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.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Arden Asset Management LLC, a leading independent fund of hedge funds manager, and J.P. Morgan today announced an agreement under which Arden will manage a $1.1 billion proprietary hedge fund of funds portfolio for J.P. Morgan’s investment banking division, effective July 1, 2009. J.P. Morgan’s investment bank has agreed to seed several new Arden funds and invest in one of Arden’s current flagship funds with these assets.
As part of the agreement, a team led by Shakil Riaz, Chief Investment Officer of J.P. Morgan’s proprietary hedge fund of funds program since inception in 1995, will join Arden. Mr. Riaz will become a member of the Arden Investment Committee and continue his investment leadership role for new funds seeded by the J.P. Morgan assets. The existing Arden funds and customized accounts will continue to be managed by Arden senior investment professionals and Investment Committee members: Averell H. Mortimer, Chairman; Henry P. Davis, Managing Director and Head of US Manager Research; Ian P. McDonald, Managing Director and Head of European and Asian Manager Research; and Matthew Bianco, Managing Director and Head of Risk Management.
“Arden’s high quality institutional infrastructure and well-established investment processes were important in our decision to select the firm to manage these assets,” said Robert Case, head of Principal Investment Management for J.P. Morgan’s investment bank. “Partnering with Arden, which has a proven track record of managing absolute return programs through many market cycles, enables us to continue participation in this attractive asset class, while better managing our overall capital commitments.”
Averell Mortimer, Arden President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are pleased to partner with J.P. Morgan on this unique venture, which we believe will create significant value for both Arden investors and J.P. Morgan in the years to come. Importantly, this initiative further strengthens our organization and brings additional specialization and expertise to Arden’s global investment program. We warmly welcome Shakil and his colleagues to Arden and believe investors will benefit from their market experience and long-term investment record as we develop new strategies to meet the expanding needs of our sophisticated institutional clientele.”
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Global hedge fund industry group, The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), has welcomed the principles for hedge fund regulation published by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today.
“We are very happy to welcome the publication of this report today because AIMA has already announced its support for several of the high level principles mentioned in it." Andrew Baker, AIMA CEO, said, “In our new policy platform of 24th February, we said that we supported global registration for managers and we are glad that IOSCO has also come out in favour of this.
“We also expressed our support for the reporting of systemically relevant information by managers of large hedge funds to their national regulators, and this is another one of IOSCO’s key principles.
“We are also delighted that IOSCO refers to the ‘development, implementation and convergence of industry good practices’ because AIMA has been extremely active in this area and is continuing a great deal of work on it with the other groups involved. We are following up on a G20 action point in this respect," he continued.
In a note of caution, however, Baker said, "We would stress that it is hedge fund managers, rather than the funds themselves, that should registered. It is also mentioned that hedge funds use derivatives for speculative purposes without stating that exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivatives are principally used by the relevant market participants for risk management purposes."
“Finally, we are concerned that these recommendations may lead regulators to seek quantity rather than quality of data. It is important that regulators have the expertise and resources to deal with the data they receive.”
AIMA has more than 1,100 corporate members worldwide, based in 40 countries, including hedge fund managers, fund of hedge funds managers, prime brokers, legal and accounting firms and fund administrators.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Global hedge fund manager Cogo Wolf Asset Management has launched the Cogo Wolf Trimaran Liquidity Fund, a highly liquid fund of hedge funds designed to help institutional and private investors navigate the current global investing storms.
Managed by Co-CIOs and Managing Partners Christopher R. Wolf and Giles Conway-Gordon and offering complete transparency, the Trimaran Liquidity Fund targets 16-18% net return with expected volatility of 6-8% without the use of leverage.
“The global financial markets are forever changed. The industry has experienced a kind of ‘perfect storm’ in recent years—the credit contraction, the housing contraction and the overall economic contraction,” stated Christopher R. Wolf. “Trimaran is the first fund of its kind, designed as a remedy for sophisticated institutional and private investors who are ready to redeploy capital but need new assurances to do so.”
