In July 2015, the AFC Asia Frontier Fund gained +1.1%, underperforming the MSCI Frontier Asia Index (+4.3%) and the MSCI World Index (+1.7%) and outperforming the MSCI Frontier Index (-3.1%). The year to date performance of the AFC Asia Frontier Fund A-shares stands now at +2.1% versus the MSCI Frontier Asia Index which is up… Continue Reading
By Andrei Skvarsky. Lamudi, a two-year-old real estate dot-com company doing business in more than 30 emerging- and frontier-market countries, announced on August 10 that it has launched an operation in the United Arab Emirates. Continue Reading
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow Exchange said that its earnings boomed in the second quarter of 2015, and that this included a year-on-year net profit increase of 72.8%. Continue Reading
Canrim Development Pte Ltd. is a resource development company established by a team with a successful Mongolian business track record, operating in the Mongolian resources sector since 1997. Designed as a vehicle to re-enter the Mongolian resource industry in early 2014, Canrim is positioning for resurgence in minerals exploration activity in the country. In mineral… Continue Reading
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and online retail bank Tinkoff were among the first-round winners in the 2015 World’s Best Digital Banks competition held annually by Global Finance, the famous New York-based monthly. Continue Reading
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Pakistani subsidiary of Britain’s Standard Chartered was among the winners of the first round of Global Finance’s debut contest for Islamic banks as part of the famous financial periodical’s annual competition for the title of the world’s best digital bank. Continue Reading
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Baring Vostok private equity firm was the biggest investor in a recent new round of funding for CarPrice in which $40m was raised for the Russian online used-car broker. Continue Reading
By Andrei Skvarsky. Two Russian entrepreneurs have launched a venture fund that plans to invest $2m before the end of 2015 in up to five projects to develop solutions for business-to-business (B2B) transactions, according to international information company East-West Digital News (EWDN). Continue Reading
Russia’s central bank on July 31 cut its key interest rate to 11% from 11.5%, arguing that economic cooling is a greater risk than inflation. Continue Reading
Bank of Cyprus said on July 17 that it had signed an agreement to sell off its Russian subsidiary Uniastrum Bank as part of a plan to reduce the biggest Cypriot lender’s exposure to Russia. Continue Reading
By Michael Johnston, senior analyst for All Emerging Markets (www.allemergingmarkets.com). Emerging from a dark history, Colombia has become the economic gem of South America. In the minds of many Americans, Colombia is a lawless country with an economy built around a violent drug trade. In reality, however, Colombia has become a model for economic transformation and is perhaps South… Continue Reading
By Andrei Skvarsky. It is a natural thought that Greece’s financial woes might force Athens to step up its attempts to obtain help from Russia. Continue Reading
Since the introduction of market reforms that opened up the country to foreign investment in the late 1980s, Vietnam has become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, averaging annual GDP growth rates of 7-8% throughout the nineties. Agribusiness production has nearly doubled over the past two decades, transforming Vietnam into one of the… Continue Reading
Alternative asset manager Duet Group is launching a new emerging European UCITS fund this month and has recruited two former Armajaro Asset Management executives to run it. Michel Danechi and Kalim Aziz are joining Duet as fund manager and research analyst, respectively, on the Duet Emerging European European Fund. The new vehicle is expected later… Continue Reading
In a monthly letter to clients, Brazil’s largest hedge fund, Verde Asset Management, said that foreign investors’ were overly optimistic about its home nation’s economy. Saying that foreign investors’ had “exagerated optimism,” the firm said that the sentiment was “disconnected from medium-term reality.” The fund said cautioned investors about the nation’s financial outlook, and said… Continue Reading
AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) has restructured its emerging market debt team as Damien Buchet’s August departure from the firm nears. AXA IM will merge its emerging market and Asian teams into one group to better address the importance of the global emerging market debt asset class to investors in the future. The newly merged… Continue Reading
