11:41 AM
LJH Selects Vendor to Service Fund of Funds
With needs different than those of a traditional mutual fund, LJH Global Investments chose PFPC to service its new fund of funds.
LJH Global Investments has selected PFPC, a provider of accounting and administrative services to the hedge-fund industry, to provide services for a registered hedge-fund-of-funds product to be offered this year.
Under the contract, PFPC will provide custody, accounting, administration, partner services, tax services and regulatory services, including Securities and Exchange Commission filings, for the Phoenix-LJH Advisors Fund LLC fund.
"We were basically looking for an administrator that had experience in the '40 Act (the Investment Company Act of 1940) and could work with a registered hedge fund of funds," says LJH Global Investments Chief Operating Officer Willis Williams. "PFPC had more experience in that type of product than anyone else."
Though he would not name any of the other finalists that LJH considered and would not go into the specifics of the deal's pricing, Williams did mention that PFPC was competitive on cost.
PFPC currently provides mutual-fund servicing and administration for Phoenix Investment Partners, a subsidiary of The Phoenix Companies, which formed an alliance with LJH Global Investments earlier this year to create the registered hedge-fund-of-funds product.
Due to the specific nature of LJH's needs, Williams says the field of potential services providers was small. "There are some differences between (servicing a fund of funds and) servicing a mutual fund. I would say a provider who has serviced mutual funds can learn to service the product that we're talking about and a provider who has serviced private investment partnerships can adapt," explains Williams, "but we found someone who was already adapted."
PFPC services investment partnerships, including traditional hedge funds and the growing segment of hedge funds of funds. As of Dec. 31, 2002, PFPC's Alternative Investments Group serviced 315 partnership portfolios with $17.9 billion in assets.
Williams says LJH plans to be live with PFPC on March 1.