Reuters – Equity investors are too negative about the hedge fund industry, says Neptune’s Jeremy Smith, who has recently bought shares in Man Group and expects more consolidation among traditional fund firms.

Smith, who manages the 42 million-pound Neptune UK Equity fund, said that while performance of Man’s flagship AHL managed futures strategy has been poor this year, shares in the world’s biggest listed hedge fund firm still look cheap.

”A lot of fund managers have written off the hedge fund industry but from anecdotal evidence it seems a lot of money is being raised” he said at a briefing with reporters late on Wednesday.

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Tags: anecdotal evidence, consolidation, equity investors, equity-fund, flagship, fund-managers, hedge fund, jeremy smith, man-group, managed futures, money, neptune, reuters, uk-equity

Times Online – Hugh Osmond is sitting on a multimillion-pound paper loss after his Pearl Group life assurer agreed a deal to trim its £3 billion debt burden and bring in new equity investors.

Pearl secured a £500 million injection from Liberty Acquisition Holdings, a company controlled by two New York-based investors, one of whom is Nicolas Berggruen, a billionaire hedge fund investor with a personal wealth estimated at £1.8 billion, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. He is known in hedge fund circles as the “homeless billionaire” because he lives in hotels.

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Tags: acquisition, billionaire, circles, debt burden, equity investors, fund-investor, group life, hedge fund, hotels, hugh osmond, multimillion pound, nicolas berggruen, personal wealth, pound paper, sunday times rich list, times rich list