Opalesque Exclusive: Caymans' AML requirements still a bit up in the air... [more]B. G., Opalesque Geneva: The Cayman Islands' anti-money laundering (AML) requirements are still a bit up in the air, according to Bill Prew, CEO/founder at Indos Financial. Even though all open-ended, Cayman-domiciled hedge funds had t

Hedge fund launches and liquidations on decline while fund performance dispersion widens significantly in 2018... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: New hedge fund launches hit an 18-year low during 2018. The fund liquidations also declined during the year, hitting their lowest point since 2007. According to Hedge Fund Research (HFR) report, new hedge fund launches fell to conclude 2018, as the number of 4Q18 l

Cisco projects $9.7bn will be spent annually on blockchain projects by 2021... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The blockchain has the potential to hold as much as 10% of the world's GDP, said 'Blockchain by Cisco' report. This means that several trillion dollars worth of value could be stored on both decentralized and permissioned blockchains by 2027. Cisco al

Fiera Capital to buy Integrated Asset Management for $74m... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Montreal-based Fiera Capital announced that it is set to acquire Toronto-based Integrated Asset Management (IAM) for a total consideration of $74m. The CAD136.7bn ($102bn) global asset manager has agreed with IAM to buy all of the shares of the $3.1bn alternative a

Litigation funder Therium Capital to launch $430m fund... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Therium Capital Management, a Channel Islands-based litigation funder, is launching a new $430m fund, bringing the total value of its institutional investments to over $1bn. The fresh investment has been gleaned from two existing investors and, for the first time,

Hedge funds beat the stock market last year for the first time in five years... [more]From Barrons: The hedge fund industry is alive and while not doing well, is doing OK. The Back Story: The choppy waters of the fourth-quarter's volatile markets were tough to navigate for most investors. Lo and behold: The ones who are supposed to be the smartest, and equipped with the fanciest tool

CQS hedge fund says curve inverting on technicals won't last... [more]From Bloomberg: As sovereign bonds around the world continue their relentless climb and a closely watched segment of the U.S. yield curve inverts -- seen as a harbinger of recession -- the level of anxiety about the global economy can't be understated. For hedge fund CQS, that caution has gone a

New Launches: Canada's OMERS launches $341m European venture fund, Farad Group & Thomas Schumann Capital launch water security fund, Berenberg expands fund range with sustainable equity fund, Moonrise Capital raises $105.7m for venture-capital fund... [more]Canada's OMERS launches $341m European venture fund From Reuters: Canadian pension fund OMERS has launched a 300 million euros ($341 million) venture capital fund to target technology start-ups in Europe. OMERS Ventures, the venture capital arm of OMERS which manages C$97 billion in asset

Chicago's hometown hedge fund grows faster in New York... [more]From Chicago Business: Citadel CEO Ken Griffin says he's having second thoughts about moving the hedge fund firm's headquarters to New York from Chicago, but Citadel's center of gravity already is shifting toward the center of global finance. Citadel, which Griffin founded in Chicago

Investing: Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Tiffany, Hibbett Sports, Nike, Gamestop & more, Quants are grabbing the calm stocks that hedge funds don't want, Oil investors learn `don't fight the Saudis' as rally bets climb... [more]Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Tiffany, Hibbett Sports, Nike, Gamestop & more From CNBC: Tiffany - Tiffany came in 7 cents a share above estimates, with quarterly profit of $1.67 per share. The luxury goods retailer's revenue was short of forecasts, however, and Tiffany's comp

Institutional Investors: Canada Pension Plan Investment Board with $370bn under management shares some investing 'themes', Chicago Teachers earmarks $40m for 4 minority managers; puts 2 strategies on watch, Korean pension fund backs corporate royals again, Icelandic pension funds buck performance trend with gains, Italian DC consortium looking for private equity managers to run $244m, Private equity delivers for NYC funds... [more]Canada Pension Plan Investment Board with $370bn under management shares some investing 'themes' From CNBC: Canada's national pension fund invests for the long-term, its CEO said, and he named trends that are helping to guide its decision-making. "We're trying to go deep on certain areas

