Iowa Public Employee' Retirement System issues $550m RFP for absolute return strategies... [more]Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers: The Des Moines based Iowa Public Employee' Retirement System (IPERS) has issued an Request for Proposal (RFP) to evaluate absolute return strategies currently offered i

U.S. institutional investors increase allocation to alternative investments... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: U.S. institutional investors are looking to allocate more of their portfolios to alternative investments as a way to combat inflationary pressure, said a research report. Opportunity exists for asset managers with a strong performance in alternative investments, par

Hedge fund Presidio spins out crypto market tail risk strategy... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Presidio Trading, a quantitative hedge fund focused on trading digital assets, announced its plan to spin out its cryptocurrency markets tail risk strategy as a standalone fund. The decision to launch this fund comes as a result of the strategy's strong perfor

$17tn traditional asset managers face continued pressure on profitability... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Publicly traded traditional North American-based asset management firms continued to post declining profits and assets under management as the industry battles with a turbulent market and inflationary pressures, said a study. The analysis of the publicly traded tra

Asia's hedge fund seeders go for 'uncorrelated' strategies... [more]From Reuters: With traditional equity and bond portfolios underwhelming investors this year and China's market returns letting them down, Asia's most active seed-fund providers are ploughing money instead into hedge funds with strategies not correlated to major macro trends. That means hedge fun

Goldman Sachs' latest hedge fund monitor - How are equity hedge funds positioned going into year end?... [more]From Forbes: Heading into year end, hedge funds have further lowered equity market exposure, with more concentration of long positions. And in terms of short positions, hedge funds are favoring use of ETF baskets and futures to hedge the short side rather than selling individual stocks in this macro

Ranked: The world's 20 biggest hedge funds... [more]Collectively, the world's 15,000 hedge funds manage around $4.5 trillion in assets for their clients, weathering economic storms and world events to ensure returns. The world's biggest hedge fund by a mile is Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates. At the time of this ranking, Bridgewater managed ov

Third Point struggles in November... [more]From Institutional Investor: The biggest losses for Dan Loeb's multistrategy fund came in its private book. Third Point suffered another monthly loss - and this time, the multistrategy fund can blame its private investment strategy. According to the firm's monthly report, which was seen by Inst

New Launches: Peter Thiel bets $250m on venture debt fund... [more]From Bloomberg: Peter Thiel has had a busy 2022, directing time and money into two US Senate races, a Maltese citizenship, a handful of venture capital funds and more than a dozen technology startups. Among his single biggest bet: venture debt. The billionaire invested $250 million in Tacora Cap

Institutional Investors: Ohio Police & Fire commits $100m to buyout, senior lending funds, Oregon Investment Council boosts fixed-income exposure to 25% from 20%, University of Rochester endowment net return falls 11.6%, Nashville slates $55m for alternatives... [more] Ohio Police & Fire commits $100m to buyout, senior lending funds From PIonline.com: Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, Columbus, made two new alternative fund commitments totaling $100 million. The $17 billion pension fund's board at its meeting Wednesday approved commitments of $50 millio

SPACs: SPAC king Chamath Palihapitiya says the Fed crushed the bubble in blank-check firms, Banzai to go public via $580m SPAC deal... [more] SPAC king Chamath Palihapitiya says the Fed crushed the bubble in blank-check firms From Business Insider: The Fed crushed the bubble in special purpose acquisition companies, Chamath Palihapitiya said, deflecting blame for the poor performance of companies he took public in recent years

People: Pimco's head of European credit portfolio management exits, Ontario Teachers' names Anna Murray global head of sustainable investing... [more] Pimco's head of European credit portfolio management exits From City Wire: Pimco's head of European credit portfolio management, Eve Tournier, has left the bond shop after 15 years. As a result, she is no longer a manager on the $9.7bn Pimco Low Duration Income and $3.7bn Pimco

Crypto: SEC faces calls to boost crypto-exchange enforcement after FTX collapse, Crypto hedge fund BKCoin fired co-founder Kang over misappropriated investor funds, Total crypto market cap falls to $840bn, but derivatives data shows traders are neutral, Elizabeth Warren wants regulators to investigate bank ties to cryptocurrency... [more] SEC faces calls to boost crypto-exchange enforcement after FTX collapse From Mint: Pressure is mounting on the Securities and Exchange Commission to step up enforcement of key hubs of the crypto industry after the collapse of FTX last month. FTX's bankruptcy put the focus on crypto e

SWF: NBIM sets 2023-2025 strategy for world's largest sovereign wealth fund, UK court finds financiers guilty of defrauding Libyan sovereign wealth fund... [more] NBIM sets 2023-2025 strategy for world's largest sovereign wealth fund From PIonline.com: Daring to be contrarian, exploiting periods of excessive asset price variation and expanded behavioral analysis are in the cards for the world's largest sovereign wealth fund over the coming years.

