Opalesque - Premium Hedge Fund News,The Choice of the Industry Leaders

AMB :- Performance - Greenlight outpaces broader markets with 4% gain in August, ALTIN FoHFs down 0.60% in H1, up 0.83% YTD, Macro hedge funds surged in August as investor fear took hold

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Greenlight outpaces broader markets with 4% gain in August From CNBC.com: Hedge fund manager David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital outperformed U.S. equity markets in August, returning 4.1 percent net of all fees and expenses, according to a posting on its website on Wednesday. According to Greenlight Capital Re, its in...

AMB :- Assets - L/S Japan equity fund Sparx on the rebound with asset raising campaign

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0200

From AsianInvestor.net: Sparx Asset Management's Japan long/short equity fund may be on the rebound after having lost money in 2006 and 2007. Three-year performance figures have improved and the firm is back on the road seeking to raise new assets. The long/short strategy and related separate accounts now have $830 mi...

A-SQUARE :- A SQUARE 31 Aug 2010

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

- Mercer sees investment opportunities created by capital scarcity - Empirical research: Forecasting shipping freight rates...

A-SQUARE :- A SQUARE 25 Aug 2010

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

GC Securities research shows surging CAT bond activity in first half of 2010...

A-SQUARE :- A SQUARE 18 Aug 2010

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

- Fundraising trends and investor confidence - Long-term performance of infrastructure vehicles...

A-SQUARE :- A SQUARE 04 Aug 2010

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Research by Kevin L. Meyer, University of Lausanne shows how to invest in alternative energy depending on variations in the price of oil...

A-SQUARE :- A SQUARE 26 Jul 2010

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200

EDHEC-Risk Institute amp;amp;#39;s Philippe Aurain provides a brief guide for investors...

A-SQUARE :- A SQUARE 15 Jul 2010

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200

- Capgemini / Merrill Lynch World Wealth Report 2010 - Fund performance data in the collectibles space...

A-SQUARE :- A SQUARE 28 Jun 2010

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200

- Market update - Fund profile: MERIT Art Photography Fund...

A-SQUARE :- A SQUARE 14 Jun 2010

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200

- Market outlook - Portfolio diversification characteristics - Fund performances...

A-SQUARE :- A SQUARE 01 Jun 2010

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200

...

A-SQUARE :- Why timber can be a favorable asset class for institutional investors

Sat, 29 May 2010 00:06:40 +0200

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TRB :- CME - S&P 500 INDEX (Sept) - Daily

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:49:54 +0200

Near Term Trend: Neutral / Negative Wednesday�s Close: 1081.70 (+ 33.40) UPDATE: Wednesday was the largest one day gain in the index since July 7th Following the writing of that opinion, the posted respective lows of 1038.00, 1037.80, and 1039.80, as the market continued to protect 1037.00, and now finds itself 44 poi...

TRB :- NYMEX - CRUDE OIL - Weekly

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:50:45 +0200

Intermediate Trend (3 Months): Negative Wednesday�s Close: $73.91 (+ $ 1.99) UPDATE: Crude Oil continues to trade on the heels of the U.S. Equity market. For the past three weeks the market traded from a high of $82.97 down to $70.76 last week. Out of the last six trading days, the two days of trading which were decis...

TRB :- NYMEX - GOLD (December) � Daily

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:51:24 +0200

Near Term Trend: Positive Wednesday�s Close: $1,248.10 (- $ 2.20) UPDATE: Five weeks ago, price action held support at the trend line ($1159.00) which dates back to July 2009. Gold continued to move inversely to equities as Gold generally appears to be a safe haven against the drag in Global Stock Markets. Over a week...

TRB :- CBT - U.S. TEN YEAR NOTE (Sept) � Daily

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:51:57 +0200

Near Term Trend: Positive Wednesday�s Close: 125�235 (- 24.5) Yield:2.57% UPDATE: Yields rallied 20 basis pts in the last three trading sessions, in line with the Stock market recovery last Friday. Once again technical trading patterns led the way, as a Key Downside Reversal was posted a week ago providing a two- day ...

TRB :- NYMEX � NATURAL GAS (Sept) � Daily

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:24:51 +0200

Near Term Trend: Negative Wednesday Trade: 3947 (- 92) UPDATE: Four weeks ago, once price action returned to the neckline, of the Head and Shoulder Top, it failed, once again, in text book fashion. Two weeks ago, we highlighted the bear flag formation. As of five trading sessions ago, price action failed again, below ...

TRB :- EURO BUND 10- Year - Weekly

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:31:58 +0200

Intermediate Trend (3 months): Positive Tuesday�s Trade: 13449B (+ 8) UPDATE: Months ago we observed, Following several attempts within the last five months, Bunds finally broke out, above the broad congestion pattern. This move was based on a flight to quality as Equity markets were under pressure, and to date, littl...

TRB :- CME- NIKKEI � (Cash) Weekly

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:29:49 +0200

Intermediate Trend (3 months): Negative Tuesday�s Close: 8,985 (+ 30) UPDATE: Since posting a high of 11,410 in the beginning of April, the Nikkei has gone into a steady decline for the last four months. Eight weeks ago, price action failed exactly at the point of the negatively sloping 21- week Moving Average line. A...

TRB :- CME- EURO vs. U.S. DOLLAR - Weekly

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:52:42 +0200

Intermediate Trend (3 months): Neutral/ Negative Wednesday�s Close: 127�96 (+ 134) UPDATE: The market traded within 170 points of our upside objective of 135�00, four weeks ago. In light of that, we stated, at that time, the Euro was overbought at that juncture; Use caution if you are considering chasing it. Subsequen...

TRB :- CBT� WHEAT (December) - Daily

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:53:17 +0200

Near Term Trend: Positive/ Neutral Wednesday�s Close: $7.080 (+ 23 cents) UPDATE: This market�s parabolic move was impressive, as the price of Wheat nearly doubled within a ten week period. Subsequent to that move, nearly four weeks ago, we forecasted, The market could retrace back toward $6.60- $6.50 (December Adjust...

TRB :- CBT� SOYBEANS (January) - Daily

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:27:47 +0100

Near Term Trend: Negative Tuesday�s Close: $9.91 (- 10 cents) UPDATE: After calling the recent highs and lows for the past couple of months, the overall pattern for the last four weeks had been one of a broad congestion (an overall range of 40 cents between $10.20, and roughly $10.60), until the end of last week. At t...

TRB :- CME � AUSSIE $ vs. U.S. DOLLAR � Weekly

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:09:39 +0100

Intermediate Term Trend (3 Months): Positive Monday�s Close: 9089 (+ 15) UPDATE: The Aussie $ has rallied in conjunction with the rebound in Global Equities during the past two months. That being said, the slope of the M.A. line has turned neutral in recent weeks, as the market has begun to stall. Overall, unless glob...

TRB :- DJ EURO STOXX 50 � Weekly

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:29:01 +0200

Intermediate Trend (3 months): Neutral Tuesday�s Trade: 25,890A (- 90) UPDATE: Nearly two months ago, we stated, A weekly settlement (Friday close) above 28400 is required to ensure a bull run could take us into the fourth quarter and beyond. As of four weeks ago, the market came within 130 points of our pivot point, ...

