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Palaedino Asset Management, adviser to the Axiom Fund, and Alix Capital, provider of the Ucits Alternative Index, have launched the first investable Ucits alternative index.
The Axiom Ucits Alternative Investable Index Fund is a Ucits III Sicav registered with the CSSF in Luxemburg offering weekly liquidity.
The new fund aims to replicate the Ucits Alternative Blue Chip Index.
The objective of this index is to provide a fair, reliable and unbiased representation of the Ucits absolute return performance. The index consists of a sample of the 50 top equally weighted Ucits hedge funds.
The Blue Chip Index is rebalanced quarterly.
The Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association, an association for credentialed alternative investment professionals, will launch its 12th chapter in Paris on 7 December.
The event is open to CAIA members, candidates and financial professionals in the alternative investment space.
Francois-Serge Lhabitant, chief investment officer of Kedge Capital Fund Management and co-author of the CAIA Level II: Advanced Core Topics in Alternative Investments, will speak at the opening celebration. His presentation is titled "Hedge Funds: from leading edge to bleeding hedge and back."
"We are delighted to close the year with the launch of CAIA France," says E. Craig Asche, executive
SEI has added absolute return strategies to its goals-based strategic portfolios with the aim of delivering further diversification and exposure to long-term capital growth whilst reducing risk.
In addition to existing asset classes, such as equity, fixed income, liquidity and property, SEI has added a portfolio of absolute return strategies – equity long/short, equity market neutral, credit long/short, and global macro funds – which use the full investment capabilities of Ucits III.
The SEI strategic portfolios are seven funds that embrace SEI’s goals-based investment philosophy, which combines modern portfolio theory with behavioural finance. Designed to meet a wide range of
BlueMountain Capital Management, a private asset management company specialising in the global credit markets, has appointed Louisa Strutt as director of business development.
Based in BlueMountain’s London office, where the firm employs nearly 20 executives, Strutt will implement business development strategies to attract institutional investors and consultants in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Scandinavia.
She will also be responsible for client relationship management and will have input in product development.
“Louisa is a seasoned professional with a proven track record of business development for alternative asset managers,” says Stephen Siderow, president of BlueMountain Capital. “She comes to
Real Estate Credit Investments, the Cheyne Capital managed investment company formerly known as Queen’s Walk, has reported an increase in net asset value from EUR1.59 to EUR1.69 per ordinary share since its recent fundraising.
The company’s net profit was EUR3.1m for the quarter ended 30 September 2010, compared to a net profit of EUR2.8m for the quarter ended 30 June 2010. This represents the fifth consecutive quarter the company has recorded a profit.
The investment portfolio generated gross cash flows of EUR4.5m in the quarter compared with an estimate of EUR3.5m and EUR6.1m received in the previous quarter.
Apollo Global Management has appointed Marc Spilker as president, effective 1 December 2010.
Spilker will run the day to day operations of Apollo and sit on the company’s executive committee.
In addition to Spilker, Apollo’s executive committee includes: Leon Black, chairman and chief executive officer; Josh Harris, senior managing director; Marc Rowan, senior managing director; and Henry Silverman, vice chairman and chief operating officer.
Black says: "We are excited to welcome Marc as president of Apollo and believe we will benefit from his deep experience in the financial industry. His successful career at Goldman Sachs and his extensive knowledge of
PJM Capital, the USD250m Washington, D.C. based quantitative CTA trend follower, plans to launch a new 2X programme in January 2011.
The programme aims to take advantage of the comparatively lower levels of volatility demonstrated by PJM’s existing programme in order to provide institutional investors with the opportunity to access a higher yielding profile.
Ahead of the launch, Signature Advisors, the single manager marketing division of Kenmar Global Investment Management (UK), has invited Peter Matthews, the portfolio manager and founder of PJM Capital, to London to present his philosophy on investment markets to a number of selected institutional investors.
Eurex Clearing has launched its Advanced Risk Protection solution, which enables clearing and non-clearing members to control their trading and operational risks by setting pre-trade limits on aggregate risk metrics such as the total margin requirement.
All members can define the level of protection for themselves, and clearing members are able to set limits for their non-clearing members.
Up to three staggered limits are activated when the pre-defined risk metrics are breached.
The risk checks are performed in real-time based on actual positions using real-time market prices.
“A reactive risk management approach is not sufficient to cope with the increasing
Hedge fund managers remain predominantly downbeat on US equities, according to the TrimTabs/BarclayHedge survey of hedge fund managers for November.
About 39 per cent of the 83 hedge fund managers surveyed are bearish on the S&P 500, and bullish sentiment sank to 31 per cent from 36 per cent in October.
“Moods are still somewhat sour, but hedge funds returned 7.0 per cent in the four months ended October following a rough patch in May and June,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. “About 80 per cent of the funds that reported returns for the January-October period are
Crown Managed Futures, the flagship CTA/macro multi-manager programme of LGT Capital Partners, is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.
Since inception the programme has generated an annual net return of 9.5 per cent compared to -2.0 per cent for the MSCI World Hedged USD Price Index.
Thomas Weber, partner at LGT Capital Partners, says: “In addition to excellent overall performance, CMF has delivered impressive downside protection, particularly during the two bear markets of 2000-2003 and 2007-2009, where it returned 28.6 per cent and 21.7 per cent, respectively. This, combined with high liquidity, full position transparency and an experienced, stable team
