Hedge Fund News | Hedge Week

Hedge funds are increasingly shaping the European dividend market, with futures on Euro Stoxx 50 Index dividends, once driven largely by autocallable product hedging, are now seeing heightened activity from multi-strategy hedge funds employing various derivatives, according to a report by Bloomberg.

This shift has led to a reduction in outstanding Euro Stoxx 50 dividend futures, with Eurex now recording around eight million contracts — down from over nine million at the peak in 2021, according to a recent report.

Since their launch in 2008, Euro Stoxx 50 dividend futures have been widely used to hedge dividend exposure on autocallable products – structured products often tied to equity indices and featuring set payout conditions. However, changes in issuance patterns have lessened the impact of autocallable hedging, reducing past volatility spikes in the market.

This shift was evident following August’s market instability, when Euro Stoxx 50 dividend futures lagged amid growth concerns for high-yield sectors like automotive, yet did not see the heavy activity typical in previous downturns, according to UBS strategist Kieran Diamond.

With a higher-rate environment, products are also shifting from equity autocallables toward fixed-income derivatives, says Antoine Deix, head of dividend and repo solutions at BNP Paribas. This has contributed to a more stable dividend market landscape, with trading desks primarily short gamma — a positioning that can increase volatility but also deepen market maturity, Deix added.

“Today, we’re less likely to see the kind of dislocations in the dividend market that characterised the years from 2008 to 2020,” he said, underscoring the evolving dynamics in European dividend derivatives.

Hedge funds, asset managers, and other speculators moved into bullish dollar positions in the week ending 22 October, holding around $9.2bn in long dollar bets, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission compiled by Bloomberg.

This marks the first net long dollar position since August and represents a major shift of $10.6bn from the previous week, when traders were net short on the greenback.

In October, derivatives traders have scaled back on bearish dollar outlooks due to stronger-than-expected US economic data and rising demand for haven assets as the US election draws close. A series of positive economic reports has led to a recalibration of previously dovish Federal Reserve expectations, contributing to this shift.

A Bloomberg dollar index has surged 3.2% so far this month, positioning the dollar for its best monthly performance in two years. At the same time, demand for hedges against potential dollar spikes has increased. The cost of calls versus puts on a broad dollar basket has risen significantly over the past month, nearing levels not seen since July.

Currencies with significant trade ties to the US — such as the euro, yen, Chinese yuan, Canadian dollar, and Mexican peso — are trading with notable risk discounts.

Leveraged funds further increased their short bets on the Mexican peso, with hedge funds adding 2,241 contracts to reach a total of 9,044 net short contracts, as reported by the CFTC.

The CFTC is set to release another snapshot of trader positioning on 1 November, just a week before the US election, which will offer insight into market sentiment heading into the critical period.

Balyasny Asset Management, the $20bn-plus multi-strategy hedge fund firm founded by Dimitry Balayasny, has strengthened its natural gas and power trading business in Denmark with the appointment of Federico Censi as a Gas Trader, according to a report by Financial News London.

Cesni who joins from MFT Energy, has been on gardening leave since quitting the Aarhus-based independent energy trading company in July, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The report cites unnamed sources familiar with the matter as confirming that Cesni, who spent one year and three months at MFT, is due to take up his new role in the third quarter of 2025.

Multi-strategy hedge fund major Millennium Management is exploring the launch of its first new fund since the company launched over three decades ago, to focus on investments in less liquid assets including private credit, according to a report by the Financial Times.

The report cites unnamed sources familiar with the matter as revealing that Millennium sees untapped potential in the private credit sector, which has grown rapidly into a nearly $2bn asset class as traditional banks have scaled back on core lending activities, and other less liquid markets, although it has yet to make a final decision on whether or not to launch the new fund.

Millennium, which now has around $69.5bn in assets, currently operates one flagship fund, managed by over 330 investment teams with strict risk controls. It trades in fundamental equity, equity arbitrage, fixed income, commodities, and quantitative strategies within liquid markets, and has seen a 9.5% gain in the first nine months of the year. Since inception, it has averaged 14% annual returns.

