Each business day HedgeCo.Net keeps you informed with the top hedge fund industry news, opinion and insight from around the globe. From the latest hedge fund launches, to the impact of regulation, competition, and investor activism - we track the topics and people that make a difference to you.
New York (HedgeCo.net) – Los Angeles-based hedge fund firm, Shinnecock Partners, has been named Best Managed Futures CTA Fund in North America by World Finance magazine as part of its annual Hedge Fund Awards.
“Hedge funds and fund-of-funds alternatives play a critical role in portfolio diversification, and it’s important that investors weigh the considerable value of diversified futures funds of funds that can bring long track records, low volatility, attractive returns and predictability at a time when people need just that,” Alan Snyder, founder and managing partner of Shinnecock Partners, said. “This is an honor to be shared with all of our partners.”
World Finance is a leading financial magazine headquartered in London that reports on capital markets, risk management and corporate governance issues. The magazine polled 40,000 people and institutions for manager recommendations. Then, this group was evaluated by an independent awards panel headed by Editor Alexander Redcliffe.
Press Release – Constance Hunter, Chief Economist of Aladdin Capital Management, said that Europe could recover more quickly if a “cathartic event” forced policy makers to make tough decisions sooner than later. Without a jolt to the system, she added, current fiscal and monetary policies risk prolonging Europe’s economic woes. She gave her assessment in a conversation with FINforums’s Chairman John Seigenthaler in advance of her appearance at the FINforums Annual Hedge Fund Summit on September 14, 2011 at the Princeton Club in New York City.
In her discussion with Mr. Seigenthaler, Ms. Hunter identified three events that could force dramatic change. Potentially most impactful would be bank failures, as the European Central Bank has no mechanism similar to that of the U.S. for taking over failed financial institutions. The second event could be delivered via a German electorate that votes for politicians who opposed aiding the European Union’s economically beleaguered countries.
“The reality is that decisions may not be made in the European Commission’s offices in Brussels, but on the streets of Munich and Bonn,” Ms. Hunter said.
The third event could occur if European Central Bank members take a more hawkish approach and decline to extend credit by purchasing country bonds.
“The paradox is that Europe needs growth at a time when it is imposing austerity measures that are hampering growth. The problem is that current policies could allow Europe to muddle through in the same way that Japan has been able to muddle through,” she added.
Ms. Hunter will join an A-list of asset managers, geopolitical analysts and institutional investors who will discuss:
- The global outlook for Q4 and beyond
- The best investment strategies for finding alpha
- Techniques for successful marketing and capital raising
- Regulatory and compliance updates
- The rise of alternative hedge fund structures
John Seigenthaler, former NBC News Anchor and current CEO of Seigenthaler PR-NY, will chair the day-long event. Joseph McAlinden, Chief Investment Officer, Catalpa Capital Advisors, will give the opening remarks and Daniel Malloy, Governor of the State of Connecticut, will present the lunchtime keynote. Following panel discussions, FINforums will present an institutional investor roundtable. The summit, sponsored by Smarsh and Eze Castle Integration, will be capped by a cocktail reception.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Bloomberg – Aurelius Capital Management LP asked a derivatives industry group to determine whether a unit of Energy Future Holdings Corp. is insolvent, which would trigger payouts on $1.2 billion of credit-default swaps linked to the utility provider’s debt.
The hedge fund made a request to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association to rule on Texas Competitive Electric Holdings Co., according to a letter on the New York- based group’s website. Aurelius unsuccessfully claimed in February that the unit of the power company was in default.
Business Insider – While others were stockpiling water, flashlights, and board games in preparation for Hurricane Irene, the hedge fund Tudor Investment was crunching numbers. Paul Tudor Jones’ investment firm employs a weather derivatives analyst.
Weather derivatives are fairly new, the first one traded in 1997 and the CME introduced the first exchange-traded weather futures contracts in 1999.
Houston Chronicle – An attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission sought an emergency court order Monday against a hedge-fund manager who has been selling off parts of his pricey home’s interior despite a freeze on his assets during a securities fraud investigation.
Financial adviser Stanley Kowalewski has apparently held household estate sales that has resulted in “looting of the house of fixtures, light fixtures, doors, kitchen cabinets and other items” worth at least $175,000, plus replacement costs, the SEC attorney said. “These items must be replaced in this high-end home before the receiver can sell it for anything approaching fair market value.”
