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Fund of Hedge Funds Investors

Fund of Hedge Funds Investors

Funds of Hedge Funds Face Challenge from Investors

This is an interesting trend in the hedge fund industry, fund of hedge funds are struggling to keep clients because their clients are getting more sophisticated.  That in turn, has led to more institutional investors selecting their own stable of hedge fund managers rather than relying on fund of hedge funds to manage a fund portfolio for them.

We've seen this on the family office side at times, with many family offices developing highly-advanced fund manager selection processes instead of relying on funds of hedge funds, and it appears that institutional investors are doing so as well following the lead of calPERS and other multi-billion dollar institutional investors.
For funds which market themselves on their ability to spot the sharpest hedge fund minds, it could be their greatest challenge yet. Investors who once trusted them to find the best returns are gaining the expertise and confidence to do it themselves. 
U.S. pension funds like the giant $240 billion California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) have picked single hedge fund managers for years. Now smaller players are following suit. 
Massachusetts' $48 billion state pension fund for instance recently completed a $500 million direct investing program, moving to cut its reliance on funds of funds.
Meanwhile, in Europe, pension funds for companies such as ABB, Nestle and Novartis are following the example set by insurers Swiss Re and Zurich Financial, Zurich University's hedge funds specialist Peter Meier said. Source

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Canadian Hedge Funds

Canadian Hedge Funds

Canadian Hedge Funds Down in April 2012

Canadian hedge funds are suffering poor performance as of late according to The Scotiabank Canadian Hedge Fund Index. The index ended April 2012 down 2.99% on an asset weighted basis and down 1.86% on an equal weighted basis.
The Scotiabank Canadian Hedge Fund Index ended April 2012 down 2.99% on an asset weighted basis and down 1.86% on an equal weighted basis.  
 The aim of the Scotiabank Canadian Hedge Fund Index is to provide a comprehensive overview of the Canadian Hedge Fund universe. To achieve this, index returns are calculated using both an equal weighting and an asset-based weighting of the funds. 
The index includes both open and closed funds with a minimum AUM of CAD15 million and at least a 12 month track record of returns, managed by Canadian-domiciled hedge fund managers.  Source

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Hedge Funds Buying and Selling

Hedge Funds Buying and Selling

A Look at What Hedge Funds Are Buying and Selling

It's always interesting to see how hedge funds are trading and what their views on the markets are.  Forbes has compiled a good look at whether the top hedge fund managers are buying and selling as an indication of their take on the last quarter and the market more generally.
We have updated the first quarter portfolios of all gurus. By looking at their trades we can get an idea of what they think about the market. The table below illustrates the summary of the trades of hedge fund gurus in the first quarter. “Buy Impact” is defined as the impact of the trades for the stocks they have either added or bought into. “Sell Impact” is the impact for the stocks that they have sold out or reduced. “New Buy” is the difference between “Buy Impact” and “Sell Impact.” Apparently those with higher “Net Buy” were more bullish. Those with higher negative “Net buy” were bearish. 


GuruFirmPortfolio Size ($M)Buy Impact (%)Sell Impact (%)Net Buy (%)
David TepperAppaloosa Management LP405280.13-16.8963.24
Kyle BassHayman Advisors14367.42-5.1862.24
Daniel LoebThird Point, LLC406163.116-39.43223.684
Joel GreenblattGotham Capital115037.6149-22.156715.4582
Julian RobertsonTiger Management35332.9-18.2514.65
T Boone PickensBP Capital17431.08-18.2212.86
Louis Moore BaconMoore Capital Management, LP632741.8679-34.38137.4866


See the full list here.

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Man Group Financial Risk Management

Man Group Financial Risk Management

Man Group Plans to Buy Financial Risk Management

Man Group (EMG.LN), the London-based hedge fund giant, has announced that it will buy Financial Risk Management Holdings.  The latter is a hedge fund research and investment specialist and the purchase of FRM is intended to beef up Man Group's fund of funds and reduce its reliance on its AHL flagship fund.
U.K.-listed hedge fund operator Man Group said it will acquire Financial Risk Management Holdings, a hedge fund research and investment specialist that it said will make it less reliant on its underperforming AHL computer-based flagship fund. 
Man will make no initial upfront payment for FRM but could end up paying up to $82.8 million in cash over three years, net of total net assets acquired, and a 47.5% share of performance fees attributable to FRM's existing funds under management over three years, subject to a cap. 
FRM has about $8 billion in assets under management. Man Group had $59 billion in assets at the end of the first quarter. Man Group, one of the world's biggest hedge-fund companies, has been battling investor discontent and AHL's poor performance, and Man Chief Executive Peter Clarke told reporters that through the acquisition "we are diversifying the group's earnings base." Source

