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29 Sept 2009

Hedge Funds Team Up To Provide Investor Access To Prime Brokerage Platform

Hedge fund prime brokers Northern Trust and Merlin Securities have set up an agreement which enhances Merlin’s existing broker-dealer custody relationships with Goldman Sachs Execution and Clearing and J.P. Morgan Clearing Corp. Merlin’s clients now have easy access to all three providers through Merlin’s award-winning multi-prime reporting platform.

“In today’s market, managers and investors are seeking custodial solutions that reduce their counterparty risk and provide fully integrated, multi-custodian reporting analytics and risk data,” said Stephan Vermut, Founder and Managing Partner of Merlin. “Our agreement with Northern Trust addresses this need for our clients and grants seamless access to a bank custody provider with an unparalleled reputation for quality, safety and stability.”

“Northern Trust is delighted to add Merlin and its clients to our growing hedge fund custody and administration business – which now provides asset servicing for more than $90 billion in assets worldwide,” said Peter Cherecwich , Chief Operating Officer for Corporate and Institutional Services at Northern Trust. “Merlin’s technology, risk analytics, and multi-custody reporting capabilities are a strong complement to Northern Trust’s hedge fund services.”

As of June 30, 2009 , Northern Trust had assets under custody of US$3.2 trillion, and assets under investment management of $558.9 billion.

Merlin Securities has offices in New York and San Francisco and is a member of FINRA and SIPC. Recognized as the #1 prime broker for funds less than $1 billion by Alpha magazine’s 2008 hedge fund service provider survey for the second year running Merlin was the top-ranked non-algorithmic-driven firm and second overall among brokerages trading NYSE stocks as measured by arrival price, according to the 2008 Elkins/McSherry annual transaction cost survey.

ALTSO’s 6th Annual Hedge Fund Rocktoberfest Draws Corporate Sponsors

New York (HedgeCo.net) - This year marks the sixth anniversary of A Leg To Stand On’s (ALTSO) annual benefit, Hedge Fund Rocktoberfest, which is fast becoming one of ALTSO's most successful fund raisers to date, with more corporate sponsors signing on than ever before.

As one of Wall Street’s most popular annual events, Hedge Fund Rocktoberfest features bands whose members work in the hedge fund and finance industry. All of the five bands scheduled to perform on the main stage at this year’s event are competing to raise the most for ALTSO; vying for the lead currently are JAM Partners and The Cause.

“I’m extremely grateful to everyone who has given to ALTSO,” says C. Mead Welles, co-founder of ALTSO and managing partner of New York hedge fund Octagon Asset Management. “What we do has such a big impact on these children’s lives and it costs so little to do so much.” ALTSO improves the lives of children with limb disabilities in emerging countries by providing free surgeries and prosthetic limbs.

The money raised from last year’s Hedge Fund Rocktoberfest helped ALTSO expand its efforts and clinics in India, Bangladesh, Haiti, Nepal, Nigeria, Colombia, and Ecuador. Revenue raised this year will go toward fulfilling ALTSO’s goal of helping level the playing field for 1,000 more children in 2010, bringing their total of children helped to nearly 6,000 in under eight years.

“The bands are working extra hard to bring in donations this year,” says Chris Heasman, a director and portfolio manager with Lazard Asset Management in New York who performs with The Subscribers, which has played at every Hedge Fund Rocktoberfest
since the event began and is scheduled to perform again this year. “Sure, Rocktoberfest is about having fun, but it’s more about raising money for ALTSO so they can continue their work with children in developing countries.”

Other long time supporters of the charity include Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and Jacobs Asset Management, LLC.