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The Pengana Asian Equities (long/short) fund has been downgraded to three stars by Standard & Poor’s following the resignation of senior fund manager/technical analyst Elan Miller.  He will be replaced by a new hire, Yan Zhang.

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UK pension funds nearly doubled their allocations to hedge funds in the past year, from 2.6 percent to 4.1 percent of AuM, according the UK’s Financial News citing data from the National Association of Pension Funds.  The allocation is marginally less than the 4.3 percent allocated by Australian superfunds. (see Preqin report above).

Applying that percentage across the GBP800 billion run by pension fund members of NAPF suggests total hedge fund allocations would amount to GBP33 billion

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Pertrac has released a study of 1,210 Alternative UCITS funds.  The top two countries (by location of the underlying management company) were UK (372 funds), and Luxembourg (271 funds).  There were no fund management companies from Australia or Japan, nine from Singapore and five from Hong Kong.

Details of the 30 page report is at http://www.pertrac.com/resources/pertrac-research/the-coming-of-age-of-alternative-ucits-funds/?modal=register%2F%3Freferrer%3Dassets%2FUploads%2FPerTrac-The-Coming-of-Age-of-Alternative-UCITS-Funds-January-2012.pdf

The Fund made 1.6 percent in 2011.  Since inception in 5 May, 2006, the Fund has generated 4.2 percent

Portfolio details for the December quarter are below.

*Data may not sum due to rounding

The implementation means income, gains or losses, which have an Australian source, from portfolio interests or financial arrangements of a foreign managed fund, will be excluded from the calculation of the fund’s taxable income (and that of its non-resident investors).

The exemption will not apply to the extent that withholding tax is currently payable on the income. Furthermore, the exemption will not cover income or gains from an interest, other than a portfolio interest in a publicly traded company, in taxable Australian property.

The exemption will be restricted to foreign managed funds domiciled in countries that are recognized by Australia as engaging in effective exchange of information.

Legislation for the first two stages of the IMR, announced in December 2010 and January 2011 respectively, is currently being finalized and is expected to be introduced into Parliament in the first half of 2012.

Details at

http://ministers.treasury.gov.au/DisplayDocs.aspx?doc=pressreleases/2011/168.htm&pageID=003&min=brs&Year=&DocType

The Brisbane based firm has $180 million AuM in a range of private equity, hedge, real estate and commodities (water) funds.  The firm is capitalised at $32 million and reported net profits after tax of $3.5 million in the year to June 2011.   The IPO funds will be deployed as regulatory capital/cash reserves and to fund business expansion.   The firm recently appointed GT Capital Access partner Debra Goundrey as global head of client relationships to work from its new US office, according to Brisbane Times.

BLA’s directors, staff and related parties will retain over 65 percent of shares on issue.  Founder/MD Mark Sowerby holds a 33 percent stake.

The alternatives group within the team will be headed by Suzanne Tavill.  ipac CIO Jeff Rogers will remain responsible for the ipac, Axa and Tynan Mackenzie portfolios, while AMP Capital’s investment director, Sean Henaghan, remains responsible for the AMP Capital multi-manager portfolios, according to InvestorDaily.

The report showed a record low Investor Sentiment Index of -22.4, just below -22.3 reached in the first quarter of 2009.  The index, established in 2005, gauges the confidence of 843 people nationwide across demographics, and wealth levels. The survey was conducted during the two weeks to 5 December 2011.

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Meanwhile, self-managed super funds (SMSFs) allocation to cash increased two percentage points to 26.7 percent in the December 2011 quarter.   The allocation is the highest level in two years, according to Money Management citing the latest Multiport Investment Patterns Survey.

Alternative assets including hedge funds grew from 0.5 to 1.1 percent of total SMSF AuM.  Other asset class allocations included domestic equity (35.4 percent), fixed interest (11.5 percent), international shares (7.9 percent), and property (17.6 percent).

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Financial planners were also worried, as they placed 28 percent of new client money into cash and term deposits as of November 2011, up from 18 percent in June 2011 and 16 percent in November 2010, according to InvestorDaily citing the Investment Trends November 2011 Adviser Product & Marketing Needs Report.

The flow into cash has come at the expense of listed investments and managed funds which fell to 65 percent from 75 percent in June.  The Investment Trends report surveyed 966 planners across Australia from October to November.  The Report showed that investors expected the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 stocks index to increase by only 3 per cent in 2012.

The ‘dbalternatives Discovery’ platform will be based on Deutsche Bank’s dbalternatives managed account platform which was established in 2002 and currently has $12 billion under management.

FRM’s hedge funds seeding division, FRM Capital Advisors, (FCA) will select and negotiate strategic investments in emerging managers.  Deutsche Bank will also raise capital for a seeding fund which will invest in early stage hedge funds selected by FCA.  FCA evaluates over 500 seeding opportunities annually through the FRM’s global investment team.

• Nearly 38 percent of investors plan to increase their allocations to hedge funds over the next 12 months – down from 54 percent a year earlier.
• Hedge funds represented 16.7 percent of institutional portfolios in 2011, versus 12 percent during the 2008 financial crisis.
• 26 percent of institutional investors said their top challenge in hedge fund investing was meeting performance expectations.
• 40 percent invested solely via single-manager funds, up from 24 percent a year earlier.
• Nearly a third invested in hedge funds for absolute return, while more than half cited risk management reasons such as diversification and lower volatility as the key criteria.
• Respondents earned an average annualized return of 6.2 percent in 2011 versus 9.2 percent in 2010.

Details at http://www.seic.com/enUS/im/promo/6891.htm?cmpid=im-hf1-fin-12

Canning Parkis a long-short equity manager that invests across 10 Asian markets including Australia and Japan.  It deploys fundamental analysis with a tactical trading overlay to lower volatility.

The firm was founded in July 2010 by Jason Rich, (ex-Bennelong Asset Management, GLS Capital and Goldman Sachs); David Thompson, (ex-Gartmore Investment Management and Morgan Stanley); and James Hyndes, (ex-Goldman Sachs and Macquarie Bank.)

Athos is an event driven manager founded by Matthew Moskey and Erik Senko (both ex-Omni Asia and Centaurus Capital); and Fred Schulte-Hillen, (ex-Black’s Link Capital). The firm plans to launch an event driven fund focusing on the Asia Pacific region.

Ascalon will provide operational, governance and global business development support, as well as capital to both firms.  Ascalon is a 100 percent subsidiary of Westpac.