Hedge Fund Returns in 2009

Hedge Fund Returns in 2009

Hedge Fund Industry Recovery Led by Strong Returns


Hedge fund managers had one of their best years following one of the worst.  2009 marked a major recovery of the hedge fund industry with investors returning to funds and good, consistent performance by funds.  In the first 11 months of this year hedge funds returned 19% on average.
For hedge funds, 2009 will be remembered as one of the industry's best ever -- a year when managers delivered strong gains after 2008's drubbing and investors returned to the fray with new money.
But the hangover from 2008, when clients reacted to the industry's worst-ever losses by pulling out a record $155 billion, has not fully disappeared, managers and investors said.

The $2 trillion hedge fund industry is just beginning to tally this year's winnings, but preliminary numbers offer plenty to cheer about.
Performance trackers, including Hennessee Group and Hedge Fund Research, are expected to report 2009 data in early January.

Buoyed by a strong rally across many asset classes, global hedge funds, on average, gained 13.2 percent through Tuesday, according to the HFRX index compiled by Chicago-based research group Hedge Fund Research.  Source


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Trian Fund Management

Trian Fund Management

Trian Now Largest Shareholder of Another Money Manager


Trian Fund Management has become the largest shareholder of another money manager.  The hedge fund boosted its shares in Legg Mason.  Trian now holds a 5.6% interest in Legg; but Trian's manager, Nelson Peltz, agreed not to exceed 9.9% of the firm's shares. 
Activist hedge fund manager Trian Fund Management has become the largest shareholder of another money manager.
The New York-based hedge fund has continued buying up shares of Legg Mason, increasing its stake on Monday to 5.6%. That puts Nelson Peltz’s Trian ahead of Dodge & Cox, which owns 5.5% of the Baltimore-based asset management giant, which includes hedge fund manager Permal.
Trian bought more than 2 million shares on Monday, increasing its stake in Legg by some 28%.
Peltz’s Legg buying spree cannot last forever. As part of the deal that put him on the firm’s board, Peltz agreed not to build a stake larger than 9.9% during a standstill period that could run another two years.  Source

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Hedge Funds Teamsters

Hedge Funds Teamsters

Hedge Funds Avoid Protest by Labor Union


It would have been a remarkable sight: Teamsters protesting outside the offices of a large hedge fund, Brigade Capital Management.  The International Brotherhood of Teamsters planned a midday rally against the hedge fund accusing the firm of refusing to participate in trucking company YRC Worldwide’s debt-for-equity swap.  If YRC cannot complete the swap, Teamsters estimate that 30,000 Teamsters will lose their jobs.

However, Brigade Capital Management responded quickly to avoid the rally and the bad press that would surely follow.   Both Brigade and hedge fund JMB Capital Partners announced that they have tendered all of their bonds in YRC, causing the Teamsters to call off the protest.
The union did warn that it would “monitor the situation” and “will plan future protests at these institutions and others if contrary evidence surfaces.”

"There is too much at risk for bondholders to sacrifice the livelihood of 30,000 workers for the marginal profits they might realize by their continued inaction," said Teamsters General President James Hoffa. "It's a simple choice—help a good, U.S. company recover and protect 30,000 jobs or allow our struggling economy to take another devastating hit. I think the choice is clear—bondholders must now do their part."  Source

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CalPERS Hedge Fund Ethics

CalPERS Hedge Fund Ethics

CalPERS Tightens Ethics Following Probe into Hedge Funds


2009 has been a year for reviewing ethics policies and reexamining internal controls.  America's largest pension fund is tightening its ethics rules following a minor scandal involving two hedge fund advisers.  CalPERS has announced that the president of its board can now discipline board members and all will have to go through annual training sessions.

The decision follows a probe into the fund's paying of $36 million to two hedge fund advisers to manager the fund's money without the required contracts.  Kurt Silberstein, who heads the hedge fund portfolio management, has been fined and placed on temporary administrative leave. 

