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Sofiprotéol and Tikehau Investment Management have launched a private debt fund called Sofiprotéol Dette Privée, which will finance the development of agro-food and agro-industrial companies of all sizes through bullet loans or leveraged acquisition financing.
This financing vehicle will be an addition to those already initiated by Sofiprotéol.
As part of the partnership, Tikehau IM will be able to call on Sofiprotéol’s extensive sector expertise. Financed initially by Sofiprotéol and Tikehau Capital alongside a group of first-tier institutional investors, the fund will have more than EUR100m at the first closing, with a target of EUR200m in commitments.
Mathieu
Campbell Lutyens has made a number of senior promotions in its London and Hong Kong offices.
Edward Hutton has been promoted to partner. He joined Campbell Lutyens in 2007 and has responsibility for the firm's general partner and limited partner relationships in the Nordic countries and also shares responsibility for investor coverage in the UK. He has raised significant capital for a broad range of clients' funds across private equity, infrastructure and private debt, helped to source fundraising mandates, and has been instrumental in generating secondary opportunities for the firm.
The firm has also promoted Xiaoni Shi, who is
Cloud technology – The scale of a manager's IT infrastructure will largely depend on the type of trading strategy. A quantitative market neutral statistical arbitrage fund is likely going to spend more capital on front-office portfolio management, risk management systems and server storage capabilities than a specialist credit strategy that trades infrequently.
Either way, investors will expect the manager to have a well-oiled machine in place: well-established workflow processes, operational controls, and, as far as possible, front- to back-office system integration.
One of the most popular routes to establishing a sound technology infrastructure is to appoint an outsourced cloud provider. It
By Dean Hill, Executive Director, Eze Castle Integration – There is no shortage of threats to financial services firms, and the list of requirements from investors and regulators alike is growing at a rapid pace. As a startup, it's important to demonstrate to investors that you take your business seriously, hence, investments in operational excellence are required. On the cybersecurity front, that means leveraging technology infrastructure with robust, security-rich features including intrusion detection and ongoing traffic monitoring, regular vulnerability assessments and next-generation software, firewalls and patches to keep hackers out and firm assets secure.
But beyond technology safeguards, today's successful
A recent survey by Preqin revealed that 60 per cent of hedge funds have less than USD100 million in AUM and that only five per cent of hedge fund flows go to funds operating below that AUM level.
There are now approximately 15,000 hedge funds in the industry, meaning investors are being bombarded by different funds every single day and thousands over the course of a year. They probably meet with 200 or so, engage in follow-up meetings with around 40 and allocate to two or three.
As such, there is one certainty that start-up managers can be sure of
There are a number of important considerations for a fund manager, especially a start-up, when it comes to selecting an onshore depositary to an onshore AIF. But before these are explored, it is perhaps worthwhile explaining exactly what the role of the depositary is under AIFMD, given that alternative fund managers have never had to use one before.
Safekeeping of the AIF’s assets
There are two parts to this. Firstly, providing custody of financial assets that are held directly by the depositary (i.e. stocks and bonds, options and futures). Secondly, performing record keeping and ownership verification of an AIF's assets,
There are a multitude of costs that a start-up alternative fund manager faces today, especially with respect to those looking to establish a hedge fund under AIFMD. From regulatory costs and waiting to receive FCA authorisation, to office and IT and staffing costs, the amount of burn capital that managers initially account for can rapidly disappear down the drain.
Which is why Linear Investments is proving to be a whole lot more than merely a boutique prime broker. In short, Linear has spent a number of years building out its trading and risk management systems to provide start-ups with a
For those wishing to set up a standalone Alternative Investment Fund, getting the right service providers in place is crucial to the manager's long-term success and reputation. The following sections detail what to look for when it comes to appointing four key service providers:
• The Fund Administrator
• The third party AIFM
• The depositary
• The Prime Broker (for hedge funds).
Onshore depositary
"An AIFMD Depositary Bank is tasked with: oversight of assets, activity, and the manager; safekeeping of assets (where required); cash flow monitoring; strict liability for restoration of lost financial assets and reporting breaches. In short,
On 30 June 2016, the European Securities and Markets Authority ('ESMA') is expected to announce further details on the timing and the composition of the third country passport for the first wave of countries that include Guernsey, Jersey and Switzerland. This follows ESMA's announcement last summer that Guernsey had demonstrated the ability to satisfy the criteria required under AIFMD.
For Guernsey, being in the first wave is important for two reasons. Firstly, because it demonstrates that it has a strong regulatory framework in place and meets the OECD's tax transparency guidelines – both of which are significant if you are
For start-up managers wishing to run an onshore European AIF, the compliance and regulatory complexities might, at first glance, appear overwhelming. There are significant reporting obligations under Annex IV and regulatory capital considerations, whilst risk management is far broader in scope, extending into every facet of a fund manager's operations.
Luckily, however, there are solutions in the market that remove the burden of acting as the AIFM to an AIF, which provide start-ups the option of using a so-called hosted third party provider. One such firm is London-based Lawson Conner, a market leader in investment management solutions for the alternative
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