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LAUNCH
New York-based Marathon Asset Management is zeroing in on a broad range of special situations opportunities arising from the coronavirus pandemic fallout with the launch of a new distressed strategy, the Marathon Distressed Credit Fund.
The fund, which has closed with around USD2.5 billion worth of commitments, aims to provide capital solutions for companies in stressed and distressed situations to grow or reposition themselves. Marathon has some USD20 billion of assets under management.
The assortment of opportunities, which stem from the varying paces of recovery across different industries and sectors, include restructurings, debtor in possession financings, and exit financings.
Louis
RETURNS
Long-running multi-manager hedge fund Brummer & Partners’ flagship vehicle has generated gains across its equity, credit, macro and relative value strategies, as equities rose last month amid hopes of a global economic recovery.
CREDIT
Algebris Investments, a London-based multi-strategy credit and equities-focused hedge fund manager, is staking out alpha opportunities across a range of stressed credits which stand to gain from a resumption in activity post-lockdown.
Q&A
Founded in 2005, EJF Capital focuses on investment opportunities in financial services, targeting all levels of the capital structure on both a long-only and long/short basis. Specifically, the firm’s strategy seeks out ideas stemming from regulatory and structural changes impacting the banking sector, insurance companies and specialty finance.
Headquartered just outside of Washington DC, the firm was founded by Manny Friedman and Neal Wilson in 2005. In 2013, it established a European base in London, led by Hammad Khan (pictured, above left) and Peter Stage (pictured, above right), EJF’s senior managing directors in Europe. Lucas Netter, a director also focused
FUND PERFORMANCE
Trend-following hedge funds and managed futures strategies enjoyed a storming finish to what was ultimately a turbulent and unpredictable year for the sector, with Société Générale’s CTA indices ending 2020 in positive territory following strong December performances.
SocGen’s main SG CTA Index notched up its best monthly return in more than five years, advancing 5.54 per cent in December. The gain put the index – a daily snapshot of a select pool of 20 of the largest managed futures strategies – up 3.12 per cent annually for 2020.
All 20 of the CTA Index constituents recorded positive performance, with trend-following
SHORT-SELLING
Hedge funds have made gains from bets against AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline in recent weeks – but bearish managers lost more than USD600 million on FTSE 100 shorts at the end of the year, with short sellers facing continuing “unpredictable swings” in 2021.
Short positions in AstraZeneca – whose Covid-19 vaccine developed alongside Oxford University began rolling out in the UK this week – brought in almost GBP13 million for bearish hedge funds during December as the drug giant’s share price tumbled last month.
New data from Ortex Analytics also shows negative positions in GlaxoSmithKline generated more than GBP4.5 million for hedge funds
SPONSORED CONTENT
By Leanne Golding and Kevin Huys (pictured) – 2020 was a year unlike any in recent memory. We experienced ongoing disruptions to daily life due to the Covid-19 pandemic, ongoing tension surrounding the US election and a number of severe weather events. In the Cayman Islands, 2020 was also a very eventful year for regulatory and legal changes in the alternative investment industry. For those of you who were understandably distracted by other things, here’s a recap of the most significant changes affecting alternative investment funds which occurred over the past year.
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RETURNS
Hedge funds that trade emerging markets mounted a partial comeback last month following bruising double-digit losses earlier – but total invested capital in EM funds tumbled as the coronavirus crisis took its toll.
Manager Insights
RessCapital, a specialist boutique hedge fund manager, is generating consistent uncorrelated returns with a novel investment strategy that focuses on the US life insurance industry.