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Hedge Funds Euro Bear Bets

Hedge Funds Euro Bear Bets

Hedge Funds Reviving Euro Bear Bets

Hedge funds are reviving bearish bets on the euro even as most investors have remained optimistic about the prospects of the currency.  Hedge funds had until recently reduced bets that the euro would fall in value but now many funds are looking to profit from a decline according to the CFTC.
The euro has weathered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, and falling interest rates. Now, investors are betting like never before that a Greek exit would be too much to keep the 17-nation currency above its long-term average. 
Hedge funds and other large speculators, which pared trades that would profit from a drop in the euro to the lowest levels since November, rebuilt them to a record high last week, figures released May 18 by the Washington-based Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed. The premium for options that grant the right to sell the euro has more than doubled since March. 
Through most of the financial and political turmoil in Europe, the euro held above the average since its January 1999 start as investors put their faith in German Chancellor Angela Merkel to keep the monetary union in place. While they currently forecast little change in the euro versus the dollar, a majority of the world’s biggest foreign-exchange trading firms surveyed by Bloomberg News say the loss of even a weak member such as Greece would risk more departures and send the currency lower. Source

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Hedge Funds J.P. Morgan

Hedge Funds J.P. Morgan

Video: The Hedge Funds Who Bet Against J.P. Morgan

One of the biggest stories this month has been the trading losses of upwards of $2 billion suffered by J.P. Morgan's hedging unit. Here is an interesting video on the hedge funds that bet against the "London Whale," the nickname for the trader who is said to be at the center of the J.P. Morgan trading losses.

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Asia Hedge Funds Assets 2012

Asia Hedge Funds Assets 2012

Asia Hedge Funds Make Up for Assets Lost Last Year

Hedge funds in Asia are back on top after suffering heavy losses in the region last year.  According to the Chicago based Hedge Fund Research group, Asia hedge funds have more than recovered the assets lost during that time.  While Asia makes up a large percentage of the global number of hedge funds, the region's share of assets is less than the fund total suggests because most assets under management still are managed by funds in other areas of the world.
Asia focused hedge funds have more than recovered all the assets lost after last year’s dire performance although the industry has still underperformed local stock markets in the first quarter of 2012, according to industry data. 
China dominates the regional industry and 30 percent of global hedge funds by number are now located in the country including Hong Kong, second only to the U.S., according to the Chicago based Hedge Fund Research group. However, most Asian funds are significantly smaller than those in the U.S. and other established jurisdictions, so their assets make up just 4 percent of the global industry’s $2.13 trillion total. 
The growth and increasing diversity of capital markets in the region is encouraging investor interest, while the inefficiencies and relative lack of sophistication in many markets means there are greater pricing anomalies for sharp-eyed hedge funds to try to exploit. “China will continue to emerge as the capital of the Asian hedge funds industry,” said Kenneth Heinz, president of HFR. Source

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Hedge Funds Net Inflows April 2012

Hedge Funds Net Inflows April 2012

Investors Pumping in More Cash to Hedge Funds in April 

Investors are pumping in more cash to hedge funds, according to data from hedge fund administrator GlobeOp.  Net inflows into hedge funds rose to 1.24 percent of that total during the month to May 1, 2012 almost five times the previous month's inflows.
This cash injection was almost five times the previous month's 0.27 percent inflow but significantly lower than the 2.41 percent net inflow seen a year ago and the 2.02 percent and 2.2 percent net inflows recorded in March and February respectively. 
Hedge funds lost an average 5.2 percent last year, according to Hedge Fund Research HFR.L, after the crisis in the euro zone and worries of a global recession rattled investors and punished all but the most bearish of strategies. Requests to pull money out of hedge funds dropped on a monthly basis to 2 percent in April, from 3.23 percent in March as more investors backed long-short managers to successfully navigate the latest burst of market volatility. 
After achieving its best first-quarter performance since 2006, the hedge fund industry lost some ground in April, as shown by a 0.36 percent drop in HFR's HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index. However, the sector still outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, which fell 0.8 percent in April. Source

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Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor Hedge Funds

Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor 

Hedge Funds Could Get Qualified Status in China

Hedge funds could eventually be able to trade directly on China's stock markets, depending on China Securities Regulatory Commission's decision on the qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) license and the restrictions on QFII's. So far, no hedge funds have been approved for the qualified foreign institutional investor licenses but China's regulators appear to be rethinking the situation in favor of loosening the requirements to get the QFII license and then the restrictions on those holding the license.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission has begun a feasibility study of lowering the requirements to win a qualified foreign institutional investor license, as well as loosening the restrictions of QFIIs. It is unclear whether the review will result in changes or when the loosening might come, but CSRC's director of fund supervision said yesterday that changes were planned. Wang Li told the Shanghai Securities News that CSRC planned to allow more types of foreign investors to receive QFII licenses. 
It also plans to streamline the application and approval process, expand the scope of a QFII's investments, clarify tax policy and ease rules on account opening and fund repatriation. Last month, the CRSC boosted QFII quotas from US$50 billion to US$80 billion. Indeed, China has already opened the door to almost as many new QFIIs (28) in the first four months of 2012 as it did in all of last year. 
All told, 158 firms have been granted the licenses, but no hedge funds. Och-Ziff Capital Management applied for a license a few years ago, but it has not been approved. Among the proposed changes are a reduction in the US$5 billion assets minimum currently required of QFIIs, a level which bars many hedge funds. Currently, firms must also have been in business for five years, blocking new China-focused hedge funds from applying. Source

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Facebook Christopher Hansen

Facebook Christopher Hansen

Meet Facebook's Friend in the Hedge Fund Industry

Christopher R. Hansen is not a big name in the hedge fund industry; he is not mentioned consistently in conversations about the best fund managers out there, but he is becoming more well-known for his connection to this year's (maybe this decade's) hottest IPO.  Of course, I'm talking about Facebook's impending initial public offering.

One hedge fund, led by Christopher Hansen, has something few hedge funds have: a significant stake in the social media giant.  Hansen's Valiant Capital owns 36.3 million shares in Facebook, which at expected share price, would be worth $1.27 billion, significantly less than what he is assumed to have paid for the shares.  One might wonder what this fund manager will do with his fortune; one idea that's surfacing is to bring back an NBA team to Seattle.
Mark Zuckerberg is making the rounds on Wall Street and as Facebook goes public he will increasingly be confronted with the fast-money hedge funds he appears to have tried to avoid. Hedge funds will play a big role in Facebook’s stock after its initial public offering, but only one hedge fund investor has seriously benefited from the monster valuation increase of Facebook’s privately-held stock. 
Christopher R. Hansen is a little-known hedge fund manager who likes to keep under the radar, but his Facebook investment is poised to make him a more high-profile player and is perhaps even helping to fuel his effort to buy a National Basketball Association team. His Valiant Capital Management, a hedge fund firm that he runs out of San Francisco, owns 36.3 million shares in Facebook, according to a Facebook filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 
At $35 per share, the top range of Facebook’s IPO pricing, Valiant’s Facebook stock would be worth $1.27 billion. Valiant probably paid $500 million for the shares, maybe he paid a bit less. Hansen bought Facebook stock through Valiant Capital Opportunities, a corporation that California business records show was formed in July 2010, just around the time that a relatively large amount of Facebook stock became available. 
Most of Valiant’s shares of Facebook are held in a special purpose vehicle that its hedge fund investors needed to opt into as co-investors by funneling some of the money they had committed to the hedge fund; the rest of the shares are held in a side-pocket of the hedge fund, according to an individual familiar with Valiant’s structure. Facebook facilitated the deals between Valiant, which the company viewed as an acceptable investor that would not quickly flip the shares, and holders of Facebook shares, using its right of first refusal on transactions involving its private stock. Source

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Hedge Fund Traders Wall Street

