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Vastardis Capital Services™
Announces New Service Offerings
Vastardis Capital Services™ is
pleased to announce the addition of two new service areas.
Operational
due diligence reviews respond to a growing need in the
investment community for independent evaluations of a fund from the
operational and risk management perspectives. In the wake of the Madoff
scandal and other fraudulent investment schemes, "investors and
regulatory bodies require increasing assurance that the key risks of
investing in private fund structures and separate accounts are known and
mitigated if possible," said William Vastardis, the Vastardis partner
spearheading this service offering. "Not only does an independent
Vastardis review ensure a lack of bias in the findings, it frees the
money manager to focus on the investment thesis and investment process of
the fund being evaluated for possible purchase."
A Vastardis operational due diligence
evaluation entails a comprehensive review of the fund's documents,
liquidity arrangements (lockups, redemptions, gates, etc.), regulatory
status and filings, performance calculation methodology, and valuation
policies, as well as of the investment manager's trading, reconciliation,
and risk management procedures and controls. It also includes a thorough
review of the fund's service providers and their procedures and controls.
A crucial component is the verification of the existence of all assets of
the fund or separate account with the custodian or prime broker.
The process starts with the
completion of due diligence questionnaires by the investment manager and
the fund's other service providers, continues with an on-site visit to
the manager to review the questionnaire and other documentation, and
concludes with the verification of assets and of the relationship of the
fund with its administrator, prime broker, law firm and independent audit
firm.
Vastardis has staffed its due
diligence service exclusively with senior managers. "Our partners
have 130 years of collective experience in the investment industry. We
have the background and confidence to ask the tough follow-up questions
that go beyond the questionnaires and to validate the responses through
on-site observance," said Mr. Vastardis. "Operational due
diligence is a natural outgrowth of our fund administration business.
Handling complex multi-manager structures with over 500 underlying funds
has given us a strong knowledge of best industry practices."
Derivatives
middle office processing services cover the full range of
derivatives products, including all types of swaps and OTC options, as
well as exchange traded futures and options and foreign exchange forward
contracts. Services include trade support, electronic confirmation and
daily collateral management based on independent valuation of the
derivatives. "We apply all of the industry automation tools to this
challenging area of operational processing in order to supply a level of
service that is difficult to replicate internally," said Mike Wyne,
the Vastardis partner in charge of operations. "We also create
customized reporting as to counterparty and issuer risk exposure and
track compliance with ISDA terms for each fund."
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