Hedge Fund Launches Up 34%

HedgeCo News - According to a new hedge fund industry study, Sizing The 2010 Hedge Fund Universe: A PerTrac Study, the single-manager hedge fund industry recovered in 2010 with assets under management (AUM) increasing 11% over 2009 to $1.6 trillion.

“As we look across the fund universe, one clear area of growth has been in the number of single-manager hedge funds, and we see that momentum continuing in the future,” Lisa Corvese, Managing Director at PerTrac said. “Overall, the study demonstrates a rebound — with the industry as a whole getting closer to prior peaks.”

1,184 new funds were launched, representing a 34% increase over the prior year. Total AUM for single-manager hedge funds and fund of funds was $2.1 trillion in 2010.

Fund of funds continue to see AUM decline. The 3,196 fund of funds in the study – approximately the same number as in 2008 – had $518 billion under management in 2010. This represents a 10.5% decrease from 2009 and a steep 31% decline from 2008 when $750 billion was reported.

Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs), the third category measured in the study, attracted investors in 2009 as a haven from stocks and bonds as their numbers peaked that year at 2,425. In 2010, the number of CTAs dropped to 1,997 which is approximately the same level as in 2008.

GAM Star Dynamic Global Bond Launch

HedgeCo News: The Star Dynamic Global Bond was launched on the 11th April 2011. The new fixed income – developed markets UCITS hedge fund aims to produce consistent total returns and outperform an index of developed global bond markets over a market cycle.

The UCITS hedge fund has daily redemptions and trades in USD, GBP, EUR, CHF, JPY and SEK. Minimum subscriptions start at USD 20,000,000 or currency equivalent (institutional class) and USD 10,000 or currency equivalent (ordinary class). Manager fees are 0.65% and 0.90, respectively.

The co-managers, Tim Haywood and Daniel Sheard each have over 20 years’ experience. They look to capture both alpha and beta using credit, FX, interest rate and inflation hedges to diversify risk. Their dedicated expertise in non-core sectors and their unconstrained ‘go-anywhere’ approach means the fund is able to access the most interesting opportunities globally, through tactical and dynamic sector rotation.

"Risk management should be integrated philosophically and systematically at each stage of the decision making process." Tim Haywood said, "By assessing the key risks – defaults, inflation, duration, currency (and hedging, as appropriate), we aim to produce an attractive risk/return profile."

Key Facts Include:

• Specialist expertise spanning the global fixed income and currency universes
• Tactical and dynamic rotation of sectors and diversification across a wide range of alpha sources
• Harnessing alpha by understanding what drives markets

"Qualitative and quantitative tools are used on an ongoing basis; modifying positions to limit risk and capture the upside as investment themes evolve." Daniel Sheard explains in the launch release, "In parallel, the independent GAM Market Risk team conducts ongoing monitoring to identify risk ‘hot spots’ and ensure the focus remains clearly on achieving the fund’s long term objectives."

Tim Haywood joined GAM following its acquisition of the fixed income and foreign exchange specialist, Augustus, in May 2009. Tim joined Augustus (then Julius Baer Investments Limited) in 1998 from Orient Overseas International Limited in Hong Kong, where he was CIO. He has worked as both CIO and CEO of Augustus, established the hedge fund business, as well as being the founder and original investment manager of an emerging market bond fund.

Daniel Sheard joined GAM following its acquisition of the fixed income and foreign exchange specialist, Augustus, in May 2009. He joined Augustus (then Julius Baer Investments Limited) in 2006 as deputy chief investment officer and became chief investment officer in 2008. Daniel previously worked at Prudential M&G, where he was a director of the Institutional Fixed Income group. Prior to that he was a principal within the Advanced Strategies group at Barclays Global Investors, and before that was an associate director within the Fixed Income unit at Schroders.