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s board gave its president the power to discipline board members whose actions violate the $200 billion pension’s policies. It will also require annual training sessions.
The moves follow the revelation last month that CalPERS had paid some $36 million to two hedge fund advisers that were managing its money without a contract, as is required. The advisers in question, Pacific Alternative Asset Management Co. and a UBS unit, had both run portfolios for CalPERS since 2003.
As a result of the ensuing investigation, Kurt Silberstein, the pension’s senior portfolio manager for global equity and pointman on its $5.8 billion hedge fund portfolio, was fined and put on temporary administrative leave.
“By toughening our governance policies, we’re making sure that board members are held to the strictest standards,” board president Rob Feckner said. “The guidelines help us keep the focus on what’s important—the quality of our investments.”  Source

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Millennium Investors Redeem $3 Billion

Millennium Management Redemptions

Investors in Millennium Management Pull $3 Bil in October


A cautionary tale for hedge fund managers considering loosening terms with investors is that of Millennium Management.   The hedge fund firm made it easier for limited partners to redeem from their investments, allowing investors to pull about $3 billion in October--27% of its AUM.  As managers consider different ways to entice investors back into their funds many have changed terms to make redemptions easier, a big complaint when investors could not withdraw their investment from fund during the financial crisis.
Investors yanked billions from Millennium Management after the hedge fund made it easier to redeem their investments.
All told, the New York-based hedge fund returned about $3 billion in October, roughly 27% of its assets under management. The firm now runs about $8 billion, Reuters reports.
After the third quarter, Millennium changed its liquidity terms, giving investors the option of withdrawing a quarter of their assets every quarter, or all of it annually. The firm imposed no gate or other withdrawal restrictions during the financial crisis.
Millennium is up 15% through November.

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Hedge Funds Investing in Farmland

Hedge Funds Farmland

New Hedge Fund to Invest in US Farmland


A couple of weeks ago I noted the closure of an art fund, and now another unusual hedge fund is opening.  Optima Fund Management has launched a fund investing in U.S. farmland.  The fund plans on purchasing as much as 10,000 acres in its first year, primarily in Arizona and underdeveloped vineyards in California.
The new vehicle is believed to be among only a handful of institutional investment funds to invest in arable land.  The $6 billion New York-based fund of hedge funds shop has raised $100 million for the American Farmland Co. The new fund plans to buy up to 10,000 acres in its first year, focusing on farmland in Arizona and underdeveloped vineyards in California.

“Farmland as an asset class has been historically overlooked by many investors, but U.S. farmland has generated returns exceeding 15% per annum in the past five years,” Optima chief Dixon Boardman told The Times of London. “Low debt in the farming sector has also contributed to its outperformance during the credit crisis."  Source

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Documenting Operational Hedge Fund Processes

Documenting Operational Fund Processes


The following video reviews how some hedge fund managers have been documenting their operational processes on a very granular level and benefiting from the increased understanding and outsourcing decision-making that results from doing so. If you are reading this via email or RSS please click here to watch the video below. 





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New Hedge Fund Launches 2009

New Hedge Fund Launches 2009

Hedge Fund Launches in 2009 is Good News for Next Year


Hedge fund startups are gaining momentum as more new managers enter the market.  Hedge fund launches has significantly increased since the end of 2008 coinciding with a recovery in fund performance in 2009.  In the third quarter, 173 new funds were launched, 54 more than the previous quarter.  The only catch is that many new hedge funds are settling for more investor-friendly terms and lower fees with limited partners and still raising less capital, but that is somewhat predictable after the financial crisis.

Still, the pace of new openings is way down from a few years ago. And "the size of the opening capital base is quite a bit smaller than it has been historically," said John Willian, global co-head of prime brokerage at Goldman Sachs Group Inc
Among this year's largest launches is London-based Tony Chedraoui's Tyrus Capital LLP. His fund launched in mid-October with more than $800 million in assets, which have since grown to about $1.65 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Arvind Raghunathan's Roc Capital Management LP in New York is managing about $1 billion since launching this summer ((2009)), which at least initially included about $500 million from his former employer Deutsche Bank AG, people familiar with the matter said. And, in one of Asia's largest launches, Hong Kong-based Nick Taylor's Senrigan Capital Management Ltd. launched its fund in early November with about $220 million, including about $150 million from Blackstone Group LP, according to people familiar with the situation.  Source

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Wisconsin Investment Board and Hedge Funds

