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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Fund of hedge funds Lighthouse Partners announced that it is expanding its partnership with GlobeOp Financial Services to a full-service fund administration relationship.
More than 20 professionals from the Lighthouse operations team in Florida will work jointly with approximately 85 GlobeOp counterparts in Connecticut, New York State and Mumbai, India to deliver “around the clock” post-trade processing for more than 60 managed accounts and five funds.
"During the past three and half years Lighthouse has strategically converted from the standard fund of fund model to a managed account model that we believe will be the future of hedge fund investing," said Sean McGould, Lighthouse president and co-chief investment officer. "Our team has developed strong portfolio and risk management skills over the last 15 years. Combining that expertise with managed account investing is already providing the increased transparency and risk reporting required by institutional investors."
Rob Swan added that the long-term, continued growth of the Lighthouse program required an established partner to effectively handle post-trade processing, administration and reporting. "Underlying Lighthouse managers already greatly benefit from the integration with GlobeOp’s comprehensive, web-based middle-and back-office trade processing services. This partnership also provides our fund managers and investors with the increased independence, timeliness and transparency they require."
Founded in June 1999, Lighthouse Partners is a fund of hedge funds with more than $6 billion in assets under management, over 65 employees and offices in Palm Beach Gardens, Chicago, New York, London and Hong Kong. Lighthouse manages multi-strategy fund of funds along with a stable of focused funds across Credit, Global Equity Long/Short, and Managed Futures. Currently, Lighthouse also has over 60 managed accounts and five funds that are structured wholly in managed accounts.
Alex Akesson
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – GlobeOp announced the strengthening its European-domiciled hedge fund administration services following the licensing of its Dublin office by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority, expanding the company’s existing fund administration network based in the Cayman Islands and the USA.
The office is led by Jim Casey, GlobeOp’s global head of investor relations,"Ireland is a strategically important administrative center for European domiciled funds," Casey said, "Despite market turbulence this past year, the European funds sector continues to develop its long-term potential. I look forward to building a Dublin team whose best practices further strengthen our fund administration services globally.”
"The GlobeOp Ireland license allows us to directly service Irish domiciled funds and support European hedge fund clients and their investors with full fund administration services," Vernon Barback, GlobeOp president and chief operating officer said, "This includes independent and transparent fund performance reporting.”
The GlobeOp Ireland license allows GlobeOp to directly service Irish domiciled funds and support European hedge fund clients and their investors with full fund administration services.
With $108 billion in assets under administration, GlobeOp has more than 14,000 investors globally. Earlier this year the company opened a new hurricane-proof office in Caymana Bay, Cayman Islands and appointed Gary Linford, former head of the Investment & Securities Division of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), to its Cayman Islands subsidiary board.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Fulcrum Group, a leading global administrator for hedge funds and the alternative asset management industry, backed by global private equity firm, 3i, and Butterfield Fund Services (BFS), a top-twenty provider of administration services for investment and pension funds and part of The Bank of N. T. Butterfield & Son Limited (Butterfield), today announced, subject to regulatory and governmental approvals, an agreement to merge the two businesses to create Butterfield Fulcrum Group (BFG).
Headquartered in Bermuda, BFG will have approximately 400 employees in 10 locations across 9 countries. The firm will have close to $100 billion in assets under administration from nearly 1,000 hedge funds, fund of funds, private equity and institutional investment management clients. BFG is expected to rank amongst the top 10 independent alternative asset fund administration companies in the world.
Butterfield will retain a substantial equity stake and 3i, an existing shareholder in Fulcrum Group, will own a majority interest in Butterfield Fulcrum Group.
“This is an enormous win-win for both companies that will leverage sales and operational capabilities of Fulcrum Group, and the tremendous customer relationships and global reputation of Butterfield Bank Group.” said Akshaya Bhargava, Chief Executive Officer of Fulcrum Group. He added, “Our vision is to create the best fund administration company in the world.”
Alan Thompson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Butterfield, echoed Mr. Bhargava’s sentiments, saying “We believe that the merger of these two highly successful businesses will result in significant business growth, more services for fund administration customers and career opportunities for employees. In BFG, Butterfield and Fulcrum are creating a company that will have a powerful presence in fund administration globally.”
Mr. Bhargava will become the Chief Executive Officer of BFG and Jill Considine, current Chairman of the Fulcrum Group, will be the Chairman of the BFG Board. Mr. Thompson and Graham Brooks, Executive Vice President, International at Butterfield will also join the BFG Board, along with other representatives from Fulcrum and 3i.
“This merger brings together two highly complementary fund administrators to offer a full-service platform of significant scale that has a business model and operational structure to achieve industry leadership,” said Ms. Considine. “BFG will be able to leverage the market reputation of one of the world’s premier banks, a very efficient operating platform and a highly talented and motivated management team.”
