Secondary Trading of Hedge Fund, Fund of Fund and Private Equity Partnership interests to grow 125% to $146 Billion

New York City - August 14, 2012 - The secondary market, where investors historically went to trade their illiquid holdings in hedge funds, private equity and other alternative investments, is increasingly a source of liquidity in normal times and not just an escape hatch for investors in duress, according to a recent survey of more than 489 institutional investors managing gross assets of $417 billion. The survey indicates that, while $65 billion worth of secondary stakes are now traded annually, this market is expected to grow 125% within the next year, to $146 billion.

Even with that increase, that trading would only represent about 2% of a $7 trillion market, leaving substantial room for further growth.

“The growth of the secondary market can only help hedge funds and private equity firms as they struggle to raise capital,” says Brian Shapiro, chief executive of Simplify LLC, which conducted the survey. “Cash is king, and investors will be more eager to allocate if they know they aren’t checking into the Hotel California.”

While initially relegated to the disposition of SPV's, Liquidating Vehicles and Side Pockets, secondary trading has grown to provide wholesale liquidity across all funds, not just those in distress. In fact, results from our survey indicate a new-found desire by institutional investors to trade private placements on the margin and better manage their exposures within the asset class.

Of the 55% of respondents to indicate they have traded a private placement interest at least once, they reported that average time to complete the transaction was more than 90 days, an indication that the process is clearly still encumbered by prehistoric execution and settlement workflow.

To Download a free copy of the 19 page report click here.

New York City – March 28, 2012 – Simplify LLC, a global provider of investment and risk software, today announced it has released Form PF data collection and reporting capability within its flagship solution PortfolioCentriX™. PortfolioCentriX’s Form PF solution can be used by institutional investors on a stand-alone basis, by allocators and funds that use third party administrators or an in-house process.

Tarryn Valle, Senior Vice President notes, "Our solution merges Form PF exposure detail with our already best‐in‐class portfolio management, due diligence and risk analytics, presenting clients with the most complete profile for review across all their private fund holdings.” Ms. Valle adds: “Simplify personnel can also assist in the process by collecting and enriching the data in PortfolioCentriX™ thus saving significant time and effort for our institutional clients."

New York City – March 07, 2012 – Concerned that public pensions, university endowments, hospitals, museums, school boards and other non-profits and tax-exempt organizations are at the mercy of third party advisors when it comes to managing their alternative portfolios, Simplify LLC today announced that it will offer its flagship portfolio management and risk system PortfolioCentriX™ (“PCX”) pro-bono to the tax-exempt sector.

New York City – March 23, 2011 – Simplify LLC today announced its launch as the asset management industry’s first true, month to month financial services technology solution. Both PortfolioCentriX™ and TKS Solutions- Penny ItWorks ™ , solutions are now being delivered to customers as on-demand "cloud-based" solutions by Simplify LLC (Simplify). Simplify’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) for alternative fund investors, provides funds of funds, family offices, pensions & endowments and wealth managers with robust capabilities for shareholder management, tax, private equity management, fund of funds portfolio management, performance and attribution risk reporting and due diligence processing.

Hedge funds wrong to fear secondaries

August 22, 2012 Josh Friedlander

Brian Shapiro talks to AR about his recent survey of investors and what a more robust market for trading
hedge fund stakes could mean for the evolution of the industry.
Trading in the secondary stakes of hedge funds, funds of funds and other alternative
investment partnerships has grown to $65 billion in annual notional volume, but the
process remains slow, costly and inefficient, according to a recent survey conducted by
Simplify LLC, a provider of software to institutional investors.

Secondary Trading in Fund Stakes to More Than Double in 2013 -Simplify

By Amy Or

NEW YORK--With restriction on trading investments in hedge funds and private equity loosening, investors are increasingly turning to the secondary market to trade these private-fund interests, and the notional value of these trades is expected to more than double to $146 billion next year from an expected $65 billion this year, according to Simplify LLC, a provider of trading and risk products to investors.

Escape the hedges

By MICHELLE CELARIER

Last Updated: 12:26 PM, August 15, 2012

Posted: 11:16 PM, August 14, 2012

Investors have figured out another way to dump their hedge funds: sell their partnership interests on the secondary market.

Even such big names as SAC Capital Advisors and Elliott Management are on the block as investors clamor to unlock their investment capital.

Bloomberg - Research Round Up

About 55 percent of global hedge fund investros have trades share in the secdondary market, accord to a survey conducted by New York-based Simplify LLC, which provides software for investing in alternative assets.

March 16, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Simplify LLC will offer its flagship portfolio management and risk system PortfolioCentriX (PCX) pro-bono to the tax-exempt sector.

The firm says it is concerned that public pensions, university endowments, hospitals, museums, school boards and other non-profits and tax-exempt organizations are at the mercy of third party advisers when it comes to managing their alternative portfolios.

March 7, 2012 - NEW YORK (Dow Jones) Institutional investors are under pressure to conduct their own due diligence, in addition to weighing advice from investment consultants, when moving assets into hedge funds.

Read what Brian Shapiro of Simplify and PortfolioCentriX client John Levitt of Clearbrook Global Advisors have to say.

March, 7 2012 - Technology boutique Simplify is offering a web-based service designed to automate all aspect of screening, selecting and tracking hedge funds. Originally developed for fund administrator DPM/Mellon, PortfolioCentriX™ is now being offered pro-bono to all Tax-Exempt institutional investors.

 

February 14, 2012- New York (DOW JONES) After 3 years, a man-hunt, a trial and conviction resulting in a 15 year sentence Arthur "Mini-Madoff" Nadell's investors get some restitution.

Aided by the work of Brian Shapiro, that identified the potential fraud as early as 2003 and helped make the case for the Department of Justice against the bogus fund manager, investors will receive at least $9.8 via settlement with Goldman Sachs, albeit far from the $168M they lost.

London - January 2010 - Simplify is delighted to advise that one of clients Moonraker Commodities Fund (US dollar class) has won ‘Best performing energy/commodity Fund of Hedge Fund’ at Hedge Funds Review’s Eighth European Fund of Hedge Funds awards. In winning the award the fund was ranked against its peers by its annualized return and relative volatility, for the relevant period.   The fund, launched in June 2008, has delivered outstanding performance having returned 22.80% since its inception up to 30 September 2009. Its Benchmark, the DJ-UBS Commodity index, returned -39.82% over the same period.

Moonraker received this prestigious accolade at a gala event held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. Jeremy Charlesworth, Moonraker portfolio manager, commented: "We are delighted to have won this prestigious award, which demonstrates our committed efforts to delivering out-performance to our investors. Financial events over the last two years’ have highlighted the need for careful fund selection, and this award is a testament to our investment process, risk management techniques and the close relationship we have with our underlying fund managers.”

To find out more about Moonraker Fund Managment Ltd. (Commodities and Global Opportunities), call or email Lynn Nathan at +44 (0) 207 487 9780 or lynn.nathan@moonrakerfunds.com

 

The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has published an updated global Guide to Sound Practices for Funds of Hedge Funds Managers.