Wisconsin Investment Board Hedge Funds

Wisconsin Investment Board to Invest in 25 Hedge Funds


Hedge funds rely on institutional investors, especially pension funds, to provide capital for new funds.  Institutional investors are usually hesitant about investing in alternative asset funds at first, which is why the State of Wisconsin's Investment Board's decision to hire up to 25 hedge funds is so surprising.  This would be the first time the Wisconsin pension fund would invest in hedge funds.
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board is preparing its first foray into hedge funds, but it isn’t going to merely dip its toe in the water.
The public pension system plans to hire as many as 25 hedge fund managers to run up to $3.1 billion over the next year-and-a-half, Pensions & Investments reports. The first 15 hedge funds could be hired next year to fill an initial 2% allocation, with 10 more hired in the first half of 2010 as the pension increases its hedge fund allocation to 4% to 5%.
Wisconsin employs Cliffwater as its hedge fund consultant. The board will consider the hedge fund investments on Jan. 26.  Source

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Christmas Present: Over $2,500 of Hedge Fund Video Content (FREE)

Hedge Fund Video Library




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Public Relations Services for Hedge Fund Managers

PR for Hedge Funds



Video Below: How to Use Public Relations Services for Hedge Fund Managers

Within this video we briefly cover how hedge fund managers often ignore, but could be employing public relations strategies to help grow their hedge fund business. If you are viewing this article via RSS or email please click here to watch the embedded video below on our website.


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Hedge Funds Interest Rates

Hedge Funds Interest Rates

Hedge Funds Profit on Rise in US Long Term Interest Rates


The increase in long-term US interest rates is actually good news for several hedge fund managers who positioned themselves to gain from the rise.  John Paulson and other managers bet on an increase in yields on US Treasury securities by purchasing options that would become profitable when rates went up.  Paulson explained his strategy, "“It will be difficult for the government to withdraw the economic stimulus.  An increase in the monetary base leads to an increase in the money supply, which leads to inflation.”  Many hedge funds have been able to net large gains in the economic recovery this year.
Bond prices fall as yields rise, and Mr Paulson told the Financial Times last week that he has been hoping to benefit in the Treasury market by buying options that would become profitable if rates headed higher. TPG-Axon’s Dinakar Singh has been making similar options trades, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which hit a crisis low of 2.055 per cent last year, has moved from 3.2 per cent last month to 3.75 per cent on Tuesday.
Hedge fund managers, however, have been hesitant to engage in short sales of Treasury bonds to profit from the rising yields – and falling prices – because of the Federal Reserve’s heavy involvement in the market. This has led some to buy options – dubbed “high strike receivers” – that would enable them to profit from sharply higher Treasury yields, hedge fund managers say. These trades, which are relatively cheap to execute because they are so out of the money, are based on the thesis that yields could hit 7 or 8 per cent.  Source

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Hedge Funds December 2009

Hedge Funds December 2009

Early Data for Hedge Funds in December 2009


The early data on the hedge fund industry in December is not particularly good or bad.  Using Dow Jones Hedge Fund Strategy Benchmarks as a measure we find long/short funds the best performing, up only 0.33% while the worst, event-driven funds, is down 0.14%.  A post here earlier this month predicted an uneventful December for hedge funds as managers try to curb risk so as not to blow a great year of performance. 
If hedge funds are going to enjoy a big December, they may need a big holiday bounce.
Through the end of last week, the three remaining Dow Jones Hedge Fund Strategy Benchmarks aren’t exactly blowing down doors. The best of the lot, equity long/short funds, is up just 0.33% through the first three weeks of the month. The worst, event-driven, is actually down 0.14%.
Merger arbitrage funds are up 0.11% during the same period. That benchmark is up 7.7% on the year; event-driven funds have returned 15% and equity long/short 3.7%.
The other three Dow Jones indices, convertible arbitrage, distressed securities and equity market-neutral, are suspended.  Source

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Hedge Funds Onshore Ireland

Hedge Funds Onshore Ireland

Ireland Trying to Lure Hedge Funds Moving Onshore


2010 may be the end of London's reign as Europe's premier hedge fund hub, at least that's what competing European nations are hoping.  Tougher regulation and higher income taxes are expected to drive away hedge fund managers to more business-friendly countries like Switzerland, and now Ireland.  Hedge funds are going to have to move onshore if proposed European Union regulations pass, and Ireland is welcoming the relocating funds with a new law allowing funds to move their domicile to the country in a simple process.