The firm competes with other multi-manager giants like Ken Griffin’s Citadel and Steve Cohen’s Point72, typically distributing capital across multiple teams and trading strategies. According to insiders, having recently raised an additional $10bn in deployable assets, it has yet to decide whether to raise new capital for a standalone fund or to reallocate from its existing capital pool.

With a significant portion of its flagship fund in a long-term share class requiring a five-year exit period, Millennium’s redemption horizon aligns more closely with private equity and credit funds than with most hedge funds, which typically offer shorter exit timelines.

Other hedge funds have already ventured into the private credit space, including Man Group, the world’s largest publicly traded hedge fund, which acquired US-based private credit firm Varagon last year.

Hedge funds turned bearish on the yen in the week leading up to Japan’s snap general election, as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party failed to secure a majority, potentially amplifying currency risks, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report cites data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for the week ending 22 October as showing that speculative investors flipped to a net short position on the yen for the first time this month. This shift came just ahead of the election results, which have raised new challenges for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to form a stable government and cast uncertainty on his political future.

With the yen already near its lowest levels since late July, Japan’s currency is now more vulnerable to political instability. Prime Minister Ishiba, previously seen as favouring a tighter policy stance, unsettled markets by recently suggesting Japan’s economy wasn’t prepared for further rate hikes. Now, traders are watching both Japanese political dynamics and the upcoming US election for cues to potentially extend their bearish positions on the yen.

Referencing a strategy that involves borrowing yen to invest in higher-yielding assets the report cites Shoki Omori, Chief Desk Strategist at Mizuho Securities, as saying: “If the government remains unstable, it will be easy for carry traders, including hedge funds, to sell the yen.”

The currency slid as much as 0.6% to 153.27 per dollar in early Monday trading, marking its weakest point in nearly three months. The drop could spur intervention from Japanese authorities, though investors are cautious about the election’s impact on Japan’s legislative process, which may dampen the yen’s appeal further.

Asset managers mirrored the bearish sentiment, switching to a net short of 17,226 yen contracts as of October 22—their first since mid-August, according to CFTC data.

Martin Midstream Partners has said it is standing by its planned acquisition by its largest shareholder, Martin Resource Management Corp (MRMC), despite opposition from hedge funds Nut Tree Capital Management and Caspian Capital.

The funds have launched a campaign to rally shareholders against the $157m deal, which fuel transport and storage specialist Martin Midstream agreed to earlier this month. The deal will see MRMC pay $4.02 per unit in cash for the common units it does not already own, following an initial offer in May of $3.05 per unit. MRMC currently holds a 15.7% stake in Martin Midstream’s common units.

However, Nut Tree Capital Management and Caspian Capital, who made a competing bid in July to buy Martin Midstream for $4.50 per unit, continue to oppose the MRMC deal. The hedge funds argue that the offer undervalues the company and have raised concerns over potential conflicts of interest in the process that led to the MRMC bid being accepted.

In response, Martin Midstream issued a statement reaffirming its support for the MRMC takeover. The company stated that the deal was approved after a nine-month evaluation process, during which the hedge funds’ offer was considered.

Nut Tree Capital and Caspian Capital hold exposure to Martin Midstream through cash-settled derivatives equivalent to 13.2% of the common units. The funds plan to file regulatory paperwork that would allow them to petition unitholders to vote against the buyout.

Despite this, the hedge funds face significant hurdles in blocking the deal. Unitholders aligned with MRMC, representing 26% of the common units, have already committed to voting in favour of the transaction, although the deal requires approval from the majority of the outstanding common units for it to proceed.

Martin Midstream, based in Kilgore, Texas, also questioned the hedge funds’ alignment with shareholders, noting that their current stake in the company is through derivatives rather than direct ownership of common units.

MRMC’s final offer represents a 34% premium to Martin Midstream’s closing share price on May 23, the day before the bid was publicly disclosed.

The voting date for the buyout has not yet been announced.

This HedgeWeek rapid read report, published in partnership with MSCI, explores how existing equity and fixed income tools can be leveraged to more swiftly address client demand for systematic strategies.

