Diamondback Is Shutting Down (WSJ)
Hedge fund Diamondback Capital Management LLC told investors Thursday that it plans to close and wind down its funds after receiving redemptions requests totaling more than a quarter of its assets. In a letter to investors Thursday, the Stamford, Conn., hedge fund’s founders Richard Schimel and Larry Sapanski said they received redemption requests for Dec. 31 of about $520 million, or 26% of its assets under management. As a result, the fund would be left with about $1.45 billion in assets under management.
Funds of Hedge Funds May Be Down, But Don’t Count Them Out (AllAboutAlpha)
When was the last time you read some good news about the funds of hedge funds industry? Judging by the tenor of most articles in the trade press and general business news outlets, funds of hedge funds (FoHFs) are losing assets, losing interest and losing relevance. As trumpeted by a recent headline in The Economist, “Going, going, gone?” seems to be the prevailing view of their status. It’s certainly true that the industry’s numbers trace a downward trajectory. In contrast to the strong rebound in assets under management (AUM) by single-manager hedge funds after the financial crisis, total assets managed by FoHFs fell from their 2007 peak of $798 billion to less than $644 billion as of year-end 2011, according to Hedge Fund Research.
Hedge fund executive, 31, dies after tragic high-speed crash puts his Mercedes up into a tree (DailyMail)
Police are investigating the deadly crash that killed a Dallas-based hedge fund manager on Tuesday morning. The car crash occurred at around 1 a.m. when Galen Weston Swank, 31, lost control of his 2009 Mercedes car near to Turtle Creek Boulevard and Blackburn Street and his car left the road and hit several trees above a river. Witnesses to the married father-of-ones accident said that Swank spun his tires at a stop light and was traveling too fast around a steep curve when he lost control, hit one tree and then hit several others.
Grifphon hedge fund case expands (BizJournals)
Three additional men have been charged in relation to the failed Portland hedge fund Grifphon Asset Management. As the Oregonian reports, Dominic O’Dierno of Portland, Stephen Persad of Milwaukie and Benjamin R. Daniels of Indio, Calif. have been charged with violating federal securities registration laws. According to the report, the men steered investors to hedge fund manager Yusaf Jawed, accused of running a $37 million Ponzi scheme.
Hedge fund growth slows amid new regs, weak returns (BizJournals)
The hedge fund industry’s growth out of a harrowing 2008 has recently flattened as it gets tougher for the fund managers to raise money, please investors and placate new regulators. The number of hedge fund liquidations nationwide fell to the mid-700s in 2010, and seems to have stabilized there, according to Hedge Fund Research Inc. of Chicago. Fund launches increased steadily to slightly more than 1,100 last year, but were basically flat at about 550 through the first half of 2012 compared to 2011.
Greece Faces Off With Hedge Fund Investors Ahead Of Buyback Scheme (IBTimes)
Hedge funds are playing a dangerous game of chicken with Greece this week, according to insider sources quoted in various financial media outlets, a game whose denouement could devastate plans to keep Greece in the euro zone. It’s all coming out now as a result of a plan, whose details were announced Monday, that seeks to use $10 billion in bailout funds provided by the International Monetary Fund to buy almost three times that amount in outstanding Greek debt. The move would nearly halve the amount of government debt that is currently in private investor hands, some $63 billion, and reduce the amount of total debt owed by the country. And its execution is being set as a precondition by the IMF to disburse the next round of rescue funds.
Hedge Fund Investor Jen: 2013 ‘Not a Lucky Number’ for Euro (WSJ)
Next year will be better for euro bears, says Stephen Jen, a longtime believer in the trade. Mr. Jen, managing partner at hedge fund SLJ Macro Partners LLP in London, said his negative euro bets took a hit after the European Central Bank announced its bond-buying program in September. The euro has traded near $1.30 since then, after falling close to $1.20 during the summer. Mr. Jen said he believes the euro will resume its slide in 2013 as a faltering euro-zone economy, stung by fiscal tightening to fix the debt crisis, may push the ECB to resume cutting its key interest rate. The year 2013 “will not be a lucky number for the euro,” said Jen in an interview Thursday.
