Interviews

Nadejda Rakovska, chief executive of start-up volatility specialist Volvar Asset Management, which is preparing to launch its first fund as a self-managed Luxembourg Sicav SIF, expects volatility to be recognised as a separate asset class that will attract increased allocations from multi-managers and balanced portfolios and prompt more players to launch funds.

Neal Goyal, chief investment officer of Blue Horizon Asset Management, outlines his firm's strategy to capitalise on the volatile market environment and continuing fall-out from the sub-pr

The five-year-old Julius Baer Absolute Return Bond Fund managed by London-based Augustus Asset Managers has delivered euro-denominated returns of 3.8 per cent over the past three

Alistair MacDonald, co-manager of the newly-launched Merrion European Absolute Return Fund, argues that Ucits III hedge funds are benefiting from the current uncertainty over the final form and substance of the European Union’s AIFM Directive as well as concerns over the costs of implementing its requirements.

Frédéric Durr, a principal and fund manager with Shanghai-based Maoming Investment Management, says the firm’s Maoming Fund aims to generate returns while preserving capital through an intense focus on the companies it invests in, with liquidity the key element in risk management.

Mark Martyrossian and Mark Fleming (pictured), partners in Asian equities specialist Tiburon Partners and co-managers of the Tiburon Taipan and Tiburon Taurus funds, believe that the region was unfairly punished last year, underperforming the US and performing in line with much of Europe despite its stronger macro credentials, and that many stocks are trading at dirt-cheap valuations.

Richard Sherwin, partner and head of investment research at Blacksquare Capital, says the newly-launched IFSL Blacksquare Multi-Manager Absolute Return Fund, of which he is portfolio manager, is accessible and affordable to a large majority of investors thanks to a minimum investment of GBP1,000 for its UK retail share class and the absence of a performance fee – a unique characteristic for a multi-manager absolute return fund.

Alternative Advisors’ William Kitchin (pictured), portfolio manager of the Castillon Diversified Fund, a Ucits absolute return fund of funds, says that while the fund is constrained in its selection of underlying managers by the need to match the liquidity it offers to investors, this is not a particular disadvantage in the short term given the current macro economic conditions.

Florian Wagner, founder and head of Qbasis Invest, which specialises in exchange-traded managed futures, says that after achieving returns of 72 and 145 per cent respectively in 2007 and 2008, the firm also proved the effectiveness of its systems by outperforming the CTA sector the following year despite giving back 15 per cent.

James Hulse, fund manager of the newly-launched Cumulus Climate Fund, which seeks to profit from the financial impact of climate change, says post-Bali negotiations could dramatically spee

Philip Hardy, manager of the Polar Capital UK Absolute Return Fund, says that after a savage bear market in UK equities in 2008 the outlook remains uncertain, and he expects continued h

Following two years of difficult market conditions for long/short equity manager MET Capital Management, the firm’s head Jonathan Gordon expects a return to the trending markets that enabled it to achieve extremely positive returns between 2007 and 2009, as well as a growing willingness among investors to look beyond the largest and longest-established hedge funds.

Ezra Sun, manager of Veritas's Real Return Asia Fund, says that while Asia is set to suffer by proxy from the global economic slowdown, experiencing a reduction in domestic consumption and export g

Bernard Lambilliotte, chief investment officer of specialist utilities and infrastructure investor Ecofin, says the firm's newly-launched China Pow

Paul Kennedy, managing director and chief investment officer of GWM Group, says investors are looking for funds, such as the firm’s newly-launched long/short European Ucits fund 7H Absolute, that provide low net exposure and generate alpha through a strategic long-term approach and a short-term trading overlay to maximise returns without an increased risk profile.

Willem de Vlugt and Charles Estourgie, founding partners and fund managers at Amsterdam-based EValuation Capital Management, says the EV Smaller Companies Fund they manage is set to benefit from a favourable environment in the coming year as its core long portfolio of small and medium-sized companies emerge stronger from the crisis.

Carl Meurling, chief executive of Russia and emerging Europe specialist Emeralt Investments, says many investors want exposure to the region with limited and controlled risk, making the firm’s funds a good alternative to long-only products that are completely exposed to market risk.

Michael Kart, manager of the Spectrum funds at Marshall Spectrum, says the firm’s two equity funds are poised to benefit from expected new equity placements, restructuring of the telecoms industry and continued liberalisation of energy markets in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union.

Amit Shabi (pictured), chief executive of Paris-based event-driven and merger arbitrage specialist Bernheim, Dreyfus & Co, says the firm’s Diva Synergy fund and its recently-launched Ucits version is poised to capitalise on an expected pick-up in European M&A volumes, which should create more lucrative investment opportunities and better performance.