TRB :- FTSE 250 - Weekly

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:31:20 +0200

Intermediate Trend (3 months): Neutral Tuesday�s Trade: 51715B UPDATE: Both the FTSE and the S amp;amp;P 500 moved in tandem for the last 15 months. Both Index�s bottomed in March 2009, and both continued to recover/ rally up until April 2010. Four months ago marked the 2nd largest downside correction the FTSE posted ...

TRB :- LONG GILT - Weekly

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:32:38 +0200

Intermediate Trend (3 months): Positive Tuesday�s Trade: 12676A (+ 81) UPDATE: Following the upside breakout, above the blue down trend resistance line, several months ago, Gilts rallied from 11600 up to historical highs above 12600. When Gilts were testing the 12200 region, seven weeks ago, we stated, Gilts are overb...

TRB :- HANG SENG INDEX- Weekly

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:53:52 +0200

Intermediate Trend (3 Months): Positive/ Neutral Wednesday�s Close: 20,474 UPDATE: Our blue proprietary lines between 19,220 and 20,900 encapsulated price action for many months. Four weeks ago, the Hang Seng broke- out above the main downtrend resistance blue line, and as a result placed itself in a position to test ...

TRB :- JGB- TOKYO TEN YEAR - Weekly

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:28:05 +0200

Intermediate Trend (3 months): Positive Tuesday�s Trade: 14295A (- 4) UPDATE: Once price action bottomed out this past March, and settled above the Blue Downtrend Line, over three months ago, since that time, the JGB has done nothing but rally. Currently the JGB is trading near its highest levels since June 2003. Pric...

TRB :- DAX � Weekly

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:30:41 +0200

Intermediate Trend (3 months): Neutral Tuesday�s Trade: 58595A (- 275) UPDATE: Four weeks ago, for the third time in as many months, the DAX tested the 63475 region- which we denoted resistance at our blue proprietary line. At the time the market was testing key resistance at 63,475, we stated, If in fact a weekly set...

TRB :- CME � Canadian $ vs. U.S. Dollar � Monthly

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:11:56 +0200

Long Term Trend (12 Months): Neutral Thursday�s Close: 9060 (+ 18) UPDATE: Late 2002, the market was trading near the 62 region, and subsequently hit a historical high, toward the end of 2007, at the 110 region. Since posting that particular high, against the U.S. Dollar, the market proceeded to sell- off to a low nea...

TRB :- NYMEX � SUGAR � Weekly

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:54:27 +0200

Intermediate Term Trend (3 Months): Positive Wednesday�s Close: 2049 (+ 74) UPDATE: Based on the rally in Sugar from the lows in April (1332) to the current level of the 2054 region, this week, the slope of the 21- week moving average line has turned positive. This would imply, even if the market retraced lower, the 1...

JOB :- Investor Relations Associate

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:43:26 +0200

Investor Relations Associate (4-8 years experience)

JOB :- Compliance Analyst

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:10:33 +0200

COMPLIANCE ANALYST ndash; HEDGE FUND EXPERIENCE

JOB :- Sr. Compliance Assoc.

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:41:23 +0200

SENIOR COMPLIANCE ASSOCIATE ndash; INVESTMENT ADVISORY OR HEDGE FUND EXPERIENCE REQ rsquo;D

JOB :- GC/CCO

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:37:48 +0200

GENERAL COUNSEL / CHIEF COMPLIANCE OFFICER w HEDGE FUND REGISTRATION KNOWLEDGE

JOB :- President

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:23:09 +0200

President

WEBINAR :- Premiums associated with liquid asset vs. Illiquidity related return premiums

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:00:00 +0100

A SQUARE, still the world amp;amp;'s only research platform on Alternative Alternatives, is celebrating its third birthday with this A SQUARE Interactive! An outline of the issues discussed will include: Art? Science?: How are liquidity and illiquidity premium being measured - pricing and valuation...

WEBINAR :- Have Film/Entertainment led financing strategies proved to be recession proof?

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +0200

How sustainable has performance been in the wake of for instance: � The last-minute demise of a prestige picture is a rare spectacle in Hollywood � one that is painful, expensive and damaging to all involved. � But such disasters may become more common as an increasingly nervous film business come...

WEBINAR :- Do alternative alpha & beta exist?

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:35:26 +0200

Definitions of alpha, beta, alternative alpha, alternative beta Strategies associated with alpha, alt-alpha; beta, alt.- beta Investment Opportunities Place in a modern portfolio Risks/rewards associated with such strategies...

WEBINAR :- Carbon Led Investing

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:00:00 +0100

The experts will share insights and perspectives based on their hands-on-experience in this space and will address the following: Carbon emissions - facts, figures, fantasy Carbon sequestration How investible is it as an asset class? Could carbon become the biggest of any derivative product ov...

WEBINAR :- Litigation Led Investing

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:00:00 +0200

Opalesque presents in this interactive webinar a panel of leading litigation led investing specialists: Peter Koutsoukis, Managing Director, Claims Funding International Plc. Richard Blann, Counsel, Norton Rose LLP Timothy Scrantom, General Counsel, Juridica Capital Management Limited Moderated...

WEBINAR :- The Monetization of Hedge Fund Management Firms

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:00:00 +0200

Traditional Ways to Partially Monetize There are five methods to partially monetize interests in a hedge fund management company: (1) a traditional IPO; (2) a reverse merger into a public shell (or SPAC); (3) a listing on AIM, without any capital being raised; (4) selling less than 100% of the e...

WEBINAR :- Creating Reinsurance Firms and Banks - New Permanent Capital Vehicles for Hedge Funds and Fund of Funds

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:00:00 +0200

Exclusive Webinar for Hedge Fund Founders and Partners only Why Lock-Ups and Closed End Funds don amp;amp;'t work Creating a reinsurer or bank can provide significant amounts of permanent capital without a proportionate increase in risk Proven Models: Learn from the successes of Buffett and Ein...

WEBINAR :- Film Financing

Tue, 13 May 2008 16:00:00 +0200

Opalesque, the publisher of A SQUARE, the world amp;amp;'s first publication and independent research platform dedicated to amp;amp;quot;alternative alternatives amp;amp;quot;, has drawn leading film financing experts for this interactive webinar: Simon Fawcett, Chief Executive of Aramid Capital Pa...

WEBINAR :- Investing in Insurance Event linked Securities - untapped securitisation potential

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0100

This inter-active webinar has been designed to address investment related issues - in an asset class, that offers uncorrelated market returns. In keeping with A SQUARE amp;amp;#8217;s endeavour to make sure you stay ahead of the investment curve, our distinguished panel: Karsten Bromann, Managin...

