Investment Management Newsflashes: Cazenove Capital Selects Charles River IMS, and more

Cazenove Chooses Charles River IMS

Cazenove Capital Management, a London-based investment management firm ($15.8 billion in assets) has completed implementation of the Charles River Investment Management System (IMS) from Charles River Development. Cazenove Capital is using the system to support its equities, fixed-income, derivatives and foreign exchange portfolio strategies.

The selection of Charles River IMS was part of Cazenove Capital’s companywide initiative to upgrade front-, middle- and back-office operations, providing employees with additional functionality and a streamlined communications workflow for higher levels of efficiency. The software suite offers solutions for portfolio management and modeling, order management and electronic trading, real-time compliance monitoring, and the centralized management of trade matching, confirmation and settlement communications.

“Operating on one enterprisewide platform allows our fund managers, traders, and compliance staff to manage all securities and portfolios on one real-time solution, dramatically improving workflow efficiency and precision,” said Stewart Norwood, head of technology at Cazenove Capital Management, in a release.

Cazenove Capital manages U.K. and European securities for professional advisers, institutions, charities and private individuals. It has 100 users on the Charles River IMS including 70 fund managers, seven traders, and three compliance managers.

Odyssey Picks Up Reuters Portfolio Management System

Odyssey Asset Management Systems is acquiring the Reuters Portfolio Management System (RPMS) business. The transaction will be completed on or around Dec. 31 of this year.

The transfer to Odyssey will include the RPMS product, contractual customer relationships and the employees in three German RPMS office locations: Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich. Odyssey expects the acquisition to reinforce its presence in the German wealth management market.

“The combination of Odyssey’s product range, the industry knowledge of the RPMS staff and the Reuters PMS footprint creates a new powerhouse for wealth management solutions in Germany, which will serve RPMS customers well,” said Michel Jogen, Odyssey’s general manager of Western Europe, in a release.

Odyssey plans to fully support the existing 60 RPMS customers and 168 entities serviced through an ASP venture with the transferred RPMS teams. The company believes that these customers will benefit from a range of new capabilities beyond portfolio management functions, including stronger workflow integration, customer relationship management, reference data management and reporting.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Linedata Buys Beauchamp to Expand Offering for Hedge Funds

Paris-based Linedata Services announced the acquisition of Beauchamp Financial Technology (BFT), a London-based software provider specializing in portfolio management solutions for hedge funds. BFT will cost Linedata an initial payment of $19.1 million with an earn-out clause for as much as an additional $24.4 million based on the performance of the business over the next two years.

Linedata expects the acquisition to strengthen its position in the world’s key financial communities by providing a variety of software and services targeted at all types of asset management vehicles, including UCITS, institutional funds and hedge funds.

“This new acquisition in the field of asset management is perfectly in line with our objectives to increase our share of the world’s English-speaking markets, strengthen our position in the most buoyant segments, and to build a group of high-performing companies that can actively contribute to our future growth and adhere to our corporate mission statement,” said Anvaraly Jiva, chairman and CEO of Linedata Services, in a release.

Linedata believes it has reinforced its middle- and back-office offering in a strong growth market with the addition of BFT’s solutions to its product portfolio, specifically its FundManager application. BFT’s applications will be used to complement Linedata’s front-office solution, LongView Trading, which is currently distributed to hedge funds via ASP within the framework of a partnership.

Additionally, Linedata expects to be able to leverage BFT’s strong market position among hedge funds in Asia boost its own development in that region.