Hedge Funds Euro Bets

Several Hedge Funds Betting Big Against the Euro

Several large hedge funds are placing major bearish bets against the euro. The funds have been meeting at exclusive meetings where the future of the euro has been discussed. Hans Hufschmid, a hedge fund administrator, says "This is an opportunity...to make a lot of money."

...a small group of all-star hedge-fund managers argued that the euro is likely to fall to "parity"—or equal on an exchange basis—with the dollar, people close to the situation say.

George Soros, head of the $27-billion asset fund manager, warned publicly last weekend that if the European Union doesn't fix its finances, "the euro may fall apart."
EuroTrade

The currency wagers signal that big financial players spot a rare trading opening driven by broader market gyrations. The euro, which traded at $1.51 in December, now trades around $1.35. With traders using leverage—often borrowing 20 times the size of their bet, accentuating gains and losses—a euro move to $1 could represent a career trade. If investors put up $5 million to make a $100 million trade, a 5% price move in the right direction doubles their initial investment.

It is impossible to calculate the precise effect of the elite traders' bearish bets, but they have added to the selling pressure on the currency—and thus to the pressure on the European Union to stem the Greek debt crisis. Source

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NIR Group Probe

NIR Group Investigated For Allegedly Giving Kickbacks

Another investigation into a hedge fund is taking place over suspicions that the fund paid kickbacks. U.S. regulators are looking into whether NIR Group's Corey Ribotsky (pictured left) paid others kickbacks to boost the value of their investments. This is a serious charge that authorities have been looking since 2009; NIR posted 8 years of positive returns on its biggest fund since 2001 raising questions.

U.S. authorities have been investigating the company since last year on whether managing member Corey Ribotsky defrauded investors about their returns and the holdings of his various funds, according to the paper.

Ribotsky managed more than $780 million in hedge fund assets last year. The company reported eight years of positive returns in its biggest fund starting 2001, the paper said.
NIR invests its hedge-fund assets mainly in small public companies through privately negotiated deals and mostly receives notes that could be converted into stock at a discounted rate, the article said.

The people told the paper that the authorities are investigating whether NIR valued certain notes at a higher level than the underlying value of the companies'.

Investigators are trying to ascertain whether people with financial ties to outside companies got kickbacks in exchange for helping NIR inflate values of its investments, the paper added. Source

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Pension Fund Allocations Rising

Pension Funds Look to Narrow Gap Using Hedge Funds

Hedge funds are attracting more institutional investors as pension funds try to narrow the gap between benefits and payments. Many pension funds lost money during the financial crisis through traditional and alternative investments and some pension fund managers are hoping that hedge funds will continue the great performance of 2009 and make up some of that capital.

Florida’s pension system, the fourth-largest state retirement plan, will decide next week how big to make its first hedge-fund investments as it tries to close a 7 percent benefit-payments deficit.

Executives of the Florida Retirement System, which oversees $112 billion for a million firefighters, teachers and garbage collectors, had been considering the move into the loosely regulated private partnerships since 2007. Wisconsin’s pension also plans its initial allocation this year, while Boeing Co.’s probably will raise its holdings, as retirement funds seek to recoup losses from the financial crisis.

The largest public and private pensions, underfunded by more than $1 trillion, are increasing their hedge-fund bets after a lull at the end of 2008. About 15 percent of U.S. institutions plan to boost their allocations, and 80 percent will keep them steady, according to a survey by SEI Investments Co.
Source

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Hedge Funds IOSCO Regulations

IOSCO Releases Template for Hedge Fund Info Requirement

The government regulations of the hedge fund industry, which we've been covering on this blog, is starting to develop. The International Organization of Securities Commissions published a template for the information that regulators will require hedge funds to submit. Although many funds already comply with the basic data requirement, it will now be necessary for hedge funds to submit information to their local regulator including the name of auditors, number of funds, recent performance data, AUM and long and short positions.

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a template for supervisors listing 11 types of data that hedge funds will be required to provide.
"IOSCO believes that regulators should seek to develop a comparable and consistent set of data to be collected from local hedge fund managers and advisers to monitor systemic risks and prevent gaps in regulator reporting requirements," Kathleen Casey, chairman of the body's technical committee, said in a statement.

The list of data includes basic information such as the manager's name, number of funds and equity owners; as well as the names of auditors, custodians, recent performance, redemptions, total assets under management and the value of long and short positions in different assets.

Geographic spread, liquidity of a fund's assets, the value of borrowings, net credit counterparty risk and top 10 positions will also have to be disclosed.

