04/08/2010
Investors channelled $360m of capital into a broad array of Asian hedge funds in 2010’s second quarter, according to data provider Hedge Fund Research (HFR), as Beijing’s programme of exchange-rate reform proves an attractive proposition.
The influx of fresh capital led to a reversal in the net asset outflow prevalent in Q1 2010, although there was a decline in the total amount of capital invested in Asian-focused hedge funds, down to $74.4bn, as performance losses offset inflows.
New capital was invested across a range of different hedge fund strategies, with primary interests being event-driven
04/08/2010
Barclays Wealth has made four senior appointments to its Alternative Investment Origination and Distribution teams, as the firm continues to build out its hedge fund operations.
The firm’s EMEA AI Distribution team has a new director in the form of Jamie Murray, who arrives from Broadgate Mainland where he was responsible for hedge fund public relations. Emily Smart (nee Stevenson), previously a director at UBS AG Wealth Management, joins the AI Distribution team as a hedge fund specialist and will report to Murray.
In origination, Sarah Newman, most recently with credit Suisse, has joined as
03/08/2010
NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
New York-based TPG-Axon, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds, has agreed a deal to merge with UK-based Montrica Investment Management, one of London’s largest hedge funds specialising in trading on events such as takeovers, reports the FT. The deal will reunite the former leading lights of Goldman Sachs’ Principal Strategies group – once the bank’s biggest and most lucrative in-house trading team. TPG-Axon, which manages more than $9bn in assets, was founded in 2005 by Dinakar Singh, the former chief executive of GSPS Group. Montrica, which manages $1.1bn in assets, was spun out of GSPS
02/08/2010
NEWSPAPERS & WIRES
One of Europe's largest institutional investors has pulled out of funds of hedge funds (FoHFs), removing more than $500m (€383m) from the troubled sector, saying it doubts their utility and dislikes their lack of transparency, reports Financial News. The $15.4bn Rabobank Pensioenfonds, one of the 100 largest pension schemes in Europe, decided to pull out of FoHFs and put the money into equities, according to its annual report, published last week. The scheme's reports show its disaffection with FoHFs began in 2008.
The FSA's new bonus rules are "fraught" with legal problems which could lead
30/07/2010
The FSA is to update its Remuneration Code as it absorbs the rules required by the EC’s Capital Requirements Directive (CRD3) and the UK’ s Financial Services Act 2010 (FS Act).
The FSA’s current Code applies to the largest banks, building societies and broker dealers. However, CRD3 will bring additional firms within its scope, including hedge funds.
Although, the FSA does not intend the updated its code to be exactly equivalent with CRD3, changes will broadly align with the Directive’s remuneration guidelines. The proposed changes include:
The scope of the code – as this
30/07/2010
NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES Paul Greenwood, the hedge fund manager who pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy and securities fraud, settled civil claims brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), reports Bloomberg. Greenwood, the former general partner of WG Trading, agreed to refrain from violating securities laws and to pay yet- to-be determined disgorgement and penalties, the SEC said in a statement. US District Judge George B. Daniels in Manhattan entered the judgment against Greenwood today. According to his plea agreement, Greenwood will have to forfeit at least $330m to the government, representing the money he and Walsh obtained
30/07/2010
The Luxembourgian government has approved the draft bill which will eventually implement Ucits IV into national law.
With the licensing of hedge fund-style Ucits funds becoming an increasingly important business for a number of European jurisdictions, the adoption of the latest version of the pan-European funds wrapper has become a race, with Luxembourg, Malta and Ireland all in competition.
Luxembourg’s final version of the draft bill is expected to achieve parliamentary approval by the end of the year, a move that has won industry approval.
Claude Kremer, chairman of Alfi said, “the Luxembourg
29/07/2010
NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
Hedge funds are using more borrowed money and otherwise are taking on more risk in their investment strategies than they did late last year, the UK Financial Services Authority said Wednesday, highlighting how risk appetite has bounced back since the financial crisis, reports the Dow Jones Newswire. The regulator in its six-monthly surveys of the UK's 50 biggest hedge funds and their lenders found that funds' "gross footprint," or the total value of all their positions as a multiple of net capital reached 399% in April, compared with 328% in October 2009. The gross footprint of
28/07/2010
NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
Hedge-fund operator RAB Capital slashed its dividend to conserve cash on Wednesday, as it reported another decline in the assets it manages from investor redemptions and poor fund performance, and said conditions continue to be tough for raising new investor capital, the Dow Jones Newsire reports. The London-based group, which managed $1.26bn at 30 June, down from $1.35bn at the start of the year, said assets have fallen further in July because of losses in its flagship Special Situations fund and from a European bank pulling cash from RAB's fund of funds. "It has been a
28/07/2010
New Zealand has moved ahead of Australia in the race to establish a new global hedge fund centre in Asia-Pacific, crystallising plans to use Europe’s Ucits regulation as a template for its new fund regime, HFMWeek can reveal.
Both countries are currently deep into the process of creating new domestic fund regulation. However, while Australia is in the early stages of designing, what it calls, an Investment Management Regime (IMR), New Zealand has already settled on the European model and is believed to be on the verge of receiving governmental approval, according to one industry commentator.