Derivatives and securities exchange network Cboe Global Markets is to launch trading of its previously announced new Cboe S&P 500 Variance Futures on Monday, 23 September, on the Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE).

The new futures will aim to provide market participants with an additional tool to calculate implied volatility of the US equity market as measured by the S&P 500 Index, and to manage volatility risks and express directional views. The futures are designed to offer a streamlined approach to trading the spread between implied and realised volatility, enabling market participants to take advantage of discrepancies between market expectations and actual outcomes.

According to a press statement, Cboe S&P 500 Variance Futures are expected to appeal to a wide range of market participants with diverse investment objectives, including volatility traders and hedge funds seeking capital efficiency and transparency, institutional investors managing equity volatility risk and expressing directional views, portfolio managers aiming for enhanced diversification and risk premia capture, and dealers and market makers transitioning from OTC variance swaps to standardised products.

The new futures contracts will settle based on a calculation of the annualised realised variance of the S&P 500 Index. The realised variance will be calculated once each day from a series of values of the S&P 500 Index beginning with the closing index value on the first day a VA futures contract is listed for trading and ending with the special opening quotation (SOQ) of the S&P 500 Index on the final settlement date of that contract.

The contracts will quote and trade directly in variance units, offering a simplified approach to managing and trading variance exposure. With a contract size of $1[2] and settlement aligned with standard SPX options (generally settling the third Friday of the month), these futures are designed to integrate seamlessly into market participants’ existing trading strategies.

August proved to be a strong month for hedge funds specialising in life sciences and biopharma stocks, with several firms reporting solid gains that helped many return to positive territory for the year, according to a report by Institutional investor.

One standout performer in 2024 is Janus Henderson’s Biotechnology Innovation Composite, a fund focused exclusively on biotech stocks which posted a 3.9% gain in August, bringing its year-to-date performance to an impressive 38.7%, according to the firm.

Janus’s hedge fund composite stands out due to its diversification, which includes smaller, less-liquid companies, private investments, and short positions—factors that bolstered its performance during sector downturns in recent years.

Casdin Capital’s public securities share class also remains among the top performers for the year, up roughly 40%, according to an investor. However, it saw a slight dip in August, declining by 1.8%. Unlike Janus Henderson, which has avoided down years, Casdin is still recovering from a series of losses and has not yet reached its high-water mark.

Other funds to post gains include Soleus Capital which was by 4.7% in August and taking YTD gains to 13.8%. Its success was driven in part by TG Therapeutics, which saw a 19% jump last month. The company, which focuses on treatments for B-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases, is Soleus’s largest US-listed long position, accounting for 5.7% of assets as of the second quarter. Iovance Biotherapeutics meanwhile, another top holding, surged by 33% in August.

Suvretta’s Averill Partners saw a 1.6% gain in August, bringing its year-to-date return to 18.5%, while RA Capital Management climbed by 60 basis points in the same month, with its year-to-date performance now at 13.7%.

Some funds turned positive for the year following strong August performances, with Perceptive Advisors gaining 5% in August, pushing its year-to-date return to 3.5%. The fund’s largest US-listed long position, Amicus Therapeutics, rose by 12%, surpassing Cerevel Therapeutics, which was acquired by AbbVie on 1 August.

Cormorant Asset Management, which gained 3.3% in August, is now up 1.5% for the year. Its largest holding, MoonLake Immunotherapeutics, a biotechnology firm focused on inflammatory diseases, makes up over 21% of its assets. MoonLake stock rose 2.7% last month.

Despite a 1.3% loss in August, RTW Investments remains up 15% for the year, reflecting the broader strength of the life sciences sector in 2024.

Hedge funds are ramping up wagers on the yen’s continued strength, with the Japanese currency surging by another 1% on Friday, as traders bought options against the Australian dollar, Swiss franc, and offshore Chinese yuan, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The yen has gained about 14% against the US dollar since the end of June, driven by signals from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) that it may raise interest rates again, although not at its upcoming meeting next week. This has led to the rapid unwinding of short yen positions and boosted the currency to its highest level, 140.37, since December 2023.