David Schofield (pictured), president of the international division of INTECH Investment Management, says that while an increased aversion to risk has led to a shift in sentiment away from active management toward passive investing, investors are overlooking the opportunity lost by going passive, to achieve a return greater than the benchmark. 

Mayfair Capital founder and executive director Guy Brogden (pictured) says the property fund manager has been able to take advantage of the difficult economic climate by reducing overall portfolio gearing through making unleveraged property acquisitions with freshly-raised capital, which continues to flow in from investors including charities, institutions, pension funds, companies, high net worth private clients and family offices.

Dr Jan Auspurg (pictured), a fund manager within the quant team at Hamburg-based Aquila Capital, says the AC Spectrum Fund, a Luxembourg-domiciled Ucits that generated a return of 9.98 per cent last August amid massive equity market losses, takes into account not only the strengths of trend-following strategies but their weaknesses, such as a tendency to perform less well in sideways-trading markets or in times of sudden trend reversals.

Lucas Turton, chief investment strategist of Windham Capital Management, which offers a range of active strategies to institutional and wealth management investors through separately-managed accounts, says the firm’s rigorous risk management process has enabled it to flourish despite global economic challenges and sustained financial market volatility, quadrupling assets under management to some USD700m this year.

HFT Capital founder chief investment officer and head trader Romy Jardine and head of business development Bob Torkelund (pictured) say that in a difficult market environment where investors are extremely cautious and nervous, highly-performing niche strategies that “dare to be different” are still capable of attracting money from investors seeking non-correlated returns.

Derren Geiger, chief operating officer of Cornerstone Acquisition & Management and portfolio manager of the Caritas funds, which invest in portfolios of private oil and natural gas royalty interests located within the continental US, says a number of factors make this a particularly advantageous time to acquire oil and gas assets.

Adam Balinsky, president of Stamford, Connecticut-based life settlement investment specialist Caldwell Life Strategies, says the key to his firm’s success in an asset class full o

Alex Moisseev (pictured), principal and chief investment officer of Dighton Capital Management, says the firm’s stable of managed futures funds are designed to perform in any market conditions, using a pattern recognition model and a strict selection process that produces a small number of high-quality trades.

Anthony Eaton, manager of the six-year-old, GBP54m JM Finn Global Opportunities Fund, says the fund aims to invest in the consequences of globalisation as industrialisation and urbanisation within non-G7 countries create greater global output but also greater capacity, moving pricing power from what is made to what is required to make it.

David Mcilroy, chief investment officer of Alquity Investment Management, says the firm’s recently-launched Alquity Africa Fund aims to invest in growing businesses that offer investors outstanding financial value, while also addressing the challenges of sustainability that can create or destroy financial value.

Ezra Sun, manager of the Veritas China Fund and head of Far East at Veritas Asset Management, believes that consumption is a strong structural theme that over time will yield great returns, while capital investment also offers opportunities as infrastructure spending continues unabated amid continuing capacity expansion and upgrading. 

Gerry Aherne, chief executive of Javelin Capital, says the firm’s newly-launched Global Equity Strategies Fund, which employs a combination of systematic, fundamental and tactical strategies according to the specific characteristics of individual geographic regions or sectors, is set to appeal to investors that are becoming increasingly resistant to paying for beta-generated performance. 

Ilya Golubovich (pictured), managing partner of specialist clean technology fund manager I2BF and Irakli Menabde, manager of the I2BF-Arbat Technology Fund, say the fund is unique in its field by employing a relative value strategy with a fully systematic investment process based on the notion of consistent outperformance.

Jacques Lucas, president of Paris-based manager Exqim, says the firm stands out from other hedge fund managers through its development of fully quantitative management focused on high-level internal research with minimal human intervention, characterised by systematic and fully automated processes for the strict management of risk limits and the exclusively electronic trading of liquid assets.

Jamie Sutton (pictured), a director of the Isle of Man-based Premier Group, says the New Earth Solutions Recycling Facilities Investment Sub-Fund, whose sterling version has returned some 40 per cent in the three years since launch in July 2008, is seeing a steady inflow of new investment and that assets could grow faster if the economic recovery gains traction.

Jerome Booth, head of research at Ashmore Investment Management, says the new Ashmore PTC India Energy Infrastructure Fund benefits from the UK manager’s partnership with India’s largest power trader, which brings to the venture strong relationships in the sector that will help the fund to access strong deal flow, preferential deal terms and in-depth local expertise.

