General News

	The ball goes on, but hedge fund charities start to feel the pinch	Mar 04/09
	The riches-to-slightly-less-riches story of hedge funds in the past year is hitting philanthropy, with Europe's biggest charity fundraising event cutting back.Absolute Return for Kids, which raised £25.5m at an extravagant £10...Read more
	Losses may have been small in February	Mar 04/09
	An index of managers compiled by HedgeFund.net slipped 0.04% last month, based on very early returns. Average losses will likely grow as more managers report results, the industry-tracking firm added. ...Read more
	Hedge fund managers face strict demands from investors	Mar 04/09
	In light of the problems seen in the hedge fund industry last year, especially after the Madoff scandal, investors are increasingly re-evaluating their investment criteria and objectives but remain committed to investing in the...Read more
	A hedge fund manager's mutual twist	Mar 04/09
	One of the biggest names in the business is looking for new ways to drum up more business.In what looks like a sign of the hard times in the hedge fund world, AQR Capital Management - one of the industry's biggest names - is ope...Read more
	Dow Jones Hedge Fund Indexes Resumes Publication	Mar 04/09
	Dow Jones Hedge Fund Indexes Resumes Publication of Equity Market Neutral and Equity Long/Short Strategy BenchmarksDow Jones Hedge Fund Indexes, Inc. (DJHFI) today announced that it has resumed publication as of today of the Dow ...Read more
	AIMA: Majority of hedge fund AuM now come from institutional investors	Mar 04/09
	An absolute majority of all assets under management by hedge funds and funds of hedge funds globally are from institutional investors. And a third of those assets from institutional investors now come from pension funds. That i...Read more
	A billion-pound show of confidence	Mar 03/09
	Amid the constant flow of bad news for the hedge fund industry comes a shot in the arm for the sector, with the news that the UK's second-largest pension fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme, is moving ahead with its pl...Read more
	Fund of hedge funds model sound but liquidity structure concerns remain	Mar 03/09
	Against a background of industry debate over whether the funds of hedge funds model is flawed, Standard & Poor's Fund Services notes in its latest sector update that the sector succeeded in outperforming traditional equity ...Read more
	Investors Demand Hedge Fund Changes	Mar 03/09
	US politicians and regulators are clamouring for tougher rules governing hedge funds, but even greater pressure on the industry is coming from certain investors. Investment boards for retirement systems, university endowments a...Read more
	Indevus soars on drug, hedge fund news	Mar 03/09
	Just days after winning regulatory approval for the manufacture and marketing of its cancer therapy for bladder cancer, Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc. disclosed that a North Carolina hedge fund has acquired 8.5 percent of its comm...Read more
	Fund of funds outperform equity diversified funds, indices	Mar 03/09
	Investors in fund of funds can draw comfort from the fact that such funds--which invest in other fund schemes rather than directly in shares, bonds or other securities--have fallen lesser than the benchmark Nifty and equity (d...Read more
	Hedge Fund Redemptions Might Push Market to Support Levels	Mar 03/09
	According to a recent WSJ article, in the wake of the recent Madoff and Stanford scandals, hedge fund investors have been requesting their money back at an increased pace over the last few months. Morgan Stanley analysts are fo...Read more
	Hedge Funds To Face Fresh Wave Of Redemptions	Mar 03/09
	The economy's gotten worse, the stock market has tanked further, and a host of new scams have been turned over. Yep, nothing that's happened in the last quarter has made investors any more inclined to be invested in hedge funds...Read more
	A hedge that is sailing through the storm	Mar 02/09
	In recent months, market neutrality has seemed both more desirable than ever and remarkably hard to achieve. In shipping, where the Baltic Dry Index, a key indicator, plummeted by 90 per cent in 2008, it might seem impossible....Read more
	Big falls in hedge fund borrowing	Mar 02/09
	Hedge funds cut their borrowing to almost nothing in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, according to research by the City watchdog. Data compiled by the Financial Services Authority show that leverage fell to ...Read more
	Liongate Seeks $500 Million for Commodity Fund of Hedge Funds	Mar 02/09
	Liongate Capital Management LLP, a London-based firm managing $2.2 billion, plans to raise $500 million for a fund of commodity hedge funds. The Liongate Commodities Fund returned about 0.1 percent last year and 0.3 perc...Read more
	The stampede to escape from hedge funds has longer to run	Mar 02/09
