West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) - Because of investors’ demand Salus Alpha decided to make the Salus Alpha Directional Market accessible as a fund. This way Salus Alpha continues to launch tracker funds for all hedge fund indices launched by Alternative-Index Ltd.
The Directional Markets Index (DMX) convinced investors this year with outstanding +53% YTD performance […]

The Independent - The financial fall-out in the vast, opaque credit default swaps market caused by the collapse of Lehman Brothers could be smaller than originally feared, analysts say.
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Globe and Mail - Daniel Gross, writing on Slate, makes an interesting point about the latest version of the U.S. government’s bailout plan: The plan, officially known as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, looks a lot like the prospectus for a hedge fund.
“In the past, hedge funds – secretive pools of capital – […]

Times Online - Every week at least one British hedge fund is considering winding up its funds as catastrophic investment performance puts the sector under unprecedented pressure, an industry expert said yesterday.
Andrew Shrimpton, the former head of hedge fund regulation at the Financial Services Authority who now runs Kinetic, a consultancy, said: […]

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 […]

Bloomberg - Dow Kim, the former head of trading and investment banking at Merrill Lynch & Co., dropped plans to start a hedge fund after investors backed out, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
Kim had been in discussions with institutions that had agreed to invest about $1 billion combined in his Diamond […]

Telegraph.co.uk - BAA is in urgent talks with a hedge fund client of investment bank UBS that is threatening to scupper the airport operator’s proposed £7.65bn refinancing.
As today’s deadline for bondholders to vote through a crucial part of the deal nears, the hedge fund was last night still refusing to accept BAA’s terms for transferring […]

Reuters- Former Samsung Group chief Lee Kun-hee, one of South Korea’s most powerful businessmen, was handed a 3-year suspended jail sentence on Wednesday for tax evasion, but was cleared of other charges.
The court also fined Lee 110 billion won ($109 million), more than double the amount of […]

HONG KONG (Reuters)- As risk appetite for equities and property wanes, investors are willing to endure negative real returns for bonds from China, Singapore and Hong Kong because their economies are seen better equipped to tackle inflation.
Conventionally, bond yields have to be sufficient to compensate investors for their holdings as inflation erodes value over time, […]

Bloomberg- Hedge funds may be forced to sell bonds and asset-backed debt amid tighter lending standards and poor returns, the European Central Bank said in its six-monthly Financial Stability Review.
Volatile financial markets, investor redemptions and difficulties meeting margin calls have resulted in a “challenging period” for the $1.9 trillion industry and that will continue, the […]