Justin Ferrier, chief executive of Hong Kong-based Myo Capital Advisers, pictured (above) with fellow managing director Geoff Lee, believes the Myo Capital Special Situations Fund I will benefit from factors such as the repatriation of international capital from Asia, the unwinding of special situations teams in the region and the pullback of investment banks’ prop desks under regulatory pressure, resulting in less competition and better quality deals.

Michael Azlen, founder and executive chairman of Frontier Capital Management, says his firm’s index-based approach to multi-asset investing is modelled on the tried and tested approach of US university endowments, aims to create a globally diversified portfolio through exposure to eight traditional and alternative asset classes or strategies to generate long-term uncorrelated real returns above inflation and cash.

Michael Craig-Scheckman, chief executive, president and portfolio manager at Deer Park Road, says the firm distinguishes itself from other managers through its focus on deeply discounted, high cash-flow, shorter-term asset-backed securities, coupled with a philosophy of not using leverage and viewing all purchases as potential hold-to-term securities.

Nicolas Clavel, founder and chief investment officer of Africa-focused asset manager Scipion Capital, says the firm’s flagship Commodity Trade Finance fund, which has produced positive performance every month since its launch in 2007, is now seeking out lucrative opportunities to provide short-term finance in the minerals field, such as copper in Zambia and tin in Rwanda.

Paul Brosnan, marketing director of IFS Asset Managers and a director of the newly-launched International Forestry Fund, says rising timber prices in the jurisdictions in which the fund owns portfolios is not only good news for investors but will help raise awareness of forestry as an attractive, secure and predictable asset class for those interested in socially responsible investment.

Pius Fritschi (pictured), head of hedge fund business development and client services at LGT Capital Partners, says the firm’s Crown Managed Futures fund of hedge funds programme, which generated annualised returns of nearly 9.6 per cent over its first decade, continues to attract investors with its lack of correlation with traditional asset classes and especially its impressive performance in returning 21.7 per cent between November 2007 and February 2009.

Robert Press, chief investment officer for the TCA Global Credit Fund, argues that the Cayman-based fund is unique in offering short- to medium-term senior secured financing instruments to small and medium-sized companies in combination with hands-on merchant banking services

QIC Global Fixed Interest, part of the investment business originally set up by Australia’s Queensland state government to manage its long-term liabilities and pension obligations, saw its assets under management grow from around USD23bn to USD35bn between mid-2007 and the end of last year. According to managing director Susan Buckley, the key competitive advantage of the business is the strength and quality of its investment research and process.

Thomas Ferris, chief executive of specialist consumer debt asset manager Sagres, says the firm’s new Recovery Capital Partners fund is poised to benefit from advantageous market conditions, including a decline in competition as less capitalised firms have been forced out of the business as well as an improvement in key relationships with sellers of debt.

Tim Gascoigne, global head of portfolio management at HSBC Alternative Investments, says that what is reckoned the third largest alternative business worldwide with more than USD30bn in assets has been built on a combination of bottom-up and top-down research, a focus on diversification and strong approach to due diligence.

Troy Duncan, co-portfolio manager of the London-listed J.P. Morgan Private Equity fund, a fund of funds that acquires fund interests from motivated or distressed sellers in the secondary market at a discount to their intrinsic value, says the investment team is currently looking at high-growth companies in Asia and other emerging regions, senior credit in the US, and special situations in Europe.

Thomas Graff (pictured), a partner and member of the fixed-income team at USD25bn investment manager Brown Advisory and portfolio manager for the Tactical Bond Fund launched in September, says the fund stands out from the competition through the way the firm uses quantitative models and the holistic way it approaches its portfolios.

Robert Milroy, chief investment officer of fund of hedge funds manager Corazon Capital, says that having cut its ties to the fallen Dawnay Day grou

Chief executive Dr Glenn Baggley says Eddington Capital Management aims to offer investors a high-octane fund of funds portfolio through the selection of talented managers capable of achie

David Sheasby, a member of the management team for the Martin Currie Omnium Fund, believes the fund of funds, which invests in the firm's range of

Stephen Greene, partner and chief investment officer of the multi-manager business at ACP Partners, says that having undergone an unprecedented sho

Benchmark Plus chief executive Robert Ferguson says the USD1.7bn fund of hedge funds manager says the firm’s unique investment process analyses alpha streams rather than returns, allowing for an equal comparison of all strategies and enabling the firm to allocate to funds and managers that have demonstrated skill at exploiting specific market inefficiencies and generating returns in excess of their portfolios’ specific risk exposures.

