Man Investments sees turmoil as opportunity

Date: Monday, September 10, 2007
Author: Reuters.com

Reuters- Cash-rich hedge funds are likely to spot investment opportunities in the financial market turmoil which has hit a few of their high-profile rivals, a senior official at Man Investments said on Thursday.

"I don't think this is a hedge fund problem or crisis. Some of them have taken losses but it's unlikely they wouldn't in this market," Mark Chambers, head of sales management, Europe, at Man Investments, part of the world's largest listed hedge fund group, told Reuters in an interview.

"Are these (losses) of above average proportions -I don't think so," Chambers said on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Swiss Futures and Options Association which is taking place this year in the Swiss resort town of Montreux.

Earlier this week, a study by U.S. research house Lipper, found that the impact of recent market volatility mainly widened the spread between the best and worst hedge fund performers.

Many hedge funds, it found, performed better in July and August, while others performed worse than in previous periods.

"This (market turmoil) is much more a problem for banks than it is for hedge funds," said Chambers, highlighting losses made by investment banks especially in fixed-income markets.