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.
Reuters – Massachusetts will remove $1.6 billion from hedge fund managers Blackstone, Crestline, EIM Management, and Strategic Investment Group as it shifts its investment strategy after suffering recent heavy losses.
Trustees for the roughly $40 billion fund voted on Tuesday to pull out of four firms that used portable alpha, a once popular technique employed by pension funds to beat markets that underperformed during the financial crisis.
“This is a strategic shift and not a dissatisfaction with the individual managers,” said the pension fund’s chief investment officer, Stanley Mavromates.
Bloomberg – K2 Asset Management Ltd., a listed Australian hedge-fund firm managing about $650 million in assets, is planning to start a global equities fund that seeks to profit as the worldwide stock market rally spreads to smaller companies.
The Melbourne-based firm aims to start the fund, its fourth equities-related offering, with A$5 million (A$4.5 million) to A$10 million by the end of the year, Chief Investment Officer Mark Newman said in an interview in Melbourne yesterday. The long-short fund will target annual returns of between 15 percent and 20 percent and aims to attract up to A$100 million by the end of its first year.
Guardian – RCM, Allianz’s equity fund management unit, is launching two new hedge fund products aimed at increasing its assets under management in the sector by more than 50 percent, its Chief Investment Officer said. Andreas Utermann told Reuters that RCM will launch, in the next few weeks, a new Luxembourg-domiciled cross-border UCITS equity fund, and will launch a new vehicle which invests across its existing long-short funds within the next two quarters.
He said RCM found that clients — including family offices and private wealth managers — were happier with a Luxembourg UCITS structure than with Cayman Islands-based funds.
New York (HedgeCo.net) – In a move that shows that product innovation is still alive and well, Silk Invest, an asset management firm regulated by the FSA, has just announced the launch of its new UCITS Luxembourg domiciled fund.
Focused on frontier markets, the new fund will be named The Silk Road Income Fund. Silk Invest also has previously launched equities hedge funds African Lions and Arab Falcons.
“The Silk Road markets are under-represented in investor’s portfolios. The timing of our launch is perfect for investors as it enables them to take advantage of the re-pricing of risk in these markets.”Daniel Broby, Chief Investment Officer of Silk Invest, said, “Recent history shows that the collective Silk Route countries have consistently grown GDP faster than developed economies.”
As part of the fund development, Silk Invest conducted a survey of fixed income securities across the target regions, covering over 4,100 bonds and $480bn in total debt volumes. From this list the firm was able to filter out the most lucrative and liquid target asset universe, using a combination of credit and market-oriented stress tests.
“We aim to manage 60-80 holdings across 25 countries in the fund and are currently showing portfolio yields of over 16.5% with duration of 3.4 years.” John Bates, Head of Fixed Income at Silk Invest, said.
Baldwin Berges, Director of Business Development at Silk Invest, noted “Despite tough market conditions, we are seeing strong investor appetite for fixed income in these frontier regions as investors seek reliable returns from a diversified pool of assets. With Daniel Broby’s longstanding investment management track record, John Bates’ experience as a credit analyst and Patrick Landi’s experience in origination, we have put together a formidable team of people, all with hands-on experience in frontier markets.”
Editing by Alex Akesson
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BP Capital Management’s second quarter SEC filing shows that the hedge fund manager is focusing solely on energy companies these days. While the firm’s founder and Chief Investment Officer T. Boone Pickens has been publically supporting clean energy technologies, his stock portfolio suggests that he is still a strong believer in dirty energy. After selling-out of its basic materials sector holdings, the fund now holds 100% of its portfolio in the energy sector, specifically oil and natural gas companies.
BP Capital’s top holding, offshore oil drilling and exploration company Transocean Inc, was trimmed over the quarter by 125,000 shares / $9.2mm.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Encouraged by a promising investment environment and accelerated investment pace, New York-based special opportunities fund, Atalaya Capital Management LP, today announced that it has expanded its team, adding three investment professionals and a marketing professional.
“Recent positive changes in our target investment markets have prompted Atalaya to bolster our professional platform in order to capitalize on market conditions and new opportunities,” said Ivan Q. Zinn, Founding Partner & Chief Investment Officer.
Josh Ufberg joined as a Principal from Goldman Sachs’ Special Situations Group, while Rana Mitra and Alex Wang have joined the team responsible for the sourcing and purchase of private credit assets as Senior Associate and Associate, respectively. Ashley Fochtman joined the Firm as a Vice President and will be working in a business development capacity. Previously, Ms. Fochtman worked in hedge fund marketing and at Goldman Sachs as an energy derivatives analyst.
Founded by Mr. Zinn in 2006, Atalaya focuses on the opportunistic purchase of senior secured credit from forced sellers, failed financial institutions and sellers in need of liquidity such as banks, commercial finance companies, and other financial and investment institutions.
About Atalaya Capital Management
Atalaya Capital Management is an alternative investment firm focused on investing in small and middle market credit opportunities. Since inception in early 2006, the Firm has successfully invested over $1 billion through (1) the opportunistic purchase of private, senior secured credit from forced sellers, failed financial institutions and sellers in need of liquidity, and (2) proprietary ‘new issue’ credit investments including DIP loans and other senior secured financings.
Bloomberg – A Dallas hedge-fund manager and entities he owns agreed to pay $788,016 to settle U.S. government claims they made more than $500,000 by shorting shares of companies while using inside information that issuers would conduct private placements.
Edwin Buchanan Lyon IV, 42, and his companies and funds agreed to disgorge $467,728, including interest, and pay a $310,288 fine to resolve the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Lyon is managing partner and chief investment officer of Gryphon Management Partners LP.
Bloomberg – John Hyland, chief investment officer for the world’s largest exchange-traded fund in natural gas, said assertions that his company helped drive up energy prices were ”self-serving statistical gibberish.”
”Any time someone tells you that common sense tells you something, that just means they don’t have the data to support it,” Hyland said in testimony today before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Reuters UK – Hedge fund LNG Capital is eyeing the debt of companies at risk of running short of cash, seeing the potential for high returns at an early stage of the credit crisis when companies are still able to tap rescue capital.
When a corporate borrower raises money or sells assets to get over a liquidity hump, its discounted short-term bonds — those maturing in up to 18 months — can become a buy, said the fund’s chief investment officer and founder, Louis Gargour.
The Guardian – Hedge fund LNG Capital is eyeing the debt of companies at risk of running short of cash, seeing the potential for high returns at an early stage of the credit crisis when companies are still able to tap rescue capital.
When a corporate borrower raises money or sells assets to get over a liquidity hump, its discounted short-term bonds — those maturing in up to 18 months — can become a buy, said the fund’s chief investment officer and founder, Louis Gargour.
Bloomberg – Justin Klintberg, a former manager at Marble Bar Asset Management LLP, has started his own Asia- focused hedge fund to trade stocks affected by events such as rights issues, spinoffs, mergers and acquisitions.
Kima Capital Management Pty, named after the Greek word for wave, began investment July 3 and has the capacity to manage $250 million in the Pan Asian Long/Short Equity Fund, Klintberg, its 36-year-old chief investment officer, said in an interview from Melbourne yesterday.
Bloomberg – Justin Klintberg, a former manager at Marble Bar Asset Management LLP, has started his own Asia- focused hedge fund to trade stocks affected by events such as rights issues, spinoffs, mergers and acquisitions.
Kima Capital Management Pty, named after the Greek word for wave, began investment July 3 and has the capacity to manage $250 million in the Pan Asian Long/Short Equity Fund, Klintberg, its 36-year-old chief investment officer, said in an interview from Melbourne yesterday.
