Wilshire Models Foundation for New Direxion Offering

Direxion Funds has launched the Direxion /Wilshire Dynamic Portfolios, institutional style model portfolios for financial advisers.

The funds, according to a press release, “utilize the expertise in asset allocation and portfolio construction of Wilshire Funds Management, the international investment management unit of Wilshire Associates Incorporated, a global investment services and consulting firm.

The Direxion/Wilshire Dynamic Portfolios combine both strategic and tactical asset allocation modeling. “The model portfolios enable financial advisers to achieve the desired beta exposure more efficiently, redeploy the resulting freed up capital to alternative asset classes and to adjust to changing market conditions,” according to the announcement.

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Four traditional Wilshire asset allocation models are used as a basis for the Direxion /Wilshire Dynamic Portfolios, ranging from a conservative 40/60 model to an all equity model. Advisers who subscribe to the Direxion/Wilshire models are sent a monthly report that provides them with specific rebalancing recommendations based on the market environment, along with rationale for making potential allocation shifts.

Exposures

Direxion’s funds provide daily exposure from 100% to 250% to the underlying asset classes represented by numerous market indices and were created to complement, not replace core holdings. According to the announcement, “in the Dynamic Portfolios, the additional exposure generated from the leveraged index funds is used to replicate beta, freeing up capital for further diversification to strategies that seek alpha and / or to investments with low correlations.’

Direxion Funds (formerly Potomac Funds), managed by Rafferty Asset Management, LLC, is a provider of leveraged index and alternative-class mutual fund products for investment advisers and sophisticated investors who seek to effectively manage risk and return in both bull and bear markets. Founded in 1997, the company has approximately $1.5 billion in assets under management.

More information is available at http://www.direxionfunds.com.

Stecher To Lead MSIM’s Real Estate Funds of Funds Biz

Joseph D. Stecher will be joining Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners as Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of the firm’s real estate fund of funds business.

He will be responsible for overseeing the identification, selection and management of real estate funds, and will be based in New York, working closely with Paul Vosper, Chief Operating Officer of the real estate fund of funds business, who is based in London, according to a press release.

Stecher has almost 25 years of real estate experience across all property types, structures and regions. He joins Morgan Stanley from Goldman Sachs where he was managing a global program of real estate funds of funds and separate accounts for institutions and high net worth individuals.

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Previously, he was at General Motors Asset Management for 15 years where he managed $1.5 billion of direct and indirect private equity real estate, committed more than $5 billion to a mix of real estate investments and oversaw the asset management of more than 33 million square feet of real estate.

The real estate fund of funds business is part of Morgan Stanley AIP, which includes portfolios of hedge funds and private equity funds. The real estate fund of funds business will offer solutions to clients seeking exposure to a global portfolio of opportunistic and value-added real estate funds, secondaries and co-investments, while seeking to provide superior risk adjusted returns.

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