IOSCO members regulate more than 95 percent of the world's securities markets in over 100 countries...Source

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Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh CEO of Zappos.com

Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh CEO of Zappos.com

Here is a short slide show presentation by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com on running a company which is aligned with it's priorities and customer needs. I think that all businesses from hedge funds, to consulting firms, and training groups could benefit from some of these ideas.

If you are reading this via RSS or Email click here to view the presentation on our website.

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Asia Ex-Japan Hedge Funds Returns January 2010

Asia Ex-Japan Hedge Funds Returns

Asia Ex-Japan Hedge Funds Decline 2.4% in January 2010

Asia hedge funds (excluding Japan) did exceptionally well in 2009 but performance fell in the first month of 2010. Last year Asia ex-Japan hedge funds gained more than 37%, but in January these hedge funds declined 2.42%. Uncertainty in the markets as well as heavy redemptions attributed to the losses.

Total Asia ex-Japan hedge fund assets declined by 1.4% to US$103.2 billion in January, according to Eurekahedge. Most of those declines--about US$900 million--were due to performance. Asia ex-Japan funds also lost around US$500 million through redemptions in January, which Eurekahedge attributed to profit-taking and investors' rebalancing of portfolios. January is traditionally the time when hedge funds allow investors to redeem their allocations.

By contrast, the Eurekahedge European, Japan and Eastern Europe & Russia hedge fund indexes showed gains in January. Looking at strategies, distressed debt hedge funds had average returns of 2.51% in January, the 10th straight month of positive returns.

Distressed debt funds gained an average of 44.01% over a 10-month period ended Jan. 31.
The Eurekahedge January data is based on 79.78% of funds that reported their January returns. Source

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Hedge Funds Distressed Debt Survey

Hedge Fund Managers Optimistic on Distressed Debt

A new survey found that hedge funds are looking to invest more in distressed debt and equity in 2010, and that they believe they will make more money this year through these investments. Hedge fund managers were most excited about opportunities in energy, banking and health care. A majority of those questioned said that they have at least some of their portfolio invested in distressed debt and that they plan to hold onto those investments.

Of the 120 hedge fund managers who answered the questionnaire by email in December and January, 65 percent said at least some of their portfolios were invested in financially troubled companies, up from 53 percent in a year-earlier poll.

More than one in every three managers said they had put at least 20 percent of their portfolios into distressed debt, up from one in 10 a year earlier.

A majority of those questioned said the risk profiles of distressed companies will be flat or on the decline this year, meaning hedge funds are likely to increase their profits by staying out of bankruptcy court.

"The perception is that there is less risk of bankruptcy, or greater investment returns from those type of investments," said Rick Bendix, co-head of the bankruptcy and restructuring practice at Dykema.

While a majority of those questioned said they plan to hold onto their debt investments, 39 percent said they are likely to sell debt in 2010, up from 23 percent a year earlier. Source

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FSA Hedge Fund Report

FSA Finds Hedge Funds Don't Pose Destabilizing Risk

Here's some good news for hedge funds battling regulation in Europe: the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has released a report which finds that hedge funds do not present a "destabilizing risk." This runs counter to many claims made by those pushing for tougher regulation of the industry. The study found that no UK hedge funds borrowed $500 million from one bank without collateral and that hedge funds tend to borrow from multiple banks, so a single bank is not too vulnerable. FSA is Britain's financial regulator and so the report has more weight than a financial firm's assessment.

The 50 largest hedge fund firms operating in the U.K. had borrowings of about double their $300 billion of assets under management, according to an October 2009 survey released by the Financial Services Authority today. The study showed that no hedge fund borrowed more than $500 million from a single bank without collateral. The biggest hedge fund questioned had about $1 billion of credit spread across a number of banks.

“Major hedge funds did not pose a potentially destabilizing credit counterparty risk,” the FSA said. “Data shows a relative low level of ‘leverage’ under our various measures.”

The British regulator has instead moved to place the onus on hedge funds’ counterparties to guard against extra risk. Banks will have to find an extra 29 billion pounds ($45 billion) to protect their trading books against potential losses, the FSA proposed in December.
Source

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Germany France Hedge Funds

Germany and France Look to Regulate Hedge Funds, Swaps

Greece's debt crisis is bolstering Germany and France's efforts to regulate hedge funds and credit-default swaps. The troubles in Greece has brought down the euro, and those in the EU pushing for tougher regulations of the financial industry are making a coorelation between troubles in that country and hedge fund trading and credit-default swaps. Leaders in the two largest European economies, Germany and France, are expected to take stronger positions on reforming the financial system.

