PRINCETON, N.J., Jan. 24, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Equinox Financial Group, LLC ("Equinox") — an innovator in alternative investment solutions — recently announced the expansion of its portfolio management team with the acquisition of Tapestry Asset Management, LP ("Tapestry"), an investment advisor specializing in the construction, implementation and monitoring of multi-manager hedge fund portfolios and managed futures strategies.
Based in Princeton, NJ, Tapestry was established in 2002 by Chief Investment Officer Afroz Qadeer and a group of founding partners. The Tapestry management team has an average of 25 years of managed futures and hedge fund investing experience, and has worked together for more than 13 years, including time spent at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Commodities Corporation (Princeton). Based on its strong track record managing large, multi-manager portfolios across the entire spectrum of liquid alternatives, including managed futures, equity long-short1, arbitrage, sector specific, emerging managers and customized institutional mandates, the addition of Tapestry should bode well for Equinox as it seeks to expand its non-traditional investment line-up. Post-acquisition, Richard Bornhoft will remain Chief Investment Officer and Dr. Ajay Dravid will retain his role as Managing Director of Portfolio Management of Equinox Fund Management, LLC. Mr. Qadeer will remain Chief Investment Officer of Tapestry, which will be rebranded under the Equinox name. "The Equinox portfolio management team looks forward to this transition as we continue to expand our organization and product capabilities with Tapestry's tremendous knowledge of hedge funds, equity markets and the managed futures asset class," commented Mr. Bornhoft.
Robert Enck, President and Chief Executive Officer of Equinox, concurred, "Given Tapestry's broad alternative investment experience and Equinox's industry-leading product development, we believe this acquisition will poise our business for increased growth, not only in the managed futures arena, but across a wider range of non-traditional asset classes." For Mr. Qadeer, the acquisition has brought his relationship with Equinox full circle. Mr. Qadeer explained, "My partners and I have known the founders of Equinox very well on a personal basis for many years, even prior to the inception of Equinox and Tapestry. Dr. Dravid was also my professor when I attended The Wharton School MBA program many years ago. Today, I'm thrilled to join Dr. Dravid and the growing portfolio management team at Equinox." Dr. Dravid added, "I'm proud not only to have taught Afroz at Wharton, but to work with him now on a professional level. I believe the diverse and complementary backgrounds of the combined Equinox and Tapestry teams will work brilliantly together to position Equinox as the premier alternative investment solution provider in the industry."
Equinox Financial Group, LLC's affiliate, Equinox Fund Management, LLC, has been an innovator in alternative investment product development and distribution since its founding in 2003. In December 2009, Equinox launched the MutualHedge Frontier Legends Fund ("MutualHedge") (ticker:MHFAX), the first actively managed mutual fund with exposure to Commodity Trading Advisor programs. MutualHedge Load-Waived A Shares recently received five stars (*****) and the A and C Shares received four stars (****) from Morningstar as well as the #1 ranking out of 18 eligible managed futures funds in the category (based on three-year performance ending 12/31/2012)2. Equinox also sponsors the Equinox Commodity Strategy Fund, the Equinox Alternative Strategy Platform, a suite of single commodity trading advisor programs offered in a mutual fund format, and The Frontier Fund, a public managed futures family of funds with daily liquidity. Equinox recently partnered with Morgan Stanley and Quest Partners LLC to launch the first of a series of four CTA Funds in a UCITS3 format under Morgan Stanley's FundLogic Alternatives Platform4.
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Tapestry Asset Management, LP provides customized investment solutions for clients who desire a well-constructed alternatives program to fit specific needs either as a diversifier to traditional portfolio components or to achieve targeted exposure to a particular market or regional focus. The collective caliber of Tapestry's investment team includes senior portfolio management positions at preeminent firms such as Chase Manhattan Bank, Goldman Sachs and Optima, and at boutique firms such as Lake Partners. Tapestry has been registered as an investment advisor with the SEC since 2005 and as a commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor with the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) since 2010. Tapestry is a member of the National Futures Association.
Securities offered through Equinox Group Distributors, LLC, Member FINRA. 47 Hulfish Street, Suite 510, Princeton, NJ 08542 1-877-837-0600
Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Funds. These and other important information about the Funds are contained in the applicable Prospectus, which can be obtained by calling 1-888-643-3431. The Prospectus should be read carefully before investing.
Distributed by Northern Lights Distributors, LLC, Member FINRA. Equinox Group Distributors, LLC and Tapestry Asset Management, LLC are not affiliated with Northern Lights Distributors, LLC.
1 Long-short investing strategies involve buying long equities that are expected to increase in value and selling short equities that are expected to decrease in value, with the intention of subsequently repurchasing them ("covering") at a lower price.
2© 2013 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance, ratings and rankings are no guarantee of future results.
Ratings and other statistics for load-waived versions of the class A shares of mutual funds reflect the investor experience for those individuals who do not pay the funds' front-end sales load, such as retirement-plan participants or those investors who commit to invest above a certain amount. The load-waived rating supplements the Morningstar Rating™ for the original A share class, where all load-adjusted measures reflect the maximum front load. Load-waived A shares are displayed and treated like a separate share class, and most data is the same between the original A share and the load-waived share. The statistics that are different include load-adjusted measures, such as the Morningstar Rating, rating-related scores and returns, tax-adjusted returns, and any percentile ranks based on these measures. To be eligible for load-waived ratings and returns, the fund must be an A share class, must have a front load and must be domiciled in the United States. Morningstar does not calculate load-waived ratings for B or C share classes because fund companies rarely waive the loads on these funds.
For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating™ based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund's monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads, and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.) The Overall Morningstar Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and ten-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics.
In addition to the since inception rating above, the MutualHedge Frontier Legends Fund was ranked 29 out of 100 funds and shares classes in the Managed Futures Category for the one-year period ending December 31, 2012.
The #1 Morningstar Ranking was based on returns of the Fund versus 18 funds in Morningstar's Managed Futures Funds category as of 12/31/2012. Ratings and rankings are only one form of performance measurement. For current performance information, please call toll free 1-888-MHEDGE1 (1-888-643-3431) or go to our website equinoxfundmanagement.com.
3UCITS stands for "Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities".
4FundLogic is the brand name for Morgan Stanley's fund solutions platform launched in 2006. It offers both UCITS and non-UCITS funds. The platform delivers fund solutions to clients by combining the financial expertise, innovation and resources of Morgan Stanley, and offers a range of products including passive index funds, structured funds and the more recently launched third party manager-UCITS Funds.
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