ROUNDTABLE :- Opalesque Roundtable Series - U.K. 2010

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:10:46 +0200

Dear Reader,

The Opalesque 2010 U.K. Roundtable revolved around risk, regulation, opportunities and UCITS. You will hear from some of London's leading hedge fund managers and industry professionals rare insights and details about:

The extraordinary opportunities available to investors with �patient� capital
How asset managers successfully rebuilt investors� confidence in the listed hedge fund sector
As regulators continue to push the industry towards exchange-traded OTC products, what instruments are or become available?
Why are the exchanges not jumping on CDS clearing? What are the real issues involved?
Why do industry practitioners think UCITS are a disaster waiting to happen?
What is the inherent conflict between the manager and the fund investor in a closed-end fund that may also play out in UCITS funds?
How can investors identify �good� UCITS?
Insiders' views on Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) Directive, and how international asset managers can prepare for �Fortress Europe�

Fear of the Regulator

The regulatory changes on the way represent a paradigm shift in the industry, leaving many firms in a position they feel they �almost cannot move for fear of the regulator�. The discussed regulatory reforms appear like attempts to quot;introduce an air traffic control regime that operates by boroughs or counties�. Hear a candid analysis from Ian Plenderleith - now Chairman of BH Macro and a former member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee - about the �great failing� of the global regulatory framework, and which potential conflicts he identifies that nobody else so far has addressed or offered sensible solutions.

Failures in risk measurement at the root of many risk management problems

The Roundtable also offers surprising insights into the reality of risk measurement and risk management of many hedge funds. While a lot of strategies manage risk and exposures based on �rules of thumb�, many funds active in more derivatives-heavy strategies often fail to measure risk appropriately. On top, there is a common mistake amongst portfolio managers to confuse cash usage of a portfolio with risk of a portfolio. The obvious problem is that many funds as a consequence trade strategies based on how much cash they have in the till as opposed to how much capital is at risk.

The 2010 Opalesque U.K. Roundtable was sponsored by NYSE Liffe and took place in their London office on June 29th with the following experts:

Ana Haurie, Managing Director, Dexion Capital Group
Chris Keen, Partner, Culross Global Management
George Castrounis, Partner, Maple Leaf Capital
Ian Plenderleith, Chairman, BH Macro
Joe Taussig, Founder, Taussig Capital
Olivier Lebleu, Partner, Montier Partners
Louis Gargour, Founding Partner and CIO, LNG Capital
Paul Barbour, Chief Financial Officer, M2M Management
Paul MacGregor, Director, NYSE Liffe

We also thank the Opalesque 2010 Roundtable Series Sponsors Custom House Group and Taussig Capital for their support. Download

ROUNDTABLE :- Opalesque Roundtable Series - Florida

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:11:55 +0200

Dear Reader,

Welcome to our inaugural Opalesque Florida Roundtable, which could also be called the Due Diligence issue!

Florida's geographical proximity to South America and the Caribbean has made the state one of the most important gateways into these regions. Other differentiators include obviously the quality of life, warm weather and the absence of a state income tax. While the advantages of South Florida will continue to drive the growth of hedge funds based there, Florida-based or managed funds may have a reputation of not matching the quality of say, Greenwich funds. However, the participants of this Roundtable believe this is a mistaken perception.

True - over the years, Florida may have had more than its fair share of fraud and hedge fund failures; but at the same time, there have been many failures around the world as well. Florida has a high concentration of high networth individuals - not only U.S. or Latin American, but also from many other parts of the world - who maintain a second home there. While traditionally those private clients have been less rigorous than most institutions in due diligence, Madoff will have changed a lot in that respect.

This Opalesque Roundtable circles around Due Diligence and provides unparalleled insights and updates from practitioners and academics. Hear from Rainford Knight, Ph.D, Co-founder of the Florida Institute of Finance, how his �Due-Diligence DNA� attempts to quantify what is �known and unknown�. This approach goes way beyond the �check-the-box� approach and even further than a forensic process by �decomposing the double helix of investment and operational due diligence to an incredibly detailed level so that basic building blocks of a hedge fund�s strategy and its operational processes can be analyzed, mapped, cross-checked and cross-verified�, allowing a much greater level of transparency.

Hedge fund manager Jonathan Binder says although he is registered with the SEC as a registered investment advisor, �clearly that represents no assurance of any sort to investors that you are doing what you say you are doing or will not find some way to defraud people. We have had due diligence from funds of funds, insurance companies, consultants, you name it, and we have passed every single one, but I would suggest that very few of them really touched on what I would see from my point of view as being important.�

The Opalesque Florida Roundtable was sponsored by Kaufman Rossin Fund Services and Wells Fargo Insurance Services. We also thank the Opalesque 2010 Roundtable Series Sponsors Custom House Group and Taussig Capital for their support. Hear from:

Benjamin Hein, Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of Investment Management, PRS Investment Advisory
Rainford Knight, Ph.D., Managing Partner, Florida Institute of Finance
Jonathan Binder, Managing Director, Consilium Investment Management
Paul Grassi, Hedge Fund Practice Leader, Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA
Jorge de Cardenas, Co-Founder, Kaufman Rossin Fund Services
Kenneth (Ken) Webster, President Chief Operating Officer, John W. Henry Company
Stephen Malloy, CEO, Tunnelbrook Capital, LLC
Pete Windhorst, CFO, Collins Capital

additional details about:

how hedge fund administrators themselves are conducting due diligence on managers; and investors on administrators
what types of hedge funds are being launched from Florida in 2010
how Florida based alternative investment firms successfully bring their products to a wider audience
the latest research about manager life-cycles, how to filter the emerging manager universe and capture the best return stream at the optimal time
how the crisis has changed the world: Why the traditional characterization of �developed markets� and �emerging markets� has become a trap for investors � and what you should really look out for instead
... an update on hedge fund's DO (Directors and Officers) insurance: Hedge fund products are complicated and probably twice as expensive as those for straight public-companies. Still, many funds over $500 million in AUM have been raising their coverage limits, year over year, for at least the last three years. But, which funds get the �good pricing, good rates and attractive terms and conditions�?

Enjoy the read!

Matthias Knab
Director Opalesque Ltd.
Knab@opalesque.com Download

ROUNDTABLE :- Opalesque Roundtable Series - Boston

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 15:09:32 +0200

Dear Reader,

Welcome to our inaugural Opalesque Boston Roundtable.

More than New York or any other place in the U.S., Boston is probably the place where the two industries - traditional and alternative asset management - most closely co-exist. We asked ourselves, and the distinguished participants of this Roundtable: �how do these sectors converge, confront, or cooperate? What is the relationship?�, and found surprising answers.

Were you aware that the majority of hedge funds within the Bostonian alternatives community did actually NOT come from Fidelity, State Street or any of the myriads of large, established asset management organizations, but from somewhere completely different?

In this Roundtable, you will learn more about:

... the structural issues that may prevent established firms like Fidelity Investments from broadly adopting alternative investment strategies
... the role, evolution and impact of electronic trading, which has made the market more democratic and allows a startup to be �on par� with institutions running a $100 million budget
... a small firm in Duxbury (MA) that trades around 1% of the total U.S. listed option volume - every day
... details on a joint venture between a hedge fund and traditional firm � a model for the future?
... how Boston based hedge funds participate in the wave of mutual fund launches that follow a classic hedge fund strategy (and a discussion about alpha/beta of those mutual funds)
... how Cambridge Associates, one of the largest and oldest consultants focusing on hedge funds, is expanding their model and work with more hedge funds than before
... a discussion about the implications and consequences of pension money flowing into hedge funds
... the truth about �activist investing� - what really works and what doesn't
... insiders' views about what really happened on May 6th, the day the Dow dropped 1000 points.

