Feed aggregator

Frugal strategies — like traveling where the dollar is strong and sampling unsung destinations — help make the most of your budget.

Want a prime spot to watch 10,000 athletes float by on the Seine or to catch beach volleyball in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower? Get ready for sticker shock.

Policymakers view the reporting of an on-time pattern as a way to reduce disparities in homeownership.

Federal regulators have made it easier for everyday investors to buy funds that track the price of Bitcoin, using traditional brokerage accounts. Most financial advisers remain skeptical.

“Direct admission” is increasingly being offered to high school seniors who meet minimum academic qualifications. The participating schools are eager for more applicants.

As artificial intelligence improves and expands its reach, expect new ways to book online, fewer snags at the airport and, possibly, more expensive tickets.

Kirkoswald Asset Management, the London-based investment firm founded by Australian Greg Coffey, has become the latest hedge fund to establish a presence in Abu Dhabi with the opening of a new office in the emirate, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report cites official records as showing that Kirkoswald established an entity within Abu Dhabi Global Market, the city-state’s international financial centre, late last month, with Matthew Press, Francois Lagrange and David Hassan listed as the company’s directors.

Coffey, who rose to prominence as one of the best performing traders at GLG Partners before setting up his own firm in 2018, joins a growing list of hedge funds operating in Abu Dhabi and neighbouring Dubai including Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates, Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management, and Michael Gelband’s ExodusPoint Capital Management.

A number of buy-side firms including hedge funds, asset managers, and insurance companies are adopting solutions from FIS that are historically aimed at sell-side clients, such as its Cleared Derivatives and Cross-Asset Trading and Risk platforms.

In a press statement, the company said that as buy-side clients face pressures to find new revenue streams, reduce risk, drive operational efficiency, and deliver new value for their customers, it is giving these firms new capabilities via its sell-side solutions.

Historically used by clearing members, FIS’s Cleared Derivatives platform has seen new adoption by hedge funds and other buy-side firms in order to access trading venues and clearing houses directly, in turn helping reduce their counterparty risk and freeing up capital.

Similarly, FIS’s Cross-Asset Trading and Risk platform, which traditionally features sell-side capabilities, is expected to improve asset diversification for buy-side firms as well as scale up new strategies for revenue growth. Buy-side clients have been using the platform for features including real-time controls for trading, order management, profit and loss, and general ledger. In the third quarter of 2023, FIS signed new client contracts for this platform with several buy-side firms.

Derivatives marketplace CME Group is to launch options on S&P 500 Annual Dividend Index futures on 29 January, pending regulatory review, in response to client demand for additional flexibility to customise dividend-related strategies.

The company’s S&P 500 Annual Dividend Index futures traded more than 900,000 contracts in 2023, according to Paul Woolman, Global Head of equity products at CME Group.

The new options contracts are the latest addition to CME Group’s futures offering, which includes S&P 500 Annual and Quarterly Dividend Index futures, Nasdaq-100 Annual Dividend Index futures, and Russell 2000 Annual Dividend Index futures.

Hamza Lemssouguer, a former star trader at Credit Suisse, notched up a 32% return with his $2.7bn Arini credit master fund in 2023, making it one of the top performing credit strategies, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report cites an unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter as revealing the gain along with a 26.7% gain for the $544m Arini structured credit equity fund, which Lemssouguer started in May.

According to data from Bloomberg, credit hedge fund returns averaged around 8% last year.

Lone Pine Capital, the $15bn Greenwich, Connecticut-headquartered hedge fund firm founded by Tiger Cub Stephen Mandel, bounced back with strong returns in 2023, following a wave of client redemptions and big losses in 2022, according to a report by Business Insider.

The report cites unnamed sources familiar with the matter as revealing that the firm’s flagship Cypress hedge fund strategy notched up a 20% return last year, while its long-only Cascade strategy, which holds the majority of the firm’s assets, returned 32%.

The funds chalked top losses of 38% and 42%, respectively in 2022, while Lone Pine has also faced a wave of client redemptions over the past 18 months, with clients pulling roughly $3bn from the firm in the 12 months ending July 2023, according to data from Bloomberg.

Hedge funds that make money from M&A arbitrage are set to benefit amid signs that the deal activity is beginning to recover after 2023 turned out to be the sector’s worst year for a decade, with deal volume totalling just $2.9tn, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report cites data from Goldman Sachs Group as revealing an uptick in volume towards the end of last year reflecting the strongest level of activity since the beginning of fee current rate hiking cycle with $869bn of deals in Q4. And according to data from Hedge Fund Research, some event-driven hedge funds also surged in December having endured a difficult year.

Funds to see a revival in fortunes include Michel Massoud’s Melqart, which reversed its first-half loss of 4.4% to end 2023 with a 16% gain, and Kite Lake’s special opportunities fund, which recovered from having lost 5.5% through May to post a 10.7% gain, according to Bloomberg’s unnamed sources.

