Apex and Meridian in HFR’s top three fund administrators
Two Bermuda-based fund administrators and a third which has offices here made up the top three in Hedge Fund Review’s (HFR) Service Provider Rankings 2012.Apex Fund Services ranked second in both the single managers and fund of hedge funds categories, while Meridian Fund Services finished third in each one. Topping both tables was Citco Fund Services, which has 5,000 employees in offices around the world and an office on the Island.Apex, established in Bermuda in 2003, has around $22 billion of assets under administration and around 280 employees working out of its 28 offices around the world.Meridian, with five offices in North America, does not have the global reach of Apex but it places a similar emphasis on providing a high level of client service. “We aim to be as flexible as possible and pay attention to the needs of clients,” says Tom Davis, chief executive of Meridian, which administers around $13.5 billion for 85 hedge fund clients.The company prides itself on being responsive to clients and works with them to produce reports for portfolio managers and investors. “We can augment standard reports with additional metrics and breakdowns or produce completely customised reports on a monthly, weekly or daily basis,” Mr Davis said.Meridian started out in Bermuda as Meridian Corporate Services in 1996 and became Meridian Fund Services eight years later.Rankings in the HFR survey were determined by the votes of individuals from hedge funds, fund of hedge funds, investors, and asset allocators. Responses were collected in an editorial survey which ran between August 28 and September 28, 2012.