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 – Tadashi Mukai, returning to run his own his hedge fund after being the nation’s top performer in 2007, posted a 2.1 percent gain in March for his Wisdom of Japan Fund by betting on rising and falling stock prices.
The Epic Partners Investments Co. fund, which employs a so- called market-neutral strategy, doubled initial assets to 850 million yen ($8.5 million) since starting March 2, according to Mukai. The 44-year-old, who joined Epic in August and has managed market-neutral funds for eight years, aims to raise 10 billion yen from investors for the fund within a year.
Seattle Times – An official appointed to recover the assets of a prominent Manhattan lawyer accused of defrauding hedge funds of at least $400 million says he has safeguarded more than $100 million in assets, including an $18.5 million yacht.
The court-appointed receiver, Mark Pomerantz, outlined his findings about lawyer Marc Dreier and his 150-lawyer firm, Dreier LLP, in a report made public Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Dreier, 58, was arrested in December on securities fraud charges. He remains under house arrest while his lawyer, Gerald Shargel, prepares what he says is likely to be a guilty plea for his client.
The Associated Press – A Silicon Valley hedge fund manager wanted in the U.S. on charges he duped investors out of at least $5 million challenged his extradition from Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Fund manager Albert Hu, an American citizen, told a Hong Kong court through his lawyer that he wanted to exercise his right to see evidence in his case, in which U.S. officials are seeking his extradition to California.
"He feels that he must seek evidence (from) the prosecution," said defense counsel Jonathan Acton-Bond.
Hu had indicated he was willing to surrender to the U.S. during his first court appearance last week, according to Hong Kong’s Department of Justice.
Auburn Journal – Placer County is pumping money into a North Auburn sewer treatment plant upgrade while seeking federal funding for a pricey regional wastewater pipeline from North Auburn to Lincoln.
No decision has been made to commit to either the $133 million Lincoln tie-in or the $88.5 million Joeger Road plant upgrade.
But Jim Durfee, county facility services director, told supervisors at Tuesday’s board meeting that moving ahead on a no-bid contract with design firm Owen Psomas would signal to water-quality officials that efforts were continuing to move the North Auburn plant into compliance with new standards.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – The Banks Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly voted yesterday to pass a bill that will raise the minimum financial qualifications for hedge fund investors to $2.5 million, and for institutional investors, $5 million.
If the bill, called "An Act Concerning Hedge Funds" is passed by the Connecticut General Assembly, it may become effective as early as October 1, 2009.
This marks a substantial increase above the minimum investor assets ($1 million) required under existing federal standards, making it harder for hedge fund managers in Connecticut to raise capital.
The Connecticut Bill was one of three bills introduced in mid-February to the legislature for consideration by the Banks Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly. Two other bills cover financial disclosure and licensing requirements, they up for vote in the near future.
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New York (HedgeCo.Net) – While authorities are trying to locate and freeze all of the assets of admitted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, lawyers representing his wife, Ruth, claim that she has millions in assets, all independent of her husband’s scam.
In an order filed yesterday, it was disclosed that Ruth Madoff owns $45 million in municipal bonds, and a New York City apartment. Ruth also apparently isn’t facing any liquidity crunch; she has $17 million in cash sitting in a Wachovia bank account.
U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton wrote that “some of the assets covered by the relief order are unrelated to the alleged Madoff fraud and only Ruth Madoff has a beneficial ownership in these assets.”
Earlier last month, Bernard Madoff agreed to a permanent freeze on his assets, without admitting or denying fraud charges.
Mr. Madoff has contested that he worked alone, however doubts surfaced when Mrs. Madoff withdrew $15.5 million from a brokerage account in her name in the weeks leading up to her husband’s arrest. The account was with Cohmad Securities Corp., an entity part owned by her husband.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
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The Australian – Some of the City of London’s shrewdest hedge fund investors, who made millions of pounds betting that UK bank shares would fall, have turned their guns on insurers amid heightened worry about the financial strength of the sector
Lansdowne Partners, which spent three years gambling on the collapse of Northern Rock, and made huge profits when the bet paid off in the fourth year, has gambled tens of millions that the share prices of four household-name insurance companies will fall.
Lansdowne, founded in 1998 by Paul Ruddock and Steven Heinz, has disclosed that it had a short position in Prudential, Britain’s No 2 insurer, worth about £10.5 million ($24 billion); a £26.2 million bet against Aviva, owner of Norwich Union; and further gambles against Legal & General (L&G) and Old Mutual. With the exception of the Pru, insurers’ shares have continued to fall.
Bloomberg – At the Art Show last year, dealer Richard L. Feigen offered an $8.5 million Pablo Picasso still life. This year, he’s highlighting less expensive art, including a $90,000 purple teapot painting by Georges Braque.
“The guys with the bonuses and hedge funds won’t be throwing money around,” he said. “There are a lot of things at lower price levels than in the past.”
The opening gala for the annual fair at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan proceeded last night without its sponsor, the bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and with the expectation of fewer sales than last year.
Reuters – Yorkville Advisors, a $1 billion hedge fund, said it is stepping into the lending vacuum left by banks as it provides struggling firms with loans for up to two years, typically in the $5 million to $40 million range.
More recently the value of the loans has increased as larger-cap companies seek assistance. At end-January, Yorkville loaned $147.9 million to shipping firm Ocean Freight Inc.
The move is one way for hedge funds to thrive despite the global financial and economic crisis, and mirrors similar investments by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
Reuters – A hedge fund manager, a brokerage trader and a financial adviser were charged on Thursday with insider trading in the stock of supermarket chain Albertsons Inc, reaping total profits of about $7.5 million, according to court documents.
The criminal complaints were filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan against Joseph Contorinis, a former employee at Jefferies Asset Management LLC, as well as trader Michael Koulouroudis and financial adviser Nicos Achillea Stephanou, whose employers were not immediately known.
Jefferies was not mentioned in the complaint against Contorinis. Firm spokesman Tom Tarrant said Contorinis left a year ago. He declined to comment on the charge or arrest of Contorinis by the FBI on Thursday.
Herald Tribune – A federal judge extended a freeze on the assets of Sarasota’s Arthur G. Nadel on Tuesday, but failed to include other partners — a measure some investors with the accused hedge fund swindler have been pushing for aggressively because Nadel shared $95.5 million in incentive fees with other Scoop Management Inc. principals.
Nadel did not contest U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara’s order freezing personal and business bank accounts, property and other assets Nadel controls solely or with others, so a hearing scheduled for today was canceled.
Investors like Fort Lauderdale’s Louis Paolino Jr., who is out $5.8 million since the Jan. 14 implosion of the six funds Nadel managed, had hoped the hearing might shed light on why the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was not seeking to include Nadel partners Neil or Chris Moody in the freeze.
Bloomberg - Marc Dreier, the New York lawyer accused of cheating hedge funds, said he told his 19-year-old son he could have properties worth $12.5 million after the teenager agreed to spend the summer with him, prosecutors said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Streeter in New York made the disclosure yesterday in a letter urging a federal judge to deny bail to Dreier, who is accused of defrauding investors of hundreds of millions of dollars. Streeter said statements made by Dreier to the receiver of his law firm, Dreier LLP, aren’t “credible” and that Dreier may have assets hidden overseas.
Dreier, 58, was arrested Dec. 7 on charges that he persuaded two unidentified hedge funds to give him more than $100 million by falsely claiming he was selling at a discount notes issued by Sheldon Solow, a New York developer. Prosecutors later said “very sophisticated investors” lost $380 million. In yesterday’s letter, they said the loss topped $400 million.