Hedge Fund Traders Wall Street

Hedge Funds Attract Billion Dollar Traders from Wall Street

Wall Street's top firms used to have little difficulty retaining top traders but now the inevitability that the best traders would call Morgan Stanley or Barclay's home is being challenged.  Hedge funds are offering competitive, often superior compensation packages to the top billion dollar traders in order to lure them off traditional Wall Street.  Unlike many investment banks, hedge funds are not restricted in their compensation and bonuses and are taking full advantage of this disparity with highly lucrative offers.
Hedge funds are offering managing director-level traders salaries of about $200,000 to $250,000, said Michael Karp, managing partner at New York executive recruiter Options Group. Some of the largest hedge funds may pay bonuses of as much as 12 percent of traders’ profits, or an even bigger percentage of their earnings after the firm takes a 2 percent cut, according to Options Group.  
Unlike the banks, the funds typically pay 50 percent or more of bonuses to their highest earners in cash, according to New York-based compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates Inc. The rest may be locked up in funds the firms manage.  
“It’s a buyer’s market” for the hedge funds, Karp said. “People are figuring out how to trade in this new world.” Silvetz’s departure from Deutsche Bank followed those of Prakash Narayanan and Thomas Curran, who together made more than $1 billion for Germany’s biggest bank in 2009 and 2010, the people with direct knowledge of the situation said. Silvetz, Narayanan and Curran declined to comment.  Source

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Dan Loeb Third Point Yahoo

Dan Loeb Third Point Yahoo

Third Point Hedge Fund at Center of Yahoo CEO Trouble

Yahoo has seen its share of troubles and now the technology company is facing another problem as it seeks to mollify investors angry over an inaccuracy surrounding the new CEO's credentials.  One investor, hedge fund Third Point, has asked Yahoo to dismiss the CEO under fire, Scott Thompson, after it was revealed that he only achieved a degree in Accounting, not Accounting and Computer Science as was previously thought to be the case--an important distinction, Third Point's Dan Loeb argues, because Yahoo is a tech company and a background in the industry is relevant to investors.

In a letter to shareholders, Mr. Loeb called for Mr. Thompson to be fired and for, Patti Hart, the Yahoo executive who led the CEO search committee, to resign--in a twist, it was also revealed that Ms. Hart appears to have claimed different academic credentials than what she earned as an undergraduate.  It remains to be seen whether Yahoo will acquiesce to the demands made by this hedge fund manager and other investors; the company is conducting a review of the matter.
In a letter to shareholders on Friday, Third Point’s founder, Daniel S. Loeb, called for Mr. Thompson to be fired and for Ms. Hart to resign. Mr. Loeb also raised concerns about whether Yahoo had filed erroneous information in securities filings and other documents. 
“Irreparable damage to Yahoo’s culture will continue every day that the board allows Mr. Thompson and Ms. Hart to remain at the helm of the company after having clearly demonstrated that they lack even the ‘minimum qualifications for service as a director of the company,’ ” Mr. Loeb wrote. 
A spokeswoman for Yahoo, Amanda Pires, said in a statement: “As we have previously said, the board is reviewing this matter and, upon completion of its review, will make an appropriate disclosure to shareholders.” 
Earlier this year, Third Point started an aggressive battle against Yahoo, questioning the company’s strategic direction and its choice of new directors, who Mr. Loeb said lacked advertising and media expertise. The hedge fund is seeking four board seats at Yahoo. Source

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John Arnold Centaurus Advisors

John Arnold Centaurus Advisors

John Arnold to Close Hedge Fund Centaurus Advisors

In a surprising move, energy trading superstar and hedge fund manager John Arnold has reportedly decided to shut down his fund and return investor money.  Arnold made a name for himself at Enron and then struck out on his own in 2002 founding Centaurus Advisers.  At his hedge fund, Arnold achieved triple digit returns but in recent years performance has been less stellar although he still managed to beat many hedge funds last year.
John Arnold, one of the most profitable traders in the hedge fund industry, has decided to shut down his Centaurus Advisors and return money to investors, according to people familiar with the matter. He joins a string of wealthy managers who have made such a move after much success. 
Mr. Arnold, who burnished his reputation at Enron before starting his hedge fund in 2002, did not specify his reasons for shutting the fund, but said simply it was time to pursue other interests. With an estimated net worth of $3 billion, Mr. Arnold joins the ranks of big-money managers who can afford to walk away. 
As both hedge funds and commodities trading face unprecedented new regulations and oversight, Mr. Arnold had been unable to reproduce the triple-digit gains that made him famous (and have left him with an average annual return in excess of 100 percent). 
In 2010, he experienced his first year of negative performance. Last year, while most hedge funds lost money, Mr. Arnold returned about 7 percent, according to the people. Mr. Arnold, who is based in Houston, could not be reached for comment. The news was first reported by Reuters. Source

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Neil Berger Interview

Neil Berger Interview

Interview with Neil Berger of Eagle's View Asset Management

I was able to serve as Opening Day Chairman of GAIM International last year, the largest hedge fund conference in the world.  Now, ahead of GAIM International this June in Monaco, Neal Berger, President, Eagle’s View Asset Management, takes some time to talk on challenges facing investors, where he sees oppportunities and how the hedge fund industry is changing. 