Europe’s existing hedge fund center, London, may be wringing it’s hands over impending European Union hedge fund regulation, but another European capital can’t wait.
Ireland last week approved new rules to make it easier for hedge funds to move their domicile to the Emerald Isle, hoping that the new European regulations will lead many hedge fund managers to move their funds onshore. Among the proposals being considered by European regulators and lawmakers is a ban on marketing funds not domiciled within the EU.
Dublin is already a major center for hedge fund administration. But under legislation passed Friday, it may become a major home for the industry. The new law allows funds to move their domicile to Ireland simply by arranging their departure from their current offshore home, followed by notifying the Irish registrar.
The new scheme does not offer a waiver from meeting other Irish regulatory requirements.  Source
Read our guide to Hedge Funds in Ireland

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History of Hedge Funds Video

History of Hedge Funds

Below is a short video covering the history and evolution of hedge fund managers.  It talks about how their strategies and structures have evolved into the giant industry it is today.  If you are reading this via RSS or Email please click here to watch the embedded video below on our website (HedgeFundBlogger.com).


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Rajaratnam Pleads Not Guilty

Rajaratnam Pleads Not Guilty

Rajaratnam and Chiesi Plead Not Guilty to Insider Trading


Raj Rajaratnam and Danielle Chiesi, two hedge managers of Galleon fund and New Castle Partners, respectively, have pleaded not guilty to charges of insider trading.  Last week, the two managers were indicted on several counts of securities fraud and conspiracy.  This case has been a dark spot on an otherwise bright year for the hedge fund industry, fueling regulators' and investors' drive for greater transparency and accountability.
Two months ago, Mr. Rajaratnam and Ms. Chiesi, both in handcuffs, were led into a Manhattan court by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in what was the beginning of the one of the largest insider trading cases in Wall Street history.
Since Mr. Rajaratnam was arrested and released on $100 million bail, he has spent millions of dollars hiring top criminal defense lawyers and public relations consultants to combat the charges against him. Following his arrest, investors moved rapidly to pull more than $4 billion from hedge funds managed by the Galleon Group.
“My daughter is innocent and that is what you will be printing,” Gloria Chiesi, Danielle Chiesi’s mother, told the Wall Street Journal after the hearing. “God borrowed my body and gave me this girl. She’s my angel.”

Source

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David Tepper $7 Billion

David Tepper $7 Billion

David Tepper's Hedge Fund Makes A $7 Billion Profit in 2009


David Tepper had more optimism than most coming into 2009 and it paid off, big.  Mr. Tepper and his hedge fund, Appaloosa Management, have made one of the largest single-year profits in recent years, hauling in $7 billion.  Tepper believed that the economy would not crash as severely as many feared and that banks would start to recover in 2009, so he bought shares of Bank of America when they were trading at $3 and CitiGroup at below $1.  The move paid off in a big way as both banks have recovered at least in part and shares are now trading considerably higher (BofA more so than Citi).  Few were convinced that it was safe to start trading again, as Tepper says of the time,  "I felt like I was alone." Some days, "no one was even bidding."
The bets paid off. A resurgent market has helped Mr. Tepper's firm, Appaloosa Management, gain about 120% after the firm's fees, through early December. Thanks to those gains, Mr. Tepper, who specializes in the stocks and bonds of troubled companies, manages about $12 billion, a sum that makes Appaloosa one of the largest hedge funds in the world.

Mr. Tepper, whose office overlooks the parking lot of a Hilton hotel in Short Hills, N.J., across from an upscale mall, now is taking aim at a new target. He's purchased about $2 billion of beaten-down commercial mortgage-backed securities. Among his purchases are bonds backed by chunks of the debt of Peter Cooper Village & Stuyvesant Town and 666 Fifth Ave. in New York, two high-profile real-estate deals that have fallen in value over the past two years.

Mr. Tepper grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in Pittsburgh, the son of an accountant who worked seven days a week and once won a $715,000 lottery payout. In the late 1980s, he helped run junk-bond trading at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Tepper wears jeans and sneakers to work, and can be self-deprecating, playing down his successes. He claims to have popularized on Wall Street the phrase "it is what it is" to explain the need to adjust a portfolio if facts on the ground shift.  Source

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Top 4 Hedge Fund Trends: Free Video

Top 4 Hedge Fund Trends

Below is a short video discussing what I see as the top 4 trends affecting the hedge fund industry.  If you are viewing this message via email or rss please click here to watch the embedded video on our site now.



