Investment 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.

Three of the new funds will invest in large-cap stocks.

RiverPark Advisors has launched a new family of no-load open-end mutual funds, three of which will invest in large-cap stocks.

Asset held in exchange-traded funds increased 10.6% in September.

France, Germany and others, meanwhile, are uncomfortable with the powers of the EU’s new securities regulator.

European Union talks on granting hedge funds a Continental passport to do business and subjecting them to oversight by the new securities regulator has hit an impasse, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Van Eck Global has launched the Market Vectors China ETF, a U.S.-listed exchange-traded fund that tacks the performance of the CSI 300 Index from China Securities Index Co. to give investors exposure to the A-shares traded on China’s two main exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen. These shares account for 72% of China’s equities, whereas H-shares, or shares traded on lesser exchanges in Hong Kong and elsewhere, account for 13% of China’s total equity market.

Seeing an increased appetite for munis from individual buyers, Fidelity Investments has ramped up its underwriting capabilities in recent years, saying it wants to give clients quicker access to new product with better prices and more transparency.

Expert investors and analysts have been saying it for years: Economies in the emerging markets have become so sophisticated that the so-called frontier markets are becoming the place to find richer yields.

Eaton Vance Management has launched the Eaton Vance Richard Bernstein Multi-Market Equity Strategy Fund, which will be managed by Richard Bernstein, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of sub-advisor Richard Bernstein Advisors.

The Russell Frontier Index offers broad coverage of African countries, which had been previously underrepresented.

Some parts of the fixed-income market are hard to track with a traditional ETF.

TD Ameritrade is lifting the trading commissions on 101 exchange-traded funds indefinitely. Investors must hold the ETFs for at least 30 days, however; otherwise they will be charged the standard $9.99 fee.

Vanguard Group removed AllianceBernstein as manager of the Vanguard U.S. Growth Fund, replacing it with Wellington Management and Delaware Investments. William Blair will continue to run one-third of the fund.

While hedge funds that have sought non-traditional investors have gone the ’40 Act route through funds-of-funds structures, they should consider separately managed accounts, according to a report from Pershing and Greenwich Associates based on detailed interviews with 41 hedge fund and investment managers and 27 institutional investors.

Another $3 billion leaves equity funds.

UAT said it received a patent for technology that connects external money managers to computing platforms in real-time.

Standard & Poor’s has announced the finalists for its inaugural U.S. Mutual Fund Excellence Awards program.There are 29 funds, from a starting pool of 19,000 mutual funds. Seventeen fund families are represented across ten categories. Gold, silver and bronze award recipients in each category will be announced during a live video broadcast in November, from S&P’s offices, the company said.

There are 29 funds, from a starting pool of 19,000 mutual funds. Seventeen fund families are represented across ten categories. Gold, silver and bronze award recipients in each category will be announced during a live video broadcast in November, from S&P’s offices, the company said.

The fund giant has cut cost in 52 funds by lowering the qualifications for Admiral Shares.