MANAGERS

Lyxor Press Release: Lyxor Asset Management launched the Lyxor/Canyon Credit Strategy Fund, a UCITS-compliant vehicle designed to access Canyon Capital Advisors LLC's event driven and credit-oriented strategies across a broad spectrum of asset classes. Canyon is partnering with Lyxor to bring the necessary scale, breadth and depth to implement the first UCITS strategy of this kind on Lyxor's Alternative UCITS Platform.

From the Hedge Fund Journal: Tom Sandell's Castlerigg Merger Arbitrage UCITS fund was selected as the Best Performing Risk Arbitrage Fund for 2012. This marks the second consecutive year that the Fund was recognized as the top performer.

The Kairos Multi-strategy International Fund has been nominated best Fund of Funds UCITS, the firm is still the biggest allocator in Alternative UCITS, allocating $800 million.

Hedgefundintelligence.com: Shakil Ahmed, the quantitative "secret genius" who left Citi last month, has scored at least $250 million in anchor investment from Blackstone, according to three people with direct knowledge of the plans.

Lyxor launched UCITS fund that replicates Winton Capital's Diversified Program

Lyxor Asset Management announces the launch of a new UCITS-compliant fund which aims to replicate Winton Capital Management Ltd.'s Diversified Program. This bespoke UCITS compliant strategy is designed to:give access to a direct and genuine exposure to Winton's management expertise through direct investments in UCITS eligible assets

From Ameinfo.com: Loyens and Loeff announces that its client Al Masah Capital Limited (AMCL), a Dubai-based market leader in the investment sector, has established, with its assistance, the first UCITS IV-compliant fund platform in the MENA region, showcasing AMCL's commitment not only to the region but also its market leadership and innovation in the investment sector. "The integration of this system establishes AMCL at the vanguard of the fund revolution currently taking place in the region and ensures its position as a key player in the ever evolving industry of investment and asset management," said Shailesh Dash, Founder and CEO, AMCL.

REGULATION

From Out-law.com: The managers of Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferrable Securities (UCITS) should be restricted in their ability to pay financial advisers for recommending clients to invest in their funds, the Government and the City regulator have said.

The Treasury and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) have called on the European Commission to place constraints on the commission arrangements relating to UCITS funds. The Commission outlined plans to reform rules relating to UCITS in the summer last year. Calls for those reforms to include commission constraints were contained in a joint response the Treasury and FSA have filed to the Commission's consultation.

According to Dechert, ‚« the rule passed by ECON provides that the variable component of a fund manager's remuneration should not exceed the fixed component of the fund manager's total remuneration. The requirement that at least 50% of the variable payment should consist of payment in units in the UCITS and that at least 40% (and in some cases 60%) be deferred, remains from thetext proposed by the Commission.

MARKET SURVEY

Beverly Chandler, Opalesque London: A new study from the EDHEC-Risk Institute finds that UCITS hedge funds underperform their non-UCITS rivals. The research is drawn from the Newedge research chair on "Advanced Modelling for Alternative Investments" at EDHEC- Risk Institute. The principal finding is that UCITS hedge funds are typically more volatile and underperform their non-UCITS hedge fund rivals. It is also revealed that the domicile of a fund is an important indicator of a fund's likely performance, with European domiciled funds delivering lower risk-adjusted returns compared to funds domiciled in other regions.