Pfaeffikon-based LGT Capital Partners, which manages more than USD22bn in hedge fund and private equity assets, has been investing in hedge funds since 1996. The firm offers institutions various channels to gain exposure to investment strategies, most commonly through its Crown programmes or, depending on the size of institution, via bespoke mandates. Pius Fritschi (pictured), head of hedge fund business development at LGT Capital Partners, says that while there were strong private equity inflows in 2011, with investors particularly favouring LGT Capital Partners’ expertise in secondaries, there was also a lot of interest in systematic (CTA) hedge fund strategies. “Pension

By Hans-Jörg Baumann – For many decades alternative investments have been gaining increasing attention in the financial world, with politicians, with the public, the press and, not least, regulators. They have been recognised as an important element of diversified portfolio management through the benefits of combining listed market activities with private markets activities. Amid the broader debate on the merits of active versus passive management techniques, alternative investment managers, whether involving hedge funds and the use of long/short investment strategies, or in private debt and private equity transactions, where managers carry out unlisted financing activities on the long side, all

Unigestion, a fund of hedge funds manager with USD12.6bn in assets under management and more than 230 institutional investors on its client book, first started investing in hedge funds back in 1986 and established its first institutional mandate in 1995. Its long track record has helped Unigestion develop a series of fund of hedge funds products that investors can access through separate tailor-made mandates or commingled vehicles. All the firm’s hedge fund assets are managed on behalf of institutions, half in segregated portfolios. According to managing director Jean-Francois Hirschel, increased correlation between asset classes is impacting Unigestion’s dialogue with its

Full transparency is not just important but central to the investment philosophy at Lombard Odier Investment Managers, which offers nearly a dozen internal single-strategy hedge funds with close to USD3bn in assets. The largest of the funds, which are marketed under Lombard Odier’s 1798 brand, is a global long/short equity-focused fund with USD1bn under management. In 2008, the industry lost money because of correlation between asset classes and illiquidity surprises. Says Jean-Pascal Porcherot, head of Lombard Odier Investment Managers’ alternative solutions group: “At that time we said that having our own risk management was important, and that’s why we place

  While Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, it obtains access to the internal market by adapting its policies and regulation to meet EU standards. As the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive is to be implemented in EU member states by July next year, a revision of the Swiss regulatory framework, the Collective Investment Schemes Act (CISA), is currently being debated and due to come into effect on 1 January, 2013.     In addition, a new financial services law – mooted for years but never enacted – is also expected to be introduced in the next

  Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild’s EDR Prifund Alpha range of 13 funds of hedge funds, seven of which are registered for sale in Switzerland, caters not only internally to private clients but increasingly to external institutions, which now make up about 30 per cent of its FoHF assets.   The bank’s flagship fund, EDR Prifund Alpha Uncorrelated, currently has USD2.65bn in assets under management, says Gilbert Hellegouarch (pictured), head of business development within the bank’s investment funds department.   “It’s a multistrategy fund that focuses on arbitrage, event-driven and multistrategy funds,” he says. “Fifty per cent of the portfolio

By Simon Gray – Proposed changes to the regulatory regime governing Switzerland’s fund industry have prompted a number of alarmist headlines in recent weeks. Is the country that up to now has not sought to supervise managers of funds domiciled outside the country, even if they actively desired it, now planning regulatory changes so drastic that they could drive managers into other jurisdictions, even inside the European Union, hardly a byword for supervisory laxity? The reality is rather more complex. The proposals to revise Switzerland’s Collective Investment Schemes Act (CISA) and their potential impact on the industry were the prime

By Markus Fuchs – Switzerland’s fund and asset management industry is on the brink of major change resulting from the ongoing review of the Collective Investment Schemes Act, which sets out regulatory requirements for both traditional and alternative funds. The review covers asset management and distribution, which are particularly important for Switzerland, as well as depositary issues. The draft legislation is currently in the consultation phase, and is under consideration by two committees of the Swiss parliament. The new law will most likely be approved by parliament in October and come into effect as of January 2013. The Swiss Funds