After taking a hard hit from a bet against the Swiss franc in January, Marko Dimitrijevic’s Miami-based Everest Capital is returning most of its money to investors, according to a Bloomberg report. Everest alerted investors last month that it would be closing six of its seven funds just a few weeks after its Global Fund was wiped out within a day of the Swiss franc rate move, according to the report. The firm’s other funds weren’t exposed to the Swiss franc bet, but a dive in investor confidence sparked a run on redemptions. The firm is keeping its Emerging Markets fund open, according to the report.
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Billionaire Michael Platt’s hedge fund firm BlueCrest Capital Management is planning to open its BlueCrest Equity Strategies Fund to outside money for the first time in April, according to Reuters. Sources told the publication that the fund, which returned 9.3 percent last year, wants to double its assets in a first fundraising round. Reuters reports BlueCrest Capital’s assets under management as $14 billion, down from $37 billion in 2013, due in part to the loss of the firm’s computer-driven trading team when it was spun out to create Systematica Investments.
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A new report from London-based data tracker Preqin shows that single-manager hedge funds based in the Asia-Pacific region have the best record when it comes to gender equality in hiring. Asia-Pacific funds employ women in 11.2 percent of C-level roles, and in Hong Kong in particular that number is nearly 13 percent. North American funds come in second, with 10.9 percent of C-level roles filled by women, while single-manager funds based in Europe have the worst numbers, with only 6.6 percent of those top roles held by women, according to the report.
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Net sales and assets under management at Value Partners Group, one of the largest hedge fund firms in Asia, reached an all-time high last year, according to a press release the firm issued Thursday. Assets reached $12.9 billion by the end of 2014, up from $10.5 billion the year before, while net sales shot up 39 percent, to a new record of $1.9 billion. Value Partners attributes that jump to “excellent fund performance” and an expanded distribution network. The firm is now looking to focus on opportunities in China, where it expects to see significant growth.
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Windsor, Connecticut-based Hedge fund administrator SS&C GlobeOp on Thursday reported that its Hedge Fund Performance Index for February 2015 had increased gross returns 2.19 percent, from 1.18 percent in January. SS&C GlobeOp says its data represents about 10 percent of the hedge fund industry, suggesting modest gains across hedge funds. “The overall steadiness of the increase in hedge fund investments is noteworthy in light of recent higher volatility in financial markets,” Bill Stone, chairman and CEO at SS&C Technologies, said in a press release.
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Hedge fund managers are adapting to changing markets by focusing more on customized products and emerging markets, according to a new industry survey produced by global accounting firm KPMG International and hedge fund industry trade groups the Managed Funds Association and the Alternative Investment Management Association. The report surveyed more than 100 hedge fund managers representing about $400 billion of assets under management. The researchers concluded that the industry is undergoing several fundamental shifts. For example, more than two-thirds of managers are expecting to use specialized fee structures in the near future to attract investors, and nearly 70 percent of managers say they are offering, or plan to offer, more customized investment products.
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The California Public Employees’ Retirement System plans to pay about 8 percent less in fees to Wall Street next year, according to its proposed budget, obtained by Bloomberg. Calpers predicts that it will pay $930.7 million in fees during its next fiscal year, which begins on July 1, down from more than $1 billion this fiscal year. The drop will be attributable in part to Calpers’ cost-cutting measures, which include working with fewer money managers. The ratio of fees it pays to its market value has reportedly shrunk by a third over the last three years.