The Opalesque Boston Roundtable was sponsored by NYSE Liffe U.S. We also thank the Opalesque 2010 Roundtable Series Sponsors Custom House Group and Taussig Capital for their support, as well as Kaufman Rossin for providing the meeting venue for our team:
Tim Krochuk, Managing Director, GRT Capital Partners
Eric Brock, Founder and PM, Clough Capital
John Fox, Director, Client Portfolio Manager, PanAgora
Alec Petro, Managing Partner, Bay Hill Capital Management
Kevin Divney, Chief Investment Officer, Beaconcrest Capital Management
Todd Bourell, Partner, ValueAct
Charles (Charlie) Cassidy, Director of Operational Due Diligence, Cambridge Associates
Thomas Callahan, CEO, NYSE Liffe U.S.
Enjoy the read!

Matthias Knab
Director Opalesque Ltd.
Knab@opalesque.com Download

ROUNDTABLE :- Opalesque Roundtable Series - West Coast 2010

Mon, 24 May 2010 17:40:11 +0200

We have come back to San Francisco for a 2010 update on the hedge fund industry on the U.S. West Coast.

The Western world has run up massive deficits in an effort to stabilize the markets and economies, but the financial system has not been meaningfully repaired. The authorities have not structurally changed the financial system: �All we did was provide huge amounts of liquidity.The markets are as vulnerable to financial shocks and at least as highly leveraged than they were before the financial crisis. The Fed has more than doubled its balance sheet and will have to exit markets at some point or its legitimacy will be called into question�, says John Burbank from Passport Capital.

�Armageddon� strategies and how plan sponsors have changed their game during the past 18 months

Burbank added that a number of people have asked Passport to design funds comprised of macro trades that would help them hedge against systemic risks. Jay Gould from Pillsbury also helped creating distaster insurance or �armageddon strategy� funds to which work under the premise that U.S. will experience a very difficult time over the next several years, �including hyper-inflation, the abandonment of the U.S. dollar as the world�s reserve currency, further complications associated with our huge deficit spending, and a rush toward hard assets.�

In this Roundtable, you will also hear from Nuveen's Ranjit Sufi how plan sponsors have changed their strategies during the past 18 months. This Roundtable further covers:

Overview of the latest products and research from funds and CTAs on intermarket correlations and quantitative trading
A discussion on the impact the regulatory changes will have on the markets: How will mandating more OTC products to clear/trade on an exchange impact liquidity? What is more important in a derivatives contract - liquidity or flexibility?
The democratization of alternatives: More funds using the 1940 Act format will be offering real CTA strategies with daily liquidity
Running a hedge fund from the West Coast: Why this location counts and where West beats the East Coast.

The Roundtable was sponsored by the CME Group. We also thank the Opalesque 2010 Roundtable Series Sponsors Custom House Group and Taussig Capital for their support, as well as Pillsbury for providing the meeting venue for our team:
John Burbank, Managing Member and Chief Investment Officer, Passport Capital
Jay Gould, Partner, Pillsbury
Jeremy Evnine, President, Evnine Associates, Inc.
Matt Osborne, Executive Vice President C�IO, Altegris
Ranjit Sufi, Manging Director, Nuveen
Rishi Narang, Founding Principal, Telesis Capital
Tina Lemieux, Managing Director of Hedge Fund and Broker Services, CME Group
Tom Shanks, Founder and CEO, Hawksbill
Enjoy the read!

Matthias Knab
Director Opalesque Ltd.
Knab@opalesque.com Download

ROUNDTABLE :- Opalesque Roundtable Series - Texas

Sat, 08 May 2010 18:17:11 +0200

Dear Reader,

Flying into Dallas from Sao Paulo (where I produced the Opalesque Brazil Roundtable available in our archive: www.opalesque.com/index.php?act=archiveRT), the contrast struck me hard and unexpectedly. When jogging around Dallas, I saw that every second shop on Commerce, Main, or Elm Street was closed and empty � Dallas seems to have that feel of a hard recession. There were even empty parking spaces on all streets at all hours - unthinkable in buzzing Brazil, which is cranking to be the fifth largest economy in ten or fifteen years.

Enter Kyle Bass, who basically says this is just the beginning. Bass is one of the handful money managers on the planet, who correctly identified the subprime meltdown, who set up the right trades and made a fortune for himself and his investors. (For a splendid recount on this feat, follow this link: www.opalesque.com/fullarticle/40904/Background_How_shorted239.html.)

In this Roundtable, Bass adds a lot of scary details and color to his current investment thesis of a the Keynesian end that awaits Greece, Japan and the �Club Med� (Italy, Spain), with the U.S. not be far behind. Bass says he is �not contrarian for contrarian sake� and he �can't wait to be long� - after this secular crisis has been overcome through debt restructures.

Bass says politicians have front row seats to observe and reflect on Japan, which is �the best opportunity I have ever seen in my life. It is the most convex opportunity I have ever seen. If you take the time to look at the numbers, you realize why they have had seven finance ministers in three years, five in the last year-and-a-half. The whole scenario is playing out exactly as you would expect it to play out, right under everyone's nose, and no one says a word about it....�

This Roundtable is a thrilling discussion between (global) macro scenarios and equities-centric investment approaches that may leave countless investors with bloodless net returns, deceived by �attractive valuations� while real assets could end up ruling supreme.

But what is a real asset? How safe is your Gold ETF or futures and futures options on precious metals really, when you compare open interest against the registered and eligible inventories behind those instruments?

This Roundtable further covers:

Overview on the Texas hedge fund industry: inflows, structure, upcoming managers
Texas is different: Why emerging hedge fund managers can get meetings with Texas billionaires
Quantitative, qualitative, or the �blink�-effect? How Texas investors and family offices select managers
Why do so few investors have permanent allocations to CTAs and managed futures, and what is the price for that?
With no state income tax and relatively healthy state finances (unlike any other state, Texas is blessed with a $9 billion slush fund), local managers expect an influx of colleagues from other states where top marginal rates may get close to 60%.

This inaugural Opalesque Texas Roundtable was sponsored by the CME Group. We also thank our 2010 Roundtable Series Sponsors Custom House Group and Taussig Capital, as well as Akin Gump for providing the meeting venue for our team:
Kyle Bass, Managing Partner, Hayman Capital
Don Hodges, Founder, Hodges Capital Management
Shaun Jordan, Director, Abraham Trading Company
Craig Caudle, CEO and Principal, Liberty Funds Group
Terry Beneke, CIO, Antares Capital Partners
Guilllermo de Le�n, Manager of Investments, Salient Partners
Barry Greenberg, Executive Director Texas Hedge Fund Association, Partner, Akin Gump
Rick Redding, Managing Director, CME Group
Download

ROUNDTABLE :- Opalesque Roundtable Series - Brazil 2010

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:28:45 +0200

The global financial crisis has turned the world order upside down. Contemplating the events since 2008, a famous hedge fund manager (one of the handful who correctly predicted the subprime crisis) told me recently that �we, the Western world, basically have become what the emerging markets used to be�. And where are the emerging markets � here: Brazil � today?

Brazil has learned from mistakes made in the past and successfully turned around the country. By all means, Brazil is a success story, a creditor on foreign currency basis boasted by strong balance sheets on corporate and government level. With growth at probably 6.5% to 7.00% and debt to GDP around 45%, the country is in much better shape than the majority of developed economies.