“We can draw some lessons from this crisis,” French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde told lawmakers in Paris on Feb. 17...“We should examine the suitability of CDSs” used for sovereign states because their movements have become “disconnected from the underlying” economic situation.

Germany’s Finance Ministry said it couldn’t confirm a report in Handelsblatt newspaper that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government plans to clamp down on hedge funds to curtail speculation against the euro.

Germany and France, the euro area’s two biggest economies, are already working on an overhaul of banking laws as part of a regulatory push agreed by Group of 20 governments after they were forced to bail out banks worldwide.

France is leading the push on credit-default swaps, a form of insurance that can result in profits for holders if a borrower cannot repay debts. Source

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Stanley Fink Black Box

Fink, Ex-Man Group CEO, Launches Black Box Fund

After being CEO of Man Group, Stanley Fink went on to launch his own fund, International Standard Asset Management. Now, Fink's hedge fund is teaming up with Larry Hite of Hite Capital Management to launch a "black box" fund. The computer-driven fund will compete against Man Group's flagship AHL Fund.

The firm is launching the ISAM Systematic fund in April with the help of industry veteran Larry Hite's Hite Capital Management, which has been running computer-driven funds for the past nine years. Hite has a long track record in quantitative investment, having previously set up Mint Investment Management.

As part of the deal, Hite, along with executives Alex Greyserman and Gilbert Lee, will become directors and shareholders of ISAM, it said in a statement on Monday.

The launch comes at a tough time for managed futures funds, which have been suffering from a lack of the kind of clear market trends they try to follow to make money.
According to Credit Suisse/Tremont, the average managed futures fund is down 3.8 percent in January, having dropped 6.6 percent last year.

In particular, Man Group's AHL, which had $20.4 billion in assets as of last March, is down 16.6 percent over the past year...Source

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Hedge Fund Job Training

The CHP Designation provides 100% online-based hedge fund job and employee training to professionals around the world. Our participants have included students, hedge fund principals, traders, lawyers, compliance experts, and professors.

The #1 difference we are experiencing within the Certified Hedge Fund Professional (CHP) Designation in 2010 is further sponsorship of employers for their teams to complete our program, and an increase in the number of traders who are completing our program to improve their hedge fund specific knowledge base.

If you are looking for a hedge fund job, or are within the first 5-7 years of your career completing the CHP Designation may help you give an edge over others. If all else is held equal in terms of education and experience why wouldn't an employer want to hire the person who has invested their time in completing a 2 level hedge fund training and certification program?

To learn more about the job training, placement services, and training benefits of completing the CHP Designation please visit the link below

To learn more visit http://HedgeFundCertification.com/Training.html

As of today there are 139 of the 300 spots within the program left available.

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Greece Economy Hedge Funds

Hedge Funds Adjusting as Greece's Economy Dwindles

Greece's economy has its neighboring European countries concerned, and hedge funds are placing bets on whether Greece will recover. Hedge funds are shorting the country's bonds and/or purchasing default protection, and some funds may have already made gains from the troubled country.

Even hedge funds without direct exposure to Greece have been insulating their portfolios against collateral damage in the currency or credit markets, as concerns over Greece's ability to service its heavy debt have grown.

"There's been a lot of interest in sovereign risk, we've just had a client call now," said one prime brokerage executive who declined to be named.

Figures from Data Explorers this week show rising short positions on Greek sovereign bonds, indicating funds have either been directly shorting bonds or buying CDS (credit default swaps, which pay out in the event of default) from banks, who usually hedge their exposure by shorting the bond themselves.

Short positions -- as measured by the proportion of bonds available for lending that have actually been borrowed -- have risen to 9.82 percent from 9.58 percent at the end of January and 8.24 percent at the end of December. Source

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London Hedge Funds Relocating

European Hedge Funds Still Favor London Hub

Many hedge fund managers are finding it's difficult to leave home, as hedge funds are still favoring London despite talk of moving to more welcoming tax environments like Switzerland. Although hedge funds are still likely to leave London, the migration has not been as sudden as expected. Some factors for the hesitation were identified in a recent survey, hedge funds value the "ease of international travel, good internal infrastructure and access to a diverse labor market over fiscal policy" which London offers.

"Taxation is only one part of the location decision, and London is successful as a business location because of it is an attractive place for people to work, it provides easy access to all corners of the globe, its infrastructure is improving and it still an easy place to do business in," said Elaine Rossall, an associate in Cushman's European research group.

