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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – FSA regulated specialist asset management firm, Silk Invest Ltd, has hired John Bates, former Head of Credit Research Africa at investment bank Renaissance Capital, to spearhead its move into Frontier Fixed Income, an emergent hedge fund asset class.
“We will offer a liquid Frontier Market Fixed Income product, " Zin Bekkali, CEO of Silk Invest, said "Although largely focused on Sovereigns, there will be a corporate element that will represent up to 20% of the portfolio.”
Daniel Broby, Chief Investment Officer says he is “delighted John is coming on board, having seen the quality of his work whilst we were together at Renaissance. He is truly one of the few people who not only know the universe inside out but he is also of the few able to capitalise on that knowledge to obtain equity like returns in the frontier fixed income space.”
Prior to his work at the Renaissance Capital hedge fund, he was senior Emerging Market Credit Analyst at ABN Amro in London and West LB. John has a ‘BA Hons’ from University College London.
“John is yet another high level hire that is in line with our policy of recruiting the best skillset in African and Arab markets,” Dr Heinz Hockmann, the Chairman of Silk Invest, said.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) - FSA regulated asset manager, Silk Invest Ltd, successfully launched the African Lions Fund and the Arab Falcons Fund, which helped the hedge fund manager achieve its goals in becoming a specialist in Arab and African equities.
The Luxembourg domiciled African Lions fund and Arab Falcons fund went live on 27th March with an NAV of Euro 100 ($135.2). The portfolio managers, based in London, Cairo, Casablanca and Johannesburg, plan to build up the portfolio up cautiously, taking advantage of liquidity opportunities.
"Raising assets in these markets proved extremely challenging," Zin Bekkali, CEO of Silk Invest said, "Ultimately, the strength of our investment proposition, and the valuation of the markets we specialise, convinced investors to support the launch."
African and Arab markets account for 4% of worldwide market capitalization and this is projected to increase as the region is set to further grow its share of the world’s GDP.
Baldwin Berges, director of business development, observed that “the funds should grow in size fairly rapidly. Investors understand well our proposition and we have built a pitch book in excess of Euro 500 million ($676.2 million). Many of these investors have committed to invest in our funds, once the fund is up and running.”
Daniel Broby, the Chief Investment Officer of Silk Invest says that the launch “is perfectly timed from an investor perspective. There is now immense opportunity in frontier markets of the dramatic declines caused by the credit crisis.”
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) - Specialist asset management firm, Silk Invest Ltd, has acquired Danfonds Frontier Fund SPC., a Cayman based hedge fund, in an all equity deal, Silk Invest also bought majority share in Danfonds Frontier Fund SPC, which will be renamed Silk Invest Frontier Fund SPC, Danfonds Investment Management (Cayman) Limited will be renamed Silk Invest (Cayman) Limited.
The new team will launch two Luxembourg UCITS funds, African Lions and Arab Falcons, in the first quarter of 2009. The Silk Invest Frontier Fund SPC will be relaunched in the second quarter of 2009 after finalizing the new offering memorandum and the various counterparty agreements.
Zin Bekkali, CEO of Silk Invest, comments that “the deal is a uniquely structured combination of talents that complements our new African and Middle Eastern fund platform.” Following the transaction, Daniel Broby, CEO of Danfonds, will become the Chief Investment Officer of Silk Invest.
Daniel Broby says that the deal “is perfectly timed from an investor perspective. There is now immense opportunity in frontier markets as a resultof the dramatic declines caused by the credit crisis; to which these economies are partially immune.”
Dr Heinz Hockmann, the Chairman of Silk Invest, notes that “The synergies between the Silk African Lions Fund, the Silk Arab Falcons Fund and the Danfonds Frontier Fund were immediately obvious. Our aim was always to become the most credible frontier markets specialist. With this deal we can demonstrate to our investors, more than ever, that we have an unrivalled frontier markets team, managing a unique investment offering across different asset classes.”
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