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The Financial Standard- The global hedge fund space is undergoing a period of radical change as large hedge funds become institutionalised, new research shows.
According to international strategy consultancy Celent, large hedge funds are undergoing institutionalisation as US pension plans and endowment funds demand players display vigorous operation capabilities to satisfy demanding due diligence requirements.
“Many hedge funds have grown to a size and scope that require managers to run their business more formally. As a result, a redesigned hedge fund organisation has emerged," said Celent.
“With substantial operation infrastructure capabilities and sound internal control and risk management practices in place, many large funds now have much in common with their asset management counterparts."
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.Net) New York-based Fairfield Greenwich Group ("FGG"), a $16.6 billion global hedge fund and fund of hedge funds management firm has formed a cooperative venture with Sceptre Investment Counsel Limited, one of Canada’s leading independent money management firms.
The venture sees two of the oldest, most established, and most accomplished management firms in their respective markets forming a mutually supportive relationship to provide Sceptre’s clients access to the best-of-breed alternative asset products on FGG’s global platform.
"Sceptre has many strong relationships in the Canadian investment community, and our clients have long trusted us to manage their pooled funds, mutual funds, and other investments. FGG manages some of the industry’s finest funds of hedge funds and other alternative asset products." Richard L. Knowles, Sceptre’s President and CEO said, "We believe that Sceptre’s clients will understand the great value that FGG brings to the table, and that they will have considerable interest in the outstanding hedged products to which they may now gain access through this new relationship."
"We are excited to be working with Sceptre in Canada. For more than 25 years, FGG’s expertise in manager selection, due diligence, and risk management has benefited our investors." David B. Horn, Partner and Chief Global Strategist of FGG commented, "We have great confidence that Sceptre’s extensive network of investors will appreciate the quality and diversity of FGG’s platform of products, and the institutional investment and risk management with which we support it."
Sceptre manages client assets of $9.5 billion, utilizing a broadly diversified investment approach. Originally founded as an institutional fund manager, Sceptre has broadened its expertise to include both retail and private client portfolio management. Sceptre manages segregated and pooled fund portfolios for pension and other savings plans of corporations, government sponsored funds, universities, unions, charitable foundations, endowments and reserve funds of insurance companies.
FINalternatives- Global hedge fund assets under management increased 30% in 2007 to a record $2.25 trillion, according to a new International Financial Services report.
Most of this growth was in the first three quarters, as market turbulence in the latter part of the year resulted in a slowdown in inflow of new funds and a decline in average returns.
New York remained the leading global location for hedge fund managers, with 40% of global assets, but its share was down from 50% in 2002 as growth of the hedge fund industry in Europe and Asia outpaced growth in the U.S. This was largely a result of a rise in institutional portfolio allocation into hedge funds in these regions during this period.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net)- BNP Paribas has appointed Thomas Mahala and Jason Miller to its global hedge fund relationship management team (HFRM). BNP Paribas now has over a dozen relationship management professionals located in New York, London and Hong Kong serving the interests of global hedge fund clients.
"We look forward to Tom and Jason, two senior and highly respected hedge fund relationship management professionals, joining the global effort." Talbot Stark said, "BNP Paribas’s hedge fund business has benefited from its expanding global capabilities, financial strength and most recent acquisition of Banc of America’s prime brokerage unit".
Thomas Mahala joins the team in New York; he joins Chris Lane as co-head of HFRM in the Americas. Thomas joins from Banc of America Securities where he worked most recently as a Managing Director and head of the Capital Introduction group. Prior to this role he worked as a senior relationship manager for institutional accounts including hedge funds. Previously, he spent 7 years at Bear Stearns as a senior relationship manager for hedge funds. Thomas joins BNP Paribas with over 23 years of experience and successes in relationship management, prime brokerage and risk management.
Jason Miller joins the New York team to work as a senior relationship manager. He joins from Banc of America where he most recently worked as a senior relationship manager for hedge fund clients. Prior to that, he spent two years at Credit Suisse as a relationship manager for institutional securities relationships. Jason brings 16 years of experience from Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Citigroup in relationship management. He reports to Chris Lane and Thomas Mahala.
In 2008, BNP Paribas was named ‘Structured Products House of the Year’ by Risk magazine and in 2007, was named ‘Equity Derivatives House of the Year’ also by Risk magazine‘. North American awards include ‘North American Structured Products House of the Year’ by Structured Products Magazine and ‘Best Equity Derivatives house in North America’ by Global Finance magazine.
BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment banking division has almost 16,000 employees, deployed in 53 countries around the world.