Assets under management at Asian hedge funds reached a record $177 billion in May, according to new data from Eurekahedge. The tally exceeds the $176 billion managed by funds with an Asia mandate in December 2007, immediately prior the global financial crisis, noted Eurekahedge’s Alexander Mearns in an interview with Bloomberg. The news comes as… Continue Reading
Oceanwood Capital Management has raised $250 million in a new hedge fund to capitalize on economic recovery in Europe. Oceanwood has raised the capital from existing investors and plans to have a $350 million final close for the fund in September, according to a Reuters report. The new fund, named Oceanwood Peripheral European Select Opportunities… Continue Reading
Torbjorn Caesar has been elected senior partner at emerging markets investment manager Actis Capital. Caesar assumed his new role effective yesterday, according to media reports. He succeeds Paul Fletcher, who has become non-executive chairman of the company. “I would like to thank Paul for the tremendous leadership he has provided to Actis over the past… Continue Reading
Emerging markets hedge funds have benefited from the strong recovery of the Russian Rouble, higher oil prices, lowering of interest rates by the Chinese Central Bank, and a surge in trading volume on the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program. As a result of these, hedge funds investing in Russia and China posted strong gains in… Continue Reading
Daniel Martin is planning to launch a new long/short hedge fund based in London. The new effort, named Rye Bay Capital, will take long and short positions in a number of instruments across a variety of industries, according to a Bloomberg report. The new fund will reportedly launch in the fourth quarter of this year.… Continue Reading
Former TPG-Axon partner Wesley Wong is prepping an Asian-themed long/short equity fund for a third-quarter 2015 launch. Wong’s Oxbow Capital Management (HK) is reportedly in advanced discussions with Reservoir Capital Management regarding a $150 million stake, according to a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources. It would be Reservoir’s first seed investment in an Asian-based startup,… Continue Reading
Goldman Sachs Asset Management is offering a new high-conviction global equity portfolio to European clients. Managed by the company’s Goldman Sachs Investment Strategies team (GSIS), the Global Equity Long Short Portfolio is based on a fundamental, bottom-up approach and structured as a new sub-fund of the firm’s UCITS-compliant, Luxembourg-domiciled Goldman Sachs Funds SICAV, according to… Continue Reading
Lamudi, a real estate portal with an emerging- and frontier-market network covering more than 30 countries, has gained the leading position in the Philippine’s property market by acquiring the country’s online real estate trader MyProperty.ph. Continue Reading
Jupiter Asset Management has hired Jason Pidcock to build an Asian income strategy for the investment firm. Pidcock joins Jupiter from Newton Investment Management, where he is manager of the £4.4 billion Newton Asian Income Fund. He will aid Jupiter in the launch and management of a similar strategy. The appointment will help Jupiter expand… Continue Reading
Global alternative investments powerhouse Carlyle Group has closed on its third European technology and media buyout fund, raising €656 million. It is the company’s largest such fund to date. The fund, named Carlyle Europe Technology Partners III, shows the global appetite for tech and media companies in the region. It began raising money a year… Continue Reading
Hedge funds invested in China and Russia have returned to industry-leading performance, driven by a recovery in the Russian ruble, higher oil prices, and a surge in equity trading in China, according to the latest HFR Emerging Markets Hedge Fund Industry Report. As a result of these developments, hedge funds investing in Russia and China… Continue Reading
Former Brevan Howard co-founder Chris Rokos has hired Borislav Vladimirov to help build a new hedge fund, Rokos Capital Management. The new fund is expected to become one of the largest European launches since the financial crisis. Vladimirov, a former partner at Brevan Howard, started working with Rokos last month. According to Bloomberg, he will… Continue Reading
Hedge funds posted gains in April as regional equity and currency markets across China, Russia, Brazil and the Middle East posted sharp gains. Volume surged on the Shanghai/Hong Kong Connect program to a daily record driving Chinese A-shares to a gain of over 18 per cent for the month. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index®… Continue Reading