Latest News
The results from the 2011 Hedgeweek Global Awards can be viewed here:
http://www.hedgeweek.com/special/hedgeweek-awards-2011
Managed futures gained 2.85% in December according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index was up 6.26% for the year.
“As investor psychology fluctuated between risk-on and risk-off during 2010, the major market sectors – equities, bonds, currencies, and commodities – alternated rallies with price declines,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
All eight of Barclay’s CTA indices had gains in December. The Barclay Diversified Traders Index was up 4.19%, Systematic Traders gained 3.17%, Discretionary Traders were up 1.83%, and Agricultural Traders gained 1.74%.
“Renewed optimism for growth in 2011 helped to propel prices upward
Silk Road Management is to acquire the rights to MonBiz Mongolia Index and MonBiz Hong Kong Index, two equity indices MonBiz Media has co-developed with Eurasia Capital Ltd in 2010.
Following the acquisition, MonBiz Mongolia Index and MonBiz Hong Kong Index are renamed Silk Road Mongolia Index and Silk Road Hong Kong Index respectively. Eurasia Capital has agreed to continue providing its analytical support in maintaining and updating these two indices as well as assist Silk Road Management in launching several new regional indices.
Silk Road Management is an investment management firm focused on investments in various asset classes in
Pinnacle Fund Administration, a provider of full service fund administration services to onshore and offshore alternative investment vehicles, has expanded its North American operations with the opening of a new Vancouver office.
Pinnacle Canada Fund Administration Ltd, will be managed by industry veterans David Smith and Keith Donald and will serve the Canadian alternative market as well as strategic international locations.
Smith, a Canadian Chartered Accountant, is the co-founder of Pinnacle and has over ten years experience in the hedge fund industry. From 2000 to 2004, he practiced in the hedge fund industry in Bermuda, first at Ernst & Young
Morgan Stanley Credit Partners, the first dedicated corporate mezzanine fund from Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM), has held its final closing with USD956 million in capital commitments.
“This successful fund raise demonstrates the strength of the Morgan Stanley Credit Partners’ investment team, and the confidence investors have in Morgan Stanley,” says Gregory Fleming (pictured), President of MSIM and Global Research. “The demand for alternative investments, combined with the team’s leveraged finance expertise and ability to leverage Morgan Stanley’s global resources and relationships, contributed to the strong response from investors.”
MS Credit invests primarily in fixed income securities issued by middle
Eurex will introduce equity options with weekly expiration dates on 24 January 2011. It’s the first time that weekly options will be available on the exchange.
The Eurex Weekly Equity Options will be listed as separate contracts and will initially comprise derivatives based on shares of Daimler, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Telekom and Nokia (four per underlying stock).
Eurex will offer Weekly Equity Options for the first, second, fourth and fifth Friday of a calendar month, complementing the standard equity options series, which expires on the third Friday of every month. All other contract specifications will correspond to those of Eurex’s
Hedge funds gained 2.88 per cent in December and are up 10.86 per cent in 2010 according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
“After two years of strong gains, close to 64 per cent of the hedge funds that report data to us have now recovered from losses in 2008,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. "Although hedge funds under performed US equities in 2010, +15.07 per cent for the S&P 500 versus +10.95 per cent for the Barclay Hedge Fund Index, the S&P 500 still remains 8.3 per cent below its year-end 2007 close,
Private equity firm GTCR has entered into a partnership with David Minella to form Aligned Asset Managers (AAM), which will focus on building a multi-strategy asset management platform through substantial equity investments in firms across alternative and traditional asset classes.
GTCR, the firm that pioneered the Leaders Strategy of partnering with proven executives in growing industries to create market-leading companies, plans to invest up to USD200 million of equity capital to support the strategy, while Minella will serve as CEO of Stamford, Connecticut-based AAM.
Minella, a 35-year financial services industry veteran, was formerly CEO at Value Asset Management (VAM), a
Gartmore Group, which put itself up for sale late last year following the departure of several senior fund executives, is set to be acquired by Henderson Group plc, parent company of Henderson Global Investors (Henderson).
Henderson yesterday announced its offer to acquire Gartmore Group Limited (Gartmore). The combined Group will have around GB78bn assets under management and become one of the largest UK retail asset managers by AUM.
"The acquisition of Gartmore is a great opportunity for Henderson,” says Andrew Formica, Chief Executive of Henderson Group. “Gartmore has a highly complementary strategy and stable of products to that of Henderson.
Monday evening (10 Jan 2011) at the Barclays Wealth office in Brook Street, London, saw the official launch of a new product by Ifina. Entitled the Primary Development Fund, it provides a one-stop shop solution for unregulated managers looking to establish a fund umbrella structure and become the investment manager to their sub-funds.
Following a short introduction from Steve McCafferty of Barclays Wealth, Derek Adler (pictured), co-founder of Ifina, presented the fund to an audience that included Mary Chandler-Allen, London representative of the government of the Cayman Islands. Adler began by stating that it was the unregulated smaller start-up managers
