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.
Guardian – RCM, Allianz’s equity fund management unit, is launching two new hedge fund products aimed at increasing its assets under management in the sector by more than 50 percent, its Chief Investment Officer said. Andreas Utermann told Reuters that RCM will launch, in the next few weeks, a new Luxembourg-domiciled cross-border UCITS equity fund, and will launch a new vehicle which invests across its existing long-short funds within the next two quarters.
He said RCM found that clients — including family offices and private wealth managers — were happier with a Luxembourg UCITS structure than with Cayman Islands-based funds.
eFinancialCareers – It would be churlish to suggest a 2007-style fund management poaching frenzy was back on the cards in Scotland, but there has been definite movement of late. Some firms are looking to build their investment teams, which means others (by necessity) are recruiting once again.
Having signalled its intention to hire earlier this year, Dundee-based Alliance Trust last month recruited Rob Davidson, formerly head of fixed income at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) and three of his team.
Bloomberg – OGI Capital Partners Ltd., a Japanese hedge fund with 3.5 billion yen ($40 million) in assets, plans to almost double in size by starting a global macro hedge fund to be run by Allan Bedwick, a former proprietary trader at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
The OGI Global Macro Fund will start this month with seed money from an overseas institutional investor of 3 billion yen and wager on stocks, bonds and currencies globally with a focus in Asia, said Naoya Takahashi, OGI’s head of fund management.
The global macro fund will be the third fund offered by OGI this year, after the firm started a Japan-focused long-short equity fund and a Japanese long-only stock fund in July. OGI joins Sparx Group Co., Asia’s biggest hedge fund, in offering a global macro fund as demand for the strategy rises in a market short of similar offerings after global hedge funds had their worst year on record in 2008.
Seeking Alpha – Very in-depth and analytical commentary out of Elliott Management in their recent second quarter 2009 letter to investors. The hedge fund has penned a 24 page letter covering topics of risk management, the automotive industry, regulation, distressed assets, arbitrage opportunities and much, much more. We highly recommend taking the time to peruse through this lengthy and informative hedge fund investor letter.
Elliott Management was founded by Paul Singer back in 1977 and managers over $12 billion today.
Reuters – HSBC’s Bill Maldonado is a man who loves to mix science with art — be that in running the Halbis hedge fund business, riding his high-powered Ducati motorbike on a race track or piloting a light aircraft.
An Oxford doctor in laser physics who trod the well-worn path from academia to high finance, Maldonado resisted the obvious choice of becoming a quant, writing computer programmes for trading strategies — instead opting to transfer his number-crunching skills into a more "front office" role in fund management.
TradingMarkets.com – Asset manager Gottex Fund Management Holdings Ltd. (GFMN.EB) said Thursday it has been awarded an investment and advisory mandate by Nestle Capital Advisers S.A.
The investment management mandate applies to one of Nestle Pension Funds’ hedge fund portfolios; it will be managed through a customized fund of funds program, focused on relative value and event driven strategies.
Reuters – The fund management arm of Swedish banking group SEB is planning to launch a global credit hedge fund in the autumn to take advantage of mis-pricing opportunities in the credit markets.
Peter Branner, global head of investment management at SEB, said the fund would use leverage and take long and short positions in the investment grade and high yield credit markets where the turbulence of the financial crisis has thrown up undervalued and overvalued assets.
SEB will target institutional and private banking clients for the fund, he told Reuters at the Fund Forum industry conference.
domain-B – Indian financial services firm Religare Enterprises is reported to have bid for the investment management arm of beleaguered US insurer, American International Group (AIG) as part of its plans to expand its financial services portfolio.
he reports say the Delhi-based company, leading the race for fund management unit among eight others, could pay around $600-700 million for the US insurer’s investment subsidiary. Religare has been talking to AIG Investments top management, led by Win Neuger, for nearly two months.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Hedge fund manager Ansher Fund Management says that March has been positive all across the markets and AREF (Ansher Regional Equity Fund) was able to gain to gain 3.2%.
The hedge fund manager increased holdings in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan as together with Uzbekistan, Ansher believes that these will be the strongest performers in the region. Regarding risk exposure, "we like it as is, given the high diversification on both, sector and position level, shields us from extreme market moves," Pascal Buschor, Executive Director at Ansher, said.
Benchmarks have performed positive because of the increase in oil & gas and metals prices in March, giving investors some level of comfort in the markets, the fund says.
The economy of Uzbekistan has also shown resilience against the effects of global liquidity crisis. The implementation of the anti-crisis program measures has started in Uzbekistan, and the results of consequent two months showed the program is producing its first satisfactory results, the fund says.
Kazakhstan’s government has further demonstrated strong political will to support the economy by adopting the national anti crisis program. Government plans to inject some $14 billion.
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Reuters – Artradis Fund Management, Singapore’s largest hedge fund manager, said on Monday it has hired David Dredge from Royal Bank of Scotland as managing director for portfolio management.
Dredge was deputy global head of local markets at RBS as well as its head of local markets trading and risk management in Asia. He is also deputy chairman of the Singapore Foreign Exchange Market Committee.
Artradis said in a statement it saw opportunities in foreign exchange and interest rates, and has re-opened two of its funds to take in fresh money from investors.
HedgeCo.net – Artradis Fund Management, Singapore’s largest hedge fund manager, said on Monday it has hired David Dredge from Royal Bank of Scotland as managing director for portfolio management.
Dredge was deputy global head of local markets at RBS as well as its head of local markets trading and risk management in Asia. He is also deputy chairman of the Singapore Foreign Exchange Market Committee.
Artradis said in a statement it saw opportunities in foreign exchange and interest rates, and has re-opened two of its funds to take in fresh money from investors.
Bloomberg – Artradis Fund Management Pte., whose volatility funds posted the best returns among Asian hedge funds last year, is betting continued market swings will help them outperform again in 2009.
While volatility will decline to “more normal levels” from the records set in 2008, the funds will continue “to be able to take advantage of significant moves in markets,” said Julian Ings-Chambers, a managing director at Artradis, Singapore’s biggest hedge-fund firm.
The $2.4 billion Artradis AB2 Fund, managed by Stephen Diggle and Richard Magides, rose 35 percent last year, according to the firm. The $1.8 billion Artradis Barracuda Fund, which uses less borrowed money than the AB2, added 27 percent. The funds, which place wagers on price swings, had the highest returns among Asia-focused hedge funds that manage at least $500 million, according to Eurekahedge Pte., a Singapore-based data provider.
