Lyxor expects active strategies to lead again in Q4... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Active strategies' relative performance in Q3 was slightly weaker than in Q2, though uneven across regions, says Lyxor. "Going forward, we expect a sense of déjà vu in Q4. A respite in uncertainties could yet again spur, for a time, a greater focus on micro develop

Manulife Investment appoints two global heads of alternatives secondaries... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Jeff Hammer and Paul Sanabria joined Manulife Investment Management as senior managing directors and global co-heads of the firm's new private capital secondary investment business. The investment arm of Toronto-based insurer Manulife Financial Corp, the appoin

Private equity fund performance falters in 2019... [more]Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: New data from eFront shows that private equity performance faltered a bit in 2019. LBO fund performance dipped from the record levels seen in 2017. For the US, active LBO funds are performing well when compared with the historical average, but the correctio

Hedge fund redemptions continue in August... [more]Opalesque Industry Update - The hedge fund redemption trend stretched to three straight months in August as the industry experienced $11.3 billion in outflows. August's redemptions represented 0.4% of industry assets and were an increase from July's $8.1 billion in industry outflows, accordin

New Launches: Ex-Soros senior analyst Yiannakas plans stocks hedge fund, AMP Capital raises record $6.2bn for infrastructure debt fund, Sunstone Partners seals second hard cap close in $475m Fund II raise, Superhuman founder seeks to raise debut venture fund, Founders Fund, Peter Thiel's venture firm, is raising a new $3bn fund... [more]Ex-Soros senior analyst Yiannakas plans stocks hedge fund From Bloomberg: Sof Yiannakas, a former senior analyst at billionaire George Soros's family office, is setting up his own hedge fund to bet on European stocks. EOF Partners, a London-based long/short investment firm, plans t

Top fund manager forced to resign after BBC investigation... [more]From BBC: One of the world's leading fund managers has been forced to resign after the BBC discovered he had broken investment rules. Mark Denning helped to manage more than $300bn (£229bn; €265bn) of investors' money at Capital Group. BBC One's Panorama uncovered evidence that sug

Absolute returns: Seeking diversification or alpha?... [more]...Robert Graham-Smith, a senior investment analyst at Mine Super , said with alpha being so scarce in the last decade any managers that can consistently deliver ?"deserve to charge a premium." The analyst said he is seeking diversification rather than alpha.?He stressed the importance of deciding w

SS&C GlobeOp Forward Redemption Indicator up 3.76% in October... [more]The SS&C GlobeOp Forward Redemption Indicator for October 2019 measured 3.76%, up from 3.67% in September. "SS&C GlobeOp's Forward Redemption Indicator was 3.76% for October 2019, reflecting a year over year increase compared to the 2.66% reported for October 2018," said Bill Stone, Chairman

Institutional Investors: Los Angeles Fire & Police tracks down 2 for private equity, Texas County allocates $150m to Blackstone direct lending fund... [more]Los Angeles Fire & Police tracks down 2 for private equity From PIonline.com: Los Angeles Fire & Police Pension Fund committed up to $65 million to two private equity funds: Longitude Venture Partners IV and BDCM Opportunity Fund V, according to agenda materials for the $23.9 billion pens

Investing: Elliott buys stake in EQT-backed Parques Reunidos, Look at companies that have gone from selling software to selling subscription, says hedge-fund manager, Quant strategists say now's the time to tilt toward 'value'... [more]Elliott buys stake in EQT-backed Parques Reunidos From Unquote: US-based investment management firm Elliott Management has used its Elliott Capital vehicle to acquire a 12.79% stake worth around €140m in Madrid-listed amusement parks operator Parques Reunidos, which is controlled by

People: Global equities head exits German giant Deka and drops $8.5bn fund, Leda Braga's Systematica hedge fund hires two from rivals, Blackstone veteran Sunshine moves to General Atlantic as managing director, Ropes & Gray adds private equity partner in New York... [more]Global equities head exits German giant Deka and drops $8.5bn fund From City Wire: The head of global equities at Deka, Ilga Haubelt, has left the German asset manager. This was confirmed to Citywire Selector's sister website Citywire Deutschland. Haubert had overseen the €7.6 billio

Crypto: China's cyberspace watchdog approves 309 more blockchain services, Binance joins council of internet giant Kakao's blockchain project, Binance, Liquid dominate fiat-to-crypto trade, South Korea aims to conduct its trade finance on a blockchain by 2021, Facebook lays on the charm for its Libra cryptocurrency plan... [more]China's cyberspace watchdog approves 309 more blockchain services From Coin Telegraph: The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country's central Internet regulator, censor, oversight and control agency, has published its second list of registered blockchain service providers. T

Commodity: Hedge funds hold fire after two weeks of heavy selling in oil, Gold's summer rally is starting to fade as hedge funds drop bullish bets... [more]Hedge funds hold fire after two weeks of heavy selling in oil From Reuters: Hedge funds stuck with their existing bearish view on oil prices last week - leaving positions in petroleum broadly unchanged after two weeks of heavy selling at the end of September and the start of October.

Europe: Netherlands again tops list in global pension fund rankings, Neil Woodford saga could put investors off long-term bets... [more]Netherlands again tops list in global pension fund rankings From PIonline.com: The Netherlands earned the best score for the second year in a row among 37 national pension systems for adequacy, sustainability and integrity. The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension index, which ranks 37

Asia: Trade talks pressure China to open up financial sector - analysts, Unizo keeps door open for Blackstone, Fortress talks... [more]Trade talks pressure China to open up financial sector - analysts From Finance Asia: It has been a long time coming but with its feet to the fire as economic growth slows and a more belligerent US government squeezes it on trade, Beijing is biting the bullet of financial reform just that

PE/VC: Picking a private equity manager has gotten easier, PE funds pump $3.8bn into Indian real estate... [more]Picking a private equity manager has gotten easier From Institutional Investor: Betting on the wrong private equity manager was always one of the biggest risks in the investment strategy. But the chances of picking a poor manager are going down. Since 2010, the difference between the top

Study: Fixed-income investors are ready for factor funds, survey says, Bond quants are growing in negative-rate world, Invesco says... [more]Fixed-income investors are ready for factor funds, survey says From Market Watch: As the bond bull market grinds on, investors increasingly see fixed income as fertile ground for factor investing. "Factors" are broad characteristics of securities, such as volatility, momentum, and quality

ESG: Abe's green arrow: The rise of ESG investing in Japan, How ethical is it to short the bad boys of ESG?... [more]Abe's green arrow: The rise of ESG investing in Japan One of the more unexpected outcomes of Japan's "Abenomics" program, designed to stimulate growth and inflation in the nation's stagnant economy, has been the surge in initiatives around Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) object

Regulatory: Rubio taps hedge funds for input on China de-listing bill... [more]From Institutional Investor: Soon after Senator Marco Rubio led the bipartisan roll-out of the Equitable Act in June, short seller Dan David of FG Alpha Management heard from the Florida Republican's office.The bill calls for delisting foreign companies that don't comply with accounting oversight ru

News Briefs: The world's 25 biggest wealth managers... [more]From City Wire: The world's largest wealth managers together controlled $22.2 trillion (£17.1 trillion) at the end of last year, according Aite Group's Top 25 Global Wealth Management Firms Market Monitor. While this included non-discretionary assets, the study provided separate figures

And, finally: Unclear on the Concept... [more]Lee Dong-jin, the mayor of Jindo county in South Korea, wanted to make International Coastal Cleanup Day special for his community. So on Sept. 20, the day before the global event, he instructed crews to transport more than a ton of trash that had already been collected from coastlines and deposit i