Expectations of rate cuts from the Federal Reserve have also contributed to the yen’s rise.

The report quotes Jane Foley, Head of Foreign-Exchange Strategy at Rabobank in London, as saying that :“If the BOJ next week doesn’t shut the door on another rate hike around the turn of the year, we expect USD/JPY to continue moving towards 140 in a three-to-six-month view.”

Other analysts predict the dollar-yen pair may drop to 135 by year-end, a nearly 4% decline from current levels.

Next week is crucial for yen options trades as both the BOJ and the Federal Reserve will make key policy decisions. The BOJ’s decision next Friday will follow a likely Fed rate cut earlier in the week. Comments from BOJ board members have hinted at the possibility of more rate hikes after Japan raised its policy rate to 0.25% in July.

 

 

 

Zodia Custody, an institution-first digital asset custodian, whose shareholders include Standard Chartered, SBI Holdings, Northern Trust, and National Australia Bank, has launched an integration with the Solana stake automation platform, Marinade.

This integration enables Zodia’s institutional clients to access Solana staking via Zodia Gateway, an ecosystem of third-party services. Investors can connect with Marinade and stake directly from their Zodia Custody cold wallets.

According to a press statement, Zodia Custody and Marinade will bring the Solana ecosystem closer to institutions looking to generate additional potential rewards on their digital asset holdings. The partnership adds a fifth blockchain to the ETH, DOT, ADA and BNB staking options that the Zodiac Custody already supports.

Arrowpoint Investment Partners, one of the largest hedge funds launched in Asia this year, is rapidly expanding its presence in Hong Kong and has taken on an entire floor at the newly built Six Pacific Place in Wanchai, according to a report by Reuters.

The report cites three sources familiar with the development as confirming that the firm, founded by the former Asia co-CEO of Millennium Management Jonathan Xiong, has leased the 22nd floor of the office tower owned by Swire Properties. The hedge fund plans to relocate from its current co-working space to the nearly 8,000-square-foot (743 sq m) office in the first quarter of 2025, according to one of the sources.

Since starting trading in July, Arrowpoint has been aggressively growing its team. Backed by major investors, including Blackstone and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the $1bn multi-manager fund is headquartered in Singapore, with an additional office in Hong Kong. The firm is on track to more than double its staff to around 100 employees by the first quarter of 2025, with 60% based in Singapore and the remainder in Hong Kong. Arrowpoint is expected to have over 20 trading teams by that time, the source added.

Arrowpoint declined to comment on its expansion plans.

Arrowpoint is also planning a move in Singapore, with its office set to relocate to Marina One in early 2024, according to the same source.

Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management is preparing to return a significant portion of capital to investors for the first time, joining other large multi-strategy hedge funds that are capping assets after a period of rapid growth, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report cites unnamed sources familiar with the matter, as revealing that the firm is considering returning profits to clients by the end of the year. The amount could run into billions, though the exact figure has not been finalised and plans may still change.

Hedge fund managers typically restrict new money or return cash to investors to avoid getting too big as size can pose challenges when navigating volatile markets and managing certain asset classes.

Since 2020, Point72 has raised nearly $12.8bn, and its AUM have reached a record $35.2bn. The firm has gained around 10% through August this year, adding over $3bn in profit, according to Bloomberg News. A Point72 representative declined to comment on the potential capital returns.

Point72 is joining other multi-stat peers in returning investor cash with Citadel having returned $25bn to clients since 2017, and Millennium about $38bn since 2020, though much of that has returned to the firm via a new share class.

Elliott Advisors, the UK arm of activist hedge fund giant Elliott Investment Management, significantly boosted pay for its directors last year, despite a slight drop in revenue, according to a report by Financial News.

The report cites the firm’s latest accounts as showing that the highest-paid director received £28.7m, a sharp increase from the £8.8m paid in the previous year.

Turnover at Elliott Advisors for 2023 fell to £212m, down from £225m in 2022. However, profit rose to £8.9m from £7.9m in the same period. The hedge fund has not yet commented on the pay raise.

