General News

	Taxi Driver Charged With Hedge Fund Fraud	May 05/09
	A New York City taxi driver and an associate were arrested and charged with bilking investors out of $20 million for a fraudulent hedge fund operation. Alan Fishman, 49, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Daniel Ledven, 37, of Creskill, N.J.,...Read more
	Acorn Global Investments Launches Its Flagship Program That Adapts To Changing Markets	May 05/09
	In this current economic environment, investors are seeking to ADAPT to changes in market direction and risk, DIVERSIFY in highly liquid markets not available through traditional equities and, ultimately, PROSPER through time p...Read more
	European Union under fire over hedge fund rules	May 04/09
	The European Union's attempt to regulate hedge funds will affect other classes of alternative investment such as property funds and investment trusts, lawyers studying the fine print of the new rules have warned.The rules coul...Read more
	Hedge fund survivor sees signs of gathering confidence	May 04/09
	The role of hedge funds in the rebuilding of Wall Street is still being written. The direction and extent of regulation is uncertain, the financing streams that most hedge funds once relied on are flowing less freely and the de...Read more
	Funds Sleuth sees Investors Digging Deeper	May 04/09
	The fund-of-hedge funds industry is under fire after too many firms failed to steer clients clear of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme and other financial frauds. But one veteran sleuth says investors are responsible for doing the...Read more
	'Fund Boss' was Really a Driver: Prosecutors	May 04/09
	A New York man who told investors he was president of a hedge fund called AR Capital Group Inc. (ARC) was really a hired driver, according to court documents filed on Friday [May 1] charging him and two others with fraud. The ...Read more
	Citadel Entering Investment Banking Business	May 04/09
	Ken Griffin's Citadel Investment Group is starting up an investment banking business with three recent hires from Merrill Lynch as the hedge fund firm moves toward its goal of bringing all financial services under one roof. To...Read more
	SEC Chief Schapiro Wants Authority to Make Hedge-Fund Rules	May 04/09
	The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should be given authority to regulate what hedge funds can buy and how much money they can borrow to maximize bets because registration falls short of what’s needed to police the $1....Read more
	Schwab executive says rivals will follow its lead on alternatives	May 04/09
	The head of sales at The Charles Schwab Corp.'s adviser services unit expects its competitors to adopt the same restrictions it is putting on the custody of alternative assets, and urged clients to “interrogate” the companies o...Read more
	Pension Funds Face Facts	May 04/09
	'There's no simple answer,' says International Centre for Pension Management at the Rotman School of Management in University of Toronto.By Karla L. Yeh, Chicago Correspondent Chicago – Pension funds struggling to reverse signi...Read more
	State Street Announces Private Equity Index Results	May 04/09
	BOSTON – May 4, 2009 – State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT), the world’s leading provider of financial services to institutional investors, announced today the results of the State Street Private Equity Indexsm as of December 31, 2...Read more
	Robson Van Eck Fund Now In CAD With Reduced FX Risk	May 01/09
	Robson Capital Management is pleased to announce that units of the Robson Van Eck Hard Assets Fund, Series A, F and X, will now be denominated in CAD. An active currency risk management program will be implemented to red...Read more
	Shari'a compliant funds	May 01/09
	IntroductionThe rapid growth in the Islamic financial markets, both in terms of institutions and products available over the past 10 years has prompted increasing interest from conventional managers to develop products to serve...Read more
	In Chrysler Deal, Obama Criticizes Reluctant Hedge Funds	May 01/09
	As Chrysler filed for bankruptcy, President Obama had harsh words for the hedge funds who refused to accept the government's offer of about 29 cents on the dollar for about $6.9 billion in debt Chrysler owed.WASHINGTON -- P...Read more
	Jeremy Warner: Hands off our hedge funds, protection for private equity	May 01/09
	Outlook Once again, I find myself having to perform the unenviable task of defending the hedge fund and private equity industries. Populism nearly always makes for bad policy, and by pandering to the "locust" hating p...Read more
	Council pension fund to boost hedge fund investment	May 01/09
	The £1.05 billion Berkshire county council pension fund plans to allocate 7.5 per cent of its assets to hedge funds as part of a "decisive move" towards upping its exposure to alternative investments, according to report...Read more
	Beverly Hills Fund Scam Nets $38M	May 01/09
