MARKET TRENDS & SURVEYS
To what extent have UCITS become a new home for most
hedge funds? Participants note during the recent Opalesque
UK Roundtable that even though the UCITS fund structure is
becoming a lot more popular among investors and is set for
further growth, it will not likely replace the offshore fund
structure. Liquidity considerations, tactical opportunities,
and individual investors' needs will greatly participate in the
growth of the UCITS universe.
A new trend among institutional investors is a move towards
pan-alternatives portfolios, participants noted during the
recent Opalesque UK Roundtable. Such portfolios do not only
allocate to hedge funds or private equity. There is another
trend in that investors used to investing in single managers
funds are now looking to invest in funds of funds. It was
further noted that institutional investors are becoming much
more active and also more regulation-savvy.
According to Andrew McCaffery, Global Head of Hedge Funds
at Aberdeen Asset Management, a $320bn asset manager,
many institutional investors are moving towards panalternatives
needs and portfolios. Such portfolios do not
merely include hedge funds and private equity, "but a whole
range of things they want to consider in their alternative
allocations and how to blend them for their portfolio
objectives."
The market opportunity for retail alternatives is already
huge, continues to grow, yet is still in its infancy, says SEI
in a new 24-page report called "The Retail Alternatives
Phenomenon.
Indeed, alternative strategies that are normally used by
hedge funds and private equity are increasingly being
packaged as mutual funds in the U.S. and as UCITS in
Europe. This is what the report calls "retail alternatives.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Investment software provider Multifonds has published
its white paper, entitled: The impact of AIFMD and
convergence survey. Key findings from the survey include:
-
83% of respondents agree convergence of traditional and
alternative funds will continue
- 64% of respondents view depositary liability as the most
challenging aspect of AIFMD
- 59% of respondents believe that AIFMD will become an
international standard for distributing AIFs globally, similar
to the UCITS brand
- Luxembourg and Ireland are likely to be the most
successful onshore EU domiciles under AIFMD for attracting
new business or funds re-domiciling
- 70% of respondents agree that non-EU managers will set
up European operations to take advantage of AIFMD
- 77% of respondents think that EU managers may choose to
set up offshore structures to avoid AIFMD costs
- 52% of respondents have seen a rise in the costs of implementing AIFMD since the release of the Level 2 text
- Depositary costs continue to be a concern, with 41% of
respondents expecting depositary costs in the region of
525bps
- 77% of respondents agree that sub-custodians will be
subjected to increased due diligence
ML capital published mid July its latest Barometer. John
Lowry, Founder & Co-CEO of ML Capital commented:
"Change is the main theme this quarter. There is major
upheaval facing the alternative investment industry at
present, as it prepares to address key regulatory initiatives
including FATCA and the AIFMD. Against this complex
regulatory backdrop, the results of the latest barometer
confirm the feeling that we are at a potentially major
inflection point with regards to investor sentiment and
behaviour. Whilst the next few months should tell which
direction the world is going our results confirm that we
may already be at a major point of change. While investors
are very bullish on the outlook for the US Long/Short
and Global Macro sectors, sentiment has turned negative
towards two of the previously most popular strategies
over the past three years Emerging markets equity and
Government bond funds.
Opalesque media kit gives you access to the top news
round up in UCITS ; the recent region roundtables in the
UK, France and Germany provide excellent feedback
from market players on the overall critical issues such as
regulation, market trends and investors' demand. Don't
miss reading our content to be updated on the most
important issues of our sector.
|