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Charges are stacking up against Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon hedge fund group who is accused of making at least USD36m in profits through deals that depended upon inside information.
US prosecutors appear to be expanding the scope of the investigation and looking to find more participants in insider trading willing to cut deals that involve naming names in exchange for immunity or more lenient sentences.
Some commentators are not hesitating to compare the Rajaratnam scandal with that in the late 1980s, immortalised in the film Wall Street, which ensnared arbitrage trader Ivan Boesky and junk bond king
Having weathered the storms that have raged across the hedge fund industry since mid-2008, many funds of hedge funds and other allocators such as private banks and endowments are looking to r
NYSE Euronext’s trading volumes in December 2009 were mixed, with European derivatives volumes increasing 40.8 per cent and US options trading volumes increasing 92.2 per cent versus the previous year.
US and European cash equities trading volumes, however, declined 30.5 per cent and 9.1 per cent respectively from prior year levels.
NYSE Euronext European derivatives products average daily volume in December 2009 of 4.0 million contracts increased 40.8 per cent compared to December 2008, but decreased 6.8 per cent from November 2009.
Total European interest rate products ADV in December 2009 of 1.8 million contracts increased 51.8 per cent
The Hennessee Hedge Fund Index gained 24.6 per cent in 2009, according to data from Hennessee Group.
The S&P 500 advanced 24.7 per cent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average returned 18.8 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 43.9 per cent.
Bonds also experienced broad based gains as the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index rose 5.9 per cent, while the Merrill Lynch High Yield Master II Index gained an impressive 57.5 per cent.
“Hedge funds experienced their best year since 1999 and were able to perform in line with the traditional equity markets in 2009 despite the strong rally and
Benchmark (USA), an alternative investment manager with over USD1.7bn in assets under management, has retained Prime Fund Solutions, an administrator in the alternative asset management industry, to provide administration, custody and financing services for its funds of hedge funds.
“With the investment community seeking ever greater transparency, the need to work alongside a strong, third party administrator became imperative to us,” says Judd Lee (pictured), chief financial officer of Benchmark Plus Management.
“We are very excited to partner with such a formidable firm that is committed to the long-term prospects of the alternative industry,” adds Rhonda McDeigan-Eldridge, regional director, sales
M&A in the global asset management industry in 2009 was dominated by mega-deals, with a record nine transactions announced involving firms with more than USD100bn in assets under management.
Yet several deals in the fourth quarter signal a new phase driven by a greater number of transactions primarily involving independent firms, according to the financial institutions group of Jefferies.
While 60 per cent of Q4 2009 asset management M&A represented divestitures – the defining theme in the past year – significant strategic deals involving independent firms such as Advisory Research’s sale to Piper Jaffray and Metropolitan West Asset Management’s purchase
Carne Global Financial Services, an adviser to the traditional, alternative investment and wealth management industries, has been appointed by Merchant Capital, a corporate finance, investment advisory and stock broking firm, to provide independent directors to its Ucits III service for hedge fund managers.
Directorships will be facilitated through Carne’s Independent Directorship Programme to fulfill the counterparty requirements of the Ucits framework.
Carne was also used by Merchant Capital for the development of its business and risk management planning.
The Carne Directorship Programme offers traditional, hedge and alternative fund managers the full range of capabilities of non-executive fund directors. Each member
The turmoil that enveloped the hedge fund industry over the past two years as returns plummeted, investors rushed to redeem their holdings and managers stuck with illiquid holdings were force
Investment management company Bandon Capital Management has formed a relationship with American Independent Securities Group, an independent broker dealer and registered investment adviser.
The relationship enables AISG advisers to make Bandon’s flagship investment strategy, the Directional Interest Rate Strategy, available to clients as a separately managed account featuring daily liquidity with minimum investments of USD25,000.
The strategy, available to both accredited and non-accredited investors, was created by a former New York Federal Reserve economist and seeks to provide investors with absolute returns, uncorrelated with the equity and fixed income markets, by investing in the US Treasury Market through ETFs or
SEI is expanding its bank loan operational outsourcing solution by using new technologies that increase loan processing automation and incorporate independently-sourced data.
The new functionality is delivered through Geneva, Advent Software’s portfolio management and fund accounting solution.
Advent recently entered into an agreement with Virtus Partners to integrate Geneva with Virtus’ bank loan data offering.
Through this relationship, SEI clients gain access to automated loan data feeds from Virtus, which can be electronically posted directly into Geneva via a standard integration tool developed by Advent and Virtus. This helps SEI maximise efficiency and use straight through processing of loan data
