Despite Skepticism, Many Are Still Willing to Believe in Hedge Fund Replication
Seeking Alpha - New York, NY, USA
Hedge fund replication is back in the news with the publication of the results from a survey on the topic conducted last winter by French research institute Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre. While the results are somewhat dated, they are a good recap of the concept as a lead-up to Edhec's annual alternative investment conference in London in a couple of weeks.
Managers' views on voluntary hedge fund standards: an about-face?
AllAboutAlpha.com - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
To help combat public pressure on the hedge fund industry, self-regulation has been pushed to the top of the industry's agenda over the past year. Earlier this year, the UK's Hedge Fund Working Group, a group of over a dozen UK-based mega-funds, published a set of voluntary guidelines governing such things as risk management and fund governance.
UBP sees "unique" opportunities in hedge fund segment
Reuters - USA
Union Bancaire Privee aims to reinforce its presence in the hedge funds segment as rivals feel the pressure from the prolonged financial crisis, a senior bank official said on Tuesday. "Only the best will survive and will be able to seize the space left vacant by others," said Jan Erik Frogg, head of alternative investments at UBP, told Reuters.
Kramer: diversification of pension funds prevented further losses
PolitickerNJ - NJ, USA
Hedge fund manager Orin Kramer, who heads the New Jersey Investment Council, wants to set the record straight: the state pension fund's losses would have been worse if he hadn't begun diversifying its portfolio six years ago.
PRIVATE BIN: John Key annoys local hedge fund managers
National Business Review - Auckland, New Zealand
Hedge fund managers are the last people you'd expect new New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to offend, considering he is a former investment banker wealthy enough ($50 million) to make NBR's Rich List.
Korea's hedge fund universe will shrink
Asian Investor (subscription) - Hong Kong
David Bennett of Hana Daetoo Securities talks about the considerable discrepancy in returns of hedge funds focused on South Korea and the inevitable consolidation to come.
Barclays Said to Eliminate 30% of US Hedge-Fund Service Jobs
Bloomberg - USA
Barclays Plc eliminated about 100 positions in its capital markets prime services unit in New York, or 30 percent of the staff, as the hedge-fund industry contracts, a person familiar with the matter said today.
Hedge-Fund Manager Helps Nomadic Orchestra Buy Permanent Home
Bloomberg - USA
In a down economy, the 34-year-old Orchestra of St. Luke's has managed to raise $17 million in the past six months, including $8 million in November from New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs. They also received $5m from Hedge Fund Manager, Joseph DiMenna and his wife.
New Jersey drawing heat for hedge-fund foray: report
Tehran Times - Iran
New Jersey's pension fund is under fire over a series of hedge-fund investments, the Wall Street Journal said. New Jersey made the investments last month, to funds run by BlackRock Inc, Canyon Capital Advisors LLC and GoldenTree Asset Management LP, as they were "facing the equivalent of margin calls," William Clark, director of the New Jersey Division of Investment, told the paper in an interview.
Citigroup Singapore prime brokerage head leaves
Reuters - USA
The head of the Singapore prime brokerage unit of Citigroup Inc, which helps service Asia's hard hit hedge fund industry, has left the U.S. bank, a spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.
Big Players Scale Back Charitable Donations
Wall Street Journal - USA
The pipeline from corporate America to the nation's charities is starting to dry up, as losses in the stock market mount and the U.S. recession deepens. With many large organizations depending on corporate largesse, their futures are suddenly uncertain.
Mutual Funds That Hedge Top Ratings List
TheStreet.com - USA
Mass redemptions resulting from turmoil in the hedge fund industry are a major factor in the market's outsized swings in recent weeks. So it might seem ironic that three of the highest-rated mutual funds, as measured by TheStreet.com Ratings, are essentially hedge funds for Everyman.
Trade Like a Charitable Hedge Fund
TheStreet.com - USA
Founded by Chris Hohn in 2003, The Childrens Investment Fund, or TCI, is a London-based hedge fund with over $15 billion in assets. TCI, which has no Web site, has made a name as an elusive hedge fund and is known for aggressive shareholder activism. The value-oriented fund takes its name from the money it donates to children's charities.
Hedge Fund Tracking: Timothy Barakett's Atticus Capital, Q3 2008
Seeking Alpha - New York, NY, USA
Atticus Capital is a hedge fund run by Timothy Barakett. In 2005, Atticus' funds were up a combined 45% and they finished well over 30% for 2006. Barakett founded the firm at age 26 in 1995 and focuses on taking large, concentrated positions in companies. One of Atticus' most famous investments was Phelps Dodge, a miner which was bought out by Freeport McMoran (FCX). At one point, Atticus owned more than 9% of Phelps. They continue to hold some of their position in what is now the combined FCX.
Englander's Millennium Funds May Lose $1 Billion to Withdrawals
Bloomberg - USA
Millennium Partners LP, the $13.5 billion hedge-fund firm run by Israel Englander, plans to return $1 billion to investors who asked for their cash back by year-end, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Ciano's Flagship Brazil Hedge Fund Slumps After Goldfajn Leaves
Bloomberg - USA
Ciano Investimentos Gestao de Recursos Ltda.‘s flagship hedge fund lost 95 percent of its assets to withdrawals after founder Ilan Goldfajn, a former central bank director, left the company.
