Other Voices: Five key points on capital raising for hedge funds... [more]By: Roy Engel, Barnea Jaffa Lande & Co. The cornerstone of a successful hedge fund is a successful investment strategy. That is self-evident. However, if the managers of the potential hedge fund are not successful in raising capital, this potential will never be tested or realized. We list below

North American asset managers lag in adopting disruptive technologies... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The vast majority (95%) of North American asset managers believe that their technology, data, and digital capabilities will be competitive differentiators by 2025, many remain in the early stages of adopting disruptive technologies, including artificial intelligence (A

Hedge funds continue winning performance ways in April... [more]Opalesque Industry Update - Hedge fund performance was broadly positive in April, with 85% of funds reporting to eVestment seeing positive performance figures and the industry as a whole posting a return of +2.61% for the month, according to the just-released April 2021 eVestment hedge fund performa

Hedge funds look to tap into surge in corporate dealmaking... [more]From FT: Hedge funds that bet on corporate deals have rebounded from big losses during last spring's coronavirus-driven market turmoil and are aiming to profit from a surge in M&A as economies reopen. Merger arbitrage funds gained 7.7 per cent in the first four months of 2021, according to res

Private strategies pay off for Tiger Global, other hedge fund titans... [more]From Institutional Investor: Hedge funds' strategies to invest in private markets have been driving returns at a number of firms this year. Third Point, Greenlight, Tiger Global, and Maverick received big boosts in the first quarter from their private investing strategies. That shouldn't be a

New Launches: Livingbridge banks $1.69bn for its largest fund yet, US-based VC firm Top Tier Capital sets up dedicated European fund of funds, Orion Energy Partners highlights urgency of sustainable infra development amid $1bn Fund III close... [more] Livingbridge banks $1.69bn for its largest fund yet From PE News: London-based private equity firm Livingbridge has raised £1.2bn ($1.69bn) for its seventh mid-market fund. The vehicle, launched in April last year, is the firm's largest so far and is almost twice as large as its

SS&C GlobeOp Hedge Fund Performance Index up 2.04% in April... [more]SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. announced that the gross return of the SS&C GlobeOp Hedge Fund Performance Index for April 2021 measured 2.04%. Hedge fund flows as measured by the SS&C GlobeOp Capital Movement Index advanced 0.26% in May. "SS&C GlobeOp's Capital Movement Index for May 2021 of

Institutional Investors: Connecticut pension plan allocates $150m to 2 alts fund, Sacramento reveals $111m in commitments, LACERS makes asset allocation tweaks, axes 2 bond managers... [more] Connecticut pension plan allocates $150m to 2 alts fund From PIonline.com: Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, Hartford, committed a total of $150 million to two alternatives funds. Shawn T. Wooden, state treasurer and fiduciary of the $40 billion state pension system,

Investing: Hedge fund titans pitch their top stock picks at Sohn Investment event... [more] Hedge fund titans pitch their top stock picks at Sohn Investment event From Bloomberg: Every year, the lineup of elite hedge-fund managers speaking at the annual Sohn Investment Conference gives attendees a rare glimpse into the thinking - and stock picks - of a host of heavy-hitting i

SWF: Sovereign wealth funds' direct investing focus set to continue... [more]From Asian Investor: Despite the uncertainty posed to investors globally by the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 was a record year for direct sovereign wealth fund investments. And more could be on the way. Sovereign wealth fund investment teams used the volatility surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic to

SPACs: SPAC investors face six key risks, The SPAC king is doing just fine even as the bubble starts to burst, Global IPOs breach all-time record on U.S. SPAC boom, flurry of tech listings... [more] SPAC investors face six key risks From Reuters: Special purpose acquisition companies - or SPACs, as they are more commonly known - are having a moment. The investment vehicles raised $83.4 billion in the first quarter, more than all of 2020, and almost three times the amount tradition

People: BlackRock hires Trump's SEC investment management chief, PIMCO adds managing director to work with RIAs on alts, Macquarie appoints global head of equity trading... [more] BlackRock hires Trump's SEC investment management chief From Barrons: BlackRock said it has hired Dalia Blass, a Securities and Exchange Commission veteran who most recently led the Division of Investment Management under the Trump administration. There, she was the public's top regula

