Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), the fifth- biggest U.S. bank by assets, is in talks to sell its hedge-fund administration unit to State Street Corp. (STT), according to a person with knowledge of the matter. A final agreement is yet to be reached, said the person, who declined to be identified because the negotiations are private. The unit provides fund accounting, valuation and risk- management for hedge funds.
A New ETF Built On Stocks From Top Hedge Funds (Forbes)
Want to buy like the best hedge fund managers? A new exchange-traded fund, Top Guru Holdings Index (GURU, $15.48), offers a simplified way to become an at-home version of say, Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn. Unlike other ETFs using hedge fund-like strategies, Guru sticks to stocks—mostly U.S. equities, with 20% of assets going outside the States. A portfolio of some 50 stocks are selected by screening for hedge funds with more than $500 million in assets; significant allocation to U.S. equities; a top holding that’s at least 5% of total assets and low turnover. “Any fund that’s out to hold for seconds or minutes is irrelevant to our investors, so we filtered those out,” says Bruno del Ama, CEO of Global X Funds (assets: $1.5 billion), which built the ETF.
Hedge fund firm SAC hires ex-Edoma manager Villa (Reuters)
SAC Capital, one of the world’s best-known hedge fund firms, has hired portfolio manager Louis Villa from Edoma Partners, the fund set up by ex-Goldman Sachs star Pierre-Henri Flamand that has so far failed to shine after a high-profile launch in 2010. Villa, who formerly worked at equity hedge fund Talaris Capital, left Edoma at the end of April and joined U.S. firm SAC, which manages $14 billion globally, as a partner in its London office last month, according to the UK Financial Services Authority’s register.
Hedge Fund Industry-Related Org Launches Backpack Drive (Hedgefund)
An organization formed by women in the hedge fund world is helping parents and students in the New York City area get ready for the next school year. High Water Women announced this week that it is holding its annual Backpack Drive, which since 2005 has provided more than 36,000 school children with new backpacks.
Hong Kong offers friendly environment for hedge funds (Opalesque)
Hong Kong offers a friendly environment from a regulatory and tax perspective, Asia-focused hedge fund managers who participated in the latest Opalesque Hong Kong Roundtable, sponsored by Eurex and SunGard said. George Castrounis co-founder of the $300m volatility trading-focused hedge fund Maple Leaf Capital commented that Hong Kong and Singapore are usually the two candidates that come on everybody’s shortlist when it comes to opening an Asian office. But from Maple Leaf’s perspective, Castrounis said that Hong Kong offers a distinct advantage compared with Singapore because more fresh trading related talents come from the former British colony.
Hedge fund sector ‘may grow over 10%’ (Straitstimes)
Singapore’s hedge fund industry is likely to see growth step up in the next few years, with smaller boutique managers leading the pack, says an industry expert. ‘I would expect to see accelerating growth, broadly in line with the overall Singapore economy. It is likely that Singapore’s hedge fund industry will grow in excess of 10 per cent a year,’ said Mr Robert Mirsky, the head of hedge funds at KPMG in Britain, in an e-mail interview with The Straits Times last week.
Paul Singer To Fund GOP Super PAC To Back Pro-Gay Marriage Candidates (Ontopmag)
Hedge fund manager Paul Singer will bankroll a super PAC for Republican candidates who support gay marriage. Singer told The New York Times’ Frank Bruni that he will provide an initial $1 million for the American Unity PAC. The single objective of the PAC will be “to encourage Republican candidates to support same-sex marriage,” Bruni wrote.
Hedge Fund Launch: Value Partners Absolute Greater China Classic Fund (Hedgeco)
Hedge fund Manager Value Partners Group Limited announced that it has launched its first self-branded UCITS-compliant fund — Value Partners Absolute Greater China Classic Fund. The new fund will be headed by co-CIOs Cheah Cheng-hye and Louis So, who were named CIOs of the Year in 2011 by Asia Asset Management. “Under the current Eurozone debt crisis and slow global growth environment, investors are keen to explore fund products that have an Asian focus and exposure.” Timothy Tse, Chief Executive Officer of Value Partners said, “This new UCITS Fund provides investors with an opportunity to access the strong growth potential in Greater China at a relatively attractive valuation through a well-recognized, regulated vehicle.”
RA Adds Marketer For Fundraising Push (Finalternatives)
Hedge fund RA Capital Management is opening up, and has added some marketing firepower to double its assets—or more. The Boston-based firm hired Michael Calore to market its long/short equity Healthcare Fund for the first time. The decade-old offering, which focuses on small-cap biotechnology and life sciences companies, currently manages $230 million, but RA hopes to actively raise $100 million, leaving room to organically grow to $500 million to $700 million. The fund was initially launched as the private fund of Rich Aldrich, who was a founding member of Cambridge, Ma.-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Top credit manager at Citadel hedge firm dismissed (Reuters)
Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group dismissed a high-level credit trader in April, even though his portfolio had recorded gains for the year, according to two people familiar with the departure. David Hensle, who was the head of the quantitative credit business, left the Chicago-based hedge fund in mid-April.
