Amiri to launch Islamic hedge fund.Byline: London Amiri Capital, the Islamic asset manager backed by investment firm Olivant, said it has teamed up with broker Newedge to launch the first Islamic fund of long/short hedge funds marketed in the Middle East. The partnership with Newedge - itself a joint venture between Calyon and Societe Generale - allows Amiri to launch the fund, which was put on hold when original partner Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH), founded in 1850, is a diversified, global financial services firm. It is a participant in investment banking, equity and fixed income sales, research and trading, investment management, private equity, and private banking. filed for bankruptcy protection in September. Hedge funds are a relatively new concept in Islamic finance and a bone of contention a subject of contention or dispute. See also: Bone , with some scholars rejecting them as speculative and others sanctioning them as a tool for diversification. The Amiri Equity Alternative Strategies Fund (AEAS AEAS Automated Exercise and Assessment System AEAS Animal Emotion Analysis System AEAS Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron (US Air Force) AEAS ASW Environmental Acoustic Support (US Navy) ) will operate under the same Sharia-compliant structure agreed with Lehman Brothers to avoid short selling Short Selling The selling of a security that the seller does not own, or any sale that is completed by the delivery of a security borrowed by the seller. Short sellers assume that they will be able to buy the stock at a lower amount than the price at which they sold short. , which involves profiting as a stock price falls. Islamic fund managers cannot sell something they do not own, and cannot speculate either. The Cayman-Islands domiciled fund will implement a stock screening process to exclude certain types of derivatives, companies charging interest, highly leveraged firms or companies directly or indirectly involved with gambling, alcohol, pornography and pork meat production. Amiri co-founder Richard Ellis told Reuters that Gulf-based investors have pledged assets to the fund of funds Fund of Funds A mutual fund that invests in other mutual funds. Notes: For example, an investor would select a general risk profile and the fund-of-funds manager would pick underlying investments from a range of products managed by external managers. but investments will be made when the market shows signs of improvement. 'We are working with our seed investors to agree a time to invest in the market. We are waiting right now, but it will hopefully be soon,' Ellis said. Philippe Teilhard de Chardin Teil·hard de Char·din , Pierre 1881-1955. French priest, paleontologist, and philosopher who maintained that the universe and humankind are evolving toward a perfect state. , global head of prime brokerage Prime Brokerage A special group of services that many brokerages give to special clients. The services provided under prime brokering are securities lending, leveraged trade executions, and cash management, among other things. at Newedge, said: 'It is a small and developing market and it is important to neutralise costs. 'Hedge funds fill up a risk/return spectrum which is between equity and money market type of returns,' he said.- Reuters Copyright 2008 www.tradearabia.com Copyright 2009 Al Hilal Publishing & Marketing Group Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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