Adrian Owens and Andrew Snowball, managers of the JB Global Rates Hedge Fund at Augustus Asset Managers, say that as volatility subsides, they expect fundamental drivers to play an increas

Magister Ludi Capital Management portfolio manager Anita Ramachandran and chief executive Rajinder Sabherwal (pictured) say that their Global Macro

Managed futures isone of the few alternative investment strategies that tends to
demonstrate negative correlation to traditional investments during

SEAL Capital founders and managing partners R Michael Reveley (pictured) and Toby Chandler believe that in the wake of the Madoff, Galleon and K1 scandals, investors are demanding transparency, liquidity and a highly ethical infrastructure, which their firm delivers through the HFR managed account platform.

Aros Capital Partners has just launched its first investment vehicle, the long-biased global macro Aros Paradigm Fund, with friends and family capital. Chief investment officer and founding partner Nicolai Borcher Hansen (pictured) says the fund’s investment strategy will target value-based investment in equities and corporate bonds as well as exploiting the firm’s expertise in the niche area of Danish mortgage bonds.

Renee Haugerud (pictured), founder and chief investment officer of global macro manager Galtere, sees opportunities in the convergence of the US economy with commodity-rich economies and is backing that view through a real assets private equity strategy that invests in the production of agricultural staples in Brazil, Uruguay and Australia as well as complementary agribusiness opportunities in Brazil.

Dr Paul Netherwood, a partner with managed futures specialist Beach Horizon, says the strategy is set to increase its appeal not only because of it

Aref Karim, principal of Quality Capital Management, which has just launched its 14-year-old managed futures strategy through an onshore Ucits III fund vehicle, says CTAs stand to benef

SVM Asset Management managing director Colin McLean says the SVM Highlander Fund he manages, which has returned an annualised 15.1 per cent since i

Brian Gilmore, chief executive of Palatine Asset Management, says the Capitoline Global Media Fund, which aims to exploit capital inefficiencies in the market for asset-based financing

Head of funds Manfred Schrapler says that as one of the few banks with a dedicated hybrid structuring and trading team, Deutsche Bank is able to use unique risk management techniques to

Michael Derks, chief investment officer of Arch Financial Products, says the CF Arch cru Finance Fund launched in November to invest in short- to medium-term private finance deals enjoy

Andreas Koettner, managing director and head of portfolio management at Malta-based Golden Hedge Alternative Investments, says the firm’s multistrategy fund stands to benefit from its specialisation in relatively unusual niche strategies that display low correlation to typical CTA or hedge fund styles.

Justin O’Connor (pictured), chief executive and chief investment officer of property fund manager Cordea Savills, says that new opportunities with the potential to deliver outperformance over the longer term exist in the Nordic region, where secure property market fundamentals have prompted the reopening of the Nordic Retail Fund, and London residential development, where a new fund aims to benefit from the current shortage in capital funding by negotiating favourable terms with developers.

Direct investment in farmland has outperformed stock and bond returns over various timescales with substantially lower volatility than the US equit

Marc Thiel, chief executive of real estate investor and manager Euro Ejendomme, says the firm’s new hotel fund, which is aiming to close with EUR500m in capital by next June, aims to capitalise upon the relative lack in Germany of the middle-range business hotels common in the UK and France.

Manuel Alejandro Dopazo, managing director of London-based investment manager and corporate advisor Fincere, says that despite the recent impact on emerging markets of global financial turbulence, the world's developing economies are well placed to continue to build on their growth of the past few years.

Peter Halloran, founder and chief executive of specialist Russia and CIS manager Pharos Financial Group, says the firm's presence in Russia and its network of local contacts are the key to

Todd Voigt, manager of Cohen & Steers' Global Real Estate Long-Short strategy, which differentiates itself through bottom-up fundamental resear

Carlo Scevola, president of Carlo Scevola & Partners, which is portfolio manager to the Leader Fund, says his firm's model-driven process for i

Julie Bouhuys, founder and chief executive of Concerto Asset Management, says that although the Concerto Credit Opportunity Offshore Fund I benefit

Majedie Asset Management'sTortoise Fund returned 12.1 per cent in 2008 and was up more than 25 per cent in the first half of this year despite a co

President Stephen Siderow says credit investment specialist BlueMountain Capital Management is planning to launch a series of funds this year to ex

Sergey Grechishkin, a principal with Alcantara Asset Management, says the firm’s newly-launched Alcantara Russia and CIS Fixed Income Opportunities Fund, which follows a mix of active long-only and relative value strategies, draws heavily on its founders close understanding and experience of fixed-income issuers in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union.

Steven Gerbel, founder and president of merger arbitrage specialist Chicago Capital Management, expects a historic number of mergers within the US banking industry over the coming years as a result of the crisis highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of institutions, and believes this will present the sector with some of the largest merger arbitrage spreads and profit margins ever seen.