Cygnus Asset Management was the first independent hedge fund registered with the Spanish financial regulator CNMV, paving the way for more Spanish firms to come within this asset class.
Today, Cygnus is also registered with the SEC and employs around 20 professionals. The company has a well-diversified global investor base (50% outside of Europe) and offers the Cygnus Utilities, Infrastructure & Renewables (launched 2006) and the Cygnus Europa Event Driven (launched in 2010) strategies, both with low correlation to markets as well as peers. Cygnus' strategies aim to provide positive returns in any type of market environment. Active risk control and flexible portfolio management allow the PMs to mitigate possible market downturns, perhaps obtaining positive results, even in difficult situations.
In this Opalesque.TV BACKSTAGE video, Founding Partner & CIO Juan Cruz and PM José Luis Pérez speak about:- Formative years: Prop-trading at Banco Santander, one of the most globally recognized Spanish financial institutions, provided a formidable foundation to run hedge fund portfolios
- Understanding and benefiting from cycles. How Cygnus successfully navigated the financial crisis of 2008
- How does Cygnus manage to deliver uncorrelated returns?
- The Cygnus edge: Experience - Fast decision process – Concentration – Risk Management
Juan Cruz has ample experience in the management of proprietary portfolios of financial institutions, as well as in hedge fund management, specializing in the utilities, infrastructure and renewables sector. Between 2000 and 2005, Juan was one of the founding partners of BBVA & Partners, a Madrid based hedge fund, where he was responsible for investments in the utilities sector, among other things. Juan has been involved in long/short equity and/or proprietary trading for more than 20 years, being associated with Argentaria (a company that merged into BBVA in 2000) from 1994 through 1999 and with Santander from 1999 through 2000, two of the largest financial institutions of Spain. Juan holds a B.Sc. in Economics from CUNEF, Madrid.
José Luis Pérez is the portfolio manager of the Cygnus Europa Event Driven Strategy. He was founding partner of Shelter Island and co-manager of Shelter Island Offshore Fund Ltd. from 2003-2008. Before this, he ran HVB Group’s Madrid Risk Arbitrage and Equity Proprietary Trading businesses. Prior to that, he also headed the Equity Derivatives Trading Business at Banco Santander for nine years. He has extensive experience in derivatives, options arbitrage, cash and carry, risk arbitrage, event driven, technical analysis and directional investments. José Luis holds an M.A. in Economics & B.Sc. in Business Administration from the University of Illinois.
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Cygnus Asset Management was the first independent hedge fund registered with the Spanish financial regulator CNMV, paving the way for more Spanish firms to come within this asset class.
Today, Cygnus is also registered with the SEC and employs around 20 professionals. The company has a well-diversified global investor base (50% outside of Europe) and offers the Cygnus Utilities, Infrastructure & Renewables (launched 2006) and the Cygnus Europa Event Driven (launched in 2010) strategies, both with low correlation to markets as well ...more