All Alternatives articles – Page 79
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FeaturesMinus five is the new zero
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 ...
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FeaturesHedging in practice
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
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Features
Trend-following slows losses
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 ...
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Features
A torrid year
After three months of significant losses, the stock markets managed a positive return (+1.06%) in December, with volatility remaining high (40%), albeit down to two-thirds of November’s level. Over the year, the S&P500 index registered a record loss of 37%. Once again, the commodities market registered a double-digit loss (-10.65%), ...
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News
Madoff dangers were no news to investors – Edhec
[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.
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News
Risk not rewarded in the medium-term
[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%.
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News
Pensions funds opt to raise TRS collateral
[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.
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News
AP7 mulls more alpha centres
[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’.
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News
Currency volatility leads to Record outflows
[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.
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News
Further-nationalised RBS pushes derivatives
[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.
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News
ABP/PGGM energy fund invests in Italian sun
[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.
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News
Partners grows AuM by 32%
[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.
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NewsMore equity volatility predicted
[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.
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NewsInstitutions to exit bonds for stocks - BlackRock CEO
[15:00 CET 09-01] GLOBAL - Institutional investors are set to exit fixed income and move into equities, reckons BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink.
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News
UN fund eyes hedge funds, private equity
[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.
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News
Cardiff splits £40m currency mandate
[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.
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News
AlpInvest eyes distressed companies
[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.
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Features
BVK keeps long and short strategy
The pension fund of the Canton of Zurich (BVK) has been investing in commodities since August 2006 when it decided to allocate 4% of its portfolio to commodities. Its strategic exposure consists of seven individual commodity investments in three sub-categories. At end-June 2008 a collateralised commodity index note accounted ...
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Features
Commodity turnaround
With volatility is still at its highest levels (56%), the stock markets again had to face adverse conditions in November and produced a significantly negative return (-7.18%), although this was less than half October’s record. The S&P500 index has now returned to its level of July 2003. Similarly, the commodities ...
