Hedge Fund Winton Capital Plans U.S. Office (Wall Street Journal)
Winton Capital Management, the fourth largest European hedge fund by assets under management, is planning to open a U.S. office in the summer, according to people familiar with the matter. The move is part of a broader global expansion that could lead to the U.K.-based firm, which has nearly $25 billion in assets under management, opening offices in Japan and Australia. Winton, in which Goldman Sach’s Petershill fund owns a 9.9% stake, is one of the pioneers of managed futures strategies, which employ complex computer models to spot trends in global markets.
Fund Focus: Fairholme Hedge Fund Builds On Berkowitz’ 25 Years Of Success (FINalternatives)
Bruce Berkowitz may have made his name with his $11 billion mutual fund, but it’s his partnership that’s making headlines these days. While the average hedge fund was mired in the single-digits in 2013—the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index stood at 6.72% for the year—Berkowitz’s $200+ million Fairholme Partnership Fund was up 33% net of fees. Berkowitz launched the long-only hedge fund (which has a Caymans-based counterpart, the Fairholme Offshore Partners Fund) with $23 million of internal capital in January 2013 and opened it to outside capital in October.
Former SFO director may be called as witness in hedge fund case (Financial Times)
The former director of the Serious Fraud Office may be called as a witness in a hearing next month that will consider whether there was an abuse of process by the agency in its decision to charge the founder of a collapsed $600m hedge fund. Richard Alderman, who stood down as SFO director in April 2012, has been told to be available for the hearing, which is scheduled for early February, a court was told on Friday during a pre-trial hearing regarding Magnus Peterson, the founder of Weavering Capital, which collapsed in 2009.
Sorrell hedge fund manager to close (Financial News)
Robert Sorrell, like his brothers Mark and Jonathan, worked at Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), where he was a managing director and co-head of the private finance group for Emea. He left the bank after 14 years in late 2009 and struck out on his own with the launch of Sorrell Capital the following year. The firm was to manage a global opportunities fund with a long/short discretionary, global macro strategy, and Robert Sorrell said in late 2010 that the market at the time was “highly conducive” to that type of strategy.
Hedge funds burned by natural gas in 2013 (CNBC.com)
Natural gas was the biggest gainer among commodities last year, but the hedge fund that has historically led gains in the space had its first losing year, and many others were down double-digits after being on the wrong side of the market. U.S. gas prices gained more than 26 percent in 2013, the largest rally in eight years as brutally cold weather boosted gas demand. Prices rose, and toward the end of the year, the market saw wild swings in the spread between the March and April gas contracts. Prominent funds, from the $1 billion Velite Benchmark Capital in Houston to the smaller Sasco Energy Partners in Connecticut, finished the year down about 20 percent or more, according to industry sources and performance data obtained by Reuters.
