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.
Bloomberg – Before I quit my job trading bonds for my former Wall Street employer and set up my first hedge fund, I thought long and hard.
I stared at the ceiling every night, unable to sleep, and asked myself, over and over, many difficult questions. For example: “How sincerely do I want to grow my net worth from $10 million to $100 million?” And: “How much pleasure might be had from the envy of others?”
Grand Forks Herald – The wife of disgraced money manager Bernard Madoff withdrew more than $15 million from a firm co-owned by her husband – including $10 million on the day their children turned her husband over to authorities for overseeing an alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme, the top securities regulator in Massachusetts said Wednesday.
Bloomberg - A hedge fund manager who used the same defense lawyer as Bernard Madoff received a sentence that was a third of the maximum possible after he was convicted of defrauding investors out of $10 million.
Vincent Montagna remains free on bail more than two years after pleading guilty. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison instead of a possible 9-year term. His lawyer, Ira Sorkin, also represents Madoff, the New York investment adviser U.S. prosecutors accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
Though Montagna and Madoff aren’t known to be connected beyond their choice of attorney, the case may provide a window on Madoff’s prospects in avoiding or reducing the maximum 20 years in prison he faces if convicted. Madoff, 70, is free on bail, though restricted to his Manhattan apartment.
Professional Pensions – RMB Asset Management has launched a diversified target fund in a bid to help schemes manage funding volatility.
The asset management firm said the multi-manager RMB Diversified Target Return Fund has exposure to equities, bonds and alternatives such as commodities, hedge fund of funds and property.
It is aimed at both defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes – and is targeting return of LIBOR (London interbank offered rate) plus 3pc over rolling three year periods.
The underlying managers are researched and monitored by RMB’s multi-manager research team which is headed up by chief executive officer Tom Joy.
Asian Investor – The Shaka Japan fund has been launched in New York by hedge fund manager Shaka Capital Management. It is a new start-up, launched in January of this year with partners’ capital, and has an estimated capacity of $1 billion.
Arif Imam is Shaka’s business manager and is a former managing director at Morgan Stanley, responsible for global distribution of Japanese equities.
The portfolio manager is Alexandre de Bethmann who formerly worked at Federated Global and TIAA-CREF.
Shaka’s trader is Douglas Butcher, who was also a managing director at Morgan Stanley where he handled client trading for Japanese equities.
Target return is 12-15% per year on a Sharpe Ratio of 1.2 to 1.5. It is a Japan-only long/short equity fund concentrating on the top 250 stocks in that market. The focus on large-cap stocks is in part because of the very liquid state of the short borrow that lends to running a truly efficient hedged fund.
