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Viteos Fund Service, a hedge fund service provider, has expanded its global sales and relationship management team by appointing Francis Rainsford as executive vice president.
Rainsford will lead the global client relationship management function and will provide clients with value added service in the areas of structuring, compliance, accounting, and tax.
Shankar Iyer, chief executive of Viteos, says: “This expansion and appointment is being done with a view towards meeting the changing needs of the industry that are bound to follow a major crisis such as 2009.
“The firm has begun various initiatives to further strengthen its presence in the
The hedge fund industry has continued its recovery from the financial crisis of 2008 by posting the strongest gains since 1999, according to Hedge Fund Research.
The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index gained 20.1 per cent in 2009, just one year after posting the worst calendar year loss in the history of the industry.
Investors allocated USD13.8bn of new capital to the industry in 4Q09, the largest quarterly inflow since 1Q08.
The quarterly increase had only a modest impact on full year capital flows, with investors withdrawing USD131bn overall in 2009.
Strong performance more than compensated for investor redemptions, increasing
The Scotia Capital Canadian Hedge Fund Performance Index finished December 2009 up 2.12 per cent on an asset weighted basis and up 2.59 per cent on an equal weighted basis.
The index outperformed broader hedge fund indices both on an asset and equal weighted basis.
The index finished 2009 up 28.62 per cent on an asset weighted basis and up 26.31 per cent on an equal weighted basis, significantly outperforming broader hedge fund indices on the year.
In closing out its best year since inception, the index returned close to its peak level of June 2008.
Global equities continued to
RBC Capital Markets has named Blair Fleming head of US investment banking, based in New York.
Fleming will oversee RBC Capital Markets’ investment banking businesses in the US, which includes corporate finance industry groups, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged finance and restructuring.
Throughout his 20-plus year career with RBC, Fleming has held numerous senior roles in the firm’s global investment banking and global debt markets businesses, including his most recent responsibilities as the head of global syndicated and leveraged finance and global infrastructure.
"Blair’s long career with RBC, diverse business background and deep client relationships make him a natural fit to
Gottex Fund Management, an alternative asset management group, integrated the Constellar fund of funds into the Gottex product range.
Ted Wong, founder and chief executive of Constellar Capital, will join Gottex.
As from February 2010, Gottex will take over the investment management of the three Constellar fund of hedge funds: the broadly diversified Gemini Funds (US onshore and offshore) and the Constellar Asia Fund.
These funds had approximately USD150m in assets under management as at 31 December 2009.
The more directional Constellar funds will broaden Gottex’s product offering in the US onshore as well as in the offshore sector,
Asset Control, a provider of financial data management solutions, enjoyed a record year for client signings in 2009 and completed a programme of new products and enhancements.
The firm added more new clients in 2009 than any other year on record since it was founded in 1991.
Among the new clients signed in 2009 were Ping An Insurance (Group) of China and Investment Technology Group.
Asset Control is expanding its team and operations to support its growing customer base.
The firm completed a programme of product enhancements in 2009 designed to help customers meet the challenges of pricing and
Managed futures lost 1.43 per cent in December and CTAs ended the year down 0.10 per cent, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
Six of Barclay’s eight managed futures indices were down in December. Diversified traders lost 2.08 per cent, systematic traders fell 2.05 per cent, and financial and metals traders slid 1.32 per cent.
“The sell-off in global fixed income futures, coming on the heels of November’s rally, caught many trend traders off balance and helped to set the stage for a down month,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
“The currency markets saw
Kathryn Latti has joined Kinetic Partners as a consultant in the area of forensics and corporate recovery.
Her areas of specialty include managing investigations, large-scale fraud engagements, insolvencies, and other litigious situations.
Prior to joining Kinetic Partners, Latti spent two years with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ investment management assurance practice.
Latti is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the state of New York and earned a M.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting at the University of Colorado.
Kinetic Partners New York offers forensic investigations, operational risk consulting and regulatory and compliance guidance to the global asset management industry.
Kinetic Partners
In December, the stock market ended the year with another gain of 1.93 per cent and implied volatility of 21.68 per cent was at its lowest level since May 2008, according to a report by Edhec Risk Institute.
With a remarkable annual return in 2009 of 26.5 per cent, the S&P Index recovered half the losses of the disastrous previous year which saw a loss of 37.0 per cent.
On the bond market, regular bonds registered their first loss since February, down 1.63 per cent, but remained at a higher level than their pre-crisis peak of February 2008.
On the
Financial services firm Capstone Holdings Group has hired Heiko Ebens as global head of research.
Ebens (pictured) joins Capstone after seven years at Merrill Lynch, where he last served as a managing director and head of global equity derivatives research overseeing a 15-member team.
Ebens’ team built the firm’s research-driven structured product platform which raised USD13.6bn in assets.
“Drastic changes in volatility have brought our expertise to the fore, and the need to produce high quality idea generation and product offerings is paramount. We are very excited to have Heiko join us as it marks a significant step forward
