Latest News
Earth Capital Partners has launched the ECP Forestry Fund One, targeting up to USD300m of investment.
The fund will invest in timber plantations and certain related assets in Brazil and other Latin American countries.
The fund will have a ten year maturity and intends to invest in six to eight projects.
It seeks to generate solid non-correlated returns through ownership of productive land and fast growing sustainable timber capitalising on the region’s unmatched biological conditions, human capital and other cost advantages.
Stanley Fink, chairman at Earth Capital Partners, says: “The fund provides a vehicle for institutional investors to engage in
Advent Software, a provider of software and services for the investment management industry, has opened its Singapore office.
The office is Advent’s third in Asia, which includes offices in Hong Kong and Beijing.
It will cater to clients across the region and strengthens Advent’s presence in the fast-growing Asia market.
“We have experienced tremendous momentum in Asia, having doubled our client base in the region in the past 12 months. The Singapore office will help accommodate this increased momentum and further enhance Advent’s ability to deliver innovative, reliable solutions to the investment management community,” says Peter Hess (pictured), president
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has obtained more than USD3.8m in civil money penalties and equitable relief in court orders against Tyrone “Cauzae” McCall and entities he controlled, McCall Business Group and MBG Global, both of Charlotte, North Carolina.
The sanctions resolve a CFTC enforcement action that charged them with solicitation fraud and misappropriation of investor funds in a commodity pool scheme.
The consent order of permanent injunction, entered on 23 April 2010 by US District Court Judge Frank D. Whitney of the Western District of North Carolina, requires McCall to pay USD782,625 in restitution and a USD1,027,000 civil
BNP Paribas has successfully completed a SAS 70 Type 2 examination of its US alternative fund administration, fund of hedge fund custody operations, and general computer controls.
The examination was conducted by an independent accounting firm.
The Type 2 report includes tests of operating effectiveness on a broad range of controls that cover from the setup of funds and investors through financial reporting.
Andrew Dougherty, head of US alternative and institutional solutions, says: “This report recognises the long-standing efforts to build the systems, processes and controls which we deliver to our clients every day.”
SAS 70 is the recognised auditing
Law firm Clifford Chance has elected 22 lawyers to its partnership, including three from the US.
Avrohom Gelber, Gareth Old and Jason Young all work in the firm’s New York office.
“We are happy to welcome these outstanding attorneys into our partnership," says Craig Medwick, regional managing partner for Clifford Chance in the Americas. "Avrohom, Gareth and Jason have distinguished themselves as excellent lawyers who have earned the respect and trust of clients and colleagues. Their appointments reflect our continuing investment in the US firm, and we expect them to help us continue driving growth in the Americas region."
Gelber
Standard & Poor’s and Experian are joining forces to launch a series of consumer credit default indices in the US.
The S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices, to be launched on 18 May 2010, will seek to measure the balance-weighted proportion of consumer credit accounts that go into default for the first time each month.
Unlike other publicly released metrics that recount previously defaulted loans or that measure delinquency rates only on securitised loans, the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices are based on a broad cross-section of the entire US consumer credit population.
The indices will consist of four
Mourant du Feu & Jeune lawyers Kate Storey and Lionel Woodward have been promoted to senior associate.
Guernsey-based Storey (pictured) qualified as an English solicitor in 2000 and prior to joining Mourant was a senior associate at Cobbetts in Manchester where she gained experience of corporate and commercial transactions and was also seconded to the in-house legal function at Matalan.
She joined the Guernsey office in January 2007 as a member of the finance and funds teams and qualified as a Guernsey advocate in July 2009.
Woodward, based in Jersey, joined Mourant in February 2006 after five years practice in
Guy de Blonay has been appointed lead manager of the Jupiter Hyde Park Hedge Fund with effect from 1 June 2010.
Blonay (pictured) will take on the management of the fund from Philip Gibbs, who will become deputy fund manager.
The fund has been managed by Gibbs since its inception in March 2000 and has returned 379.6 per cent in dollar terms and has never produced a negative annual calendar year return in its ten year history.
Blonay, who has 13 years’ investment experience, joined Jupiter from Henderson New Star where he was responsible for a number of
Fortis Bank Global Clearing has extended its Market Access services to include access to the Milan Stock Exchange.
Trading companies can now access the Milan Stock Exchange using the combination of Fortis Clearing Market Access exchange connectivity and Fortis Bank Global Clearing’s membership on the exchange.
Access to the exchange is offered via a fully redundant set up operated out of two data centres in London.
Sven Diepenbach, Market Access business development manager, says: “Offering our Market Access services to Milan Stock Exchange further completes our powerful European Market Access offering and is proof of Fortis Bank Global Clearing’s strive
Aegon Asset Management is launching a Global Opportunities Fund targeting investors wanting global macro exposure.
The fund aims to provide institutional and professional retail investors with competitive absolute returns from a diversified global portfolio.
It is a Dublin registered Ucits III fund, which is available to investors in Ireland, the Netherlands, the UK and going forward across Europe.
The launch marks the integration of Aegon’s asset management businesses across the world, and this fund brings together the investment management expertise of the teams in the Netherlands and the UK.
The fund will have a discretionary global macro strategy investing in
