Fund Manager Interviews

The Interview – Michael Craig-Scheckman, Deer Park Road: “We have sold positions with too much downside risk and raised cash levels in anticipation of buying cheaply”

11 October 2010

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. GFM: What is

The Interview – Pius Fritschi, LGT Capital Partners: “Clients and investment managers provide the best sounding board for ideas to meet the changing needs of the marketplace”

23 May 2011

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

Integrated Asset Management Emanuel Arbib

Emanuel Arbib, Integrated Asset Management – “Decent allocations are only coming to the largest funds of funds from institutional investors”

1 February 2012

Emanuel Arbib, chief executive of Integrated Asset Management, says the firm’s sale of the bulk of its institutional fund of hedge funds business to former shareholder Sal. Oppenheim at the height of the crisis proved timely, but Integrated now is looking to scale back up through acquisitions in Europe or

Rupert Foster, manager, Matrix Asia UCITs Fund

The Interview: Rupert Foster, Matrix Alternative Asset Management: “This is no time for extreme portfolio risk – we are in the mid-cycle doldrums”

23 March 2010

Rupert Foster (pictured), manager of the Matrix Asia Fund, believes that this year will see the start of global tightening, in the short term causing markets to become nervous and jittery but subsequently opening up opportunities first in interest rate-sensitive and then cyclical areas of the market. GFM: What

The Interview – Philip Pirecki, Silverstone Capital: “Mispricing never goes away”

24 October 2010

Silverstone Capital partner Philip Pirecki says the firm’s eponymous fund, which invests across the automotive industry value chain, can provide investment institutions such as pension funds with the alpha and low correlation they seek to achieve a return profile that will meet their investment objectives. GFM: What is the background

The Interview – Michael Azlen, Frontier Investment Management: “We expect more multi-asset offerings launched and a drive to lower costs”

6 June 2011

Michael Azlen, founder and executive chairman of Frontier Investment Management, says the investment proposition behind the firm’s passive multi-asset funds, encompassing eight asset classes, is based in part on the diversification benefits of combining traditional and alternative asset classes, a philosophy similar to that of US university endowment funds.

Ian Langton, Xenfin Capital: “Investors expect, and deserve, a clear, coherent and honest appraisal from the people to whom they entrust their investment”

27 February 2012

Ian Langton (pictured), co-manager of Xenfin Capital’s Managed Growth Program, says that while commodity, futures and currency strategies should benefit from investors’ desire for returns that are not correlated with traditional asset classes, alternative investment managers face the challenge that as more participants enter these markets, the benefit of diversification

The Interview – Aleks Kins, AlphaMetrix: “Investors have grown wiser and realise they can no longer blindly invest in hedge funds”

26 March 2010

Aleks Kins, chief executive of managed account platform provider AlphaMetrix, says the uncovering of the Bernard Madoff was a key event for the business, because the scandal pointed to the importance of independence, due diligence and checks and balances, and helped AlphaMetrix to take on some USD1bn in customer assets

The Interview – Tony Parry, Premier Group: “More local authorities will turn to ‘green’ waste treatment companies and in particular those with facilities to turn waste into energy”

1 November 2010

Tony Parry, executive director of Premier Group (Isle of Man), says the New Earth Solutions Recycling Facilities Investment Sub-Fund, launched in partnership with environmental technology specialist New Earth Solutions, has returned 25.8 per cent since July 2008 by investing directly and indirectly in the development and ownership of recycling facilities

The Interview – Justin Ferrier, Myo Capital Advisers: “There is currently an enormous supply/demand imbalance for special situations in Asia”

21 June 2011

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

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