Editing by Alex Akesson Editor for HedgeCo LLC Email: alex@hedgeco.net
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net)- Global Hedge fund Man Group has increased their assets under management from $74.6 billion at 31 March 2008 to $79.5 billion at 30 June 2008.
"Demand for our fund products has remained strong, both from private investors and institutions, with sales in our first quarter to 30 June 2008 totalling $5.0 billion." Jon Aisbitt, Chairman of Man Group said in a statement, "This success in asset raising reflects the Group’s broad geographic presence and the continued attraction of conservatively structured alternative investment products."
Overall product performance was positive, with AHL, Glenwood, Man Global Strategies, and RMF all showing positive returns. Redemptions for the three months to 30 June 2008 totaled $2.5 billion, of which private investor were $1.5 billion.
Man is one of the worlds largest alternative investment management companies, originaly founded in 1783, Man is now ranked in the top 40 companies of the FTSE 100 Index with a market capitalisation of about $20 billion.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net)- Hedge fund managers, gurus and ‘Out of the box’ guest speakers are gathering at the Grimaldi Forum to debate distressed investing issues and macro strategies for 2008.
The 14th Annual Gaim International 2008, a global hedge fund industry conference is being held tomorrow through Thursday in Monaco. The conference has 40 slots over 3 days and will cover issues such as the state of the world economy to strategy and hedge fund philanthropy.
1100 investors, distributors and asset managers are expected at the hedge fund industry’s flagship conference, attracting the largest proportion of asset allocators in hedge funds than any other alternatives event.
Hedge fund experts are scheduled to speak at the meeting, and the guest speakers include former holder of the land speed record, Richard Noble.
The conference is taking place as the $2.6 trillion hedge fund industry confronts poor returns and investor outflows and searches for a follow-up to the favored strategy for 2007, which was taking bets on the explosion in subprime loans.
West Palm Beach (Hedgeco.net)- The Greenwich Global Hedge Fund Index(GGHFI)reported May returns of +2.01% while the Greenwich Composite Investable Index returned +1.66%. The May Index currently includes 1345 constituent funds.
By comparison, the S&P 500 showed gains of +1.29%, while MSCI World Equity and FTSE 100 indices posted returns of +1.11% and -0.56%.
"Across the board, hedge funds performed well in May. But the real story is told when comparing year-to-date performance," notes Margaret Gilbert, Managing Director. "Hedge funds are positive for the year compared to the major equity indices which still remain negative."
For the second month in a row, Long/Short Equity managers were the best performing strategy group, posting a gain of +2.35%. Directional Trading managers, the best performing strategy group so far this year, exhibited another strong month, returning +2.00%.
Specialty Strategy managers were the second-best performing strategy group, returning +2.10% on average. The Market Neutral Group averaged +1.39% on the month as Event Driven managers continued to find opportunities in uncertain markets.
New York, NY – (May 29, 2008) – HedgeCo Networks and LJH Financial Marketing Strategies announced today a partnership to provide comprehensive marketing and investor relations services to the global hedge fund industry and related financial sectors.
The new partnership offers a comprehensive financial marketing platform designed to develop and manage hedge fund brands through the use of regulatory compliant collateral. HedgeCo-LJH specializes in website design and construction, corporate identity/logo design, marketing collateral, marketing research, thought leadership, and event support. Overall, the goal is to help clients raise assets and visibility.
“The HedgeCo-LJH partnership will allow clients to leverage the services of each firm to remain competitive in the alternative investment industry,” said Evan Rapoport, managing partner of HedgeCo Networks. “Hedge fund managers and operators are able to outsource their marketing needs to better focus on their core business.”
About HedgeCo Networks
HedgeCo Networks is a premier name in the hedge fund services industry, offering a vast selection of services and tools for hedge funds. Their flagship site, HedgeCo.Net, is a portal used daily by over 25,000 investors and hedge fund managers. Drawing on the experience used in creating and managing HedgeCo.Net, the HedgeCo Websites Team has designed over 150 websites for hedge funds and private equity firms of all sizes in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Their newest tool, the Hedge Fund 2.0 Calculator, is used by hedge funds by compute statistics, graphs, and marketing materials within minutes.
About LJH Financial Marketing
LJH Financial Marketing Strategies’ exclusive focus is on the global financial services industry, with specialized knowledge of hedge funds, private equity and related financial sectors. Partnerships begin with a thorough research-driven analysis of goals and objectives, including competitive reviews and a hard look at positioning. Based on this in-depth review, a variety of cost-effective marketing strategies and tactics are implemented to help drive bottom-line results. LJH has unparalleled experience and deep-seated industry relationships that help clients raise assets and market visibility.
