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 Times Blogs – Selling a controlling stake in Phibro won’t cut it for Citigroup, Breakingviews writes.
Sure, it would probably quell some of the uproar around the flashpoint that put Citi’s full ownership of Phibro, a commodities trading unit, under public scrutiny: the $100 million bonus due to Phibro’s boss, Andrew J. Hall, this year. But the debate has since moved on to whether such a venture belongs in Citi’s portfolio of businesses at all. That is hard for the bank to justify.
Times Online – The Financial Services Authority is facing a multimillion-pound compensation claim from a group of investors who say that the City watchdog failed to stop the activities of a suspected rogue trader.
Former clients of GFX Capital Markets, which has collapsed with estimated losses of £44 million, say that the FSA knew of serious concerns about its boss, Terry Freeman, but allowed him to continue trading.
The accusation comes as the regulator is struggling to cope with the most serious loss of public confidence in its decade-long history. It was accused of being negligent in its monitoring of Northern Rock, the mortgage lender that was nationalised last year, and the regulator’s chairman, Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, has been forced to draw up radical plans to improve its ability to police the City.
Bloomberg – Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest producer of the crop nutrient, were added to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s list of the most popular stocks among hedge fund managers.
The addition of the companies to the so-called VIP list, which includes the 50 stocks that are the most common holdings in hedge fund portfolios, is a sign of “strong interest in non- U.S. markets by U.S.-based hedge funds,” strategist David Kostin wrote in note to clients.
The VIP has outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index during the past 12 months, falling 6 percent as the S&P 500 lost 9.2 percent. It is the first time Petrobras, as the Brazil company is known, or Potash Corp. appeared in the index.
Petrobras’ American depositary receipts rose to an all-time high in May, spurred by record oil prices and investor interest in the offshore Tupi oil field, which the company said in November may hold 8 billion barrels of crude.
Reuters UK – Funds of hedge fund portfolios are battening down the hatches in the current volatile markets by building up cash or steering clear of strategies with too much exposure to market movements.
With returns in the hedge fund industry hard to come by as the credit crisis continues to hit markets, managers who hold portfolios of hedge funds have become wary of strategies that could be caught out by another sharp downturn.
"These are the toughest conditions I’ve seen in 16 years," said Ken Kinsey-Quick, fund of hedge funds manager at Thames River Capital, who expects billions of dollars more of asset sales by banks.
"We’re expecting a big leg down in all financial assets … We do think in the short-term we don’t want much beta." Beta means exposure to overall market movements.
Reuters – Funds of hedge fund portfolios are battening down the hatches in the current volatile markets by building up cash or steering clear of strategies with too much exposure to market movements.
With returns in the hedge fund industry hard to come by as the credit crisis continues to hit markets, managers who hold portfolios of hedge funds have become wary of strategies that could be caught out by another sharp downturn.
"These are the toughest conditions I’ve seen in 16 years," said Ken Kinsey-Quick, fund of hedge funds manager at Thames River Capital, who expects billions of dollars more of asset sales by banks.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.Net) New York-based Fairfield Greenwich Group ("FGG"), a $16.6 billion global hedge fund and fund of hedge funds management firm has formed a cooperative venture with Sceptre Investment Counsel Limited, one of Canada’s leading independent money management firms.
The venture sees two of the oldest, most established, and most accomplished management firms in their respective markets forming a mutually supportive relationship to provide Sceptre’s clients access to the best-of-breed alternative asset products on FGG’s global platform.
"Sceptre has many strong relationships in the Canadian investment community, and our clients have long trusted us to manage their pooled funds, mutual funds, and other investments. FGG manages some of the industry’s finest funds of hedge funds and other alternative asset products." Richard L. Knowles, Sceptre’s President and CEO said, "We believe that Sceptre’s clients will understand the great value that FGG brings to the table, and that they will have considerable interest in the outstanding hedged products to which they may now gain access through this new relationship."
"We are excited to be working with Sceptre in Canada. For more than 25 years, FGG’s expertise in manager selection, due diligence, and risk management has benefited our investors." David B. Horn, Partner and Chief Global Strategist of FGG commented, "We have great confidence that Sceptre’s extensive network of investors will appreciate the quality and diversity of FGG’s platform of products, and the institutional investment and risk management with which we support it."
Sceptre manages client assets of $9.5 billion, utilizing a broadly diversified investment approach. Originally founded as an institutional fund manager, Sceptre has broadened its expertise to include both retail and private client portfolio management. Sceptre manages segregated and pooled fund portfolios for pension and other savings plans of corporations, government sponsored funds, universities, unions, charitable foundations, endowments and reserve funds of insurance companies.
