BarclayHedge Offers SEC-Compliant Video Service

BarclayHedge Ltd., a global provider of alternative investment data and services, has launched BarclayHedge TV, which will allow its registered managers of hedge funds, funds of funds and managed futures products to create and make available videotaped presentations online for current and prospective investors. The firm will arrange and oversee all aspects of its new video service, from scripting assistance to professional videotaping and editing to online hosting and updating.

Fund managers historically have been reluctant to seek new ways to communicate with investors because of strict regulatory requirements regarding fund marketing, advertising and general solicitation. To address those concerns, BarclayHedge has secured an Opinion Letter from the law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, supporting the compliance of BarclayHedge TV as it pertains to various sections of the Securities Act of 1933, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

According to Sol Waksman, the firm’s founder and president, fund managers listed on the BarclayHedge database can now, with the support of their in-house compliance officers, use the new BarclayHedge TV capability to explain their underlying value proposition and key fund features to qualified investors. “We believe this is an opportunity for funds to provide a higher level of transparency and interest among prospective institutional and high-net-worth investors,” Waksman said in a statement. “We think regulators and investors alike will welcome a tool that allows them to see, hear and evaluate the people and the thinking that drives various alternative investment strategies.”