	If high dividend yields are a sign of distress, then London-listed hedge fund managers are clearly in trouble. Man Group, the biggest of them all, now offers a prospective yield of 18 per cent; Ashmore Group, the emerging ma...Read more
	BBVA pulls out of hedge fund management	Mar 02/09
	Yesterday afternoon BBVA announced the shut down of all its alternative management activities. BBVA, Spain's second largest bank, had assets under alternative management represent less than 1% of its €130 billions ru...Read more
	Man's fund of hedge funds could lose 90% of assets	Mar 02/09
	Man Group, the world's largest listed hedge fund manager, faces falls of up to 90% in the assets under management of its most important subsidiary, fund of hedge funds business RMF, because of its exposure to alleged fraudster ...Read more
	Buyout, Hedge-Fund Managers Could Pay $24 Billion More in Taxes	Feb 27/09
	Executives at buyout, venture-capital and hedge-fund firms will pay an estimated $24 billion more in taxes over nine years if President Barack Obama gets his way. Obama’s 2010 budget proposal, released today, proposes raisi...Read more
	Newer hedge funds continued to outperform longer-established brethren in 2008	Feb 27/09
	Peter Urbani, chief investment officer of fund of funds manager Infiniti Solutions, argues that even amid the market turmoil of 2008, newer and smaller hedge fund managers significantly outperformed their older and larger compe...Read more
	Institutional investors "rethink strategy in wake of 2008 losses"	Feb 27/09
	The typical US institutional investment manager experienced a 31 per cent reduction in portfolio asset values in 2008 with a suddenness that has left investors stunned, according a study from Greenwich Associates. The 2008 US ...Read more
	Relief for Hedge Funds in January	Feb 27/09
	As stocks and government bonds got clobbered in January, hedge funds held up relatively well. The Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund Index declined only 1.2% and the currency-hedged Morningstar with MSCI Hedge Fund Composite Asset-We...Read more
	Hedge fund head says times right for global macro	Feb 27/09
	In a period when volatile markets battered most hedge funds, global macro funds are proving their worth, Graham Capital Chairman Kenneth Tropin told Reuters. During one of the hedge fund industry's worst years, Graham ...Read more
	New Hedge Fund Gets Seed Money From Citi, Blackstone	Feb 27/09
	A pair of former Citigroup Inc. (C) executives who are starting a $200 million hedge fund are getting most of their initial funding from Citi and Blackstone Group LP (BX), one of its founders said Thursday. Jeff Jacob, who alon...Read more
	BBVA says getting out of alternative investments	Feb 27/09
	Spanish bank BBVA (BBVA.MC) said on Thursday that it would close down its alternative investment businesses including hedge funds and would reimburse investors. "The bank has decided to anticipate the possible eff...Read more
	Aima to engage policymakers at European Commission hedge fund conference	Feb 27/09
	Hedge fund industry body the Alternative Investment Management Association will take part in a high-level conference on private equity and hedge funds organised by the European Commission on February 26 and 27 in Brussels. T...Read more
	Sears Chairman Wants Short Sellers to Show Holdings	Feb 27/09
	Hedge fund manager Edward Lampert, who is chairman of retailer Sears Holding Corp., said investors who bet against companies should not be allowed to operate in secret while others have to reveal their holdings. In a 15-page ...Read more
	Hedge fund founder used phony firm, returns: authorities	Feb 26/09
	A hedge fund manager overstated values by hundreds of millions of dollars, set up a phony accounting firm and showed uniformly positive returns for nine years to defraud investors, U.S. authorities said on Wednesday. J...Read more
	Most IFAs 'not capable' of advising on hedge funds	Feb 26/09
	A lot of the industry is not equipped to advise on hedge funds, according to Laven Partners Asset Management. Jérôme de Lavenère Lussan, director of Laven Partners Asset Management Ltd, which offers multi strategy fund of ...Read more
	Investors say leverage critical to toxic fund	Feb 26/09
	A growing number of hedge funds, private equity firms and money managers are calling for five to 10 times leverage before considering any part of the "public-private partnership" to take troubled mortgage-related asse...Read more
	North Hills Hedge-Fund Adviser ‘Looted’ Client Money, SEC Says	Feb 26/09
	Mark Bloom, owner of the New York- based firm North Hills Management LLC, was accused by U.S. regulators of “systemically looting” a fund with clients including a charitable trust supporting children’s schools. Blo...Read more
	Against the Grain	Feb 26/09
	Alternative investments less correlated to major market indexes are gathering momentum in the advisor community. Two trends are fueling the movement. First, the sharp market declines since September 2008 have boosted the attrac...Read more
	Danger is their middle name	Feb 26/09
