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.
New York (HedgeCo.net) – $703 billion global asset management firm, Legg Mason, announced today that an outstanding shareholder, hedge fund manager Nelson Peltz, will be elected to the Company’s Board of Directors,
Peltz is Chief Executive Officer and a founding partner of hedge fund Trian Fund Management, L.P., which owns 6,946,756 shares, or approximately 4.3% of Legg Mason’s outstanding common stock.
“Over the past several months, my colleagues and I have been engaged in constructive dialogue with Mark Fetting and other members of the Legg Mason management team.” Peltz commented, “We share their view that Legg Mason’s recent strategic initiatives are improving the Company’s operating performance and I look forward to contributing as a Board member and working with the management team and the Board to help this great company achieve its full potential.”
The addition of Peltz to the Board reflects an agreement between Legg Mason and Trian Fund Management, L.P., certain funds managed by it and certain of its affiliates. In addition, pursuant to the agreement, Trian Partners has agreed to vote its shares in favor of Legg Mason’s director nominees as provided in the agreement and made certain other commitments.
Bloomberg – Gennaro Pucci, formerly head of trading at credit manager Credaris, has started a $100 million hedge fund that will trade mostly European corporate debt, credit derivatives and asset-backed securities.
Christian Evans and Rachel Barnard, both formerly at UBS AG, will help manage the Matrix-PVE Global Credit Fund from London as a joint-venture with Matrix Group Ltd., Pucci said in a telephone interview. The fund will use Matrix infrastructure, operations, compliance and sales.
Rival hedge fund managers have also been raising capital to trade European debt on expectations the region’s recovery from its worst recession since World War II will create opportunities to make money. Pucci left Credaris, a London-based credit specialist asset management firm that manages more than $1 billion in credit and derivatives, in April.
Reuters – Hedge fund industry veteran Philip Duff is setting his sights on acquiring an asset management firm at a time he says big corporations are ready to leave the management of their pension funds to someone else.
Duff made his name at legendary hedge fund Tiger Management, as a chief financial officer at Morgan Stanley and the co-founder of FrontPoint Partners, a $5.5 billion hedge fund manager that Duff sold to Morgan Stanley in 2006 as part of the bank’s alternative investments push.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – BlackRock, Inc. announced the purchase agreement to acquire Barclays Global Investors, including its market-leading ETF platform, iShares, from Barclays PLC.
“We are incredibly excited about the potential to significantly expand the scale and scope of our work with investors throughout the world. The combination of active and passive investment products will be unsurpassed, and will enhance our ability to offer comprehensive solutions and tailored portfolios to institutional and retail clients,” said Laurence D. Fink, BlackRock Chairman and CEO. “People are at the heart of successful firms, and the depth of talent in BlackRock Global Investors will be tremendous. The thought leadership and intellectual capital of the combined firm ensure we will remain at the forefront of addressing key investment issues and trends that have emerged over the past decade and are now accelerating dramatically, including globalization of capital markets, a greater focus on asset allocation, multi-asset class solutions, fiduciary management, risk management and advisory services.”
The combination of BlackRock and BGI would bring together market leaders in active and index strategies to create the preeminent asset management firm operating under the name BlackRock Global Investors. The transaction would create an independent and fully integrated asset management firm with combined assets under management of over $2.7 trillion.
The firm’s products will include equities, fixed income, cash management and alternatives, and will offer clients diversified access to global markets through separate accounts, common trust funds, mutual funds, ETFs, hedge funds, and closed-end funds.
BlackRock has received commitments from a group of institutional investors to purchase 19.9 million shares at the closing of the transaction for a total of $2.8 billion.
Alex Akesson
Edtior for HedgeCo.Net Email: alex@hedgeco.net
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – FSA regulated specialist asset management firm, Silk Invest Ltd, has hired John Bates, former Head of Credit Research Africa at investment bank Renaissance Capital, to spearhead its move into Frontier Fixed Income, an emergent hedge fund asset class.
“We will offer a liquid Frontier Market Fixed Income product, " Zin Bekkali, CEO of Silk Invest, said "Although largely focused on Sovereigns, there will be a corporate element that will represent up to 20% of the portfolio.”
Daniel Broby, Chief Investment Officer says he is “delighted John is coming on board, having seen the quality of his work whilst we were together at Renaissance. He is truly one of the few people who not only know the universe inside out but he is also of the few able to capitalise on that knowledge to obtain equity like returns in the frontier fixed income space.”
Prior to his work at the Renaissance Capital hedge fund, he was senior Emerging Market Credit Analyst at ABN Amro in London and West LB. John has a ‘BA Hons’ from University College London.
“John is yet another high level hire that is in line with our policy of recruiting the best skillset in African and Arab markets,” Dr Heinz Hockmann, the Chairman of Silk Invest, said.
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KPR Capital Limited announces the launch of the KPR Diamond Fund. The fund offers investors a unique access to physical diamonds capitalising on the price appreciation of top quality colourless diamonds.