There has been much speculation that London's hedge funds will relocate en mass to more tax-friendly destinations amid plans for a UK "super-tax" on thriving financial institutions and high net worth individuals.

London is home to 85 percent of Europe's hedge funds and it is claimed that 18 funds are currently contemplating relocating to overseas locations, principally Switzerland and New York, as the tax burden threatens to spiral out of control, Cushman said. Source

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Galleon Group Trial Date

Galleon Group's Raj Rajaratnam Trial Set for October 25

The founder of Galleon Group, Raj Rajaratnam, will not face trial for criminal insider trading charges until October 25. This is seen as a small victory for Mr. Rajaratnam, the prosecution had been trying to get the trial underway in June. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Holwell ruled that the trial would be set for October so that it would follow a separate civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The judge said that, given the size and complexity of the case, he agreed with defense counsel that the criminal case should be heard in the autumn.

"Six months is just ludicrous to try to defend a case of this enormity," said John Dowd, a lawyer for Mr. Rajaratnam.

Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan had asked that the case be heard in June, six months after the first indictment in the case. Mr. Rajaratnam and Danielle Chiesi, a former consultant with hedge-fund firm New Castle Funds LLC, were originally arrested in the matter in October.

Alan Kaufman, Ms. Chiesi's lawyer, said being able to appropriately defend a case of this complexity in that amount of time would be "a physical impossibility." Source

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BlackRock Man Group Buyout

Speculation on Possible Buyout of Man Group by BlackRock

There are rumors of a very big purchase of a hedge fund by BlackRock, the largest money manager in the world. Although it is mere speculation at this point, BlackRock's purchase of a 10% stake in the hedge fund firm Man Group has people wondering whether this is the beginning of a buyout. BlackRock currently manages $3.35 trillion while Man Group manages $40 billion.

BlackRock, the world’s largest money-manager, has taken a big stake in the Man Group, sparking speculation that the New York-based firm is preparing a take-over of the world’s largest publicly-listed hedge fund group.

A regulatory filing shows that BlackRock, which manages US$3.35 trillion, now owns a 10% stake in Man, which manages US$40 billion. That news, couple with market whispers, sent Man shares to their biggest gain in four months.

Britain’s Daily Mail reports that market rumors suggest BlackRock is interested in acquiring London-based Man. The tabloid notes that BlackRock, which in December bought Barclays Global Investors, the world’s 10th-largest hedge fund manager, lacks a big fund of hedge funds business, which Man would provide, along with a network of 1,400 private banks for distribution. Source

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Citigroup Hedge Funds

Hedge Funds Continue to Boost Shares in Citigroup

Hedge funds are continuing their push their bets on Citigroup led by John Paulson's hedge fund. Investment fund managers Eric Mindich, George Soros and John Paulson purchased millions of shares in Citigroup. At least one hundred firms have said that they purchased stock in the bank. Paulson & Co reportedly has a stake of 506.7 shares in Citigroup, increased from 300 million in the third quarter.

Paulson & Co. reported a stake equal to 506.7 million shares in New York-based Citigroup, up from about 300 million at the end of the third quarter, according to a government filing. Mindich’s Eton Park Capital Management LP bought 138 million shares valued at $457 million as of Dec. 31, making the stock its largest holding. Soros Fund Management LLC reported 94.7 million shares, up from none in the third quarter.

Investors may be betting on a rebound in Citigroup after it lost as much as 94 percent of its value during the credit crisis. The purchases came in the same quarter that Chief Executive Officer Vikram S. Pandit sold more than 5 billion of new shares to help repay government bailouts.

“It clearly doesn’t take a lot to get a decent amount of shares in Citi,” said Christian Thwaites, president and chief executive officer of Sentinel Investments in Montpelier, Vermont, which manages $23 billion. “If the hedge funds are taking any position in it, it’s a feeling that there might be some value to be had.” Source

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Investors in Fund of Hedge Funds

Investors in Fund of Hedge Funds Call for Changes

Investors are calling for fund of fund managers to do more due diligence on the hedge funds they invest in and to be more involved in what they are trading. Following several investment fund scandals, limited partners are trying to exert more influence over fund of hedge fund managers.

The $570-billion fund of funds industry faces the headache of conducting tougher background checks on managers and third parties like prime brokers, as well as researching hidden risks, while at the same time fending off client demands for fee cuts.

