Soros Says ‘Dominant’ Merkel Has Wrong Policies, Weltwoche Says (BusinessWeek)
Billionaire investor George Soros said German Chancellor Angela Merkel is following the wrong policy by asking countries to fight debt with austerity, according to an interview with Weltwoche. “Chancellor Merkel certainly is the dominant politician of our time, very powerful, but also very capable,” Soros was cited as telling the Swiss magazine. “Unfortunately, the policies she advocates are wrong” as she is fighting the European debt crisis by demanding a “shrinking of the economy and of state budgets,” he said. “I believe that you only can get out of extreme debt with growth.”
The IvyPlus Alternative Investment Network is kicking off their 2013 season with a hedge fund and private equity fund after-work mixer in midtown Manhattan on February 19th, 2013. These events are well attended with more than 100 leaders in the hedge fund and private equity world on average. This event is an entry point into more than 25 events held around the country by the IvyPlus group. The IvyPlus Alternative Investment Network is one of the oldest national alternative investment networks offering educational products for alternative investment funds, registered investment advisors and institutional investors around the Americas. IvyPlus has an ongoing dialogue with members and provides high-value education and information on trends in the space, structure and operational excellence. Attendees gain practical strategies and solutions to achieve both short and long-term objectives.
Ex-Brevan Howard star Rokos launches family office-sources (GlobalPost)
Chris Rokos, co-founder of hedge fund firm Brevan Howard, is focusing on managing his own fortune, two sources told Reuters, the latest star trader to set up a so-called “family office” rather than work for others amid tighter regulations. The former Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) trader, who left Brevan last summer after the amount of money he managed was cut, has set up the office in the heart of London’s upmarket Mayfair district, close to Berkeley Square, one of the sources said. While his future plans are still unclear, Rokos is one of a number of star hedge fund managers who has moved away from managing assets for pension funds or wealth managers and rich individuals and switched to running his own wealth.
Best practice in hedge fund good governance driven by institutional investors’ demand (Opalesque)
The improvements in best practices on the hedge fund governance are driven by the demands and expectations of institutional investors and more recently by some court cases such as the Weavering case, where the judge took the opportunity to set out what is expected of a hedge fund manager to carry out his or her fiduciary responsibility, said Darren Stainrod, Managing Director, UBS Fund Services (Cayman Islands). Speaking in the latest Opalesque Cayman Roundtable, Stainrod said the various new regulations did little to influence good governance.
HFIN One Adds Twitter to News Offering to Provide Real-Time Updates and Connections for Hedge Fund Investors and Managers (NewsTimes)
HFIN One, a fully integrated solutions network for hedge funds, hedge fund investors and content partners, announced today the addition of Twitter to its HFIN News content aggregation platform. The addition of Twitter expands HFIN One’s comprehensive data filtering service and provides Hedge Fund Investors and Managers with another business-critical channel for gathering and sharing real-time information. With more than 500 million people on Twitter worldwide, including hedge fund industry news agencies and journalists, information about hedge fund managers is published on Twitter every day.
Icahn Takes Herbalife Stake (WSJ)
Activist money manager Carl Icahn and his deputies have told other investors that he has taken a stake in Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) -2.45% joining a heavyweight battle that has already drawn prominent hedge-fund managers William Ackman and Daniel Loeb. One of the investors said Mr. Icahn bought a “small” position in the nutritional-supplements firm after Mr. Ackman unveiled a large bet against Herbalife stock and called it a pyramid scheme during a Dec. 20 presentation.
Hedge Fund Titan Warren Lichtenstein Shacks Up with Bethenny Frankel (StreetInsider)
Low-key hedge fund honcho Warren Lichtenstein is making the gossip mags Wednesday on headlines reality star Bethenny Frankel moved into his Upper East Side apartment building. Frankel was recently split from husband Jason Hoppy and moved out of their Tribeca condo. Frankel and Lichtenstein are reportedly long-time friends, but today’s news has the blogs thinking something more serious is going on between the two.
Neuberger Berman Fund Adds Halcyon Stake (Finalternatives)
Neuberger Berman Group’s private equity fund of hedge funds had a feverish December, tripling the number of hedge fund managers in its portfolio during the month. Dyal Capital Partners’ buying spree, which coincided with its closing at $1.28 billion, concluded on Dec. 21 with the purchase of a minority stake in Halcyon Asset Management, Hedge Fund Alert reports. New York-based Halcyon is one of the oldest hedge funds around, founded in 1981, and manages $12 billion; the firm had planned to go public several years ago but shelved those plans in the face of the financial crisis.
The Great Baupost Madoff Claim Trade That Made A Big Madoff Feeder Fund A Loser Again (Forbes)
In the summer of 2010, James Mooney, a partner at Baupost Group, the massive $24 billion Boston hedge fund run by investment legend Seth Klarman, sensed there was money to be made acquiring customer claims of Bernard Madoff’s bogus investment firm. Mooney believed the Madoff claims represented a classic distressed debt situation, where “sophisticated participants in the market” who were “aided by their advisors, such as legal counsel,” could better understand the complex dynamics at play, according to a court-filed declaration Mooney made last year.
Hungary Blames Roubini ‘Attack’ for Forint Plunging to Low (MoneyNews)
Hungary’s Economy Ministry blamed Nouriel Roubini for the forint’s weakening to a seven-month low against the euro, saying Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy’s comments on the currency didn’t cause the depreciation. The ministry cited a recommendation last week by Roubini, co-founder of Roubini Global Economics LLC, to sell the forint in the absence of an International Monetary Fund backstop, according to an e-mailed statement.
Shropshire County Pension Fund looking for hedge fund-of-funds managers (PIOnline)
Shropshire County Pension Fund, Shrewsbury, England, issued an RFI for at least one manager to run a hedge fund-of-funds portfolio estimated at about £55 million ($88 million), according to a pension fund executive at the £1.1 billion pension fund. Funding will come from terminating an existing manager, though the pension official declined to name the manager. According to the pension fund’s latest annual report for the year ended March 31, Man Group managed a £55 million hedge fund-of-funds strategy and BlackRock (BLK) managed a £35 million hedge fund-of-funds portfolio. Shropshire’s pensions committee had raised concerns about Man Group’s performance and management changes, according to the minutes of the committee’s meeting on Nov. 23. Efforts to reach Man Group were unsuccessful.