The Fund aims to provide returns which are not correlated with traditional asset classes, act as a hedge against inflation and benefit from the supply/demand imbalance over the long term. The fund is part of KPR Fund SPC, a Cayman Islands open-ended investment company.
The investment manager has engaged a team of diamond industry experts that have in-depth knowledge and industry insight of the diamond market.
The fund’s investment adviser is Goldwinds Asset Management Limited, a London based asset management firm.
Giovanni Pennetta, CEO of Goldwinds Asset Management, said:
“The long term outlook for diamonds is robust. We are confident that this fund will provide the means for investors to diversify their portfolio and gain exposure to physical diamonds in a cost-efficient way. We see this as a huge investment opportunity that investors should not miss.”
The fund is open to investors in February and will launch on the 2nd March 2009. The fund has a minimum investment of US$ 250,000. Investors in the fund may benefit from the option to purchase stones on selected diamond sales by the fund at a wholesale price. The Diamond Segregated Portfolio may be offered, sold or transferred directly or indirectly to Non US Taxpayers and US Tax-exempt investors. US Taxpayers may invest in interest of the Partnership, KPR Diamond Fund L.P.
Bloomberg – 21st Century Asset Management Co., run by former Nomura Asset Management Co. executive Takanori Shimizu, said it may seek growth through takeovers after the worst year on record for hedge funds.
Shimizu, 63, said he will also cut costs as the Tokyo-based firm strives to boost assets under management to 40 billion yen ($440 million) by the end of March 2010, from 14 billion yen as at Dec. 31, 2008.
“We are carefully considering possible cost cuts just like any other firm,” Shimizu said in an interview yesterday. “Acquiring another asset management firm to boost our assets may be a good strategy and we’re always on the lookout.”
The global credit crisis forced as many as 920 hedge funds out of business last year while the tally of job losses at financial firms worldwide reached 269,000. Last week, Rheos Capital Works Inc., a Tokyo-based hedge fund, said it would sell a majority stake to IS Holdings Inc. to weather the slowdown.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) - Specialist asset management firm, Silk Invest Ltd, has acquired Danfonds Frontier Fund SPC., a Cayman based hedge fund, in an all equity deal, Silk Invest also bought majority share in Danfonds Frontier Fund SPC, which will be renamed Silk Invest Frontier Fund SPC, Danfonds Investment Management (Cayman) Limited will be renamed Silk Invest (Cayman) Limited.
The new team will launch two Luxembourg UCITS funds, African Lions and Arab Falcons, in the first quarter of 2009. The Silk Invest Frontier Fund SPC will be relaunched in the second quarter of 2009 after finalizing the new offering memorandum and the various counterparty agreements.
Zin Bekkali, CEO of Silk Invest, comments that “the deal is a uniquely structured combination of talents that complements our new African and Middle Eastern fund platform.” Following the transaction, Daniel Broby, CEO of Danfonds, will become the Chief Investment Officer of Silk Invest.
Daniel Broby says that the deal “is perfectly timed from an investor perspective. There is now immense opportunity in frontier markets as a resultof the dramatic declines caused by the credit crisis; to which these economies are partially immune.”
Dr Heinz Hockmann, the Chairman of Silk Invest, notes that “The synergies between the Silk African Lions Fund, the Silk Arab Falcons Fund and the Danfonds Frontier Fund were immediately obvious. Our aim was always to become the most credible frontier markets specialist. With this deal we can demonstrate to our investors, more than ever, that we have an unrivalled frontier markets team, managing a unique investment offering across different asset classes.”
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net)- Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business is using a hedge fund, GlobeOp Financial Services, in a business model case study developed for classroom.
The case study, ‘GlobeOp: Enabling Hedge Funds, 2000-2003,’ emphasizes how vital a robust operational and technology infrastructure is in a constantly evolving and highly competitive market.
“GlobeOp exemplifies the strategic value of cutting-edge technology in an entrepreneurial, global organization." Professor Glenn R. Carroll, who led the study, said, "This is exactly the kind of new firm that our students want to learn about and will work in. We are gratified that they opened their doors to us."
“We are honored to be the focus of this study, which we hope will provide students with useful insight into the vision, team commitment and plain hard work it takes to establish a business for growth and long-term success." Hans Hufschmid, CEO of GlobeOp said.
The initial case study documents how GlobeOp identified and targeted an opportunity and then defended its market position by effectively managing growth and stabilizing the organization. It includes GlobeOp’s strategic decision to establish a significant presence in India to optimize scalability and time zones, and subsequently provide its global client base with comprehensive 24/5 service. The study also discusses GlobeOp’s responses to market opportunities, client demands and resourcing challenges, which paralleled financial technology innovations and the expansion of its client base from hedge funds to funds of hedge funds.
The second part of the Stanford case study, documenting GlobeOp’s history from 2003 to the present, is in development. GlobeOp grew from a small core team of 20 people to a business employing more than 400 people serving 82 hedge fund clients representing more than $26 billion in assets under management (AuM). Today GlobeOp employs 1,700 people worldwide and serves more than 155 clients representing $102 billion AuM.
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