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Sentry Investments, a Toronto-based investment management firm, has deployed Eagle Investment System’s hosted suite of solutions for data management, investment accounting, performance measurement and attribution, as well as the Eagle Analytics platform incorporating FINCAD Analytics.
One of the fastest-growing asset managers in Canada, Sentry chose the full Eagle suite to replace its existing investment accounting and portfolio management systems.
"Eagle’s proven integrated suite of portfolio management and accounting solutions will improve our workflow and advance our operations. By working with Eagle, Sentry gains an end-to-end solution that enables significant efficiencies," says Sandy McIntyre, president and chief executive officer, Sentry Investments.
BNP Paribas Securities Services (BNP Paribas) is rolling out a major investment programme to expand its hedge fund and fund of hedge fund administration services, for both UCITs and offshore funds. 


Placing transparency, market exposure, liquidity and control at the heart of its hedge fund administration platform, the custodian bank’s programme tailors its service to more closely match the key requirements of both start-up and established funds. 


Building on existing fund accounting, performance and risk monitoring capabilities, BNP Paribas’ investment programme now enables it to support hedge fund managers using all current strategies, including those employing high volume trading.


The
International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has launched a new global financial investors group to deliver a fully integrated offering to global financial investors, including Private Equity, Infrastructure Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) and Alternative Capital Providers (ACPs).
Led by corporate partners Ludwig Leyendecker (pictured) and David Higgins, the new group will bring together multidisciplinary teams that are at the cutting edge of complex multijurisdictional financial investor transactions, and support clients around the world by delivering a full service practice with deep finance, M&A and anti-trust capabilities.
‘Freshfields is consistently regarded as the firm of choice for complex cross
Diamondback Capital Management LLC has agreed to pay more than USD9 million to settle insider-trading charges brought by the SEC on 18 January. The proposed settlement is subject to the approval of Judge Paul G Gardephe of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
As part of the proposed settlement, the Stamford, Connecticut-based hedge fund adviser also has submitted a statement of facts to the SEC and federal prosecutors, and entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Under the proposed settlement, Diamondback will give up more
Castle Hall Alternatives, a specialist provider of operational due diligence to global investors, has expanded its activities to Europe, opening a new office in London. Michael Bolger, ACA CFA FRM, recently joined Castle Hall as Director to lead the firm’s European due diligence practice.
“We are delighted to expand our business in Europe and welcome Michael to Castle Hall,” says Chris Addy, CEO. “Our new location will enhance our ability to conduct due diligence on European asset managers and will allow Castle Hall to strengthen its relationship with our European clients.”
Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Castle Hall’s London office continues
The London Metal Exchange (LME) has launched LMEswaps for all of its non-ferrous metals. The financially settled contracts based on the average monthly price are the first of their type to be traded on-exchange in the world. They are designed for participants of the physical industry who need to hedge the monthly average price.
“LMEswaps introduce a new kind of contract to the market, which responds to the needs of the physical industry”, says Chris Evans, Head of Business Development at the LME. “For the first time, LMEswap users will benefit from a regulated market with the same counterparty default
MAM Funds expects its adjusted profit for the year ended 31 December 2011 to be materially ahead of current market expectations driven by revenue ourtperformance and cost control.
Amortisation is expected to be in line with prior years, while exceptional items are expected to include GBP1 million in respect of restructuring costs.
Funds under management at 31 December 2011 were unchanged over the year at GBP1.7 billion. The strong sales of Miton funds in the second half of the year were largely matched by expected redemptions from Midas funds. In addition, in a difficult market environment the successful launch of
Hermes BPK Partners, the USD2.3 billion alternative advisory boutique and fund of hedge funds manager, has launched Alpha Vault Managed Futures (Alpha Vault) with USD275 million of investment.
The alternative investment managed account solution is designed to provide portfolio protection to institutional investors during periods of market turbulence through concentrated investments in the medium term Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) space and has been developed following discussions with institutional clients throughout 2011.
This investment solution uses CTAs, also known as Managed Futures programs, to profit from upward and downward price trends in the liquid global futures markets. Through strict risk
PineBridge Investments has signed an agreement to invest in, and provide services to, Method Holdings (Method), a financial holding company focused on aggregating the wealth management subsidiaries of “Top 100” CPA firms.
The PineBridge-Method partnership is designed to bring PineBridge’s proven investment strategies, asset allocation capabilities and manager selection expertise to Method’s wealth management platform for Registered Investment Advisors.
Method invests in, and provides asset management services to, the wealth management subsidiaries of large public accounting firms. These services range from a state-of-the-art investment platform to providing investment advice to individual investors.
“PineBridge has a long history of being a
Meeting performance expectations is the number one challenge facing institutional hedge fund investors in 2012. At least that’s according to SEI’s fifth annual global survey entitled: The shifting hedge fund landscape: Part I of II, which the US firm conducted in collaboration with Greenwich Associates. Senior investment professionals from 105 institutions took part in the survey, the majority of whom (85%) were based in the US.
2011 was the second-worst year, performance-wise, for hedge funds: the average global fund was down 5%. Although the survey found that three of the four primary objectives for hedge fund investors related to risk