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Hedge Fund Flows

Hedge Fund Flows

Hedge Fund Flows Reach Pre-Crisis Level


In the last few months we've been gathering evidence that the hedge fund industry has really recovered and today's news is a milestone in a great year for hedge funds.  Clients of hedge funds are back to pre-crisis money flows on both a gross and net basis.  Hedge funds have had to make up for steep losses the last years and have struggled to win back confidence from their investors but a solid year of returns will certainly help in regaining that trust.  The information comes from GlobeOp Financial Services, the firm's CEO Hans Hufschmid commented "The redemption pipeline looks like it looked prior to all the troubles ... Net subscriptions are also back to historical averages."

"Performance has been very good for our clients, who have made money every month since last December. That's translated into improved subscriptions," said Hufschmid, whose firm offers administration, risk reporting and technology to funds with a total of $106 billion under management.

His comments on a recovery in hedge fund money flows come after the industry posted record losses of 19 percent in 2008, and after some funds infuriated clients by locking up their money just when liquidity was most needed.

However, hedge funds have enjoyed a bumper year in 2009 as asset prices rebounded, with the average fund up 17.5 percent to November, according to Credit Suisse/Tremont.

Data from Hedge Fund Research shows that after withdrawing a net $330 billion from the industry in the year to June, investors gradually returned in the third quarter with a net inflow of $1.1 billion.  Source



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18 Lessons From Shooting Star Hedge Funds

18 Lessons from Shooting Star Hedge Funds



Fast growing hedge funds are unlike most large hedge funds and emerging hedge fund managers. They have figured something out and are positioned to grow unlike 90%+ of the industry.  Here are some lessons which can be taken away from some of the fast growing hedge funds we have worked with:

  1. They take transparency serious and work to be pro-actively very transparent - more so than their competition.
  2. They approach multiple investment channels but mostly ignore those completely out of their reach (example, potential pension fund clients for a $75M fund).
  3. They are always developing relationships and they have dedicated internal and some external professionals always selling on their behalf.
  4. They not only pedigree on their team but they are always building that pedigree through additional research, hiring of expert staff, and through speaking & writing.
  5. They document their operations and make decisions based on what is best long-term for the organization rather than what is cheaper to implement today.
  6. They have risk management and trading plans which are closely followed, this helps them improve their actual trading results and provides confidence to investors since their historical trading actually matches up against the decision making rules of their plans.
  7. They know that "risk management" while sounding less sexy than "hedge funds" is the business they are in, and they invest in their own business accordingly.
  8. They have documented, tested, and third party verified financial controls, compliance processes and audits completed at least quarterly and these reports are sent to at least board members if not investors
  9. They invest and improve their infrastructure every year even if the pay-off for doing so could be 5-7 years away, ironically these are sometimes the investments which pay off the soonest though because investors recognize the type of long-term investments being made
  10. They are experts at completing due diligence processes with institutional consultants, family offices and other types of institutional investors.  They have professionals who are trained for phone-based pitches and sales and hand-offs during these processes are seamless.
  11. They have just as good of marketing materials as the $1B hedge funds because after investing $300,000+ in infrastructure, talent, research, and risk management it would be a waste not to spend $20,000 on presenting it in the right light in a professional manner.
  12. They have seen the light that investing in the right areas does produce returns so they re-invest their money even faster and often more efficiently than even small hedge funds on a tight budget
  13. They invest in training for their employees and board members who they grow more long-term relationships with than many emerging hedge fund managers might.
  14. They are not only aware of the competition but they are watching them.  Not in terms of what they are investing in so much as what risk management tools, software, trading tools, and USPs they are employing.
  15. While hiring they look for very specific skill sets and a minimum of 7 years of experience in the industry, unless they have a policy of grooming from the ground up.  Most fast growing hedge funds we know though like to hire professionals who can hit the ground running and quickly integrate as part of the team.  They actually have an HR department or at least one person who is head of talent development and HR related activities, something almost all small hedge funds lack.  When they are asked on the phone by institutional consultants if they plan on adding anyone they have a sophisticated intelligent answer instead of the generic, "we may add an analyst within the next 3 quarters."  
  16. They understand the "trust by verify" mindset of investors and they make it easy to verify everything.
  17. They conduct more due diligence on business partners, investors, and potential employees than some retail investors spend on investing in small emerging manager hedge funds.
  18. They realize their success is never going to be built on one software program, capital raising process, or investment trend so they constantly are working to build their 1,000 blocks of competitive advantage and ability.

