Latest News
By Olivier Sciales (pictured) and Rémi Chevalier – Continued uncertainty regarding the provisions of the European Union’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, despite its formal finalisation on June 8, remains an important growth driver for the growth of Ucits funds offering alternative strategies. With the drafting of Level 2 measures to implement the directive in detail still months away at best, the lack of clarity is strengthening the appeal of Ucits to institutions as regulated vehicles.
An increasing number of alternative managers are rolling out Ucits-compliant funds to complement their offshore offerings. They provide a clear, transparent way not only
By James Williams – The alternatives industry is today experiencing a paradigm shift. Long the preserve of ultra wealthy individuals and family offices, hedge funds are undergoing a cloning exercise, with managers offering onshore vehicles to appeal to a wider investor base.
There are now in excess of 400 alternative Ucits and the universe keeps on growing, with recent surveys indicating that over 100 hedge fund managers are considering launching Ucits products.
“The growth rate in alternative Ucits is going to remain substantial for at least the next two or three years. That for me is very clear,” says Eric
Euro Pacific Asset Management, LLC, a Newport Beach, California-based asset manager affiliated with Peter Schiff’s brokerage firm, Euro Pacific Capital, has launched the EuroPac Hard Asset Fund. The fund, which will trade under the symbol EPHAX, is the fifth fund offered by Euro Pacific Asset Management. Other funds focus on such sectors as foreign bonds (EPIBX), small cap Asian equities (EPASX), international value stocks (EPIVX), and Chinese equities (EPHCX).
The new mutual fund attempts to provide capital appreciation and hedge against inflation over a long-term investment horizon by selectively investing in hard asset securities as well as those currencies that
Alternative assets managed on behalf of pension funds by the world’s largest managers grew 16% in 2010 to USUSD952bn (from USUSD817bn in 2009), according to global research produced by Towers Watson in conjunction with the Financial Times.
At the same time total assets under management (AuM) for these managers increased by 12% to USUSD1,904bn; and the research shows that half of their assets are now pension fund assets. The Global Alternatives Survey covers five alternatives asset classes: real estate; private equity fund of funds (PEFoF); fund of hedge funds (FoHF); infrastructure and commodities and includes rankings of the top managers
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a civil complaint charging CIS Commodities LLC (CIS) of Henderson, Nevada, and its founder and president, Allen Nicholas Ward, of Aspen, Colorado, with misappropriation of customer funds and misrepresentations and issuing false written statements to a customer. The complaint also charges Trans Global Investments, LLC (Trans Global), a Nevada company, its President, Charles Leroy Timberlake, of Plano, Texas, Ward, and CIS with misrepresentation and issuing false written statements.
On June 30, 2011, the day after the CFTC complaint was filed, Judge Gloria M Navarro of the US District Court for the District
Tikehau IM, the Paris-based asset manager specialising in credit and fixed-income markets, has reported, as of 30 June, over EUR600m of assets under management, on the back of EUR300m inflows during the first half of 2011.
Tikehau IM focuses primarily on three main segments of credit markets: bonds, loans and private debt. The investment vehicles offered are French open-ended funds, currently covering three main strategies (corporate credit allocation, floating rates notes, and subordinated financials bonds), as well as special situations fund and private-debt bespoke solutions.
Within the sole open-ended funds (UCITS) segment itself; Tikehau IM has more than doubled its
Marex Spectron Group, the global commodities and financial markets brokerage, has become the first broker to offer coverage of the Chinese coal swaps market.
This is a key development in the evolution of the coal market in China, which is the world’s biggest producer and consumer of coal − accounting for 48% of both global production and consumption in 2010.
CFR China 5500 grade swaps are now tradable via Marex Spectron’s live trading screen or over the phone through its voice brokering team. The swaps are settled against IHS McCloskey/Xinhua Infolink South China CFR markers. Prices across the quarters, seasons,
Eurex futures contracts on European processing potatoes (FEPP) traded in the order book have passed the 100,000 mark for the first time since their launch.
“The Eurex future on European processing potatoes is a very important price hedging instrument for the entire central European potato industry – from farmers to the processing industry. We are very satisfied with the liquidity the market has achieved in the past few months, and aim to continue contributing to this success,” says Rene van Diepen, Director of the Dutch Organisation of Potato Merchants (Nederlandse Aaardapple Organisatie – NAO).
Peter Reitz (pictured), member of the
Equity markets declined in June as investors continued to exhibit concerns with regards to increasing risk of default in European sovereign debt obligations. Commodities declined across the board on continued economic weakness, while US treasury yields rose, after declining sharply intra-month. The US dollar was little changed against major currencies, while also experiencing significant intra-month volatility.
The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index posted a decline of 1.22% for June, the largest decline since May 2010 and with negative contributions across all strategy areas. For 1H11, the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite gained 0.76, surrendering 1Q gains in 2Q with weakness concentrated
Richard Walsh (pictured), Head of Emerging Markets at Lombard Odier Investment Managers, on emerging market exposure to the Eurozone’s periphery…
The likelihood of a full-blown debt crisis in Greece has recently declined, but we expect tensions to persist in the euro zone periphery. Greece has now to implement its just-adopted consolidation package, which may further aggravate social tensions; Portugal needs to overhaul its economy to restore competitiveness; Irish banks are still shut out of capital markets; Spain is struggling to meet fiscal targets and markets are increasingly concerned about the health of Italy’s financial sector.
Market tensions in the euro