The Brazilian asset management and financial industries are stable and very well regulated. Brazilian funds and their investors did not suffer from the deadly mismatch between assets and liabilities that was very common for funds in other jurisdictions. Out of 5,000 local Brazilian local hedge funds (multi mercado funds) and 120 offshore hedge funds, only two or three, mainly very small, ran into problems. Contrast that what happened in the U.S. or with other global hedge funds.

Brazilian hedge funds are audited, publish their NAV every day and have segregation of functions between management, administration, and custodian. The local Investment Bank Association has started a project that aims to make Brazil a global financial center and formed a new association called BRAiN.

Brazil's capital markets evolve in great strides, already now its exchange is the fifth largest in the world - in 2008, Brazil was #3 in IPO volumes globally. During the recent financial crisis, the country did not suffer any bankruptcies or government interventions like most Western countries. This Roundtable further covers:

Background on the Brazilian corporates and the many opportunities there
Who is now investing in Brazil
Opportunities in the primary markets - R$35 billion IPO volumes already lined up at realistic valuations
Infrastructure of the Brazilian market, and why global players like BlackRock, Franklin Templeton are now moving in
The evolution of Brazil from a value to a growth proposition.

The 2010 Brazil Roundtable was sponsored by SunGard Alternative Investments (www.sungard.com/alternatives) and united the following experts:

Ot�vio Vieira, Director of Investments and Head of Fund Advisory Services, Safdie Group
George Wachsmann, Founding Partner of BAWM Investments
Patrick de Picciotto, Partner, M Square
Mauro Rodrigues da Cunha, Head of Equities and Portfolio Manager, Maua Investimentos
Andr� Lion, Partner, Head of Equities Strategy, BRZ Investimentos
Andr� Ribeiro, Partner, Brasil Capital
Thomas Souza, Founding Partner of AguasClaras Investimentos

Julie Rice, Managing Director, SunGard Alternative Investments

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ROUNDTABLE :- Opalesque Roundtable Series - New Zealand 2010

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:44:50 +0200

Do you know which country's hedge fund managers weathered the financial crisis best?

You will have to look into a far, far corner of the earth to find the diverse group of hedge fund managers and CTAs that were able to buck the global downtrend and instead cranked out a positive return of +20.4% (as measured by the Ernst Young New Zealand Absolute Return Index) in 2008 - the year the MSCI World tanked over -40%, erasing $14trn of shareholders' wealth. In 2009, the NZARA Index, which was created in conjunction with the New Zealand Absolute Return Association (NZARA), was up +17.5%. As the average global hedge fund was down around -20% in 2008, the question that needs to be answered is: what is behind that clear outperformance of the New Zealanders?

Two years after launching the Opalesque Roundtable Series in 2008 in Auckland, Opalesque founder Matthias Knab travels back to the �other end of the world� (another 11 hours flight from Hong Kong!) looking for answers and the latest trends.

Which strategies help the New Zealanders to build their asset base? Some of these managers have also set up offices in London, but why are they now �seriously questioning our commitment to being in Europe� and pondering moves to Singapore?

Hear from Neil Williams, General Manager Public Markets of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, what this government pension fund thinks about hedge funds and how they use them. Read why Philip Crotty, Managing Director, New Zealand Assets Management believes it is a very good idea for global hedge funds to include Australasian investors in their client mix, as they �generally take a long-term view of their investments and do not redeem whenever there is turmoil in the markets.�

More of such investors would have been a blessing for many hedge funds (and fund of funds) in the recent years!

The 2010 New Zealand Roundtable was sponsored by Pure Capital. We also thank Anthony Limbrick from Pure Capital / NZARA for helping us put the group together, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts for providing the Auckland meeting venue, and Custom House Group and Taussig Capital as our 2010 Roundtable Series sponsors.

Roundtable participants:

Neil Williams, General Manager Public Markets, New Zealand Superannuation Fund
Anthony Limbrick, Chief Investment Officer, Pure Capital
Charles Drace, Founder, Socrates Fund Management
Jeremy Muir, Senior Associate, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts
Mark Brighouse, Managing Director, Brook Asset Management
Mark Sleeman, Founder, MS Capital Management
Michael Gibbs-Harris, Founder, MGH Asset Management
Mike Taylor, Founder, Pie Funds
Peter Lawson, Counsel, Ogier
Philip Crotty, Managing Director, New Zealand Assets Management Asia

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ROUNDTABLE :- Opalesque Roundtable Series - Australia 2010

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:11:12 +0100

If Australia isn't on your watch list yet, that may soon prove to be an error.

With 9% of every person�s salary in Australia getting invested into a registered superannuation (pension) fund, the country has created one of the fastest growing asset pools worldwide. With A$1.2 trillion (US$1.1 trillion), the Aussie pension fund industry is now the world's fifth largest and continues to grow dramatically.

Australia has very mature wholesale and retail markets, which both offer unique opportunities for local and global hedge funds. But: you need to be aware of the rules and the set up of those markets. Beyond wholesale and retail, this Roundtable also explains how to access a third rapidly growing asset pool, the so-called mezzanine market which is managed by the local dealer groups.

One of the most stunning aspects of the Australian pension fund industry has been the ascent of the Self-Managed Super Funds, where the individual is managing his pension assets himself as a self-directed investor. At the smaller end, a Self-Managed Super Funds may have only $250,000 in assets, through to many millions at the high end. Within just five years, over one third of all superannuation assets have been moved into the 400,000 self-managed super funds.

The domestic Australian hedge fund industry has traditionally been a strong performer and was also able to protect the downside in the crisis of 2008, where the average Australian hedge fund lost 17.74% against the ASX which fell over 40%. At the same time, depending which database you look at, the global industry fell somewhere between 17% and 21%. In addition, 25% of the 200 plus managers in the Australian Fund Monitors database produced positive returns, and over 90% of them outperformed the ASX200.

Hear from some of the leading Australian hedge funds what opportunities they see for their funds and strategies going forward, how these institutional Superannuation Funds actually select their hedge funds, and what excites seeders who work exclusively with Australian funds.

The 2010 Opalesque Australia Roundtable was sponsored by Australian Fund Monitors Pty Ltd. We also thank Chris Gosselin from Australian Fund Monitors for helping us put the group together, UBS Sydney for providing the beautiful meeting venue, and Custom House Group and Taussig Capital as our 2010 Roundtable Series sponsors.

Roundtable participants:

Bruce Tomlinson, Portfolio Manager, Sunsuper Superannuation Fund
Adrian Redlich, Chief Investment Officer, Merricks Capital
Chris Gosselin, Founder, Australian Fund Monitors
Dominic McCormick, Chief Investment Officer, Select Asset Management
John Corr, Founder, Fortitude Capital
Larry Simon, Co-Founder, Lazorne Group
Nelson Lam, Head of Investments, Ascalon Capital Managers

Enjoy the read!

