International regulators and financial industry players continue to join the membership of the IFSB

The Council of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) has resolved to admit Korea's regulatory and supervisory authorities as the latest inclusion to the membership of the IFSB. The admission of the two Korean authorities, together with other new members has increased the IFSB membership to 175.

The newly admitted members are as follows:

1. Financial Services Commission & Financial Supervisory Service, Korea
2. Khaleeji Commercial Bank B.S.C.(c), Bahrain
3. Kuwait International Bank, Kuwait
4. Unicorn International Islamic Bank, Malaysia
5. Commercial Bank of Dubai, United Arab Emirates
6. Deutsche Bank AG, United Arab Emirates
7. Emirates Islamic Bank, United Arab Emirates
8. Tokio Marine Insurance Middle East, United Arab Emirates
9. Gatehouse Bank plc, United Kingdom

The new admissions reflect the continuing interest of the Islamic financial services industry in the work undertaken by the IFSB. The IFSB members now total 175 organisations from 34 jurisdictions comprising 42 regulatory and supervisory authorities, six international inter-governmental organisations and 127 market players and professional firms. The full list of the 175 IFSB members can be seen on www.ifsb.org. Their roles and responsibilities (by category) are detailed in the IFSB Articles of Agreement which is downloadable from the website.


The IFSB is an international standard-setting organisation that promotes and enhances the soundness and stability of the Islamic financial services industry by issuing global prudential standards and guiding principles for the industry, broadly defined to include banking, capital markets and insurance sectors.

Lend America Launches Exit Strategy

Lend America announced the launch of an exit strategy to help leading Wall Street firms and hedge funds quickly monetize their residential mortgage portfolios.

As the 12th largest direct-to-consumer FHA lender in the US, Lend America is offering investors the opportunity to refinance performing mortgage portfolios within 10 days and work with non-performing portfolios to maximize cash flow and deliver a profitable exit strategy.

"Lend America is already working with leading Wall Street firms and hedge funds who are trading and or holding adjustable rate or other performing paper, "commented Michael Ashley, Chief Business Strategist of Lend America. "Because of our significant number of highly trained loan specialist in FHA lending and our ability to place loans directly into GNMA Mortgage Backed Securities, many major investment firms consider Lend America one of the best resources to turn to for help and work with from spreadsheet to closing."

Lend America's model was developed to help any financial institution or investor looking to quickly monetize or improve cash flow from a residential mortgage portfolio.

Ashley continued, "Many investors are looking for instant liquidity or increased cash flow from mortgage investments in this challenging environment."

KP Secutiries and Sophie Capital Join Forces to Raise Funds

Hedge fund managers KP Securities and Sophia Capital Securities announced that they are joining forces, enhancing the 2 firms ability to raise capital for alternative investment managers. The transaction between the two firms was finalized on September 1, 2008.

The new combined company, Belvedere Global Investors LLC, is headquartered in Belvedere, California, a short distance from the San Francisco financial district. The company is a distribution boutique focused on alternative investments. It raises capital for investment manager clients that include hedge, private equity and venture capital funds and funds of funds, as well as for private companies seeking direct investments.

"This transaction will allow our team to continue deepening its geographic coverage of investing clients and fund managers, bringing under one roof a truly global collection of relationships", said Keith Pagan of KP Securities.

Over the past 4 years, the combined team, now run by Keith Pagan and Patrick Beaudan, the principals of Belvedere, has raised over $1.5 billion in capital for alternative investment managers in the U.S., Europe and Asia, working with investors in over 50 different countries.

"The combination of our firms enhances the depth of the professional assets we can deploy in supporting the capital raising efforts of an increasing range of clients in the alternative investment space, while preserving our focus on delivering top-notch investor relations services", said Patrick Beaudan.

As part of its activities, Belvedere also organizes private roundtables, where institutional investors meet select alternative investment managers over the course of a high-quality, one-day event that excludes vendors and the press.

Hedge Fund Man Group Hires New Middle East CEO

The CEO of Man Group, Peter Clarke, announced the appointment of the new CEO of the Middle East arm as Patrick Merville, to take effect from 1 October, following the retirement of Antoine Massad.

Man, a global leader in alternative investments, was the first hedge fund provider to open a local office in the Middle East 22 years ago. Under the leadership of Massad, Man has broken new ground and today enjoys clear leadership in the region.