The number of employees at the UK affiliate also saw a slight increase, with an average of 129 employees in 2023, up from 124 in 2022.

Founded in 1977 by billionaire Paul Singer, Elliott Investment Management oversees more than $69.7bn in assets, up from $65.5bn at the close of 2023. The firm employs 570 staff, with around 50% of its workforce focused on portfolio management, trading, analysis, and research across its Florida headquarters and other global offices.

State Street Global Advisors, the asset management business of State Street Corporationhas launched the State Street Global Alternative Beta Fund, which seeks to approximate the returns of hedge funds as a broad asset class.

The State Street Global Alternative Beta Fund is managed in reference to the HFR’s HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, which represents a broad range of hedge fund strategies including equity hedge, event driven, macro/commodity trading advisor and relative value arbitrage.

According to a press statement, the new und aims to approximate hedge funds’ beta returns driven, to a large extent, by various market exposures and approximate the risk-return profile of the asset class through a dynamic, factor-based investment process. The strategy aims to determine which market factors have been driving hedge fund returns recently and dynamically replicates those exposures. This strategy increases liquidity relative to directly investing in hedge funds, and by replicating hedge fund beta returns through a systematic process, costs are reduced.

The fund, which is registered in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark, has been seeded with an initial £123m investment from Quilter Investors.

Jackie Haynes, the former Head of Trading Analytics for Equity Quant Research at Multi-strategy hedge fund major Citadel, has returned to the banking sector as a Managing Director and Distinguished Architect for Risk Technology at JPMorgan, according to a report by eFinancial Careers.

Haynes announced her new role via social media, revealing that she started in July, having left Citadel last December after just a year.

Prior to going the hedge fund, Haynes spent 16 years at Goldman Sachs having initially joined the bank as a VP in Controllers Technology in London in 2006, before progressing to the role of Technology Fellow in 2013 and eventually being promoted to Managing Director in 2018.

At Goldman, she held key roles such as Global Head of Core Engineering for the bank’s risk and price platform, SecDB, and worked in machine learning and digital asset architecture. Additionally, she represented Goldman Sachs on Java’s executive committee.

The KLS Scopia Market Neutral Equity Fund has grown its AUM to $63m and recorded a 12-month trailing net return of 9.8% since being launched by New York-based hedge fund manager Scopia Capital Management in UCITs format on Kepler Partners’ KLS Funds platform.

Scopia was founded in 2001, and for a period of over two decades, the Scopia Market Neutral Strategy has demonstrated its ability to generate diversifying returns.

The KLS Scopia Market Neutral Equity Fund, a Dublin domiciled UCITs fund, provides access to the Scopia Market Neutral Strategy, which employs a fundamentals-based, equity market neutral approach.

The strategy has generated a 7.1% annualised return with a 7.9% annualised volatility since inception in April 2001. It has performed particularly well during periods of higher interest rates; in particular, the strategy returned: +19.6% (2021), +19.3% (2022) and +9.4% (2023), with a number of strong double digit calendar year returns between 2001-2008. Historically, it has also performed well in equity drawdowns (an 22-Sep 22: S&P 500 Index -24%, vs Scopia: +14%) and has displayed 0.0 correlation to the S&P 500 Index since inception.

Year to date, the KLS Scopia Market Neutral Equity Fund has returned 5.9% net of fees. Importantly, the fund continued to deliver positive performance during recent spells of market volatility, returning 1.8% during the month of August 2024.

MFS Investment management launches UK buy and maintain credit strategy Submitted 17/11/2021 - 10:02am

With extensive experience working with UK pension funds and insurers, and having gained a deep understanding of their investment challenges, MFS Investment Management (MFS) has added to its global fixed income capabilities by launching a UK buy and maintain credit strategy.

The strategy aims to achieve long-term returns through low turnover and the sustainable capture of credit risk premium.
 
Kelly Tran, head of UK and Ireland institutional sales, says: "We have seen the increased demand for buy and maintain portfolios from UK DB schemes and insurance companies. Generally, these strategies are used as a component in one of two distinct investment approaches, the first aimed at self-sufficiency on the part of schemes working towards buy-in or buy-out, the second an approach in which insurance firms manage the assets' post–risk transfer transactions. 
 