Matthias Knab
Director Opalesque Ltd.
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ROUNDTABLE :- Opalesque Roundtable Series - Japan 2010

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:37:32 +0100

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the Opalesque 2010 Japan Roundtable! Any financial prediction is only as good as the presence has been understood. In this Roundtable, you will discover a multitude of key aspects about Japan and Japanese hedge fund investors � who were the first institutions in Asia to support hedge funds. This wealth of information, compressed into 29 pages, is hard to beat:

How comes that big global brand name hedge funds are not trusted as much as in the past by conservative Japanese investors? That smaller funds have unique opportunities at the moment?
Japanese institutions are well-known as huge holders of foreign bonds like US treasuries. Are they now reducing their bond exposures against hedge funds?
Investors say 2009 was a very positive year for the Japanese hedge fund industry. While the macro numbers are well known � the population decline, debt, and deflation etc. - how comes that still many people are able to make money in Japan? 22 new hedge funds were launched last year alone?
Since 1945, Japan went through 14 business cycles. Did you know these cycles have can be easily modeled?
Did you know that Japanese firms have cut costs to the extreme so that if in 2010 sales grow just by 3%, earnings for the top 300 companies can go up by 50% or more?
What lessons from Japan's last twenty years can be applied to the U.S. and Europe going forward?
How comes that probably until 2020 Japan will be able to afford its low interest environment?
What does the recent technology upgrade by the Tokyo Stock Exchange to their Arrowhead System at the start of this year mean for hedge funds and investors?
Why do hedge fund managers celebrate the introduction of IFRS probably within the next three years?
Did you know that Japanese individual investors are more contrarian investors, while foreign investors are usually trend followers?
How is Japan coping with the rise of Asia and China? What are the opportunities for Japan in green technologies?
The Democratic Party of Japan has taken control of Japan's Lower House with an historic election victory, a turning point in post-war Japan. What does the �end of the Japan Inc.� era � exemplified by letting the national flag carrier Japan Airlines go bust � mean for the country? What opportunities do hedge fund managers see?
and much more!

The 2010 Opalesque Japan Roundtable was sponsored by NYSE Liffe and took place in their Tokyo office with:
Hidemichi Watanabe, Founder, CEO, WERU Asset Management
Dr. Izumi Kazuhara, Chief Representative, NYSE Liffe
John Inamine, Head of Alternative Investment Strategies, SPARX Asset Management
Masahiro Koshiba, Founder, CEO, United Managers Japan
Paul MacGregor, Director, NYSE Liffe
Rory Kennedy, COO, Rogers Investment Advisors
Toshihiro Hirao, Co-Founder, Asuka Asset Management
We also thank Rory Kennedy for helping us put the group together, and Customhouse Group and Taussig Capital as our 2010 Roundtable Series sponsors.

Matthias Knab
Director Opalesque Ltd.
Knab@opalesque.com Download

ROUNDTABLE :- Opalesque Roundtable Series - South Africa 2010

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 07:34:07 +0100

Dear Reader,

Welcome to our first Opalesque 2010 Roundtable, which has a timely focus on South Africa and the African Continent.

South Africa has a small, but well diversified, first-class hedge fund industry. You find the whole spectrum of a fully developed sector, including administrators, prime brokers, law firms, consultants and experienced managers.

Foreign investors often don't understand the South African landscape, the level of skill available, or the mature capital market infrastructure and regulations. For example, having an independent administrator, prime broker, risk manager, auditor and custodian has been the standard for hedge funds from 2004 or 2005 onwards.

Since the global markets bottomed in March 2009, South African players have seen increased appetite for risk and the revival of capital flows. These capital flows have increasingly arisen from Asia and will be a significant force for development in Africa.

However, as this Roundtable discusses, Africa Investing presents itself with many challenges, including logistics and information flows. It is critical to have teams who have the skills to conduct on the ground research of the underlying investment opportunities. This skill set has grown significantly over the last 15 years, and offers global investors highly attractive opportunities.

The Opalesque South Africa Roundtable was sponsored by IDS Group and took place late 2009 in their Cape Town Office with:

Albrecht Gantz, Head of Riscura Analytics
Ian Hamilton, Founder, IDS Group
Marc Cross, Investec Prime Broking
Malungelo Zilimbola, Founder, Mazi Capital
Michael Tost�e, Director, Skybound Capital
Nick Middelmann, Founder, Storm Capital
Simone Lowe, Portfolio Manager, Thames River Capital
Tony Christien, Director, Investment Data Services

This Roundtable also discusses in detail the many opportunities and challenges of �Africa� (frontier) investing, including detailed trade examples. Download

Opalesque Exclusive: Fat tail events occur five times more often than investors anticipate, says Welton Investment

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0200

From Kirsten Bischoff, Opalesque New York: With the roiling summer markets, news-making opinions such as Noster Capital�s anticipation of the second leg of the crisis, and the release of August Federal Reserve meeting minutes reflecting concern that �the committee would need to consider steps it ...

Opalesque Exclusive: Variance Capital founder Martin Frenette joins alts division of Lombard Odier

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0200

From the Opalesque team: Martin Frenette, founder and managing director of Canadian consulting firm Variance Capital Management announced yesterday that he had joined the London-based alternatives division of Lombard Odier Investment Managers this week. Frenette commented on the move saying ...

Opalesque Exclusive: Elliott versus Absolute Return magazine case raises broader questions for hedge funds on transparency and information control

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

From Kirsten Bischoff, Opalesque New York: This Thursday (September 2, 2010) Absolute Return (AR) magazine is expected to file its response to hedge fund firm Elliott Associates, which demanded the media outlet divulge the source that leaked the firm�s investor letter (and which AR has said it will...

Opalesque Exclusive: Coastal Partners� Global Macro fund up 2.11% since April launch, is long gold, energy and yield

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

From the Opalesque team: Coastal Partners Global Macro (CPGM), which was launched in April, is managed by Robert Henrich, Managing Director of Bahamas-based Coastal Partners and partner Richard Russian, who produced a five year track record. In the early 1980s, Russian was, reportedly, one of the l...

Opalesque Exclusive: Consilium�s Frontier Equity Strategy outperforms benchmarks, nears its one-year anniversary

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Consilium Investment Management�s Frontier Equity Strategy nears its one year anniversary with solid out performance against representative benchmarks. Jonathan Binder, CIO of Florida-based Consilium Investment Management, stated, �We are pleased to have received significant interest in this as...

Opalesque Exclusive: Update: GLG stockholders to vote for or against merger with Man Group in September

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

From the Opalesque team: GLG Partners, Inc. on August 27 invited its stockholders to attend a special meeting in New York some time in September, with regards to the acquisition proposed on May 17 by Man Group plc...

Opalesque Exclusive: Review of hedge fund launches, closures, trends, regulatory and legal events - week 34

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque London: A roundup of the week�s hedge fund launches, closures, index performance, trends, regulatory, legal and financial events pertaining to the alternative investments industry. Last week, we heard of fund launches from new firm AlphaNex Capital (systematic hedge...

Opalesque Exclusive: High frequency trading has devalued human relationships on �The Street�

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

From Kirsten Bischoff, Opalesque New York: Since the onset of the financial crisis midway through 2007, high frequency trading (HFT) has been put forth multiple times as an uncontrollable, evil force exacerbating volatility in the markets. However, it wasn�t until the �flash crash� of May 6th 2010...

Opalesque Exclusive: Swiss private bank Clariden Leu to launch UCITS fund of hedge funds with Olympia Capital

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque London: Swiss Private Bank Clariden Leu is launching a UCITS fund of hedge funds on August 31st in association with hedge fund specialist Olympia Capital Management, Stamp;eacute;phane Julen, Head of Hedge Funds at Clariden in Zurich, told Opalesque. The fund will b...