Institutional investors, who now account for over half of hedge fund assets, are cranking up the pressure after firms such as Man Group's (EMG.L) RMF and UBP failed to spot U.S. financier Bernard Madoff's $65 billion fraud, while many funds were slow to reinvest cash in last year's rally, missing out on big gains.

"We will ask for more transparency regarding underlying exposures and negotiate fees," said Theo Jeurissen, chief investment officer of the 35-billion-euro ($47.65 billion) pension fund for metal and mechanical workers PMT. Source

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Gulf Arab Hedge Fund Allocation

Gulf Arab Region to Boost Hedge Fund Allocations

Persian Gulf Arab investment institutions are expected to up allocations to hedge funds over the next eleven months. InvestCorp Bank BSC of Bahrain, which manages $12 billion, has signaled its intent to increase hedge fund investments in order to diversify its assets.

The Gulf usually follow trends in the U.S., where investors helped push global hedge fund assets to $1.6 trillion last year from $1.3 trillion in 2008, Khalid al-Rumaihi, Investcorp’s managing director for placement, said at a conference today in Dubai. Investcorp manages $4.5 billion in funds of hedge funds after adding $1.3 billion of assets last year, all from U.S. financial firms, he said.

“You will have more investments from the Gulf this year,” al-Rumaihi said. “We would expect a very good year” as global markets are likely to remain volatile, he said.

The Gulf Arab region pumps more than 20 percent of the world’s crude oil and is home to some of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority managed $328 billion at the end of 2008, the Kuwait Investment Authority had $228 billion of assets and the Qatar Investment Authority $58 billion, according to estimates by economists at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations. Source

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London Hedge Funds Hiring

London Hedge Funds Boost Hiring in Beginning of 2010

Hedge funds in the UK are starting to hire again, boosted by a year of decade-high performance and high expectations for 2010. The funds are adding new trading and sales staff taken from investment banks and other fund management firms. Reportedly, the hedge funds leading the hiring campaign are Caxton Europe, Citadel Europe, Moore Europe, SAC Global Investors and Tudor Capital Europe.

Omar Kodmani, senior executive officer at fund of funds Permal Group, said: "There has been a definite up-tick in hedge funds hiring over recent months."

Sasha Jensen, head of alternative fund distribution at executive search firm Kinsey Allen International, said: "We have been contacted by many candidates who were working for the banks who have lost patience with the bonus situation so are looking to leave and work for a hedge fund."

The challenging environment for fundraising has also played into the hands of the largest hedge funds. In the past bank traders often left to found their own hedge funds. Following the crisis, the hedge fund industry has continued to consolidate, making it more difficult for individuals to attract investment.

Edgar Senior, head of capital services at Credit Suisse in London, said: "It is harder to launch new funds than in the past, so existing hedge funds that have capital to deploy and have built out the institutional infrastructure have the luxury of choice." Source

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Hedge Funds January Assets

Investors Allocate $4.5 Bil to Hedge Funds in January

As we noted last week, hedge fund performance dipped slightly in January. This lowered total hedge fund assets by -0.14% to an estimated $2.038 trillion across the industry. Investors allocated $4.5 billion to hedge funds in January but, although investor inflows were positive for the eighth month of the last nine, performance brought down assets by $7.27 billion.

Total hedge fund assets decreased -0.14% to an estimated $2.038 trillion, performance losses were the main cause of the reduction.

Investors allocated $4.51 billion to hedge funds in January, performance reduced assets by $7.27 billion resulting in total assets falling $2.76 billion during the month.

Investor flows were positive in January for the eighth month in the last nine. There was a slight outflow in December due to year-end redemption trends.

The Core Growth Rate (% increase in assets due solely to investor flows) was +0.22% in January.

Hedge fund assets are still $900 billion below the peak set in Q2 2008.

Hedge fund performance was negative in January, but the average of all funds outperformed equity markets significantly. Poor returns from commodity and equity focused funds more than offset positive returns from funds focusing on fixed income and FX markets. Source

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Institutional Investors Managed Accounts

More Demand from Investors for Managed Accounts

Institutional investors are demanding more managed accounts and many fund of hedge funds are obliging. A recent Preqin survey found that almost one fourth of institutional investors are seriously considering a first time allocation to a managed account structure in 2010. Just 16% of those surveyed have already allocated funds to a managed account.

Investors said greater transparency (41%), better liquidity terms (22%) and increased regulatory oversight (22%) were the main reasons for considering a managed account.

