WEST PALM BEACH, FL (HEDGECO.NET) – The Asset Management Group of State Street Corp is forming a new hedge fund group. Chris Woods, Chief Investment Officer of State Street Global Advisors [SSGA],made this announcement to Bloomberg correspondents.
Wood said the new unit was created in London to manage hedge funds, as well as accounts of institutional investors, particularly pension plans. The new group would in addition manage about US$200 million of SSGA�s total of about US$1.6 billion in hedge fund assets.
According to Mr. Woods, SSGA hopes to eventually attract about US$4 billion for its hedge fund portfolio. This effort is geared towards increasing SSGA�s share of Pension fund investment assets.
Lately, an increasing numbers of institutional investors and Pension plans are devoting more assets to alternative investment strategies such as hedge funds. This trend is projected to increase in the years to come as more institutional investors discover hedge funds. According to data released recently by Tremont Capital, hedge funds gained about US$72 billion in 2003, bringing its total management assets to over $800 billion as at the end of 2003.
Woods said the new hedge fund group would use aggressive marketing techniques to sell its hedge funds, hoping to increase its current 6% annual returns to 8%. According to Woods, five managers would manage the new hedge fund group, but the number of managers would be increased as total assets increase. State Street Corp is the world�s largest asset management company, with a total of about $9.4 trillion under its care.
Paul Oranika
Editor-in-Chief
HedgeCo.Net
Email: Editor@hedgeco.net
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