Merville joined Man three years ago as deputy regional CEO and head of institutional business. He succeeds Antoine Massad who has decided to retire after nearly 20 years' service with Man to pursue private interests.

Mr Clarke said the appointment was testament to Man's ability to attract the best talent in the industry.

"Patrick takes the reins of the leading alternative investment firm in the Middle East at a time when sophisticated private and institutional investors are, increasingly, seeking an alternative to the traditional investment classes," he said.

"For Patrick, this is as a step up in his long career in alternatives. Patrick's continuing goal will drive the business to new levels of success in the region on the back of Man's range of innovative products and the region's growing role in the global economy."

Before joining Man, Mr Merville was a director at Merrill Lynch in London, where he spent six years, first as an institutional salesperson in emerging market equities and then in the hedge fund prime brokerage sales group. An experienced banker with exposure to hedge funds and alternative investments throughout his career he has also held roles at HSBC in New York as vice-president in institutional sales, emerging market equities, and at Credit Agricole where he was an associate in the private equity business.

Merville holds a BA in Economics from the American University of Beirut and an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School.

Wall Street Jounal Columnist Speaks at Hedge Fund Summit

Wall Street Journal columnist Gregory Zuckerman and Ely Razin, senior director of strategy, Westlaw Business, will deliver a luncheon presentation on "State of the Hedge Funds for 2008" at a upcoming Hedge Fund General Counsel Summit, according to Incisive Media, publisher of Corporate Counsel magazine.

The event will take place September 25, 2008 at The Sheraton Hotel in Stamford, Connecticut. Targeted to general counsel and deputy counsel in the hedge fund industry, the one-day conference will present insights into the current state of the industry in today's uncertain times.

Zuckerman writes the "Heard on the Street" column for the Wall Street Journal and authored two recent articles on hedge funds: "Shakeout Roils Hedge Fund World" and "Hedge Funds Are Caught in a Tight Spot." He recently won the NY Press Club Journalism award, and was nominated for a 2008 Gerald Loeb award for coverage of the mortgage meltdown. Zuckerman is a frequent commentator for CNBC on hedge funds and stocks.

Additional industry experts and practitioners who will be speaking at the conference include, Tia Breakley, vice president, The Blackstone Group LP, David Brooks, managing director & deputy GC, Fortress Investment Group LLC, and Simon Lorne, vice chairman and chief legal officer, Millennium Management LLC.

Corporate Counsel's Hedge Fund General Counsel Summit is part of Incisive Media Conferences & Trade Shows, a producer of educational and networking events for business leaders and professionals.

Hedge Fund Gartmore Launches Absolute Return Fund

Hedge Fund manager Gartmore Investment Management Limited is launching the Gartmore European Absolute Return Fund, to be co-managed by Roger Guy and Guillaume Rambourg, subject to regulatory approval.

The new fund will be a UCITS III limited issue vehicle with capacity set at £200 million, the fund's three week offer period starts on 6th October before its launch on 31st October 2008.

The Gartmore European Absolute Return Fund, the first in a series of absolute return offerings planned by Gartmore, will seek to deliver positive absolute returns over the long-term in all market conditions by taking long and short positions in equities and derivatives. It will be managed using a similar strategy to Gartmore's flagship European equity long/short hedge fund - the Gartmore AlphaGen Capella Fund.

Commenting on the proposed launch, Richard Pursglove, Head of UK Retail at Gartmore, said: "Over the last decade we have transformed our business into a specialist provider of long-only and alternative products. This latest development is an important strategic addition to our retail fund range, and has been driven by substantial client interest from discretionary asset managers, wealth managers and IFAs seeking uncorrelated, positive returns."

He concluded: "Gartmore's substantial experience in shorting, combined with it long established hedge fund infrastructure, will be attractive to investors looking for absolute returns."

Gartmore is a leading provider of long-only and alternative investment solutions and one of the pioneers of managing hedge funds on behalf of institutional investors. Since entering the hedge fund arena in 1999, Gartmore has built an $11billon** hedge fund business and is one of the largest hedge fund providers in Europe.

Venus Capital Launches Venus (India) Index Plus Fund

Venus Capital Management, Inc. has launched the Venus Index Plus Fund. The general objective of the Fund is to outperform the S&P CNX Nifty India Index without changing the weights in the Index.

