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) – Rabbe Ekholm, founder and CEO of True Beta LLC announced the launch of TrueBetaD and is holding a discussion on the importance of hedge fund replication strategies in New York September 15th.
“Institutional investors are reconsidering their traditional investment processes as hedge funds outperformed other asset classes last year, often by wide margins.” Ekholm said, “At the same time investors now require greater transparency, risk control and liquidity from their hedge fund investments. They also increasingly want to distinguish between hedge fund alpha and beta.”
Ekholm was until recently Chief Commercial Officer and a Member of the Management Board of Saxo Bank, prior to that he was a Managing Director at MSCI Barra, heading its Content Solutions Group.
“This demand is strengthening the important role replication strategies play in the investment process. These strategies allow investors access to hedge fund-like returns with cost effective fees, liquidity, transparency and without the headline risk of manager blow-ups or gates,” he concluded.
The conference is scheduled to be held at the Walek & Associates Conference Room, 317 Madison Avenue @ 42nd Street, New York, NY.
TrueBeta LLC develops and markets quantitative financial strategies for institutional clients. Hedge fund replication is its lead offering. TrueBeta is based in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA.
Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Hedge fund prime broker, Newedge, has started using a Dubai Point of Presence (POP) connection to facilitate their access to the Dubai Gold and Commodity Exchange (DGCX). The new connection has high bandwidth and is more secure than an internet-based connection, the company said.
Amaury de Villemandy, CEO of Newedge Europe and Middle East, commented on its fixed line capacity, saying, “Our investment in establishing direct connectivity to DGCX was based on the increased interest among our clients in capitalizing on the commodity and currency trading opportunities offered by the Exchange.”
Newedge is a 50/50 joint venture between Societe Generale and Calyon. With a presence in 25 locations in 17 countries, Newedge primarily serves institutional clients, providing access to more than 85 exchanges.
Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds!
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Rosemawr Management LLC, two months ago launched the Rosemawr Municipal Partner Fund LP,. The fund has seen returns of 0.82% in May and 0.86% in June, since inception on May 1st 2009.
With former Managing Director at Lehman Brothers, Greg Shlionsky, as portfolio manager, the new fund’s investment approach is fundamentals-driven. The investment team believes it possesses a unique understanding of municipal investments’ fundamentals. The investment strategy is based on thorough analysis of securities’ structure and credit, rather than on short-term momentum or technicals.
The fund limits its capital allocation (before leverage) to any one investment to 15% of the Fund (with exceptions made for short-term very liquid securities). Leverage is only applied to securities that the Investment Team considers liquid.
Rosemawr Management LLC, the Fund Manager, is an SEC-registered Investment Adviser focused exclusively on the U.S. Municipal market. The Fund’s Investment Team is comprised of professionals who draw on decades of senior-level experience overseeing municipal portfolios and major trading desks to manage credit, interest rate and event risk. Average Principal’s tenure in the municipal market is 20 years.
In addition to the fund, Rosemawr oversees value-added municipal strategies for family offices (including those of Forbes 100 and Forbes 400 families), ultra high net-worth individuals, and select institutional clients.
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds!
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – International hedge fund manager and Swiss banking group, SYZ & CO, has acquired 50% of the asset management company owned by Spanish alternative investment group N+1.
The joint venture, named “N+1 SYZ Gestión”, will provide asset management services to high level clients in Spain, providing discretionary or advisory mandates for large family groups or institutional clients, as well as for investment funds and funds of hedge funds.
“As has been the case in Italy, we have preferred entering into a partnership with a solid and well-established local partner. This enables us to provide offerings that are adapted to the specific nature of the local market”, said Alfredo Piacentini, Managing Partner at Banque SYZ & CO. “We are particularly satisfied with our partnership with N+1, a group we have known for many years, and with which we share the same vision and values.”
“The Spanish asset management market is in the midst of dramatic change and today there is real demand for high level international asset management expertise; our alliance with SYZ & CO will enable us to successfully meet this demand”, said Santiago Eguidazu, N+1′s President. “SYZ & CO enjoys a strong reputation in the Spanish market and there are strong synergies between our two asset management groups.”
N+1 Group company currently has approximately CHF 400million ($353 million) in assets under management. The transaction is subject to approval by the CNMV, the Spanish financial markets regulatory authority.
SYZ & CO’s total assets under management now exceed CHF 20bn ($18.6 billion).
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Reuters UK – Hedge funds are going to have to dance to their investors’ tune once more as lucrative profits fall and a new breed of clients begins flexing its muscles, demanding more results from managers.
Institutional clients, a growing part of the hedge fund investor base, are questioning high fee levels and say they want to see what managers are really doing with their money — an understandable worry since the Madoff fraud.
They also want to know how hedge funds manage risk in choppy markets after record performance losses last year, and are balking at funds that are restricting investors from accessing their money by using so-called gates.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Morgan Stanley is offering enhanced asset protection to its prime brokerage clients, announcing an expansion of its prime brokerage offering with the launch of new custodial services for long securities held by Prime Brokerage clients.