Crypto: Iran welcomes tourists by integrating cryptocurrencies within its tourism sector, US institutional crypto exchange Seed CX expands to Asia with new partnership, PwC France partner: Digital assets are for corporations, not central banks, BMW, Intel partner with government-backed blockchain accelerator, Mexican central bank's proposed regulations said to kill crypto industry, Facecoin to replace U.S. dollar? Facebook claims it's "helping people"... [more]Iran welcomes tourists by integrating cryptocurrencies within its tourism sector From Bitcoin Exchange Guide: It has been recently revealed that Iran's tourism sector will be welcoming cryptocurrencies, as the digital assets are considered equivalent to money (i.e. legal tenders). Th

Quants: Is it time to tweak the code?... [more]Quant investment managers began 2018 in an optimistic mood. The much-hyped computer-driven hedge funds were among the fastest-growing parts of the investment industry and on course to hit $1tn of assets under management. The 12 months that followed were a shock to the system. Algorithms that we

U.S.: New tax could hurt value of some of New York's most expensive homes... [more]From WSJ: Owners of some of New York's priciest real estate could face a dramatic drop in the value of their properties under a state plan to impose a so-called pied-à-terre tax in New York City. The tax plan, if enacted, would levy the biggest tax on a small number of houses, co-ops and con

Europe: Poland's private-debt pioneer survives the country's latest crisis, Europe's public interest problem with Chinese investment, The star fund manager hiding a $22.5bn secret, Meet the London currency analyst who moonlights as a wellness guru to Wall Street hedge funds and bankers... [more]Poland's private-debt pioneer survives the country's latest crisis From Bloomberg: Rafal Lis almost single-handedly created Poland's private-debt market. In seven years, he built his company, CVI Dom Maklerski sp. z o.o., into a 5.9 billion zloty ($1.6 billion) boutique asset manager.

Asia: China's back in the market for hogs and so are hedge funds, Chinese perps challenge international market... [more]China's back in the market for hogs and so are hedge funds From AFR: There are finally enough signs of an emerging pork catastrophe in China to propel prices and get funds to turn bullish again. African swine fever, which is highly lethal and difficult to contain, was first reported

Opinion: The global wealth illusion is paper-thin, S&P 500 could fall 40% as yield curve inverts, says analyst of one of 2018's best hedge-fund returns... [more]The global wealth illusion is paper-thin From Bloomberg: The world is wealthier now than it's ever been - but only on paper. Much of this prosperity may prove illusory as a global shift toward less liquid investments undermines the basis of valuation. Private equity, infrastructure a

Activists: Activist investor's fight with Korea Inc. isn't over after Hyundai loss, Overcoming Elliott hurdle, Hyundai heir tightens grip over the empire, Elliott is a gatecrasher too many in plastics deal, Allergan promises independent board chair in next leadership change... [more]Activist investor's fight with Korea Inc. isn't over after Hyundai loss From PIonline.com: For decades, South Korea's most powerful tycoons ran their companies with little regard for minority shareholders. Then came Paul Singer. The hedge fund titan's activist campaigns - first at Sa

News Briefs: The unicorn stampede is coming, Once homeless, this entrepreneur has now built a $100m business, BlackRock to buy risk platform eFront for $1.3bn... [more]The unicorn stampede is coming From Bloomberg: Remember when people were worried about unicorns? It was a specific worry; the worry was not just that a lot of technology companies seemed to have valuations that were not justified by fundamentals, but particularly that a lot of private tec

And, finally: Man stole $122m from Facebook and Google by sending them random bills, which the companies dutifully paid... [more]From Boing Boing: Last week, Evaldas Rimasauskas of Lithuania plead guilty to US wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering charges, admitting that he had stolen $99m from Facebook and $23m from Google between 2013 and 2015. Rimasauskas's grift was pretty bold. He merely sent G