Opalesque Exclusive: ESG factors reflect very serious changes on how dollars will be invested in the future... [more]B. G., Opalesque Geneva: As reported yesterday, credit rating and research company

Hedge funds attract $6.39bn of new capital to start 2021... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Hedge funds attracted USD6.39 billion of new capital last month as investors piled into a wide variety of strategy types, particularly macro and managed futures, said eVestment. According to the just-released eVestment January 2021 Hedge Fund Asset Flows Report, Jan

AMP, Ares plan $1.8bn private markets partnership... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Los Angeles-based Ares Management Corp. and Australia's AMP Ltd. have agreed to pursue a A$2.25 billion (US$1.8 billion) joint venture for AMP's private markets business. The Australian wealth manager will retain 40 percent of AMP Capital's private markets busin

Emerging markets hedge fund assets extend record as expectations for global growth rise... [more]Opalesque Industry Update - Emerging Markets (EM) hedge funds, led by funds investing in China, surged in 4Q to extend FY 2020 gains as EM hedge fund capital reached a new record, driven by gains in EM regional equity markets and surging cryptocurrencies. The HFRI Emerging Markets (Total) Index

CTAs rally despite dreadful momentum in equity markets... [more]With investors questioning the sustainability of equity valuations in a context of rising bonds yields, a Momentum reversal in equities is taking shape. Defensive sectors, and more recently Technology stocks, faced downward pressures while Financials and Energy rallied, leading to a -8.3% fall in th

New Launches: Peregrine Capital partners with Prescient Fund Services for its first Global Equity UCITS Fund, Foresite Capital raises $969m fund to invest in healthcare startups across all stages of growth, PointState deputy CIO Zachary Kurz is launching his own fund with $500m, Man GLG launches second fund for Andrew Swan, Oak HC/FT closes on $1.4bn to invest in fintech and healthcare startups, PGIM Investments adds to fixed income ESG offering with total return launch, U.K. money manager starts new fund to buy yuan bonds in China... [more] Peregrine Capital partners with Prescient Fund Services for its first Global Equity UCITS Fund Opalesque Industry Update - Peregrine Capital (Pty) Ltd will start marketing its Peregrine Capital Global Equity Fund, following its launch on 18 November 2020. The fund, which sits on t

SPAC and ESG fads are on collision course with billions at stake... [more]From Bloomberg: Two of the hottest equity market trends are headed for a clash as some ESG investors are having second thoughts about blank-check firms that have flooded the market. Early signs show that money managers wedded to environmental, social and governance themes are reluctant to buy in

CQS shuts $525m hedge fund as Narayanan leaves firm, Swedish group closes L/S fund as portfolio management head departs... [more] CQS shuts $525m hedge fund as Narayanan leaves firm From Bloomberg: CQS is shutting one of its best-performing strategies because the fund's chief investment officer is leaving, adding to a string of departures from Michael Hintze's hedge fund firm. Prakash Narayanan, who ran CQS G

Not all risk parity strategies sucked last year... [more]From Institutional Investor: Edward Qian, chief investment officer of multi-asset at PanAgora Asset Management, believes there is enough value in risk parity without managers also trying to figure out where the market is headed. It's an approach that made PanAgora's risk parity investments outperfor

Institutional Investors: PennSERS discloses $625m in commitments, investments, Ontario pension has worst loss since 2008 on bad Covid bets, Ohio School Employees allocates $100m to Carlyle fund... [more] PennSERS discloses $625m in commitments, investments From PIonline.com: Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, Harrisburg, committed $125 million to a private equity fund, hired a high-yield fixed-income manager to run $500 million, and extended its contract with its current

Investing: Disney, Uber saw s surge in hedge fund investors... [more]From Institutional Investor: Hedge funds heavily warmed up to the shares of Walt Disney Co. in the fourth quarter. The media and entertainment giant had the largest increase in net new hedge fund investors during the period compared to other widely held hedge fund stocks, according to an analysis of

SPACs: Casdin, Corvex are on a SPAC tear, Carvana becomes the darling of hedge funds, YieldStreet explores creating a SPAC of its own, SPAC wave stirs IPO competition... [more] Casdin, Corvex are on a SPAC tear From Institutional Investor: Casdin Capital and Corvex Management are the latest serial blank-check sponsors.The two hedge fund firms filed plans for their third special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, just two days after pricing their second one a

