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.
Forbes – Global fund of hedge funds firm FRM Capital Advisors (FCA) said on Tuesday it will invest up to $60 million in New York-based asset manager WestSpring’s first fund.
Specialist hedge fund seeder FCA said the investment is part of a strategic tie up with WestSpring, which is scheduled to launch the fund in September. The firm will try to combine fundamental and quantitative approaches to credit analysis.
‘We are confident in WestSpring’s ability to build a high quality alternative investment business and we believe this strategic relationship is a great opportunity for our investors,’ said Clive Peggram, chief executive of FCA.
Reuters – Global fund of hedge funds firm FRM Capital Advisors (FCA) said on Tuesday it will invest up to $60 million in New York-based asset manager WestSpring’s first fund.
Specialist hedge fund seeder FCA said the investment is part of a strategic tie up with WestSpring, which is scheduled to launch the fund in September. The firm will try to combine fundamental and quantitative approaches to credit analysis.
Reuters India – Global fund of hedge funds firm FRM Capital Advisors said on Tuesday it will invest up to $60 million in New York-based asset manager WestSpring’s first fund.
Specialist hedge fund seeder FCA said the investment is part of a strategic tie up with WestSpring, which is scheduled to launch the fund in September. The firm will try to combine fundamental and quantitative approaches to credit analysis.
”We are confident in WestSpring’s ability to build a high quality alternative investment business and we believe this strategic relationship is a great opportunity for our investors,” said Clive Peggram, chief executive of FCA.
New York Times Blogs – Of all the gloomy economic indicators since the Wall Street collapse, perhaps the most startling one seen by New Jersey residents is this: Gov. Jon S. Corzine with his hand out.
Mr. Corzine, whose investments include significant holdings in private equity and hedge funds, famously spent $60 million of his own money on a record-shattering Senate race in 2000, then $43 million more laying siege to Trenton four years ago.
Bloomberg – Three traders from Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP and RBS Greenwich Capital Markets started a government-bond hedge fund named for one of their favorite songs by the Who.
5:15 Capital Management LLC, named for the track “5:15” on the British rockers’ 1973 album “Quadrophenia,” will begin trading today with about $60 million, according to Morris Sachs, one of the founders, who said the fund will grow to $100 million. Joining him at the Greenwich, Connecticut-based fund are E.G. Fisher, 40, and Rob Wahl, 42.
“We’re all Who fans and love that tune,” Sachs, the fund’s chief risk officer, said in a telephone interview. “What are we going to do, try to find another name for the Greek god of money?”
North Country Gazette – The brother of the former chief financial officer of the bankrupt hedge fund firm Bayou Group LLC has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison of his role in concealing a $400 million fraud.
Matthew Marino, brother of Daniel Marino, was also ordered to pay $60 million in restitution.
Prosecutors say that Marino knew about the fraud on the investors in the now-collapsed Bayou Hedge Funds and took steps to conceal it. His brother is serving 20 years for the scheme as is Bayou co-founder Samuel Israel.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – While some top banking execs choose to blow millions on lavish area rugs or fancy, non functional commodes, Leonard Abess Jr. of Miami-based City National Bank had a better idea; give back to the people who made him his fortune.
According to an exclusive published in the Miami Herald, Abess took $60 million of his personal fortune and distributed it to over 400 current and former employees of the bank.
For some employees who had given their life to the bank, that amounted to tens of thousands of dollars. All employees were recognized and compensated, from janitors, to clerks, to tellers.
”Those people who joined me and stayed with me at the bank with no promise of equity — I always thought someday I’m going to surprise them,” Abess told the Miami Herald. “I sure as heck don’t need [the money].”
Last November, Abess sold a majority stake in the bank to Caja Madrid for $927 million. He held onto his CEO position while maintaining a minority share. While most people would assume his father who founded City National, merely handed down a cash cow, it wasn’t the case at all.
Abess Jr. took a bankrupt establishment worth only $21 million at one point and convinced about 200 investors to put their faith into it. He was then able to grow the bank from $400 million in assets to over $2.75 billion while more than doubling the offices.
Abess never seemed to let his status give him an ego. He told the paper, “”I saw that if the president doesn’t come to work, it’s not a big deal. But if the tellers don’t show up, it’s a serious problem.’
Let’s hope other billionaire banking execs are as modest and as appreciative.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
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Reuters – Hedge fund manager Jim Chanos, who makes money betting that companies’ stock prices will fall, said financial stocks have probably seen the worst and his fund has fewer short positions now than it did in the past.
"We have probably seen the worst in the financials," Chanos said on cable television channel CNBC. He also said that he has fewer short positions on financials now than he has had in the past, largely because much of the bad news is known about financial sector stocks.
Instead, Chanos, whose roughly $5 billion hedge fund Kynikos Associates often has between 40 and 60 short positions, said he is concentrating more on shorting some companies involved in the commodities area. "We would short companies that might depend on cement prices or steel prices going up," Chanos said, declining to reveal the companies he has shorted.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – New York’s top 100 hedge funds are in trouble and can’t seem to get out of the red, according to performance reports obtained by the New York Post.
Prominent hedge funds are still trying to recover from the credit crunch and unless they see a turnaround soon, 2008 could be the first year that hedge funds as a whole lose money since 2000.
Big time fund Appaloosa, who manages about $4 billion, is down almost 18 percent this year, compared to returns of 8 percent and almost 25 percent in ‘07 and ‘06 respectively.
Cantillion Capital Management, another monster fund that has $2 billion tied up, is closing in on 20 percent when it comes to losses this year. And the $10 billion Tontine Associates isn’t faring so well either. The fund is down 17 percent after an amazing 2007 where it posted returns of 40 percent. QVT Financial was another fund that saw 40 percent returns in ’07, only to be down over 6 percent this year.
It’s not all bad news, however. Some fund managers are just destined for success. John Paulson’s fund, Paulson Advantage is up over 18 percent this year after a record breaking 2007. Phillip Falcone of Harbinger Capital is riding high with returns of over 40 percent so far.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds! Be sure to check out our sister sites. For more information, visit www.hedgeconetworks.com
