State Street Global Advisors has been appointed by the Pegaso Pension Fund of Italy to manage more than EUR60m in active fixed income assets. Fondo Previdenziale Pegaso is a public pension scheme for employees of Italian gas and electric utilities.“We are pleased to be working with Pegaso, one of the premier pension funds in Italy, to provide them with a solution that specifically addresses their investment objectives,” says Marco Fusco, managing director for State Street Global Advisors in Italy.
On 7 September 2010, In Alternative Investments, Hedge Funds, By staff
On 7 September 2010, In Alternative Investments, Hedge Funds, By staff
Dublin-based Bloxham has presented the Midas Global Absolute Return Fund, a euro-based fund targeting UK investors. The low/medium risk fund uses Bloxham’s Midas system, which makes an overnight search of over 2,000 stocks and sectors globally. The system identifies technically overbought and undersold opportunities and detects emerging trends, well ahead of more traditional techniques.
On 6 September 2010, In Alternative Investments, Hedge Funds, By staff
Threadneedle plans to present the UK Absolute Alpha Fund in quarter four, reinforcing its absolute return fund range. The Ucits III fund will give co-managers Mark Westwood and Chris Kinder increased flexibility in strategy and fund positioning. Westwood says: “This is an exciting time to leverage our expertise in delivering absolute returns for our clients. With the dislocations of the past few years still fresh in investors’ minds, the opportunity to add value through fundamental and valuation analysis on a long/short basis remain considerable. The Threadneedle UK Absolute Alpha Fund will use the process and techniques that we have successfully employed over the years in our Cayman-domiciled absolute return fund.” The fund is expected to launch in early quarter four 2010.
On 6 September 2010, In Alternative Investments, Hedge Funds, By staff
Dutch hedge funds gained an average 0.2 per cent in July, as measured by the Finles/IEX Dutch hedge fund index, despite their very cautious positioning. Most quantitative strategies and macro funds showed losses due to the sudden positive momentum in the markets. Most equity related fund benefited from stock market gains. The five funds with the best July performance were: Trade Wind Equity Fund; Fonds Bloemendaal; Aster-X Panorama Fund; Branta Solutions Fund; and Henderson Global Currency Fund. The five funds with the best year-to-date performance are: Trade Wind Equity Fund (+23 per cent); QTR Fund (+16 per cent); HIQ Invest Market Neutral Fund (+ten per cent); Fonds Bloemendaal (+nine per cent); and All Markets Fund (+seven per cent).
Atrato Advisors, the hedge fund consulting firm, has hired two research professionals. Michael Boensch, formerly of Gleacher Fund Advisors, joined Atrato as a vice president earlier this year. Boensch, who also worked at multi-family office CSM Capital Management, brings over five years of research experience to the firm. More recently, Atrato brought Danny Santos on board, adding operational depth to its research bench. Santos, who had interned at Atrato while attending business school, previously worked at Private Client Resources, a financial reporting and analytics firm. Atrato has landed several new mandates in recent months, predominately in the family office and independent wealth advisory space. Among the new assignments for Atrato is a pair of US-based clients: a USD2bn independent wealth management firm and a USD1.3bn multi-family office.
London – 26 August 2010: The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) – the global hedge fund industry association – is to engage with U.S. policymakers and supervisors over the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act.
AIMA has set out several key areas of focus ahead of September meetings with U.S. policymakers and supervisors regarding the Dodd-Frank Act. These include the registration of hedge fund managers and the reporting of systemically relevant data in the interests of a broader financial stability assessment; how smaller managers may be impacted by the legislation; OTC derivatives; the revised ‘Volcker Rule’; potential tax issues; and the goal of global regulatory consistency. (more…)
On 22 August 2010, In Alternative Investments, Family Office and Wealth Management, Hedge Funds, By staff
The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) – the global hedge fund industry association – has urged European Union policymakers to push ahead with reforms of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, saying that the benefits will outweigh increased costs. (more…)
On 28 July 2010, In Alternative Investments, Hedge Funds, By staff
Aviva is launching a fund in the US that operates as a cross between a mutual fund and a structured product, combining liquidity and capital protection. Aviva Investors in the US has announced plans to launch a fund that tracks the performance of four exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with capital protection provided by the purchase of US Treasuries. The Multi-Asset Preservation (Map) 2015 Fund will open for investment on August 30. The fund works like a mutual fund but includes several characteristics of a structured product, such as a special redemption date in 2015 and capital preservation. “The Map Fund has features of a structured product. However, the advisory community is much more comfortable with mutual funds than with structured products.” says Mark Cernicky, product development manager at Aviva Investors in New York. “The reaction has been very favourable. Several advisers have said they have been waiting for a product like this. We think the reason for this is that their clients are sitting in cash and advisers can use this product to get their clients back into the market again.”
On 28 July 2010, In Alternative Investments, Hedge Funds, By staff
Thomas Bullman is the founder of the Hedge Fund Society and Hedge Fund College with over 1,200 members in 40 countries. Thomas has previously worked with Legal & General Investment Management, Barep Asset Management and Pioneer Alternative Investments in various regulatory positions. Thomas holds a degree in Business and Legal Studies, a masters degree in Commercial Law, and is currently completing a PhD in hedge fund regulation. (more…)
On 26 July 2010, In Alternative Investments, Hedge Funds, By staff
Emerging Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on investing across the African continent, has held the final close of its ECP Africa Fund III PCC with total commitments of over USD613m. Africa Fund III, one of the largest funds ever raised for investment across the African continent, marks the seventh fund managed by ECP, bringing the firm’s total capital raised to more than USD1.8bn, with more than USD1bn invested to date. Africa Fund III will seek controlling stakes or influential minority positions in high growth companies through equity and quasi-equity investments including convertible debt instruments. The fund targets companies focused on under-penetrated markets where factors such as industry consolidation, positive macroeconomic trends, liberalization and improved regulations offer opportunities for above-market returns. Investing across various sectors, including telecommunications, natural resources, financial services, agriculture, transportation and utility businesses, ECP will focus on companies pursuing regional strategies.
