UCITS market. A couple of years ago total assets in these products were around EUR80billion. Now, according to Alix Capital, a Geneva-based firm whose UCITS Alternative Index Global tracks performance – and fund inflows – total assets in this space have grown to EUR129billion. And whilst the USD2.1trillion hedge fund industry has only attracted USD20billion in net inflows for 1H12, Alix Capital notes that ‘Newcits’ have attracted a similar volume, with inflows of EUR9billion recorded in Q2 alone.   Admittedly, it is still

The global economy can’t afford to wait any longer for euro zone (in)decisions. European stagnation is increasingly worrying US officials as well as those in the emerging markets. Given that Europe remains the major trading partner for both China and the United States, the economic slowdown of our economies has serious consequences for global growth prospects, says Laurent Deltour (pictured), Chairman, Sycomore Asset Management… Many economists, including GaveKal Dragonomics’ chief economist Andrew Batson, are predicting that Chinese economic growth may be lower than 5% in the future. At the same time, emerging market growth should be significantly superior to growth

Hedge fund flows as measured by the SS&C GlobeOp Capital Movement Index advanced 1.36% in August. "Net inflows resumed in August taking the cumulative Index to a new high despite the continued uncertainty in European and US markets," said Bill Stone, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SS&C Technologies. "Interestingly, outflows for the month were the lowest we have seen for August since we started tracking the Index." The SS&C GlobeOp Capital Movement Index represents the monthly net of hedge fund subscriptions and redemptions administered by SS&C GlobeOp on the GlobeOp platform. This monthly net is divided by the total assets