Opalesque Exclusive: As world carbon markets expand, traders find new opportunities... [more]Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York for New Managers: 2020 has been a challenging year for carbon investors. As covid-19 expanded worldwide shutting down global travel and economies, emissions plummeted and along with

Private foundations rebound with 17.4% returns in 2019... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Private and community foundations reported an average return of 17.4 percent in 2019 while participating community foundations reported an average return of 18.2 percent. Both represented a dramatic reversal of 2018's average return of -3.5 percent for private found

Renewable energy and Telecom are the most pandemic-resilient infrastructure sub-sectors... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: While infrastructure as a possession course has actually shown to be highly pandemic durable, there are significant distinctions in the performance of various industries, according to a new white paper from investment firm Foresight Group. The new study into the re

Hedge funds have maintained their strong performance since end-March supported by equity market recovery... [more]Opalesque Industry Update - Hedge fund managers ended August 2020 up 2.02% on an equal-weighted basis, and 1.43% on an asset-weighted basis, driven by the strong performance of the global equity market as seen from the 5.54% return of MSCI ACWI (Local) over the same period. On a year to date bas

Tiger Cub Snoddy posts 17% return with new Japan hedge fund, Billionaire Louis-Dreyfus takes big dividend from commodities trader... [more]Tiger Cub Snoddy posts 17% return with new Japan hedge fund From Bloomberg: David Snoddy has posted a 17% gain with a new Japan long-short fund after the Tiger Management alumnus returned to money management following a hiatus. Snoddy, 52, who ran the Tokyo office of Julian Robertson

New Launches: CapMan holds initial $365m closing for its third Nordic Real Estate III fund, Swiss firm launches debut fund to seek deals in real estate and hospitality, U.S. real estate investor LaSalle raises another $380m for China logistics fund, Alexis Ohanian's 776 VC fund targets $150m... [more]CapMan holds initial $365m closing for its third Nordic Real Estate III fund CapMan Real Estate has established CapMan Nordic Real Estate III fund with EUR 313 million ($365m) of equity commitments from Nordic, European, and North American institutional investors. CMNRE III succeeds CapMa

Hedge funds in long haul to tackle lack of Black money managers... [more]From Reuters: When the death of George Floyd forced companies to reflect on why there were so few Black people in their senior ranks, top banks and private equity firms pledged to do better. But one corner of the finance world - the hedge fund industry - made fewer public statements. Hedge funds

Institutional Investors: Tennessee Consolidated allocates $820m, Canada pension fund turns to emerging markets, India in focus, Texas County & District commits $150m to opportunistic real estate, L&G's $103bn retirement fund increases Asia exposure, New York Subway pension loses over $300m in collapsed hedge fund... [more]Tennessee Consolidated allocates $820m From PIonline.com: Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, Nashville, made commitments, investments and manager hires totaling $820 million, said Shelli King, spokeswoman for state Treasurer David H. Lillard Jr., who oversees the $53.6 billion pens

Investing: Some SPAC stocks are surging, Recent market returns suggest investors are prepping for weaker US recovery, UBS says, Investors remain jittery after biggest equities outflows since March... [more]Some SPAC stocks are surging From Institutional Investor: Shares of several blank-check companies have surged in price before any deals have even been announced. SPAC-mania has officially gripped Wall Street. So far 112 of the special purpose acquisition companies, also called blank-c

Currency: Hedge funds running biggest dollar short since 2017 risk squeeze, Trade beloved by hedge funds axed by BNP over election jitters... [more]Hedge funds running biggest dollar short since 2017 risk squeeze From Bloomberg: Hedge funds that have racked up the largest bets against the dollar in almost three years may be running headlong into a short squeeze. With markets on edge over resurgent coronavirus cases and a contenti

People: Kentucky pension loses top two investment staffers to consultant, Ares Management brings in ex-Credit Suisse Australia CEO as Ares SSG chairman... [more]Kentucky pension loses top two investment staffers to consultant From Bloomberg: The top two investment officials at the Kentucky Retirement Systems have left the pension to join AndCo Consulting, according to the firm. Rich Robben, who led the Kentucky pension's investment office, a

