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) – 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.
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Seeking Alpha – Grail Advisors, LLC, the investment advisor that launched the Grail American Beacon Large Cap Value Fund (GVT) last month, has filed with the SEC to launch four additional ETFs. Grail notes that these four funds will be the first actively-managed ETFs to use a single-manager approach.
Unlike traditional ETFs, managers of these funds will have discretion on a daily basis to choose securities consistent with the ETF’s objective. With the launch of these funds, Grail will establish itself as the leader in the actively-managed ETF arena.
"Our goal from the outset was to bring traditional, active fund managers to the ETF marketplace," said William Thomas, chief executive of Grail Advisors. With these funds, that day has come "a lot sooner than even the most enthusiastic proponent of the ETF structure could have imagined."
Citywire.co.uk – To analyse all of Europe’s absolute return funds on a variety ofg risk-return measures and see a comprehensive league table of performance visit our new zone here
The CF KB Endeavour Absolute Return fund slipped into negative territory last September as the fallout from the collapse of Lehman Brothers rippled across several major asset classes.
The fund suffered its highest drawdown to date, shedding -16.75%, which effectively wiped out all of the gains it had made since launch in July 2006, and then some.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Coinciding with the launch of new services aimed at increasing hedge fund transparency, independent alternative fund manager Butterfield Fulcrum appointed T. Andrew Smith as the firm’s global head of business development and marketing. He will be based in the company’s New York office, and will oversee Butterfield Fulcrum’s teams in Europe, Asia and North America.
With nearly 20 years of experience in institutional sales, business development, securities and global fund services, Smith’s appointment comes as investors demand operational transparencies from hedge funds.
Smith most recently served as a managing director and head of North America in global transaction services at Citi overseeing a $1.0 billion securities and fund services region. Before that he served as senior vice president of plan sponsor services at The Bank of New York and spent ten years at the State Street Corporation.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Credit Suisse announced the launch of a new Global Macro Replication Index which aims to capture the risk/return characteristics of the Credit Suisse/Tremont Global Macro Hedge Fund Index.
The new index enables investors to gain liquid, transparent insight into the global macro hedge fund sector.
"Due to a frequent lack of transparency, hedge fund investors found themselves exposed to numerous unforeseen risks in 2008, and problems were only exacerbated when liquidity dried up just as investors needed it most. Yet despite the drawbacks, hedge fund returns remain positive relative to equities and hedge funds continue to serve as an effective portfolio diversifier. Many investors have been left seeking liquid, transparent and cost effective solutions for gaining access to the asset class," Credit Suisse delcared.
Dr. Jordan Drachman, Head of Research for Credit Suisse Alternative Beta Strategies, said, “In the wake of current investor sentiment, replication strategies are gaining in popularity for their ability to provide similar risk/return characteristics to a well diversified portfolio of hedge funds, while avoiding certain drawbacks of hedge fund investing such as illiquidity, lack of transparency and headline risk.” Drachman added, “We are currently seeing increased interest in the Global Macro sector, as the strategy has a history of producing positive performance during market downturns and has been the top performing hedge fund sector since the inception of the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index in 1994.”
The Global Macro Replication Index joins the existing Long/Short Equity Replication Index to become the second in a suite of Alternative Index Replication (AIR) products. Together, the indices offer insight to two of the largest and most popular hedge fund sectors in the current market environment.
Professor Bill Fung, a key research advisor to Credit Suisse’s alternative beta efforts, stated “In developing a replication index, it is imperative that researchers understand the in-depth intricacies of hedge fund sectors and individual manager performance.” Fung went on to say, “The team has access to superior data through the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index. Together with regular contact with hedge fund managers, this combination provides practical insight into the behavior of hedge fund strategies and adds a level of fundamental analysis to the quantitative construction of the Index. This is particularly important in the Global Macro space which is dominated by managers that engage in dynamic strategies in an ever changing market environment; and these managers have done so successfully during very challenging times historically as well as more recently.”
Index values are finalized daily and quoted on Bloomberg under the symbol AIRI. Performance, descriptions, statistics and downloadable price history can be found on the newly launched Credit Suisse Alternative Beta website,www.credit-suisse.com/alternativebeta.
Credit Suisse has helped pioneer the measurement of alternative beta for more than a decade. By bringing together indexing expertise, an academic partnership with key research advisors and extensive global resources, Credit Suisse continues to lead the industry in developing alternative index replication products.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Cayman Islands law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman now has the official approval and licensing permission for a São Paulo partnership by the the Brazilian Bar Association.
As the only offshore firm to have an office in Brazil, the São Paulo practice will initially focus on investment funds, public company listings and holding company incorporations, providing clients with direct access to the key jurisdictions of the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and Mauritius.
The São Paulo launch solidifies Conyers’ presence in the fast-growing BRIC markets. In March 2008, the firm became the first and only offshore firm to have an office in Russia with the launch of its Moscow office. In October 2008, Conyers established a presence in Mauritius, a preferred jurisdiction for structuring investments in India, and added the provision of Mauritius legal advice to its roster of jurisdictions to service the Indian, Middle Eastern and African markets.
"Even in this challenging economic climate, the prospects for leading Brazilian businesses in global commerce are immense." Conyers Chairman John Collis commented, "The firm’s entry into Brazil and the other major BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) markets is part of our strategy to provide responsive advice to our clients in the world’s key financial centres and reinforces our strength as a leader in the market for offshore legal services."