	Many financial institutions and investment managers are moving away from risky strategies, but one group of people seems intent on venturing into hazardous territory. Deutsche Bank's quantitative trading group is leaving the ...Read more
	Canadian best practices take centre stage at financial conference in China	Feb 26/09
	Professional financial education system fundamental to healthy marketplace, Wilton says. An increased focus on education and proficiency of brokers, planners and advisors must be part of t...Read more
	Monitoring hedge funds	Feb 25/09
	Hedge funds and the rest of the so-called shadow banking system are almost certainly going to face more regulation. But governments should not try to supervise them directly; instead, it would be far more productive for governm...Read more
	Hedge Funds Steer Clear Of Eastern Europe	Feb 25/09
	2008 was a bad year for hedge funds that invested in Eastern Europe and Russia, forcing many to abandon the region. A month into the new year, they are still steering clear of the market and waiting for more attractive cheap bu...Read more
	Direct hedge fund and private equity fund investment increases	Feb 25/09
	Pension funds continued to diversify into direct hedge funds and direct private equity, but are allocating significantly less to real estate, Watson Wyatt says.Watson Wyatt said it conducted 30% more searches for direct hedge f...Read more
	Struggling hedge fund managers turn to psychologists to treat 'reverse affluenza'	Feb 25/09
	Mayfair-based investment consultancy Allenbridge, which offers a psychologist service for young people who inherit wealth, has instead found itself facing a growing demand for the service from struggling hedge fund manag...Read more
	Biden's Son, Brother Marketed Hedge Fund Through Stanford Company	Feb 25/09
	Vice President Joe Biden's brother and son ran a fund of hedge funds marketed by companies controlled by disgraced Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford, according to a report published in the Wall Street Journal. Vice President ...Read more
	Credit Suisse/Tremont index posts gain after six months of negative returns	Feb 25/09
	Following six straight months of negative returns, the Credit Suisse/Tremont Broad Hedge Fund Index posted a gain of 1.09 per cent in January, while US equity markets had their worst January in decades.A new monthly publication...Read more
	Emerging-market hedge funds post dismal 2008	Feb 25/09
	Funds tracked lost a cumulative 37% last year, marking their worst year in a data stream dating back to 1990, eclipsing the previous 33% decline in 1998 as the worst on record, the Chicago-based group said in a release Tuesday...Read more
	Hedge funds hot - but not too hot - for Nova Chemicals	Feb 25/09
	The hedge fund crowd jumped on Nova Chemicals yesterday, thrilled to invest in a takeover, but pessimistic that a bidding war will begin for the chemical company.Despite heavy trading yesterday, the price of shares in Nova neve...Read more
	Lawmakers Propose Stiff Hedge Fund Oversight	Feb 25/09
	Three bills would require annual audits, greater transparency and licensing State lawmakers have introduced three bills that would dramatically reverse Connecticut’s longstanding hands-off approach to regulating its o...Read more
	Deutsche Bank’s Quantitative Team to Leave, Start Hedge Fund	Feb 25/09
	Deutsche Bank AG’s quantitative trading group is leaving to start a hedge fund as the Frankfurt- based bank scales back riskier businesses. Equitech Group, the bank’s proprietary equity unit, is forming Roc Capital Manag...Read more
	Due Diligence Takes on a New Meaning	Feb 25/09
	Do investors really know the risks associated with their chosen investments? For many of them, the answer may be no, according to Craig Asche, director of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA). Asche,...Read more
	Hedge fund industry willing to open up	Feb 25/09
	The largest international hedge fund organization, the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), says it wants to work with global regulatory initiatives to improve the transparency of hedge fund activity. In li...Read more
	Hedge fund industry faces Darwinian future	Feb 24/09
	Hedge fund managers have more problems on their plate than just the fragile state of the markets, predictions that investor redemptions will continue well into this year and facing up to the growing probability of greater regul...Read more
	Hedge Fund Group Proposes Rules to Avert Intervention	Feb 24/09
	A group of hedge funds offered to increase disclosure to head off demands from politicians on at least two continents for more transparency. “We know which way the wind is blowing,” said Andrew Baker, chief executi...Read more
	Hedge body backs formal disclosure to regulators	Feb 24/09
	A hedge fund body has thrown its weight behind regular disclosure of large holdings and risks to regulators, as calls grow for greater scrutiny of the industry. The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), ...Read more