General News

	Scotia Capital Canadian HF index finishes December +1.81% / -0.25% (-15.94% / -22.64% for 2008)	Jan 19/09
	The Scotia Capital Canadian Hedge Fund Performance Index finished December 2008 up 1.81% on an asset weighted basis and down 0.25% on an equal weighted basis. The index outperformed both the TSX Composite and the S&P 500 in...Read more
	Change on the cards for hedge funds	Jan 19/09
	Large investors are reassessing their hedge fund investments in the wake of the industry’s worst year on record, with some questioning the role of middlemen in the wake of the Madoff debacle and others investing in black box ...Read more
	Wealthy Wary of Putting New Money in Hedge Funds	Jan 19/09
	Millionaires who long put money with hedge funds are now skittish about adding fresh cash after these loosely regulated portfolios posted record losses last year, a top industry executive said on Thursday [Jan. 15]. "...Read more
	Smart Money Takes a Dive on Alternative Assets	Jan 19/09
	The ideal investment portfolio is solid and liquid at the same time. Perhaps because this principle defies the common sense of physics, even some of the world's biggest investors have overlooked it. Now, with billions of dollar...Read more
	West Energy, Transat Stuck With Notes After Canadian Debt Swap	Jan 19/09
	West Energy Ltd. and other firms thatwill own about C$32 billion ($25.7 billion) in new notesfollowing a swap in Canada say they’ll hold on to the debt for aslong as eight years rather than sell it at “fire sale” pricesto hedge fu...Read more
	Citi Hedge Fund Investors To Get Just 3 Cents On The Dollar	Jan 16/09
	Investors in a Citigroup credit hedge fund that once managed as much as $4.2 billion will receive literally pennies on the dollar from the fund’s liquidation. Corporate Special Opportunities clients, who have been barred from ...Read more
	Hedge Funds Still Struggling	Jan 16/09
	Though hedge funds performed better in December than they did in previous months, the latest data from industry trackers Credit Suisse/Tremont and HedgeFund.net suggests funds are still facing serious challenges.The Credit Suis...Read more
	Hedge funds unlikely leader	Jan 16/09
	Richard Baker was once a fierce critic of hedge funds. Now he wants to convince Washington they're on the level.When the headhunter first called Richard Baker in late 2007 and asked him if he was interested in becoming president ...Read more
	Man Restructures Core Managers	Jan 16/09
	Investment manager Man Investments has closed down its private equity specialist division Man ECO and merged hedge fund managers Glenwood and Man Global Strategies.The manager is looking for ways to simplify its organizational st...Read more
	Sun Hung Kai, Paulson to launch distressed fund	Jan 16/09
	Sun Hung Kai Financial (0086.HK), the Hong Kong financial group, on Friday said it will partner with hedge fund Paulson & Co to launch a distressed asset investment fund focusing on financial companies. Sun Hung K...Read more
	Hedge Fund Marketing Challenges in the Recessionary, Post-Madoff Environment	Jan 16/09
	There is nothing like dire economic conditions, investor uncertainty and a few scandals in the money management business to make it even more challenging for hedge fund managers to market their funds. Arms-length administrat...Read more
	Migrating to Safer Shores in the Current Hedge Fund Environment	Jan 16/09
	Migrating to Safer Shores in the Current Hedge Fund Environment—the Answer Depends on the Questions.If You Don't Know Where You're Going, Any Road Will Get You There Over the course of the last several months, what was once the...Read more
	RBC Dexia expands communications	Jan 16/09
	RBC Dexia Investor Services has appointed Alex Clelland as head of PR, sponsorship and events and Brigette Kocijancic as head of communications. These are new roles established to support the development of RBC Dexia's ma...Read more
	Hedge fund global AUM declines to $1.56trn	Jan 16/09
	Investors withdrew over $40bn from hedge funds in October 2008. This, in addition to $115bn in performance-based asset losses, reduced the industry capital base by $155bn, according to figures from Hedge Fund Research. As...Read more
	Hedge-Fund Assets Fell Record 36% in 2008, Hedgefund.net Says	Jan 15/09
	Hedge-fund assets fell a record 36 percent to $1.84 trillion in 2008 as tumbling global markets prompted investor withdrawals and fund liquidations, according to industry researcher HedgeFund.net. Hedge funds lost $512 bi...Read more
	Mans legal action over Madoff may well prove fruitless	Jan 15/09
	Man Group, the world's largest listed hedge fund management firm, says it plans to take legal action over its exposure to the fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff. 'We will be suing the people involved,' says Man chief executive...Read more
	Can hedge funds live to fight another day?	Jan 15/09
	Losses are mounting and clients are clamouring for their cash in the aftermath of the Madoff scandal. But veteran professional investor David Craig has not given up hope. Hedge Fund Land seems to be in disarray. Investment lo...Read more