The custodial services will be provided directly by Morgan Stanley Trust National Association (MSTNA), a U.S national chartered trust company. MSTNA gives clients the option to hold their long securities with a Morgan Stanley subsidiary that is independent from Morgan Stanley’s U.S. and U.K. broker dealers.
"Recent market events have increased the demand for solutions that mitigate counter-party risk for hedge funds," said Rich Portogallo, Head of Institutional Clients and Services at Morgan Stanley. "The launch of new custodial services from MSTNA underscores Morgan Stanley’s commitment to providing hedge fund managers and investors with alternative asset protection solutions in addition to our best in class financing services and technology."
"We are excited to offer this new asset-protection platform to our clients," said Joe Davis, Managing Director in Morgan Stanley Prime Brokerage and President of the custody business of MSTNA. "We have created a platform that provides a seamless client experience across Prime Brokerage’s and MSTNA’s systems, and offers fully automated transfers, aggregated reporting and a single client service point of contact."
Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: alex@hedgeco.net
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds!
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – AlphaMetrix, LLC, a $1.8 billion managed account platform for institutional and accredited investors, today announced the hiring of Richard Meade, 39, as Executive Director of Client Relations. This new position was created to ensure a high quality customer experience for AlphaMetrix’s fast-growing roster of investors. Meade has over 16 years of experience in the futures industry, covering operations, client services, client technology and sales.
“Interest in the AlphaMetrix managed account platform, along with our research, risk management and due diligence services, has grown dramatically since Bernie Madoff scandal,” said Aleks Kins, CEO of AlphaMetrix.
“With this growth comes a need to ensure that our current and prospective managed account clients have as positive an experience as possible when working with us. From being a client of Richard’s for several years, I know firsthand his ability to provide clients a unique combination of technological sophistication and a personal touch. He’s a great asset for our team.”
Before joining AlphaMetrix, Meade was COO and later CEO of UBS Managed Fund Services, helping launch and run the UBS managed futures platform. In addition, he also managed many key relationships for UBS’ top institutional clients, especially those in the managed futures and hedge fund space.
Prior to UBS, Meade ran Futures Client Services at Goldman Sachs, where he partnered with the firm’s top clients to create new web-based solutions to streamline operations around trade reconciliations, cash and margin managements, trade and position monitoring and other critical areas.
Meade received his BA in Modern Languages from the University of Nottingham.
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds!
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Citi is opening a daily operational suite of solutions for hedge fund managers that they hope will improve efficiency and allow managers to focus on optimizing investment decision making.
"The Hedge Fund Middle Office service has been designed to improve operational efficiency and transparency for hedge fund managers by providing independent third party operations," said Chandresh Iyer, Head of Global Custody and Investment Administration Services at Citi. "It can be used either on a stand-alone basis, or in conjunction with Citi’s suite of Hedge Fund Administration services," he added.
Citi’s Hedge Fund Middle Office services include a comprehensive suite of post-trade and pre-settlement services which are scalable and modular. The services are global and include technology solutions that help manage daily trade processing and P&L reporting, OTC confirmation and valuation, collateral management, corporate action processing and cash management. In addition, Citi’s solution allows hedge funds to move to a more variable operational cost model – an especially attractive feature in the current cost-constrained environment. Hedge Fund Middle Office services are available to funds operating in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
With the addition of Hedge Fund Middle Office, Citi’s Global Transaction Services now offers an end-to-end hedge fund servicing platform. The solutions include administration, custody and OpenPrime, a portfolio management and order management system that is prime broker agnostic.
Global Transaction Services, a division of Citi’s Institutional Clients Group, offers integrated cash management, trade, and securities and fund services to multinational corporations, financial institutions and public sector organizations around the world. With a network that spans more than 100 countries, Citi’s Global Transaction Services supports over 65,000 clients. As of the first quarter of 2009, it held on average $278 billion in liability balances and $10.3 trillion in assets under custody.
Reuters – Bridgewater Associates Inc, one of the world’s biggest hedge-fund managers, said on Tuesday it might be interested in participating in the U.S. Treasury’s public-private investment program, calling it a "big transfer of money from the government to the banks and to the buyers."
Bridgewater manages roughly $80 billion in global investments for a wide array of institutional clients, including foreign governments and central banks.
In a letter to clients, Bridgewater said its interest in buying the distressed assets under the terms being offered would depend on the pricing and on "whether we can get over our fears of partnering with the government."
Bloomberg.com: UK & Ireland – Citadel Investment Group LLC, the $19 billion hedge-fund firm run by Kenneth Griffin, hired three senior executives from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to boost its fixed-income team.
Timothy Bryan Wilkinson, former head of fixed income proprietary trading at Lehman Brothers, will work on the same business at Citadel’s proprietary trading group along with John Alexander Goodridge, the company said in an e-mailed statement today. Alex Maddox, 38, formerly head of European mortgage-bond trading, will become Citadel’s head of securitized products in Europe. The team will report to Patrik Edsparr, Citadel’s global head of fixed income and European chief executive officer.
Banks and hedge funds are hiring Lehman executives as the bankrupt U.S. securities firm cuts 750 jobs in its European fixed income division after talks to find a buyer failed.
