Glenn Paradis Returns as Hedge Fund Manager (MarketWatch)
Select Equity Opens Ucits-Compliant Fund (HFMWeek)
Select Equity Group (SEG), a New York-based investment manager with over $4bn across long-only and long/short equity strategies, is launching a Ucits-compliant fund this quarter, HFMWeek has learned. According to an investor document, the offering is called the Select Equity Long/Short Ucits Sub-Fund, a long/short US equity offering. Ucits-compliant funds have seen rising popularity among US-based fund managers in the last couple of years as they seek to gain traction from European investors. “The heightened demand for Ucits among US-based managers has originated from the change in investor sentiment and ongoing regulatory reform within the EU,” said Cyril Delamare, CEO of ML Capital. “Ucits has provided managers with a route to market to overcome the evolving demands of both investors and regulatory bodies. In addition, US managers have discovered the benefits of Ucits in providing access to a large previously inaccessible potential client base.”
MJE Advisors Expands US Operations (HFMWeek)
MJE Advisors, a New Jersey-based executive search firm, has opened new offices in October as part of an expansion plan and hired industry veteran Frank Carr. The firm launched an office in Jersey City, New Jersey, its second presence in the state following its headquarters in Florham Park. It has also made a push on the West Coast with an establishment in Los Angeles. “We have seen an enormous number of search mandates right now, so part of it is keeping up with the demand,” said Barry Emen, president of MJE Advisors. Carr, who joined in October as managing director, is based in Greenwich, Connecticut. For the Los Angeles presence, MJE Advisors hired Ken Benedict as managing director where he will cover investment firms in that region, along with Denver and other western locations.
Mizuho Alternative Launches New Fund Structure (HFMWeek)
Mizuho Alternative Investments (MAI), the $1.4bn New York-based alternative investment manager backed by Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group, will launch a fund structure of its Bridge Commodity Programme by year-end after rolling it out in a managed account format in May, HFMWeek has learned. Toly Spheeris, senior vice president and head of commodity trading, said MAI will introduce a fund offering after investors asked for access to a fund structure. “Most of the commodity products available to investors are in the form of long-only index funds and we found there is investor demand for alpha-generating investment products in the commodity space,” he said.
Top Hedge Fund Seeders Still Have $4.6B to Allocate (HFMWeek)
Hedge fund seeders have at least $4.59bn available to them in unallocated capital, HFMWeek research suggests, opening the door to dozens of potential seed deals in 2012. The estimated total – the sum of the unallocated pools of seed capital at HFMWeek’s top ten seeders – follows an impressive 12 months of capital-raising by several big names, with the likes of 
, Reservoir Capital and Goldman Sachs seeing strong inflows. All three have the vast majority of their ‘dry powder’ left. Accounting for well over a third of the $4.59bn total, Blackstone has around $1.8bn left to play with, having raised $2.4bn for its Strategic Alliance Fund (SAF) II. Now closed to new investment, the fund has been busy signing tickets – Taylor Woods Capital Management, Sureview Capital and Harbor Bridge are among five firms to receive SAF II money to date. A further three or four are expected in the next six months.
Prudence Investment Shuns Property Investment (Reuters)
China’s property sector credit will offer fewer opportunities after last year’s spectacular gains and investors should switch to consumer-driven plays as the world’s second-largest economy turns to consumption from investment as its key driver, hedge fund Prudence Investment Management said. Sectors such as utilities, resources and consumer goods would provide much more stable cash flows compared with property, where squeezed borrowers were unlikely to feel any significant relief from an expected easing in Beijing’s monetary policy, it said. “I see the property sector as consuming too much resources and not productive enough,” said Yuan Wang, who co-founded Hong Kong-based Prudence Investment in 2008.
West Virginia Board Makes Two Further Hedge Fund Allocations (HFMWeek)
The $12.9bn West Virginia Investment Management Board of Retirement (WVIMB) has made two further hedge fund allocations, following a year of high activity in the space, financial statements seen by HFMWeek confirm. The board, which manages the assets of 18 state pension plans, has decided to allocate $30m to Pershing Square International and $40m to AQR Delta Offshore Fund II, upping the total hedge fund portfolio to $1.06bn, distributed across 25 hedge funds. Pershing Square International, run by Pershing Square Capital Management, based in New York, was hired because of its ability to “invest in long and short investment opportunities that exhibit significant valuation discrepancies between current trading prices and intrinsic business value,” the documents state. Terms of the investment include a hard lock-up until September 2013, then quarterly redemptions with 65 days’ prior written notice.
