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) – Hedge fund giant Man Group has created a hedge fund managing $63 billion after acquiring rival $23.7 billion hedge fund GLG Partners in a $1.6 billion in deal.
Man Group held a presentation today at 9.30am (UK time) at the Thomson Reuters Building.
“I am delighted to announce Man’s proposed acquisition of GLG to create a diversified, world-leading alternative investment manager with $63 billion in funds under management.” Jon Aisbitt, Chairman of Man, said, “It is central to Man’s stated strategy of acquiring high quality discretionary investment management capability to broaden our range of diversified, liquid strategies for the benefit of our investors.”
The acquisition will be implemented by way of a merger, creating a diversified, world-leading alternative investment manager with an emphasis on liquid strategies, positioned to benefit from the expected continued growth in onshore hedge funds globally. The deal will be closed by the end of September.
“The structure of the transaction allows us to retain vital focus and commitment to performance whilst integrating Man’s leading structuring and distribution capabilities to the advantage of investors and shareholders alike.” Peter Clarke, Chief Executive of Man, said, “We have deployed surplus capital in an earnings enhancing transaction to access savings, balance our investment strategies, and created a powerful business from which we can grow organically.
New York (HedgeCo.net) – January was a positive month for Fixed Income Arbitrage, with most strategies generating positive performance amid a fall in risky assets in the second half of the month, according to new Credit Suisse/Tremont report.
Event Driven managers produced generally positive returns, largely driven by gains from credit positions and hedging strategies that mitigated equity losses, Credit Suisse/Tremont reported.
Event Driven managers were also supported by on-going technical conditions as credit markets held steady in January despite weakness in equities and both the CS Leveraged Loan and High Yield Index sustained gains of 1.81% and 1.27%, respectively. Despite slightly negative performance for the overall Emerging Markets sector, Emerging Europe-focused managers experienced gains with the MSCI EM Eastern Europe Index finishing the month up +1.8%
The Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index Gained 0.17% in January as hedge funds posted positive performance despite market reversals.
New York (HedgeCo.net) – BVI-based investment manager Bluenose Capital Management is planning to launch The Bluenose North American Market Neutral Fund, an onshore version of its successful offshore flagship hedge fund on March 1st, 2010.
The Delaware-domiciled fund has a 1 year lock-up period, with a minimum investment of $250,000, with a 1% management fee and 20% incentive. Bluenose’s JS Pelletier and Dario Borelli will be managing the fund.
Aimed at U.S. accredited and qualified investors, the US & Canada equity market neutral fund has 4 underlying strategies employed according to prevailing market conditions, including systematic, quantitative & automated investment process. With rigorous risk management practices ensuring low downside volatility the new fund trades only highly liquid exchange-listed securities.
The objective is to generate an annualized compound rate of return of 15% with lower downside volatility vs. the S&P500 and TSX benchmarks. Using proprietary multi-factor models, the fund will engage in short-term market neutral trading in Canadian and U.S. liquid exchange-listed securities. The fund has a capacity of $700 million at the trading level.
Bluenose Capital Management Ltd. is an alternative investments trading firm, specializing in market neutral strategies. Bluenose Capital Ltd. is registered with the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission as a Professional Fund under the 1996 Mutual Funds Act.
New York (HedgeCo.net) – New regulations and laws, including the recently enacted anti-money laundering and know-your-client laws are making the outsourcing of hedge fund administration more and more common, according to Joe Goldstein President of G&S Fund Services, who said “When administrating their own fund, many fund managers find they are in over their head.”
“Last week there were expansions, as back and middle office service providers globally, caught up with the trend.” Andrew Schneider, founder and co-principal of hedge fund research and services firm, HedgeCo Networks, said.
Privately owned hedge fund administration company, Opus Fund Services, today opened a Chicago office, appointing Stephen Giannone as the firms President. He has previously worked in senior management positions at Bear Stearns and Deutsche Bank and most recently at hedge fund administrators Spectrum and Omnium (formerly Citadel Solutions). Opus Fund Services is headquartered in Bermuda and has offices in New York, the United Kingdom, and the Cayman Islands.
And also in the off-shore news, hedge fund law firm, Conyers Dill & Pearman, announced an expansion into Cyprus. Conyers will launch its Cyprus practice out of its Moscow office and will advise on all aspects of Cyprus corporate law.
Cypriot law firm Antis Triantafyllides & Sons LLC (ATS) has entered into an arrangement with Conyers for mutual co-operation on Cyprus, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Mauritius work, and will assign a lawyer from their Cyprus office to Conyers’ Moscow office.
New York (HedgeCo.net) – According to research from HedgeFund Intelligence, more than half of the Europe’s hedge fund firms have either launched onshore Undertakings on Collective Investment in Transferable Securities, (UCITS) hedge funds or are considering it.
Some of Europe’s biggest hedge fund firms, according to WSJ, have already launched UCITS onshore funds, including Man Group PLC, GLG Partners Inc. and Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP.
In a survey of Europe’s 650-plus hedge fund firms, HedgeFund Intelligence found that about one-fifth of them have already launched a Ucits fund or are in the process of doing so. Of those with no imminent plans for a launch, 40% said they would consider it.
Bloomberg – John W. Henry & Co., the investment firm run by the Boston Red Sox baseball team’s owner, is among hedge funds that suffered their worst drops in almost 18 months in July as oil and other commodities retreated from records.
John W. Henry lost 17 percent on its JWH GlobalAnalytics fund, the firm said on its Web site. Altis Partners Ltd.’s $1 billion global futures program fell 18 percent, paring its gain for the year to 10 percent. London-based Man Group Plc’sAHL Diversified Futures Ltd., the computer program that trades about $25 billion of investments, dropped 5.5 percent through July 28, or a loss of about $1.37 billion in the month.
Oil, natural gas, nickel and corn prices all tumbled in July, making it the worst month for the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Commodity Index in 28 years. The drops pushed commodities trading advisers, which manage about $234 billion, to post their biggest declines since March 2007, according to data compiled by BarclayHedge, a Fairfield, Iowa-based fund-tracker. So-called CTA funds rose 8.3 percent in the first half, making them the best performing strategy in an industry that had its worst start to a year in nearly two decades.
Reuters- Beleaguered Swiss bank UBS is considering the sale of Paine Webber, the heart of its U.S. wealth management business, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
UBS is under pressure from the Swiss financial watchdog and from one of its top shareholders, Olivant, to overhaul its business after more than $37 billion (18 billion pounds) in writedowns during the credit turmoil.
The bank’s management, led by Chief Executive Marcel Rohner, is also grappling with the U.S. trial of a former employee for helping a billionaire client hide $200 million.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net)- Hedge fund Three Arch Investors has begun buying tracts of abandoned development land in California.
“Property and land values in California have dropped to very low lows and at some stage they will recover." John Godden, managing partner of London-based IGS Group said, “This is the ultimate way to play what everyone knows to be the situation.”
"The price of homes have fallen by a little under 20% over the past year, and land prices have slumped by almost 80%." David Michelson, manager of the California Distressed Land Fund said. “The banks do not want this stuff, they want to get rid of it,” he said.
The fund, which has a target size of $150m to $250m, provides an alternative to commercial property funds or residential property index derivatives for those seeking to benefit from any upswing in the property sector.
New York (HedgeCo.net) – January was a positive month for Fixed Income Arbitrage, with most strategies generating positive performance amid a fall in risky assets in the second half of the month, according to new Credit Suisse/Tremont report.
