The two biggest hedge funds led by Citadel LLC CEO Ken Griffin posted returns of about 26 percent as of the end of the year compared to 2011 year end results, according to a person familiar with the performance. The Kensington and Wellington funds, which jointly have $7 billion under management and follow the same investment strategy with one directed at U.S. clients and the other at offshore customers, significantly outpaced the average worldwide 2012 hedge fund return of 5.5 percent, as estimated by Hedge Fund Research Inc.
China Aims to Expand Hedge Fund Investing by Licensing Foreign Shops (InstitutionalInvestor)
FOR INDUS CAPITAL PARTNERS, 2013 COULD BE THE year of the hedge fund in mainland China. General counsel and partner Brian Guzman and his colleagues at New York-based private investment fund adviser Indus, which was spun out of legendary hedge fund manager George Soros’ firm more than a decade ago, have been eyeing the Chinese market for some time. With regulators poised to allow foreign hedge funds to set up shop in the country’s second-largest city, they’re optimistic. Indus, which runs long-short strategies, plans to apply to the proposed qualified domestic limited partner (QDLP) program in early 2013. Under QDLP non-Chinese hedge funds would be able to establish marketing offices in Shanghai and gather assets from its institutional and high-net-worth investors…
Hedge funds win big with subprime mortgages (CNN)
That’s a bet that’s been paying off handsomely since 2010, according to Bloomberg Hedge Fund Indices. “It’s been an unusually attractive time to invest in the mortgage market,” said Steve Kuhn, head of Pine River Capital Management‘s $3.5 billion fixed income fund. “A tremendous amount of capital got lost or removed, and that’s created a very large hole.” It’s proved to be a profitable void for hedge funds to fill. For the most part, 2012 was a bust for hedge funds. In a year where the S&P 500 gained 13%, the average hedge fund returned just 5.5%, according to early estimates by Hedge Fund Research.
Ex-hedge funder Martoma pleads not guilty (NewsDay)
A former hedge fund portfolio manager charged with carrying out a record-setting insider trading scheme pleaded not guilty to insider trading charges Thursday as the prosecution hinted he would not be the last person arrested in the case. Mathew Martoma, 38, of Boca Raton, Fla., persuaded a medical professor to leak secret data from an Alzheimer’s disease drug trial between 2006 and 2008 when Martoma did work for an expert consulting service in New York, prosecutors said. The government said inside information Martoma learned about the joint drug trial by pharmaceutical companies Elan Corp. and Wyeth enabled other investment professionals to make $250 million illegally.
Jason Beaird joins Steel Vine Investment Fund as partner and director of marketing (HedgeWeek)
Beaird will serve as partner and director of marketing, primarily focusing upon marketing to accredited high net worth and institutional investors. Beaird’s past experience includes director of client service for Jetstream Capital from 2005 to 2011 and positions at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch in private wealth management from 1999 to 2004. Immediately prior to joining Steel Vine Investment Fund, Beaird worked as a hedge and private equity fund placement agent with Constellation Associates through BTIG.