Established in 1928, Conyers has over 550 staff and 150 lawyers specialising in the financial laws of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman and Mauritius Islands, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Moscow, Singapore and now São Paulo.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Pershing LLC has expanded their business consulting services by including a hedge fund start-up simulator tool and a new guidebook to assist hedge fund managers with the launch of new funds. Pershing is a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation BK.
Pershing Prime Services’ Hedge Fund Start-Up Simulator was developed in collaboration with Moss Adams LLP. It provides hedge fund managers with detailed information about the infrastructure and financial workings of a hedge fund, especially during its first 18 months of operation, including the launch.
Pershing Prime Services’ new guidebook entitled, A Guide to Establishing a Hedge Fund, was created in conjunction with The Bank of New York Mellon and offers an introduction to a number of critical criteria, as well as a framework for making informed business decisions.
Pershing and The Bank of New York Mellon leveraged a wide network of industry specialists to develop the guidebook, including Moss Adams, Eze Castle Integration, Inc., Stark & Stark Attorneys At Law and Sasserath & Zoraian LLP, as well as its in-house experts.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) - FSA regulated asset manager, Silk Invest Ltd, successfully launched the African Lions Fund and the Arab Falcons Fund, which helped the hedge fund manager achieve its goals in becoming a specialist in Arab and African equities.
The Luxembourg domiciled African Lions fund and Arab Falcons fund went live on 27th March with an NAV of Euro 100 ($135.2). The portfolio managers, based in London, Cairo, Casablanca and Johannesburg, plan to build up the portfolio up cautiously, taking advantage of liquidity opportunities.
"Raising assets in these markets proved extremely challenging," Zin Bekkali, CEO of Silk Invest said, "Ultimately, the strength of our investment proposition, and the valuation of the markets we specialise, convinced investors to support the launch."
African and Arab markets account for 4% of worldwide market capitalization and this is projected to increase as the region is set to further grow its share of the world’s GDP.
Baldwin Berges, director of business development, observed that “the funds should grow in size fairly rapidly. Investors understand well our proposition and we have built a pitch book in excess of Euro 500 million ($676.2 million). Many of these investors have committed to invest in our funds, once the fund is up and running.”
Daniel Broby, the Chief Investment Officer of Silk Invest says that the launch “is perfectly timed from an investor perspective. There is now immense opportunity in frontier markets of the dramatic declines caused by the credit crisis.”
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) -A new Asia Macro hedge fund has been launched by Dexion Capital and Morgan Stanley veterans Andrew Gale and Lee Ka Sha.
With a minimum investment is $100,000, the fund will invest in Asian interest rates and currencies, opening trading on May 1, according to HedgeWeek.
Lee will play the role of CEO, with Gale as chief executive. Gale most recently was responsible for product development and fundraising for Dexion Capital’s London-listed closed-ended funds of hedge funds and third-party funds. Lee was a founding member of Abax Global Capital in Hong Kong, where he managed both the South Asia special situations portfolio and macro positioning.
“In the course of these discussions it has become apparent that most investors look to their macro investments to be a diversifier providing a different source of returns than the inherent beta in credit and equity strategies,” Gale said, "the fund launch was based on investor demand."
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Alternative investment consultant and director, Bob Torkelund has announced the launch of a Cayman regulated fund, the Arkanar Global Macro SP. The fund is being monitored and the due diligence work done by the Cayman regulator before the launch took place.
The initial offering period runs throughout February 2009, with a minimum investment of $10.000.
Torkelund said, “The fund is easy dealing and settlement: we have organised electronic clearing via Clearstream/Euroclear ‘payment against delivery’ which makes the fund available to most European and international banks in line with other international securities.”
The fund has a 20% high water mark performance fee and 0.5% per quarter as management fee and an expected annual return of 15–20%.
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Reuters – John Meriwether and the other partners in his hedge-fund company, JWM Partners LLC, are considering launching a new fund, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a senior official at the company.
The new fund could be set up within JWM Partners or in a new company, the paper said, citing the official.
The fund’s launch remains some way off and could still fall apart, the paper said.
The official told the paper that it was too early to say what investment strategy the fund would use.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Privately-owned investment management company, SVM Asset Management, is seeking approval from the Financial Services Authority for the launch of the long/short SVM UK Absolute Alpha Fund, which has a similar investment approach to their SVM Saltire fund, which returned +19.7% in 2008.
The fund, if approved, will have the flexibility to move from a net long to a net short position differentiating it from other absolute return funds, the company says. Managed by Colin McLean, returns will be driven by stock selection and the net position of the fund will be determined by whether the manager has more long or short stock ideas at the time.
"In 2008 just 31 of the stocks in the FTSE All Share ended the year higher, and 580 were down. It is therefore not surprising that few long only managers were able to profit," McLean says, "Without question this year will be challenging for the economy. However, at a company level there will be winners and losers and fundamental stock picking skills will be required to identify them."
The focus will be on generating positive returns over the long term rather than positive performance each month, as such SVM believes the appropriate time frame for investing in the new fund is at least three years.
Based in Edinburgh, SVM focuses principally on global fund of funds, UK and European equities.
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