29/07/2010
Deutsche Bank has unveiled Q2 profits of €642m ($839.5m), a €285 ($372.7m) drop on the same period last year, as the German banking giant negotiated volatile markets.
Although the bank's Prime Finance unit was hit with spread compression during the quarter, as derivative values see-sawed, client financing revenues remained solid and balances increased, according to the bank’s quarterly results statement.
29/07/2010
Swiss banking group, SYZ & Co is moving forward with a planned expansion in Asia by strengthening the operations of its Hong Kong office and launching a new basket of funds.
In addition to alternative asset management - which has been available since January 2007, SYZ will from now on also promote and distribute its institutional asset management solutions and Oyster range of Luxembourg Sicavs in the region.
Daniel Ghirardi has been appointed as the business’s new CEO in Asia, which is also in the process of changing its name from from 3A Asia to
29/07/2010
Absolute return funds continue to be an attractive option for investors, as they seek a safe harbour from current market volatility, according to the latest research from information business Defaqto.
The group’s latest data shows that absolute return funds experienced a brisk flow of sales over the past two years, culminating in 7.1% of gross sales of funds in the UK in April 2010. A 3.4% increase YTD.
“Absolute return funds have been thought of as a very useful investment tool in times of economic uncertainty and market volatility, and as such it is no surprise that
29/07/2010
GWM Institutional, a division of multi-family office GWM Group, has ventured into the hedge fund space with the launch of its first Ucits product.
The group’s 7H Absolute hedge fund is a Luxembourg-registered, Ucits III long/short European equity fund and is targeted to deliver positive absolute returns irrespective of equity market conditions with a time scope roughly between 12-15 months.
To help manage this fund CEO of GWM, Peter Sartogo, has taken on Simone Chelini and Pietropaolo Rinaldi, both co-founders and fund managers of the Unifortune Albatross Fund.
28/07/2010
Global banking business Credit Suisse is launching a new Ucits-compliant fund of hedge funds (FoHF), as recent data shows a fast-emerging universe of these baskets of EU-compliant products.
The Prima Multi-Strategy fund, which will be domiciled in Luxembourg, will invest across an array of alternative investment strategies, including equities, event driven and rates. It is expected to launch with assets in excess of €100m ($130m).
Ucits III-compliant hedge funds have continued to thrive throughout the second quarter of 2010, as the sector edges towards 500 funds, according to data provider the Ucits Alternative Index.
27/07/2010
NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
Christophe Lee, chief executive of SHK Fund Management and chairman of the Alternative Investment Managers Association (Aima) in Hong Kong has described hedge funds as the industry's “gold medalists” over investment cycles or long-term periods, Asian Investor reports. According to HFR figures, global hedge funds as a group have outperformed S&P 500 in the past three, five and 10 years and since 1990. "In all these periods, this outperformance was achieved with less than half the volatility of the S&P," says Lee. "So in plain English, hedge funds have performed better than equities, but with much
26/07/2010
NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
Investors are rushing to put money into merger arbitrage funds ahead of an expected recovery in deal-making in spite of growing fears for the health of western economies, reports the FT. After a dearth of M&A for much of the past two years, the first half of 2010 has seen a series of start-ups of hedge funds looking to profit from higher levels of takeover activity. Europe’s two biggest launches since 2008 – Tyrus Capital, which raised $800m for its fund and Burren Capital, which raised $500m – are “event-driven” funds that aim to trade on
23/07/2010
NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
Hedge funds pulled in $9.5bn during the second quarter with nervous investors preferring to send their money to the biggest and best established managers, according to industry tracker Hedge Fund Research on Tuesday, reports Reuters. Hedge fund managers have seen flat returns on average as they have battled a volatile market so far this year, but that hasn't stopped wealthy investors from sinking more cash into the industry. Strategies like global macro and event-driven funds that may insulate investors from stock market swings, have been seen as particularly attractive. The fund industry's most established firms with
22/07/2010
NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
The trustee overseeing the liquidation of convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff's investment firm has expanded his lawsuit in the US bankruptcy court, setting his sights on one group of hedge funds in particular, reports CNN. Irving Picard amended his suit - initially filed in May 2009 - to demand $3.6bn from 43 new defendants, the majority of whom are subsidiaries or employees of the Fairfield Greenwich Group. Fairfield Greenwich Group was one of Madoff's largest feeder funds. Among the most significant additions to the list of defendants were Walter Noel, Jeffrey Tucker and Andres Piedrahita, the group's
26/07/2010
Swiss fund of hedge funds manager Altin has launched a significant share buyback programme, as it attempts to reverse its listed vehicle’s 25% discount to the fund’s net asset value (Nav).
The Altin share price has been operating at an average discount of 24.96% during the first semester of 2010. The new share buyback programme will obtain up to 10% of Altin’s share capital with the aim of ultimately reducing the discount of the share price to Nav.
Since Altin AG launched in 1996, it has invested in approximately 40 hedge funds. The current share
Who’d be a hedge fund operational professional? In the good times they are anonymous; hidden by the shadows of over-achieving portfolio managers. In bad times they are often the last bastion between survival and destruction.
"It’s all too easy to attack ‘speculation’ because it is almost impossible to differentiate between speculation and trading in general"
With the UK trying to tame a record deficit, it would be a reckless Treasury that let tax pounds slip through its fingers. Yet this may well be the unintended consequence if current FSA proposals for bonus restrictions are applied to hedge funds.
22/09/2010
The next HFMWeek Subscribers' Club breakfast will take place on Wednesday 22 September. Join us and…
30/09/2010
The next US HFMWeek Subscribers' Club breakfast will take place on Thursday 30 September. Join…
26/08/10
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