Florida Hedge Fund Roundup: MFA Network 2015 and Context Summits - Miami 2015

The inclement weather that plagued New York City and much of the Northeast last week did not deter the Sunshine State from welcoming thousands of hedge fund professionals to the Managed Funds Association (MFA) Network 2015 and Context Summits Miami 2015, two of the industry’s largest conferences. Despite flight cancellations out of JFK, Newark, LaGuardia, among other airports throughout the U.S., the majority of attendees were able to rearrange their travel plans and make it to the events.

 
At the first conference, MFA Network 2015 (January 26 - 28 at the Intercontinental Miami), the majority of managers in attendance, predominantly in the CTA and managed futures space, generally concurred that fundraising has been rather challenging and that new fund launches were taking longer than expected, but were optimistic going forward since these strategies have rebounded in performance since last year.
 
Meanwhile, at  Context Summits Miami 2015, (January 28 - 30 at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach), investor attendees expressed keen interest in allocating to separately managed account structures of the hedge fund or CTA manager. With respect to strategy, there was a heavy appetite for niche offerings. The managers that attended ranged from start-up/emerging managers to established with a greater AUM base and, from their perspective, they were confident that the majority of their 1-on-1 meetings during the conference would lead to follow-up discussions.
 
Many conference attendees took advantage of another snow storm that plagued New York City, other parts of the Northeast and Chicago to soak up a couple of extra days of sun and enjoy their Super Bowl Sunday in warmer climes. Event still, they were ultimately welcomed home the same way they left: by a snow storm.