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.
Bloomberg – Paul Tudor Jones, the billionaire hedge-fund manager who outperformed peers last year, is wagering that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley got it wrong in declaring the start of an economic recovery.
Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp., Clarium Capital Management LLC and Horseman Capital Management Ltd. are taking a bearish stand as U.S. stock and bond prices rise, saying that record government spending may be forestalling another slowdown and market selloff. The firms oversee a combined $15 billion in so- called macro funds, which seek to profit from economic trends by trading stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities.
Bloomberg – A Biovail Corp. lawsuit against SAC Capital Management LLC was thrown out by a New Jersey judge for failing to state a claim.
Biovail accused hedge funds including SAC and Sigma Capital Management of conspiring in a short-selling scheme to drive down the drugmaker’s share price. The Mississauga, Ontario-based company also claimed Gradient Analytics Inc. helped the hedge funds by writing false reports about Biovail.
“Biovail fails to elicit any specific damages, and instead relies upon a general diminution theory,” New Jersey Superior Court Judge Donald Goldman wrote in a 51-page ruling released today. “Biovail’s claims must be dismissed.”
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Hedge fund manager Headline Capital Management LLC, is spearheading a series of capital introduction events showcasing the largest gathering of hedge fund managers from the Charlotte region. Aegis Funds Management, Afton Capital Management, Blackhawk Capital Management, Charlotte Global Advisors, Gorelick Brothers Capital, Keane Capital Management plus other hedge funds in the Charlotte region are also participating.
As the nation’s second largest banking center, Charlotte is also an attractive haven for hedge funds. Some of the nation’s most talented investment professionals relocated here to work for Bank of America and Wachovia, now a wholly-owned subsidiary and east coast headquarters for Wells Fargo. Many of these former bankers and traders stayed here to start their own hedge funds, especially after merger-related layoffs.
What is truly unique about the Charlotte Hedge Fund Forum is that in a highly competitive market, 7+ hedge fund managers from the same city have the foresight to jointly promoting a series of capital introduction events. “We’re still competitors. By working together, however, we can leverage our marketing dollars to attract more investors than we could alone,” says Mark McClanahan, the marketing director at Headline Capital Management.
The Charlotte Hedge Fund Forum provides more value than the traditional cap intro event by showcasing several hedge fund managers from the same city. The Charlotte showcase is more efficient for institutional investors with tight travel budgets who want to meet several managers at the same time. Wealthy families and high net worth individuals who are more comfortable investing in managers located closer to home, especially in this post-Madoff era, will also benefit from this Charlotte showcase. The real payoff is after the event when the investor needs to visit each hedge fund’s office for due diligence. Investors who attend the Charlotte Hedge Fund Forum will save time and money following up with several Charlotte-based managers during one trip.
The Charlotte Hedge Fund Forum is scheduled for September 23, 2009 at the historic Duke Mansion where tobacco baron James B. Duke founded The Duke Endowment. Mark Yusko, President and CIO of Morgan Creek Capital of Chapel Hill, North Carolina will deliver the Keynote Speech on “Alternative Thinking for Investments” during a complimentary luncheon. Afterwards, each hedge fund manager will deliver a formal 10-12 minute podium presentation and then meet with investors during a series of 30-minute, informal “meet the manager” roundtable discussions.
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HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Hedge fund manager Bandon Capital Management, LLC, has made it’s flagship investment strategy, DIRS – Directional Interest Rate Strategy – available to investment advisors through Adhesion’s WealthADV UMA platform.
The flagship strategy, celebrating it’s 5th year anniversary at the end of this month, seeks to provide investors with absolute returns, uncorrelated with the equity and fixed income markets by investing in the US Treasury Market using ETF’s or mutual funds and is available to non-accredited investors.
Bandon is focused on delivering the attractive investment characteristics of alternative investing – absolute returns with low correlations – to the mass affluent and small institutional investors while minimizing or eliminating many of the structural negatives including high minimums, high fees, long lock ups and lack of liquidity and transparency.
”Every day we hear from advisors sharing the frustration of their clients, whose account balances have been decimated and are not yet reflecting the economic recovery they keep hearing about.” Bill Woodruff, Founder and Managing Principal, said, ”Increasingly, advisors are recognizing the benefit of allocating a portion of their portfolio to absolute return strategies – just like large institutional and ultra HNW investors – and are knocking on our door. We could not be more pleased with the opportunity to be included on the Adhesion platform which has many benefits including an open custody approach that enables advisors and their clients to access Bandon’s strategies through Schwab Institutional, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade and Pershing”.
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Stamford Advocate – With a new regulatory regime hanging over the industry’s head and a field of shellshocked investors looking for safety, it may seem that hedge fund managers are poised to make a rush into the mutual fund arena.
But there’s a disagreement over how many hedge fund managers will follow AQR Capital Management LLC of Greenwich and others into mutual funds.
Ben Alpert, a hedge fund analyst at Morningstar Inc., said he expects the move will be significant. But David Kabiller, founding principal and head of client strategies for AQR Capital Management, said he wouldn’t bet it will be very big.
Greenwich Time – With a new regulatory regime hanging over the industry’s head and a field of shellshocked investors looking for safety, it may seem that hedge fund managers are poised to make a rush into the mutual fund arena.
But there’s a disagreement over how many hedge fund managers will follow AQR Capital Management LLC of Greenwich and others into mutual funds.