Venus Capital, after conducting a detailed analysis of India-dedicated hedge funds, found that most India funds, both inside and outside of India, underperformed the S&P CNX Nifty India index on a risk-adjusted basis. They have high Beta with a low Sharpe ratio. This became even more evident this year when the Indian markets dropped approximately 40% and a typical India fund lost 40-55% in the first six months of the year. Venus has segregated Alpha from Beta and has products for investors seeking either. However, Venus feels that “2 and 20” fees should not be paid to obtain Beta and hence, have launched the flat fee Index fund.

The Index fund is engineered to track and outperform the benchmark Indian Index without changing the weights of the Index constituents. It will be available in unlevered, 1x, 2x levered and short versions with daily liquidity, enabling institutional investors to time the market and take advantage of their macro views and also use as a hedge against exposure to long biased India managers.

Venus Capital expects this product to outperform the S&P CNX Nifty India index since the S&P CNX Nifty India Index futures typically roll at a discount to fair value of the underlying S&P CNX Nifty India index on a monthly basis and the left over cash (as futures require only 25% margin) can be deployed in short-term instruments..

The fund offers beta exposure to one of the fastest growing economies, in a cost efficient manner compared to traditional mutual funds and hedge funds. “We do not believe investors should pay 2 and 20 fees for Beta” said Vik, CEO of Venus Capital Management, Inc. Venus Capital has been in business since 1994 and is the oldest India-focused hedge fund company. The founder and CEO, Vik Mehrotra, has over 20 years of investment experience and is assisted by over 20 analysts and traders.

Investors can request a private placement memorandum for the Venus (India) Index Plus Fund by visiting the manager's website. The fund is open to accredited and qualified investors only and the minimum initial investment amount is $1,000,000.

Venus Capital Management, Inc. was founded in 1994. The company was registered with the Securities & Exchange Commission in the United States as a Registered Investment Advisory company in 2000. From inception and until today, the firm manages wealth for several family offices and institutions with an emphasis on increased allocations to Asia in a risk averse manner. Over the years, the firm has evolved from solely a money management firm for wealthy families to a more specialized firm today focused on making investments in Asia. This investment focus enables us to leverage the strengths of our investment team and capitalize upon the growth potential of the global markets.

Hedge Fund TriAlpha Explores Diversified Fund Launches

TriAlpha recently a launched property hedge fund of hedge funds, the TriAlpha Global Property Strategy Fund in June this year. The fund seeks absolute returns by focusing on hedge fund managers that specialise in the global property sector. In its first month the fund outperformed the FTSE EPRA Global Index by an estimated 11%.
Included in the portfolio are recognised names such as Credit Suisse, Thames River and New Star Property hedge funds.

“We are already seeing a high level of interest in the TriAlpha Global Property Strategy Fund and by having the fund available through Transact we are broadening the availability of this exciting new offering,” commented Cobus Kruger, director at TriAlpha.

Minimum investment for the TriAlpha Global Property Strategy Fund is $5 million (or equivalent).

Trialpha's five sub funds of the 'TriAlpha Alternative Strategy Unit Trust' have been also approved as restricted recognised schemes for distribution in Singapore.

"With our roots in Stonehage (our private wealth management parent company,) we have extensive experience in dealing with and providing investment solutions to private clients."
Cobus Kruger, Director at TriAlpha, says, "Our hedge fund of funds products have been received well by these clients, fitting in neatly with their investment objectives and risk profiles. With increasing numbers of private banks in Singapore we believe that our hedge fund of funds products will be an appropriate solution for their clients."

The five absolute return funds offer investors a variety of risk profiles and investment strategies, the 'TriAlpha Relative Value Fund', which invests in market-neutral, multi-strategy event driven, multi-strategy arbitrage and option arbitrage; aims to achieve stable, absolute returns with volatility similar to the Citigroup World Government Bond Index.

The 'TriAlpha Multi Strategy Fund' invests across Asia, European and U.S. hedge strategies, emerging markets, macro, event driven and arbitrage; aims to offer stable, absolute returns with volatility similar to the Citigroup World Government Bond Index.

The 'TriAlpha Growth Strategy Fund', which invests in Asia, European and US hedge strategies as well as emerging markets and macro hedge funds with a smaller exposure to arbitrage strategies than the Multi Strategy fund; looks to achieve absolute returns with lower volatility than the MSCI World Equity Index.