	Four in hedge fund sting convicted in Central Islip	Jan 15/09
	Maybe you heard the one about the phony multibillion dollar Long Island hedge fund that was actually performing a public service. No? Well, apparently neither did four confidence men, according to federal prosecutors. The fo...Read more
	HSBC, UBS May Be Liable on Madoff as Fund Custodians	Jan 15/09
	HSBC Holdings Plc and UBS AG may be liable for as much as $3.2 billion of losses linked to Bernard Madoff in a dispute over the duties of financial custodians at funds in Luxembourg and Ireland. At stake is the im...Read more
	Girlfriend Faces a New Charge in the Bayou Fund Swindle	Jan 15/09
	The girlfriend of the convicted hedge fund swindler Samuel Israel III, already accused of helping him skip out on a prison sentence, tried to send him $300 in jail, officials said Wednesday. The cash was “secreted in the pages of...Read more
	Fortress scraps fund plans	Jan 15/09
	Fortress Investment Group has scrapped plans for a new hedge fund to invest in the Middle East and Africa, confirming the dire state of the market for new funds.Fortress, which has suspended its $7bn Drawbridge fund, down by 22...Read more
	Shrink Offers To Put Hedgies On The Couch	Jan 15/09
	A psychiatrist and trading coach is offering his help to stressed out hedge fund managers and investors with a consulting firm specializing in peak-performance coaching for hedge funds, institutional investors and traders. Ari...Read more
	Hedge Fund Steel Partners Sued for Fraud	Jan 15/09
	Activist hedge fund firm Steel Partners is being sued by Bank of America and ACF Industries on charges that the company committed fraud by not telling investors it was considering going public, according to court documents. S...Read more
	Toronto Hedge Fund Adds AIMA Chairman	Jan 15/09
	Toronto-based hedge fund Diversified Global Asset Management has added a top Alternative Investment Management Association official to head its business development efforts. Todd Groome, who at the beginning of this month took ...Read more
	How reading omens paid off	Jan 15/09
	Hedge fund manager Nandu Narayanan placed a big bet on a looming U.S. housing and financial crisis - a move that has paid off in spades.During last year's devastating bear market, which has sent many rivals' investments deep in...Read more
	Hedge firm Man Group to sue over Madoff exposure	Jan 14/09
	Man Group (EMG.L: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's largest listed hedge fund firm, told Reuters it will take legal action, in conjunction with its investors, over the firm's exposure to the alleged fraud by U.S. financier...Read more
	Asia hedge funds face another rough ride in 2009	Jan 14/09
	Hedge funds in Asia face more pain this year as shell-shocked investors shun risk and financial markets remain volatile, hobbling newcomers and forcing some laggard funds to close. Asia-focused funds suffered their worst ever...Read more
	Hedge funds savaged	Jan 14/09
	Lack of transparency and complexity in financial products are always potential hazards, no more so than for small investors. Hedge funds are the ultimate in opaque investment vehicles. It has taken the free fall in ass...Read more
	Industry assets fell by more than $1 trillion in 2008	Jan 14/09
	Outflows of $512 billion last year were driven by investor redemptions and hedge fund liquidations, while losses suffered by managers accounted for another $535 billion drop in assets. That left industry assets down $1.047 tri...Read more
	Police Arrest Man Suspected Of Faking Own Death in Crash	Jan 14/09
	Authorities in northern Florida arrested an Indiana businessman on Tuesday night who is suspected of having tried to fake his own death in a plane crash.Marcus Schrenker, 38, was taken into custody at a campground in Chattahooc...Read more
	Madoff Whistleblower Wants to be Left Alone	Jan 14/09
	After a decade of trying to convince U.S. authorities that Bernard Madoff's seemingly high-flying hedge fund was a scam, the man whose warnings could have saved a lot of money for a lot of people issued a terse message to the w...Read more
	HF Losses Worst in North America	Jan 14/09
	Hedge funds that invested in North America suffered the greatest losses in 2008, the worst year on record for the funds globally, according to a report released Tuesday.Hedge funds lost $350 billion globally in 2008, while fund...Read more
	Hedge Fund Honcho to Chair Borders	Jan 14/09
	Books and music retail chain Borders Group on Tuesday announced it is elevating a board member from hedge fund firm Pershing Square Capital Management to become the company's new chairman.Richard McGuire, a partner at Pershing ...Read more
	Ex-Man CEO To Raise Money For Britains Conservatives	Jan 14/09
	The recently-retired Stanley Fink can’t seem to stand still. Fink stepped down as CEO of hedge fund giant Man Group in July. He quickly joined $350 million London hedge fund International Standard Asset Management as CEO, and t...Read more
