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Alternative asset manager Investcorp and Prosiris Capital Management, a New York based hedge fund manager led by former Goldman Sachs managing director Reza Ali, have formed a strategic partnership that will provide Prosiris with support and stable growth capital while giving Investcorp and its investors access to a specialised credit oriented strategy.
Prosiris will become the latest investment advisor on Investcorp’s Single Manager Platform, which has a total of USD1.6 billion in client and proprietary assets under management. Investcorp will provide Prosiris with an initial investment and will also provide marketing and operational risk management support and oversight.
Investcorp generally
Northern Lights Capital Group, which provides capital and strategic resources to boutique asset management firms, has named Bernie Norton a Director. Norton, who will be based in Denver, will focus on new business development and client service in the Midwest for the Northern Lights portfolio companies.
Norton brings more than 10 years of financial industry experience to his new role at Northern Lights. Prior to joining the company, he was a consultant relations manager at Denver-based Janus Capital Group, where he oversaw national institutional consultant relationships. Before that he was with ICON Advisors, where he was responsible for all
Diamond Dragon Advisors Limited of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Sydney is has appointed Kyung W Kim as CIO, Fund Origination and GP Advisory Services.
As a Senior Managing Director, Kim will be on the Executive and Management Committees and will be located in the Hong Kong office.
Formerly General Manager of Tokyo-based Shinsei Bank, Kim played a key role in establishing the bank’s Alternative Investment program which invested in private equity and real estate funds and hedge funds for the bank’s balance sheet. Prior to Shinsei, she was an investment banker for Warburg Dillon Read and Morgan Stanley. She
IMQubator, the hedge fund seeding platform backed by APG, has committed EUR25m in seed capital to the iSTAR fund being set up by Rudolph Shally and Thomas Artarit. Thomas and Artarit previously worked together at AIG Financial Products in Tokyo and London, before they left to found iSTAR Capital.
The iSTAR fund will have a trend following and carry strategy for various markets. The team will be based in Amsterdam and is in the process of creating a Dutch management company. The iSTAR fund will be Luxembourg domiciled and will be launched on 1 September.
Jeroen Tielman (pictured), CEO of
Laurent Guillet has been appointed CEO of Amundi Alternative Investments (Amundi AI). Previously Deputy CEO of Amundi AI, Guillet joined Amundi Investment Solutions (ex CASAM) in April 2007 to focus on the managed account platform. Before this he worked as Head of Equity and Fund Derivatives Sales for Europe, Middle East and Northern Africa in the Capital Markets Division of Calyon (2004-2007).
From 2001 to 2004, Laurent Guillet was Head of Sales, Equity Derivatives for France, Benelux and Switzerland at Crédit Agricole Cheuvreux. From 1994 to 2001, he was responsible for Fixed Income structuring and marketing for French financial
Outsourcing is an increasing fact of life for the financial services industry in the Channel Islands, but local firms differ in their approach. However, industry participants agree that maintaining service quality is vital.
Guernsey’s outsourcing guidelines enables fund promoters to take advantage of the island’s regulatory regime without the island hitting capacity problems as a result of its population constraints, according to Joe Truelove, head of Channel Islands business development for Kleinwort Benson’s corporate fiduciary division.
“Outsourcing effectively provides greater capacity and scalability, in some cases, than would be possible if all functions had to be performed on-island,” he says.
Independent wealth management firm Vestra Wealth (Vestra) has appointed Mario De Bergolis as head of operational due-diligence of its Hedge Fund Advisory Service – a new dedicated service for clients looking for due diligence, research and advice on alternative investments.
De Bergolis joins Vestra from GlobeOp Financial Services where he headed up the UK Implementations team. He has over 15 years’ industry experience within the hedge fund sector and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.
“The Hedge Fund Advisory Service is another example of Vestra providing clients with the highest quality of investment advice – in this case with a focus
In February this year, Deutsche Bank executed the first electronic CDS trades in full compliance with Dodd-Frank. In so doing, the USD582trillion (notional value) OTC market enjoyed its first taste of transparency. The trades were executed using Autobahn, an electronic liquidity and trade execution tool launched in 1996. Having evolved over the years, it offers clients a range of pre- and post-trade electronic services and has around 3,500 accounts actively trading on a daily basis. As well as banks and intermediaries, hedge funds and CTAs are a key user.
“We have hundreds of hedge funds using Autobahn and it’s a
The high levels of stock market volatility over the last few months resulting from natural disasters and continued political and economic turmoil have once again highlighted the need for proper diversification across asset classes, within investment portfolios.
During the month of March, the All Share index (ALSI) gained only half a per cent, recovering from a frightening 6.4% drop mid-month, primarily from the devastating earthquake and resulting Tsunami in Japan. In contrast, the monthly Blue Ink All South African Hedge Fund Composite (BIC), which tracks the performance of hedge funds in South Africa, delivered a 0.64 % return.
“Conservative
By John Roche, Partner, PwC – Whilst everyone no doubt has their own view of the financial crisis, what is clear is that its knock on effect has been dramatic.
Now regulators, particularly in the US, are on the offensive, keen to deal with the criticism levied at them. The Dodd Frank Act is one principal US measure. This article will focus on how it may impact a significant number of asset managers using the Channel Islands.
Dodd Frank
The Dodd Frank Act eliminates the ‘Private Investment Adviser’ registration exemption for asset managers to private funds. Previously, asset managers relied
