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From Sagar Chakraverty, Opalesque Asia:
In an interview with Matthias Knab, head of Opalesque, Singapore-based Artradis’ co-founder Steve Diggle spoke about the funds’ performance and how negative correlation helped the portfolio team to maintain positive performance during the 2008 crisis. He also shared his views about Asian hedge fund markets and why Singapore is an important hedge fund center. Diggle’s bearish outlook includes the expectation that 2010 holds the possibility of more disappointments.
How it all started
After graduating from Oxford University, Diggle began his financial career in 1986 at Shearson Lehman as a graduate trainee. He soon moved to the new financial frontier of derivatives.
In 2001, Diggle’s friend and colleague Richard Magides, (who co-ran the Barings derivatives business from Hong Kong in the early 90s), proposed the pair set-up a hedge fund to focus on Asian derivatives. They launched their first fund, the Barracuda fund in May 2002 with capital of $4.5m.
In the summer of 2005 option prices worldwide fell to unprecedented levels due to low volatility, a scenario that prompted Artradis to double its volatility bet with a new fund AB2 fund (Artradis Barracuda x2), launched with $30m capital.
Diggle explains, “the long volatility aspect...the problem with that is when market is quiet, you burn option premium. You’ve got to find ...................... To view our full article Click here
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