eFront acquires software rival AnalytX

• Fund administration software provider eFront acquired rival software provider AnalytX. Based in the US and Europe, AnalytX provides front-to-back office technology for small- to medium-sized alternative investment firms. The merger comes one year after eFront acquired Investment Café as part of an effort to expand its North America presence.

• Valuation specialists Duff & Phelps appointed David Lu as managing director and head of the firm’s investment banking practice in China. Lu, who will be based in Shanghai, joins Duff & Phelps from Cowen Group where he served as head of Asia investment banking.

• Northern Trust expanded its depositary services to support fund managers implementing the AIFMD in the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Channel Islands.

• Software provider MSCI launched MSCI ESG DataMetrics, a set of ESG scores, indicators and data that allow quantitative analysis, ESG reporting and portfolio ESG analysis.

• Investec Specialist Bank appointed Alexandre Neiss to its corporate lending business, reporting to Callum Bell, head of Specialist Corporate Capital. Neiss joins Investec from Deutsche Bank, where he worked in corporate finance in the healthcare investment banking team.

• Professional services firm Kinetic Partners unveiled its ‘AIFMD checklist’.  The checklist is for use by compliance and risk departments and has been designed to give firms an accurate picture of their progress along the road to meeting AIFMD regulations.  It covers: organizational structure reviews; operational processes reviews and a review of reporting procedures for post-authorization.

• Private cloud provider Gravitas launched Gravitas Atmosphere, a cloud-based online file sharing, sync and storage service, for the alternative investment industry. It was designed to allow access, sharing and the synchronization of corporate data or files from any authorized computer or mobile device.

• Fund administration service provider Ipes strengthened its senior management teams in London and Guernsey through the appointment of two managing directors. Ben Cook, formerly of Dominion Funds Group, will be based in the UK and Andrew Whittaker, who joined Ipes in January 2011 from Capita Financial Group’s Specialist Fund Services, will lead the Guernsey office having previously been managing director in the UK.

• Software provider Sapient Global Markets launched software to help companies meet the requirements of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The software aims to decrease data remediation around “Know Your Customer” and FATCA due diligence information gathering.

• BNP Paribas Securities Services said it will begin delivering real-time fund administration data to its private equity and real estate fund manager clients via online reporting. The service, which launches in November 2013, will give managers of alternative funds direct access to their fund accounting data.