Crypto: Cryptoasset developments in the funds industry, Crypto broker sees users drawn to bots to beat volatile trading, Token projects to recover $130m from the Kucoin hack, Crypto regulations in the United Kingdom: Are we there yet?... [more]Cryptoasset developments in the funds industry From Funds Europe: Over a quarter of institutional investors believe that pension funds, insurers, family offices and sovereign wealth funds will "dramatically" increase their allocations to cryptocurrencies over the next five years, accordin

Commodity: Hedge funds race to cover crude short positions: Kemp, Covid response boosts green metals... [more]Hedge funds race to cover crude short positions: Kemp From Reuters: Hedge funds trimmed bearish positions in crude oil last week after Saudi Arabia threatened to punish short sellers and on signs that prices had found a floor after recent weakness. Hedge funds and other money managers

U.S.: Retirement plan assets jump 11.2% in second quarter, Investors growing concerned over potential US election dispute: poll, Jeffrey Gundlach ponders moving DoubleLine out of California... [more]Retirement plan assets jump 11.2% in second quarter Total US retirement assets were $31.9 trillion as of June 30, 2020, up 11.2 percent from March 31, 2020. Retirement assets accounted for 34 percent of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of June 2020. Assets

Europe: Rich finance workers to flee Britain over virus and Brexit fears, Ucits and AIFs saw increased sales in July, Coronavirus threatens Europe's pension industry... [more]Rich finance workers to flee Britain over virus and Brexit fears From Financial News: The City is bracing for Brexit - but not the one you think. Some of the finance sector's richest are planning to leave the UK as a double-whammy threat of a second Covid-19 wave and the Brexit fallout fo

Asia: Mainland China and Hong Kong expected to finish 2020 as top IPO destinations after strong Q3... [more]The Shanghai Stock Exchange is expected to claim the top spot globally in terms of both IPO fundraising and number of listings year-to-date as at end of the third quarter of 2020 while Hong Kong ranks third globally, according to KPMG's latest analysis. There is a significantly increasing numbe

PE/VC: Geopolitics hits private equity investment appetite for China, VCs: Looking at a future of digital therapeutics... [more]Geopolitics hits private equity investment appetite for China Ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China, coupled with strong policy moves, have given private equity limited partners pause and in some cases prompted divestiture of China holdings, according to industry sources.

Study: Are endowments contrarians?, Research Affiliates finds no value explanation for 'exorbitantly priced' tech stocks... [more]Are endowments contrarians? From Institutional Investor: University endowments, which invest for future generations of students and alumni, use their long-term horizons to their advantage by putting money to work after market crises and selling risky asset before the onset of a downturn,

ESG: Elliott puts more stress on ESG, 'Biodiversity finance' pledge launched, TNFD efforts 'pass milestone', Corporate boards improving on ESG, less on diversity - survey... [more]Elliott puts more stress on ESG From The Deal: Elliott Management Corp., which is known for its high-profile and sometimes aggressive activist campaigns, is making sure that it considers environmental, social and governance factors in each of its investments, public or private. "Over

Legal: Crispin Odey pleads not guilty to charge of indecent assault in London, U.S. pension funds sue Allianz after $4bn in coronavirus losses... [more]Crispin Odey pleads not guilty to charge of indecent assault in London From Bloomberg: Crispin Odey pleaded not guilty in a London court to an accusation of groping a young female banking employee after inviting her back to his home more than 20 years ago. Odey, one of Europe's highes

Regulatory: SEC to expand oversight of alternative trading systems for government securities, Chinese authorities revamp foreign investment rules, China to combine QFII and RQFII schemes... [more]SEC to expand oversight of alternative trading systems for government securities The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a proposal to enhance the operational transparency, system integrity, and regulatory oversight for alternative trading systems (ATSs) that trade governme

News Briefs: How do family offices manage risk amid pandemic?, American Equity, Värde Partners and Agam Capital Management form strategic partnership, Coronavirus latest: Global Covid-19 death toll exceeds 1m... [more]How do family offices manage risk amid pandemic? From The Asset: Anyone longing for a return to a more predictable economic era? A time when a rise in interest rates immediately triggered more overseas investment, leading to an inevitable strengthening of a country's currency? Well

And, finally: How to get an airline ban for life... [more]From CNN: Ukraine International Airlines has banned a traveler from all future flights with the carrier after the unidentified woman opened an emergency door on a Boeing 737 and went for a walk on the wing as it was waiting at a gate at Boryspil International Airport in Kyiv. CNN reported the p