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Global demand for gold in 2011 rose to 4,067.1 tonnes (t) worth an estimated USD205.5 billion – the first time that global demand has exceeded USD200billion and the highest tonnage level since 1997, according to the World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends.
The main driver for this increase was the investment sector where annual demand was 1,640.7t up 5% on the previous record set in 2010 and with a value of USD82.9 billion. The pre-eminent markets for investment demand in 2011 were India, China and Europe.
China and India remain the cultural heartlands of gold, generating 55% of global jewellery
Eurex Exchange is to introduce futures and options contracts on the RDX USD equity index on 19 March 2012. The new RDX USD derivatives will be based on the Vienna Stock Exchange’s RDX USD Index, which tracks the price performance of the most liquid depositary receipts (DRs) on Russian shares listed on the London Stock Exchange. The RDX USD Index currently comprises 15 securities.
Eurex Exchange has concluded a license agreement with the Vienna Stock Exchange for the introduction of the new derivatives. The RDX USD is one of the best known Russian indices in the world and has been
The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index finished up 2.34% for the month of January.
The top performing sub strategy was Long-Short Equity which returned +3.91 per cent, while the worst performer by some considerable margin – and the only sub-strategy to finish the month in negative territory – was Dedicated Short Bias with −7.58%.
New Forests Inc has launched Forest Carbon Partners – an investment vehicle for California-compliant forest carbon offset projects – and closeed of the fund’s first two transactions.
Forest Carbon Partners offers forest carbon offset project finance and development services to private forest landowners nationwide. The fund manages all aspects of project evaluation, development, registration, and credit sales. Through its portfolio of projects, Forest Carbon Partners will deliver carbon market revenue to landowners and a reliable supply of high-quality offsets to California compliance buyers.
In its first two transactions, Forest Carbon Partners has partnered with a family forest owner and
Macquarie Group will begin offering hedge fund capital-raising services to external hedge funds through its Alternative Investment Strategies (AIS) division.
The initiative will initially seek to represent three to five hedge fund managers on an exclusive basis. Target managers will ideally have at least USD500 million of assets with an ultimate target of at least USD1.5 billion and at least a three-year track record.
"Our reputation and track record, coupled with our global reach and institutional infrastructure, makes our approach an attractive alternative to any top hedge fund manager looking to outsource fund raising," says Jonathan Hall, Managing Director,
2012 starts on a robust footing for the hedge fund industry. January monthly returns have been one of the strongest in over a decade. After a lacklustre 2011 – in fact, the second worst year out of the last twenty – hedge fund performance is now set to benefit from a normalising trading environment.
For markets, 2011 again was one of the most volatile years in history. But for hedge funds, volatility per se has not been the real issue. The main driver of sub-par performance was to be found in the abnormally high level of correlation. Correlations across assets
Managed futures gained 0.05% in January according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
“CTAs have gotten off to a slow start in 2012,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge. “Even though seven of Barclay’s eight CTA indices had positive returns in January, the overall performance was basically flat.”
The Currency Traders Index gained 0.69%, Discretionary Traders were up 0.25%, Financial & Metals Traders gained 0.24%, and Agricultural Traders added 0.16%.
However, a 0.13% loss in the Barclay Diversified Traders Index brought down the overall average of the Barclay CTA Index. Since Diversified Traders make up
Gargoyle Asset Management has listed the Gargoyle Hedged Value (Master) Fund as a transparent fund on AlphaMetrix Global Marketplace (AGM).
As a transparent fund, the Gargoyle Hedged Value (Master) Fund will now be visible to the entire AGM community. Gargoyle will retain its existing fund structure and service providers, while also offering current and future investors in-depth risk monitoring, state-of-the-art reporting, customised transparency and a thorough background investigation via the AGM.
"Gargoyle is very excited to list our Gargoyle Hedged Value Fund with AlphaMetrix," says Josh Parker, President of Gargoyle Asset Management. "There are two elements key to delivering successful
Veteran high yield and distressed portfolio managers Scott Martin and C J Lanktree are joining Solus Alternative Management’s investment team. Most recently, Martin and Lanktree served as Co-Heads of Deutsche Bank’s Distressed Products Group. Both will join Solus effective March 1 as portfolio managers, reporting to President and Chief Investment Officer, Christopher Pucillo (pictured).
"Our investment team has worked with Scott and C J on numerous distressed investment transactions over the years. With their deep experience and understanding of complex restructurings, they will be a tremendous asset to Solus," says Pucillo. "We are excited they are joining us as we continue to
HazelTree, a leading provider of Treasury management services, and Treasury Curve, a firm that provides access to institutional money market funds from multiple providers on a single platform, are teaming up to provide hedge fund and asset management executives with true end-to-end service.
"This is all about empowering our clients and giving them the tools they need to maximise growth," says Stephen Casner (pictured), CEO of HazelTree. "Our partnership with Treasury Curve is a natural extension of HazelTree’s efforts to provide our clients with a fully encompassing Treasury solution that not only aggregates long/short positions, cash and rates across all
