The game’s up: hedge funds must come clean. They make money by tapping three sources of return, said Cliff Asness, founding principal of quantitative hedge fund AQR Capital Management, but only one is worth paying two and 20 for. Most hedge funds derive investment returns from three sources – true alpha, hedge fund beta and market beta – and most managers will tell you it comes from just one.
Regrouping Access Capital rocked anew
Access Capital Advisers was rocked on July 16 by the departure of its entire New York office, understood at presstime to have moved to AMP Capital Investors, as the firm redistributed the 24 per cent shareholding which departed founding director Paddy Jilek is selling back. The office had been led, since the late 2009 departure of Matt O’Donnell, by Tom Majewski, a highly regarded banker who has taken with him a team comprising Farhad Billimoria, Damien McDonald and Digby Beaumont.
Super funds’ passion for passive just grows
Some super funds are not waiting for implementation of the Cooper Review to enhance their risk budgeting through indexing, with QSuper and UniSuper revealing big passive plays last month, countered somewhat by the likes of Westscheme moving in the opposite direction. In arguably the biggest single mandate announcement in Australian superannuation history, State Street Global Advisors confirmed it was running three large passive equity mandates for QSuper, totalling $10 billion across Australian equities, international equities and global REITs.
AMP Capital launches global listed infrastructure
AMP Life is seeding $10 million into the launch of the listed AMP Capital Global Infrastructure Securities Fund, which comes just days after the group nabbed three staff from competitor RARE Infrastructure.
Tool for the times: Russell’s liquidity ‘stress test’
Russell Investment’s risk-modelling for defined-benefit funds has led to a serendipitous development of an Excel-based tool for stress-testing funds’ liquidity.
Private markets powerbroker on the market themselves
The woman who for five years was one of Australia’s most powerful gatekeepers of unlisted funds managers is looking for a job, after a foray into group insurance didn’t work out.
IFM’s new chief wins permission to profit
The chief executive of Industry Funds Management (IFM), Brett Himbury (pictured), has won board approval to make a “modest” profit, and will be helped in that regard by $250 million across two new mandates just awarded it by Cbus. BT takes on the ‘industry-retail duopoly’
BT Super For Life’s funds under management have topped $1billion in just over two years, proving that the low-cost, bank-branch distributed model is taking on the industry/retail fund “duopoly”, according to BT Financial’s recently installed chief executive, Brad Cooper.
Funds ahead of Cooper with ‘operational risk reserves’ – Mercer
Thought long forgotten from the days of crediting rates, the practice of reserving is back among Australian super funds, according to a survey by Mercer.
Chris Cuffe calls for shift to 'target benefits scheme'
The Australian superannuation industry would resemble UniSuper if Chris Cuffe had a chance to build it from the ground up. Tool for the times: Russell's liquidity 'stress test'
Russell Investment’s risk-modelling for defined-benefit funds has led to a serendipitous development of an Excel-based tool for stress-testing funds’ liquidity.
IFM's new chief wins permission to profit
The chief executive of Industry Funds Management (IFM), Brett Himbury (pictured), has won board approval to make a “modest” profit, and will be helped in that regard by $250 million across two new mandates just awarded it by Cbus. 
