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OIL
London-based oil-focused hedge fund Westbeck Capital suffered a small dip in July after failing to capitalise on strong oil equities returns – but the strategy still remains up almost 70 per cent so far this year, with the firm now strongly bullish on an imminent price surge.
Westbeck has taken a cautious tone on the commodity short-term, but is becoming increasingly buoyant on a price rise next year, with oil predicted to follow on the heels of gold as a major beneficiary of strong investor inflows.
“We plan to remain aggressively exposed to oil equities on the long side for
ACCOUNTANCY
Along with the Covid-19 pandemic’s tumult, alternative investment fund managers have had to face a number of tax changes that are anticipated to have a tremendous impact on their business.
CONVERTIBLE BONDS
The convertible bond market is “quietly thriving” in the aftermath of the market shock brought about by the coronavirus crisis, says Man GLG, the long-running discretionary hedge fund management unit of Man Group.
Convertibles’ primary market has seen record levels of new issuance this year – particularly in the US – with many first-time issuers entering the fray, while at the same time the asset has cheapened to levels not seen for some years, Man GLG said in a commentary this week.
This flurry of activity offers investors “a potentially attractive entry point” into the market, boosting convertible bonds and
Q&A
The impact of the ongoing coronavirus crisis – which has seen an unprecedented market sell-off give way to a dizzying equity rally, with heightened volatility still tentatively looming over all manner of companies and sectors – is providing a rich assortment of relative value trading opportunities for Oliver Dobbs (pictured), founder and chief investment officer of London-based Credere Capital.
Before launching his relative value/convertible bond arbitrage fund in partnership with Trium Capital in 2017, Dobbs managed similar strategies for well-known hedge fund firms including CQS, Sir Michael Hintze’s multi-strategy credit-focused outfit, BlueCrest Capital Management, the long-running New York-based manager founded
GUEST ARTICLE
By Don A Steinbrugge, Agecroft Partners – Although hedge fund indices can be a very useful tool, indices can also create confusion if their construction and composition are not well understood.
Take for example hedge fund industry performance: what does this number represent? The hedge fund industry is not an asset class, rather, it is a fund structure that may be used in a broad array of strategies. It is like calculating the performance of the mutual fund industry into a single number by combining the performance of money market funds, bond funds and equity funds.
In addition, in any
DIVERSITY
The Alternative Investment Management Association has launched a new initiative aimed at improving transparency around diversity and inclusion within the global hedge fund and alternative investment industry.
Hedge fund industry trade group AIMA, in partnership with investment consultancy Albourne Partners, has unveiled the voluntary Diversity & Inclusion questionnaire, which looks to gauge how the industry is improving diversity within firms.
Specifically, the questionnaire – which is freely available to alternative investment managers, investors and service providers – will help investors better probe asset managers on the measures they are taking to improve representation of women, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+
GUEST ARTICLE
By James McDonald (pictured), CEO/CIO of Hercules Investments – America is in bad shape. While the rest of the world seems to be moving past the Coronavirus, the US is still experiencing record deaths nationwide. Americans continue to struggle just to get bills paid, while Washington debates semantics surrounding mail-in voting.
SHORT SELLING
Hedge funds have collected almost EUR200 million from successful bets against the embattled travel and leisure sector, with short positions in Lufthansa, TUI and IAG driving the bulk of the gains recently.
New analysis by Ortex, the London-based equity analytics firm, shows short sellers made EUR196 million in profits from component companies of the STOXX Europe 600 Travel & Leisure Index in July – a sharp rise from the EUR41 million worth of gains in June.
Bets against major airlines and package holiday groups fuelled returns as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has put European consumers’ summer vacation plans on ice.
NEWS
The UK’s slide into recession could squeeze investor flows into the country, carrying far-reaching implications for hedge funds focused on UK markets.
Data released this week shows UK GDP contracted by 20.4 per cent between April and June – the biggest fall on record – pushing the country officially into recession for the first time since 2009, during the Global Financial Crisis.
Tom Reeves, head of research at Murano, the London-based research-focused platform that connects global investors with alternative asset managers, described the UK’s second quarter numbers as “concerning”, particularly when compared to its peers.
The UK’s recession, coupled with
CURRENCY
Hedge fund contrarian Russell Clark eyes euro rise against the dollar
CURRENCY
Hedge fund contrarian Russell Clark eyes euro rise against the dollar