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Art Hedge Fund

Art Hedge Fund

First Art Hedge Fund Closes | Hedge Fund Notes


Artistic Investment Advisers will liquidate its more than $6 million Art Trading Fund this month.  Artistic Investment Advisers attracted a lot of attention over the last two and a half years after taking on a renowned art collector as its adviser and projecting 30% annual returns but the fund is due to close without a hint of whether the fund was successful or not.  See my research in Art Investment Funds here.
Artistic Investment Advisers plans to liquidate the £10.2 million Art Trading Fund this month, the Financial Times reports. The two-and-a-half-year-old fund launched to great fanfare in the summer of 2007, boasting advertising kingpin and contemporary art collector Charles Saatchi as an adviser and targeting 30% annual returns. It is unclear whether its strategy of buying middle-market artworks while shorting securities that its managers believed had close correlation with the art market actually produced anything like those returns.
It’s certainly not alone among art hedge funds closing their doors. Fine Art Wealth Management said the number of art hedge funds has dropped by about 60%, from more than 50 to about 20.  Source

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Best Practices of Giant $1B+ Hedge Funds

Best Practices of Large Hedge Funds



Below is a bullet point list of some best practices that I have seen $1B+ hedge funds employing that are more often than not missing within small teams of hedge fund professionals.


Giant well run hedge funds often have:

  1. Better research processes in place and these are constantly being improved in many ways every quarter. They focus on Kazien - constant improvement
  2. Documentation, their compliance processes, operational procedures,compliance checks, internal controls, hiring processes, and risk management techniques are all documented in great detail to help ensure consistent quality and improve what is being carried out
  3. International marketing and sales teams which cover institutional investors and consultants in at least Europe and the United States if not also in Australia, South Africa, South America and Asia
  4. Deep Pedigree, with larger pocketbooks the largest of hedge funds are able to retain the most experienced experts not only as adjunct advisors to the fund but full time employees or consultants which provide daily or weekly insights on upcoming investment opportunities
  5. Human Resources strategies, many small hedge funds do not have any long-term talent development, or  Star Employee hiring practices in place.  Larger hedge funds do and must to keep their organization moving forward and growing over the long-term
  6. Master DDQs, every large hedge fund I know of has a very thorough master due diligence questionnaire that is constantly updated.  The larger the hedge fund the more likely it is that their investors will be asking for a very thorough DDQ during the due diligence phase.
  7. Superior Marketing, larger hedge funds have moved to the top of the learning curve when it comes to figuring out how to raise capital.  They use multi-modality marketing channels and materials and they have relationship development processes and goals in place which match up with the long-term growth growth goals of the fund.  They are also more than willing to invest in the best graphic designers and sales copy writers who can provide another edge over those who skimp on their image and marketing presence. 
  8. More In-House Functions, while large hedge funds still use service providers and rely upon business partners many of them have large enough staffs and unique enough processes that some work such as some investment research, operations, accounting, or marketing may be done in-house instead of being outsourced to service providers such as administrators or third party marketers.
  9. More Verification Points, the largest of hedge funds have been asked 500 times for their holdings, and 3,000 times for their PowerPoint presentation. They have completed hundreds of due diligence processes and are use to working with consultants who need to check every fact, assertion and claim.  They are use to operating within the world of providing evidence for everything said, and because of this may quickly meet the requests of investors who ask for such evidence.
  10. Long-Term Strategies & Goals, most large hedge funds I know of plan for the next 3-5 or 5-7 years strategically in who they hire, market their fund to, and where they open offices.  In contrast most smaller hedge funds are very focused on day-to-day or month-to-month operations and most think in terms of 1-3 year plans.  When investors see the fund planning for, investing in the long haul it shows and that is part of why some larger hedge funds receive more allocations than small ones - they have the infrastructure and mindset more in common with an institutional investor.

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Tags: large hedge funds, best practices of larger hedge fund managers, what do large hedge fund managers do differently, why do investors put money into large hedge funds, how large hedge funds grow their AUM