Managed accounts were most favoured by large institutional investors. Half of those surveyed with a hedge fund portfolio of $1 billion or more had already allocated assets to a managed account, compared to just 3% of investors with a portfolio of less than $100 million.

Managed accounts were most favoured by large institutional investors. Half of those surveyed with a hedge fund portfolio of $1 billion or more had already allocated assets to a managed account, compared to just 3% of investors with a portfolio of less than $100 million.

Over a third (38%) of respondents said managed accounts were too costly, while 11% said they did not have enough resources to invest in a managed account. Source

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Pacificor Terminator

Pacificor Hedge Fund Wins Ownership of Terminator

Last year, we covered an entertaining dispute between two movie production companies and a California-based hedge fund over the popular Terminator movie brand. The previous owner of the movie fell into bankruptcy but Lions Gate and Columbia Pictures cried foul when Pacificor won the rights to the movie in an auction. This week, Pacificor LLC won a court decision allowing the sale of Terminator to the hedge fund. For more information on this case see Hedge Fund Film Financing.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge said on Wednesday the movie franchise could be sold to California-based, hedge fund Pacificor LLC, ending months of speculation about the future of the iconic film series after its current owner collapsed into bankruptcy in August.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ernest Robles approved the sale during a hearing in his Los Angeles courtroom, saying it would offer the best deal for the company's unsecured creditors.

He overruled an objection from movie studios Columbia Pictures and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp who had claimed the auction process was unfair after their joint bid for the franchise was not selected.

Under the deal, Pacificor would have the rights to the revenue from future films, games, DVDs and certain television programing from the franchise.
Pacificor has been in talks with several movie studios about future distribution and production of the Terminator films...Source

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Tags: Pacificor Terminator, Pacificor Owns Terminator, Terminator Hedge Fund Owner, Pacificor LLC, hedge fund trial, bankruptcy, movies, terminator ownership hedge fund

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John Paulson Gold Fund

John Paulson's Gold Fund Struggles to Attract Investors

When John Paulson launches a fund he hardly ever has trouble finding investors due to his impressive track record, especially in the last two years. But Paulson's gold fund has only received $90 million from investors compared to the $250 million Paulson invested himself. The fund has declined 14% in January as the price of precious metals failed to keep climbing in the new year which won't help enticing new investors.

Paulson & Co. burst onto the scene in 2007, producing triple-digit returns betting against the subprime market. It’s also posted consistently positive returns over the past two years. The New York-based firm’s main hedge funds are currently big investors in gold, with about 10% of its assets invested in the precious metal and related investors.

But some doubt Paulson’s commodities-trading skills, The Wall Street Journal reports. Others think they can do just as well investing in levered exchange-traded funds, which don’t feature a three-year lockup, $10 million minimum investment or 20% performance fee.

Others just think that it is an inopportune time to jump in feet first.
“It’s purely my negative view on gold in the short run,” Christopher Zook of CAZ Investments told the Journal. “I just am waiting for hopefully a better entry point.”
Still, it is early going for the six-week-old fund. The Journal notes that Paulson had trouble attracting investors to his credit fund in 2006, a year before his bets proved tremendously profitable. Source

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http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2010/02/john-paulson-gold-fund.html

Och-Ziff Q4 Earnings

Och-Ziff Beats Analysts Predictions with Q4 2009 Earnings

One of the largest hedge funds in the world, Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, has reported better quarterly earnings than expected. The public hedge fund firm had struggled in the financial crisis and is now looking to be back on track. Och-Ziff reported a less than expected net loss of $47.2 million and quarter distributable earnings of $281.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. The news beat analysts expectations and boosted shares by 2.5% in midday trading.

The firm also reports so-called distributable earnings, which measure profit from the company's main hedge-fund business minus adjusted income taxes. The tax adjustment assumes that all special shares held by management and restricted stock granted to employees were converted to regular Class A shares, one for one. Och-Ziff reckons this figure is a more accurate gauge of the company's performance.

Fourth-quarter distributable earnings were $281.4 million, or 69 cents per adjusted class A share, versus $28.9 million, or 7 cents per adjusted class A share, in the same period a year earlier.
Och-Ziff was expected to make 33 cents a share, according to the average estimate of nine analysts in a Thomson Reuters survey. Source

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Tags: Och-Ziff Q4 Earnings, Och-Ziff fourth quarter capital earnings, fourth quarter 2009 Och Ziff Earnings, analysts, market predictions, hedge fund firms, hedge funds

Link to This Resource: Och-Ziff Q4 Earnings

http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2010/02/och-ziff-q4-earnings.html

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