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Merseyside Pension Fund, one of the UK’s largest public local authority pension funds, is increasing the amount that Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company manages for it in funds of hedge funds.
Paamco has been managing assets for the fund for five years and following a recent review, the officers of the fund made the decision to consolidate their fund of hedge fund investments with the California-based firm by the end of the year.
Merseyside also has a number of direct investments in hedge funds and in addition to its enhanced asset management role, Paamco will take responsibility for conducting
Investment adviser FH International Asset Management has launched a hedge fund, the FH Emerging Markets Short Term Debt Fund.
“Superior growth and solid fiscal performance in emerging market countries, as well as high demand for income-generating products, have made emerging market debt an attractive asset class for investors,” says Steve Landis, the fund’s portfolio manager and managing director at FH International.
“We think this will be an exciting alternative for investors who are seeking yield from short duration investment funds and want to gain exposure to emerging market debt, recently one of the fastest growing and best performing asset classes.”
Managed futures gained 1.91 per cent in October, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
After three consecutive profitable months, the index is now up 4.53 per cent for the year.
“A depreciating US dollar and rising prices for equities and commodities in October continued to drive CTA returns for the second month in a row,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
“Although QE2 has been harshly criticized at the recent G-20 meeting, judging by its stated objective to increase dollar flows into investments, the Fed’s second round of quantitative easing seems to be working for
Offshore law firm Harneys has made two appointments that aim to strengthen the firm’s litigation and investment funds practices.
Philipp Neumann (pictured) has joined the firm’s investment funds department in the British Virgin Islands while James Noble is now part of the litigation and insolvency team in the Cayman Islands.
Neumann advises on all aspects of the formation and restructuring of investment fund vehicles in the BVI. He has extensive experience in the formation and restructuring of alternative investment structures and has also advised on cross border corporate tax planning.
Ross Munro, head of BVI investment funds, says: “Neumann brings
Kevin McConnell, fund manager of Bloxham’s Midas Global Absolute Return Ucits III Fund, has revealed strategies designed to fight liquidity difficulties in the market going forward into 2011.
“Our portfolio can go up to 100 per cent in cash when markets are highly volatile and uncertain,” says McConnell.
“Over 2010 we have seen high positive correlation between stocks making it a very dangerous market-place generally – and one where many long/short equity absolute return funds have struggled.
“We believe this newer strategy will provide consistent absolute returns with lower volatility, as it can identify trends long before other established techniques
Harmonic Capital Partners, a hedge fund manager trading long/short macro strategies, has appointed Alastair Smith as a partner.
Smith joins Harmonic from Polar Capital where he was a sales director.
He was previously head of sales at Aspect Capital and formerly at GAM and Man Investments.
Richard Conyers, founding partner of Harmonic Capital Partners, says: “Alastair’s arrival is a significant development for Harmonic as we look to broaden our client base and deliver the best service possible to our investors. Alastair comes with a wealth of experience and is well known and respected in the macro community. We are
Derivatives exchange Eurex has launched its latest software release.
Eurex Release 13 provides members with more flexible clearing solutions, new risk management functionalities and enhancements in the trading layer, for example a new optional interface and a further optimised matching system.
The risk management features included in Release 13 contribute to European and US regulators’ goals of achieving higher safety and stability of financial markets. The main components in the clearing and risk management areas are a client asset protection solution and new pre-trade risk management tools.
The client asset protection solution will enable Eurex Clearing users to choose among
Date: 18th November, 4.00pm-6pm followed by a drinks reception
Venue: Royal Society of Arts, London WC2N 6EZ
Final performance for the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index has been confirmed up 1.92 per cent in October and 8.02 per cent year-to-date.
Nine out of ten sectors posted positive performance for the month.
Managed futures was the top performing sector in October, finishing up 4.29 per cent as trend followers capitalised on positive commodity market performance driven by the prospect of quantitative easing and concerns over limited sugar and wheat supplies.
Long/short equity and emerging markets funds also posted gains of 2.00 per cent and 2.21 per cent, respectively, as equity markets continued to rally in October.
Dow Jones Investment Banker, a news, opinion, research and data visualisation product that aims to help bankers generate ideas and connect with clients, is now available in Asia Pacific.
The product is available for web delivery at DJIBanker.com, for integration into proprietary client portals and on the FactSet platform.
"Spurred by the region’s growing economies and booming public markets, Asia’s investment banking industry is healthier than ever," says Christine Brendle, managing director of Asia Pacific for Dow Jones. "Today’s bankers, however, face fierce competition for the best deals and clients. With columnists on the ground in the world’s leading banking
