Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Hedge fund commoditization

I see that HFRX is now listing their HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index as an ETF:
UBS AG and Hedge Fund Research (HFR) have launched the UBS ETFs plc - HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index SF, the first Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) built on the industry’s most widely used standard investable benchmark of hedge fund performance globally, it was announced today.

The UBS ETFs plc - HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index SF-I was listed on the Deutsche Boerse Exchange on 3 December 2010 (symbol UIQG). The “SF-I” share class is targeting qualified investors. UBS and HFR anticipate additional listings in coming weeks. The ETF is UCITS III compliant.
I rhetorically asked in my first post in November 2007 why investors were paying 2 and 20 for hedge funds. While I recognize that the returns of HFRXGL includes fees, this is another step in the commoditization of hedge fund strategies.




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