Latest News
Cosmo founder to leave firm
Cosmo Investment Management, the South Korean arm of SPARX Group Co., Ltd., has confirmed that its founder, Kevin Choi, is to leave the firm. Choi has carved out a reputation as a leading Korea equity long/short specialist, turning Cosmo into one of South Korea’s largest independent advisory firms. Choi was unavailable to comment.
Boyer Allan launches UCITS Asian L/S fund
Boyer Allan, the London and Hong Kong-based Asian equity shop with USD800 million in assets, has rolled out its first UCITS-compliant fund on the Merrill Lynch platform. Hot on the heels of a long-only China-focused
Law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman has promoted five lawyers across its British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Hong Kong and Singapore offices and corporate, litigation and insurance practices to partner status.
Richard Evans (pictured) of Conyers’ BVI litigation department has over 15 years’ experience in commercial litigation and all contentious aspects of commercial and insolvency law. He has appeared as lead counsel in a number of leading decisions in BVI.
Evans specialises in obtaining and securing the enforcement of all forms of urgent interim relief, shareholders’ and connected disputes, and disputed debt/distressed funds matters.
Jeffrey Elkinson JP of Conyers’ Bermuda litigation
Odyssey Investment Management, an investment adviser based in New York City, has appointed Mikhail Filimonov as chief investment officer.
Odyssey will manage several funds specialising in global credit strategies, including a fund that focuses on special situations in the credit markets globally and another that specifically focuses on Indian convertible bonds.
“We are delighted to have Mikhail join us and we welcome his vast industry expertise,” says founding partner Jayavardhan Diwan.
Key members of the Odyssey team have worked together previously, including Diwan and Filimonov, as well as Christian Picot who is chief operating officer and Diana Imperatore
Investor demands for more clearly-defined, transparent and lower-risk products combined with regulators’ desire to exercise more control over the industry may result in the unwanted consequences of lower returns and constraint on innovation.
This is according to KPMG’s recent survey, “Keeping Ahead of the Curve: Investment Management in the New Regulatory Landscape”.
While regulatory constraints, including limits on short selling and leverage, higher capital requirements and restrictions on the use of certain instruments, may lead to greater investor and regulator comfort and confidence, they will also impact the ability for firms to generate alpha and, therefore, returns.
Tom
GlobeOp Financial Services has launched the GlobeOp NAV Transparency Report to help fund managers provide investors with greater visibility into the monthly calculation of a portfolio’s net asset value.
The report independently confirms pricing sources, position reconciliations, fund assets and liabilities, counterparty risk concentration, portfolio liquidity and where assets are held in custody.
"Fund managers recognise that good governance attracts further investment," says Tony Glickman, global head of risk services at GlobeOp. "Pension funds and other institutional investors, guided by the ‘Trust but Verify’ principle, have made independent confirmation of assets, positions and valuations a priority. In 2009, GlobeOp saw
Mount Lucas Management, a global macro investment manager, has hired Wall Street economist Robert J. Barbera as chief economist.
Barbera is accompanied by his long-time associate Jackie Kadre, who has been named economist at the firm.
Barbera has spent the last 28 years as a y respected Wall Street economist, and has gained a wide institutional following.
He is a frequent guest on CNBC, and is regularly quoted in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Barbera is former managing director and chief economist at Investment Technology Group, a brokerage and investment technology firm, where he was responsible
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued an order to Bursa Malaysia Derivatives permitting designated Bursa Malaysia members to solicit and accept orders and customer funds directly from US customers for trading on that exchange without having to register with the CFTC as futures commission merchants.
This exemption follows similar exemptions granted to other foreign exchanges or foreign regulators pursuant to Regulation 30.10.
Orders issued by the commission pursuant to Regulation 30.10 allow firms located in certain foreign jurisdictions to deal directly with US customers on non-US markets without having to comply with certain requirements set forth in the
The International Securities Lending Association is urging consistent and proportionate regulation for short selling, in response to a current European Commission consultation exercise.
The European Commission is consulting on measures that enable authorities to restrict or ban short selling temporarily in emergency situations, increase transparency to regulators and the market about short selling positions and reduce settlement risks of uncovered or naked short selling.
Isla believes short selling is a legitimate and important investment activity, which enhances price discovery, counteracts supply/demand imbalances and also provides liquidity to the market.
While in agreement with the European Commission’s desire to see consistent
The Guernsey Government’s publication of a consultation document on its future corporate tax regime has been welcomed by the promotional agency for the island’s finance industry.
Peter Niven, chief executive of Guernsey Finance, believes that it is a major step towards identifying a corporate tax regime which is both internationally compliant and remains competitive.
“Publication of the consultation document is positive news for the iland’s finance industry,” says Niven.
“It is important that we adopt a corporate tax package which maintains and indeed enhances the business flows into the Island and I am confident that this demonstrates we are making
Polar Capital’s assets under management rose by 71 per cent during the 12 months ended 31 March 2010, totalling USD2.5bn.
The recovery in AUM levels occurred during the second half of the financial year.
Polar’s core operating profit, excluding performance fees, was GBP0.02m at 31 March 2010, down from GBP1.3m the previous year.
Pre-tax profits were GBP3.1m, down from GBP12.1m in 2009.
The basic earnings per share were 3.1p at 31 March 2010, down from 12.1p in 2009.
Dividends for the year have been maintained at 4.5p per share.
Tim Woolley, chief executive, says: “Our strong reputation, increasing assets under