"In a period of low yields and high uncertainty, the strategy has three advantages. First, it has the potential to deliver investors more certainty on returns, which may offer considerable comfort in the current changing inflationary environment. Second, while offering similar returns as a broader universe of bonds, the strategy aims to mitigate the downgrade and default experience in the portfolio. Third, lower turnover means trading costs will be lower and the savings can be passed on to the client directly."
 
While buy and maintain strategies have been available in the United Kingdom for a number of years, there can be a marked difference in how managers deliver on the approach.
  
Owen Murfin, institutional portfolio manager, says: "One thing that has surprised me is the varying levels of diversification among different managers. Diversification is key to risk management and portfolio construction, but nowhere is this more important than in buy and maintain portfolios. Yield optimisation is a significant consideration, but it should never come at the expense of prudent diversification across a range of factors.
 
"We begin by defining the client's portfolio objectives and constraints. Then we employ quantitative models that limit our exposure to country, sector, name and ESG risks to avoid too much exposure to areas like energy and cyclical risk. For example, our names can make up only so much of a sector and be only so heavily weighted. As well as helping to optimise the portfolio, we think this makes it more diversified and is the prudent course," he concludes.
 
Important investment trends can be reflected in a buy and maintain strategy, including the growth of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, including a growing focus on carbon neutrality.

This is particularly relevant given that new climate change governance and disclosure requirements contained within the Pension Schemes Act 2021 came into force in October this year. Many asset owners in the UK have made their climate pledge, and MFS has published its own climate manifesto and joined the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative.
 
Tran says: "Buy and maintain strategies tend to be built to meet the bespoke requirements of each scheme or insurance firm. As part of building client portfolios, ESG factors are assessed in the context of overall credit risk in the analysis process. Clients are able to include or exclude ESG preferences and have the opportunity to engage with companies to influence change over the long term. We are committed to helping them on their sustainable investing journey while staying true to our philosophy of creating value responsibly."
 
The strategy is run by a team of four portfolio managers (see below). The firm has managed fixed income portfolios for more than 50 years, and all the firm's equity, fixed income and multi-asset funds are supported by our global research platform, through which MFS oversees USD684.3 billion in assets under management, of which USD82 billion is fixed income, as of 31 October 2021.

MFS is keen to meet each client's individual requirements and to provide as much certainty about future returns as possible, so we have made the strategy available to UK institutional investors via a bespoke segregated account.

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IQ-EQ acquires US outsourced compliance provider Greyline Partners Submitted 17/11/2021 - 9:55am

IQ-EQ, an Astorg portfolio company, has acquired Greyline Partners (Greyline), a US provider of governance and regulatory compliance solutions for PE, VC, hedge funds and investors. 

Greyline is a fast-growing business with a strong commercial and cultural fit for IQ-EQ’s expanding operations in the US. Today, IQ-EQ U.S. employs 500-plus people with plans to significantly grow this number in 2022 thanks to its strong business performance in the US market. The combination of IQ-EQ and Greyline firmly positions IQ-EQ as the leading provider of outsourced business services to the alternative asset industry. This latest acquisition follows the successful acquisitions of Constellation Advisers and Concord Trust Company earlier this year.  
 
Founded in 2016, Greyline is a partner led compliance services business headed up by Managing Partner, Matt Okolita employing 56 people across its six offices located in San Francisco, Dallas, New York, Chicago, Boston and London. Also part of Greyline is GCM Advisory, an outsourced CFO, Finance and Accounting business launched earlier this year. 
 
The Greyline team provide a range of services including: 
 
• Regulatory Compliance 
• Management Consulting and Governance 
• Outsourced Operations and middle office services 
• Outsourced Finance, Accounting and back office services 
 
This acquisition firmly positions IQ-EQ as the leading provider of outsourced business services to the alternative asset industry in the US. Greyline’s diversified client base, including wealth advisory and broker dealer clients, perfectly complements IQ-EQ’s shared client focus on alternative asset managers and investors. A shared entrepreneurial approach coupled with a strong focus on providing high levels of client service and an emphasis on training and investment in their people positions the newly combined entity as the provider of choice for alternative asset managers. 
 
