All Alternatives articles – Page 76

  • Features

    Trend-following slows losses

    February 2009 (Magazine)

    December offered some respite to the hedge fund industry at large from the string of losses seen in the last six months, with the composite Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index finishing the month up 0.9%. Funds of funds, however, returned -0.7% on average. December has traditionally been a positive month for ...

  • Hedging in practice
    Features

    Hedging in practice

    February 2009 (Magazine)

    The focus of liability driven strategies has so far largely been on interest rate and inflation risk. Solutions to longevity risk have been slow both in creation and take-up, finds Nina Röhrbein

  • Minus five is the new zero
    Features

    Minus five is the new zero

    February 2009 (Magazine)

    Absolute return strategies do not always produce absolute returns, and alternative investments are not always decorrelated from the mainstream. Long/short investors do not always have skill in shorting, let alone the long. Convertible arbitrageurs are not always able to arbitrage their convertibles. Leveraged strategies have seen their leverage dry up ...

  • Signs of a year of eastern promise
    Features

    Signs of a year of eastern promise

    February 2009 (Magazine)

    Joseph Mariathasan looks at the economic conditions that have made investing in Asian, and particularly Chinese, private equity favourable

  • Features

    Down to nothing

    February 2009 (Magazine)

    US President Obama has assumed control of a US economy beset by severe economic woes. With companies going bust, factories closing, businesses retrenching, jobs being lost at an unprecedented rate, consumer spending dropping like a stone, house prices tumbling, and homes repossessed, Obama’s task is both monumental and unenviable. Such ...

  • A driving interest in  convertible hybrids
    Features

    A driving interest in convertible hybrids

    February 2009 (Magazine)

    Convertibles are on the agenda. They played a leading role in financing the US railroad boom of the start of the 20th century, and in Japan in the 1980s when the countr y’s issuance represented 40% of the global convertible market. Bank recapitalisation will involve them. Goldman Sach’s agreement with ...

  • News

    Madoff dangers were no news to investors – Edhec

    2009-01-28T14:50:00Z

    [15:50 CET 28-01] GLOBAL – Hedge fund investors were dissatisfied with issues of transparency on liquidity and operational risk exposure even before Bernard Madoff’s ponzi scheme scandal came to light, suggests research from French business school Edhec.

  • News

    Risk not rewarded in the medium-term

    2009-01-27T14:00:00Z

    [15:00 CET 27-01] SWITZERLAND – Risk in Pensionskassen portfolios has not been rewarded over a longer period, Credit Suisse has claimed, while State Street has calculated pensionskassen saw an average 2008 return of -16.83%.

  • News

    Pensions funds opt to raise TRS collateral

    2009-01-22T11:00:00Z

    [12:00 CET 22-01] EUROPE – Pensions funds are likely to be paying slightly higher for passive investments since the collapse of Lehman Brothers if using synthethic replication, but are choosing to do by over-collateralising their total return swaps, according to officials at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

  • News

    AP7 mulls more alpha centres

    2009-01-21T14:45:00Z

    [15:45 CET 21-01] SWEDEN – The SEK74bn (€6.9bn) Swedish pension fund Sjunde AP-Fonden (AP7) is planning to review its pure alpha investments to see if it can add more of its ‘alpha centres’.

  • News

    Currency volatility leads to Record outflows

    2009-01-20T15:00:00Z

    [16:00 CET 20-01] UK – Record plc, the listed company behind Record Currency Management, has admitted the firm saw client assets outflows worth $2.6bn (€bn) in its third quarter trading and its assets under management fell by 25% when combined with market and currency turbulence.

  • News

    Further-nationalised RBS pushes derivatives

    2009-01-19T15:45:00Z

    [16:45 CET 19-01] UK – Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which was further nationalised today after making its biggest loss in history, has said it aims to roll out more so called ‘dynamic strategies’, a breed of structured products, for pension funds who seek alternatives to hedge funds.

  • News

    ABP/PGGM energy fund invests in Italian sun

    2009-01-15T15:45:00Z

    [16:45 CET 15-01] NETHERALNDS – The €320m Ampère Equity Fund, a sustainable energy investment fund set up by Dutch pension funds ABP and PFZW, will hold a 49% stake in a new solar energy project in Italy.

  • News

    Partners grows AuM by 32%

    2009-01-14T15:50:00Z

    [16:50 CET 14-01] SWITZERLAND – Swiss alternative asset manager Partners Group said demand in its core private markets such as private equity and private debt did not falter in 2008, reporting a 32% increase in assets under management (AuM) at the end of 2008.

  • More equity volatility predicted
    News

    More equity volatility predicted

    2009-01-12T13:00:00Z

    [14:00 CET 12-01] GLOBAL – Equity volatility remains high in 2009, while real yields on government securities are likely to remain low, according to a global fund manager survey by consultancy firm Watson Wyatt.

  • Institutions to exit bonds for stocks - BlackRock CEO
    News

    Institutions to exit bonds for stocks - BlackRock CEO

    2009-01-09T12:53:00Z

    [15:00 CET 09-01] GLOBAL - Institutional investors are set to exit fixed income and move into equities, reckons BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink.

  • News

    UN fund eyes hedge funds, private equity

    2009-01-08T09:56:00Z

    [10:15 CET 08-01] GLOBAL – The $30bn (€22.1bn) United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) says it has approval to incorporate hedge fund of funds and private equity into its portfolio.

  • News

    Cardiff splits £40m currency mandate

    2009-01-07T13:19:00Z

    [16:00 CET 07-01] UK – Cardiff County Council has appointed two active currency managers to improve the diversification of its local government pension fund.

  • News

    AlpInvest eyes distressed companies

    2009-01-05T15:12:00Z

    [16:00 CET 05-01] NETHERLANDS – AlpInvest Partners, the private equity vehicle of the two largest Dutch funds, ABP and PFZW, is looking for an almost eightfold increase of its investments in distressed companies.