The PIMCO Multi-Asset Volatility Fund treats volatility as an asset class and targets net annualised returns of 10 to 15 per cent with equivalent volatility, independent of broad measures of market return. Positions span interest rates, equities, commodities and currencies, and reflect structural, opportunistic and tail-risk hedging dimensions. Josh Thimons, Josh Davis and Matt Dorsten, the fund’s portfolio management team, are supported by PIMCO’s extensive firm-wide resources across trade operations, portfolio management/analytics and product management. PIMCO combines its deep understanding of volatility markets with a robust macroeconomic investment process. The portfolio is designed so that no single theme dominates. Within

London-based Peregrine Communications is one of Europe’s most successful specialist financial public relations agencies. Established in 2003 by partner and chief executive Anthony Payne (pictured), Peregrine has built an award-winning reputation based on proven results and first-class client service. Reflecting on 2011, Payne says the firm focused on pulling intellectual capital out of managers to package and translate their investment edge. This was helped by the hiring in June of partner and head of research Ermanno Mattio, who previously worked in research and business development for institutions ranging from Commerzbank to Credit Suisse. “We’re putting together messaging that communicates the

Mohican Financial Management, based in Cooperstown, New York and Wilton, Connecticut, was established in October 2002 by brothers Eric and Dan Hage, who between them have more than 35 years’ experience trading convertible securities. The rest of Mohican’s management team comprises credit analyst Marc Abizaid, chief financial officer Judd Vollbrecht, compliance officer Charles Hage, marketing manager Sean Nelen and operations manager Rebecca Gardner.   The Mohican VCA Master Fund, which was selected to join the Lyxor Managed Account Platform in 2007 as the Lyxor/Mohican Convertible Arbitrage Fund, focuses on convertible securities of small- and mid-cap US companies. In many ways

Last year Lyxor’s Managed Account Platform continued to go from strength to strength. A total of 28 new funds were onboarded to the industry’s largest individual commingled managed account platform across a diverse range of strategies including special situations, merger arbitrage, emerging market long/short equity, global macro and long/short credit. Four tenets – liquidity, performance, risk and transparency – make the Lyxor MAP a leading platform and have helped total assets under management rise to some USD11bn as of January. Around 120 funds, including both mutualised and dedicated funds,  are now available, offering unparalleled levels of transparency. Lyxor prides itself

Liongate Capital Management, founded in 2003, manages USD2.5bn in assets on behalf of its global client base, which includes leading global pension funds, wealth managers, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds. The firm’s flagship fund, the Liongate Multi-Strategy Fund, has outperformed the HFRX Global Index by an annualised 7.53 per cent since launch and also fund of hedge funds peers, while also providing lower correlation to hedge fund and traditional market indices.   An active approach to hedge fund strategy selection, including a greater willingness to redeploy capital, a focus on niche strategies, effective liquidity management and insistence on detailed

JP Morgan’s Hedge Fund Services (HFS) group resides within Worldwide Securities Services (WSS), providing comprehensive solutions to both hedge funds and funds of hedge funds looking to optimise operational efficiency, mitigate risk and enhance revenue. Its follow-the-sun business model and robust technology ensure that managers have the full support they need for all aspects of hedge fund administration. In addition, its first-class team of professionals, who understand complex strategies, service client needs in a diligent and efficient manner.   HFS supports more than 100 clients and 420 funds, equating to more than USD112bn in assets under administration. Over the past

The London-headquartered IMS Group is a leading provider of consulting and integrated business support to the asset management and securities industry. The group’s core service offering is regulatory compliance consulting to UK-regulated financial services firms. IMS supports more than 700 investment businesses, ranging from established global firms to start-ups. Of the firm’s 250-plus hedge fund clients, around 70 are UK subsidiaries of US hedge fund firms.    Today the hedge fund industry is undergoing a seismic shift in terms of the way funds are regulated. With Dodd-Frank in the US and the AIFM Directive in Europe, managers, and specifically compliance

So massive is the wall of regulation rushing toward the investment industry as a whole that regulators themselves are struggling to keep up. In February the European Securities and Markets Authority published its latest contribution to fleshing out the European Union’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, a discussion paper on key concepts of the directive designed to help it draw up technical standards. Sometime between now and July 22, 2013, Esma and the European Commission will have to finalise not only these technical standards and other guidance on how to interpret the directive but the so-called Level 2 measures, pieces

Two more fund managers joined IMQubator last year, taking the total number of seeded funds in its stable to nine. As a leading seeding platform, the business objective of the Amsterdam-based firm is simple: putting investors in control when investing in hedge funds and delivering to them a multiple income stream by investing in emerging managers. Each manager receives a seed ticket of EUR25m, with IMQubator taking a 25 per cent equity stake in the management company. All funds seeded by IMQubator fall under the umbrella of IMQ Investment Management, which acts as investment manager. According to chief executive Jeroen

EIM’s philosophy is to help investors, many of whom simply lack the resources to conduct in-depth analysis of managers, identify the right third-party managers relative to their risk profiles and allocate capital to them accordingly. “Our business has always been focused on bespoke portfolios, which make up about 90 per cent of our assets under management,” says Eric Bissonnier, partner, chief strategist and chairman of EIM’s global investment committee. The firm has some 85 managers on its list of approved funds, around 15 of them added in the past 12 months – for opportunistic reasons, Bissonnier says: “For example, we’ve