Update2: State Street Buys $170 Billion UK Fund Management Company

New York (HedgeCo.net) – State Street Corporation is expanding its global servicing capabilities with an agreement to acquire alternative fund manager Mourant International Finance Administration in a cash transaction. The UK fund is headquartered in Jersey in the Channel Islands with approximately $170 billion in assets under administration.

“As alternative asset classes have become more mainstream, our institutional customers plan to continue to expand their use of this asset class,” said Jay Hooley, president and chief operating officer of State Street.

State Street has been expanding its capabilities in alternative investments over the last seven years. In 2002, the company acquired International Fund Services (IFS), a leading provider of hedge fund administration services and in 2007 State Street significantly expanded its leadership in this market with its acquisitions of both Investors Financial Services Corp. and Palmeri Fund Administrators.

State Street’s Alternative Investment Solutions (AIS) team has more than $420 billion in alternative assets under administration as of September 30, 2009. The acquisition will bring the total to $600 billion, ranking the combined State Street and MIFA businesses No. 1 in alternative asset, private equity and real estate asset servicing globally and No. 2 in hedge fund servicing globally, based on industry survey data. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2010.

Alex Akesson
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Merlin Securities Launches 24-Hour International and Domestic Trade Coverage

Merlin Securities has expanded its trading capabilities to include 24-hour international and domestic coverage. Hedge fund experts Troy Prince and John Perna will oversee the expanded trading desk.

“Our clients increasingly seek to trade around the clock and around the globe. We have launched our 24-hour international and domestic desk to provide comprehensive access to the world’s markets,” said Eric Morgan , senior partner and head of trading at Merlin Securities. “Our clients now have the capability to execute in 96 countries across six continents – a level of access that has historically been provided only by the largest prime brokers to the largest hedge funds. The trading team at Merlin takes great pride in our outstanding trading capabilities, services and technology that clients cannot find elsewhere. We welcome Troy and John to the firm as we launch this new level of coverage.”

Troy Prince was most recently a U.S. and Asian equity trader with RBC Capital Markets, where he was the primary trader for a discretionary global equity long/short fund. Prior to that he was a Japanese and global equity execution trader for Barclays, based in Tokyo. Previously, Prince spent five years with ETG, LLC – an affiliate of Spear, Leeds & Kellogg – where he served as a global equity proprietary trader based in New York and Madrid. Earlier in his career Prince was a Japanese equity and convertible bond sales trader with Diawa Securities in Tokyo as well as a portfolio trader with O.G. Williams Capital. He holds a bachelors degree from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

John Perna was most recently a vice president and international equities sales trader at J.P. Morgan and, prior to that, an associate director and international trader for Bear Stearns. In these roles he gained extensive experience trading in Asian, European and Latin American markets, executing customer orders using DMA, DOT and various types of algorithms. Perna holds a bachelors degree in economics from Duke University.

Old Lane Founders Launch $300 Million Equities Hedge Fund

HedgeCo News Archives - In one of the years biggest US hedge fund launches, the Wall Street Journal reports that four of the founders of the now defunct Citigroup hedge fund, Old Lane, have a new start up hedge fund, Meru Capital Group.

The hedge fund has some $300 million in capital, the Wall Street Journal reports. Meru started trading on December 1st with a large chunk of the partner's own funds, up to $75 million, according to some reports.

The New York based hedge fund invests in derivatives, equities, fixed-income, and currencies. It plans to move in and out of positions quickly, with no single investment accounting for more than 5% of the fund’s assets, the Wall Street Journal reported this morning.