2007年7月，基于芝加哥的城堡投资集团推出了一个子公司城堡解决方案，旨在使对冲基金管理市场与相同的技术精明，为自己的vaunted对冲基金提供权力。But as good as company executives thought their technology might be, they knew that success in the fiercely competitive world of transaction processing, performance reporting and other middle- and back-office support services would depend on overcoming other hedge funds’ natural resistance to handing revenue-generating business over to a competitor. Only one other hedge fund, Black River Asset Management, a subsidiary of agribusiness company Cargill, is currently offering these services to other funds, through its 2006 spin-off, LaCrosse Global Fund Services. Lacrosse Global’s $15 billion of assets under administration are a drop in the $2 trillion hedge fund ocean.
城堡的解决方案做了功课。由总裁John巴克利，2006年雷曼兄弟聘请了创建基金服务部门的领导下，该公司采访了近40对冲基金超过六个月，以评估他们的需求和恐惧。其结果是，管理员设置单独的办公室 - 禁地城堡对冲基金的员工 - 和计算机系统，转向普华永道独立审计。到目前为止，理货：从14个客户$ 10十亿的资产。但是，即使总$ 30十亿，包括$ 20十亿它负责管理其母公司，城堡的解决方案不开裂前20名的日益巩固，对冲基金管理市场。总部位于都柏林的CITCO基金服务，拥有超过500个十亿$，引领市场，其次是银行业巨头富通集团，汇丰控股，各会员以约300十亿$。
Backley说，“我们不在业务中成为一位球员。我们希望在五年内排名前十年，这意味着我们必须在资产中有超过1000亿美元。不久之后，我们希望成为第1号或第2号。“
Citadel’s start is clearly modest, but its client wins include former Lehman Brothers securitization executive David Sherr’s One William Street Capital Management, which is launching two funds in the mortgage- and asset-backed market, and New York–based Knighthead Capital Management, started by Ara Cohen of Redwood Capital Management and Thomas Wagner of Goldman, Sachs & Co. The firm beat out Citco both times. “We’re proud to be competing out of the gate with the most progressive competitor,” says Buckley, who is also hoping to rope in new funds launched by established, multibillion-dollar firms.
Buckley has a potent sales pitch — Citadel’s technology is built “by a hedge fund for a hedge fund,” he says — that is taken lightly by no one, particularly such leading custodian banks as Bank of New York Mellon Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and State Street Corp., which have acquired hedge fund administrators in recent years to offset slower growth in other parts of their businesses.
“采取对冲基金平台，流程和人员和商业化它的概念是合理的，”罗伯特Caporale，摩根大通全球证券服务公司的私募股权和对冲基金服务业务部负责人说，负责管理超过100十亿对冲基金$。他指出：“我们采用了类似的方法在开发我们的另类投资服务的能力”，2006年二月收购康涅狄格州格林威治的对冲基金帕洛玛合作伙伴管理公司的后台和中台业务
托管人等在现场看到城堡Solutions的联系，它的侵略性母公司作为一个漏洞。但大卫Zirin，一岁的首席运营官，$ 1.4数十亿的资产Pentwater资本管理公司在芝加哥，掸这种担心。“任何提供者可能是一些窃窃私语。在某些时候，你必须要信仰的飞跃，” Zirin，谁在20世纪90年代在城堡曾如是说。Pentwater审核十几管理员安定在城堡前。一个初始关注：城堡不得不脱掉它的“对冲基金的帽子”，并更加关注客户服务。巴克利说，已经通过市场调查和20客户服务人员的招聘解决。
这是必须的。Citadel投资公司首席执行官肯尼斯·格里芬，据说谁正计划把他的公司公众，希望收入稳定该事务服务提供。“专有的收入流将始终具有低P / E倍数，”巴克利说，“但随着高磷年金的收入流/ ES能产生有意义的回报。”