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Merchant Capital, a Ucits III platform provider to the hedge fund industry, has announced that its first client is now fully operational.
Robert Maxwell of Tressis will act as investment adviser to the fund, named the Merchant European Equity Fund, while Merchant Capital is the fund’s investment manager.
Tressis, a Spanish distributor of investment funds, structured products, fixed income and other financial products, is also the distributor of the fund.
The fund’s strategy is primarily equity long/short based on a universe of 600 stocks, with characteristics of an equity market neutral strategy. The initial structure of the Merchant European
Hennessee Group has estimated that hedge fund industry assets increased by USD751bn in 2009 to USD1.96trn.
The jump in assets represents a 62 per cent increase since the beginning of 2009 and leaves industry assets at their pre-crisis levels in 2007.
Preliminary results indicate that the hedge fund industry experienced net inflows of USD448bn (+37 per cent) in 2009.
The amount of inflows represents the largest inflow of assets in the hedge fund history and is a dramatic reversal compared to the 20 per cent decline in asset flows in 2008 (USD399bn).
The remaining USD302bn (25 per cent) gain in
Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking has appointed Todd Martin as equity strategist covering the Asia Pacific region, based in Hong Kong.
In this newly created role, Martin will generate micro and macro themes that will formulate specific cash equity and indexation strategies.
He will report to Glenn Maguire, Asia chief economist.
The appointment is part of a wider strategic drive from the company to develop its global equity and flow franchise in Asia Pacific.
Martin has 17 years of cross-sector pan-Asian experience as an investment professional. He spent 11 years in equity banking research, heading the banking
Concerto Asset Management has appointed Jim Skufca as head of risk management and distressed portfolio manager.
Skufca, who will be based in the firm’s Charlotte office, was previously head of capital and trading oversight for the fixed income division of Wells Fargo.
Concerto has also appointed Susan Moran as managing director on its business development team.
Moran was previously responsible for distributing alternative investments and structured credit products in North America and Europe for Wachovia. She brings expertise and contacts within the endowment, pension fund and asset management space.
Concerto Asset Management is a multi-strategy asset manager with a focus
Advent Software, a provider of software and services for the investment management industry, has released Advent Portfolio Exchange 3.0, the latest version of its portfolio management solution.
The latest version of APX offers flexibility to manage portfolios and client relationships.
It includes a new reporting framework using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services for flexibility in creating custom reports.
It also offers expanded data access and enhanced client relationship management features to better track and manage client communications
“We had been eagerly awaiting the new reporting capabilities in APX 3.0 and are extremely pleased with what we’ve seen,” says Jason Robinson,
In February 2010 the international derivatives exchanges of Eurex Group recorded an average daily volume of 10.6 million contracts, compared with 10.7 million contracts in February 2009.
Of those, 7.45 million were Eurex contracts (+ eight per cent) and 3.15 million contracts were traded at the US-based International Securities Exchange.
In total, 149.0 million contracts were traded at Eurex and 59.8 million at the ISE.
In its largest product segment – equity index derivatives – Eurex recorded a small increase and achieved 67.1 million contracts (36.3 million index futures and 30.8 million index options), compared with 66.5 million contracts the
Harcourt Investment Consulting, the Switzerland-based alternative investment solutions provider, had assets under management of USD 4.5bn at 31 December 2009, corresponding to a growth of USD600m for the full year 2009.
The assets increase of 15 per cent derives from existing as well as from new clients.
The majority of these inflows were originated from institutional clients.
Harcourt’s outlook for 2010 is optimistic, with an expected positive continuation of its AUM development.
The firm’s further growth is expected to come from advisory and customized mandates, the focus on commodities, several new projects based on managed accounts, as well as a
Equity Trust, a provider of trust and fiduciary services, has appointed five people for its global sales team.
Dik-Jan Jetses assumes overall responsibility for sales and business development for the Dutch commercial team, working alongside Carsten Cramer and Peter Soesbeek.
The team is completed by Marcel Sikking, who will have primary responsibility for the development of the tax intermediary market in The Netherlands.
Julia Bron will be working out of Amsterdam in a role that will focus on Eastern Europe and the CIS States, while Natascha Scholten will be responsible for forging relationships in the London market, as part of
The Managed Funds Association has expressed concern regarding a proposal from the Committee of European Securities Regulators to require investors to publicly disclose short sale positions.
MFA has also expressed support for the proposal from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, under which investors would privately report short positions to regulators.
The CESR report recommends that its members adopt rules requiring investors to disclose publicly each short position in an equity security that exceeds a threshold level of 0.5 per cent of a company’s issued share capital. MFA recently released an independent study that indicates that public disclosure regimes
Derivatives exchange Eurex is expanding its offering of volatility index derivatives based on VStoxx.
The new options contract will be launched on 22 March 2010 and complement the existing VStoxx mini future.
This step aims to increase the offering of volatility derivatives that are centrally cleared via Eurex Clearing, thereby mitigating counterparty risks.
The VStoxx index calculates the implied volatility of the Euro Stoxx 50 options.
“Our new VStoxx options will not only complement our VStoxx mini futures but will also allow users to hedge their positions with greater precision,” says Peter Reitz (pictured), member of the Eurex executive board.