The Trimaran Fund has been designed to provide Alpha with non-correlation and liability protection including: Ultra Liquidity (monthly liquidity, 10-day notice with no lock-up, no gate, no redemption penalties and complete transparency); Flexibility (all underlying investments are ultra liquid, permitting rapid, opportunistic responses to global volatility and market uncertainty); and Stability (diversification).
The “three distinct hulls” the Trimaran Fund invests in include:
* Managed Futures, Global Macro, CTAs and other ultra liquid strategies which have low/negative correlation to equity markets; * ETFs enabling narrow and controlled directionality as a proxy for direct hedge fund investing; * Debt-Related Instruments, notably mispriced credit opportunities offering attractive returns and gains.
“A forward-looking, global tactical asset allocation model will be necessary for investors to deliver profit in the new fund of hedge funds paradigm,” commented Giles Conway-Gordon. “Our top-down investment methodology, namely skating to where the puck is going to be, is paramount to nimbleness and adaptability. We are asset allocators first, talent scouts second.”
“It’s not enough to know what instruments one finds compelling; what’s mandatory is to know why you’re there in the first place. What macroeconomic trend does that investment capture? And if so, how effectively and what risks are associated with that decision? Risk management is more than optimization modeling, VAR and stress testing. It’s a holistic understanding of the environment in which these instruments are being used, the opportunity they’re designed to capture and the finesse necessary to know depth and duration – how long and how much does one hold? That’s the art and a talent we’ve honed over 25+ years,” Wolf concluded.
Cogo Wolf has been nominated by Alternative Investment News and Institutional Investor as “Emerging Manager of the Year” given its strong growth trajectory lead by the firm’s President and Partner, Rachel S.L. Minard, its 14-year history delivering 12% net CAR and having never lost an investor since its doors opened, according to the fund manager.
Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: alex@hedgeco.net
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SAIL Advisors, a Hong Kong-based fund of hedge funds operator, said on Monday it will take over the management of three ING (ING.AS) funds in a move that will see a senior ING executive join the Hong Kong firm.
Under a complex deal, SAIL will "sub-advise" three fund of hedge funds managed by New York-based ING Alternative Asset Management, raising the Hong Kong firm’s assets under management to $2.4 billion (1.46 billion pounds) from $1.7 billion previously.
Harold Yoon, chief investment officer and head of ING fund of hedge funds, will also join SAIL as CIO and be based in Hong Kong, while SAIL will set up an office in New York.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Financial technology vendor youDevise Limited congratulated its client Northern Trust upon being awarded the Fund of Hedge Funds Administrator of the Year award at the inaugural HFMWeek Service Provider Awards, held recently in London.
Northern Trust is a leading, global administrator of FoHFs with approximately US$50 billion of hedge funds under administration at March 31, 2009. Northern Trust employs youDevise’s Hedge Fund Information Provider (HIP) online portfolio management system, which enables Northern Trust’s fund of hedge funds (FoHF) clients to track daily position information and other vital data.
“The award recognised Northern Trust for outperforming its peers during 2008-2009 and demonstrating financial progress, growth and genuine innovation,” said Richard Koppel, Managing Director of youDevise and an expert in FoHF technology who co-developed the HIP. “We are proud to see our client recognized for this achievement. Northern Trust was the first fund of hedge funds administrator to integrate our technology into its platform, and, in so doing, significantly advance its clients’ ability to access more timely and accurate management information, while, at the same time, eliminating the need for error prone spreadsheets to track positions.”
Mr. Koppel noted this is the second time over the last few years that clients have won major industry recognition due, in large part, to their deployment of youDevise technology. In 2006, Trade Ideas Limited (TIL) was named overall winner of the Innovation of the Year category in The Banker magazine’s Technology Awards for TIL’s trade idea platform, employing youDevise’s Trade Idea Monitor (the TIM). Trade Ideas Limited is an industry consortium owned by Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Dresdner Kleinwort, and Merrill Lynch.
The TIM enables more than 300 institutional brokerage firms around the world to send long/short equity trading ideas to more than 100 hedge funds and traditional asset managers, which in turn use the TIM to determine payments for the top-performing ideas they receive. The TIM’s “ideabase” is the foundation of TIM Insight, a more useful short-to-mid term indicator of market direction than traditional consensus earnings estimates.
