NorthStar Financial Services Group has launched a new subsidiary, Gemini Alternative Funds, which serves as a centralised platform for delivering a wide range of operational services to the alternative investment community.

The platform offers transparency, risk management and monitoring, distribution, fund structuring, liquidity enhancement and uniform operational set-up services from a single location.
 
By obtaining these services from one source, alternative fund managers can help protect themselves from complex investment activities and increase operating efficiency and accuracy.
 
"With investors increasingly turning to alternative strategies, more alternative managers are joining managed account platforms to obtain access to the high-level portfolio and risk management services investors have come to expect," says Andrew Rogers, chief executive officer of Gemini. "Gemini Alternative Funds works with managers to not only develop cost-effective solutions based on the unique needs of each fund, but also create competitive fund cost structures."
 
The firm also performs due diligence on all participating funds and managers, and its customisable portfolio and risk management technology provides near real-time data. Through its platform, managers can obtain daily net asset value (NAV) and liquidity, and select their own prime brokers, futures commission merchants and administrators.
 
David Young, who has nearly 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, serves as president of Gemini Alternative Funds as well as Gemini Hedge Fund Services, another newly launched NorthStar subsidiary.
 
For eight years, Young was in charge of creating, implementing and overseeing the operations and service offering of Spectrum Global Fund Administration. In addition, he served as chief operations officer of Chicago-based hedge fund Midland Trading.