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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
As of 06/30/2011 the Salus Alpha Commodity Arbitrage VT heads the list of Salus Alpha Funds with 1.78% MTD-Return. The fund returned +1.78% in June to date and excellent +8.99% since the beginning of the year 2011.
The fund outperformed the Dow Jones UBS Commodity Index by 6.83% during the reporting period, which lost -5.05%, and it outperformed the S&P GSCI Index by 7.21%, which booked a loss of -5.43% in the reporting period. The 12 month rolling alpha of Salus Alpha Commodity Arbitrage to the S&P500 is 9% p.a., the 12 month rolling beta is currently -0.1. This implies that
Amida Capital Management II, LLC, a New York based investment manager, has hired Renata Cirne to assume the position of Chief Marketing Officer. Cirne will report to David Rich, Amida’s Founder and Chief Investment Officer.
“Renata’s solid business development and investor relations expertise will provide Amida with a dedicated focus in its continued effort to raise investor awareness. We are building out and strategically strengthening our marketing efforts. As Amida’s CMO, Renata will help us execute marketing and client service strategies focusing on institutional and consultant relationships, as well as wealth management firms and private banks,” says Rich.
Cirne brings
NYSE Euronext’s global derivatives average daily volume (ADV) of 8.8 million contracts in June 2011 represents an increase of 8.0% versus the prior year driven by a 19.7% increase in US options ADV and a 14.3% increase in European fixed income derivatives which offset a 14.4% decrease in European equity products ADV.
Cash equities ADV declined across all venues in June 2011, with European cash ADV decreasing 2.8% and US cash trading ADV decreasing 28.7% from June 2010 levels.
NYSE Euronext European derivatives products ADV in June 2011 of 4.6 million contracts decreased 2.1% compared to June 2010 and
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