SAC’s Ghiya Said to Quit Amid Plans to Start Own Hedge-Fund Firm (San Francisco Chronicle)
SAC Capital Advisors LP money manager Vishal Ghiya resigned from his role, telling management last week that he plans to start his own hedge-fund firm, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Ghiya, who worked at SAC’s Sigma unit and traded industries from health care to software services, managed about $500 million including borrowed money, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Ghiya didn’t reply to an e-mail or phone calls seeking comment. Jonathan Gasthalter, a spokesman for SAC at Sard Verbinnen & Co., declined to comment. SAC’s billionaire founder Steven A. Cohen last month paid some of the bonuses for 2013, which he raised last year to stem defections as the U.S. insider-trading investigation of his firm intensified.
Ex-Lone Pine, Goldman Execs.’ Fund Up 16% (FINalternatives)
One of 2012’s biggest Asian hedge fund launches posted “respectable” returns in its first full year. Tybourne Capital Management was up 16.04% last year, The Wall Street Journal reports, better than the average hedge fund both globally and in the Asia-Pacific region, but far behind the broader markets. That led co-founder Eashwar Krishnan to describe the performance as “respectable” in a letter to investors. Krishnan, Lone Pine Capital former Asia chief, and former Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) capital introductions executive Tanvir Ghani, set up Tybourne in Hong Kong in the summer of 2012. The Asia-focused long/short equity strategy returned 5% in the second half of that year.
QFS Asset Management Shuts Currency Hedge Fund (Wall Street Journal)
QFS Asset Management is shutting its sole remaining hedge fund and returning nearly $1 billion to clients, making it the latest casualty of increasingly treacherous foreign-exchange markets. The closure comes after the Greenwich, Conn., firm’s currency program lost 8.7% in 2013 and 8.6% in 2012, the first time in at least 20 years that QFS has lost money in two consecutive years, according to firm documents. At its height in 2005, QFS managed more than $5 billion. QFS will return all money to clients, which include pension funds, sovereign-wealth funds and other institutions.
Hedge fund of the year: Chenavari Investment Managers (Risk.net)
Regulators and policy-makers should be rolling out the red carpet for hedge funds such as Chenavari Investment Managers. While authorities try to avoid stifling economic growth with their new prudential rules, the firm has completed around 20 bank capital relief deals, representing roughly $1 billion of investor capital and, in theory at least, enabling banks to lend more. The fund also has a fast-growing direct lending portfolio, providing credit to borrowers struggling to find bank loans. Instead of a red carpet, though, Chenavari – and other funds that share the strategy – find themselves facing an amber light. Bank regulators are leery of anything claiming to be a risk transfer, and the Financial Stability Board is putting so-called shadow banking under the microscope, which includes non-banks making loans.
LSB Industries of Oklahoma City faces challenge from shareholder (NewsOK.com)
Oklahoma City-based LSB Industries, Inc. (NYSE:LXU) could be gearing up for a proxy fight with a small but determined New York hedge fund that has called for changes at the chemical manufacturer and climate control company. Engine Capital has said it plans to nominate five new directors for the company’s board by Jan. 23 if LSB does not take steps toward reform. In an open letter published Dec. 30, Engine Capital called for LSB to split its climate control and chemical businesses and add new members to the company’s board. LSB Chief Financial Officer Tony Shelby said the board has engaged advisers to decide its response to Engine Capital.
