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 – A draft European Union law to regulate the managers of hedge funds and other alternative investment funds may be strengthened despite fierce opposition from Britain and industry, a senior EU lawmaker said on Friday.
The bloc’s governments and the European Parliament have joint say on the measure which is part of wider EU and global efforts to learn from the crisis by shining a light and directly supervising all parts of the financial system.
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – The Alternative Investment Management Association, (AIMA) has launched a Directive Centre on their website as part of an on-going campaign to have the European Commission’s draft directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers revised.
It is intended as a resource for journalists and members of the public and contains everything relevant for our campaign, including press releases, guidance notes, FAQs and other resource materials issued by AIMA; speeches and articles on the directive and links to relevant documents, including the European Commission’s directive and details of its legislative process; and a quotations section featuring a host of different figures expressing their concern about the directive.
Those quoted expressing concern or reported as doing so include pension funds and pension fund industry groups, European institutional investors, global banks, international law firms, commercial real estate groups, private equity, Swedish and UK ministers, Irish officials, the chair of the European Parliament’s ECON committee, the US Treasury, the UK Conservative party, the Mayor of London, the German Funds association, the Financial Times and the Economist, and even Robert Peston, Jacques de Larosiere and Charles McCreevy.
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!
Reuters UK – A draft European Union law that will require hedge fund managers to be authorised needs refining to cover other types of alternative investments better, a senior MEP said on Tuesday.
The Alternative Investment Fund Managers law is before the European Parliament and EU states for adoption, but is already subject to heated debate.
It covers many types of investments that do not come under the EU’s long-standing mutual funds framework known as UCITS.
Reuters AlertNet – The newly elected European parliament starts its five-year term on Tuesday in a combative mood which could slow the passage of laws intended to fight Europe’s worst economic crisis in decades. At its first session since an election in June, the assembly will put off for at least two months a vote on reappointing European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, although he is backed by all 27 European Union governments.
Hedge funds and private equity firms are hoping a resurgent right wing in European politics will give them stronger support when they call for changes to proposed legislation they see threatening their industries.
The coalition of European conservative parties won a decisive victory in elections last week, taking over 260 seats in the European parliament compared with around 160 seats for its socialist rivals.
"We are viewing this quite positively," said Javier Echarri, secretary general of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.
" are expected to be able to deal with financial regulation on a calmer basis with more understanding than the more emotional debate that we have seen in the parliament in past years," Echarri said.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), announced plans to mobilise the world’s hedge fund industry on the European Commission’s draft directive for Alternative Investment Fund Managers.
“There are provisions in this directive with potentially serious consequences for managers, investors, service providers and advisers internationally." Andrew Baker, AIMA CEO, said, "As the global trade body for the industry it is right therefore that AIMA takes the lead in mobilising resources in order to secure the best possible outcome for the industry on the directive."
"The feedback we’re getting from our members, who manage more than 75% of hedge fund industry assets globally, is that the draft directive has created enormous confusion. Because of the lack of proper consultation the directive presumes a structure for the industry which bears little relationship to reality. Implementation in its current form could prove to be unworkable. It also appears to be in conflict with much of existing EC financial services legislation." Baker said.
"We will therefore call for urgent effort to be devoted to re-drafting this directive." Baker continued, "To achieve this, AIMA will be announcing a series of initiatives to mobilise the industry. We will not oppose everything in the directive; some of the provisions, such as manager authorisation and registration, are already supported by us and measures which increase transparency to assist the authorities in the understanding of systemic risk issues are to be welcomed."
"We want to work with the Commission, EU governments and the European Parliament on this. We are not opposed to the directive per se, we just want the final directive to be practical and realistic.” Baker concluded.
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!
Times Online – The role of the City of London as one of the world’s preeminent financial centres came under attack for the second time in two weeks yesterday, this time from proposed EU rules for private equity and hedge funds.
The EU wants private equity firms with more than €500 million under management and hedge funds with more than €100 million of funds to file detailed financial information with the Financial Services Authority. Private equity firms will also need to file figures relating to debt, risk and cash.
If the European Parliament approves the proposed legislation, about 1,000 British companies – owned by private equity firms either headquartered or with an office in the EU and with more than €500 million under management – would be saddled with annual compliance costs estimated at about £30,000.
