Maitland to handle Blue Ink Fund Administration
Specialist fund of hedge funds manager Blue Ink Investments has appointed Maitland as independent administrator of its range of retail and institutional funds. Blue Ink Investments has around R3 billion in assets under management spread across 10 local funds of hedge funds. Administration of the funds will transfer to Maitland on 1 June 2009 and will serve to boost funds under administration in Maitland’s fund services division to in excess of R320 billion.
Veit Schuhen, head of Maitland in South Africa, said that the performance of domestic hedge funds through the sharp declines in equity markets over the past year had proved the value of alternative investment strategies in a local context. On this basis he said that it seemed reasonable to assume that the sector will continue to grow and become an important component of diversified portfolios, subjected to all the rigours applied to traditional large, “institutional” fund managers.
“A key strength of Maitland’s administration systems is the ability to receive fund data from multiple sources and produce a consolidated record for multi-managed funds. Access to current portfolio data better enables managers to optimise investment strategies and manage investment risk more effectively. These are significant differentiators in volatile markets such as those currently being experienced,” said Schuhen.
Blue Ink Investments CEO, Esmarie Strydom, said Blue Ink’s rapidly growing asset base had necessitated the need to review its administration processes. Following an extensive evaluation of service providers, we concluded that the Maitland systems were best suited to providing our funds, and ultimately our clients, with the most comprehensive and effective administration service.”
Maitland is a specialist provider of fund administration services and administers assets on behalf of domestic and international clients. All key business operations are based in Cape Town but international clients are serviced through an office in Luxembourg.
