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Bloomberg – Credit markets have fallen so far that they are providing a "once in a lifetime opportunity," and investors are still selling.
Prices of loans rated below investment grade declined to a record low 66.1 cents on the dollar, virtually guaranteeing investors get their money back, based on historical recovery rates, according to data compiled by Standard & Poor’s. Yields on corporate bonds show investors expect 5.6 percent of the market will go bust, the highest default rate since the Great Depression, according to Christopher Garman, chief executive officer of debt research firm Garman Research LLC in Orinda, California.
While central banks injected $3 trillion into the global economy, credit markets are tumbling because banks are clamping down on lending, forcing investors to unload assets they bought with borrowed money. The Federal Reserve said Aug. 11 that its quarterly survey shows most "domestic institutions reported having tightened their lending standards and terms."
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – The Securities and Exchange Commission charged San Francisco-based MedCap Management & Research LLC and its principal Charles Frederick Toney, Jr. with defrauding investors via “portfolio pumping.”
“Fund investors relied on MMR and Toney to abide by their fiduciary duties and put the fund’s interests ahead of their own,” said San Francisco Regional Director of the SEC Marc J. Fagel in a press release yesterday. “Instead, Toney engaged in trading activity which hid his poor performance.”
Engaging in “portfolio pumping” in this case meant that Toney invested heavily at the quarter’s end with a thinly-traded penny stock, which in turn quadrupled the stock price and allowed him to inflate his quarterly results to investors. By doing this, the fund was able to hide what would have been a 40 percent quarterly loss for MedCap.
Instead, the scheme helped the company up its reported value by $29 million thanks to Toney’s four day buying frenzy which pushed the price of the stock from $.85 to $3.72. The fund was then able to charge higher management and performance fees that were based on the inflated numbers.
While MMR did not confirm or deny the allegations, the company has agreed to settle out of court by paying $100,000 in penalties and giving back the amount received in inflated management fees totaling over $70,000. Toney has also agreed not to act as an investment advisor for the next year.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
Bloomberg- It’s Friday, March 14, and hedge fund adviser Tim Backshall is trying to stave off panic. Backshall sits in the Walnut Creek, California, office of his firm, Credit Derivatives Research LLC, at a U-shaped desk dominated by five computer monitors.
Bear Stearns Cos. shares have plunged 50 percent since trading began today, and his fund manager clients, some of whom have their cash and other accounts at Bear, worry that the bank is on the verge of bankruptcy. They’re unsure whether they should protect their assets by purchasing credit-default swaps, a type of insurance that’s supposed to pay them face value if Bear’s debt goes under.
