Each business day HedgeCo.Net keeps you informed with the top hedge fund industry news, opinion and insight from around the globe. From the latest hedge fund launches, to the impact of regulation, competition, and investor activism - we track the topics and people that make a difference to you.
New York (HedgeCo.net) – Rick Bensignor has joined hedge fund tech and prime broker Merlin Securities as chief market strategist.
In this new position, Bensignor will produce behavioral market strategy research focused on a wide variety of asset classes and macro-economic commentary. Bensignor will report directly to Stephan Vermut, founder and managing partner of Merlin Securities, and will be based in the firm’s New York office.
“Rick’s insights into behavioral economics and his deep understanding of the macro issues which drive markets make him a valuable and welcome addition to our team,” said Stephan Vermut. “Fund managers benefitting from our powerful reporting systems, risk analysis, and comprehensive fund workflow solutions will now also be able to take advantage of Rick’s market analysis, trading strategies and investment acumen. Having this type of seasoned professional as a resource is an incredible value-add for our clients.”
Within Morgan Stanley’s Principal Strategies Group Bensignor was the group’s chief market strategist. Previously, he had been the firm’s Institutional Investor-ranked technical strategy analyst and oversaw its technical research product for four years. Bensignor also served as the head of technical analysis, futures and commodities at Bloomberg, managing product development, sales and marketing. Before that, he was Morgan Stanley’s commodities technical strategist and head of its institutional commodity futures sales desk, which followed his 12-year trading career as a broker and independent trader on the floor of several New York futures exchanges.
“I am thrilled to be joining Merlin Securities which has, since its inception, been dedicated to becoming the premier provider of products and services to the alternative asset management industry,” said Bensignor. “I look forward to adding my thinking to Merlin’s incredible suite of products and services that enable asset managers to better run their businesses and focus on generating alpha for their investors.”
Mourant Ozannes has been named ‘Best Offshore Law Firm – Client Service’ at the HFMWeek US Hedge Fund Services Awards 2011. This follows the firm winning the same client service accolade at the HFMWeek European Hedge Fund Services Awards earlier this year.
The winners of the US awards, which were announced at a ceremony held at Cipriani’s in New York on Thursday 13 October, were recognised for outstanding performance from June 2010 to July 2011.
The awards featured a number of categories that spanned the best and most cutting edge hedge fund service providers in the US marketplace, including the onshore and offshore legal, administration, accountancy, advisory, insurance and technology sectors.
The awards were judged by a panel of independent senior industry representatives who took into consideration financial progress, growth and innovation in order to put together a shortlist and identify the eventual winners of each category.
Neal Lomax, Mourant Ozannes’ Cayman Islands Managing Partner, collected the award on behalf of the firm. He said:
“We are delighted by this latest accolade for our Cayman funds practice, which continues to grow and go from strength to strength, with a number of significant senior appointments this year. We aim to differentiate ourselves on client service so it is very pleasing indeed to receive this award from such a respected hedge fund publication, which recognises the expertise and quality of service provided by our lawyers.”
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New York (HedgeCo.net) – Madison Street Capital’s Asset Management Industry Focus Group released its Fall 2011 Merger and Acquisition (M&A) Outlook- Hedge Fund Industry, focusing on the current deal environment, buyer/seller considerations, minority interest investments and future M&A drivers.
“The transaction activity in the Hedge Fund industry, as indicated by both the number and size of completed transactions, can best be described as sluggish,” said Karl D’Cunha, Senior Managing Director and head of Madison Street Capital’s Asset Management Industry Focus Group. “However, if last year’s results have any predictive value, we can expect a surge in activity in the fourth quarter that will likely spill over into the first quarter of 2012.”
The key drivers behind M&A Activity include the following:
Push for Increased Regulation
Higher Valuations
Tax Arbitrage Opportunities
Rising Industry Consolidation
Aside from these factors, a fundamental driver will be supply and demand in terms distribution and product offering. As long as there are platforms that are continuing to expand and increase their distribution channels (and to the extent they are lacking in product diversity), there should be ample supply of target hedge fund firms to fill those gaps.
