We are proud to showcase the talents of IPA member and HedgeCo Networks principle, Evan Rapoport
Evan Rapoport is the son of IPA founder Len Rapoport. He is a principal and co-founder of the West Palm Beach based internet and hedge fund consulting company, HedgeCo Networks.
Then there’s the talent hunt being run by HedgeCo Investments, a JV between HedgeCo and Holding Capital Group. According to an article in SmartMoney that I can’t seem to find online, the “American Idol”-esque hunt is a result of the difficulty in finding talent these days. Managers may be paid “north of six figures,” says Andrew Schneider, principal at HedgeCo Investments. A posting on HedgeCo.Net provides the contact info — “HedgeCo is currently looking for new and existing hedge fund managers who are looking to grow their business for our seeding and incubation programs. Please send your fund peformance and contact details to erapp@hedgeco.net for review.”
Palm Beach, Florida: HedgeCo.Net, 4 April, 2007 - As domicile for approximately 80% of the world’s hedge funds, the Cayman Islands have now implemented a mechanism for the electronic submission of annual returns for all funds licensed, registered and administered in the Cayman Islands.
The time is ripe for looking at funds of funds, says Evan Rapoport, a principal with hedge fund research and services firm HedgeCo.Net. "It's important for investment advisors to start lookng at hedge funds or funds of funds as part of their asset allocation because if they don't, an investment manager who does will end up taking business away from them." According to Rapoport, the more than 9,000 hedge funds managing around $1.5 trillion in assets pursue a wide range of investment strategies.
Hedge funds are sitting on about $1.7 trillion in cash according to one estimate, and fund managers are searching for places to invest. Funds have invested about $5 billion in films over the past several years and that figure is expected to rise to $50 billion in the next five years or so, said Andrew Schneider of HedgeCo Networks, which tracks hedge funds.
"There are very low barriers to entry but very high barriers to staying in the business," notes Evan Rapoport, principal of HedgeCo Networks, a hedge fund information and consulting firm in West Palm Beach, Fla. Competition is treacherous and lots of start-up funds don't survive. "While the high-profile start-ups command great attention," he says, "many established managers are busy broadening their product offering and expanding their footprint," in turn "raising the bar on what it takes to be successful as a new manager.".
Hollywood has had outside investors in the past and many of them have been burned. But the new crew have logical motives for getting into business with Hollywood. Consulting firm Hedgeco Networks has had six requests over the past year to start up Hollywood film funds. It had none the previous year, according to principal Evan Rappaport.
In Florida, there are approximately 150 funds and a host of businesses and professionals to serve them — even a business founded by two young entrepreneurs that tracks hedge funds. HedgeCo.Net, a 5-year-old West Palm Beach firm founded by New Yorkers Evan Rapoport, 32, a University of Florida grad, and Andrew Schneider, 31, gathers information on hedge funds and disseminates it to investors who meet the SEC’s $1.5-million minimum net worth definition of qualified investors. HedgeCo also consults for startup funds such as Levy’s.
Until this past September, Jeffrey Glusman was a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, a rising star sharing a book worth more than $250 million with a partner, a book truly to be envied. But after five successful years as an advisor, he's calling it quits - leaving his clients with his partner to start a hedge fund with a longtime friend. Glusman says the biggest surprise in starting up has been how cheap it is. In a package provided by hedgfundtools.com, the consulting arm of HedgeCo Networks, an industry information source, he got everything he needed to start Mogul - including legal and accounting services, auditors, prime broker introductions, Web site construction, database membership with Hedgeco.net and hedge fund software. And all that for $35,000. "If you go a la carte it's very expensive - buffet-style is cheap," he says.
HedgeCo Networks plans to charge customers $995 per year to use its Hedgefundcalculator program, undercutting the $5,000/year charge that the West Palm Beach, Fla., firm maintains is the going rate among its rivals.The program computes quantitative statistics, converts gross returns into net figures and generates monthly data for marketing materials. It also allows fund-of-fund managers to calculate their performance. However, the program isn’t as comprehensive as some other products on the market, such as Strategic Financial Solutions’ PerTrac software package. But HedgeCo says that small fund operators generally can’t afford such extensive programs anyway, creating a niche for Hedgefundcalculator.
Investors still dream of striking it rich in risky stocks, but in practice they're on the cusp of turning conservative. Financial reality is slowly sinking in. Next month, the oldest baby boomers reach 59 1/2--the age when they can tap a retirement account without paying a penalty. But after adjusting for inflation, the average retirement plan is only 3 percent higher than it was back in 1993. Younger investors have plenty of time to right themselves, but the boomer bulge will soon be up against the wall. A new little voice, at the back of their minds, whispers, "what do I do for income at 65 if I'm retired with no pension, and chose lousy stocks?"
The program computes quantitative statistics, converts gross returns into net figures and generates monthly data for marketing materials. It also allows fund-of-fund managers to calculate their performance. However, the program isn’t as comprehensive as some other products on the market, such as Strategic Financial Solutions’ PerTrac software package. But HedgeCo says that small fund operators generally can’t afford such extensive programs anyway, creating a niche for Hedgefundcalculator.
Evan Rapoport, president of HedgeCo.Net, a Web-based consulting firm, will host a Live Talk on investing on Thursday, June 16, at noon ET.
Wonder where the money's going? Hedge funds. These privately managed, loosely regulated investment pools pulled in $24 billion last quarter. TIP SHEET's Linda Stern asked Rapoport for some perspective.
Andrew Schneider, principal at HedgeCo. Networks, the leading free online hedge fund information portal, says that fund of funds started becoming popular a few years ago because “they diversify and spread out the risk, therefore investors prefer this type of investment over single strategies…their growth has been tremendous.” He adds that institutions have been attracted to fund of funds due to “lacklustre”returns in the equity markets and what he calls a mutual funds industry “going up in shambles.”
After 17 years of quietly establishing an investment empire, D. Scott Luttrell wants to share the wealth with others in the Bay area. Luttrell's LCM Group, an investment firm in New Tampa, founded in 1988, has opened its hedge fund to outside investors for the first time since the fund was established in 1995. The hedge fund industry has grown dramatically since 1990, when there were about 300 funds, to more than 8,000 funds now with an estimated $1 trillion under management, according to HedgeCo.Net, a West Palm Beach-based hedge fund research firm.
A rule requiring hedge fund managers to register with the SEC or state regulators is coming too late for investors who lost millions in now-closed West Palm Beach-based KL Group. But the new rule, effective next Feb. 1, will help regulators detect hedge fund problems more quickly, according to officials in the SEC's Miami office. HedgeCo Networks, a West Palm Beach-based research firm, reports that 67 hedge funds with Florida offices have registered for its data base. Palm Beach, North Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Miami Beach and Miami all have at least several hedge funds, said Evan Rapoport, a HedgeCo Networks principal.
Hedge funds aren't just for the Porsche and Rolls-Royce set anymore, a fact that's catching the eye of regulators. The SEC is concerned about growing risks as some hedge funds allow in investors with income as little as $200,000 - $300,000 for a couple - or net worth as low as $1 million. There are indications that a growing number of Americans in the $200,000 income range are investing in hedge funds. HedgeCo principal Evan Rapoport is concerned that cost of compliance for SEC registration could lead some hedge funds to raise fees for investors and, in a few cases, possibly close U.S. offices.
