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guardian.co.uk - The Independent’sJeremy Warner is not convinced and argues that the failure is entirely their own. In the Daily Telegraph, Richard Fletcher explains that though Horlick blames US regulators for their lack of oversight her clients should be asking her some tough questions. In The Times, Daniel Finkelstein says what you need to understand about Charles Ponzi’s scheme is that when he started it, it wasn’t a Ponzi scheme. It just got out of hand.
David Wighton says the sums involved are breathtaking. He suggests there must be a worry that other boom-time frauds will now be exposed by the bust. David Aaronovitch says by last week he was ready for Bernard Madoff. He had read JK Galbraith’s The Great Crash 1929 and taken his point that in boom times the rate of embezzlement grows because the promised rewards don’t seem as absurd as they actually are and the rate of discovery falls off. In the Daily Mail, Alex Brummer says that the £33bn fraud by Madoff could spell the end for the most controversial investment vehicles of recent years: hedge funds.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) - At a time when many hedge funds are experiencing their worst year to date, private equity firm The Carlyle Group is launching a new fund with around $14 billion in capital.
According to a report by Reuters, the Washington D.C. - based company launched the U.S. buyout fund in the spring of 2007, and has a target goal of $15 billion.
The current economic conditions make it extremely difficult to raise capital, as fear and unfavorable market conditions prompt investors to rush for withdraws from many large hedge funds. According to the Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research, hedge funds are down about 15.5 percent on the year.
The Carlyle Group is one of the country’s largest private equity firms, with almost $90 billion under management. They recently decided to shut down its Asia leveraged finance group “in light of the current global turmoil and the serious dislocation of the credit capital markets.”
The new fund will be added to Carlyle’s already vast portfolio of investment vehicles. According to the company website, Carlyle manages 55 different funds specializing in buyout, growth capital, real estate and leveraged finance.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
Seeking Alpha - Hedge funds often try to offset potential losses in the principal markets they invest in by hedging their investments using a wide variety of techniques. For this very reason, many of them rarely disclose any of their investment strategies because they do not want others to duplicate.
Hedge funds can invest in almost every investment instrument that exists as they are considered superior investment vehicles in down markets.
This is based on their ability to invest in options and short selling. The data, however, reveals that average returns vary widely across hedge funds and it shows, as the following table suggests, that using a broad range of strategies and techniques doesn’t necessarily guarantee absolute returns.
Boston Globe - Hedge funds usually thrive when markets turn volatile. But even these fast-money investors are struggling to cope with the wild swings in the markets, raising concern that some may not survive.
Even before the Bush administration proposed its vast bailout for financial institutions, the hedge funds - those secretive, sometimes volatile investment vehicles for the rich - were on course for their worst year on record. The average fund is down nearly 5 percent so far this year.
One major hedge fund investor said he had started to buy Morgan Stanley at $23 on Wednesday, convinced the rumors of Morgan Stanley’s demise were unfounded. But as the stock began to plummet, he canceled his trade and watched with amazement as the stock sank to a low of $12 on Thursday.
International Herald Tribune - Making millions - or even a few billion - by managing a hedge fund has been a running dream on Wall Street in recent years. But suddenly even the masters of this $2 trillion universe are falling on hard times, at least by their own gilded standards.
Hedge funds, those secretive investment vehicles for the rich and, increasingly, not-so-rich, are supposed to make money whether markets go up or down. But many of them are being swept up in the turmoil in the financial world.
The funds’ investment returns are sinking, and so are those big paydays for their managers, whose riches have helped redefine our notions of wealth and helped drive up the price of everything from Picassos to New York penthouses.
Several big funds have faltered in recent weeks, some of them spectacularly so. While many funds are still flying high, the average hedge fund has lost more than 4 percent this year, according to Hedge Fund Research, putting the industry on course for its worst year on record.
Boston Globe - Hedge funds usually thrive when markets turn volatile. But even these fast-money investors are struggling to cope with the wild swings in the markets, raising concern that some may not survive.
Even before the Bush administration proposed its vast bailout for financial institutions, the hedge funds - those secretive, sometimes volatile investment vehicles for the rich - were on course for their worst year on record. The average fund is down nearly 5 percent so far this year.
One major hedge fund investor said he had started to buy Morgan Stanley at $23 on Wednesday, convinced the rumors of Morgan Stanley’s demise were unfounded. But as the stock began to plummet, he canceled his trade and watched with amazement as the stock sank to a low of $12 on Thursday.
New York Times - Making millions — or even a few billion — by managing a hedge fund has been a running dream on Wall Street in recent years. But suddenly even the masters of this $2 trillion universe are falling on hard times, at least by their own gilded standards.
Hedge funds, those secretive investment vehicles for the rich and, increasingly, the not-so-rich, are supposed to make money whether markets go up or down. But many of them are being swept up in the turmoil in the financial world.
The funds’ investment returns are sinking, and so are those big paydays for their managers, whose riches have helped redefine modern notions of wealth and helped drive up the price of everything from Picassos to Manhattan penthouses.
