SunGard says that Tamalpais Asset Management (TAM), a newly formed hedge fund based in California, has selected its Monis application for pre-trade analysis and risk management. Monis aims to provide management and analysis, pricing data, and specialized training for convertible arbitrage traders.
Tamalpais specializes in US convertible arbitrage, with plans to expand into international convertibles. It will use Monis to price and value convertible issues, to scan the existing universe of convertibles for trade opportunities, and to manage the risk of its entire portfolio, including credit, equity, volatility and interest rate hedges.
“We selected Monis because it is a standard reference point for pricing convertible issues and a powerful tool for quantifying the risk of our positions and related hedges,” says Paul Giordano, chief executive officer and founder of Tamalpais. “Monis also gives us a number of upgrade options so that the solution can grow alongside our business.”
SunGard describes Monis as a spreadsheet-based pricing, analysis and hedging solution for convertible bonds and other equity-linked securities. It also provides terms and conditions data on convertible bonds, and is used by over 200 hedge funds around the world.
“The convertibles market has matured over the last few years with the quality of data and models improving. Using Monis will help Tamalpais stay at the forefront of this trend, by helping it control data quality and manage its risk profile as it models and values a growing range of convertibles,” adds Rob Mackay, managing director, Americas, SunGard’s FRONT ARENA business unit.
Tamalpais, which is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is located in Sausalito, California, and manages the Tamalpais Global Partners Fund. The investment objective of the firm is to generate superior income and capital appreciation through a dual focused, fully hedged convertible arbitrage and capital structure arbitrage strategy with a low volatility of return.