LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Barclays today announced the launch of the Novus Barclays Public Ownership HF Conviction Index Family. This index family, designed jointly by Novus and Barclays, is a new addition to the Barclays range of Quantitative Investment Strategies.
The new indices aim to provide an alternative to market capitalisation weighted indices with a distinctive way to identify the key investment ideas of hedge funds. The indices also leverage some of the academic work done in this area of investing coupled with insights generated during the research and development phase. In addition to the long-only indices, there will be market-hedged index versions, which hold a long position in the Novus Barclays Public Ownership HF Conviction Index and a beta-adjusted short position in the relevant benchmark index, with the aim of providing a ‘market neutral’ investment. This responds to investor interest in accessing this type of investment strategy whilst having very limited beta to the equity market.
There are 2 sets of indices launched today: one focusing exclusively on US domiciled US listed companies, and the other which includes all stocks that are listed in the US including, for instance, non-US based companies with liquid American Depositary Receipts. The indices aim to invest in a portfolio of liquid stocks in which there are the most hedge funds holders with high conviction positions. The data used to calculate the stocks which are most commonly high conviction positions will be provided by Novus.
“Barclays is delighted to expand our range of indices and increase the breadth of strategies available to investors via the index format,” said Benedict Redmond, Director of EFS Solutions at Barclays. “We believe that these indices will be compelling for a wide range of investors seeking alternative sources of returns, and we are very pleased to be able to leverage Novus’ expertise in this space to launch these indices.”
“In a world where information spreads ever faster and is available to everyone, we now have the chance to track the wisdom of crowds by applying big data techniques and intelligent algorithms to large datasets,” said Andrea Gentilini, President of Novus. “As a large aggregator of hedge fund public data and with our expertise analysing equity long short managers, Novus is pleased to collaborate with Barclays on the development of these new and innovative indices.”
Novus and Barclays began their collaboration in 2015, and over the last eighteen months have investigated ways to use the publicly available hedge fund holdings data, also known as 13F filings, to produce enhanced risk-adjusted returns versus comparable benchmarks. There is a significant demand for Smart Beta indices and these new indices aim to deliver hedge fund beta packaged in a more transparent and systematic manner.
Novus has over a decade of advanced experience analysing publically-available hedge fund filings, and Barclays partnered with Novus in order to tap into the company’s insight and expertise in this field. Novus’ sophisticated analytics and their extensive hedge fund categorization database, with its granular ability to focus on particular investment styles of hedge funds, perform the difficult task of analysing 13F filings and drive the indices.
About Novus
Novus was founded in 2007 by a group of investors, data scientists and engineers to build a foundation that helps the world’s top investors generate higher returns. Simply stated, Novus believes investors need to innovate, adapt and increase the value they deliver. Today, around 200 of the world’s top investment managers and institutional investors managing approximately $3.5 trillion use Novus as the foundation to all their data, analytics and research needs. At its essence, Novus is a platform for the industry’s top investors to collectively innovate.
Novus Disclaimer
It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Exposure to an asset class represented by an index is available through investable instruments based on that index. Novus does not sponsor, endorse, sell, promote or manage any investment fund or other investment vehicle that is offered by third parties and that seeks to provide an investment return based on the performance of any index. Novus makes no assurance that investment products based on the index will accurately track index performance or provide positive investment returns. Novus is not an investment adviser, and makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in any such investment fund or other investment vehicle. A decision to invest in any such investment fund or other investment vehicle should not be made in reliance on any of the statements set forth in this press release.
About Barclays
Barclays is a transatlantic consumer, corporate and investment bank offering products and services across personal, corporate and investment banking, credit cards and wealth management, with a strong presence in our two home markets of the UK and the US.
With over 325 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 40 countries and employs approximately 85,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for customers and clients worldwide.
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