Currency: Barclays: The HK peg will continue... [more]From FT: Pershing Square, round hole? In case you missed it last month, hedge fund guy Bill Ackman has become the latest masochist to bet that the Hong Kong dollar's peg to the US dollar will break. Ackman's lack of faith in pegging seems to be getting quite trendy, per a Reuters report earlier

U.S.: Blackstone's $50bn private credit fund faces its first big test, US fund managers cross Atlantic to buy European oil stocks... [more] Blackstone's $50bn private credit fund faces its first big test From Bloomberg: Blackstone Inc.'s $50 billion private credit fund fueled its rise into the biggest powerhouse in direct leveraged lending. But with some wealthy investors now pulling capital, nerves are on edge about what's

Europe: A $529bn European bond spree is looking for new buyers... [more]From Bloomberg: As winter approaches, governments across Europe have been frantically drafting aid programs to protect their citizens from the surge in energy costs triggered by Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. There are electricity price caps in France, gasoline discounts in Italy and heating-

Asia: NZ Super hunts for properties even as investors desert sector, How investors can tap China's reopening... [more] NZ Super hunts for properties even as investors desert sector From Asian Investor: New Zealand's sovereign fund is on the lookout for investment opportunities in global property despite sharp falls in investor allocations to the sector in Asia. Despite sharp recent falls in allocatio

PE/VC: Private-equity firms push blockchain-based funds despite crypto collapse, PE secondaries market set to boom in 2023... [more] Private-equity firms push blockchain-based funds despite crypto collapse From WSJ: Private-equity firms are making their funds available on the blockchain in an effort to reach rich investors, despite the crypto scandals that have left the technology under a cloud. Asset managers Ham

ESG: House lawmakers consider additional disclosures of ESG, workforce data, Biodiversity frameworks good news for pension savings too, says Moger Pedersen, Funds bet Asia ESG stocks will bounce back on policy tailwinds, Big ESG funds underperforming the S&P 500... [more] House lawmakers consider additional disclosures of ESG, workforce data From PIonline.com: House lawmakers discussed the potential for additional disclosures of environmental, social and governance investing data as well as workforce data at a hearing Thursday, with many Republicans reite

Legal: John Paulson seeks to shut down wife's suit alleging hidden billions... [more]From Bloomberg: John Paulson is seeking to shut down his wife Jenica's lawsuit accusing him of shielding billions of dollars in assets from their divorce, claiming she's the one who's engaged in a "selfish money grab." Both Paulsons appeared in a cramped Manhattan courtroom Thursday morning for

Activists: Hedge fund Third Point adds Bath & Body Works stake, seeks board changes, Former Elliott exec's Sparta pushes Wood Group for buybacks... [more] Hedge fund Third Point adds Bath & Body Works stake, seeks board changes From Reuters: Hedge fund Third Point has built a stake of just over 6% in Bath & Body Works and is pushing for new board members at the retailer, the fund said in a regulatory filing on Thursday, laying the foundati

News Briefs: Two Prime shakes up strategy: 'If we're not a crypto hedge fund, what are we?', Credit Suisse gets strong demand for $4bn capital increase... [more] Two Prime shakes up strategy: 'If we're not a crypto hedge fund, what are we?' From Blockworks: Most everyone in institutional crypto trading these days has a simple mandate: Position appropriately for an extended bear market - and fine tune capital-raising efforts accordingly. For

And, finally: Devon and USA pen pals still in touch after both reaching 100... [more]Two people who have been pen pals since the 1930s are still corresponding and embracing technology to stay in touch having both turned 100. Geoff Banks, from Devon, began writing to American Celesta Byrne after being given her details in 1938. Communication, which began in their 20s, is stil