Alternative investments

Liberty Street Advisors has launched the Center Coast MLP Focus Fund, a mutual fund that will invest in midstream energy infrastructure master limited partnerships. It will be sub-advised by Center Coast Capital Advisors of Houston, whose founder Dan Tutcher is well known in the MLP sector.

In an effort to provide investors with greater diversification, Prudential Investments has launched the Prudential Real Assets Fund, which will invest in real estate, metals, fuel and other commodities. In addition, the fund aims to protect investors against inflation and rising interest rates.

U.S. REITs continued to significantly outperform the broader equity market in 2010, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts said Wednesday. U.S. REITs rose 27.95% in 2010, compared to the S&P 500’s 15.06% gain.

ProShares on Tuesday launched two volatility exchange-traded funds, the ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures and the ProShares VIX Mid-Term Futures funds.

Loomis Sayles on Wednesday launched the Loomis Sayles Absolute Strategies Fund, a flexible, risk-managed absolute return fund.

Asset management fees for hedge funds, private equity, infrastructure and real estate have all fallen in both pooled and separately managed accounts, according to the 2010 Asset Manager Fee Survey by Mercer.

ProShares’ new ProShares RAFI Long/Short exchange-traded fund began trading on NYSE Arca Thursday.

ETF Securities’ ETFS Physical White Metals Basket Shares (WITE) began trading on the NYSE Arca Friday.

Stephen Wedel, an LPL adviser and founding partner of Four Seasons Wealth Management in St. Louis, is gathering a lot of assets by investing his clients' money in alternatives, including non-traded real estate investment trusts, oil-and-gas limited partnerships, managed futures and private equity.

Fund managers are moving to get independent values on over-the-counter derivatives, rather than relying on their broker-dealers.

First investment banks developed tools to act like hedge funds. Now their risk strategies are spreading to traditional money management.

NEW YORK—Absolute-return funds may now only total $140 billion, a scant 1.2% of the $11.26 trillion in mutual funds, but that will grow to 10% to 15% over the next decade, predicts Putnam Investments President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Reynolds

The Absolute Return LLC has launched a family of five absolute return portfolios that aim to deliver positive returns regardless of the direction of the market.

Russell Investments has launched a new family of equal weight indexes that also manage for sector risk and are easily replicated for investable products. The indexes apply to each of the nine Russell global sectors: consumer discretionary, consumer staples, energy, financial services, healthcare, materials and processing, producer durables, technology and utilities.

Fidelity Investments is making its single family offices services available to advisers serving this market as well as ultra-high-net-worth clients with investable assets of $50 million or more.

Over half of American donors (55%) plan to maintain the same level of charitable giving in the fourth quarter, despite market uncertainty, according to a survey by the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, the largest donor-advised program nationally.

Matthews International Capital Management has launched an umbrella UCITS in Luxembourg comprised of three Asia-focused funds: Asia Dividend Fund, Pacific Tiger Fund and China Fund. It is the first time investors outside of the U.S. have had access to Matthews funds.

Genworth Financial has agreed to pay $35 million, plus additional performance-based payments, to acquire alternative investments platform provider Altegris. The deal is expected to close at the end of the year.

The mystery of why America continues to rely on foreign oil and contaminate its environment-and subsequently why the green industry holds the promise of becoming a $6 trillion market but remains speculative, volatile and fragmented-is answered in the intriguing book, "The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers and the Fight to Save the Earth" (Eric Pooley, Hyperion, 2010).

The Shanghai Stock Exchange will create exchange-traded funds based on depositary indices maintained by BNY Mellon.