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In light of the current fiscal and monetary concerns that are gripping the minds of investors around the world, Institutional Asset Manager asked the heads of some of the world’s leading asset managers to share their thinking on portfolio management trends post-Lehman and beyond 2011 in concise fashion. Nick Gartside (pictured), International CIO for Fixed Income, JP Morgan Asset Management, responds:
"2009 to 2010 was about capturing the generational opportunity in fixed income credit; both investment grade and high yield bonds sold off to very attractive levels. Many institutional investors grabbed this opportunity.
"2011 has been characterised by an anaemic economic
After four straight months of gains, managed futures lost 1.50% in October according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. Year-to-date, the Index is down 2.30%.
“A revival of animal spirits sparked by an improving economic picture and the appearance of a solution for Euro zone sovereign debt problems spawned trend reversals in many of the major futures sectors,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge.
Six of Barclay’s eight CTA indices had negative returns in October. The Diversified Traders Index lost 2.69%, Systematic Traders were down 2.15%, Financial & Metal Traders lost 0.68%, and Currency Traders
A new Farming Index, which will focus largely on Emerging Markets and global farming, has been launched by Indxis, an independent provider of bespoke indices, and GAIA Capital Advisors, a Geneva based fund manager and investment advisor specialising in global natural and agricultural investing.
Investors seeking to diversify investments by adding the agriculture sector to their portfolios should be interested in the attractive fundamentals and prospective returns available in this space. Over three years, the GAIA Farming Index has an annualised return of 20.29%, outperforming such references as MSCI EM small & mid cap by 8.56%, according to back-tested data.
The Honourable Jed S Rakoff, United States District Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, has entered a Final Judgment on Consent as to Mark Anthony Longoria, and a Final Judgment on Consent as to Donald Longueuil, in the SEC’s insider trading case, SEC v. Mark Anthony Longoria, et al., 11-CV-0753 (SDNY) (JSR).
The SEC filed its Complaint on 3 February, 2011, charging two expert network employees and four consultants with insider trading for illegally tipping hedge funds and other investors. On February 8, 2011, the SEC filed an Amended Complaint, charging a New York-based
The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index rebounded from September losses to start the fourth quarter up 1.73%.
Oliver Schupp (pictured), President of Credit Suisse Index Co, says: "The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index was up 1.73% in October, marking its largest monthly gain since April. Long/Short Equity was the best performing sector, finishing up 4.45% for the month, while Emerging Markets gained 3.70%. Conversely, the Dedicated Short Bias sector was the worst performer, declining -9.59% in October; the strategy, however, remains up 2.34% year-to-date."
Performance for the Broad Index and its ten sub-strategies is calculated monthly.
Sanne Group has recently moved to new offices in London, which will now be led by corporate and institutional services director, Martin Schnaier (pictured).
Schnaier has joined Sanne Group from Babson Capital where he was finance director with responsibility for the firm’s mezzanine and private equity business. He has over 10 years experience in the finance industry working with institutional funds, venture capital trusts, private equity and debt funds.
Sanne’s London office provides relationship management services to corporate and institutional customers and intermediaries, working with them to deliver tailored administration solutions across a multi-jurisdictional platform.
Schnaier says: “I am delighted
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a San Diego-based investment advisory firm and its president with fraud for failing to disclose a conflict of interest to clients and materially misrepresenting the liquidity of a hedge fund they managed.
The SEC’s Division of Enforcement alleges that Western Pacific Capital Management LLC and Kevin James O’Rourke urged clients to invest in a security without disclosing that Western Pacific would receive a 10 percent commission. Western Pacific and O’Rourke also failed to register as a broker, failed to provide required written disclosures to clients, improperly redeemed one hedge fund investor’s interest ahead
In light of the current fiscal and monetary concerns that are gripping the minds of investors around the world, Institutional Asset Manager asked the heads of some of the world’s leading asset managers to share their thinking on portfolio management trends post-Lehman and beyond 2011 in concise fashion. Jim McDonald, Chief Investment Strategist, Northern Trust, responds:

Overview – Like other institutional investors, Northern Trust has focused intensely on the evolving financial crisis in Europe, the prospects for economic growth in the United States and the sustainability of the boom in emerging markets. The primary driver of our five-year outlook is
Liontrust Asset Management PLC made a pre-tax profit of GBP1.7 million for the six months to 30 September 2011, according to the company’s latest Half Yearly report, This compares favourably with a loss of GBP3.9 million for the same period in 2010.
The company’s adjusted profit before tax was GBP22,000 (2010: Adjusted loss before tax of GBP1.6 million), while assets under management (AuM) totalled GBP1,192 million as at 30 September 2011 (2010: GBP1,128 million). AuM as at close of business on 10 November 2011 was GBPGBP1,354 million
John Ions, Chief Executive, says: “The GBP59 million of net inflows that Liontrust
Four years after the meltdown of the US sub-prime mortgage market and the credit crunch, allocators and investors still face a market environment that stubbornly refuses to return to ‘normal’.
Do market players need to learn new rules for a permanently changed environment? Do traditional assumptions about risk and return, correlation and market behaviour no longer apply?
In this free webinar sponsored by PerTrac, Simon Gray, Managing Editor of Hedgeweek, will review the challenges and choices facing allocators in turbulent times. Register for one of two sessions by clicking below:
Thusrday 17 November – 10.00am-11.00am GMT
Thursday 17 November