CastleKnight, an event-driven equity and credit firm started by Appaloosa Management alum Aaron Weitman, meanwhile recorded a 16.5% gain from 2023, having been down 6.5% at the end of May.

Multi-strategy major Citadel has parted company with two of its portfolio managers – Matthew Carter-Tracy and Jospeh DiGiacomo – while another – Ben Shapiro – is rejoining Ken Griffin’s $62bn firm, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report cites unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter as confirming the departures of Carter-Tracy, who was an energy portfolio manager at Citadel’s fundamental equities business Surveyor Capital, and DiGiacomo, and the arrival of Shapiro, who is set to rejoin the business as a healthcare portfolio manager in May.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Shapiro previously worked for Surveyor between 2015 and 2020, before leaving for Balyasny Asset Management.

Eleven, a fintech providing solutions for hedge and private equity funds, has launched Eleven OS 7, which the company says brings “the new level of simplicity, centralisation, data transparency and data integrity to the global private investment process”.

At the core of Eleven OS 7 are Investor Profiles – secure repositories utilised for completing fund subscription documents, onboarding for KYC and AML and servicing investors. Eleven says the true power behind Eleven OS 7 lies in its ability for investors to maintain and update Investor Profile information across investments.

Eleven OS 7 facilitates changes to information, such as banking or address details, with an intuitive and centralised workflow, while accommodating the diverse, complex and decentralised data requirements, approval processes, and workflows connected to each investment.

The incorporation of environmental and social metrics into investment strategies is becoming increasingly common among hedge fund managers, according to a report by Bloomberg citing research by analysts at UBS Group.

The report cites a note published by the company’s Global Wealth Management business on Wednesday as saying that:
“Hedge funds have continued to step up sustainability integration into investment strategies,” and that there is also “a subset pursuing dedicated sustainable investment deployment via equity long/short and credit strategies, mostly within thematic equities and green, social and sustainable bonds.”

And with the prospect of lower interest rates in 2024, a recovery in green assets is expected to follow which, according to UBS, should in turn “increase confidence for business investment in areas tied to sustainability”.

Despite bonus season looming large, Goldman Sachs has seen several staff depart its London-based rates trading business to take up new positions at hedge fund firms in recent weeks, according to a report by eFinancial Careers.

The departures, some of which happened over the Christmas and New Year break, reportedly include VP-level rates trader Urvashi Chahal, who is believed to have joined Taula Capital, the new macro fund being spun out of Millennium Management by Diego Megia.

Meanwhile, Pushkar Jha, Goldman’s London head of inflation trading, is rumoured to be joining DE Shaw, while Shahil Ghelani, a European rates trader who was based in Paris, is believed to be joining Nomura, which in November announced plans to expand its trading business in the French capital.

Residents of 12 states are eligible to participate if they meet certain criteria. But the agency’s plans have already met resistance from tax preparation companies.

Smartphones have become an indispensable part of any trip abroad. How you can use maps, social media and more without racking up international roaming fees.

MFS Investment management launches UK buy and maintain credit strategy Submitted 17/11/2021 - 10:02am

With extensive experience working with UK pension funds and insurers, and having gained a deep understanding of their investment challenges, MFS Investment Management (MFS) has added to its global fixed income capabilities by launching a UK buy and maintain credit strategy.

The strategy aims to achieve long-term returns through low turnover and the sustainable capture of credit risk premium.
 
Kelly Tran, head of UK and Ireland institutional sales, says: "We have seen the increased demand for buy and maintain portfolios from UK DB schemes and insurance companies. Generally, these strategies are used as a component in one of two distinct investment approaches, the first aimed at self-sufficiency on the part of schemes working towards buy-in or buy-out, the second an approach in which insurance firms manage the assets' post–risk transfer transactions. 
 
"In a period of low yields and high uncertainty, the strategy has three advantages. First, it has the potential to deliver investors more certainty on returns, which may offer considerable comfort in the current changing inflationary environment. Second, while offering similar returns as a broader universe of bonds, the strategy aims to mitigate the downgrade and default experience in the portfolio. Third, lower turnover means trading costs will be lower and the savings can be passed on to the client directly."
 
While buy and maintain strategies have been available in the United Kingdom for a number of years, there can be a marked difference in how managers deliver on the approach.
  
Owen Murfin, institutional portfolio manager, says: "One thing that has surprised me is the varying levels of diversification among different managers. Diversification is key to risk management and portfolio construction, but nowhere is this more important than in buy and maintain portfolios. Yield optimisation is a significant consideration, but it should never come at the expense of prudent diversification across a range of factors.
 
"We begin by defining the client's portfolio objectives and constraints. Then we employ quantitative models that limit our exposure to country, sector, name and ESG risks to avoid too much exposure to areas like energy and cyclical risk. For example, our names can make up only so much of a sector and be only so heavily weighted. As well as helping to optimise the portfolio, we think this makes it more diversified and is the prudent course," he concludes.
 