On announcing this acquisition, Group Executive Chairman Serge Krancenblum, says: “On behalf of IQ-EQ Group I’m delighted to welcome the Greyline Partners team to our expanding business. We quickly recognised in Greyline Partners a business that shares our high touch service standards and successfully services its clients regulatory, operational and governance needs through dynamic, high-quality consulting and innovative use of technology. 

"We liked what we saw and set our sights on making them part of our US ambitions. The acquisition of Greyline Partners marks another key milestone in our U.S. growth strategy and brings with it significant potential to combine our collective expertise for the benefit of our clients and our employees not just in the US but group wide.”   
 
Mark Fordyce, IQ-EQ Regional CEO, The Americas, adds: “Welcoming Matt and the Greyline Partners team to IQ-EQ is something we’re incredibly excited about as it further strengthens IQ-EQ as the leading outsourced service provider to the alternative asset industry. With a range of complementary services, a shared common culture, a highly experienced team and a reputation for delivering high touch white-glove tech enabled services to our clients we have created an unmatched regulatory and compliance business here in the US. 

"For our combined team of 500-plus talented individuals this latest acquisition promises unrivalled opportunities, personal development and training as part of an entrepreneurial and highly driven team. We have ambitious plans for the future and having the Greyline Partners team join us fits very well into these plans.”  
 
Matt Okolita, Managing Partner, Greyline Partners, LLC, adds: “This acquisition allows us to continue on our journey of building the premier outsourced business services platform and grants our clients access to a hugely increased range of services across the global markets. As Greyline Partners, LLC we’ve focused on developing a culture and product that has led to tremendous success and now it’s time to achieve even more as part of IQ-EQ Group.”  

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QuantCube launches real-time GDP Canada Nowcast Submitted 17/11/2021 - 9:33am

Alternative data specialist QuantCube Technology has launched the the QuantCube real-time GDP Canada Nowcast giving investment firms and hedge funds real-time insight, based on alternative data sources, on whether an event or trend happening in the US economy is affecting Canada. 

The latest GDP indicator is part of a series of expansions to its GDP Nowcasts for the main global economies: the US, China, the UK, Japan, and the Eurozone, including France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.
 
The QuantCube Canada GDP Nowcast enables users to see whether an event or trend happening in the US economy is affecting Canada’s economy, with insights delivered daily. QuantCube GDP Nowcasts are real-time indicators quantifying current economic growth trends at a country level. QuantCube does this by dynamically processing multiple subcomponents of GDP nowcasting and establishing patterns from robust observations.
 
QuantCube’s GDP Nowcasts demonstrate—in real-time—economic growth over a 12-month period at the country level by tracking and aggregating each component of the GDP.

“With its close relationship to the US, Canada is an important country to track, especially given its status as a significant producer and exporter of fossil fuels,” says QuantCube CEO, Thanh-Long Huynh. “Tracking Canada’s GDP is essential for any fund involving mining, oil and gas extraction, construction, and manufacturing to wholesale trade and transportation and warehousing. Investment professionals can gain a significant competitive edge by getting valuable information ahead of anyone else, before the publication of official GDP data, to generate greater Alpha.”
 
For every country, QuantCube uses different proxies that track the most important parts of the variance of GDP. To compute each subcomponent of the GDP, multiple layers of analytics and pre-processing are necessary to extract an accurate proxy from the massive flow of alternative datasets. QuantCube’s GDP Nowcasts for current-quarter growth rates are updated daily, a capability achieved via QuantCube’s Data Infrastructure, which can process massive amounts of data in real-time.
 
The real-time GDP Canada Nowcast indicator is available to view through the QuantCube Macroeconomic Intelligence Platform (MIP). Alongside country GDP nowcasts, the platform also provides real-time information on various indicators from tourism and global trade to inflation and other key macro-economic variables.

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