18/08/2010
The Alternative Investment Management Association (Aima) has urged European Union policymakers to push ahead with reforms of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives.
The global hedge fund industry association told EU policymakers that the benefits the reforms would bring would outweigh increased costs.
Hedge fund managers would have to bear significant costs associated with administrative and operational changes the reforms would require.
Andrew Baker, Aima CEO, said: “Managers recognise the need for such reforms and will continue to work closely with policymakers to ensure that reforms and new regulations are well thought-out, coordinated and give due
18/08/2010
Asset management firm Threadneedle has announced the appointment of Jonathan Pitkänen as head of investment grade research.
In this role, Pitkänen will be responsible for managing the credit analyst team and overseeing the investment grade credit process, reporting directly to David Oliphant, manager of the Threadneedle UK Corporate Bond Fund. The hire follows the recent appointment of Jim Cielinksi as of new head of fixed income.
Prior to the move, Pitkänen, who has over 15 years’ financial experience, was a credit analyst at Aviva Investors for four years.
“He joins a team that
18/08/2010
Fund administration firm Custom House Global Fund Services has announced the launch of The Nascent Fund Sicav, an open-end Sicav umbrella fund platform aimed primarily at emerging and start-up managers with assets under management (AuM) of $5m - $10m
The structure of the Nascent Fund allows for the segregation of each sub-fund in order to avoid any cross-collateral risk. Additionally, the portfolio of each sub-fund will operate through an independent incorporated trading company, with each manager having full control of the sub-fund.
Managers will be able to separate from the umbrella platform at any time to
17/08/2010
NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
The hedge fund strategy pioneered – and made notorious – by Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) is returning to prominence amid one of its most successful years yet, aided in large part by the massive issuance of bonds by the UK government and other sovereigns, says the FT. Fixed-income relative value trading – shunned by investors after the collapse of LTCM in 1998 – has been one of the industry’s few outperformers this year, thanks to massive pricing anomalies caused by fiscal stimulus packages and unconventional central bank monetary policies around the world. According to Hedge
17/08/2010
Fund manager F&C Investments has appointed liability driven investment expert Emily Fitz-James as a new client director, as it moves to strengthen its institutional team.
Fitz-James will take up the position on 31 August 2010, and joins from Legal and General Investment Management. She will report to Julian Lyne, head of UK Institutional Business and Global Consultants.
F&C is an independent London Stock Exchange listed asset management group with around 100,000 shareholders, and manages £101.5bn of assets for a diverse range of institutional, insurance and retail clients across all major asset classes.
17/08/2010
Hedge funds have bounced back in July to provide the sector’s best results in four months.
Dow Jones Credit Suisse reported that the industry gained 1.59% in July, and is up 2.22% year-to-date (YTD). The results mark a recovery from June’s low, when the sector fell into negative territory, returning -0.84% and dragging YTD returns to 0.63%.
Oliver Schupp, president of Credit Suisse Index Co, said: “The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index rose 1.59% in July, with eight out of ten sectors posting positive performance for the month.”
Emerging markets (+3.52%) and
16/08/2010
NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
Hedge funds slashed their bets on rising natural gas to the lowest level this year as prices fell, a sign the fuel may repeat last year’s 19% August slide during a so-far quiet hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico, reports Bloomberg. Hedge funds and other large speculators cut their bullish bets by 23% in the week ended 10 August, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission reported. Natural gas has declined 12% this month, dropping to $4.328 per million British thermal units on 13 August on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Investors retreated from gas markets this
13/08/2010
NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
Billionaire money manager Philip Falcone's big bet on a high-speed wireless network, which has led him to mortgage many of his flagship fund's key assets, could soon look even dicier as one of its cornerstone telecom investments teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, says Reuters. Upstart telecom firm TerreStar Corp, which Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners fund had invested in and which had been slated to provide some of the infrastructure for his ambitious satellite-based wireless network, recently warned that it lacks sufficient cash and financing to pay for all of its third-quarter expenses – which means
12/08/2010
NEWSPAPER AND WIRES
Man Group, one of the UK’s largest hedge fund managers, has endured an unaccustomed run of bad news of late, says the FT. For so long the most prominent symbol of the growth of London’s hedge fund sector, Man is now facing accusations that AHL, its flagship fund, is “broken” following a period of poor performance. It has also experienced a number of personnel departures and has seen its proposed $1.6bn (£1bn) acquisition of rival GLG Partners criticised as too expensive. In response to the difficulties, Man’s shares have fallen 31 % in 2010, making the
12/08/2010
Nearly three out of ten institutional investors plan to allocate more capital to hedge funds over the next 12 months, according to a new report released by research firm Preqin.
As the hedge fund sector becomes increasingly reliant on institutional sources of capital, the survey of 50 global hedge fund investors from various institutions reveals that 29% plan to increase their hedge fund investments over the coming year, while 56% expect to maintain their current level of investment in the asset class and only 15% plan to reduce their hedge fund allocation.
In terms of
