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.
guardian.co.uk – Investment companies and private equity firms suspect that they have been caught up in a directive whose real aim was hedge funds largely because it is so difficult to define hedge funds.
The Group of 20 leading world economies agreed in April that hedge funds above a certain size should be subject to authorisation and required to report data to supervisors as part of a broader extension of financial regulation in response to the global financial crisis.
But hedge fund managers believe the EU directive is so unclear and badly drafted that it would be dangerous to stick around to find out exactly what it means. The most worrying aspect of the directive is that it would allow regulators to limit the amount of leverage assumed by hedge funds.
Proactive Investors UK – Shares in Et-china.com International Holdings LTD (AIM: ETC) got an enormous boost today from news that Kuoni Travel Holding Ltd has bought the 31.8 percent stake in the company that was held by hedge fund Gandhara Master Fund Ltd. Financiasl details were not disclosed
At mid-morning, Et-China was trading up nearly 65 percent from yesterday’s closing level.
In a statement, the group said it considers the acquisition of Gandhara’s shares to be in Et-China’s best interests given the expected synergistic benefits and the global expertise of Kuoni.
Reuters Blogs – Finding the right partner can be difficult, which is why matchmaking can be helpful.
That’s precisely what recruitment firm Alpha Search Advisory Partners is attempting to do with its Hedge Fund Consolidation practice, launched today.
The unit, which aims to provide “confidentiality” and which boasts of its “extensive network of potential partners”, will work on behalf of hedge funds “seeking strategic partnerships with other top investment managers” with the aim of cutting costs, creating economies of scale and combining assets under management.
Your Industry News – Falkland Oil and Gas Ltd (FOGL.L: Quote) said it conditionally raised about 7.6 million pounds ($11.8 million) to help fund capital expenditure on long-lead drilling equipment, and general and administrative costs through 2010 into 2011.
The AIM-listed oil and gas explorer said it issued about 10.4 million new shares to certain directors and institutional investors at 73 pence apiece, representing a 19 percent discount to the shares’ closing price of 90 cents on Tuesday.
Falkland Oil said it placed 1 million of the placing shares with one of its founding shareholders, RAB Special Situations (Master) Fund Ltd, managed by hedge fund manager RAB Capital Plc (RAB.L: Quote).
Reuters – Integrated Asset Management said on Wednesday it is repositioning as a pure play brokerage business after agreeing to sell a 51 percent stake in its French fund of hedge funds business.
The firm, listed on London’s AIM market, is selling the stake in Altigefi to Sal. Oppenheim in a deal which will also see the private banking group exit as Integrated’s major shareholder.
The move is evidence of smaller asset management players being forced to reexamine their business models as the financial crisis changes the market place. A spokesman said Integrated’s decision to concentrate on brokerage came because it had become more and more difficult to achieve the scale thought necessary to successfully run a fund of funds business.
Reuters – Integrated Asset Management said on Wednesday it is repositioning as a pure play brokerage business after agreeing to sell a 51 percent stake in its French fund of hedge funds business.
The firm, listed on London’s AIM market, is selling the stake in Altigefi to Sal. Oppenheim in a deal which will also see the private banking group exit as Integrated’s major shareholder.
The move is evidence of smaller asset management players being forced to reexamine their business models as the financial crisis changes the market place. A spokesman said Integrated’s decision to concentrate on brokerage came because it had become more and more difficult to achieve the scale thought necessary to successfully run a fund of funds business.
AllAfrica.com – The Financial Services Board (FSB) has begun work on legislation to control hedge funds, which played a critical role in the global economic meltdown.
FSB CEO Dube Tshidi said yesterday the aim with the legislation, a first for SA, was to limit risk and achieve greater transparency. A dedicated team was working quite fast on the project which could be finished next year.
Hedge fund managers are required only to be registered and meet certain conditions such as to be fit and proper persons, but Tshidi said it was necessary to regulate the funds themselves.
Seattle Times – With their investment records in tatters, some mutual-fund companies are pinning their hopes on products with an old-fashioned ambition: delivering steady returns.
Many of these funds are doing just that, while others are falling short of the mark.
Putnam Investments recently introduced four "absolute return" funds that use such strategies as buying foreign securities or bonds to smooth out their performance and aim to earn investors 1 to 7 percent a year above inflation.
Times Online – RAB Capital has agreed to sell Northwest, its loss-making Asia-focused investment business, back to its founding principals for only £1 million in the latest sign of retrenchment by the AIM-listed London hedge fund manager.
RAB, which originally paid more than £20 million for the business, said today that it would sell Northwest’s three funds to George Philips and David Rogers, who set up the business in 1998.
Mr Philips and Mr Rogers will take assets of about $300 million and a team of about 12 people with them. Northwest generated pre-tax profits of about £9 million in 2007 but is expected to be loss-making for last year.
Reuters India – KSK Emerging India Energy Fund had raised £100 million from AIM last year to invest in Indian energy companies.
Global recession has claimed a victim in India. KSK Emerging India Energy Fund (KEF), a £100 million fund listed in London’s Alternative Investment Market, has been wound up after the shareholders passed a resolution last week demanding the same.
The shareholders – which include large hedge funds – passed a resolution on January 22 asking for the liquidation of the company and the return of funds invested by them. The delisting of the company and liquidation has come into effect from January 23. The EGM was held in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands.
CNBC – A Goldman Sachs hedge fund that launched in January with over $6 billion under management lost close to $1 billion by September, according to the Financial Times.
The fund, known as Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, has told investors it lost $989 million by September, the newspaper said on Monday.
Most of the fund’s losses stemmed from investments in commodities, basic materials, metals, mining, energy and agriculture, the FT said.
Losses from investments in convertible bonds — debt instruments that can convert into equity — also contributed to poor returns, the newspaper said.
