Seeding platform NewAlpha is owned by OFI, a EUR 49bn French pioneer in multi management owned by two large French insurance groups, Macif and Matmut. In 1998, OFI seeded ADI which grew into a EUR 7bn alternative investment manager. In 2003, ADI created NewAlpha as incubation platform. In 2008 OFI bought back NewAlpha from ADI.
Until July 2011, NewAlpha has analyzed 1150 seeding projects and seeded 16 managers. The firm plans to seed four more in the second half of 2011. NewAlpha sees increased interest from institutions worldwide and family offices to finance hedge fund seed deals and expects significant growth and opportunities for incubators and investors particularly in Asia in the next decade.
In this Opalesque.TV BACKSTAGE interview, NewAlpha CEO Antoine Rolland shares some success stories of his firm, where within few years after the seed arrangement emerging managers had to close their fund to new investments. He also explains how a manager's decision on fund structure and target volatility can mean success or failure for him, and how NewAlpha is different to other seeding firms.
NewAlpha has been nominated to manage the first investment tranche focusing on absolute return managers of the new French national seeding fund EMERGENCE set up to help develop domestic talent. EMERGENCE is backed.by Finance Innovation, a Paris-based business and research cluster and Paris Europlace, the body created by the major French institutions to promote and develop the Paris fnancial market
