NEWS
12 Dec 2012 - Hedge Fund launches decline in the third quarter
Opalesque has revealed the number of new Hedge Fund launches declined and Fund liquidations increased in the third quarter. The number of single-manager Hedge Funds has increased to record levels whilst Fund of Hedge Fund numbers have fallen back to 2005 levels.
The squeeze on management and performance fees continued with the average management fee falling to 1.56% and the average performance fee falling to 18.62%. Ongoing pressures relating to increasing regulatory burdens, market uncertainty and competition have made conditions difficult for some managers; particularly given 51.85% of funds covered by Fund Monitors have been below their high water marks for 6 months or more as of October 31.
For full Opalesque article click here.
11 Dec 2012 - Performance Report: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
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Fund Overview | The Fund consists of a concentrated long/short portfolio typically comprising 30 to 40 ASX300 listed stocks, generally with a long bias aligned to the overall market direction. There is a slight bias to large cap stocks in the long side of the portfolio, although in a rising market the portfolio will tend to hold smaller caps, including resource stocks, more frequently. The Fund was launched on 17th August 2011 following the resignation of Portfolio Managers Mark Burgess and Kristiaan Rehder from Herschel Asset Management in late July 2011. While at Herschel Burgess and Rehder had managed the Fund under the name of the Herschel Absolute Return Fund. As a result management of the Fund was transferred to Kardinia Capital, a new boutique fund manager 65% owned by Burgess and Rehder, with the balance owned by Bennelong Funds Management. The Fund's investment strategy and prior track record remains intact. |
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More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
10 Dec 2012 - Decade Dominators: top ten ultimate long-term performers...
The following is an article from Citiwire Global and provides some interesting reading...
Fund: Marlborough Special Situations
Kicking off our top ten best performing managers over the last ten years is renowned UK equity manager Giles Hargreave.
The Citywire AAA-rated manager has been running the £496 million (€615 million) fund since 1998 and focuses on the UK's small cap equity sector.
The UK-domiciled fund currently has industrials as its top sector allocation, accounting for 30% of its assets, followed by consumer services (18%) and tech (16.4%).
His current top holdings are tech group Anite and industrial firms RPC Group and Ashtead Group.
Note: All performance data is over ten years to the end of October 2012 and in euro currency terms. Only managers who have been continuously running their fund over the last ten years and outperformed their benchmark according to the Citywire database were included in this analysis.
If you would like to read the entire artilce and view the Citiwire Global graphs, please click here.
Close to $1 billion dollars worth of new Australian
10 Dec 2012 - Five Aus equities managers share $1bn in new mandates
Close to $1 billion dollars worth of new Australian equities mandates have been handed out by industry superannuation fund VicSuper as part of an investment overhaul.
AllianceBernstein, Perpetual, Tribeca Investment Partners, SG Hiscock and Vinva will now run actively managed Australian equities for VicSuper, which funded the new mandates by taking money away from passive Australia equities mandates run by BlackRock and the SSgA Australian SAM Sustainability Fund.
All the mandates are worth $165 million each, except Vinva's which is worth $330 million, and collectively they represent approximately 10% of VicSuper's total funds under management.
VicSuper only used BlackRock and the SSgA Australian SAM Sustainability Fund for its Australian equities investments and the decision to fund the new ones through a drawdown was not performance based, Oscar Fabian, VicSuper chief investment officer told Financial Standard.
"These new mandates had to be funded from somewhere. We didn't have a great deal of choice as there was only two," he said.
To read the entire article by Ben Collins at Financial Standard, please click here.
BLINK and you'd have missed it. Cautious investors have been cowering in cash while the more adv
10 Dec 2012 - Tour of market shows cyclicals are up and racing
BLINK and you'd have missed it. Cautious investors have been cowering in cash while the more adventurous types have sought out high-yielding defensive stocks.
But in the past six months a change has taken place on the Australian stockmarket. Companies typically classified as cyclical, relying on a strong economy to increase earnings, have come to life and are rocketing higher.
The benchmark All Ordinaries Index has registered a 12 per cent gain since bottoming out in early June this year.
The high-yielding defensive darlings of the market continued to perform strongly in this period, with Telstra clocking up a 21 per cent capital gain, Commonwealth Bank rising 24 per cent, Westfield 15.9 per cent and Tatts 16 per cent.
