Opalesque Roundtable: Bahamas busy updating financial regulation... [more]B. G., Opalesque Geneva: The Bahamas has been working on enhancing and updating its jurisdiction offerings for financial services of late. "In the last two years, we have seen a change in the approach of the government," said Brent Symonette, a member of parliament and a former minister of

Blackstone racks up $11.1bn for eighth secondary market fund... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Strategic Partners, Blackstone's secondary private equity platform, closed its eighth fund on more than $11.1bn. Strategic Partners VIII L.P.'s investors included pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, endowments, foundations, fam

Equistone buys Moody's analytics arm... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: UK private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe has struck a deal to acquire Moody's Analytics Knowledge Services (MAKS). The London-based company provides bespoke research, analytics and automation technology to the financial services sector. With nine delivery

Oakley Capital raises $1.64bn fund... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Western Europe-focused private equity firm Oakley Capital has smashed the target of its fourth buyout fund, after raising €1.46bn ($1.64bn) for its final close. "Following strong investor demand, the Fund closed above its target size of €1.2bn and is Oakley's

Hedge funds reverse two-month redemption trend in May... [more]Opalesque Industry Update - Hedge funds reversed a brief two-month redemption trend in May with $800 million in industry inflows, a turnaround from April's $9.4 billion in redemptions. While the fund flow needle turned upward in May, the month's inflows represented a negligible portion of indus

New Launches: Muzinich & Co launches short duration bond fund, Vida Ventures powers towards $600m Fund II goal, Fifth Wall Ventures raises $503m to invest in real estate tech... [more]Muzinich & Co launches short duration bond fund Fixed income specialist Muzinich & Co has unveiled a short duration investment grade bond fund in response to strong client demand, according to the firm. The Global Short Duration Investment Grade Fund seeks to enhance returns while limit

Hedge funds doubling down on algos... [more]The 2019 algorithmic trading survey finds that brokers are stepping up to the plate in the post-MIFID II landscape to provide consistent execution to hedge fund firms that are more knowledgeable and discerning than ever before. The first part of this year's algorithmic trading survey found that

Fund managers add risk with one eye on trade war talk... [more]From City Wire: Global fund managers have marginally added back to their risk bets and cut cash holdings but fears over the end of the cycle and trade war fallout continue, the latest Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey has found. The headline findings in its July report, which was responded t

Institutional Investors: The world's biggest pension fund has a $26bn war chest for Japan stocks, NY Common allocation review, Santa Barbara County Employees preps search for emerging markets debt manager, South Africa state pension fund to invest more offshore, LGPS pool targets $12.47bn with private markets programme... [more]The world's biggest pension fund has a $26bn war chest for Japan stocks From Bloomberg: Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund has room to invest $26 billion in domestic stocks to keep holdings near its portfolio target, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. The world's largest pen

Investing: Hedge funds are $200m richer after mounting Ambu attack, Soros, Innovation Endeavors provide fresh funding for AlphaSense, Gold is best investment for global market, hedge fund expert says, Neil Woodford to start offloading unlisted biotech holdings this month... [more]Hedge funds are $200m richer after mounting Ambu attack From Bloomberg: Hedge funds betting against Ambu A/S have made more than $200 million since embarking on the year's most aggressive short-selling campaign to target a Danish company. That's according to calculations provided b

People: Joe Landy to step aside as Warburg Pincus co-CEO, Blackstone hires Caxton manager for global macro, emerging markets, Lombard Odier names successor to Patrick Odier... [more]Joe Landy to step aside as Warburg Pincus co-CEO From PIonline.com: Joseph P. Landy is stepping aside as co-chief executive officer of Warburg Pincus, the private equity firm he has helped manage since 2000, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Landy, 58, will transi

Crypto: Smart money said 'skip bitcoin, bet on blockchain.' Not any more, For clues to Bitcoin price movement, the new place to go: Social media, Japan wants to create SWIFT for cryptocurrencies, Coinbase launches tool that analyses 'trading signals', Smaller cryptocurrencies feel pain as criticism of Facebook's Libra grows, As Facebook struggles for blockchain support, a truly decentralized challenger emerges... [more]Smart money said 'skip bitcoin, bet on blockchain.' Not any more From Bloomberg: As cryptocurrency prices tumbled across the board last year, venture capitalists focused their attention on the promise of the underlying technology, the ledger known as blockchain. That, many said, was the