The 'TriAlpha Hedge Equity Fund' which invests in Asia, European and US hedge strategies; offers investors absolute returns with lower volatility than the MSCI World Equity Index.

And finaly, the 'TriAlpha Global Property Strategy Fund' will focus on hedge fund managers that specialise in the global property sector.

Unigestion Hires Former Julius Baer Manager as Head of hedge Funds

Privately owned asset manager, Unigestion, has appointed Konstantinos Iordanidis as Managing Director and Head of Hedge Funds. Unigestion has $11 billion invested in hedge funds, private equity funds and quantitative equity strategies.

Iordanidis is a co-founder of Z.I. Investment, LLC, a global macro hedge fund in Chicago and former Head of Asset Allocation at Julius Baer Asset Management in Zurich from 2003 to 2005. He joins from Olympia Capital Management in Paris where he has been Co-Chief Investment Officer since 2005.

Based in Geneva, his role will be to lead the development of Unigestion’s fund of hedge funds business which comprises 43 investment professionals based in Geneva, London, New York, Paris, Singapore and Guernsey.

The arrival of Iordanidis will provide the opportunity for Bernard Sabrier, Chairman of Unigestion, and Patrick Fenal, CEO, to devote more time to the overall management of the Group focusing on the strategic direction of Unigestion over the next decade. Both will continue to have a key involvement in the fund of hedge fund business, including close relationships with hedge fund managers and Unigestion’s clients.

"It is a natural move for us to reinforce our management structure as we continue to build a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural and multi-geographic hedge fund team delivering superior quality products to our clients in a consistent and disciplined way." Patrick Fenal, CEO of Unigestion said.

"We are proud to have attracted such a talented individual to strengthen our team." Chairman of Unigestion Bernard Sabrier added, "No doubt he and the team will build on our existing expertise and continue to provide our clients with a combination of products and client service at the leading edge of the fund of hedge fund industry."

Hedge Fund Consolidation

A survey released Wednesday by Global Custodian ranked the world's top hedge fund administrators and found the industry could be in for consolidation in the near future.

The survey queried clients of 56 hedge fund administrators and received nearly 1,200 responses. It was the largest number of administrators the survey had ever analyzed and more hedge fund clients responded than ever before.

Among large firms, Citco Fund Services received the highest scores from its clients, followed by Goldman Sachs Administrative Services, IFS and PNC Global Investment Servicing. Smaller firms, however, scored somewhat higher with their clients. Kaufman Rossin Fund Services topped the list of smaller administrators, followed by ATC Fund Services, AIS Fund Administration and Pinnacle Fund Administration.


Despite the fact smaller firms tended to have more satisfied customers, Dominic Hobson, editor of Global Custodian, predicted greater merger and acquisition activity among administrators. He said it would be surprising if the industry were able to continue to support large numbers of providers.

"There is now evidence that a renewed round of consolidation is in the offing," Hobson said. "In any event, the buyers are likely to be different from the banks which dominated the acquisition process in the early years of this century."

Hobson predicts that in addition to administrators buying each other up, new firms will continue to form through back office spin-offs. There are also likely to be new start-ups looking to serve the smaller hedge funds now being dropped by major providers.

Morgan Stanley's Frontier Fund Issues Over 7 Million Shares

The Morgan Stanley Frontier Emerging Markets Fund, Inc. (the “Fund”) has issued 7,100,000 shares of common stock at a price of $20 per share resulting in gross proceeds to the Fund of approximately $142,000,000. The Fund’s shares began trading on August 25, 2008 on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FFD.”

The newly organized, non-diversified closed-end fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation. "There can be no assurance that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved." Morgan Stanley said as the Fund’s lead underwriter.

The Fund will seek to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of companies operating in frontier emerging market countries.

Frontier emerging market countries in which the Fund currently intends to invest include: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ecuador, Estonia, Ghana, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macao, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Oman, Panama, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.

The Fund's assets are managed within Morgan Stanley Investment Management's Emerging Markets Equity team. “We have a long tradition of emerging markets investing dating back to the mid-1980’s, with the objective of helping investors capture growth opportunities in developing economies,” said Ruchir Sharma, a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

“We launched a Frontier Fund to invest in markets that we believe are continuing to grow and are not currently on most investors' radar screens. The Fund's registration in over 30 frontier markets across geographical regions gives us a wide footprint to make active country allocation decisions, and we are excited about the potential opportunities."