What’s the biggest challenge an investor faces today?

For those of us who are in the business of investing with ‘best of breed’ talent, and more specifically, strategies that exploit a structural inefficiency in the marketplace, these Managers are closing to outside capital at an alarming rate. With hedge fund AUM growth at 35% per annum since 1999, finding capacity in Managers who are truly producing alpha is the greatest challenge we face as investors today. This will only continue to become more challenging as inflows continue unabated into first-tier talent and strategies.

Which asset class do you think holds the most opportunity currently?

Although we do not view it as an ‘asset class’, rather a structure, hedge funds hold the greatest opportunity now and for the future. Simply put, due to the potential for outsized compensation, the hedge fund industry has attracted the brightest minds in the financial community and some of the brightest minds in the world.

Would you change the hedge fund industry and, if so, how?

With AUM growth at 35% annually since 1999, and cumulative returns north of 100% on average over the past 10 years, I think the industry is doing just fine. Given the influence that hedge funds have over world financial markets now, I do think that regulation and oversight of the industry is appropriate at this stage. With that increased oversight, I would allow all investors the ability to access hedge funds regardless of their net worth. It’s simply not fair to merely allow the rich to get richer by accessing hedge funds and to shut off access to those of lesser financial means to some of the best investment opportunities in the world.

What’s the most successful investment you have ever made?

Investing my capital to build my hedge fund Advisory and Fund of Funds businesses. One can get very wealthy by investing in hedge funds, however, one can get even wealthier by investing other people’s money into hedge funds and earning a performance fee based upon client profitability.

I know when I see a good investment opportunity because….

The best investment opportunities often exploit a structural inefficiency in the market and have a favorable demand/supply equation for capturing the ‘edge’ that exists.

Who do you most respect in the hedge fund industry & why?

Izzy Englander, the Founder and CEO of Millennium Partners. I consider him my mentor in the business. I think he is a pioneer in the industry and has a very rare ability to truly recognize a strategy or Manager with an ‘edge’ and to manage that talent effectively. He is the best ‘seller’ I’ve ever seen. He has extreme discipline and can very easily let go of a losing trade or Manager without hesitation. In short, he is the best trader of Traders I’ve ever witnessed. The Millennium track record is nearly unparalleled. Based upon my personal experience, he is very tough, but, he  is also very honest and he honors his deals. He is an old-fashioned trader type whose word is his bond. That’s really all anyone can ask for.

Tell us a little known fact about yourself 

I made a $100,000 weight loss bet with poker great Phil Ivey and I won the bet.

If you could have dinner with anyone (dead or alive), who would it be and what question would you ask?

I’d like to sit with Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin and try to convince him to get the band back together to play at my next high school reunion. I’d basically be the coolest guy on the planet if I could accomplish that.

Neal Berger has been working on Wall Street for more than twenty years and has been in the hedge fund industry for more than fifteen years.  
Neal will be speaking at GAIM on the panel, Monday 18th June 12:30pm in the session -’The Investor Perspective Panel
Are Hedge Funds Still Good Investments?   Neal will also be speaking on Tuesday 19th June in the Family Offices session at 2:30pm.
For more information on GAIM, including agendas, speaker line-ups, or to book your place, click here to visit the GAIM website. 


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Man Group Assets Under Management

Man Group Assets Under Management

Man Group Struggles to Maintain Investor Money in 2012

The world's largest publicly-traded hedge fund has hit a rough patch in 2012.  In the first quarter of this year, Man Group (EMG.L) reported net outflows from the hedge fund business at $1 billion.  The stock price for the hedge fund giant has been falling as well, declining 56% over the last 12 months.  The current CEO, Peter Clarke, who has led the firm since Stanley Fink's departure in 2007, said management retains shareholder confidence, "I do not feel our shareholders do anything other than support existing management, as witnessed by the proxy votes."
These are tumultuous times for the $2 trillion hedge fund industry. Returns last year were disappointing, regulators and prosecutors in New York and London have been bringing insider-trading cases, and investors have started to pull money out of some funds. The biggest stars of this rich industry, like billionaire John Paulson, have been humbled. 
The latest hedge fund titan to stumble is Man Group, the world’s largest publicly-traded hedge fund firm. Man Group, which has $59 billion in assets under management, started the month of May by announcing that in the first quarter of 2012 investors in Man’s hedge funds withdrew $4.1 billion, which netted out to $1 billion of outflows. 
At Man Group’s annual meeting of shareholders in London, chief executive Peter Clarke and other executives came under fire from some shareholders for the firm’s plummeting stock, which has tumbled by 23% in 2012 and 56% in the last 12 months. 
Investors pushed the stock down about 5% on Tuesday. “I do not feel our shareholders do anything other than support existing management, as witnessed by the proxy votes,” Clarke said in response. Source

