Fund management:
Pension funds globally invested more than $62 billion in alternative assets in 2004 according to a survey by Watson Wyatt. Some 49% was in property, 38% in private equity and 13% in funds of hedge funds. In Asia Pacific, however, allocation to alternatives favoured funds of hedge funds over property.
Hedge funds:
"There is absolutely no proof of a capacity effect in the hedge fund industry," says a study by French business school Edhec. Beta and manager ability are the key contributors to performance. In its analysis only 25% of the variability in the returns of hedge fund strategies is due to pure alpha. It is alpha that supposedly renders arbitrage more difficult and capacity constraints a problem.
Private banking:
Citigroup has been reshufling its senior management. Damian Kozlowski is now global CEO of Citigroup Private Bank, and Marianne Hay has been appointed as CEO Europe for Citigroup Global Wealth Management (GWM). Both will report to Todd Thomson, CEO of Citigroup GWM.
Real estate:
Asia's biggest Islamic real estate fund has been established through a joint partnership between Singapore-based Pacific Star Group and the Kuwait Finance House. The companies said the Baitak Asia Real Estate Fund would be worth $600 million once fully invested, with its focus on prime residential and commercial sites in southeast Asia.
Tip of the month:
Now is the time to buy tech, according to SG Asset Management. Tech fund manager Alan Torry says: "In the last few weeks there have been big earnings revisions, sentiment has improved and people are seeing what is coming up next year. It is a volatile sector but we think now is a good buying point for investors."