Endowment Model Approach to Asset Allocation and Investment

100 Women in hedge funds is presenting Notre Dame's Scott Malpass to discuss how endowments approach investments and stay the course in these curious and uncertain times. The event is being held at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in Chicago on September 4, 2008.

"Staying ahead of the curve is critical for endowments, as performance will affect future gifts and their ability to properly fulfill their obligations."

Scott C. Malpass is vice president and chief investment officer at the University of Notre Dame, responsible for investment of the University's endowment, working capital, pension and life income assets of almost $7 billion. The endowment of some $6.2 billion is the 14th largest in American higher education and the largest at a Catholic university.

Having served as chief investment officer since 1989, Mr. Malpass works closely with the investment committee of the University's Board of Trustees in partnering with the most sophisticated investment management organizations throughout the world. The portfolio is widely diversified, with one of the highest allocations to alternative assets within the endowment community, and has accomplished top tier investment performance over both short and long-term time periods.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2000, the endowment returned a record 57.9 percent, the highest return for any American university and the subject of extensive media coverage in The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, U.S. News & World Report, The New York Times, and on CNBC. The University is recognized for its leadership in international, private capital and alternative investing, and its philosophy of building relationships with leading edge investment management firms and identifying niche investment opportunities that provide opportunities for superior investment performance.

Mr. Malpass is one of 12 leading chief investment officers profiled in the book Foundation and Endowment Investing: Philosophies and Strategies of Top Investors and Institutions, written by Lawrence E. Kochard and Cathleen M. Rittereiser and published by John Wiley and Sons in December 2007.

100 Women in Hedge Funds serves over 8,000 alternative investment management investors and practitioners through educational, professional leverage and philanthropic initiatives. Since its first session in 2002, 100 Women in Hedge Funds has hosted more than 150 events globally.

30 under 30 Top Traders

Trader Monthly submitted an annual roundup of the top trading talent age 30 or younger, the third 30 Under 30 club, "an eclectic group spanning all manner of gender, ethnicity, geography, product space and trading technique. Such diversity, mind you, was not preordained; our picks were based solely on money, pedigree and skills — although we did afford extra credit to those brave souls who trade their own dough."

Free Subscription.

Professor Rajan Proposes Hedge Funds For India

In the April 2008, Draft Report of the Committee on Financial Sector Reforms headed by Professor Raghuram Rajan, it was proposed by the high-level committee that, “The presence of hedge funds would induce greater competitive pressure for other regulated fund management channels such as mutual funds.”

In an article by investment strategist Venkatesh, the strategist comments on the proposal, saying how hedge funds could improve asset price efficiency. "Besides," Venkatanesh says, "such funds, by virtue of their diverse investment styles, could provide investors an opportunity to enhance their risk-adjusted portfolio returns."

Included are some comments and reports on the subject;

Suppose a long-only (mutual fund) manager and a hedge fund manager both have a negative view on SBI, a positive view on HDFC Bank and a neutral view on ITC.

Long-only active managers will buy ITC in the same weight as their benchmark index, may overweight HDFC Bank and may not take any exposure in SBI. There is a reason for such a strategy. Active managers strive to beat their benchmark index. But they do not take too many active bets, lest their bets go wrong. Often, active funds tail the benchmark index with few active bets. Importantly, such managers cannot short-sell to take advantage of their negative view on a stock.

Hedge fund managers’ do not suffer from such constraint. In the above example, the hedge fund manager may overweight HDFC Bank, short-sell SBI and not take any exposure in ITC.

Better still, to neutralise any market risk, the hedge fund manager may buy HDFC Bank and short-sell SBI in such a way that the market risk in HDFC Bank is offset by short-selling SBI. Often, neutralising market risk on a portfolio would mean short-selling Nifty futures.

Making the most of a range-bound market

Exploiting price inefficiency

Hedge funds identify mispriced assets and exploit any price inefficiency. One way to do this is to employ statistical arbitrage.

Suppose a hedge fund manager finds that combination of one share of HDFC Bank and two short shares of SBI (1HDFC – 2SBI) has a stable statistical distribution. If the “spread” wanders far away from its mean, a hedge fund manager would set-up this strategy with a view that the “spread” will tighten. Such relative-value strategies can help arbitrate away asset price inefficiencies in a “normal” market.