Ben Alpert, a hedge fund analyst at Morningstar Inc., said he expects the move will be significant. But David Kabiller, founding principal and head of client strategies for AQR Capital Management, said he wouldn’t bet it will be very big.
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Alternative investment management company, Bandon Capital Management, LLC, has hired J. Michael Miller as Managing Director responsible for the development and management of the financial intermediary market.
Miller has over 25 years of experience in building, leading and managing intermediary distribution organizations and has held senior level positions with multiple national firms including Federated Investors Inc., Weiss, Peck & Greer, LLC, mPower/Morningstar and most recently was Managing Director for Concord Wealth Management.
Bandon is focused on delivering the attractive investment characteristics of alternative investing – absolute returns with low correlations – to a wider audience while minimizing or eliminating many of the structural negatives including high minimums, high fees, long lock ups and lack of liquidity and transparency.
Bill Woodruff, Founder and Managing Principal, said “We are delighted to have someone with Mike’s experience and track record joining the firm. We look forward to further expanding our relationships with the financial intermediary community and providing access to non-correlated, absolute return oriented strategies to a market starving for quality solutions”.
Bandon’s flagship strategy DIRS – Directional Interest Rate Strategy – is quickly approaching its 5 year anniversary with historical average net ROR of +7.23% per year, annualized standard deviation of 6.56%, and very low correlation with the major equity indices, as evidenced by a correlation of -.08 to the S&P 500 and -.05 to the Barclays Aggregate from August of 2004 through June 30th of 2009.
Bandon’s strategies are offered in multiple structures with DIRS, the flagship strategy, currently offered as a separately managed account that can be held at most major custodians. A separately managed account is an increasingly attractive structure in light of the recent hedge fund abuses associated with private pooled vehicles.
Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.net alex@hedgeco.net
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds!
CNN Money – AQR Capital Management LLC, among the world’s largest hedge fund managers, will introduce another hedge fund-style mutual fund next month, as it expands its reach beyond the biggest investors.
Greenwich, Connecticut-based AQR, a $20 billion firm led by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc star Cliff Asness, led a new wave of hedge funds marketing to the masses when it launched the AQR Diversified Arbitrage Fund in January.
"We, in about two weeks, expect to introduce a whole new series of style exposures for retail investors," AQR co-founder David Kabiller told Reuters in a rare interview.
Bloomberg – Flowering Tree Investment Management Pte, set up by the co-founder of New York-based Sansar Capital Management LLC, plans to grow its Asian equities hedge fund by about 20 times its starting capital within the next two years.
The Singapore-based fund made its first bets on rising and falling stocks in Asia outside Japan last month, starting with $12.5 million sourced from founding members, family and friends, founder Rajesh Sachdeva, 40, said in an interview yesterday. It will grow to $15 million to $16 million by July, and plans to reach $200 million to $300 million in two years.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Intellectual Property Asset Manager, Quest Patent Research Corporation, (QPRC) has entered into an exclusive capital management agreement with a newly formed Delaware limited liability company, PSI Capital Management, LLC. (PSI) to launch a new patent asset hedge fund, Patent Strategies I Fund, LP.
Domiciled in New York, with $250,000 as minimum investment, the fund has a 2% management fee, a 2 year lockup period and JP Morgan Chase as custodian. The launch comes with a new website.
Jon Scahill, QPRC President, and Joby A. Hughes, minority PSI owner, will serve as the Principals of PSI. Under the terms of the agreement, QPRC, through PSI, will be solely responsible for researching, selecting and monitoring investments and deciding on when and how much to invest or withdraw from a particular investment. The new fund has an investment strategy of acquiring interests in patent assets and generating revenues from licensing activities relating to patent assets.
"QPRC’s management provides a unique resource for taking on intellectual property assets at any stage in their development." Hughes said, "As a market leader in the development of early stage intellectual property, QPRC is already in a position to manage and commercialize those types of assets. PSI provides QPRC additional financial resources to develop a wider array of assets to their fullest potential. It is exciting and an honor to be included in this next phase for QPRC.”
“Collaboration on this initiative with an individual of such caliber and performance as Hughes is a tremendous value." Scahill said, "This new partnership will further our ability to provide shareholders participation in a dynamic asset class, uncorrelated to the broader market.”
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St. George Daily Spectrum – According to the Center for Responsive Politics, hedge funds and private equity firms donated $2,992,456 to the Obama campaign in the 2008 cycle. Obama, vocal critic of the campaign finance practice known as "bundling," accepted more than $200,000 in bundled contributions from billionaire hedge-fund manager James Torrey, more than $100,000 in bundled contributions from billionaire hedge-fund manager Paul Tudor Jones and more than $50,000 in bundled contributions from billionaire hedge-fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin, chief executive officer of Citadel Investment Group in Chicago.
In an extraordinarily candid open letter to Obama, hedge-fund manager Cliff Asness defended his industry from the president’s "backwards and libelous" charges. "Managers have a fiduciary obligation to look after their clients’ money as best they can, not to support the president, nor to oppose him, nor otherwise advance their political views," Asness wrote. He has oversight of some $20 billion at AQR Capital Management, LLC, which is not involved in the Chrysler case.
Reuters – Prominent hedge fund manager Clifford Asness has struck back at the Obama administration, saying hedge funds had the right and responsibility to hold out on last week’s Chrysler LLC restructuring deal.
"Managers have a fiduciary obligation to look after their clients’ money as best they can, not to support the President, nor to oppose him, nor otherwise advance their political views," Asness, who oversees about $20 billion at AQR Capital Management, LLC wrote in an undated letter.