Both companies share common corporate values and bring significant strengths to BFG, in addition to sharing a highly customer centric and a high touch personalised service approach. BFG’s global operations model and use of many industry best practices is expected to significantly enhance the company’s ability to meet increasingly complex demands from its customers.
Commenting on the synergies to be realised through the formation of BFG, Mr. Brooks said, “In Fulcrum’s management team, we have found a like-minded group of fund administration professionals who share our focus on customer service and a desire to be among the top global providers of services to alternative investment strategies. We are excited about the growth prospects of BFG.”
Representatives of both Fulcrum and Butterfield noted that ensuring seamless delivery of client services during the integration is a top priority for BFG. “Clients will continue to receive the same high levels of service and from the same relationship centres while the two companies are being integrated,” said Mr. Bhargava. “We expect integration to be completely seamless from a client point of view.”
Whitney Bower, 3i Partner, added of the merger "We are proud to have been a part of Fulcrum’s growth and believe that Butterfield Fulcrum Group will be a major force in the global fund administration industry. Our industry knowledge and strong global network have enabled us to support Fulcrum’s international expansion, particularly in Europe and India, and we very much look forward to accelerating this growth through the partnership which this merger of Fulcrum and Butterfield brings. The merger of Fulcrum and Butterfield is also a testimony of 3i’s partnership style focused on driving growth."
Merrill Lynch acted as a third-party adviser to Fulcrum Group on the agreement, while UBS Investment Bank advised Butterfield.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net)- New York based fund manager Auda Hedge LLC has selected hedge fund manager Northern Trust to provide fund administration, custody, banking and foreign exchange services to its fund of hedge fund program, with assets in excess of US$1 billion.
In January 2008, Northern Trust announced a worldwide exclusive partnership with youDevise to provide enhanced fund of hedge fund data to the fund of hedge fund community via the Hedge Information Provider ("HIP") system.
"Funds-of-hedge-funds have become the route chosen by many institutional investors when accessing hedge funds." Wilson Leech, head of Northern Trust’s Global Fund services group said, "By fully integrating HIP onto Northern Trust’s global platform we will be able to deliver an enhanced reporting capability and reduce operational risk, enabling our clients to make decisions faster and more effectively."
The HIP is an online portfolio management system developed specifically for funds-of-hedge-funds. It considerably improves the timeliness of information that funds-of-hedge-fund managers receive from underlying hedge funds regarding hedge fund holdings, current value, performance, liquidity and hedging, as well as a detailed breakdown of assets and transactions. HIP makes it possible for funds-of-hedge-fund managers to see portfolio management data daily that, historically, was only available monthly.
Where Northern Trust’s UK entities undertake regulated business, they are authorized and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Services Authority.
New York – June 17, 2008 – MadisonGrey Global Fund Services and HedgeOp Compliance today announced a co-marketing agreement that will combine MadisonGrey’s total fund administration, accounting, cash management, and investor relations services with the leading web-based compliance platform for hedge funds and funds of hedge funds. The alliance enables MadisonGrey to use the ComplianceTrak fund-level engine for clients, providing them with custom compliance reporting and monitoring as well as offering preferred pricing for the ComplianceTrak advisor-level portal.
“At MadisonGrey, our aim is to deliver seamless yet comprehensive fund administration services. The addition of ComplianceTrak will help our clients accelerate workflow and build and maintain a solid compliance infrastructure,” stated James C. Lanshe, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer for MadisonGrey.
“We are proud to partner with MadisonGrey to offer their hedge fund and fund of fund client’s access to ComplianceTrak, stated Bill Mulligan, CEO of HedgeOp Compliance. “Our complementary business lines employ cutting-edge technology and both firms share a common vision of service excellence.”
MadisonGrey is an SAS70 compliant alternative fund administrator with an unwavering dedication to providing a superior client experience. Focused on the distinct needs of domestic and offshore hedge funds and funds of hedge funds, the firm offers complete fund accounting, risk analysis, record keeping, and workflow processes with compliance and operational oversight services. For additional information please visit madisongrey.com.
About HedgeOp Compliance
HedgeOp Compliance, LLC focuses exclusively on helping hedge fund and fund of hedge fund managers meet their compliance and operational challenges. HedgeOp has developed a successful business based on its proactive approach to servicing clients and proven reputation. Clients range from start-up hedge funds to large firms with well-established track records. HedgeOp’s business lines include specialized compliance consulting services, our proprietary ComplianceTrak software, and due diligence research and reporting for fund of funds. For additional information please visit hedgeop.com.
