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PerTrac Financial Solutions, a provider of analytic and workflow solutions, has launched PerTrac RiskPlus, a returns-based risk analysis solution.
The new product is a collaboration with FinAnalytica, a provider of real world portfolio risk solutions for multi-manager funds, hedge funds and asset management firms.
“PerTrac RiskPlus is a breakthrough for hedge fund investors seeking more sophisticated risk monitoring for their portfolios,” says Gerry Mintz, PerTrac president and chief executive officer. “Using state-of-the-art statistics based on fat-tailed distributions, dynamic correlations and multi-factor models, PerTrac RiskPlus sheds light on opaque portfolios at a price far less than more traditional or position-based risk
SkyBridge Capital has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the fund of hedge funds, hedge fund seeding and hedge fund advisory businesses from Citi Alternative Investments, with total investments under management and advisory of USD4.2bn.
SkyBridge says the transaction will position it as one of the leading global alternative asset managers with a total of USD5.6bn in assets under management and advisory.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The businesses are part of Citi Holdings, the segment which contains Citi’s non-core assets and businesses.
The sale is consistent with Citi’s strategy to reduce non-core assets, tightly manage risks
March 2010 was the best month in the last ten for hedge funds and pushed the HFN Hedge Fund Aggregate Index to a new peak, surpassing the prior peak level set in October 2007.
Performance was strong in March and net investor flows were again positive, but below the high rate in February.
Positive returns were driven primarily by rising equity markets and supported by strong moves in energy and other major commodity prices.
Emerging market funds appear to have performed best, led by managers investing in Russia and the Middle East/North Africa region.
The HFN Hedge Fund Aggregate Index
NYSE Arca Europe will admit US equities to its trading platform when it launches the components of the S&P 100 Index for trading during the second quarter of 2010.
EuroCCP will offer clearing services for these securities with settlement taking place via EuroCCP’s account at The Depository Trust Company, the US central securities depository and subsidiary of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation.
This service will provide trading firms the first-ever opportunity to trade US securities on a European platform during European trading hours with settlement at DTC.
Initially, S&P 100 stocks will be admitted to the platform; however, further
Fortis Bank Global Clearing Asia Pacific has launched a network that enables algo traders, market makers and hedge funds to access multiple exchanges via proximity and collocation data centres from one single point of entry.
FBGC Asia Pacific worked over a 12 month period to devise the network to encompass over 12 different data centres in the Asia Pacific including official collocation and proximity exchange data centres in Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Osaka.
In Hong Kong considerable expense was invested to produce a data centre to harness a location as close to the exchange as possible.
Best of breed providers
The Conifer Group has completed a corporate reorganisation that results in a separation of the broker/dealer and fund administration businesses.
United under The Conifer Group, the affiliated entities are Conifer Fund Services and Conifer Securities.
The Conifer Group is a provider of middle office solutions, trading, prime brokerage and fund administration services to the hedge funds industry.
“Our focus continues to be on providing the most comprehensive suite of services for the hedge fund industry. Our business has steadily grown in terms of clients’ assets and complexity of products we support. As demand for customized solutions has grown,
Registered investment adviser Wexford Capital has outsourced fund administration to SS&C Fund Services, an independent fund administrator.
SS&C was selected as the administrator of record for all four of Wexford’s hedge funds in August 2009.
The new mandate was a result of Wexford’s decision to provide additional transparency into the pricing of their portfolios for their investors.
SS&C independently reviews Wexford’s internal accounting records and monthly performance results and verifies Wexford’s monthly reconciliations and investment valuations.
SS&C also provides all transfer agency and shareholder services to Wexford’s investors.
A client since 1994, Wexford also uses SS&C’s portfolio and partnership accounting
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