Important investment trends can be reflected in a buy and maintain strategy, including the growth of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, including a growing focus on carbon neutrality.

This is particularly relevant given that new climate change governance and disclosure requirements contained within the Pension Schemes Act 2021 came into force in October this year. Many asset owners in the UK have made their climate pledge, and MFS has published its own climate manifesto and joined the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative.
 
Tran says: "Buy and maintain strategies tend to be built to meet the bespoke requirements of each scheme or insurance firm. As part of building client portfolios, ESG factors are assessed in the context of overall credit risk in the analysis process. Clients are able to include or exclude ESG preferences and have the opportunity to engage with companies to influence change over the long term. We are committed to helping them on their sustainable investing journey while staying true to our philosophy of creating value responsibly."
 
The strategy is run by a team of four portfolio managers (see below). The firm has managed fixed income portfolios for more than 50 years, and all the firm's equity, fixed income and multi-asset funds are supported by our global research platform, through which MFS oversees USD684.3 billion in assets under management, of which USD82 billion is fixed income, as of 31 October 2021.

MFS is keen to meet each client's individual requirements and to provide as much certainty about future returns as possible, so we have made the strategy available to UK institutional investors via a bespoke segregated account.

Like this article? Sign up to our free newsletter Author Profile Related Topics Funds Launches & Fundraising

IQ-EQ acquires US outsourced compliance provider Greyline Partners Submitted 17/11/2021 - 9:55am

IQ-EQ, an Astorg portfolio company, has acquired Greyline Partners (Greyline), a US provider of governance and regulatory compliance solutions for PE, VC, hedge funds and investors. 

Greyline is a fast-growing business with a strong commercial and cultural fit for IQ-EQ’s expanding operations in the US. Today, IQ-EQ U.S. employs 500-plus people with plans to significantly grow this number in 2022 thanks to its strong business performance in the US market. The combination of IQ-EQ and Greyline firmly positions IQ-EQ as the leading provider of outsourced business services to the alternative asset industry. This latest acquisition follows the successful acquisitions of Constellation Advisers and Concord Trust Company earlier this year.  
 
Founded in 2016, Greyline is a partner led compliance services business headed up by Managing Partner, Matt Okolita employing 56 people across its six offices located in San Francisco, Dallas, New York, Chicago, Boston and London. Also part of Greyline is GCM Advisory, an outsourced CFO, Finance and Accounting business launched earlier this year. 
 
The Greyline team provide a range of services including: 
 
• Regulatory Compliance 
• Management Consulting and Governance 
• Outsourced Operations and middle office services 
• Outsourced Finance, Accounting and back office services 
 
This acquisition firmly positions IQ-EQ as the leading provider of outsourced business services to the alternative asset industry in the US. Greyline’s diversified client base, including wealth advisory and broker dealer clients, perfectly complements IQ-EQ’s shared client focus on alternative asset managers and investors. A shared entrepreneurial approach coupled with a strong focus on providing high levels of client service and an emphasis on training and investment in their people positions the newly combined entity as the provider of choice for alternative asset managers. 
 
On announcing this acquisition, Group Executive Chairman Serge Krancenblum, says: “On behalf of IQ-EQ Group I’m delighted to welcome the Greyline Partners team to our expanding business. We quickly recognised in Greyline Partners a business that shares our high touch service standards and successfully services its clients regulatory, operational and governance needs through dynamic, high-quality consulting and innovative use of technology. 

"We liked what we saw and set our sights on making them part of our US ambitions. The acquisition of Greyline Partners marks another key milestone in our U.S. growth strategy and brings with it significant potential to combine our collective expertise for the benefit of our clients and our employees not just in the US but group wide.”   
 
Mark Fordyce, IQ-EQ Regional CEO, The Americas, adds: “Welcoming Matt and the Greyline Partners team to IQ-EQ is something we’re incredibly excited about as it further strengthens IQ-EQ as the leading outsourced service provider to the alternative asset industry. With a range of complementary services, a shared common culture, a highly experienced team and a reputation for delivering high touch white-glove tech enabled services to our clients we have created an unmatched regulatory and compliance business here in the US. 

"For our combined team of 500-plus talented individuals this latest acquisition promises unrivalled opportunities, personal development and training as part of an entrepreneurial and highly driven team. We have ambitious plans for the future and having the Greyline Partners team join us fits very well into these plans.”  
 
Matt Okolita, Managing Partner, Greyline Partners, LLC, adds: “This acquisition allows us to continue on our journey of building the premier outsourced business services platform and grants our clients access to a hugely increased range of services across the global markets. As Greyline Partners, LLC we’ve focused on developing a culture and product that has led to tremendous success and now it’s time to achieve even more as part of IQ-EQ Group.”  

Like this article? Sign up to our free newsletter Author Profile Related Topics Deals & Transactions Acquisitions Finance & Insurance