	The Securities and Exchange Commission has shut down two Beverly Hills hedge funds that allegedly used a web of lies to raise $38 million from 20 investors. The funds lost millions of dollars over the years and had less than ...Read more
	SFC: More Short Selling, Please!	Apr 30/09
	In a rare bit of backing from a major regulator, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission has come out in favor of short-selling. The controversial practice has improved market efficiency, enhanced market depth and red...Read more
	HFSB Statement on Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive	Apr 30/09
	The Hedge Fund Standards Board (HFSB) has strong reservations about proposals contained in the European Commission’s Draft Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers and is concerned at the lack of consultation over t...Read more
	Former BlueCrest Capital Fund Manager Banned by FSA	Apr 30/09
	A former BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd. hedge fund manager was fined and banned by the U.K. financial regulator over claims he deliberately overvalued positions to avoid losing his job over trading losses. The Financial S...Read more
	SoCal fund manager has assets frozen in fraud case	Apr 30/09
	A federal judge on Wednesday froze the assets of a Beverly Hills hedge fund manager accused by the Securities Exchange Commission of duping investors out of $38 million by misleading them about his funds' performance, the comm...Read more
	Investor sues Perot Family Trust over hedge fund that went from being worth billions to 'less than z	Apr 30/09
	An investor in a Perot family hedge fund has sued the Perot Family Trust and several related parties, saying they grossly mismanaged the fund, which went bust in November after starting the year with $2.5 billion in net asse...Read more
	Billion pound council pension fund in hedge bet	Apr 30/09
	Berkshire County Council's 1.05 billion pound pension fund has made a decisive move into hedge funds as part of a new 17.5 percent allocation of assets to alternative investments. The scheme has decided to allocate 7....Read more
	Hedge Funds, Buyout Firms Say EU Rules Are Punitive	Apr 30/09
	The European Union’s proposed legislation for hedge funds and private equity firms amounts to a costly attack that may cause thousands of job losses, representatives of the $2 trillion businesses said today. Buyout firms ...Read more
	London’s ‘Twin Pillars of Doom’ May Spark Hedge Fund Exodus	Apr 30/09
	After helping to move 23 hedge funds to Switzerland from London in the past two years, David Butler describes the flow as a “steady trickle.” Now he’s bracing for a flood. “Call it the twin pillars of doom,” said Butler, ...Read more
	Gartmore to push into retail hedge fund market	Apr 29/09
	Fund manager Gartmore is preparing a major push into the UK retail hedge fund market after picking up strong demand for its first products in the sector, a senior executive said. The plan comes after a rough yea...Read more
	Fortress Said to Take Over Management of Zwirn Assets	Apr 29/09
	Fortress Investment Group LLC, the New York-based manager of about $29 billion, was picked to take over the liquidation of D.B. Zwirn & Co.’s $2.5 billion in hedge-fund assets, people familiar with the decision said. ...Read more
	Convicted In U.S., Accused Hedge Fund Fraudster Goes Free In Austria	Apr 29/09
	Michael Berger, the convicted hedge fund fraudster, has been released from prison in his native Austria two years after the former fugitive was captured. Austrian prosecutors say they will be unable to file charges against Be...Read more
	Hedge fund investor warns against stock bets	Apr 29/09
	Prominent hedge fund investor Mark Yusko on Monday warned endowments against putting the bulk of their money into stocks, arguing that these assets perform only when economies are growing. For years most investors ranging f...Read more
	Calpers Says Hedge-Fund Reforms Needed to End ‘Pay for Failure’	Apr 29/09
	The investment chief of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the biggest U.S. pension fund, is pushing for lower hedge fund fees and a closer link between manager compensation and performance. “We’re happy to ...Read more
	Hedge Fund Manager Indicted on Fraud Charges	Apr 29/09
	A Florida hedge fund manager, Arthur G. Nadel, was indicted Tuesday on 15 counts of securities, mail and wire fraud, accusing him of running a 10-year scheme to defraud investors of tens of millions of dollars. Mr. Nadel, who...Read more
	Hong Kong Hedge Fund Frozen On Fraud Fears	Apr 29/09
	Regulators in Hong Kong have frozen the assets of a hedge fund accused of defrauding investors. The Securities and Futures Commission won court permission to freeze more than US$110 million in assets related to Descartes Inve...Read more
	Hedge-Fund Bubble Bursts in Time for Swine Flu	Apr 29/09
	Swine flu marks the bursting of yet another bubble. The latest airy hope to be deflated is over the world’s ability to withstand the occasional pandemic risk. We did it with SARS in 2003 and avian influenza in 2005. That was...Read more
	Hedge fund bill to give SEC registration authority	Apr 28/09