Besides, hedge funds employ strategies to arbitrage price differentials between the derivatives and the spot market. Suppose a stock is trading at Rs 1,480 in the spot market. Assume that the hedge fund manager, based on her proprietary model, believes that the futures price should be only Rs 1,470 against its current market price of Rs 1,510.

The fund manager will short the futures contract and simultaneously buy the stock in the spot market. The trade will be profitable as long as difference between the spot price and the futures price is less than Rs 40.

As more hedge funds exploit such price differentials, disconnect between the spot and derivative markets could gradually reduce. And that could attract long-term hedgers to the market.

Using options to time investments

Higher risk-adjusted returns

Hedge funds create value for investors through their diverse investment styles. Here are some examples.

Relative-value strategies such as fixed-income arbitrage and market-neutral style strive to back-out beta exposure and provide alpha returns. Such strategies typically carry lower volatility than government bonds but generate higher returns. They, hence, act as returns-enhancers when combined with a bond portfolio.

The long-short investment style (such as 130 per cent long position and 30 per cent short position in equity) is a high-risk high-return strategy. The volatility of this strategy is lower than that of the traditional equity strategy. This strategy, hence, acts as return-enhancers when combined with equity portfolios.

The managed-futures investment style primarily takes exposure in commodity futures. This style acts as a risk-diversifier for an equity portfolio.

Of course, there are risks with such investments. Hedge funds typically employ high leverage. This causes a systemic risk in the event a fund folds because of high drawdowns. Besides, monitoring such managers is important because many of them may charge alpha fees for beta exposure.

It is not surprising that the committee has recommended that hedge fund investments be offered only to those who can invest Rs 1 and above. A similar such rule exists in the US.

Conclusion

It is important to understand that arbitraging price inefficiencies does not mean that hedge funds will prevent formation of market crashes or asset price bubbles. Hedge fund managers can be as irrational as the professional long-only managers and investors.

Yet, the introduction of hedge funds will be a welcome move to the Indian markets for two reasons — such funds can provide higher risk-adjusted returns for investors and can facilitate better asset price efficiency.

enhancek@gmail.com
alex@hedgeco.net

African Agricultural Land Fund Launch

Emergent Asset Management launched the African Agricultural Land Fund in August 2008, with a second closing to take place in September 2008.

The fund has raised almost €2 billion already ($2.9 billion), and wants to raise a total of €3 billion and is canvassing a range of investors. Minimum investment size is €500,000 for private investors and €5m for institutional investors.

The African Land Fund will offer investors the opportunity to participate in the growing Sub-Saharan agricultural sector. It will apply modern management disciplines and introduce improved farmland techniques to increase crop yields and investment returns.

Initially, the investment focus will be in South Africa. The portfolio will be expanded within Africa to include (but not limited to) countries such as Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique, Swaziland and the DRC.

Emergent has partnered with Grainvest, a firm of professional agricultural traders and one of the top five participants on the South African Securities Exchange, involved in agriculture locally, including farming, manufacturing, and transport and trading.

The Fund’s targeted return is 25% pa and will be denominated in Euros.

The Fund qualifies as a socially responsible Investment in keeping with the co-managers’ investment philosophy, endeavouring to make a positive contribution to the well-being of the local community.

FINCAD Targets Hedge Funds With Webinar

FINCAD is hosting a webinar specifically targeted towards hedge funds titled, 'Hedge Funds: Scenario and Risk Analysis for your OTC Derivatives Portfolio' and will feature analysts from FINCADs professional services team.

"This is a rapidly growing and important customer sector for FINCAD, in the last year alone we have sold analytics software and support to nearly 100 hedge funds," said Bill Stewart, Global VP of sales. "Clearly, market conditions combined with investor demands for pricing transparency and consolidated risk assessment are all driving a growing need for comprehensive, easy to use analytic solutions."

The hour long webinar will include a demonstration of how to use some of FINCAD XL's latest pre-built workbook solutions to perform scenario and risk analysis on multi-asset class portfolios. It is being held on September 04, 2008 at 11:00am EDT.

"This a great opportunity for anyone in the derivatives industry to not only preview what our software has to offer but also see what FINCAD Professional Services has to offer," said Ben Clum, Director of Professional Services.

Hedge Fund buy-out and Launch of New Fund

The Directors of Cayman based Camelot Global Investments announced a management buy-out of their hedge fund, in cooperation with Merlin Global Enterprise.