	Madoff Investors Thought They Had $41 Billion With Firm: Table	Jan 14/09
	Clients of Bernard Madoff, the money manager charged with fraud, are still trying to calculate their losses, and a Bloomberg tally of disclosures and news reports shows investors think they had about $41 billion with his New Y...Read more
	Hedge Fund Charities Pinched as Donors Ask Results Firms Miss	Jan 13/09
	Martin Ward, a teacher at a London experimental school called the Evelyn Grace Academy, is pitching Arpad Busson on a new idea for getting poor kids interested in science. The charity that Busson leads, Absolute Return for ...Read more
	Court frees Madoff on $10m bail	Jan 13/09
	Alleged fraudster Bernard Madoff is to remain a free man on $10m (£6.7m) bail after prosecutors failed to convince a judge he should be remanded into custody for allegedly breaching bail conditions. Mr M...Read more
	Returns mark out hedge funds’ stellar performers	Jan 13/09
	Several hedge funds reported stellar returns last year even as the financial crisis claimed some of the most celebrated Wall Street names, stocks endured their worst year since the Great Depression and credit markets seiz...Read more
	Hedge fund billionaire sued for investing in Madoff scheme	Jan 13/09
	J Ezra Merkin, the fallen hedge fund billionaire with links to Bernard Madoff, faces fresh lawsuits seeking as much as $100m (£66m) that investors claim he squandered on the $50bn Ponzi scheme.Merkin, 55, was forced to ...Read more
	Hedge fund gets its start at home	Jan 12/09
	Two 25-year-old Harvard graduates from Greenwich are bucking the trend that has sent hundreds of hedge funds to their graves and have started their own fund, investing primarily in currencies, fixed incomes and commodities. Br...Read more
	West End office rents slide on hedge fund woes	Jan 12/09
	The retrenchment of the struggling hedge fund industry has led to a rapid fall in rents paid for the most expensive offices in central London.Rents for prime offices in London’s West End dropped by almost a third last year, acc...Read more
	Dow Jones Hedge Fund Indexes Temporarily Suspends Publication of Convertible Arbitrage Index	Jan 12/09
	Dow Jones Hedge Fund Indexes, Inc. (DJHFI) today announced that it has temporarily suspended publication of the Dow Jones Hedge Fund Convertible Arbitrage Strategy Benchmark, effective January 2 until further notice. The decis...Read more
	Life settlement fund predicts positive returns for 2009	Jan 12/09
	The Assured Fund, which invests in the US senior life settlements market, has forecast a minimum nine per cent return for 2009. The Assured Fund, managed by Policy Selection, says its Sterling Share Class C has outperformed gove...Read more
	Hedge fund industry opposes US rule on circulation of rumours	Jan 12/09
	The hedge fund industry is concerned that a proposed Financial Industry Regulatory Authority rule designed to prevent the intentional circulation of rumours for the purpose of manipulating the market will interfere with the ben...Read more
	The United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) has received approval to add hedge fund of fund	Jan 12/09
	The United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) has received approval to add hedge fund of funds and private equity to its portfolio, IPE.com reports. The move indicates a shift from the traditional equity and debt inves...Read more
	Now On Sale: Investors Dumping Hedge Fund $	Jan 12/09
	Some battered hedge fund investors are so desperate to get out of their positions that they don't mind selling them - for 75 percent off. Some hedge funds lost 50 percent to 60 percent of their value in a brutal 2008 - and ...Read more
	Boston Hedge Fund Shuttering After Madoff Bet	Jan 12/09
	Hedge-fund firm GMB Capital Management is shutting down a fund that lost more than $50 million on bad bets that included putting money with accused swindler Bernard Madoff, according to sources familiar with the matter. The...Read more
	Hedge Fund Charities Pinched as Donors Ask Results	Jan 12/09
	Martin Ward, a teacher at a London experimental school called the Evelyn Grace Academy, is pitching Arpad Busson on a new idea for getting poor kids interested in science. The charity that Busson leads, Absolute Return for Kids...Read more
	Mackenzie suspends redemptions from Alternative Strategies Fund	Jan 12/09
	Mackenzie Financial Corp. is liquidating its Alternative Strategies Fund after revealing that one-fifth of the fund’s assets were invested in funds connected to disgraced financier Bernard Madoff. The $20 million Mackenzie hedg...Read more
	Madoff Investigators Said to Be Struggling Over Scheme’s Scope	Jan 09/09
	Almost a month after Bernard Madoff was arrested for securities fraud, investigators are still struggling to learn how the investment adviser directed an alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme and how widespread it may have been,...Read more