Tech: FaceApp's viral success proves we will never take our digital privacy seriously... [more]From CNN: In early 2017, a service called FaceApp received a wave of press for using artificial intelligence to transform pictures of faces, making them look older or younger, male or female, or adding a smile to appear happier. This week, FaceApp once again made headlines as celebrities, inclu

U.S.: Ex-banker builds billion-dollar fortune as legal pot sweeps U.S.... [more]A former Credit Suisse banker best known for his role in privatizing Russian state assets after the fall of communism is capitalizing on another transformative moment, this time in the U.S. Boris Jordan, 53, is getting rich from cannabis. His 31% stake in Curaleaf Holdings Inc., the biggest U.S

Europe: UK public funds launch $12.47bn private-markets drive, Fund managers fine-tune their Brexit approaches... [more]UK public funds launch $12.47bn private-markets drive From Financial News: The Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, one of the eight new authorities formed to manage £250bn of the UK's public sector retirement savings, has launched a suite of private equity and infrastructure fun

Asia: Citi takes the lead in Asia sales, Investors in South Korea embrace stewardship code... [more]Citi takes the lead in Asia sales There's a new leader in Asia equity sales. Citigroup was chosen as the top seller of equity research in Asia - excluding Japan - in Institutional Investor's 2019 All-Asia Sales Team. The result was determined based on responses from some 1,600 investmen

PE/VC: Navab Capital Partners to wind down following founder's death, Southeast Asia's VCs are in the market to raise over $4.2bn, Venture capital funding surges to $55bn in 2019... [more]Navab Capital Partners to wind down following founder's death From PIonline.com: Navab Capital Partners, the private equity firm launched in April by the late Alexander Navab, is winding down, according to a written statement from the firm. "All of us were committed to help make Al

Study: The dirty little secret about asset manager mergers, Cracking the hedge fund code... [more]The dirty little secret about asset manager mergers From Institutional Investor: Deal-making isn't a cure-all for asset managers under pressure from rising costs and declining fees - if done poorly, it can do more harm than good, according to a new white paper from strategy consultant C

Outlook: The race to zero: Price wars in the asset management industry... [more]From Seeking Alpha: Price wars in the asset management business have driven commissions to zero in both the direct investing and managed portfolio segments. Charles Schwab's price leadership in robo advisory has its advantages in terms of cross-selling and generational capture, but it faces risks re

Opinion: Ice Miller's Michael Jordan: Investor appetite for alternatives remains high, Hedge fund manager who called the housing crisis bets the Fed will cut rates to nearly zero... [more]Ice Miller's Michael Jordan: Investor appetite for alternatives remains high Michael Jordan didn't expect to become an expert in investor-side representation for alternative investments. He stumbled into the niche 22 years ago. In the late 1990s, when the Ohio General Assembly remo

Activists: Bill Ackman faces down his own activist on $400m bond sale, Saga looks horribly exposed as hedge fund Elliott buys 5% stake, UBS relocates New York banker to lead new activist-defence team in Europe, Activist fund Amber Capital demands strategy review at French utility Suez... [more]Bill Ackman faces down his own activist on $400m bond sale From Bloomberg: Bill Ackman, the billionaire hedge fund manager, is sticking with plans for a $400m bond sale that has triggered the type of shareholder activism he helped pioneer. A decision by Pershing Square Holdings, Mr

News Briefs: Endowments flock to Wall Street for a bigger piece of the action, Despite his wizardly reputation, T Rowe Price latest fund manager to cover research costs globally... [more]Endowments flock to Wall Street for a bigger piece of the action From Bloomberg: University endowments are trading the solitude of their leafy campuses for the hubbub of Wall Street. Mount Holyoke, a liberal arts college set among the trees of Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts, is the lat

And, finally: Least Competent Criminal... [more]From News of the Weird: A craving for cake batter ice cream brought New York City police officers to a Baskin-Robbins store in Coney Island on June 29 -- a fortuitous detour, as it turned out. The Associated Press reported that when 33-year-old Emmanuel Lovett walked into the shop and tugged o