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Hedge Fund Spain Credit Default Swaps

Hedge Fund Spain Credit Default Swaps

Hedge Funds Look for Relative Value Trades in Spain

Hedge funds appear to have found an opportunity in Spain with relative value trades on underpriced securities. Hedge funds have been lining up to place bets based on what they see as the mispricing of credit default swaps, Spain government and corporate bonds and stocks.  This is similar to what happened in Greece with hedge funds buying up credit default swaps.
Hedge funds have spotted money-making opportunities in Spain, betting that market fears over the southern European country's deepening debt crisis have made some assets too cheap relative to other securities. 
Managers have been exploiting what they see as the mispricing of credit default swaps (CDS), government and corporate bonds and stocks, after months of growing market concern that Spain might need an international bailout, using relative value trades - betting on one security versus another. 
"There's probably more juice for relative value trades than directional plays," said one fund of funds manager who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It's a pretty well-flagged story. I don't know how much juice they think is in it," the fund manager said of Spanish CDS bets. 
The moves echo the earlier stages of the euro zone crisis, when hedge funds - renowned as being among the nimblest of investors - bought CDS - designed to pay out in the event of default - on Greece and other weaker euro zone countries.Source

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Commodity Hedge Funds Metals

Commodity Hedge Funds Metals

Commodity Hedge Funds Bullish on Industrial Metals

Commodity-focused hedge funds are looking forward to rising prices for industrial metals in the second half of the year.  These fund managers expect the prices to increase because of an anticipated strengthening global economy that will heighten demand.
Leading commodity hedge funds believe that a stronger global economy in the second half of the year will buoy industrial metals such as copper and iron ore but weigh on the price of gold. 
The bullish outlook from hedge funds including Touradji, Ospraie, Galena and Tiberius suggests that the recent fall in the price of industrial commodities could be short-lived. “Our general view is that China and the financial markets are going to be okay,” Nathan Ebeling, head of trading at Ospraie Management told the FT Global Commodities Summit in Lausanne. 
“In the second half of the year you want to own risk assets.” That view was echoed by Jeremy Weir, chief executive of Galena Asset Management, which runs one of the largest specialist metals funds, who singled out iron ore as a commodity likely to rise in the second half of the year, along with other industrial metals. Source

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Brevan Howard Multi-Strategy Master Fund

Brevan Howard Multi-Strategy Master Fund

Investors Dive into Brevan Howard Multi-Strategy Master Fund

Investors have been clamoring to get greater access to Brevan Howard's Master Fund, the flagship product that has achieved success both in terms of performance and assets under management.  Now, Brevan Howard has developed a fund to tap into that excess demand for the Master Fund with the Brevan Howard Multi-Strategy Master Fund.  This fund gives investors exposure to the popular Master Fund as well as some other, smaller strategies.
 The Brevan Howard Multi-Strategy Master Fund - which invests in the group's $27 billion flagship Master fund and other, smaller strategies - has grown to more than $2.3 billion from around $1.1 billion last September, data seen by Reuters shows. 
This growth spotlights the popularity currently enjoyed by a small band of hedge funds such as Brevan, which are attracting the bulk of new cash but also having to juggle a commitment to existing investors to limit the size of their flagship portfolios while not turning away new clients. 
For many investors the Multi-Strategy fund is the only way to gain access to Brevan's Master fund, which has made money every year since its launch in 2003, because it is now shut to new cash, one investor said. 
However, the group has suggested investors put money into its Multi-Strategy fund, the investor and another client said. This gives clients partial exposure to the Master fund as well as a range of the group's other, much smaller portfolios. 
"It's a way to give money to other funds they're building. They're saying to institutions that it's the only way to get exposure," said the investor, who did not want to be named. Source

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Hedge Funds JOBS Act

Hedge Funds JOBS Act

What the JOBS Act Means for Smaller Investors

The big news in the hedge fund industry lately is that the JOBS Act at least partially seems to have lifted a strict ban on hedge fund advertising.  In the following video, Chuck Jaffe of MarketWatch, speaks on the significant of the Jumpstart our Business Startups Act and how it will affect hedge funds and their ability to advertise to smaller investors.  To watch the video via RSS or e-mail, click here.




