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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) - BK Communications Group (BKCG) today announced a strategic partnership with James Velgot, a Wall Street visual communications pioneer who was most recently Director of Global Branding at AllianceBernstein. Velgot will offer his brand identity and visual communications expertise on a consulting basis, as part of BKCG’s best-of-breed team of strategic partners that complements the firm’s services.
BKCG provides comprehensive solutions for investment managers’ marketing and client communications efforts – helping firms in the areas of message development and materials creation in every medium from pitchbooks to investor communications to websites, as well as presentation coaching.
“This partnership strengthens our ability to provide our clients with a suite of tools for more successful capital raising and client retention,” said Kevin Kasper, one of BKCG’S Principals. “Jim Velgot’s expertise is a great match with ours, and it’s a proven combination.” Kasper was referring to successful client engagements already completed or under way by BKCG with Velgot as strategic partner, including high-end deliverables for a global alternative asset manager and a prominent boutique service provider.
“Jim represents a very unusual combination of project management skills and visual creativity,” observed Eric Brand, a Principal of BKCG. “I know from the inside, having worked closely with him on many successful projects at AllianceBernstein – some of which are still in use today.”
James Velgot’s 25-year career has been dedicated to fostering next-generation visual communications, building one of Wall Street’s most respected design capabilities and overseeing global rebranding at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co./AllianceBernstein. Now a successful consultant for investment managers as well as such icons as the Manhattan Institute and the New York Historical Society, Velgot provides brand identity and communications consultation across the entire spectrum of delivery media – including print, web, interactive media, satellite broadcasting, and multi-language live webcasting.
The client engagements on which BKCG and James Velgot are collaborating join a growing roster for BKCG, which has seen an enthusiastic response from the investment management industry since its founding in January 2009. The demand for greater transparency and the need to cut costs are driving more and more investment managers and service providers to outsource their marketing and client service communications. BKCG’s experience, expertise, and scalability represent a compelling solution.
The firm plans to continue to add top-tier strategic partners to its team in response to client demand.
Editing by Alex Akesson
For HedgeCo.Net Email: alex@hedgeco.net
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Hedge Fund manager Gartmore Investment Management Limited is launching the Gartmore European Absolute Return Fund, to be co-managed by Roger Guy and Guillaume Rambourg, subject to regulatory approval.
The new fund will be a UCITS III limited issue vehicle with capacity set at £200 million, the fund’s three week offer period starts on 6th October before its launch on 31st October 2008.
The Gartmore European Absolute Return Fund, the first in a series of absolute return offerings planned by Gartmore, will seek to deliver positive absolute returns over the long-term in all market conditions by taking long and short positions in equities and derivatives. It will be managed using a similar strategy to Gartmore’s flagship European equity long/short hedge fund – the Gartmore AlphaGen Capella Fund.
Commenting on the proposed launch, Richard Pursglove, Head of UK Retail at Gartmore, said: "Over the last decade we have transformed our business into a specialist provider of long-only and alternative products. This latest development is an important strategic addition to our retail fund range, and has been driven by substantial client interest from discretionary asset managers, wealth managers and IFAs seeking uncorrelated, positive returns."
He concluded: "Gartmore’s substantial experience in shorting, combined with it long established hedge fund infrastructure, will be attractive to investors looking for absolute returns."
Gartmore is a leading provider of long-only and alternative investment solutions and one of the pioneers of managing hedge funds on behalf of institutional investors. Since entering the hedge fund arena in 1999, Gartmore has built an $11billon** hedge fund business and is one of the largest hedge fund providers in Europe.
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Reuters – Hedge fund manager CQS said on Thursday it had launched a new fund that will aim to profit from the volatility that has gripped global stock markets for much of the past year.
CQS, which had $9.6 billion (5.4 billion pounds) of assets under management at the start of August, said it had launched CQS Global Volatility Fund with an initial size of US$160 million.
The fund will use futures and options to trade volatility, with a primary focus on equity market indexes and on individual equities within the world’s major stock markets.
"The Fund aims to profit from valuation anomalies in equity volatility and from dislocations in markets. CQS believes that equity market volatility provides a consistent opportunity set to capture profits for investors," CQS said in a statement.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.Net)- The first publicly listed fund investing in rare white and coloured diamonds, the ‘diamond fund’ is to be launched on the London Stock Exchange, according to news sources.
Diamond Circle Capital PLC hopes to raise $400 million in its initial public offering (IPO), building a portfolio of diamonds with a minimum investment of $1 million per stone, and then to wait for prices to increase.
The fund will be headed up by independent commodity asset management firm Diapason Commodities Management, which provides a range of commodity investment solutions to its institutional and high net worth clients.
According to a Reuters report, the closed-end fund will invest in the high-quality segment of the physical polished diamond market, according to a prospectus for the initial public share offer, expected to take place on June 24.
"Catalysts for growth in investment demand are in place for large high-quality diamonds, underpinned by the rising number of high net-worth individuals, especially in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Russian Federation," the prospectus for the Diamond Circle fund said.
The prospectus also said that "A steadily declining mineral reserve base, compounded by limited exploration success, suggested tight supplies would continue, which industry analysts say could mean long-term growth for the fund."
