Seekingalpha.com – As more investment pros warn of a bubble in Treasuries, State Street Global Advisors is launching an intermediate-term bond exchange-traded fund focused on investment-grade corporates and government debt.

The SPDR Barclays Capital Intermediate Term Credit Bond ETF started trading on Wednesday. It’s expected to come with an annual expense ratio of 0.15%. It will follow an index of more than 2,500 bonds and a weighted maturity of 5.2 years.

While ITR enters an investment-grade intermediate bond field with a few established competitors, the new ETF does track an index that offers somewhat different investment features than its rivals.

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Tags: barclays, barclays capital, bond exchange, bonds, corporates, etf, exchange traded fund, expense ratio, government-debt, intermediate bond, investment features, investment pros, itr, maturity, rivals, spdr, state street global advisors, state-street-global, term bond, treasuries

Telegraph.co.uk – Industry sources say private equity and distressed debt specialists have raised about $26bn (£17bn) since the start of October, with some 80pc coming from hedge funds.

Distressed debt funds, which buy debt that is trading at a discount because the borrower is at risk of defaulting, have been around for years but specialists are looking forward to a bonanza year in 2009.

Among the biggest distressed debt fund raisings since October have been Oaktree, which has secured $10.5bn, Towerbrook with $2.75bn, Intermediate Capital with $1.5bn, and Alchemy with $1bn. Hedge funds are also aiming to buy distressed debt directly from banks that are under pressure to offload liabilities to shore up their balance sheets.

Secondary debt, even senior loan notes, often trade below 70p in the pound and yield 25pc over five years if the debt is held – and survives – to maturity. If a company is strugglings with its covenants, debt holders can strike debt-for-equity swaps in return for keeping a company afloat – often a cost effective way of getting a seat at the table or control of a business.

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Tags: alchemy, balance sheets, banks, bonanza, covenants, debt fund, debt funds, debt holders, distressed-debt, industry sources, liabilities, maturity, oaktree, risk, seat at the table, swaps, telegraph, towerbrook

West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – TriAlpha recently a launched property hedge fund of hedge funds, the TriAlpha Global Property Strategy Fund in June this year.

The fund seeks absolute returns by focusing on hedge fund managers that specialise in the global property sector. In its first month the fund outperformed the FTSE EPRA Global Index by an estimated 11%. Included in the portfolio are recognised names such as Credit Suisse, Thames River and New Star Property hedge funds. Minimum investment for the TriAlpha Global Property Strategy Fund is $5 million (or equivalent).

“We are already seeing a high level of interest in the TriAlpha Global Property Strategy Fund and by having the fund available through Transact we are broadening the availability of this exciting new offering,” commented Cobus Kruger, director at TriAlpha.

Trialpha’s five sub funds of the ‘TriAlpha Alternative Strategy Unit Trust’ have been also approved as restricted recognised schemes for distribution in Singapore.

"With our roots in Stonehage (our private wealth management parent company,) we have extensive experience in dealing with and providing investment solutions to private clients."
Cobus Kruger, Director at TriAlpha, says, "Our hedge fund of funds products have been received well by these clients, fitting in neatly with their investment objectives and risk profiles. With increasing numbers of private banks in Singapore we believe that our hedge fund of funds products will be an appropriate solution for their clients."

The five absolute return funds offer investors a variety of risk profiles and investment strategies, the ‘TriAlpha Relative Value Fund’, which invests in market-neutral, multi-strategy event driven, multi-strategy arbitrage and option arbitrage; aims to achieve stable, absolute returns with volatility similar to the Citigroup World Government Bond Index.

The ‘TriAlpha Multi Strategy Fund’ invests across Asia, European and U.S. hedge strategies, emerging markets, macro, event driven and arbitrage; aims to offer stable, absolute returns with volatility similar to the Citigroup World Government Bond Index.

The ‘TriAlpha Growth Strategy Fund’, which invests in Asia, European and US hedge strategies as well as emerging markets and macro hedge funds with a smaller exposure to arbitrage strategies than the Multi Strategy fund; looks to achieve absolute returns with lower volatility than the MSCI World Equity Index.

The ‘TriAlpha Hedge Equity Fund’ which invests in Asia, European and US hedge strategies; offers investors absolute returns with lower volatility than the MSCI World Equity Index.

And finaly, the ‘TriAlpha Global Property Strategy Fund’ will focus on hedge fund managers that specialise in the global property sector.

Alex Akesson

Editor for HedgeCo.Net
Email: alex@hedgeco.net

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