The First Annual Wharton Hedge Fund Conference was held at the Jon M. Huntsman Hall in Philadelphia. The Wharton Hedge Fund Conference is the first major conference hosted by a university to focus exclusively on the hedge fund industry. 

Seeking Alpha as a couple blog entries that go into detail of the one-day conference and the various speakers.

Keynote speaker Marc Lasry: Hedge Fund Shakeout Will Continue

For the hedge fund industry, Lasry expects the shakeout to continue. Those who will survive the next year will remain in business for the long run. Funds that do not perform will in the first and second quarter of the year will be faced with further redemption requests.

Overall, Lasry believes that the government will do anything necessary to avoid getting into a Japanese situation. The most likely outcome will be the complete takeover of all liabilities of banks, which will then be free again to resume lending. Avenue currently holds around 40% in cash and stands ready to start buying assets when the time has come. Lasry expects a turnaround by the end of the year. If the government is not successful with all the cash that it is throwing at the problem within six months, then even cash holdings won’t be any good.

An in-depth round up on the event can be found here.