William Keunen, director, Citco Fund Services
These are halcyon times for the alternative investment industry. While the attention rightly spotlights talented fund managers and the institutional investors who are sponsoring them, administrators have seized the opportunity to assume a more integral role in the investment process and have participated enthusiastically in the ride.
The primary reason for this development is the increased focus on the integrity of the operational infrastructure of a fund, resulting in the search for an added-value fund administration service that meets their needs. Fund administrators see this as the opportunity to create a service offering that is integral to a hedge fund's investment process.
Unfortunately, however, for a variety of reasons, the quality delivered by such a world-class opportunity tends to be a mixed bag, with many administration mandates overselling rather than providing what a fund really needs. The result could be a match made in...