Bloomberg – Oil fell in New York on speculation demand will falter after the biggest monthly gain in more than two years and a surge in the dollar. Brent’s premium to U.S. crude was near its lowest in almost four months.
Futures fell as much as 1.2 percent after Japan took steps for the third time this year to weaken the yen against the dollar, making commodities priced using the U.S. currency less attractive to investors. Crude prices at $80 to $100 are “reasonable,” the United Arab Emirates’ energy minister said in Singapore today. Oil is up 17 percent in October, the biggest monthly increase since May 2009.
BBC – Hedge funds plan to make big profits from the eurozone crisis, with the bill being footed by taxpayers. The BBC’s Michael Robinson reports from Athens.
Plus as the world’s population reaches seven billion, Lesley Curwen talks to David Satterthwaite, Senior Fellow at the International Institute of Environment and Development about whether cities can cope with unfettered growth.
Seeking Alpha – Analysts like to follow what institutional investors (like hedge fund managers) buy because they have access to sophisticated research and have a lot of experience in choosing investments. When they start buying a stock, it’s a signal to take a second look.
We ran a screen on the stocks of the S&P 500 paying dividend yields above 1% and sustainable payout ratios below 50% for those seeing significant net institutional purchases over the current quarter.
BusinessWeek – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission responded to objections from hedge funds and private- equity funds by dialing back demands in its new rule calling for fund advisers to report internal information to regulators.
Revising its proposal from January — approved in a unanimous vote yesterday — the agency eased thresholds for defining which large funds will have to report the most information starting next year. It also allows private-equity funds to report less often than initially proposed.
Barron’s – You know the expression that a good compromise leaves both sides unhappy? Sometimes, mutual indifference is just fine.
The Securities and Exchange Commission approved new reporting regulations for hedge funds last week. Headlines noted that the SEC’s approval had “eased,” “dialed back” or “pruned” the initial requirements proposed earlier this year. That’s true, but it’s hard to find much consternation on either side of the oversight argument.
Pensions & Investments – The $37.4 billion Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, Springfield, approved tactical plans that are adding hundreds of millions of dollars — and new money managers — to the hedge fund and real-return portfolios.
The board at its Oct. 28 meeting approved additional direct investments of $150 million each to existing hedge fund managers Claren Road Asset Management LLC, BlueMountain Capital Management LLC and Carlson Capital LP.
Bloomberg – Hedge funds are making bets on the soccer player transfer markets in Spain, Portugal and Turkey, clashing with fans who say they are profiting from teams’ financial woes.
Quality Sports Investments Ltd., based on the island of Jersey in the English Channel, and London-based Doyen Capital Partners LLP are working with teams including Atletico Madrid, Sporting Lisbon and Turkey’s Besiktas to bankroll signings in return for a share of any profit when the players are traded to another club.
Bloomberg – Speculators boosted wagers on higher commodity prices by the most since August as improving prospects for growth in the U.S. and Europe sent prices toward their biggest rally in 10 months.
Money managers boosted combined net-long positions across 18 U.S. futures and options by 13 percent to 831,421 contracts in the week ended Oct. 25, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of 24 raw materials has jumped 9.5 percent in October, on track for the biggest gain since December.
Reuters – Hedge funds, with memories of the havoc wreaked by Lehman’s demise still fresh in their minds, are moving away from banks singled out by markets as higher risk, giving rivals a chance to grab lucrative business serving these key clients.
Banks such as JP Morgan (JPM.N), HSBC (HSBA.L) and SEB (SEBa.ST) have all seen hedge funds soliciting the services of their prime broking desks, which lend money to these specialist asset managers and provide back-office services.
New York (HedgeCo.net) – Rick Bensignor has joined hedge fund tech and prime broker Merlin Securities as chief market strategist.
