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 – The Cumulus Energy Fund gained 46 percent this year through July, beating the returns of 10 of its peers after anticipating rainy weather in Scandinavia would increase hydropower supplies and lower prices.
The $41 million fund’s appreciation surpassed profits of 1.2 percent or less during the same period at similar hedge funds in Europe’s power, natural gas, coal and emissions markets surveyed by Bloomberg. Profits eluded managers because swings in energy prices are about half of last year’s changes, reducing trading opportunities.
The Business Insider – We’re eagerly awaiting the testimony of energy fund billionaire John Arnold before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission today, and not just for the obvious reasons.
Former Enron trader Arnold presumably became the second-youngest self-made billionaire in the country in part by exploiting the same speculation spree that two years ago caused gas prices to triple while world oil demand was actually falling.
Reuters UK – NewSmith Capital Partners, one of the hedge fund firms to appear before a parliamentary committee investigating the UK banking crisis in January, has lost six staff as it cuts costs in a tough period for the industry.
According to a regulatory filing obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, Edward Johnson, an analyst on the firm’s resources and energy fund, and Ben Squire, an analyst on the credit fund, are no longer members of the firm.
The firm, which employs around 70 people, has also parted company with Sadiq Currimbhoy, a strategist on the firm’s Global Opportunities fund. A spokesman said investors had taken up an option to withdraw their assets from the liquid part of the fund and keep the remaining part of the portfolio as a private equity vehicle.
Bloomberg – BlueGold Capital Management LLP and Galena Asset Management Ltd. extended their winning streak in the first four months, outpacing competing hedge funds and commodities.
Pierre Andurand’s $1.1 billion BlueGold energy fund rose 35 percent through April, two people with direct knowledge of the returns said, declining to be named because the data are confidential. Galena’s $430 million metals fund added 8.6 percent, according to David Mimra, London-based head of sales and marketing.
Reuters India – KSK Emerging India Energy Fund had raised £100 million from AIM last year to invest in Indian energy companies.
Global recession has claimed a victim in India. KSK Emerging India Energy Fund (KEF), a £100 million fund listed in London’s Alternative Investment Market, has been wound up after the shareholders passed a resolution last week demanding the same.
The shareholders – which include large hedge funds – passed a resolution on January 22 asking for the liquidation of the company and the return of funds invested by them. The delisting of the company and liquidation has come into effect from January 23. The EGM was held in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Brotman Capital Partners LP, based in Boca Raton, Florida, has turned in the best performance Year to Date of a Market/Trend Timing Hedge Fund according to Barclays Hedge Fund Database.
Through October, 2008 the Fund is up over 14% net of fees. The fund has a $100,000 minimum investment and charges a 2% management fee and a 20% incentive fee.
According to Dr. Randy Brotman, Chairman and CEO, the fund has remained in cash since the middle of August. He states that “in our Trend Timing Fund, cash is an option, therefore a position.”
The Proprietary Trend Timing Model that Brotman Capital Management LLC employs dictates when the Fund should be long, short or in cash. “Be are comfortable to sit on the sidelines and wait for the trend-timing model to tell us when we will reenter the market, Brottman concluded.
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Norwalk Advocate – Some hedge funds are reducing their management and incentive fees to keep investors for longer periods during turbulent times on Wall Street.
Typically, hedge fund managers require investors to lock their money into a hedge fund for a year while charging a 2 percent management fee and keeping 20 percent of hedge-fund profits as an incentive fee – if it reaches a pre-determined point.
Camels Capital LLC, a Greenwich-based hedge fund, and Ore Hill, a New York-based fund, among others, have restructured these terms to keep investors.
"Ourselves, Ore Hill and a few other funds have taken a step to do that in this period of liquidity to lock in investors," said Richard Brendan, chief executive officer for Camels Capital. "We’ve been able to lock in our investors for a period of time to participate in opportunities with them."
Brennan would not comment on the specifics of the agreement between the hedge fund and his investors.
Scott Baker, a principal with Greenwich-based hedge fund investment firm Cookpine Capital, said many hedge funds are coming up with innovative ways to secure investor capital for longer periods.
New York Post – Jim Simons, a man known for running one of the world’s most secretive, expensive and successful hedge funds, is on track to wow investors with another year of double-digit returns.
Simons’ $8 billion Medallion fund, the oldest of the three Renaissance Technologies funds, was up 48 percent at the end of July, net of fees, according to people familiar with the funds’ returns.
Medallion, which is funded mostly by Renaissance insiders, charges a whopping 49 percent in fees, including a 5 percent management fee and 44 percent incentive fee.
That’s high even by the standards of an already costly industry – the industry average is a 2 percent management fee and a 20 percent incentive fee – but with such eye-popping returns, no one’s likely to complain.
