Marcus Storr is Head of Hedge Funds at FERI. Based in Bad Homburg near Frankfurt, FERI was founded in 1987 and has become a leading investment manager to private and institutional investors and foundations in German speaking Europe. From FERI’s total asset base of around 27 billion EUR, 1 billion are invested in various hedge fund strategies, making FERI the largest hedge fund investor in Germany. With a team of eight, FERI employs the largest hedge fund research team in Germany and has been investing in hedge funds since 1999.
In this Opalesque.TV BACKSTAGE video, Marcus Storr talks about the current change of landscape among German institutional investors who after having spent significant amounts of time to educate themselves on alternative investments are now starting allocating to hedge funds in a meaningful way. This move is of course a consequence of the pressure investors are facing to find new sources of yield and diversification.
Storr also believes there are attractive opportunities for overseas funds to market again to German and European investors. While currently about 80-90% of German institutions will invest in UCITS, not offshore hedge funds, that may change as initiatives are underway in Germany and Europe to partly remove the regulatory hurdle for offshore funds. He also explains how Asians deal with AFIMD differently than US managers, and how the interpretations of AIFMD and subsequently marketing activities differ greatly amongst managers.
FERI’s research has also shown that the quality of UCITS funds has recently increased, however these funds still have an average “tracking error” to offshore 1-2% p.a. Interestingly, this tracking error, according to FERI, does not exist between L/S UCITS and offshore funds.
Marcus Storr – Sea Change In Germany As Search For Yield, Diversification Pressures Investors To Allocate To Hedge Funds, Alternatives
Hear Marcus Storr also speak about:
- It’s Coupon Time! But where to put the money? Where and how do German institutions allocate to hedge funds now?
- The drivers for the recent increase in quality of UCITS funds
- How has AIFMD changed the landscape in Europe and globally?
- Why “reverse solicitation” isn’t just an email any more
- Why UCITS is still a draw for investors and mostly larger managers
- FERI’s recommendation to non-EU managers to tap the German and European investor bases
Marcus Storr is Head of Hedge Funds at FERI AG. Before that, he was Head of Strategic Advisory Team at Sächsische Landesbank, Director, Global Equities at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, London and Vice President, Global Equities at JPMorgan Chase / Robert Flemings Ltd., London. He also was a consultant to High Networth Individuals at Berliner Volksbank eG, Berlin.