People: Sun Hung Kai & Co. appoints industry veteran to lead hedge fund allocations group... [more]From Hubbis: Sun Hung Kai has announced the appointment of Allen Sing to lead the company's hedge fund allocation business, including expanding both research capabilities and assets under management. Sing has been in fund of hedge funds (FOHF) business for 19 years, and he most recently headed t

Crypto: Coinbase files for public offering, Arca is latest crypto fund to launch a Bitcoin trust, Cathie Wood says Bitcoin ready to rumble, sees market cap in trillions, JPMorgan says investors could make Bitcoin 1% of portfolios... [more] Coinbase files for public offering From WSJ: Coinbase Global Inc. filed to go public with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, becoming the most prominent cryptocurrency-focused company to tap the public markets. Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchan

Tech: A lucid sign of the tech bubble... [more]From FT: This week, tech stocks dipped and a generation of entrepreneurs was offered a glimpse of its own mortality. At the very least, it has been a reminder that a reset is long overdue after a year-long surge in tech stocks - and that capital will not always be as readily, and cheaply, available.

U.S.: These billionaire donors spent the most money on the 2020 election, Treasury yields signal buy opportunity for Japanese investor... [more] These billionaire donors spent the most money on the 2020 election From Forbes: Billionaires played a bigger role in the 2020 election than ever before. Three of them-Donald Trump, Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer-ran for president. A fourth, Howard Schultz, flirted with the idea.

Europe: Treasury pain is starting to hurt Europe... [more]From Bloomberg: The reflation trade that's driven benchmark 10-year Treasury yields to their highest level in a year is causing real pain in European bond markets. With the risk that higher borrowing costs will hinder efforts to rehabilitate the pandemic-stricken economy, verbal intervention by

Asia: NPS looks to timberland for diversification, ESG benefits, Asia's central banks have built a buffer against surging yields... [more] NPS looks to timberland for diversification, ESG benefits From Asian Investor: The Korean pension fund giant is venturing into timberland investment, and more asset owners are expected to follow suit as they seek diversification and sustainable investments. Korea's National Pension

PE/VC: History shows post-crisis buyout deals outperform - and co-investments perform best, The 14 unicorns in venture capital with diverse founders, Over 2,800 AI start-ups received funding from more than 3,700 VC investors during 2020... [more] History shows post-crisis buyout deals outperform - and co-investments perform best From Institutional Investor: Private equity buyouts have historically performed better in the periods immediately following market collapses like the dot-com bubble or the 2008 financial crisis. But the

ESG: World's biggest wealth fund draws dot-com parallel with ESG, US, Canada pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, Harvard endowment's fossil-fuel investments drop to 2% of assets, New York State Common expands board diversity mandate... [more] World's biggest wealth fund draws dot-com parallel with ESG From Bloomberg: For the former hedge-fund boss now running the world's largest sovereign investment vehicle, there are some obvious parallels between today's market for sustainable assets, and tech stocks just before the dot-c

Activists: Herbalife CFO looks to change investor views after years of activist pressure, ACI Worldwide signs agreement with Starboard to add two independent directors... [more] Herbalife CFO looks to change investor views after years of activist pressure From WSJ: Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. 's new finance chief is working to change investors' view of the business after years of activist pressure, which abated in January when Carl Icahn -once its largest shareho

News Briefs: Evidence shows that Larry Fink's annual letters actually work, The wealthy are borrowing billions against their art collections and lenders are reselling the debt... [more] Evidence shows that Larry Fink's annual letters actually work From Institutional Investor: Every year since 2012, BlackRock chief executive officer Larry Fink has published a public letter to the CEOs of his firm's portfolio companies, calling for action on issues such as corporate gov

And, finally: Now we know how much whipped cream is too much... [more]From BizarreNews: A woman was charged with driving under the influence after consuming whipped cream. Police said that 28-year-old Anna Thomas of Franklin, Tennessee, used cans of aerosol whipped cream to get high. She was charged with driving under the influence after crashing her car. When pol