Latest News
The past year-and-a-half has been particularly difficult for alternative investment professionals.
As a result of the fraud scandals that have made regular headlines over the past two years, everyone has become much more aware of the risks presented by business partners, clients and employees.
Insparo Asset Management has expanded its finance and operations team with the appointment of Nimika Karadia as operations analyst.
The Insparo Africa & Middle East Fund has recently been adapted to offer shorter redemption terms to increase investor interest, and Karadia’s responsibilities will involve adjusting operations to accommodate the anticipated growth.
She will work alongside chief operating officer Jon Laidlow and finance and operations manager James Gore.
Karadia will handle all operational duties including trade settlement cycle, cash and position reconciliations for Insparo, which offers frontier market investment opportunities through the fund.
Prior to joining Insparo, Karadia was
ABC Quant, a provider of risk management analytical solutions for the hedge fund industry, has incorporated a virtual hedge fund universe concept into its flagship product, Quant Suite multi feed edition.
The new concept integrates instruments from various data providers into a single workspace, called Global Wallets, to allow hedge fund investors constructing subsets of hedge fund universe that combine funds from multiple vendors.
The universe is populated by four data vendors, Morningstar, Eurekahedge, HedgeFund.net and Hedge Fund Intelligence, and provides an aggregated access to over 22,000 hedge funds, fund of funds and CTAs.
Any instruments, even from different data
Assets under management in the European fund industry could reach EUR6.8trn by 2014, according to a study published by Alfi, the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry, and produced by Lipper FMI.
The study explains Lipper FMI’s latest estimates of a cautious compound annual growth rate of 6.8 per cent for Europe over the next five years, a substantial slow-down when compared with a 12 per cent growth rate achieved since the early 1990s.
According to Lipper, the size of the industry currently means that it is likely to develop at a slower rate and the additional burden of weak
Managed futures specialist Qbasis Invest has launched an exchange-traded fund, the Qbasis Futures Fund, which will commence trading on the Hamburg stock exchange on 1 April.
The Qbasis Futures Fund is the only onshore fund that enables retail investors to access the firm’s flagship managed futures strategy.
It is also among the first managed futures funds to offer daily liquidity.
The new ETF will be distributed first in Austria and Germany and become available Europe-wide, including in the UK, in the upcoming months.
It will replicate the investment strategy of the principal Qbasis managed futures fund, also called the Qbasis
Castle Hall Alternatives, a provider of operational due diligence to the hedge fund industry, is planning to create up to 50 new positions in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Province of Nova Scotia, through the company Nova Scotia Business, is working with Castle Hall Alternatives to provide a six-year payroll rebate to a maximum of CAD1,422,900, earned as the company creates positions.
The province’s assistance will help Castle Hall offset the costs associated with quickly expanding operations.
“Castle Hall offers investors a truly independent and unconflicted due diligence solution,” says Chris Addy (pictured), Castle Hall’s chief executive. “As we
Ticonderoga Securities, an institutional broker dealer, has expanded its sales and trading team with the addition of Kevin Backus, formerly of SJ Levinson & Sons.
Backus will work closely with the firm’s team of research analysts to deliver clients differentiated research.
“Kevin brings an unparalleled combination of buy-side and sell-side experience to the Sales & Trading team,” says Ticonderoga chief executive and co-founder Shawn McLoughlin (pictured). “His plans to grow this team align well with Ticonderoga’s ongoing expansion effort.”
The sales and trading team earlier this month added Lawrence Darrow, Robert P. Flaherty and Barak Shibles, all formerly of Pali
Compass Advisers Group, an international merchant banking partnership, has formed Compass Partners Asset Management, a principal investing arm focused on alternative investments.
Scott Marden has rejoined the firm as head of asset management from Credit Suisse and will become managing partner of the Compass Investment Partners Fund, a new middle-market private equity fund.
The firm has also hired several senior investment professionals who previously worked with Marden at Credit Suisse to serve as the core private equity team.
Stephen Waters (pictured), managing partner of Compass Advisers, says: "Asset management is a logical extension for our firm, especially at this rare
Swiss alternative investment company Altin has completed the share buyback initiated on 22 July 2009 as part of its buyback programme of up to ten per cent of the share capital.
Altin repurchased 248,279 of its shares for a total of CHF12.7m corresponding to five per cent of the share capital of Altin.
The average purchase price per share was CHF 51.05.
The 2010 annual general meeting shall presumably pass a resolution on a reduction in capital as per the volume achieved from the buyback programme.
Altin is managed by Alternative Asset Advisors, a management firm specialised in alternative investments
