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Spot Trading, an equity options trading firm, has appointed Stephen A. Brodsky as chief financial officer.
The former president and chief financial officer of the holding company for the Chicago Stock Exchange will assume the role on 22 November.
Brodsky’s responsibilities will include ensuring the privately held company’s continued fiscal integrity and leading Spot’s efforts in strategic financial planning, budgeting, financial analysis and financial reporting.
He will also serve on Spot’s senior management team and work with the firm’s business partners, including exchanges, outside auditors, clearing firms, lenders and other financial institutions.
Rob Merrilees, founder and chief executive, says: "We’re
Merlin Securities, a prime brokerage services and technology solutions provider, has launched operations in Canada after receiving approval from the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada to operate as a dealer member.
Daniel Dorenbush has been appointed chief executive of Merlin Canada.
Merlin Canada will offer custody and clearing through the National Bank Correspondent Network, a subsidiary of National Bank Financial, in addition to Merlin’s current roster of US clearing and custodial options.
“We are delighted to have Daniel on board and to be working with NBCN, the Canadian leader in third-party and brokerage services,” says Aaron Vermut, co-founder and
HSBC Private Bank is maintaining its highest conviction overweight in hedge funds in the belief that the current investment environment calls for an active approach to risk management which can be provided by hedge funds.
Willem Sels, UK head of investment strategy at HSBC Private Bank, says: “Our view that we will avoid a double dip recession appears to be gaining ground, particularly given the additional quantitative easing in the US announced last week. We remain optimistic regarding the future opportunity set for hedge fund managers. As evidenced by the events of recent months, the current investment environment calls for
Asian hedge funds continued their strong performance in the third quarter, with the HFRX China Index gaining 10.5 per cent, according to data released by Hedge Fund Research.
Strong Q3 returns have brought year-to-date performance of the HFRX China Index to 5.5 per cent, outperforming the benchmark Shanghai Composite by nearly 25 per cent.
As a result of the strong performance and indicative of the growing global investor interest in exposure to Asian markets, assets invested in Asian hedge funds increased by nearly USD4bn to USD78bn, inclusive of over USD300m in net new investor inflows.
The Asian hedge fund industry
Concordia Advisors, an independent hedge fund manager, has appointed Cathleen Rittereiser as director of investor relations and business development.
Rittereiser will initiate and manage relationships with institutional investors and advise Concordia on communications strategy.
Rittereiser is the co-author of two books, Top Hedge Fund Investors: Stories, Strategies, and Advice (Wiley, 2010) and Foundation and Endowment Investing (Wiley, 2008), and has over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and relationship management roles.
She has worked with asset management and financial services firms such as Symphony Asset Management and Alternative Asset Managers.
Rittereiser began her career at Merrill Lynch,
Cornerstone Acquisition & Management, a sub-adviser to Centaur Performance Group, has acquired a portfolio of royalty interests in producing oil and gas properties located in Southern Oklahoma, operated by Houston-based Citation Oil and Gas.
“This transaction is indicative of the type of private assets we like to target and acquire for our investors,” says Derren Geiger, portfolio manager of the Caritas Funds and chief operating officer of Cornerstone.
Cornerstone currently manages in excess of USD100m of oil and natural gas royalty interests diversified across 21 states and several hundred counties.
“We target properties located 100 per cent onshore
Six out of seven of IndexIQ’s hedge fund replication and alternative beta indices posted a positive performance in October.
The best performing index was the IQ Hedge Long/Short Beta Index, which rose by 1.92 per cent in October and is up 5.97 per cent year-to-date.
The IQ Hedge Event-Driven Beta Index was up 1.28 per cent in October, the IQ Hedge Market Neutral Beta Index rose 0.56 per cent, the IQ Hedge Emerging Markets Beta Index rose 1.33 per cent, the IQ Hedge Fixed Income Arbitrage Beta Index gained 0.56 per cent and the IQ Hedge Composite Beta Index added
Dorchester Capital Advisors, a California based SEC registered investment advisory firm, has hired Kyle McDaniel and Jay Van Ert as partners serving as chief strategy and administrative officer and as partner over portfolio construction, respectively.
They will complement the existing team in hedge fund research, portfolio construction and risk management and will be appointed to the firm’s management committee where they will help manage the firm and implement long term strategic initiatives.
McDaniel most recently served as chief risk officer and manager in strategic research and risk management for Teacher Retirement System of Texas, one of the largest pension plan
Despite the challenges faced by hedge funds in recent years, 50 per cent of households with a net worth of USD25m or more, not including primary residence, own hedge funds in 2010.
This is according to "The USD25m Plus Investor," a new report released by Spectrem Group.
This represents a 43 per cent increase in hedge fund ownership from 2007, when just 35 per cent of the wealthiest households invested in this alternative asset class. The mean hedge fund holding for this group is USD4.6m in 2010.
"While hedge funds have gotten something of a black eye in recent years,
Blackthorn Investment Group has received the 2010 Lipper Award of Excellence for the best equity market hedge fund in North America and the 2010 Lipper Award of Excellence for the best equity market hedge fund in the offshore division.
This is the second consecutive year that Blackthorn has won in the North American division.
The Lipper Fund Awards highlight individual funds and fund families that have delivered consistently strong performance relative to peers. Both of the awards won by Blackthorn, which included every category for which Blackthorn was eligible, are for consistent performance over three years.
“We believe these awards