Opalesque Exclusive: Investing in agricultural land is the way to go - Part Two

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque London: Part One, published yesterday, can be accessed here. Agricultural investing, even with its shortcomings, is attracting interest from investors and from fund managers...

Commodities Briefing :- Cotton closes at highest price since 1995

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:48:33 +0200

From Bloomberg: Cotton futures rose, closing at the highest price since 1995, on concern that supplies will trail rising demand from Asia. Global consumption will rise 2 percent in the year ending July 31 to 25.1 million metric tons, the International Cotton Advisory Committee said yesterday. Chin...

Commodities Briefing :- Cotton demand-supply to achieve parity in 2011

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:48:14 +0200

From Commodityonline.com: World cotton production and consumption are forecast to roughly balance at 25.1 million tons in 2010/11, as a result of a 15% rebound in production and a 2% increase in mill use,according to International Cotton Advisory Committee. World ending stocks are expected to rem...

Commodities Briefing :- The gold debate: Will gold be as good going forward

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:47:58 +0200

From Mineweb.co.za: Gold bugs have spent the last ten years in the sun but, in relative terms the price of gold is rather expensive now, how much higher can it go? Gold has given you roughly four times the return of bonds, and you would have almost five times as much money today if you invested i...

Commodities Briefing :- How to trade the gold/silver spread

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:47:34 +0200

From Hardassetsinvestor.com: A spread consists of two or more related futures positions. Note the word amp;quot;relatedamp;quot; here. In order for a spread to be recognized for margin purposes�more on that in a moment�there has to be an economic connection between its constituents. Plainly, go...

Commodities Briefing :- Gold gains on investment purchases, may �struggle� for record

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:46:57 +0200

From Bloomberg: Gold gained in London on signs of increased demand from investors seeking to protect their wealth. The price for immediate-delivery bullion touched $1,254.73 an ounce yesterday, the highest level since June 28 and within 1 percent of the all-time high. Gold holdings in 10 exchange- ...

Commodities Briefing :- Optimism over China demand bolsters copper

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:46:29 +0200

From Ninemsn.com.au: Copper rose to a four-month high on Thursday as optimism about Chinese demand buoyed the industrial metals markets amid tightening physical supplies. The red metal's sensitivity to the strength of the global economy has earned it the nickname Dr Copper and its rise to within ...

Commodities Briefing :- US pending home sales data helps copper prices

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:46:07 +0200

From Metalmarkets.org.uk: The price of copper was up Thursday after the National Association of Realtors reported that pending home sales were unexpectedly higher in July, adding 5.2 percent to give a boost to the metal that is used extensively in construction. December contracts for copper added...

Commodities Briefing :- Ernst & Young reckons mining and metals deal making to accelerate

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:45:53 +0200

From Mineweb.co.za: Ernst amp;amp; Young's Global Mining amp;amp; Metals Leader, Mike Elliott, says the volume of completed deals in the mining and metals sector during first half of 2010 is up 20% to 544 on the same period last year, while deal value is up 46% to US$40.6 billion. amp;quot;Tra...

Commodities Briefing :- Russian government rethinks energy policies

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:45:38 +0200

From Telegraph: An economic crisis and an oil spill have shown the Russian government the benefits of green technologies, but tax breaks and other policy incentives await approval. As BP's share price collapses on the back of environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Russian companies are lea...

Commodities Briefing :- UN emissions offset spread trades near record on HFC review

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:45:21 +0200

From Bloomberg: The premium of United Nations emissions offsets for this year to those for 2011 traded near a record as the regulator reviews the way it awards emission credits tied to hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. The spread between the two so-called certified emissions reductions, traded as a sep...

Realestate Briefing :- U.S. pending home sales unexpectedly rise

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:36:44 +0200

From Bloomberg: Pending sales of existing houses unexpectedly climbed in July from a record low, indicating the real-estate market is steadying following the end of a government tax credit. The index of purchase contracts rose 5.2 percent after a revised 2.8 percent drop the prior month, figures fr...

Realestate Briefing :- US housing jump stuns economists

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:36:29 +0200

From Dailymail.co.uk: The US housing market showed unexpected signs of recovery as the number of contracts to purchase houses rose 5.2 per cent in July, while economists had been predicting a fall. The health of the housing market is seen as vital to the economic recovery. The latest figures from...

Realestate Briefing :- Canada housing boom ending with whimper, not bang

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:36:14 +0200

From Reuters: Canada's rapidly cooling housing market is robbing the nation's economic recovery of one of its main drivers, but most industry watchers still think the once booming sector will avoid a U.S.-style crash. Low mortgage rates, a healthy banking system and higher lending standards than in...

Realestate Briefing :- The end of Canadian real estate insanity

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:35:56 +0200

From Theglobeandmail.com: A New York Times headline caught my eye the other week: Housing Fades as a Means to Build Wealth, Analysts Say. The article went on to report that, while most real-estate experts believe the U.S. housing market will recover from falling off the cliff, many also feel that h...

Realestate Briefing :- Mortgages fuel Brazilian housing boom

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:35:41 +0200

From BBC: Cocktail parties, with dozens of real state agents pitching their best offers, have become frequent events in big Brazilian cities in recent months. It has all come about because of a sharp drop in mortgage rates, which fell to single-digit figures last year. Before then, the Brazilian ...

Realestate Briefing :- Brazilian agency created to present real estate project to foreign investors

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:35:27 +0200

From Propertywire.com: ADIT Brasil, the investors� gateway to real estate and tourism development in Brazil, has created an Investment Agency focused on presenting real estate projects correctly to overcome the obstacles of doing business between Brazil and the rest of the world. The aim is to gi...

Realestate Briefing :- European listed firms 'reactive' in capital budget decisions

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:35:10 +0200

From Propertyeu.info: Many European real estate listed property companies appear to be more reactive than strategic in their major capital budget decisions when acquiring investment properties and undertaking development projects, the annual conference of the European Public Real Estate Associatio...

Realestate Briefing :- European property stocks may gain 20pct, JPMorgan says

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:34:52 +0200

From Bloomberg: European real commercial estate shares may rise as much as 20 percent over the next year as investors buy stocks currently trading more than 25 percent below the value of company assets, JPMorgan Chase amp;amp; Co. said. Land Securities Group Plc, Capital amp;amp; Counties Propert...

Realestate Briefing :- Epra pushes for common sustainability reporting standards

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:34:37 +0200

From Propertyeu.info: The European Public Real Estate Association (Epra) has launched a new drive to establish common standards in sustainability reporting for listed real estate companies across Europe. Speaking on the first day of Epra's annual conference in Amsterdam, Gareth Lewis, Epra direct...

Realestate Briefing :- UK: House prices fall again in August, says Nationwide

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:34:12 +0200

From BBC: House prices fell for the second month in a row in August, according to the Nationwide building society. Prices fell 0.9% last month, following a 0.5% decline in July, Nationwide said, adding that it was the first time that prices had fallen for two consecutive months since February 2009...