LONDON—At least six hedge-fund firms announced plans to close in November and two more joi
10 Dec 2012 - More Hedge Funds shut down
LONDON—At least six hedge-fund firms announced plans to close in November and two more joined the list this week, underscoring the shakeout hitting the industry from uncertain markets, tighter regulation and what some fund managers say are investors with ever-shorter time horizons.
Some funds were hit by large requests from investors for cash, but others were just struggling to make money, fund managers and industry consultants say.
"If you look at the managers that have closed, there is not much commonality," said Michele Gesualdi, a fund manager at Kairos Partners, a fund of funds firm that invests in a range ...
To read the entire article from The Wall Street Journal, click here.
10 Dec 2012 - Performance Report: Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
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More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Report highlights the dangers of adopting a piecemeal rather than systematic response to changing
9 Dec 2012 - Global regulatory changes threaten to overwhelm Australian Fund Managers...
Report highlights the dangers of adopting a piecemeal rather than systematic response to changing compliance
Following a wave of regulations coming out of Europe and the US in the past two to three years, research into the Australian investment funds industry has found that local firms have limited awareness of the full impact of the regulatory reforms and that many are lagging behind their European and US contemporaries in adjusting to the new requirements. Furthermore, although the compliance changes have significantly increased the need for reporting, many firms continue to struggle with data that is distributed across multiple systems.
The findings are contained in 'Impact of Global Regulation on Australian Investment Managers', a research report based on interviews with senior executive management representing local investment funds firms. The report was prepared by specialist investment management consultancy, Investit, and sponsored by SimCorp, a leading provider of investment management software and services for the global financial services industry.
7 Dec 2012 - Hedge Clippings 7 December
Australia's fund management industry potentially stands to gain an influx of new investors under the government's recently announced Significant Investor Visa (SIV) program. The new Visa requires high net worth potential immigrants to invest a minimum of $5 million in a specific range of asset classes including ASIC approved managed funds which invest in Australian equities.
While the requirement that the funds specifically invest in Australian equities or other approved assets will limit some local absolute return managers, the opportunity for those that do qualify is significant. AFM understands there are a number of plans to market to the new investor/immigrant group which is expected to focus on China's high net worth demographic.
Administration of the program seems significantly simpler than many other government programs, and this will be welcomed by both the Visa holders and fund managers, particularly given the ongoing delay and lack of clarity about tax breaks for offshore investors in Australian managed funds announced following the Johnson report recommendations.
Emerging managers boosted by Volcker rule.
The ranks of Australian early-stage managers have been further boosted by a number of new funds in the past few months. Some of the new start-ups can be attributed to the ongoing implementation of the Volcker rule initially announced in January 2010 by President Obama and due to be implemented on 1 January 2013 in a crackdown on investment bank's proprietary trading and ownership of hedge funds.
While not all the new funds can be attributed to the new regulations, there are certainly some traders who have departed large global investment banks due to the new rules, including MST Capital, established by Gerard Satur (ex UBS) which has attracted over 100 million in seed capital from a local institution, and Auscap, founded by ex-Goldman prop traders Matthew Parker and Tim Carlton.
Emerging managers face a range of challenges in their early stages, as without a definable track record gaining new investors is difficult to overcome. What is apparent is that many of the new start-ups, including quantitative Asian equities manager Alpha Beta Capital founded by Andrew Barry, have established the necessary structure and processes to satisfy investors of their operational and risk management frameworks.
While gaining institutional investors in the early stages is particularly difficult, many family offices and high net worth investors understand and recognise that performance from early-stage managers is frequently significantly better than larger or more established competitors. The focus on due diligence compliance and institutional grade back-office systems has become a significant barrier to capital raising for early-stage managers, but this new breed and their focus on structure is welcome.
It's early days for returns from many managers for November, but in what has been described as a "tricky" month, most that we have seen have been positive. Politics continue to drive global headwinds, with the current challenge being negotiations of the fiscal cliff in the United States. China appears to have leveled out, while Australia's chances of avoiding a deficit seem unlikely.
Have a good week-end.
Regards,
Chris.
6 Dec 2012 - Performance Report: Regal Tasman Market Neutral Fund
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More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |