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New York (HedgeCo.net) – Global fund of hedge funds group, Financial Risk Management and its seeding arm, (FCA), has entered into a strategic relationship with an Asian hedge fund expected to launch at the beginning of December with between $50 and $75 million in assets under management.
The FoHF group will make a significant investment in the first fund to be launched by Isometric Capital Management, owned and managed by Sanjiv Bhatia, the former head of Deephaven Capital Management’s Asia office. The fund is
The fund will use a fundamental research strategy to identify investment opportunities in Asian companies where it can identify a catalyst which will drive investment returns. The fund will invest predominantly in equities although positions will range across the capital structure.
“This deal reinforces the global nature of FCA’s business and is the first investment we have made outside of the US and Europe.” Neil Mason, CIO, FCA says, “Asia is an important focus in our manager research. Asian economies have shown their strength and there are numerous market inefficiencies that hedge funds can profit from. The industry has grown significantly in recent years and there are a number of high quality managers with interesting investment strategies.
Isometric is the third seeding deal announced by FCA in the past four months having previously agreed strategic relationships with JD Capital and WestSpring Advisors.
Bloomberg – Three former Macquarie Group Ltd. quantitative strategists have started a hedge fund with the backing of Ascalon Capital Managers Ltd. to invest in global equities using computer-trading models.
Helix Partners Ltd. will invest using strategies developed by Brandt Leahy, Justin Webb and Matthew Perone, who worked as an investment team that used trading models at Macquarie Funds Group, Sydney-based Ascalon said in an e-mailed statement today. Helix is targeting $50 million in funds managed by the end of 2010, $200 million by end-2011 and over $500 million by 2015, Webb, 27, said in a telephone interview from New York.
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Press Release – Hedge fund, funds of funds and managed futures funds group, the Managed Funds Association (MFA) has commended the working group paper, “Report to the Supervisors of the Major OTC Derivatives Dealers on the Proposals of Centralized CDS Clearing Solutions for the Segregation and Portability of Customer CDS Positions and Related Margin,” which was submitted to industry regulators on June 30, 2009.
"The efforts of the special working group and the Report are both comprehensive and timely." Richard H. Baker, MFA President and CEO, said, "MFA has been a strong proponent in advocating collateral segregation, portability of trades and direct and indirect buy-side access to centralized clearing. We remain committed to working with industry regulators, industry working groups such as the Operations Management Group, and other trade associations on the next steps toward providing such access."
The report was written by a special working group of eight dealers, four MFA members and four other buy-side market participants, addresses key concerns raised by supervisors and legislators globally, to analyze the various U.S. and European CDS clearing solutions with respect to the issues of customer margin segregation and portability of cleared customer CDS positions.
MFA fully endorses the collaborative efforts with industry regulators to support commercially viable centralized clearing platforms and to promote sound business practices.
MFA members include the vast majority of the largest hedge fund groups in the world who manage a substantial portion of the approximately $1.5 trillion invested in absolute return strategies. MFA is headquartered in Washington, with an office in New York. For more information, please visit: www.managedfunds.org
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Cayman Island law firm Solomon Harris is today hosting its inaugural Webinar on the highly topical subject of ‘Managing Distressed Cayman Funds and lessons learned for new funds’.
"This fits in perfectly with our firm’s progressive approach to business and our focus on keeping our clients up-to-date and informed. This is particularly so as our firm tends to work directly with investment managers and the more informed our clients are, the better for us as their legal advisers," says Sophia Harris, the firm’s Managing Partner.
"The recent significant stresses placed upon hedge funds, particularly in Q4 of 2008, have given our investment funds group invaluable insight into the issues facing managers with liquidity problems and the legal and practical tools available to them." Paul Scrivener, partner and head of the investment funds group, said, "We were keen to share our experiences in a practical way with those involved in the industry and we felt the medium of the webinar was the ideal way to reach the widest possible audience."
Also helping with with the presentation is KPMG, locally known for the provision of US tax services to Cayman funds. Paul Hotchkiss of KPMG will be covering recent tax changes in the UK and the possible impact on Cayman Islands investment funds.
"I visited Cayman recently to undertake a series of seminars on these and similar topics and I am delighted to be asked by Solomon Harris to participate in their inaugural Webinar." Hotchkiss said, "UK taxation of offshore funds is undergoing significant change and also there has been an increased interest from HM Revenue and Customs in the structuring of such funds. As Cayman has been historically, and is still, widely used as jurisdiction of choice to establish funds with a UK focus, I hope my comments will be relevant to the participants who are involved with funds with a UK focus."
As investment funds are such a major part of the firm’s practice, the firm also launched its fund-specific website, ‘CaymanHedgeFundWorld.com’ late last year also with a view to keeping the firm’s clients better informed.
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