Latest News
NYSE Liffe, the Europe-based derivatives business of NYSE Euronext, is launching malting barley futures and options on 10 May 2010.
The NYSE Liffe Malting Barley Contract, which will encompass malting barley from any European origin in a 50-tonne lot size, has been designed to meet the growing demand for new price risk management tools from the European malting barley sector.
It is the only market available worldwide to meet the specific hedging requirements of maltsters, brewers and distillers as well as those engaged in the production and trade of malting barley.
Ian Dudden, director of commodity derivatives at NYSE Liffe,
Investors are demonstrating growing belief in a robust global recovery and have painted a picture of an ideal investment environment, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch survey of fund managers for April.
Belief in macro economic growth has intensified. The number of investors taking “above normal” risk in their portfolios is at its highest since January 2006, and investors are more bullish about the ability of companies to increase profitability.
The number of respondents predicting “above trend growth and below trend inflation” has risen sharply to 32 per cent from 21 per cent in March, the highest reading since the
Unigestion, a European privately owned asset manager, has appointed Philippe Gougenheim as managing director, head of hedge funds.
Gougenheim joins Unigestion from Man Investments where he was a senior portfolio manager, having held the positions of chairman of the firm’s investment committee and head of strategic research and management.
He was managing director of Millennium Capital Management from 2005 to 2008 and has previously headed proprietary trading and interest rate derivatives teams at Société Générale and JP Morgan respectively.
Based in Geneva, Gougenheim will lead the development of Unigestion’s funds of hedge funds business, which comprises 37 investment professionals in
Paladyne Systems, a provider of technology and services to the hedge fund Industry, has appointed Askin Leung as director of client services for the Asia Pacific region.
Paladyne has also increased its office space in Hong Kong to support its growing staff and Asia Pacific client base.
Leung brings knowledge of the hedge fund industry in Asia and will be responsible for all client service activities including implementation, training, and regional help desk support.
Prior to joining Paladyne, Leung was head of IT for a multi-billion dollar, multi-strategy hedge fund based in Hong Kong, and was the former Asia Pacific
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has obtained interim orders against Peter van de Steeg, Jonathan Ezzy, Peter Berlowitz and Scott Walker and their 16 associated companies due to concerns about the possible operation of a Ponzi-style scheme.
The Federal Court in Melbourne ordered that the defendants be restrained from removing from Australia, disposing of, dealing with or diminishing their assets up to the unencumbered value of AUD14.6m.
The matter will be considered further by the Court on 30 April 2010.
ASIC is concerned that the defendants may have been providing, or involved in conducting a financial services business without
Hoare Capital Markets, an agency broker focusing on the provision of OTC securities and derivatives, has made Sergio Marques and Andrew Sheppard partners and promoted Tim Cartmell to chief operating officer.
Marques (pictured) has gained experience in marketing and distributing cash and synthetic structured credit products during his time at Hoare Capital and Bank of America.
Before joining Bank of America, Marques was responsible for cash CLO structuring at Deutsche Bank. He will continue to drive ABS and structured product sales at Hoare Capital.
Sheppard brings over 23 years of fixed income trading experience to Hoare Capital from Westlb, Unibanco,
The hedge fund industry posted an estimated inflow of USD16.6bn, or 1.1 per cent of assets, in February 2010, according to TrimTabs Investment Research and BarclayHedge.
Hedge funds showed a positive return in each of the past 12 months, and industry assets stand at a 16-month high of USD1.5trn.
“Hedge funds sport a stellar win streak, and the average fund outperformed the S&P 500 last year,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. “Money is chasing performance.”
Distressed securities funds posted the biggest inflow (4.2 per cent of assets) in February.
Emerging markets funds lost money (0.1 per cent
Thorp Alberga, a newly formed Cayman Islands boutique law firm, has opened a Hong Kong office and appointed two partners.
Richard Thorp and Harriet Unger, formerly with Maples and Calder, will lead the Asian practice.
Both are authorised by the Law Society of Hong Kong to practise Cayman Islands law in the firm’s new Hong Kong office and are also admitted in the British Virgin Islands.
Thorp is a securities and funds lawyer who has acted on a broad range of funds and general corporate matters, including the establishment of private equity and hedge funds and advising the directors and
Peregrine Financial Services, a provider of wealth and asset management solutions, has purchased 50 per cent of South Africa-based Green Oak Capital, a fixed income hedge fund management company.
Green Oak founders Willie Viljoen and Rean Smit set up the hedge fund management company within Rand Merchant Bank in 2007.
The Stellenbosch-based fixed income manager currently runs two strategies, Green Oak Fixed Income and the more aggressive Go Green Fixed Income strategy.
The Green Oak investment team has on average over 18 years’ investment management experience. Before setting up the hedge fund business, Viljoen and Smit managed an internal fixed
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has charged Kuen Cheol Song, a citizen of Singapore, with engaging in fictitious transactions and trading non-competitively in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations.
Song has never been registered with the CFTC.
On 6 April 2010, the same day the complaint was filed under seal in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Honourable Naomi Reice Buchwald issued a restraining order freezing certain of defendant’s assets and prohibiting him from destroying documents and denying CFTC staff access to books and records.
The court set a hearing