	A U.S. Senate bill to make the $1.3 trillion (890 billion pound) hedge fund industry more transparent would give federal regulators the authority to require fund managers to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission,...Read more
	Ruddick Says Hedge Funds' Outlook `Never Looked Better'	Apr 28/09
	Simon Ruddick, managing director of Albourne Partners Ltd., talks with Bloomberg's Deirdre Bolton about the outlook for the hedge-fund industry. Ruddick also discusses the performance of endowments and foundation...Read more
	Hedge fund investor warns against stock bets	Apr 28/09
	* Yusko warns against betting too much on stocks * Says developed world stocks "stink" * Emerging market stocks may make money By Svea Herbst-Bayliss LOS ANGELES, April 27 (Reuters) - Prominent hedge f...Read more
	About 20 per cent of hedge funds in Asia shut since January 2008	Apr 28/09
	Almost 20 per cent of Asia-Pacific hedge funds closed in the 15 months to March, with the rate set to accelerate as rising operating costs hit smaller managers, according to London-based AsiaHedge magazine.In 2008, 129 funds wer...Read more
	Asset managers and hedge funds square up	Apr 28/09
	Mainstream asset managers and hedge funds are preparing to battle for retail investors’ money in a conflict that is likely to change both arms of the industry.The weapons involved are absolute return funds – which aim to genera...Read more
	IBM Survey Predicts New Financial World Order	Apr 28/09
	According to a survey by the IBM Institute for Business Value, 90% of financial markets executives and government officials believe the returns of the past are over. The study reveals that as the financial markets industry radi...Read more
	New York lawyer Dreier to plead guilty: attorney	Apr 28/09
	High-profile New York lawyer Marc Dreier will plead guilty next month to an indictment charging him with running an investment fraud in the hundreds of millions of dollars, his attorney said on Monday. Dreier, once head...Read more
	SEC Charges Connecticut-Based Hedge Fund In Multi-Million Dollar Fraud	Apr 28/09
	The Securities and Exchange Commission today obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of a Connecticut-based money manager and the hedge funds that he controls, alleging that he forged documents, promised false re...Read more
	IT Improvements Could Be Key to Hedge Funds' Survival	Apr 28/09
	York Capital CTO details technology initiativesAs scandals and shrinking assets take their toll on hedge funds, strong operational controls and technology will be key to survival, according to Gary Maier, chief technology office...Read more
	Investment bankers are wealthiest Aussies in Britain	Apr 27/09
	HEDGE fund owner Michael Hintze has held off a challenge from younger financier Greg Coffey to retain his place as the richest Australian in Britain. The Sunday Times Rich List has estimated that Mr Hintze, 55, is worth £210 mi...Read more
	Hedge funds move to outsource processing	Apr 27/09
	A lot has changed for hedge funds in the past year. The collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers alerted investors to the importance of counterparty risk, while the revelation that Bernard Madoff had made away with up to $5...Read more
	The last, frantic days of Perot family hedge fund	Apr 27/09
	To bank employees monitoring the hedge fund's collapse, the e-mailed instructions were emphatic. "No securities, or cash, FOR ANY REASON are allowed to be sent out from JP Morgan." At issue that morning last November we...Read more
	Should You Invest in 'The Poor Man's Hedge Fund'?	Apr 27/09
	If you'd invested $10,000 in a stock market index fund 10 years ago and left it alone, you'd have about $8,300 today. But if you'd invested that money instead in the Merger Fund, a small, little-known mutual fund that bets on ta...Read more
	Millionaire fund manager 'ordered to buy low cost housing for planning permission'	Apr 27/09
	A wealthy hedge fund manager has been ordered to pay for low-cost council housing in his neighbourhood in return for planning permission to overhaul his £20 million mansion. Two years ago, Chris Rokos bought a run-down f...Read more
	Inflows in hedge funds set to exceed outflows	Apr 27/09
	Slowing redemptions in hedge funds have ignited hopes of inflows exceeding the outflows by the end of this year, said industry analysts. Increased transparency has become a key focus with many funds due to slip in investor conf...Read more
	State lawmakers ease oversight proposals	Apr 27/09
	State lawmakers have largely backed off efforts to tighten oversight over the hedge fund industry, which has come under intense scrutiny as a result of the financial crisis. By a 15-1 vote, members of the banks committee recen...Read more
	Hedge Fund Arms Race	Apr 27/09
	Rick Bookstaber, my favorite quant — and one who warned of the havoc his fellow quants were about to unleash on the world in his book, “A Demon of Our Own Design” — has an interesting blog post on what’s hot in hedge-fund land. ...Read more