NEWS ROUND-UP |
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Apex Group has made its fourth purchase this year with the acquisition of Custom House , a global hedge fund administrator with $ 24 billion in AuA . The addition of Custom House bolsters Apex ’ s existing hedge fund services division , giving it an added presence across Europe and Asia .
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Northern Trust has been selected by ExodusPoint Capital Management as a fund administrator for its $ 8 billion of assets across equity and fixed income strategies . The hedge fund launched by Michael Gelband , a former fixed income trader at Millennium Management , was described as the largest start-up fund of all time when it went live at the start of summer .
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DWS Investments , formerly Deutsche Bank Asset Management , has signed a € 240 billion fund administration deal with BNP Paribas Securities Services for its funds in Luxembourg and Germany . Upon competition of the deal , BNP Paribas will become the fund administrator for DWS ’ s actively-managed funds in the two countries , as well as the custodian and depositary bank for DWS ’ s retail funds .
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BNY Mellon has completed the transition of DWS ’ s real estate fund accounting services worth $ 21 billion in assets onto its platform .
The go-live completes a threeyear
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project of migrating DWS ’ s real estate portfolio , representing one of the industry ’ s largest fund conversions to a new platform .
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Deutsche Bank is in the process of rebuilding its prime brokerage business , after significantly deleveraging the unit over the past year . The German-based bank announced in May that it had reduced its balance sheet exposure in prime finance and the rates business by € 80 billion .
˜˜Northern Trust has developed enhanced reporting and analytical tools in partnership with FIS to provide private equity managers with greater transparency into fund operations . Private equity funds are increasingly looking to outsourcing as their business grows and strategies become more complex . This is leading to higher demands for services which hedge funds have more traditionally sought such as increased transparency .
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SS & C Technologies has begun integrating DST Systems into its fund administration business and has appointed its own co-head of hedge fund services to oversee the operation . SS & C completed its $ 5.4 billion acquisition of DST Systems in April , bringing the latter ’ s mutual fund administration business ALPS into its fund administration offering .
˜˜ Investor services firm SGG
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Group plans to take over private equity and real estate fund administrator Augentius , marking the latest takeover in the fund administration world . The deal will see SGG Group take on $ 124 billion of Augentius ’ assets under administration to take its total to $ 400 billion across alternative institutional funds and family offices .
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Apex Group has added $ 170 billion in assets under administration to its business after completing the deal for Deutsche Bank Alternative Fund Services .
The deal was initially announced in October 2017 .
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BNY Mellon has entered the FX prime brokerage service arena , taking on rivals such as Citi , Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan . The custodian bank is looking to allow its clients to access a new source of much-needed liquidity in the FX space .
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A new white paper from IBM has criticised current IT systems at major prime brokers and derivatives clearing firms , claiming they are restricting cost savings . The paper , published with Cinnober ’ s subsidiary Minium , highlighted that outdated systems used by banks are not fit for purpose for today ’ s current regulatory environment .
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Ultimus Fund Solutions has expanded its flagship mutual fund distribution platform to include new marketing and data
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services . The Ultimus Distribution Advantage ( UDA ) platform will include new tools , programmes and content in one centralised Resource Marketplace .
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A new fund administration association led by JP Morgan , State Street and Citi fund services veteran Chris Meader has added three new members .
Stone Coast Fund Services , Basiz Fund Services and North Street Global join the North American Fund Administration Association ( NAFAA ), which launched at the start of the year . Apex Fund Services was the first to join in February this year .
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Brown Brothers Harriman ( BBH ) has launched a new tool allowing asset managers to oversee the net asset value ( NAV ) function performed by their third-party administrators . Designed for the asset manager ’ s middle-office and treasury teams , BBH ’ s InfoNAV allows them to not only monitor the process , but it can create a secondary or informational NAV which can then be compared to the fund administrator ’ s NAV .
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Fund services provider Citco is nearing $ 1 trillion in assets under administration ( AuA ) following a wave of new private equity and real estate fund outsourcing mandates . Citco reported AuA of $ 950 billion at the end of 2017 , up by nearly 16 % year-on-year , largely due to growth in real assets by alternative fund managers .
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