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Hedge funds secured another positive return in October, with all styles proving profitable as risk appetite remained positive on the expectation of an imminent announcement of further quantitative easing by the US Federal Reserve, according to hedge fund provider Man.
Equity markets continued along the same bullish path in October as in September.
However, speculation that any monetary easing in the US would be less than anticipated weighed on investor minds, with additional concern from some over an unexpected month-end interest rate rise in China.
Nevertheless, the MSCI World Index ended up 2.8 per cent with robust performance from materials,
Law firm Walkers says the confirmation of the final terms of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive and the removal of uncertainty for non-European Union fund managers marketing non-EU funds in the EU is a very positive development for the investment funds industry in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Jersey.
The final terms of the Directive, which were approved by the European Parliament on 11 November, allow for the distribution of non-EU funds to professional investors in the EU through both a private placement regime and a passport system.
The private placement regime, which has been the traditional
Following the acquisition of GLG by Man on 14 October, Man has appointed Richard Phillips as head of UK retail for the combined business.
Phillips, previously co-head of UK retail for GLG, will assume responsibility for developing and implementing the business’ retail sales strategy in the UK.
Key focuses for Man in the UK retail market include Man AHL Diversity and a range of products from GLG’s existing suite of absolute return and long-only products.
Phillips joined GLG from SGAM where he had worked since 1998 as head of UK retail.
Phillips says: “Both Man and GLG offer outstanding retail
Ratio Asset Management, a European equities alternative investment firm, has hired European small and mid-cap veteran Alice Squires to head its investor relations function.
Squires (née Pullin) was previously at Deutsche Bank where she was director and head of pan-European small/mid-cap equity sales from 2000 to 2005.
Squires began her career in investment banking at Natwest Securities in 1994 before moving to the Natwest UK small/mid cap sales desk in 1997.
Ratio Asset Management manages two European equities funds: the flagship Ratio European Fund and the Ratio European Opportunities Fund.
The Ratio European Fund is a small- and
Merchant Capital, the independent Ucits umbrella provider to the hedge fund industry, has formed a partnership with Altarius Group to provide lines of distribution across Austria and Germany for its stable of Ucits funds.
Merchant already has distribution agreements in place with a number of regional specialists in the UK, Spain, France, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Benelux enabling access to retail and institutional investor communities.
The Merchant platform will be registered for distribution across most European Union member states by the end of this year. This will facilitate Merchant’s distributors in being able to speak directly to investors, for example
Algorithmics, a provider of risk solutions, has expanded the customisation capability of Algo Risk Service, a hosted risk management, portfolio analytics and decision support tool, by adding eight new service extensions.
Algo Risk Service is a managed service that offers the configuration flexibility normally associated with an in-house deployment.
Algo Risk Service extensions are optional service extensions that give clients access to a range of advanced data management, optimisation, analysis and reporting tools, managed and supported by Algorithmics’ financial engineers and risk practitioners.
Roger Orde, senior director, Algo Risk Service, says: “Since its launch, Algo Risk Service has been
HSBC has appointed Phelim Bolger to its alternatives division, HSBC Alternative Investments, as head of UK sales reporting to Florence Picon.
Bolger joins from Union Bancaire Privée where he was an executive director and head of UK institutional business, and was responsible for the sales and marketing of UBP’s alternative and traditional funds to institutions, distributors and consultants.
Prior to joining UBP in 2004, Phelim was head of marketing for Key Asset Management, a fund of hedge funds provider. He also spent three years with JPMorgan Asset Management focusing on alternative asset management.
Picon says: “Phelim’s role will be
A new European credit fund, the Wiltshire Credit Opportunities Fund, is being sponsored by nabInvest, National Australia Bank’s direct asset management business.
NabInvest is a cornerstone investor in the fund and strategic partner in its manager Wiltshire Capital.
Wiltshire’s founder and principal investment manager is John Sullivan, an investment professional with 20 years’ experience in the hedge fund and finance industries and 13 years in European markets.
Before establishing Wiltshire Capital, Sullivan was a co-founder of Cognis Capital, a firm that grew to over USD500m in assets under management between 2003 and 2007.
Wiltshire has formed a joint venture with
As of 29 October the Salus Alpha Directional Markets VT heads the list of Salus Alpha Funds with a 1.97 per cent month-to-date return.
The fund has returned 7.93 per cent since the beginning of 2010.
The Salus Alpha Managed Futures was up 1.48 per cent for the month to date. The CTAs, global macro and FX managers in the Salus Alpha Managed Futures portfolio profited by continuing trends in equities, FX, interest rates and financials.
The Salus Alpha Commodity Arbitrage rose 1.34 per cent for the month to date. The fund’s result surpassed the result of the
Jersey Finance has welcomed the vote on the compromise agreement for the Alternative Investment Fund Managers EU Directive that was reached by European Parliament.
Geoff Cook, chief executive of Jersey Finance, says Jersey will meet the agreed criteria for ongoing market access into Europe.
“This is fantastic news for our funds industry, and removes any uncertainty that has existed in the market place while the Directive was under discussion. Jersey is also confident that it will be among the first jurisdictions to obtain a passport for non-EU alternative investment funds and managers, when it is introduced in 2015.
“Additionally, the
