Reuters – British hedge fund manager Man Group Plc said on Tuesday banks were more highly geared than hedge funds and bank deleveraging had been the main driver of asset-price declines.

"Hedge fund deleveraging has put pressure on asset prices as clients have redeemed. But the main point is banks are deleveraging and they are many times more leveraged than hedge funds," said Man Group Chief Executive Peter Clarke.

Speaking at the Hedge Funds World conference in Zurich, Clarke also said leverage across the hedge fund industry is now at around a third of leverage levels in 2007.

Read Complete Article

Tags: bank-stocks, capital-guaranteed-hedge-fund, collateralized, home-loans, investment-arm, investment-styles, june-14, new-homes, presidents, squeeze, unprecedented-boom

Emirates Business 24/7 – Cheap they may be, but not all cash-rich Gulf investors are up for buying distressed assets in the US.

Such a move historically was a good way to make a profit. A good fund manager can buy up distressed assets for pennies on the dollar and figure out ways to sell them down the road for nickels or dimes on the dollar.

It’s a reasonable business proposition, and there are a handful of cases where investors made big profits from buying distressed assets following bursting bubbles. But with a global meltdown on the horizon, not everyone is willing to take a risk.

Dubai Group, a financial conglomerate of Dubai Holding, for one is planning to launch a fund of funds in the first half of 2009 to invest in the US and European markets. The fund, according to Tom Volpe, its group chief executive would not buy distressed assets but rather focus on traditional asset management and private equities. "Are we going to buy distressed assets? The answer is, ‘No’," he told Emirates Business. 

Read Complete Article

Tags: bad-news, beta, capital-goods, capital-guaranteed-hedge-fund, medallion, regional-office, scion-capital, speculations, ty, women-and-minorities

trackback from your site.