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Man has reported statutory profit before tax from continuing operations of USD193 million for the nine months ended 31 December 2011 (12 months ended 31 March 2011: USD324 million), which is in line with estimates reported in the group’s 18 January trading statement.
Funds under management (FUM) at end February are estimated at USD59.5 billion (31 December 2011: USD58.4 billion), reflecting positive investment performance partially offset by net outflows and guaranteed product de-gears.
At 27 February 2012, AHL was 10.9% below high water mark on a weighted average basis. Man AHL Diversified plc meanwhile, is up 2.5% in the year
With year over year growth in excess of 15% in 2011, ConvergEx Prime Services – formerly known as NorthPoint Trading Partners – is well poised to continue to expand throughout 2012 and has increased its staffing by approximately 15% to meet those demands.
“Customers are more widely beginning to recognise the value of using a prime service provider that is owned by a technology company,” says Doug Nelson (pictured), chief executive officer of ConvergEx Prime Services. “By leveraging the synergies that were created when we joined ConvergEx, we are able to offer one of the most advanced prime service platforms
Paladyne Systems has announced a major new release of Paladyne Portfolio Master, its combined order management and portfolio management solution.
Launched in 2008 as the industry’s first combined OMS and PMS solution, Paladyne Portfolio Master is now deployed by 200 hedge fund and asset managers globally.
“Our commitment to continual innovation of our technology and products to meet the rapidly evolving needs of our clients is reflected in the release of Paladyne Portfolio Master 8.0,” says Sameer Shalaby (pictured), President, Paladyne Systems. ”Hedge funds and asset managers require sophisticated and proven institutional-grade solutions. Building on our already comprehensive suite
Schooner Investment Group has launched its second mutual fund, The Schooner Global Absolute Return Fund (ticker:SARIX), a multi-asset class fund providing both long and short exposure to domestic and international equities, fixed income, currencies and volatility.
Schooner continues to build its alternative mutual fund business with SARIX joining the firm’s flagship, hedged equity mutual fund, The Schooner Fund (ticker:SCNAX). SARIX is one of a handful of absolute return mutual funds that is global in scope, including exposure to emerging markets, and several asset classes.
Portfolio managers Alec Petro and Dr Brian Chen, head up the SARIX team. Co-founders of Absolute
Despite the FSA’s inability to uncover any evidence of trading irregularities by former Gartmore star trader Guillaume Rambourg there has been no attempt to build bridges with news that Rambourg’s new firm, Verrazzano Capital Partners, is preparing to launch a brace of hedge funds today, 1 March 2012, from Paris.
Both funds – Verrazzano European Opportunities and Verrazzano European Focus – will follow a European long/short equity strategy with Rambourg, as CIO, taking the portfolio management reigns of both.
Day one assets are expected to be several million dollars with up to USD500million targeted over the first couple of months
BlueBay Asset Management has implemented Imagine Software’s cloud-based ASP solution for real-time P&L and risk management. BlueBay a manager of fixed income credit and alternative products, manages a combination of long-only and alternative debt strategies covering investment grade, high yield, convertibles and emerging markets.
BlueBay’s requirement for live intra-day views of P&L and risk instigated a search for a real-time, multi-asset-class solution from a vendor with proven experience. Following careful consideration of leading solutions on the market, Imagine was chosen due to its extensive asset class and instrument coverage, robust functionality, and comprehensive data management offering. The latter is a
Direxion has appointed Greg Blue as Senior Regional Sales Director focused on the Florida market. He will be based in Tampa.
Blue is responsible for selling and distributing all of Direxion’s buy-and-hold alternative investment strategy products to financial advisors across all channels, including regional broker-dealers, registered investment advisors (RIAs) and wirehouses. He reports to John Cadigan, National Sales Manager of Direxion.
"Greg’s drive, integrity and commitment to empowering advisors and their clients to utilise alternative investment strategies are a perfect match for our efforts to educate this audience about the opportunities that exist for these products," Cadigan says. "Greg’s track
Hedge Connection has named co-founder Rob Arthurs as CEO. Hedge Connection will continue to offer hedge fund managers access to pre-qualified investors, an suite of marketing services and Morningstar’s hedge fund database, one of the most comprehensive alternative databases in the industry.
Arthurs is replacing Hedge Connection co-founder Lisa Vioni, who has accepted a position as Managing Director in the Investor Relations group of Cerberus Capital Management, LP, where she will initially focus on communicating Cerberus’ distressed mortgage investment strategies with existing and potential investors.
"The past seven years at the helm of Hedge Connection have provided an exciting opportunity
Global hedge funds’ assets totalled USD1,902 billion at the end of 2011 according to TheCityUK’s report Hedge Funds 2012. Although a 3% reduction from the previous year, it follows two successive years of growth that have seen assets increase by around a quarter.
Assets remain down on the 2007 peak but overall have risen 237% over the past decade. The number of hedge funds totalled over 9,800 at the end of the year, with new hedge fund launches outpacing fund liquidations for the second year running.
According to the report, the net inflow in funds is set to continue
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed and simultaneously settled charges that IAG Capital Management, LLC (IAG) and William Patrick Kelly of Weston, Connecticut, who operated a USD6 million commodity pool called the IAG Multi Strategy Fund LP, wrongfully used more than USD320,000 of pool participants’ funds for Kelly’s personal use, made false statements to the National Futures Association (NFA), and commingled pool participants’ funds with their own funds.
The CFTC order requires IAG and Kelly jointly and severally to pay a USD280,000 civil monetary penalty. The order also imposes permanent trading and registration bans against IAG and