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Fundraising Hedge Fund Q1 2012

Fundraising Hedge Fund Q1 2012

Investors Pour $16b into Hedge Funds in First Quarter

$16 billion in new capital was allocated to the hedge fund industry in the first quarter of 2012.  Hedge funds were off to a nice start this year but the industry still on average trails the major indices.  Total industry assets under management reached $2.13 trillion, a sign of returning confidence to the hedge fund industry.
Investors poured billions of dollars into hedge funds in the first quarter, helping to send total industry assets into record territory, data released Thursday shows. 
Investors allocated a net $16 billion to hedge funds in the first three months of the year, according to Hedge Fund Research, which tracks industry flows and performance. 
With the new capital, as well as average gains of about 5 percent for hedge funds in the first quarter, total industry assets reached $2.13 trillion, HFR found. An earlier record was set halfway through 2011, when total capital invested with hedge fund managers hit $2.04 trillion. 
In one of its worst annual performances in history, hedge funds lost about 5 percent in 2011. However, the industry seemed to get its groove back in the beginning of 2012 as global equity and credit markets rallied, and managers recorded the best first quarter of performance in five years. 
"Investors responded favorably to the risk shifting which occurred across financial markets in the first quarter," said Kenneth J. Heinz, President of HFR. "Sophisticated institutional investors are increasingly allocating to hedge funds as a powerful strategic portfolio complement to existing traditional holdings." Source

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http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2012/04/fundraising-hedge-fund-q1-2012.html

Hedge Fund Honesty Rule

Hedge Fund Honesty Rule

Hedge Funds Could Face Honesty Rules in EU Laws

The European Commission has added rules for hedge funds on client-asset segregation, conflicts of interest and honesty, according to the Alternative Investment Management Association.  AIMA said that the European Commission (the executive arm of the EU) has included a provision requiring that fund managers act with "honesty, integrity and independence of mind to effectively assess and challenge" top level decisions.
The commission, the European Union’s executive arm, has added a provision saying fund managers must act with “honesty, integrity and independence of mind to effectively assess and challenge” senior management decisions, according to the Alternative Investment Management Association. 
Fund managers also face tougher rules on protecting client assets, use of debt and conflicts of interest in rules that differ from advice from the European Securities and Markets Authority to the commission, AIMA said. 
The draft rules are part of the commission’s work to implement a hedge-fund law from 2011. The legislation, known as the Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive, sets rules on management and information disclosure for funds across the 27-nation region. 
While “nobody is disputing the need and the obligation to act honestly,” the underlying hedge-fund law already contains measures that impose that obligation, Andrew Baker, AIMA’s chief executive officer, said in an e-mailed statement today. Source

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Tags: hedge funds, hedge funds AIMA, hedge funds alternative investment management association, hedge funds AIMA rules, hedge funds European Commission Rules, Hedge Funds Alternative Fund Manager Directive, hedge funds ruling

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http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2012/04/hedge-fund-honesty-rule.html

Hedge Funds JOBS Act

Hedge Funds JOBS Act

JOBS Act Clears Way for Hedge Fund Marketing


Hedge funds have long had strict restraints on how and to whom they can market their fund offerings.  The recently signed JOBS Act will revise rules on hedge fund and private equity marketing allowing them to market to the general public.  Still, the rules on who is allowed to invest in a hedge fund will remain--only accredited investors that fit certain requirements.
Thanks to a little-noticed provision tucked into the just-signed jobs bill, hedge funds may soon be making a bold move into marketing—and the mainstream. 
The JOBS Act, signed by President Obama on April 5, lifted a decades-old restriction on how hedge funds can go after new investors, clearing the way for managers to speak more publicly about their strategies and performance and even to advertise. 
As private investment vehicles, hedge funds aren't required to meet the same disclosure requirements and risk restrictions as ordinary mutual funds. In return, they may deal only with experienced, high-net-worth investors, and have long been banned from marketing themselves to the general public. 
Lifting those marketing restrictions is potentially a major move, but not everyone thinks it is a great development for average investors. Source


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