Crypto: Hedge fund giants Millennium, Matrix and Point72 standing up DeFi funds, Renaissance Technologies amassed $140m position in mining stocks in Q1, Cowen to offer crypto custody to hedge funds and asset managers, Coinbase profit surges in crypto exchange's first report as public company, Crypto fund Pantera says Bitcoin energy concern to impact market... [more] Hedge fund giants Millennium, Matrix and Point72 standing up DeFi funds From CoinDesk: U.S. hedge fund giants Millennium Management, Point72 Asset Management and Matrix Capital Management are all at varying stages of standing up cryptocurrency-focused trading funds, according to three

Tech: Covid helps boost online marketplace valuations to $5tn... [more]From City Wire: Online marketplaces have benefited from pandemic-induced lockdowns, as record investment in the sector has driven unicorn valuations up 70% to $5tn in the last year, according to new research. Amazon and Alibaba of course top the list of the world's most valuable marketplaces,

U.S.: Stanley Druckenmiller says the Fed is endangering the dollar's global reserve status... [more]From CNBC: Fed policies could end up threatening the long-term health of the U.S. dollar, investing magnate Stanley Druckenmiller told CNBC. "I can't find any period in history where monetary and fiscal policy were this out of step with the economic circumstances, not one," the chair and CEO of Duqu

Europe: Brevan Howard triples workspace with new London headquarters, Swiss private banks at odds with clients over ESG, Russia plans bond buyback to fix pandemic-warped debt market... [more] Brevan Howard triples workspace with new London headquarters From Bloomberg: Brevan Howard Asset Management is moving to a new London headquarters that's almost three times larger than the hedge-fund firm's existing office, signaling an expansion plan after a record year of gains.

Asia: Chinese companies' dollar bonds hit as Beijing tightens credit, KIC says still premature to invest in cryptocurrencies, Korea's NPS targets 50% of assets in ESG by end-2022, report says... [more] Chinese companies' dollar bonds hit as Beijing tightens credit From FT: When China Fortune Land Development missed a payment on a $530m US dollar bond in February, the property developer did not rush to tell its investors. "They never even said 'we defaulted'," recalled one of th

PE/VC: Is this the end of the age of the private equity turnaround?, A comparative analysis of Chinese private debt... [more] Is this the end of the age of the private equity turnaround? From Mint: Are private-equity firms taking to the Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s buy-and-hold model? It sure looks like it. Alternative asset managers are increasingly diversifying into what is called perpetual capital. Such vehic

Outlook: The coming global economic boom could have a sting in the tail... [more]The global economy is entering unfamiliar territory. After a decade of worries about inadequate demand and spending power in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, signs of insufficient supply are now emerging. A lack of goods, services and people means that red-hot demand is increasingly met

ESG: The other climate risk investors need to talk about, Oil and gas investors call for tougher methane emissions curbs, Think tank proposes 'guard rails' for sustainable finance integrity, New group to assess effectiveness of sustainable finance policy... [more] The other climate risk investors need to talk about From FT: The highest carbon-emitting components of businesses could be spun-off to private equity and hedge funds. The year is 2040. For decades, investors and regulators alike have been encouraging companies across the globe to decar

Philanthropy: Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin donates over $1bn worth of meme coins to India Covid relief... [more]From Indian Express: Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the Ethereum crypto network and the world's youngest known crypto billionaire, has donated over $1 billion worth of meme coins to India's Covid-19 relief fund as well as a number of nonprofit organisations battling the country's aggressive second w

Activists: Opposition to Alden takeover of Tribune heats up ahead of vote, Seven & i shares surge after news of ValueAct's stake build-up, Ackman takes a slice of pie, Activist fund's reported stake in Duke Energy puzzles investors, worries politicians... [more] Opposition to Alden takeover of Tribune heats up ahead of vote From NY Post: Opposition to hedge fund takeover of Tribune Publishing is bubbling up ahead of next week's deal vote, including three legal fights, plans for multi-city rallies and written pleas for new buyers. "Please buy t

News Briefs: How Credit Suisse fell victim to its own success, Cannabis use is on the rise. Where to invest now, SoftBank to expand Vision Fund portfolio to 500 companies, Son says... [more] How Credit Suisse fell victim to its own success From Risk: When Archegos Capital Management imploded in March, its prime brokers seemed surprised to learn the $10 billion family office had made similar trades with several other banks. Perhaps they shouldn't have been - least of all Cr

And, finally: You could even bring your set of drums... [more]Madison Kohout, 19, moved from Oklahoma to Piggott, Arkansas, in March to be nearer to a family she had become close with. She found an apartment and signed a lease after sundown, with the landlord telling her she could move in that evening if she'd like: "No one's going to hear anything. They can't