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Reuters – Castle Alternative Invest, a Swiss-listed fund of hedge funds, plans to list in London to improve the liquidity of its shares, its investment manager LGT Capital Partners said on Tuesday.
The fund, which has assets of more than $500 million (315 million pounds) and which is on a discount to net asset value of 27 percent, will list its shares in London from June 5. The shares will be traded in U.S. dollars.
Reuters – Many of Switzerland’s smaller fund of hedge funds providers could be forced to consolidate in order to cover increasingly onerous expenses if they are unable to attract significant assets, a Swiss academic said on Monday.
The small average size of Swiss funds of funds produced low income from management fees, making it more difficult for funds to achieve economies of scale, Peter Meier, head of the centre for alternative investments and risk management at the Zurich University of Applied Science, said in a presentation in Zurich. "I’m sure there are many funds around which no longer have the asset base to cover their costs. Some will need to attract more assets to survive," Meier told Reuters after the presentation on Swiss fund of hedge funds.
Forbes – Gottex Fund Management Holdings Ltd has bought a controlling interest in SJC Capital Partners, a U.S.-based investment management firm.
The fund of hedge funds provider said SJC founder and Chief Investment Officer Stephen Czech and his team would join Gottex’s New York operations with immediate effect.
The press has been agog recently about Paradigm Capital, a fund-of-hedge-funds run by members of Joe Biden’s family, and its apparent connection with a hedge fund shut by the SEC called Ponta Negra. CJR’s Audit column has the full details on this remarkable scoop by a finance blogger named John Hempton.
Among other things, Hempton was threatened by lawyers for Ponta Negra, forcing him to withdraw a post, as he detailed in a post yesterday.
Reuters – Integrated Asset Management said on Wednesday it is repositioning as a pure play brokerage business after agreeing to sell a 51 percent stake in its French fund of hedge funds business.
The firm, listed on London’s AIM market, is selling the stake in Altigefi to Sal. Oppenheim in a deal which will also see the private banking group exit as Integrated’s major shareholder.
The move is evidence of smaller asset management players being forced to reexamine their business models as the financial crisis changes the market place. A spokesman said Integrated’s decision to concentrate on brokerage came because it had become more and more difficult to achieve the scale thought necessary to successfully run a fund of funds business.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Hedge fund manager Integrated Asset Management plc has sold the majority of one of its London fund of hedge funds business to a subsidiary of Sal. Oppenheim jr & Cie S.C.A, for approximately €3.5 million ($4.6 million) in cash and the cancellation of Sal. Oppenheim’s entire share interest.
The transaction does not impact the hedge fund manager’s brokerage operations in Milan which will continue to operate as usual, Integrated said.
The fund of hedge funds business as a whole reported net assets of £24.28 million ($32.3 million). In the 6 months ended 30 June 2008 the fund of hedge funds business reported unaudited net assets of £24.42 million ($32.4 million) and assets under management of $2,402 million ($3.2 million).
“In response to the unprecedentedly challenging market conditions of the past nine months, we have structured this deal with Sal. Oppenheim to benefit both our funds’ investors and the Company’s shareholders." Emanuel Arbib, CEO of Integrated, said. "Once the transaction is completed, Integrated, with a strong and liquid balance sheet, will be well positioned to consider opportunities that are available in today’s marketplace.”
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Reuters – Integrated Asset Management said on Wednesday it is repositioning as a pure play brokerage business after agreeing to sell a 51 percent stake in its French fund of hedge funds business.
The firm, listed on London’s AIM market, is selling the stake in Altigefi to Sal. Oppenheim in a deal which will also see the private banking group exit as Integrated’s major shareholder.
The move is evidence of smaller asset management players being forced to reexamine their business models as the financial crisis changes the market place. A spokesman said Integrated’s decision to concentrate on brokerage came because it had become more and more difficult to achieve the scale thought necessary to successfully run a fund of funds business.