Hedge fund backed by Perot family is liquidating
Dallas Morning News - Dallas, TX, USA
An investment firm that manages money for the family of Dallas billionaire Ross Perot is liquidating one of its hedge funds after steep losses, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Texas Hedge Fund Is Being Liquidated
New York Times - United States
Parkcentral Capital Management, an investment firm that manages money for the family of Ross Perot, is liquidating a fixed-income hedge fund because it is "no longer viable."
Spitzer's wife joins hedge fund firm
Houston Chronicle - United States
Metropolitan Capital Advisors, a $300 million hedge fund firm in New York, hired Silda Wall Spitzer, wife of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, as a managing director.
Monaco hedge fund suing Wall Street Journal over 'confidential' data
guardian.co.uk - UK
The Wall Street Journal is preparing to defend a lawsuit from Monaco-based hedge fund SRM Global over the publication of allegedly confidential financial information.
Satellite Halts Hedge Fund Withdrawals, Fires 30 After Losses
Bloomberg - USA
Satellite Asset Management LP, founded by former employees of billionaire George Soros, stopped client withdrawals from its three largest hedge funds and eliminated more than 30 jobs after losses reduced the firm's assets to about $4 billion this year. Satellite Overseas Fund Ltd., Satellite Fund II LP and Satellite Credit Opportunities Ltd. have declined as much as 35 percent in 2008, said a person with knowledge of the funds' performance.
Bluebay Closes Hedge Fund, Falls the Most Since IPO
Bloomberg - USA
Bluebay Asset Management Plc dropped the most since its initial public offering two years ago after the manager of fixed-income investments said it will shut down its Emerging Market Total Return Fund.
H3 Japan Fund Returned 2.1% in October Betting on Currencies
Bloomberg - USA
H3 Japan Fund, run by Sydney-based hedge fund H3 Global Advisors Pty, returned 2.1 percent in October as it avoided volatile equity markets and based its bets on the yen.
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Mexico's Armada to Start Latin Equity Hedge Fund After Sell-Off
Bloomberg - USA
Armada Capital SA de CV will start a hedge fund backed by ING Groep NV next week to invest in bargains after Latin American shares plunged the most since at least the 1980s.Mexico City-based Armada will “go live” on its long-short Latin America Opportunity Fund on Dec. 1 after raising $25 million, co-manager Eric Conrads said. ING is the biggest Dutch financial-services company.
Value Partners Plans New Fund to Buy Asia-Pacific Bond, Debt
Bloomberg - USA
Value Partners Group Ltd., the Hong Kong-based manager minority owned by China's second-largest insurer, is planning a fund to buy bonds and other debt sold off by banks and hedge funds amid the financial crisis. The Value Partners Bond Fund, scheduled to begin investment on Dec. 8, will trade Asia-Pacific convertible, government, and corporate bonds, with a focus on Greater China
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Sun-Times Media Group Will Fight Hedge Fund's Board Nominees
Editor & Publisher - USA
The proxy war for control of Sun-Times Media Group's board of directors is on. Late Wednesday, Sun-Times filed a "consent revocation statement" with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), opposing a solicitation to shareholders by the hedge fund Davidson Kempner Capital Management LLC to vote to replace all but one of the directors of the Chicago Sun-Times parent, and to reduce the size of the board.
Texas hedge fund takes stake in RH Donnelley
Bizjournals.com - Charlotte, NC, USA
A Texas hedge fund has become the third largest shareholder in Yellow Pages publisher R.H. Donnelley, according to securities documents. Amalgamated Gadgets LP of Fort Worth, Texas, has upped its previously minuscule stake in Cary-based R.H. Donnelley to 5.34 million shares. That represents a 7.76 percent share of R.H. Donnelley, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
General Growth Jumps After Pershing Square Buys Stake
Bloomberg - USA
General Growth Properties Inc., the shopping-mall owner that said this month it may file for bankruptcy, jumped by more than a third after William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management LP, a hedge-fund manager, bought a 20 percent interest through shares and swaps.
Epicor drops after hedge fund ends hostile bid
Forbes - NY, USA
Epicor Software Corp. shares sank Friday after hedge fund Elliott Associates LP terminated its hostile bid to buy the business-software company's outstanding shares for $7.50 per share. Elliott already owns 12.5 percent of Epicor's common shares, and its offer - which is more than double the stock's Thursday closing price of $3.59, was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. eastern time on Dec. 3.
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Hedge funder target of state pension probe
New York Daily News - New York, NY, USA
The co-owner of a Texas-based hedge fund is a subject of a grand jury probe into the state pension fund, the Daily News has learned. Barrett Wissman, who co-owns Hunt Financial Ventures of Dallas has been told he is a subject by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office, a source with knowledge of the probe said.
Red signals
The Standard - Hong Kong
While fraud can happen any time, the loosely regulated US$1.7 trillion (HK$13.26 trillion) hedge-fund industry looks especially vulnerable following record losses.
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