Speculators Fail To Reap Rally In Crops After Wager Cut (Bloomberg)
Speculators reduced wagers on a rally in agricultural prices to a five-month low just as returns from crops and livestock beat most other commodities on concern that parched fields from Iowa to Russia will curb supply. Hedge funds and other money managers cut net-long positions across 11 U.S. farm goods by 20 percent to 312,099 futures and options in the week ended June 5, the lowest since Dec. 27, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Corn holdings tumbled to the lowest since June 2010 and traders switched to betting on a decline in wheat prices. Agricultural commodities accounted for nine of the 10 best performers in the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of 24 raw materials last week.
Buffett Charity Lunch Auction Reaps Record $3.46 Million (Bloomberg)
Warren Buffett’s annual lunch auction had less than a minute to go and still wasn’t halfway to last year’s record of more than $2.6 million. Then bidding almost tripled from $1.23 million seconds from the end of the weeklong auction on June 8, as Buffett’s event set a record for a third straight year with the total in seven consecutive numbers: $3,456,789. In San Francisco, the Rev. Cecil Williams of the Glide Foundation, the beneficiary, rejoiced with about 500 people. Screams drowned out the clinking of flutes filled with Champagne or cider.
‘Tainted’ Chesapeake Hears Rising Calls To Dump McClendon (Bloomberg)
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK)’s efforts to defuse a shareholder revolt over Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon’s personal finances and management missteps have intensified calls for his dismissal. In the past six weeks, the second-largest U.S. natural-gas explorer shrank pay packages, eliminated perks, agreed to remake its board, and obtained a $4 billion loan to cope with tumbling gas prices and a looming cash shortfall. Still, McClendon is $7.4 billion shy of the asset sales he said are needed over the next six months to cover drilling costs and begin to repay ballooning debt.
Japan calls for tougher insider trading rules (Reuters)
Japan’s securities watchdog flexed its muscles by fining a foreign financial institution for insider trading for the first time, but punishments overall remain modest by global standards, sparking calls for tougher laws to deter a practice that has gone unchecked for years. Since March, the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) has sought fines against three investment firms in a total of four cases brought so far in its probe into insider trading ahead of public share offerings, a near endemic problem in Japan.
Ex-Goldman board member won’t testify at NY trial (WSJ)
The defense lawyer for a former Goldman Sachs board member accused of insider trading notified the judge on Sunday that his client will not testify at his trial. Attorney Gary Naftalis sent a letter to Manhattan federal court judge Jed Rakoff saying that Rajat Gupta “will not be a witness on his own behalf in the defense case.”
Rumor Is That Dan Loeb Is Trying To Sell His Swanky Upper West Side Penthouse For $100 Million (Businessinsider)
Hedge fund titan Dan Loeb, the founder of Third Point LLC, is trying to sell his penthouse at 15 Central Park West–one of New York’s most prestigious addresses, sources told the New York Times.
Short-selling rules, regulation is becoming a key focus area for hedge funds in Hong Kong (Opalesque)
Regulation is becoming a key focus area for hedge funds outside crisis zones like the US & EU. Participants at the recent Opalesque Hong Kong Roundtable noted that even while regulation in the region has been steady since the local financial crisis in 1997, compliance with global regulatory requirements is becoming an important focus area for Hong Kong-based funds. Financial regulations finalized by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) here in the US, along with provisions of the Dodd-Frank and FATCA measures will require funds operating outside the US to comply with US regulations if they intend on doing business with US investors.
Dexion Capital Guernsey strengthens team (Opalesque)
Fund administration and fund management firm Dexion Capital (Guernsey) Limited has appointed Robin Fuller as an Executive Director. Mr Fuller will work alongside the existing team of eight, which offers investment management and corporate services, and assist with their expansion. He has been on the Dexion board as a non-Executive Director since 2004.
Amundi and Macquarie expand investment management relationship (Opalesque)
Macquarie Investment Management (MIM) today announced that Amundi, through Amundi Alternative Investments’ Managed Account Platform, has awarded an €80 million mandate to MIM’s Fixed Income and Currency team to trade G101 currencies actively. For the past 20 years, Amundi, the second largest asset manager in Europe, has been a market leader in Hedge Fund investments for the benefit of its external clients and for its proprietary funds. Its sustained investment in staff and systems throughout this period is a demonstration of its commitment to this business and the resilience and innovation required to manage alternative assets through bull and bear market conditions. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, Amundi Alternative Investments, manages nearly €8 billion, including €1.7 billion on its Managed Account Platform, with 100 employees worldwide (Paris, New York, London, Tokyo. Amundi Alternative Investments designs and structures European and regulated Multi-Manager Products and Solutions within a “AIFM-ready” framework in Ireland.
SemperMacro’s Siva-Jothy returns with new fund (HFMWeek)
Former Goldman Sachs star trader Christian Siva-Jothy, who closed down his previous hedge fund SemperMacro last year, is poised to return to the industry after founding CSJ Capital Partners in London, HFMWeek can exclusively reveal. The former co-head of Goldman’s currency trading desk is currently marketing CSJ to external investors after receiving FSA authorisation at the end of May. The fund, which will deploy a thematic macro approach, will launch next quarter but start trading internal capital this month.
Cube Capital Launches Asia Frontier Fund (Finalternatives)
Cube Capital, a $1.3 billion global alternatives investment firm, has launched a new fund that will invest opportunistically in real estate in Myanmar, Mongolia and Vietnam. According to the firm, the new vehicle, the Cube Asia Frontier Fund (CAFF), will “focus on these inefficient frontier markets where select opportunities for development and distressed investing are abundant and the economic environment provides a strong catalyst for growth.”
