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The DM Swiss Equity Asymmetric Fund completed its second year of operation at the end of November 2009.
The fund has outperformed the Swiss equity market by more than 17 per cent p.a. during that time.
Managed by Urs Heinimann and Adrian Peter at Mirabaud & Cie in Zürich, the fund achieved an annualized return of 5.02 per cent with annualized volatility running at 3.78 per cent.
Comparative numbers for the Swiss equity market were -12.27 per cent return and 20.09 per cent volatility.
The maximum drawdown experienced was 3.84 per cent with the fund only experiencing negative monthly returns
HM Revenue & Customs has clarified what constitutes a bank following its announcement on 9 December that it will be implementing a bank payroll tax.
According to Kinetic Partners, HMRC has confirmed that the bank payroll tax is aimed at retail and investment banks and to banking groups and does not apply to non-banking companies outside of banking groups.
The guidance published states that insurance companies, asset managers and stockbrokers, for example, are not intended to be caught.
While draft legislation is not expected until the New Year, HMRC has confirmed that the definition of a bank and banking
Greenwich Loan Income Fund has acquired a senior secured corporate loan from T2 Income Fund CLO I, an affiliate of the company which is consolidated for financial reporting purposes.
The cash consideration for the acquisition was USD8.55m, funding for which was provided by GLIF’s recent equity capital raise.
The loan has paid a cash interest of approximately USD675,000 over the past four quarters, based upon a variable interest rate of 625 basis points over Libor.
While on a consolidated reporting basis there is no net impact on the company’s balance sheet, the acquisition could improve the CLO’s likelihood of being
Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan have emerged to dominate the post-crisis fixed-income trading business in Europe, according to a study by Greenwich Associates.
Across Europe, institutions in 2009 shifted fixed income trading flows away from financial service firms whose balance sheets took significant hits during the global financial crisis.
This trading business was redirected to a relative handful of dealers viewed as the most financially secure and best positioned to be reliable fixed-income liquidity providers and sound derivatives counterparties.
Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan together account for 36 per cent of overall institutional fixed income
Altus Resource Capital, a Guernsey registered closed-ended investment company, has completed the placing of its shares with an aggregate value of approximately GBP14.66m.
Under the structure of the placing, all valid applications for shares received under the placing agreement will be accepted in full.
Accordingly, 10,997,233 shares will be issued pursuant to the placing, at a price of 133.37p per share.
As a result of the placing, the company will have aggregate net assets of approximately GBP47.22m. Application has been made for the new shares to be admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Specialist Fund Market. Application has
Hedge funds rebounded in November, putting them on track to post their best annual performance since inception of the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index in January 1994.
The index finished up 2.11 per cent for the month, bringing year to date performance to 17.53 per cent through 30 November 2009.
Managed futures experienced its best month since October 2008, rising 4.94 per cent, as managers capitalized on clear trends in equities, short-term interest rates and commodities.
Global macro was the second best performing sector, up 3.52 per cent, as models captured gains in equities, credit and precious metal markets.
Managers
The Irish Funds Industry Association has welcomed new legislation passed by Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Irish parliament, which will enable investment funds to re-domicile to Ireland simply and efficiently.
The Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 provides a clear framework designed to address and minimise the challenges currently experienced when re-domiciling a fund.
The legislation has been drafted to specifically allow a fund structured as a corporate entity in another domicile to re-register in Ireland with its original corporate identity retained, ensuring continuity of activity and continuation of arrangements.
In addition, the legislation simplifies the considerations involved when
Liberty All-Star Equity Fund has appointed Cornerstone Capital Management as one of the fund’s five investment managers, replacing Chase Investment Counsel.
Thomas G. Kamp (pictured), president and chief investment officer of Cornerstone, will serve as the portfolio manager to the fund.
Kamp, who has been with Cornerstone since 2006, has 18 years of investment experience.
Kamp and his investment team practice a large capitalisation growth investment style, which will be used to manage their portion of the fund’s assets.
Liberty All-Star Equity Fund’s other portfolio managers are Matrix Asset Advisors, Pzena Investment Management, Schneider Capital Management and TCW Investment Management.
Execution Holdings, a full-service agency broker, has agreed to acquire Noble Group, an independent mid and small cap investment bank.
The enlarged group will be called Execution Noble. The offer is subject to the consent of the Financial Services Authority.
The transaction will create a new force in international investment banking with strengths in execution; equity sales and trading; research; M&A; corporate finance; corporate broking; equity capital markets; and corporate access.
Execution Noble will have some 250 staff and wholly-owned operations in London, Edinburgh, Paris, Frankfurt, New York, Boston, Greenwich Connecticut, Mumbai and Hong Kong.
Nick Finegold (pictured), executive
Jupiter Asset Management is to launch a Ucits III fund for investors seeking to capture returns from investing in pan-European equities.
The Jupiter European Absolute Return Sicav, which launches in January, will seek to generate an absolute return independent of market conditions.
In seeking to meet the objective, the manager will aim to limit volatility.
The fund, a sub-fund of the Luxembourg-domiciled Jupiter Global Fund, will be managed by two of Jupiter’s European fund managers – Cédric de Fonclare (pictured) and Stephen Pearson.
This marks the first time that the long/short investment capabilities of Pearson will be made available
