Mark Jurish, chief executive officer of Larch Lane Advisors, talks about hedge fund industry performance and strategy. Jurish speaks with Stephanie Ruhle and Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack.”
Dyment on Hedge Fund Investment Trends (Bloomberg)
John Dyment, global head of hedge-fund distribution at UBS AG, talks about trends in the hedge-fund industry. Dyment speaks with Stephanie Ruhle on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack.”
Hedge Fund Performance January 2012 (Insider Monkey)
HSBC published the Hedge Weekly for the week of Jan 30 to Feb 3, revealing a list of hedge funds’ performances in January 2012. Some of the hedge funds haven’t reported any 2012 returns yet. Overall, it seems most hedge funds’ returns are on their way back to positive. Let’s take a look at them.
Hedge Funds Climbed 0.2% in January on Best Start for Equities in 18 Years (Bloomberg)
Hedge funds gained 0.2 percent in January as equities around the world had the best start in 18 years after U.S. economic growth showed signs of accelerating and European leaders moved closer to a solution for the region’s debt crisis. The Bloomberg aggregate hedge fund index increased to 114.63 from 114.36 in December as long-short equity, global macro and multistrategy funds all climbed. Hedge funds fell 4.9 percent last year as concerns grew that Europe’s debt crisis couldn’t be contained and stocks experienced sharp price swings.
Hedge Funds Post Gains To Start Year (Barrons)
While hedge funds may have ended 2011 with a whimper, they posted broad-based gains in January, churning out the second highest monthly performance in more than a year, according to Hedge Fund Research.
Hedge Funds Gain 1.27% In January (AR)
Hedge funds ended a two-month losing streak, profiting from the January market surge. The Hedge Fund Intelligence Global Composite Index rose 1.27%. The equity market rally handily exceeded hedge fund returns, however, with the MSCI World Index (net) rising 5.02% for the month. Event-driven funds were the best performers globally with a gain of 3.54% in January. This is the strategy’s best performing month in the history of the HedgeFund Intelligence database, which began collecting data in 1998 (the second best month was November 2004, when the Event Driven Index rose 3.25%).
George Soros Falls To Fourth Place In Annual Chronicle Of Philanthropy Rankings (Hedge Fund Intelligence)
A new group of hedge fund managers are now among the nation’s top charitable donors. The latest ranking of the “Philanthropy 50” by the Chronicle of Philanthropy includes just one hedge fund holdover from last year’s list, George Soros, who converted his firm to a family office last summer. Soros fell three spots to fourth place, having donated $335 million to his Open Society Foundations, which supports the development of democratic institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union.
ACKMAN: In The Future, Going Into A JCPenney Store Will Be Like Going Into An Apple Store (Business Insider)
Last week, we asked Bill Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, if he thought customers shopping at a JCPenney store in the future will have an experience reminiscent of going into an Apple store. “I think the answer is ‘yes.’ What I mean by that is not that it’s going to be a beautiful glass box on Fifth Avenue. Although it will look a lot nicer than it does now,” Ackman said at the Harbor Investment Conference in Manhattan.
Pershing Square January Performance, In Two Words (Deal Breaker)
“Investing karma.”
Four Accused of Running Insiders’ ‘Criminal Club’ Indicted (Bloomberg)
Four men arrested last month for allegedly participating in a “criminal club” of inside traders that reaped almost $62 million from Dell Inc. shares were indicted by a federal grand jury in Manhattan. One trade earned a $53 million illegal windfall for Level Global Investors LP co-founder Anthony Chiasson and his fund, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara alleged. The ring, which involved five hedge funds and investment firms, is the largest identified by the U.S. to date tied to a single stock, federal authorities said.
Rajaratnam Judge Known For Secrecy Announces Departure in a Press Release (Bloomberg)
The judge who sentenced Raj Rajaratnam to 11 years in prison for insider trading after a trial in which he often closed proceedings and sealed files used a public relations firm to announce his resignation. Richard Holwell, 65, revealed his departure yesterday in a press release advertising the creation of his new Manhattan law firm, Holwell Shuster & Goldberg. The announcement was circulated by Hellerman Baretz Communications LLC.
Ex-Goldman Sachs Director Gupta May Face More Insider Charges, U.S. Says (Bloomberg)
Rajat Gupta, the ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. director accused of giving inside information to fund manager Raj Rajaratnam about that company and Procter & Gamble Co., may face additional allegations he passed tips, prosecutors said. Federal prosecutors, at Gupta’s arraignment on revised charges yesterday, also told U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff of a second “insider at Goldman Sachs” who provided Rajaratnam with information.
Caesars Gets $1.13B Market Value on IPO Pricing (Bloomberg)
Caesars Entertainment Corp., the casino chain saddled with more than $22 billion in debt, completed an initial public offering that gives the company a market value of $1.13 billion. Existing Caesars investors may sell 34.7 million shares after the offering, according to the IPO prospectus. The IPO gives firms such as Paulson & Co., the hedge fund run by billionaire John Paulson, a chance to exit and potentially return cash to investors.
Mathema Hedge Fund Strategy Insight Report for January 2012 (Reuters Hedge World)
Research firm Mathema finds that intracorrelation was lower in 2011 than it was in 2010 for managers in convertible arbitrage, global macro and long/short equity strategies. Intracorrelation is the tendency for managers and strategies to be correlated with one another. Lower intracorrelation usually means higher levels of diversification for investors in those strategies, and higher risk-adjusted rates of return.