Camelot will join Arkanar Financial Holdings, with the head office being relocated to Tallinn, Estonia. A branch will remain in Caymans.

The key staff members will stay, "It is important that we were able to maintain all trading and administrative staff," the board announced, "We have only lost the former majority shareholders who decided to retire and leave the industry."

Bob Torkelund has joined as Managing Director and co-shareholder, he will head the entire promotion, distribution and the servicing of funds. Torkelund will also lead the launches of new products according to market demand.

"I am really delighted to be able to be part of this young, dynamic team especially because we have been working together for a while on a consulting basis and have got to know each other very well and know where to support each other. The combination of my experience and contact network makes it a thrilling opportunity for both parties”, Torkelund said.

Apart from Torkelund, head trader Thomas Feldt and Jevgeni Geller are still shareholders and directors in the company. Having contributed largely to the past success of Camelot, they and are enthusiastic about the challenge. Geller will concentrate on business development, overseeing all operations to ensure continuity in performance and service. Feldt will continue to head the trading desk and will be responsible for investment strategy.

The investment strategy will reflect Camelot's previous success. Feldt analyses systematic trading and global macro strategy, making adjustments in conjunction with market change in order to ensure constant development in the returns.

On September 15th 2008 Arkanar Financial will be launching their first Cayman licensed fund in cooperation with Capita Financial, Gibraltar.

One of the significant differences with non-regulated funds is that they can offer investments from as little as $10 000 and subsequent deals from $1000.

Arkanar Financial Holdings also utilises electronic clearing facilities ( Euroclear /Clearstream), accepting deals on a -payment against delivery- basis which opens basically for a large number of Europeans banks to be able to invest on behalf of their clients, a big step for the more general investment population to be able to test hedge funds without having to risk a large part of their portfolio on one position.

The initial offering period will be running till September 30th.

Luxembourg platform smoothes way for hedge funds

A platform for asset managers and advisers to create SICAV SIF funds in Luxembourg has been launched by KMG SICAV SIF. The platform caters to all asset classes, including hedge funds. There are no restrictions on leverage.

Thee process allows managers to focus on investment management, the process allows managers to focus on investment management. . The platform takes care of incorporation, custody, transfers and administration. In addition it can also offer a Luxembourg address and office for the fund, organise annual general meetings of shareholders and supply investors with statements, day-to-day management and general organization as well as order placing and execution, investment performance reports, promotion and distribution and corporate branding.

The open-architecture platform provides a faster route to market with funds established and open for capital within a few weeks rather than months, which it usually takes for a traditional fund. The platform can also provide all back office support, administration and other services for funds.

The KMG SICAV SIF platform is an off the shelf solution, licensed and regulated in Luxembourg. Entities establishing a fund through the platform do not have to apply for additional licences.

Weekend News Update

Interesting story here by DanFonds on frontier markets; 'Ecobank's USD 2.5bn capital raising begins today.'

And here by Seth Berlin; 'Does Mimicking behavior lead to market crashes?'

Finaly, Avalon Capital Holdings Corporation has initiated alpha testing of its proprietary ECN system for the Forex market.

The system will be ideal, Avalon says, for traders seeking to execute large orders of a billion or more across many banks and hedge funds simultaneously.

Forex Market Platform Launch By Avalon

Avalon Capital Holdings Corporation, and its wholly owned subsidiary, Traders Development LLC, announced that it has initiated alpha testing of its proprietary ECN system.

The Avalon ECN is a liquidity aggregator, which takes the best prices from an unlimited number of price providers, and allows traders to execute off the best prices in the market. The system will be ideal for traders seeking to execute large orders of a billion or more across many banks and hedge funds simultaneously.

"The overall goal of the Avalon ECN is to significantly improve the institutional liquidity in the Forex Market by applying the latest software technologies in the Foreign Exchange Industry." Dr. Vladimir Karpenkov, Chairman of Avalon Capital Holdings Corporation said. "Additionally, the Avalon ECN is designed to reduce the cost for Retail Forex brokerages that are seeking interbank liquidity."

"The Forex Market is about reducing overhead, managing risk and acquiring new trading clients. With Avalon technology, companies ought to increase their profitability while reducing risk." Alex De Khtyar, President of Avalon Capital Holdings Corporations added.