New York (HedgeCo.net) – Orwell Capital, a newly UK FSA regulated Investment Manager is about to launch the Kerdos Premium Fund SICAV. The hedge fund will initially invest in one company, part of the same group, whose core business is exporting gold bars from West Africa to Europe and the UK.
“There is a very strong demand for funds where performance is not linked to financial market trends.” Franco Mignemi, Director of Orwell Capital, said. “Amid the distress we are experiencing in the current market environment, investors are now drawn back to the real economy and are looking for stable profits in a business where they can fully appreciate the company’s structure and competitive edge. Our fund will offer an opportunity rarely available to professionals outside the gold industry.”
The hedge fund will be constituted by two sub-funds:
The Private Equity Gold Sub-Fund, a speculative and fully liquid kind of investment, not related to financial factors
The Gold Sub Fund, based on allocated gold, which guarantees a natural hedge on inflation.
The fund is currently awaiting authorization from the Malta Financial Services Authority and should be expected to launch in mid-September.
New York (HedgeCo.net) – The Court of the Cayman Islands has found two hedge fund directors guilty neglecting their duties, fining them $111 million each.
The hedge fund, Weavering Macro Fixed Income Fund, was found to have failed because of the directors’, “Decision not to take any meaningful role in the business of the fund, and their decision to simply sign documents which were put before them, without applying their minds to their content.” The court said.
Like many Cayman Islands investment funds, the directors had indemnity, covering all losses, with the exception of failure caused by the directors’ own wilful neglect or default. The Court found that the directors’ conduct fell well below that which was required of them.
“The case shows that directors of Cayman Islands investment funds cannot sit idly by, leaving the management and control of the fund to its service providers. A director’s duty to supervise the affairs of the company, and to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence are non-delegable” said Shaun Folpp, Managing Associate at Ogier Cayman who, together with Will Jones, Associate, acted for the successful Plaintiff, led by David Lord QC.
(Note) One of the directors fined was the younger brother of the investment manager and the other their elderly stepfather.
The Independent - A $1bn Knightsbridge-based hedge fund backed by Libyan money has resumed trading in the US after its assets, frozen on the outbreak of the anti-Gaddafi rebellion, were released.
The assets were among the first to be released of the estimated $168bn that global authorities froze in March to paralyse the Muammar Gaddafi regime. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) privately gave FM Capital Partners (FMCP) permission to trade its US assets this month.
Bloomberg – Macquarie Group Ltd. (MQG) is leading investors in an offer to buy the shares of Charter Hall Office REIT (CQO) not owned by the trust’s manager, seeking a return to assets it offloaded 1 1/2 years ago.
Australia’s biggest investment bank and a group of global institutional investors are offering A$3.52 per share, valuing the office trust at A$1.7 billion ($1.8 billion) before the sale of its U.S. assets. Charter Hall Group would retain its stake and management of the REIT, according to the proposal announced in a statement by Sydney-based Charter Hall today.
Opalesque – With just three trading days left in August, Israel (Izzy) Englander’s Millennium hedge fund is down 1% so far in August but up around 5% up YTD, according to information obtained by Opalesque. Last Friday, Opalesque reported (via SeekingAlpha) that Englander’s hedge fund increased a position of the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) by 439% during the last quarter.
According to updated information obtained by Opalesque, Englander’s $12bn fund owns 12,900 shares of GDX. Since hitting a low for the year in June, GDX has risen over 20% until Friday, August 26th.
Investment International – Hedge funds run by sophisticated computer programmes are profiting from large falls in stock markets and a rocketing gold price this month, even as funds managed by human beings struggle to cope with high market volatility, it is claimed.
Insiders say so called managed futures funds, which try to latch onto market trends, are making money from declining bond yields and falling equities, as investors seek safe havens amid the eurozone debt crisis and after the US’s credit rating downgrade.
Bloomberg – Speculators increased bullish bets on agricultural commodities to the highest level since early May after adverse weather eroded yield prospects for corn and soybean crops in the U.S., the world’s top grower and exporter.
Hedge funds and other speculators raised their net-long positions across 11 agricultural futures and options by 15 percent to 776,774 contracts in the week through Aug. 23, government data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s the highest since May 6. Funds became bullish on wheat for the first time since June and wagers that soybeans will gain rose 64 percent.
New York (HedgeCo.net) – Los Angeles-based hedge fund firm, Shinnecock Partners, has been named Best Managed Futures CTA Fund in North America by World Finance magazine as part of its annual Hedge Fund Awards.