Several big funds have faltered in recent weeks, some of them spectacularly so. While many funds are still flying high, the average hedge fund has lost more than 4 percent this year, according to Hedge Fund Research, putting the industry on course for its worst year on record.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) - At a time when most investors are becoming increasingly weary of high risk hedge funds, public pension funds are upping their stake, hoping to make up for recent lackluster performances.
New York State has a cap that limits the amount of alternative investments in the state’s Common Retirement Fund, valued at $153.9 billion. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is urging lawmakers to increase that cap, saying that “we need more flexibility.”
The Common Retirement Fund has followed in the footsteps of other lagging pension funds, posting only a 2.6 percent gain for the year ending March 31. As of now, the fund may allocate up to 25 percent of its capital to alternative investments. DiNapoli did not state how much he wanted that number increased.
Public funds manage over $2 trillion in assets and are actively seeking ways to garner larger returns. However, some argue that market conditions are not favorable enough to start taking wild risks with taxpayer money. Alternative Investments may include hedge funds, private equity funds, or anything that invests in real estate and/or commodities such as oil or gold.
One of Amaranth Advisor’s major investors was the state of Massachusetts, who allocated a substantial amount from its Pension Reserves Investment Trust Fund. When the fund imploded thanks to some bad bets magnified by massive amounts of leverage, followed by the closing of Sowood Capital Management the following summer, the state fund was out $80 million.
In Orange County, the Employees’ Retirement System has invested 7% of their assets into the reputable BlackRock, as well as to Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company. The fund of funds will handle over $200 million of assets. In addition, South Carolina may invest over $13 billion of their total assets worth $29 billion in hedge funds and other alternative investment vehicles.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
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New York (HedgeCo.Net) - TD Waterhouse has been ordered to pay a $2 million fine as a result of selling hedge funds to clients who were not accredited, according to a report by the Vancouver Sun.
The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada claimed that TD “failed to establish and maintain alternative investment review or approval procedures,” while failing to “ensure that the purchase of hedge funds were appropriate for its clients.”
The Olympus hedge funds were sold from 2001-2005 and were the subject of complaints from 31 TD Waterhouse clients. Their chief problem with the funds was that they were portrayed as a safe, low risk investment.
Hedge funds, while they may enjoy lighter regulation than most traditional investments, must adhere to strict guidelines when it comes to who may invest in them. Because hedge funds are thought to carry most risk than other investment vehicles, the investor must possess the status of being “accredited.” Since accredited investors are thought to be sophisticated and educated in the realm of investing, hedge funds can therefore enjoy the benefits of lighter regulation.
According to Alex Popovic, Vice President of Enforcement at IIROC, the fine was reduced because of TD’s willingness to cooperate and a number of things they implemented internally to help correct the problem. These include new training programs and controls, as well as the discipline of brokers who sold the funds to unqualified clients.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@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! Be sure to check out our sister sites. For more information, visit www.hedgeconetworks.com
Wealth Bulletin- Money managers at public pension funds have adopted a surprisingly bullish stance on investing in hedge funds despite the turmoil plaguing the alternative investment vehicles, a recent survey by Hedge Fund Manager Week showed, according to a report in The New York Times.
About 50% of the respondents said they already allotted a portion of their capital towards hedge funds. Interestingly, none of them intend to decrease the amount in the next three years, with 41% in fact planning to raise their exposure to hedge funds.
HedgeWeek - A hedge fund focusing on Russia and the former Soviet Union, Da Vinci CIS Private Sector Growth Fund, has become the first listing on the Specialist Fund Market, the London Stock Exchange’s new market for alternative investment vehicles.
The fund has raised approximately USD110m to invest in unlisted equity and equity-related securities of companies located in Russia and other member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
‘Da Vinci’s admission to the Specialist Fund Market, together with the formal listing of BH Global, the second main market fund from Brevan Howard, cement London’s position as the public market of choice for hedge funds and other alternative investment vehicles,’ says Martin Graham, director of equity markets at London Stock Exchange Group.
BH Global, a newly-established feeder fund investing in the Brevan Howard Global Opportunities Master Fund, began unconditional dealing on May 29 having raised USD1bn through a listing on the London Stock Exchange’s main market.
‘Integral to London’s attractiveness is the choice of markets that we are able to offer funds, aligned to their profile and structure, the types of investors they wish to target and the risk premium sought by investors,’ Graham adds.
‘The creation of the Specialist Fund Market adds to that choice, and we expect to see more funds follow Da Vinci’s lead over the coming months by using the Specialist Fund Market to access London’s unique community of expert investors.’
Da Vinci Capital Management founder and managing partner Oleg Jelezko says: ‘It is a great pleasure to see the Da Vinci CIS Private Sector Growth Fund commence trading, a major milestone for our flagship product.
Wealth Bulletin- Macro hedge funds that place bets based on views of the global economic outlook have shown returns of more than 12% this year, outperforming the S&P 500 index by about 17%, data from Hedge Fund Research revealed, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Macro hedge funds, which attempt to identify extreme valuations in stock markets, interest rates, foreign exchange rates and commodities, are the only categories of the investment vehicles to have racked up double-digit returns so far this year.
The performance is in sharp contrast to most other types of hedge funds. Merger arbitrage managers, who bet on the price movements of companies in the run up to mergers, have posted returns of just 2.3% in the year to date.