Hedge funds back Geithner as Fed chief (CNBC)
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner shouldn’t be ruled out as a candidate for the next Federal Reserve chairman, according to delegates at a big U.S. hedge fund event in Singapore. Ben Bernanke’s term as chairman of the U.S.central bank ends in January and President Barack Obama is expected to announce his nomination for the next Fed chief soon. Delegates at the Skybridge Alternatives(SALT) Conference believed Geithner at the Fed would mean more accommodative and pro-stimulus measures from the central bank.
Cliff Asness: most traditional hedge fund strategies probably aren’t worth big fees anymore (Opalesque)
Asness explained how, in this day and age, the classic hedge fund strategies that have always worked will continue to work – although with a more crowded field of practitioners they will probably be less profitable than they had been historically. He’s referring to styles like long/short equity, merger arb, convertible arb, etc. These types of strategies, he notes, probably are not deserving of the standard 2-and-20 anymore, given how easy they are to access and how common they’ve become.
Amid market uncertainty, Boston’s Baupost Group considers return of some client funds (BizJournals)
Faced with new challenges and market uncertainty in putting all of its money to work, Boston-based hedge fund giant Baupost Group is expected to return some cash to clients by the end of the year. That’s according to Reuters.com, which quoted two unnamed sources who said they are familiar with the plan but could not say exactly how much of the $28 billion Baupost manages could be returned to investors. Baupost Group is run be hedge-fund veteran Seth Klarman, whose 31-year track record at the firm is considered among the best in the business.
Schroders launches GAIA Avoca Credit fund (FundWeb)
Schroders is launching the externally-managerd Schroder GAIA Avoca Credit fund on its GAIA platform. Avoca’s current Ucits fund, the Avoca Credit Absolute Return fund will be merged into the Schroder’s fund at launch in November. Avoca Capital Management’s Simon Thorp and James Sclater will be responsible for the management of the long-short portfolio. The fund will aim to deliver annualised returns of 7-10 per cent net of fees and will focus predominantly on European corporate credits and financials with smaller global allocations, including emerging markets.
R.I.’s pension fund $780 million for an 11.1% return (ProvidenceJournal)
Rhode Island’s pension fund earned some $780 million in investment returns during the past fiscal year after paying about $70 million in fees, according to preliminary numbers presented Wednesday to the State Investment Commission. Put another way, the fund earned returns of 11.1 percent after paying fees that totaled about 0.9 percent, or 90 basis points, for the year that ended June 30. State General Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo, who has been criticized with the rest of the commission for investing in hedge funds that protect against downturns but come with higher fees, said the returns suggest the commission’s strategy is working.
Meet the hedge fund owner investing in design futures (AFR)
When Daniel Droga moved into a dilapidated warehouse in Foster Street in Sydney’s Surry Hills, his neighbourhood included a tattoo parlour, an illegal brothel and a retailer of Chinese herbs. There were no cafes, let alone any specialising in single-roast beans and bearded baristas. It was 1992 and the inner-Sydney suburb was still a good decade off becoming the groovy hub that it is today.
Why SkyBridge Capital is bullish on Singapore (CNBC)
Hedgebay launches electronic settlement service for hedge fund secondary market (HedgeWeek)
Hedgebay Trading has launched an electronic settlement service for the hedge fund secondary market. The new electronic functionality will be available on Hedgebay’s website and will assist in the settlement process. The service is expected to initially reduce overall trading time by up to an estimated 20 per cent. Currently, secondary market participants rely on a manual trading and settlement process. Typically, a transaction takes at least 90 days to close.
George Soros, Goldman Sachs poised to win big on a 2009 bet most investors would not have touched with a 10-foot pole (FinancialPost)
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) and billionaire George Soros are poised for gains from a housing bet placed in the depths of the financial crisis. Essent Group Ltd., the Bermuda-based mortgage insurer that raised US$500 million from a group including those backers in 2009, filed last week to sell shares in the first initial public offering of a home-loan guarantor in almost two decades.
Icahn reshuffles control of American Railcar Leasing (StlToday)
Carl Icahn has reshuffled the ownership structure of American Railcar Leasing, or ARL, in a complicated deal that frees up more than $600 million for the billionaire investor. St. Charles-based ARL is controlled by Icahn through a business called IRL. ARL leases railroad cars and tankers built by American Railcar Industries Inc., a St. Charles-based manufacturer that is also controlled by Icahn, but through a different business, publicly-traded Icahn Enterprises L.P. Icahn Enterprises also has separate railcar-leasing unit, AEP Leasing, that holds a management contract with ARL to help AEP lease railcars.
The Reinvention of Thomas Sandell — as a Shareholder Activist (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Earlier this week a hedge fund manager disclosed a sizable stake in Bob Evans Farms and recommended a series of actions to lift its stock price. But the man behind the headlines was not one of the usual six or eight activist suspects. Rather, it was an old name that has seemingly faded from the public consciousness — Thomas Sandell of New York–based Sandell Asset Management Corp. Although the 52-year-old has been running his hedge fund firm for 15 years, he has kept a somewhat low profile in recent years…
Japan opens door to foreign hedge funds (eFinancialNews)
There are about 55 hedge funds registered with a Japan-based head office, while only about 20 funds are domiciled in the country, according to data provider Eurekahedge. The changes introduced in April 2012 by Japanese regulator, the Financial Services Agency, for funds targeting institutional investors included easing requirements for capital and the number of employees, relaxing some of the regulatory burden for fund management companies in Japan. In the wake of the shake-up, hedge fund Edgebell Capital registered as an institutional vehicle in Japan.
China investment opportunities today: Jim Rogers (Mining)
A number of emerging markets have entered rough economic waters but there’s still plenty of opportunity to go around, particularly in China, Jim Rogers told Mamta Badkar of Business Insider. Rogers warned investors not to be flaky – to try to understand Chinese development in historical context: “In the 19th century in America, we had 15 depressions, with a ‘d’, and yet we became the most exciting and successful country in the 20th century.” “China’s gonna have a lot of problems. I don’t know what or when or why, but I know it’s coming. But when they happen, take advantage of the opportunity, don’t throw up your hands and say ‘oh gosh, now I’m going to Denmark to learn Danish’ or something.”
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