Prime Broker Case Study

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The success of any hedge fund is largely dependent on the quality of its prime brokerage services. Prime brokers provide a gateway to global markets, allowing hedge fund managers to trade securities on a large scale, selling short when prices are expected to fall and borrowing money to augment their bets when those prices are expected to rise. A prime broker is not a solitary broker, per se. Rather, the term “prime brokerage” refers to a whole suite of services offered by large investment banks and private financial advising firms to managers of hedge funds. So, just what does a prime broker do? Below is some useful information to help answer that question.

What Services Do Prime Brokers Provide?

To understand what prime brokers do, it is first necessary to have a basic understanding of the services they provide. The most fundamental services offered by prime brokerage teams include:

Custody Services: Prime brokers take custody of the hedge fund's securities and cash, providing fund managers with the ability to engage in securities trading with multiple brokerage firms while keeping the fund's assets in one centralized account.

Margin Financing and Securities Lending: Perhaps the most important role of prime brokers is to act as an intermediary between hedge funds and counterparties, such as investment banks and institutional investors, that are available to provide margin financing and securities lending. With the help of prime brokerage teams at banks and large securities firms, hedge fund managers are able to secure margin loans from commercial banks in order to provide the fund with the cash necessary to purchase stocks and bonds. Prime brokers also identify pension funds and other institutional investors with stocks an...

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Relationships with Term Lenders: Term lending is necessary for the success of a hedge fund, so it is essential for fund managers to ensure that the prime brokers they hire have solid relationships with a wide variety of term lenders.

Prior to signing a contract, hedge fund managers should meet with potential prime brokerage service providers to get a sense of whether or not each prospective broker is capable of meeting the needs of their fund. At this meeting, the prime broker will also request information about the hedge fund itself, such as the fund's management structure, investment instructions, and other details that will help the broker assess whether or not the hedge fund will be a good fit as a client. For details about mshPrime, the suite of professional prime brokerage services offered by M.S. Howells & Co., visit http://mshowells.com/.

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