Investors turn to hedge funds for asset protection... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Hedge fund investors are looking to the asset class to offer asset protection as they anticipate an equity market downturn, said Preqin Investor Update. The report on alternative assets during H2 2019, said that despite the underwhelming 12-month performance, hedg

Strong investment returns in 2018 help the US states' pension liabilities drop... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: America's state pension funds saw their adjusted net pension liabilities (ANPL) fall during the fiscal year 2018 thanks to strong investment returns during the previous fiscal year, said a report from Moody's Investor Service. "Continued favorable investme

Cinctive Capital Management debuts with backing from PAAMCO Launchpad... [more]Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York for New Managers: The founders of Diamondback Capital Management have launched a new fund - Cinctive Capital. The long/short equity multi-manager fund is starting out with over $1

Barclay CTA Index gains 2.23% in August... [more]Opalesque Industry Update - An ongoing bond market rally that pushed 30-year US Treasury and German bond yields to all-time lows helped to propel managed futures funds to a profitable August with CTA funds returning 2.23% according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge, a division of Bac

New Launches: Handelsbanken's UK manager Heartwood launches sustainable multi-asset funds, Providence Equity closes eighth flagship fund above $6bn, Private equity group AnaCap raises $1.11bn for credit opportunities fund... [more]Handelsbanken's UK manager Heartwood launches sustainable multi-asset funds From Investment Europe: Heartwood Investment Management, the boutique owned by Sweden's Handelsbanken, has launched four multi-asset funds using sustainability critiera that aim to provide a boost to the UN

Institutional Investors: Danish pension giant PFA excludes seven companies on climate grounds, World's biggest pension fund steps up passive stewardship efforts, University of Michigan discloses $226m in commitments... [more]Danish pension giant PFA excludes seven companies on climate grounds From CIty Wire: Danish pension giant PFA has excluded seven companies from its investment universe as they failed to meet climate requirements. The pension fund stated that 14 companies had struggled to meet its climate-

Investing: Goldman: Hedge fund exposure to stock market at 15-month high, Hedge funds cash in as Sirius shares tumble, New York City hedge fund acquires stake in Jabil, Stock pickers are just imagining an index bubble... [more]Goldman: Hedge fund exposure to stock market at 15-month high From Market Watch: Investors have bid up stocks in September as recession fears have faded and hopes for a U.S.-China trade deal have grown, and equity market positioning now has hit its highest level in 2019, according to an a

People: Intermediate Capital hires senior managing director, Aberdeen Standard appoints global heads of private markets... [more]Intermediate Capital hires senior managing director From PIonline.com: Alan Jones was named senior managing director at alternative money manager Intermediate Capital Group, a spokesman said. Mr. Jones began the newly created New York-based position on Monday and is responsible for b

Crypto: Vitalik Buterin and Joseph Lubin reveal plans to potentially work with Facebook's Libra, Germany's Scholz: We cannot accept parallel currencies such as Facebook's Libra, Binance makes strategic investment in Chinese crypto media firm, Companies compete to be cryptocurrency custodians, Bitcoin, HTC collaborate on cryptocurrency smartphone... [more]Vitalik Buterin and Joseph Lubin reveal plans to potentially work with Facebook's Libra From Fx Street: Ethereum founders Joseph Lubin and Vitalik Buterin commented on the development of an update for their blockchain system. The discussion took place at the Ethereal Summit in Tel Aviv.

Commodity: Oil shock lashes trend-following quants as 'all trades backfire', Hedge funds turned bullish on oil before Saudi attacks: Kemp... [more]Oil shock lashes trend-following quants as 'all trades backfire' From Bloomberg: Monday's oil spike blindsided many investors, but in one corner of quant land the fallout was particularly punishing. Systematic investors known as commodity trading advisors, whose strategies track pric

U.S.: The democratic hedge funders' top choice for president, Want to rake in fund fees? Leave the U.S. market.... [more]The democratic hedge funders' top choice for president From Institutional Investor: The Democratic presidential primary field is the most diverse ever, filled with women and people of color. But hedge fund managers seem to prefer young white men - none of them frontrunners in the race.

Europe: European assets under management have more than doubled in the last decade, How mandates dominate in the UK (but fall short in Germany), Cliff-edge Brexit holds attractions for some... [more]European assets under management have more than doubled in the last decade Opalesque Industry Update - The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has just published the 11th edition of its Asset Management Report. The report aims to highlight the fundamental role of asset

Asia: Why Asia's investors worry about climate change and AI, Survey finds high interest in Asia for sustainable investing... [more]Why Asia's investors worry about climate change and AI From Finance Asia: Institutional investors in Asia consider climate change and artificial intelligence AI to mostly offer risks to their investment portfolios, as opposed to peers in Europe and the US which balance such concerns with

PE/VC: What is on European venture capital investors' minds?, Private equity firms spend more on fewer UK deals... [more]What is on European venture capital investors' minds? According to the largest-ever survey carried out on European venture capital firms (774 responses from 538 firms), the European Investment Fund (EIF) has found the importance of artificial intelligence (AI), digital health, deeptech, f

Study: Recession fears among fund managers rise to highest level in a decade... [more]From CNBC: The risk of a global recession is at its highest since August 2009, according to a survey of fund managers, as slowing growth, trade and political uncertainty takes its toll on investor sentiment. Some 38% of investors polled in the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey f

ESG: EU green investment classification set for global rollout, UN group says, ESG found to have growing influence on active management... [more]EU green investment classification set for global rollout, UN group says From SP Global: An EU classification system for sustainable investments will reduce confusion in the rapidly growing sustainability industry and will likely be adopted on a global scale, according to the head of a Un

Legal: U.S. hedge fund dispute with South Korea heads to arbitration... [more]From Reuters: An international arbitration panel will hold hearings next month in the United States in a case filed by two New York-based hedge funds against the South Korean government over a 2015 Samsung merger. Mason Capital LP and Mason Management LLC filed suits in 2018 at both the Hague-b

Regulatory: Legislators look to add real estate, banking to blockchain laws... [more]A state task force will meet Thursday and Friday in Laramie to discuss legislation that could shape Wyoming's landmark blockchain laws. If enacted, the laws under consideration could change the landscape for real estate, banking and energy, among other industries. "I think over the next decade

Activists: Sony rejects activist hedge fund to spin off its chip business, Elliott doesn't trust AT&T's John Stankey as a leader, but getting him ousted could create chaos... [more]Sony rejects activist hedge fund to spin off its chip business From NDTV: Sony Corp said on Tuesday it was rejecting a call by Daniel Loeb's activist hedge fund Third Point LLC to spin-off its chips business, saying that the business is "a crucial growth driver" for the Japanese company.

News Briefs: The repo market: Why everyone is talking about it again, Investors want hedge funds to 'stick to their guns' and not try to 'be heroes' as markets get turned upside down... [more]The repo market: Why everyone is talking about it again From WSJ: Traders are scrambling to discern what caused an unexpected rate spike in a vital but murky part of the financial system-the market for repurchase agreements, known as repo. What is the repo market? A repo is when one

And, finally: Skydivers versus F15... [more]From BizarreNews: The hard part about skydiving is jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. But once you're out, the last thing you want to see again up close and personal is another airplane. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened to two parachutists in the skies over England. And it was ver