Rousselet To Head Hedge Funds At Unigestion (Hedge Fund Intelligence)
Unigestion, a Geneva-based asset manager with $12.7 billion, has promoted Nicolas Rousselet as managing director, head of hedge funds. Rousselet, who was previously strategy manager…
Atticus Vets Shutter Hedge Fund (FINalternatives)
A difficult fundraising environment for start-up hedge funds has claimed another victim. Atwater Capital, founded two years ago by a pair of Atticus Capital veterans with seed capital from Atticus founder Timothy Barakett, is liquidating and returning money to investors, Financial News reports. The firm threw in the towel after it was unable to reach critical asset mass, sources said.
Hedge Funds Redeem $5B In December ’11 (FINalternatives)
Hedge funds redeemed about $5.2 billion in December 2011 and underperformed the S&P 500 for the year, according to the latest report from BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research. Industry assets hit their lowest level since February 2010, losing 7.7% to $1.64 trillion.
Europe’s Brand Names Flourish In Big Jan. For Banks (FINalternatives)
Some of the biggest names in the European hedge fund industry cashed in last month on some long-awaited good news about the European debt crisis. The easing of the stalemate, which has weighed on the continent’s banks, helped those banks’ shares rally an average of 10% last month. And that, in turn, fueled a rally for the continent’s hedge funds.
Boyer Allan to liquidate ‘within weeks’ (HFM Week)
Emerging markets specialist Boyer Allan Investment Management, one of London’s longest-running hedge fund managers, is shutting down, HFMWeek.com revealed late last week, as mixed signals continue to permeate the Asian market. The London- and Hong Kong-based firm, established in 1998, is returning money to outside investors and is spinning out its final vehicle, an Emea fund. Complete liquidation of the firm is expected to be finalised “within weeks,” unnamed sources told HFMWeek on Friday.
Dublin Hill Set To Launch First Hedge Fund Offering (HFM Week)
Dublin Hill Capital, the Connecticut-based investment manager co-founded last year by Goldman Sachs veteran Richard Ruzika, is gearing up to launch its flagship hedge fund next quarter
Double Alpha Duo Open New Incubator Plaform (HFM Week)
Charles Zaffuto and Sara Malak, previously of Double Alpha Group, have reunited to form an operational incubator for both hedge funds and investors, HFMWeek has learned. The New York-based entity, The Alpha Cooperative (TAC), will launch on 1 March and is a platform that acts as an investment manager to both emerging and existing hedge funds.
Aima Voices Hedge Fund Concerns Over Mifid II Draft (HFM Week)
The Alternative Investment Management Association (Aima), the global trade body, has aired its first public concerns about the update of Europe’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid), singling out the draft’s approach to third-countries as a particular worry. Mifid II, a revision of 2004’s Mifid legislation, is considered one of the EU’s most important pieces of financial legislation, covering many services and instruments utilised by hedge fund managers.
SWF Hedge Fund Spend Falls While Assets Rise (HFM Week)
Assets held by sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) climbed to a record $4.8trn in 2011, up 9%, though the number of investors in the hedge fund space fell by 1%, according to TheCityUK’s report, Sovereign Wealth Funds 2012. SWF assets are projected to continue growing, to $5.2trn by the end of 2012, but this has not translated into greater allocations, with 36% of SWFs investing to hedge funds, compared with 37% in 2010, said the report.
David Winters is Bullish on European Equities (Value Walk)
David Winters, chief executive officer of Wintergreen Advisors LLC, Michael Harkins, president of Levy Harkins & Co., and Arnab Banerji, chief investment officer at Collabrium Capital, talk about Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis and their investment strategies. They speak with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Taking Stock.”
Good News On Asset Raising For Hedge Funds From Down Under And The Far East (Opalesque)
More potentially good news for the hedge fund industry, particularly long/short equity and macro managers, comes from Preqin, whose recent Hedge Fund Spotlight focussed on the $1 billion club and had positive news about hedge fund investors, again interestingly, those from Asia, including Australia. As reported in Damien Hatfield’s Australian Hedge newsletter, global macro investors from Asia are planning to increase their exposure to hedge funds.
Hedge Fund People: Tim Ridley Joins GlobeOp (Hedge Co. Net)
$173 billion hedge fund GlobeOp Financial Services has appointed Tim Ridley to its Cayman Islands subsidiary board. Ridley, the former chairman of the Cayman Island Monetary Authority (CIMA) and a former senior partner of Maples and Calder, was appointed following the recent resignation of Gary Linford. “I am pleased to join GlobeOp at a time of significant evolution in hedge fund transparency, reporting, and board oversight and responsibility,” Ridley said. “As an independent Tier 1 administrator, GlobeOp offers valuable industry leadership. Counterparty risk, asset verification and regulatory reporting services contribute to good fund governance.”
Consultants Warned On Hubris (COO Connect)
Consultants, who are increasingly capturing the market share of investors from funds of hedge funds (FoHFs), have been warned not to succumb to hubris. According to research specialists Preqin, just 24% of investors said they would allocate to a FoHF in 2011 compared with 42.5% in 2010 as allocators increasingly invest directly into single managers and consultants. Many investors also resent the additional fee layers associated with FoHFs. However, consultants are still vulnerable.
Hedge Fund Sues Petters’ Former Law Firm (Star Tribune)
Suit against Fredrikson & Byron is the latest in a string of legal actions by Ritchie Capital Management.
Hot Links: Risk Appetite Explosion (The Reformed Broker)
Morning News: February 8, 2012 (Crossing Wall Street)
10 MidWeek AM Reads (The Big Picture)
HFMWeek Daily Snapshot – 8 February (HFM Week)
The Morning Ledger: Capital Spending Adds Fuel to Recovery (WSJ)
Rangwalla Quits Coatue, Hedge Funds Up In January, Atwater Capital Closes And More (Reuters Hedge World)
Frontrunning: February 8 (Zero Hedge)
Wednesday 7atSeven: quiet complacency (Abnormal Returns)
