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.
EPFR – Moneycontrol.com – Brad Durham, Managing Director of EPFR said there could be some acceleration in outflows from hedge funds. He added that India funds saw USD 24 million of inflows and that recently, outflows from some EMs (emerging markets) have tamed.
He said there has been slowdown in the pace of outflows from long-only funds and that selling momentum in some EM funds has slowed down.
Reuters UK – Hedge funds are likely to increase short exposure to retail stocks following a ban on short selling financial shares imposed by UK and U.S. regulators, industry insiders said on Friday.
Equity long/short and market neutral hedge funds will be among those most affected by the ban as short selling — betting the price of a share will fall — is a key component of their investment strategies.
Shorting financial stocks has been a popular trade among hedge funds this year, but now they will be forced to switch their attention to other sectors.
John Godden, of hedge fund consultant IGS Group, said: "Commodity and infrastructure providers are continuing to be strong and showing signs of growth going forward. Some service industries are likely to be pretty heavily hit by a slowdown so from a market neutral perspective, there’s your long and short sectors."
Wealth Bulletin – Geneva-based Union Bancaire Privée emerged as the largest fund of hedge funds provider, replacing UBS Global Asset Management at the top, with $56.8bn, according to the InvestHedge Billion Dollar Club.
Funds of hedge funds showed the first signs of an asset slowdown in the first half of this year, but still managed a net inflow of nearly $50bn despite turbulent markets and lacklustre returns, according to a FINalternatives report.
As per the latest survey of the InvestHedge Billion Dollar Club, funds of funds recorded an average negative return of 1.25% for the first six months of the year, and grew their overall assets by only about 4.5%, compared to 17% during the corresponding period last year.
Seeking Alpha – If you happen to be in need of Vaseline and find that your local pharmacy is sold out, never fear. Chances are, the entire stock has been purchased by your friendly neighbourhood hedge fund manager. If you ask nicely, perhaps he’ll let you borrow a tub or two.
One of the signal trends of the past month or so has been the sharp decline in the oil price. Part of this is likely attributable to the China/global growth slowdown theme that Macro Man has highlighted recently, and part of it is likely a result of some sort of dollar strength feedback loop, which itself is at least partially attributable to a softening of the ECB’s rhetoric.
On the face of it, it would appear that the hedge fund world has dodged a bullet in oil. After all, the CFTC data has shown net speculative positioning to be fairly light over the past month or two, and even slightly negative for the last few weeks.
Reuters UK- The tumble in the price of oil over the past few weeks may have been exacerbated by hedge funds deciding that it was just too expensive, particularly in relation to gold.
While much of the fall has been put down to an assumption that demand will fall with the slowdown in leading economies, hedge fund specialists say there are also less fundamental reasons behind the move.
FINalternatives- Global hedge fund assets under management increased 30% in 2007 to a record $2.25 trillion, according to a new International Financial Services report.
Most of this growth was in the first three quarters, as market turbulence in the latter part of the year resulted in a slowdown in inflow of new funds and a decline in average returns.
New York remained the leading global location for hedge fund managers, with 40% of global assets, but its share was down from 50% in 2002 as growth of the hedge fund industry in Europe and Asia outpaced growth in the U.S. This was largely a result of a rise in institutional portfolio allocation into hedge funds in these regions during this period.
Financial Times – Hedge funds have more than $2,900bn under management, according to a survey of valuers of their assets, sharply up on last year in spite of the credit crunch and a series of high-profile problems in the industry.
The survey of assets under administration by Hedge Fund Manager Week, a trade magazine, showed the total had jumped 20 per cent in the past year and continued to climb over the past six months even as the credit squeeze intensified.
The scale of the growth – up by $230bn in the six months to April – suggests concerns about hedge fund losses and a slowdown in flows of new money into the industry may be overstated.
However, the rate of growth is slowing, with the 9 per cent rise in the most recent six months well below the 17 per cent growth in the magazine’s last survey.
Hedge fund administrators act as independent valuers of hedge fund assets, giving investors updates and providing regulatory, legal and accounting services.
They are used by almost all European hedge funds and an increasing number of US funds, who are under pressure from investors to provide independent valuations.
Valuation practices are being closely scrutinised by regulators, with hedge funds in the UK and US setting up codes of best practice this year, with a focus on how to deal with hard-to-value assets such as private equity or structured credit.
