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Gottex Fund Management, an alternative asset management group, has hired Debra Rothman as managing director, head of North American sales and marketing, and Mark Oestergaard as marketing director in Europe.
Rothman will be based in Boston and play an active and leading role in marketing and business development in North America.
She has an extensive background of consulting relations, sales, and product development and most recently was head of business development at SCS Financial, leading the expansion of its fund of hedge funds effort. During her 25 year career, she has held senior roles with Robeco Investment Management, Putnam Investments
Swiss alternative investment company Altin delivered a positive investment performance of 13.57 per cent for 2009, outperforming the HFRI Fund of Funds Index which recorded 11.55 per cent.
Altin’s highly liquid portfolio allows the investment manager to implement a dynamic approach to portfolio management and to benefit from current investment opportunities.
This translated into a significant investment programme into hedge funds in 2009, which was prolonged in the first quarter of 2010.
As the financial crisis deepened towards the end of 2008, the outlook for hedge funds was very poor. In fact, 2009 turned out to be one of the best
J O Hambro Investment Management has appointed James Du Boulay as manager of funds distribution.
Du Boulay will be based in London, reporting to Stephen Browne, head of marketing for the firm’s recently consolidated sales and marketing function.
Du Boulay will be responsible for marketing J O Hambro’s Waverton Ucits fund range and the Pepin and Tai Chi hedge dunds.
He joins from HIM Capital where he was head of sales and marketing.
Browne says: “James has a very successful track record of increasing inflows into long-only and hedge fund products and launching new funds to the market. Having someone
SEB is growing second fastest in Europe among prime brokerage for hedge funds, according to EuroHedge’s recently released European Prime Brokerage survey for 2009.
Representing a snapshot of the hedge fund market, the EuroHedge survey places SEB as one of only two banks which showed a rise in its number of mandates during 2009.
SEB "continues to enjoy a dominant market share in Scandinavia," EuroHedge noted. "The growth of those funds during the year also helped boost SEB’s asset figure impressively from USD10.4bn to USD14.7bn."
"We also continue to grow in prime brokerage because of our successful business plan –
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has determined that seven contracts traded on the IntercontinentalExchange perform significant price discovery functions.
As such, the contracts must be traded in compliance with applicable core principles and statutory provisions.
The commission considered a total of 24 contracts traded on three exempt commercial markets: ICE, the Natural Gas Exchange, and the Chicago Climate Exchange.
The commission determined that the other 17 contracts it reviewed were not significant price discovery contracts.
Exempt commercial markets are exempt from the provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act, other than the anti-fraud and anti-manipulation provisions. However, Congress provided a regulatory
Shaking off the frustrating association of blame for the global financial crisis, equity derivatives in Europe are now attracting buy-side traders who have been struggling with laggard volumes, fragmentation in the cash markets and the need for new avenues of alpha.
According to Tabb Group, Europe’s buy side is gearing up for growth and diversity in equity derivatives.
Driven by changes in fund strategies and renewed asset growth providing fresh impetus, Tabb says 71 per cent of buy-side firms expect higher turnover in their main products in 2010.
For some traders, derivatives are a tool to help with efficient housekeeping
F&C Asset Management has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire the Thames River Capital for consideration of up to GBP53.6m.
The figure comprises initial consideration of GBP33.6m and conditional consideration of up to a further GBP20m payable in cash, loan notes and/or F&C shares if Thames River meets certain financial performance targets.
Thames River Capital is a London-based asset management business with an estimated GBP4.21bn of assets under management as at 31 March 2010.
The board of F&C believes the acquisition represents an attractive opportunity to enhance F&C’s business and is consistent with its strategy of developing a multi-specialist
The securitisation market in The Netherlands is ideally placed to bounce back from recent worldwide economic difficulties and is expected to play a leading part in the global recovery.
This was the over-riding message from members of a panel of presenters at a structured finance event in Amsterdam this week.
Taking place at the World Trade Centre in the Dutch capital and organised by trust and fiduciary services provider Equity Trust, the "Rebound of Structured Finance" event attracted an audience of more than 70 intermediaries from The Netherlands.
Keynote speaker Sjoerd van Keulen (pictured), chairman of the Holland Financial Centre,
The UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) has charged Anjam Ahmad, an ex-hedge fund trader who worked with AKO Capital until last September, with one count of conspiracy to commit insider dealing.
The offence relates to trading in 22 different shares between June and August 2009. Ahmad has been bailed to attend City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 7 May 2010.
The FSA states: “These charges follow the searches and arrest of three men on 28 January 2010. The charges are unconnected with other searches, including the recent searches on Tuesday 23 March 2010.”
AKO Capital LLP is based in London
Hatteras Funds, a provider of alternative investment solutions for financial professionals, has named Brian Jacobs chief executive officer.
Founder and former chief executive David B. Perkins will continue as chairman, working closely with Jacobs on overall corporate strategy and investment management.
Jacobs (pictured) will lead a senior executive team of Robert Worthington, president, Michael Fields, chief operating officer, and Lance Baker, chief financial officer.
“Brian is a proven leader with 26 years of broad industry experience who can take Hatteras to the next level,” says Perkins. “He has a deep understanding of financial professionals and their clients’ needs, and a
