Fund-Linked House Of The Year

Barclays Capital Barclays Capital lived up to its reputation as an aggressive, innovative player by establishing a fund-linked derivatives team in New York and moving ahead with plans to set up a similar team in Asia. Headed by Richard Ho in London, the U.K. firm impressed the market in June when it completed the first tranche of its alpha-supported private equity notes, linked to the performance of a basket of private equity funds managed by Carlyle Management Co. Barclays also was busy launching a Shariah-compliant hedge fund platform and executing algorithmic strategies for mutual funds.

 

BNP Paribas The French house's fund-linked business, headed globally by Stephane Liot, is known for its professionalism, understanding and complex products. One investor called BNP "the best of the lot in terms of their ability to get deals done and turn things around quickly." This year, BNP worked on a ground-breaking deal with an Australian asset manager, providing close to EUR1 billion in leverage for one of its fund of funds. This was the largest fund derivative transaction in Australia to date.

 

Credit Suisse Investors named Credit Suisse a leader because of the Swiss house's ability to structure complex products as well as plain-vanilla deals and explain everything well. Led by Walter Rotondo, the firm is known for accurate pricing, particularly for call options and constant proportion portfolio insurance. One fund house that worked with Credit Suisse on a capital-protected note program this year called the firm very quick, straightforward, willing to go the extra mile, and proficient at due diligence. This year the firm worked on a range of Basel II compliant structures, as well as developing a hybrid CPPI structure with a minimum 100% asset allocation.

 

Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers' hiring of Rusty Schreiber from HSBC this year has moved the New York firm up a gear. Schreiber joined as a managing director in Lehman's fund-linked structured products group and has led the team to a wider range of structures, one industry lawyer said. Investors called attention to Lehman's skills at single-fund structures, as well as hedge fund warrants. "Lehman has been building their team, and they were very proactive. I think they have got a good combination of structuring expertise and investor connections," a London-based hedge fund manager said.