03/02/2010
The Florida State University, which manages an endowment of $399m, is considering hedge fund purchases in the secondary market, revealed Ralph Alvarez, associate vice president for budget/planning and financial services.
The move to enter the secondary market is part of a gradual repositioning of the endowments overall investment portfolio, with the long-term aim of investing exclusively in direct hedge fund strategies. A target Florida State is well on the way to achieving.
The endowment, which started investing in hedge funds in 2003 through funds of hedge funds (FoHFs), has slowly been adding direct hedge fund strategies
03/02/2010
Long/short equity remains in fashion with investors in the endowment and foundation space, despite volatile early-year equities trading.
Attendees spoken to by HFMWeek at the 2009 Nacubo (National Association of College and University Business Officers) Endowment Management Forum expressed particular interest in the strategy.
The $670m Texas Tech University endowment has recently hired a number of global long/short managers, according to Chris Gailey, senior analyst. And the $600m University of Tennessee is also looking at the space, according to Charles Peccolo, vice president and treasurer.
David Shukis, director of hedge fund research and consulting
03/02/2010
Manuele Ortelli and Federico Milla, formerly of Gruppo Banca Leonardo, an independent investment bank in Milan, have set up their maiden hedge fund.
After forming Swiss-based MOMentum Alternative Investments, the duo launched the Pegasus Fund late last year. The offering is a long/short equity strategy that invests in Europe with a strong focus on the Italian market including small and mid-cap companies. The fund has a $100m capacity, with 30 long positions and 10-15 short ones.
Michele Milla, relationship manager, said the decision to set up the fund was motivated by the managers’ experience of investing
03/02/2010
SYW Capital Management, a New York-based long/short hedge fund manager with a macro overlay, is constructing a new launch for an institutionally oriented fund, according to an investor letter.
The offering, called the SYW Global Long/Short Equity fund, will adapt the strategy of the flagship fund, SYW LP, into an institutional framework, attempting to lower the overall volatility by utilising lower exposure limits and tighter portfolio and security level constraints. It will invest in a variety of sectors and industries and has a capacity of $500m.
SYW was started by Chris Wang, formerly a trader at
03/02/2010
Culross Global Management, the London-based fund of hedge funds (FoHF) specialist, has started the year with a $50m launch designed to capitalise on the burgeoning market for illiquid assets.
The Culross Long-Term Alpha Segregated Portfolio, which was seeded with capital from a selection of existing Culross clients, began trading on 1 January 2010.
“We think there are a variety of ways to capitalise on the circumstances where assets are less than perfectly liquid,” Culross partner Chris Keen told HFMWeek.
“The idea was to create an investment pool with capital that is long term
27/01/2010
The investment committee for the $6.1bn Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) of the State of Arizona is planning to dramatically increase its exposure to hedge funds.
As part of a new search process, the retirement system will eschew the conventional route of filling its absolute return allocation, and will instead pursue a more risk-orientated asset allocation policy, as it looks to diversify existing strategy buckets.
“Our absolute return ‘bucket’ is currently 0%, but we have a range of 5-7% we can invest in hedge funds. However, our activity in the hedge fund space [has
27/01/2010
Hedge funds have provided a mixed response to the Obama administration’s plans to de-risk the US commercial banking sector, warning that the imposition of a new ‘Glass-Steagall Act’ could impact investment, but also create a less crowded trading environment and access to new talent.
Last week, President Obama and former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker announced intentions to scythe the US banking industry in two, separating risk-taking elements, like proprietary trading desks, from retail banking divisions. The move could lead to the forced divesting of banks’ stakes in hedge funds, the sale of bank-owned funds and funds of
27/01/2010
Leverage and third-country issues are the main focus of proposed amendments to the parliamentary version of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) Directive, early word from Brussels suggests.
The deadline for Economics and Monetary Affairs (Econ) MEPs to submit their own changes to rapporteur Jean-Pual Gauzes’ report passed on Thursday. “It would be safe to say that leverage and third-countries are the top two [areas],” one Brussels source, who had spoken with a number of Econ MEPs, told HFMWeek.
“Generally there is support on the right side of the spectrum for the preservation of national private
27/01/2010
The $350m Trust Funds, managed by the University of Wisconsin System, is looking to add a new absolute return manager to its portfolio.
"We are looking for a manager that is as close as we can get to a market neutral, very low-to-zero beta fund. Most probably a fund of hedge funds (FoHFs)," said Doug Hoerr, director of finance for the Trust Funds.
The Trust Funds, the endowments for the university, have a hedge fund target of 10% to 15%, however, so far it has only invested 8.5%. Hoerr stated, "currently the only exposure we have
27/01/2010
Willis, the global insurance broker, has formed its first hedge fund advisory group, as part of a strategic alliance with wealth management specialist, Dominion.
The new practice will be headed up by Paul Richards and operated under the auspices of the broker’s Finex National unit, a specialist wing dealing with executive and professional risk.
Traditional brokers are currently waking up to the potential scale of business from the hedge fund sphere, following the dislocation of 2008. Last year, the sector experienced a significant hike in insurance premiums, particularly in the directors and officers (D&O) space, while