SWF :- Sovereign wealth funds on the hunt

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:49:00 +0200

From Fortune: After months of relative silence, sovereign wealth funds, the huge, state-owned vehicles that export-rich countries use to invest their reserves, are on the prowl again. "[Funds] are researching deals and trying to get things lined up," says R.P. Eddy, CEO of Ergo, a research firm that ...

SWF :- Sovereign wealth funds re-define their alpha targets

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:48:48 +0200

From IPE: What do sovereign funds consider to be alpha these days? The immaculate storm of 2008-2009 that swept every asset class off their peaks appears to have influenced sovereign funds and central banks� expectations of investment performance. In the 2006-2007 period when markets were sanguine, some investors e...

SWF :- Alberta fund manager approached about Potash

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:48:31 +0200

From Reuters: Alberta's public sector fund manager has been approached by sovereign wealth funds and other parties about participating in a possible takeover bid for Potash Corp to rival a $39 billion hostile offer from BHP Billiton. Alberta Investment Management Corp CEO Leo de Bever said a variety of parties have ...

SWF :- Pension fund approached on Potash bid

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:48:19 +0200

From AP: The head of a major Canadian pension fund says a Chinese sovereign wealth fund is interested in making a joint-bid with a Canadian pension fund for fertilizer-maker Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. Leo de Bever, chief executive of Alberta Investment Management Corp., which manages $70 billion Canadian (US$65...

SWF :- Chinese investment in Morgan Stanley not cause for concern, say financial experts

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:48:05 +0200

From Dailycaller.com: On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve gave the green light to China Investment Corporation (CIC) � a wealth fund owned entirely by the Chinese government � to buy up ten percent of voter shares in the U.S. financial firm Morgan Stanley. The announcement made headlines throughout the U.S. financial lan...

SWF :- U.S. frets over foreign investors in GM

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:47:51 +0200

From WSJ: The U.S. Treasury is concerned about how many overseas investors it should allow to buy big stakes in General Motors Co. through the car maker's initial public offering this fall. The caution�aimed at minimizing any political fallout from the massive stock sale�could involve limiting or being selective ab...

SWF :- Pricey Petrobras oil deal removes share sale hurdle

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:47:39 +0200

From WSJ: A deal between Brazil's government and oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras, has removed some doubts that the company can pull off the world's largest share offer later this month. A presidential decree published Tuesday will allow government-run banks and the treasury's sovereign-wealth fund to ...

SWF :- In bid for food security, Qatar sows seeds globally

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:47:26 +0200

From Thenational.ae: Qatar�s Hassad Food knows how to shop. To help ensure a steady supply of food for the nation�s fast-growing population, the $1 billion (Dh3.7bn) subsidiary of Qatar�s sovereign wealth fund finalised a $500 million agreement last year to grow wheat and rice on 100,000 hectares in Sudan and has anno...

SWF :- Kazakhstan�s BTA Bank completes profitable restructuring

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:47:06 +0200

From Centralasianewswire.com: The Samruk-Kazyna sovereign wealth fund owns 81 percent of BTA, a stake it said it wants to sell within three years. Creditors own most of the other 19 percent. Samruk-Kazyna�s takeover of BTA actually triggered the bank�s default, industry insiders said. The American investment company...

SWF :- Four yardsticks for sovereign wealth funds

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:20:10 +0200

From Reuters: Sovereign wealth funds, a $3 trillion industry managing windfall revenues for future generations, arguably need a set of benchmarks different from those used by other private investors as they are state-owned. Andrew Ang, an associate at U.S. National Bureau of Economics and a professor at Columbia Bus...

AMW :- Opalesque Exclusive: Review of hedge fund launches, closures, trends, regulatory and legal events - week 34

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

IFB:- Kazakhstan to enter the Islamic bond market

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:35:49 +0200

From Cntralasianewswire.com: With oil revenues on the rise and its banking sector making a strong recovery, now may seem a surprising time for Kazakhstan to get into the Islamic bond market. But coming off the last few years of shaky economic times, Kazakhstan is wise to diversify its revenue sour...

IFB:- Dubai private equity buys in Europe with Sukuk

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:35:26 +0200

From Bloomberg: illennium Private Equity Ltd., a Dubai government-linked investment company with about $5 billion in capital, plans to use Islamic financing for venture capital in Europe after buying the first corporate sukuk in the U.K. Millennium, part-owned by Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, the United...

IFB:- Indonesia to sell $222 mln sukuk in private deal

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:35:11 +0200

From Reuters: Indonesia plans to sell 2 trillion rupiah ($222 million) of sukuk to the state-managed Islamic Haj Fund through a private placement in September, the government's debt office said on Thursday. amp;quot;We have targeted to sell 4.855 trillion rupiah in private placement this year, and...

IFB:- Tanzania: Shariah banking attracts many

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:34:58 +0200

From Allafrica.com: Stanbic Bank Tanzania has recorded an impressive response to the Shariah banking scheme. Already 5,000 new customers have opened accounts since it was introduced three months ago. Managing director Bashir Awale said during an Iftar organised by the bank to its customers in Dar...

IFB:- European Finance House undergoes rebranding campaign to become QIB UK

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:34:44 +0200

Qatar Islamic Bank's (QIB) subsidiary, European Finance House (EFH) has recently rebranded as QIB UK in order to reinforce its positioning within QIB's expanding global network. The change was instituted at the beginning of August and acts to unify the brand in order to keep consistency across local...

IFB:- QNB eyes major stake in Bank Kesawan

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:34:29 +0200

From Thepeninsulaqatar.com: Qatar National Bank Group (QNB) and Bank Kesawan recently signed a �Letter of Intent� which, when complete, would make QNB the �Standby Buyer� for a planned rights issue and may result in QNB Group becoming the controlling shareholder of the Indonesia-based bank. The co...

IFB:- Gulf banks� asset quality to improve from �11: S&P

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:34:13 +0200

From Thepeninsulaqatar.com: Gulf banks are showing signs of recovery after spending more than $20bn on provisioning for loans and investments but asset quality is unlikely to improve until 2011, Standard amp;amp; Poor�s said in a report. �We believe the asset quality of Gulf banks should improve...

IFB:- Crowded Qatar banking sector makes it ripe for consolidation

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:33:58 +0200

From Gulf-times.com: An over-capitalised and crowded banking industry in Qatar makes the sector that was helped out by the government last year ripe for mergers, say analysts. �I think consolidation makes sense,� said Rami Sidani, head of Middle East and North Africa investment at Schroders in Du...

IFB:- Al Baraka Egypt Bank plans to hike cap to $175.2 mln in 5 years

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:33:38 +0200

From Zawya Dow Jones: Al Baraka Egypt Bank , a unit of Bahrain's Al Baraka Banking Group, plans to gradually hike its capital to 1 billion Egyptian pounds ($175.2 million) over the next five years, Saudi-based Al Riyadh daily reports Thursday, citing an executive. This is an imperative in the light...

IFB:- KFH launches KFH Personal Financing-i Hajj and Umrah

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:33:23 +0200

From Cpifinancial.net: Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) has launched the KFH Personal Financing-i Hajj and Umrah, been designed for Muslim customers to facilitate their pilgrimages to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. Explaining the initiative, Puan Jamelah Jamaluddin, Chief Executive Officer o...

OFI:- Volatility and Agriculture Russia's announcement of a ban on wheat exports made for bumpy grain markets in early August