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) – Specialist active equity manager, Martin Currie Investment Management Limited, has expanded its global hedge fund arm with two senior hires, Alastair Barrie and Clayton Cheek.
Barrie joins in the newly created role of global head of hedge fund sales and Cheek joins as US head of hedge fund sales. Both bring with them extensive business development experience and join existing sales director, Mike Gibb.
Alastair pereviously worked at RBS where he was director of institutional business. In this new position he will be responsible for growing their global hedge fund business. Prior to RBS Alastair was director of global hedge fund sales and UK wholesale distribution at Henderson.
Clayton joins Martin Currie’s office in New York. Previously he worked for Man Investments in New York where he was head of institutional sales for the US. Prior to Man, he was managing director, head of client development Americas for Ivy Asset Management.
“We are thrilled that Alastair and Clayton are joining our successful and growing hedge fund business.” Allan MacLeod, managing director of sales, marketing and client service at Martin Currie said, “Our hedge fund business is now over nine years old and has over US$1 billion under management across ten funds. It is a clear reflection on the quality of our business that we have been able to attract such high calibre professionals.”
Martin Currie manages £10.7 billion ($18 billion) for clients worldwide, with $1.2 billion of that in absolute return funds.
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HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Man Investments’ seeding fund, RMF Global Emerging Managers, has completed its second incubation deal of the last two months, providing a cornerstone investment of $50 million for Hong Kong’s Minerva Macro Fund.
In July RMF GEM invested $50 million in the flagship product of 5:15 Capital Management, an unrelated fixed income arbitrage manager based in Connecticut.
Minerva is managed by Stanley Ku, who founded the Hong Kong office of hedge fund Fortress Investment Group and most recently managed $750 million for Fortress’ Drawbridge Global Macro Fund. Dorothy Lau, Minerva’s risk and business manager, formerly worked for JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
“Stanley Ku’s work at Fortress and Goldman Sachs has made him a very well respected money manager in Asia,” said Hans Hurschler, head of Man Investments’ hedge fund Ventures. “We believe that Minerva has the potential to generate solid, stable returns and that it may attract substantial assets.”
Minerva is a discretionary global macro fund, focused on Asia. It trades only highly liquid instruments such as interest rate or bond futures, foreign exchange forwards and equity index futures or sector ETFs. The entire portfolio is designed to be liquidated in 48 hours.
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Reuters – Early-stage investors in hedge funds should not be too greedy when negotiating with start-ups or it may hit their own investment, warns Man Investments, which this week agreed a short-term deal with an Asian start-up fund.
Net outflows of $300 billion between October and June, and the closure of the seeding operations of some banks, specialist funds and large hedge funds, have tipped the balance in favor of investors willing to back small funds.
Some seed investors now say conditions are fantastic for their strategy, allowing them good access to the best funds, often on favorable terms or by committing less capital.
CityWire.co.uk – Hedge fund giant Man Investments is to launch its popular AHL managed futures trading strategy into the retail market.
The fund, which is planned for launch on 1 October, will be domiciled in the UK and employ Ucits III powers. It will deal on a weekly basis, giving it the edge on a number of rival strategies, which tend to only offer monthly dealing.
AHL strategies have proved successful over the years. The firm’s flagship AHL Alpha hedge fund has returned 17.9% a year since 1995, when hedged back into sterling, according to the firm.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – The Banker Middle East Industry Awards 2009 has given Man Investments the ‘Best Hedge Fund Company’ award. Attended by H. E. Mr. Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, the Banker Middle East Industry Awards gathered more than 350 government officials, regulators as well as banking and finance executives to recognise and award the best institutions operating in the Middle East in 24 different categories. Man Investments also won the hedge fund award in 2008.
"Winning the award for the second year in a row is an honour for us as it shows that other industry leaders recognise Man as a leader in developing the hedge fund industry in the Middle East." Patrick Merville, CEO of Man Investments Middle East, said.
Man Investments’ first regional office in the world was opened in 1986, based in the Arab region. Since then, the company has established a robust base of institutional and retail clients. Man Investments is part of Man Group plc, one of the world’s largest hedge fund providers.
"Banker Middle East Industry Awards are widely recognised as the benchmark of excellence and we are very pleased to have been the winner in this category since its inception," added Merville.
During the voting process, which started in April and closed early this month, nominees were elected from a shortlist pre-selected by the judging panel, which comprises international industry specialists from the major rating agencies, the region’s financial centres and independent banking consultants who remain anonymous to ensure unbiased selections.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Alpha Magazine unveiled the 2009 Europe Hedge Fund top 50, showing that that Europe was not immune to investor angst over hedge funds. A wave of investor withdrawals shapes the magazine’s annual ranking of the 50 biggest European single-manager hedge fund firms, as total assets fell to $285 billion as of January 1, 2009, from $405 billion a year earlier, a 30% drop.
Europe’s hedge fund business may be looking at an encouraging longer-term picture, however. The region boasts five of the world’s 20 biggest hedge fund firms — led by two London-based powerhouses, Brevan Howard Asset Management and Man Investments.
Brevan Howard’s total assets surged from $21 billion at the end of 2007 to $26.8 billion when this year began, elevating the firm from third to first in Alpha’s 2009 Europe Hedge Fund 50. Man Investments had a similarly strong year; its overall assets grew from $20.9 billion to $24.4 billion, lifting the firm two rungs to second place.
The two top European hedge fund firms in last year’s ranking have been taken down a few notches. Barclays Global Investors falls from No. 1 to No. 3, and GLG Partners drops from No. 2 to No. 8; the firms saw their assets drop, respectively, 35% and 52%.
Alpha’s Europe Hedge Fund Top 5
Rank Firm Total Capital ($ millions) 1 Brevan Howard Asset Management $26,840 2 Man Investments 24,400 3 Barclays Global Investors 17,000 4 BlueBay Asset Management 16,700 5 Bluecrest Capital Management 13,273
For Alpha’s 2009 Europe Hedge Fund 50, data was gathered through questionnaires completed by hedge fund managers, supplemented by extensive Alpha staff research. We provide each manager’s total assets under management as of January 1, 2009, unless otherwise indicated. Where possible, we also show assets at the individual fund level, with 2008 net returns, for the five biggest funds run by a firm.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Global hedge fund association AIMA (The Alternative Investment Management Association), has published the world’s first global Guide to Sound Practices for Funds of Hedge Funds Managers.
The guide was developed by some of the world’s leading funds of hedge funds practitioners. It focuses on areas including risk management, due diligence, disclosure to investors, valuation, management of conflicts of interest and other operational issues. The group consisted of Unigestion, Financial Risk Management; Man Investments; Fauchier Partners; Pacific Alternative Asset Management; Ivy Asset Management; HDF Finance; Penjing Asset Management and Simmons & Simmons.
“AIMA has produced a huge body of work on sound practices and this was the ‘missing book in the library’." Andrew Baker, CEO of AIMA, and a member of the steering group, commented, "It is particularly important given recent events that there should be dedicated guidelines for funds of hedge funds managers. Funds of funds are a critical sector in the industry, are of particular interest to institutional investors, and it is right that AIMA has taken the lead in documenting sound practices. We hope that these guidelines that have been drawn up by such a distinguished and experienced group will be widely observed within the industry.”
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