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.
MONACO (Reuters) – Former Insight Investment fund managers Patrick Armstrong and Ana Cukic-Armstrong have launched a new fund management business that will invest in a broad range of assets and seek to beat inflation.
The firm, Armstrong Investment Managers, will try to combine hedge fund-style flexibility with the liquidity and lower fees of traditional asset management. It will launch funds for retail, high net worth and pension fund investors at the end of the summer, Patrick Armstrong told Reuters on Tuesday.
The pair were co-heads of the multi-asset group at Insight Investment, now owned by Lloyds Banking Group. They ran around 1.2 billion pounds in assets including the Diversified Target Return fund, which over the past three years fell 2 percent, beating an average 11 percent fall among peer funds.
"We think there is a middle ground between traditional funds and hedge funds," Armstrong said. "Hedge funds have been opaque, illiquid and had very high charges."
World Radio Switzerland – Several major hedge funds in London say they’re considering moving abroad, notably to Switzerland. They are angered by a proposition from the European Union that would require more accountability and limit the amount of money they can borrow. Switzerland is an attractive destination because it is easier to register and launch a hedge fund, and subsequent regulation is less constraining. Does that mean this is the wild west for shady financial institutions? No, say the experts. It just means Switzerland has struck a better balance between flexibility and oversight. Lucas Chambers reports for WRS.
Reuters – A switch by some big investors chastened by the Madoff scandal and the credit crisis into managed accounts at hedge fund firms could end up penalising smaller clients in mainstream funds.
Managed accounts offer greater visibility and flexibility for larger investors such as funds of funds and big institutions by giving them direct ownership of underlying assets and the option to sell the portfolio if they want to get out quickly.
Globe and Mail – Epic Capital Management Inc. is closing its flagship hedge fund in what could be the precursor to a number of shutdowns in the troubled industry.
The Toronto firm’s assets tumbled from $300-million to $200-million as markets crashed and investors asked for their money, leading the managers to decide that giving remaining investors in Epic Limited Partnership their cash back was the prudent move, said founder and chief executive officer David Fawcett.
Epic focused on finding underpriced mid-sized Canadian companies, but that strategy couldn’t protect the firm from the market meltdown. Epic’s main fund has fallen about 43 per cent so far this year.
"We wanted to do it while we could and didn’t have a gun to our head," said Mr. Fawcett, who added that he expects a "pretty orderly unwind."
Boston Globe – Evergreen Solar Inc. got a shock when Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. went bankrupt last month: The solar panel maker lost control of almost 31 million shares of its stock.
How that happened is the subject of a lawsuit the Marlborough company filed yesterday against Lehman and the defunct investment bank’s new owner, Barclays Capital. It also sheds light on the kinds of complex deals that had become common on Wall Street before the market meltdown.
Evergreen, when it needed to raise money in July to build a plant at the old Fort Devens site, arranged a $375 million bond deal with Lehman. But there was a catch. As part of the transaction, Evergreen had to lend Lehman 30.9 million shares of its own stock – so that hedge funds could borrow them and short them, or bet the stock would fall. That’s right: Evergreen had to provide its own shares for hedge funds to short.
Reuters – Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, which has watched Morgan Stanley’s share price plunge 58 percent last week, is seeking more favorable terms to its $9 billion deal, a person briefed on the matter said.
The Japanese lender will still buy a 21 percent stake from Morgan Stanley for $9 billion, but will amend the terms to include only convertible preferred shares and no common stock, the source said.
Morgan Stanley is the latest stricken U.S. financial institution to seek refuge in a deal with a larger bank as the worsening credit crisis and accompanying market meltdown has narrowed the options of once stable banks and brokerages.
The Morgan Stanley news comes as Spain’s Banco Santander SA was in advanced talks to buy full control of Sovereign Bancorp Inc in a deal valued at $2.5 billion, according to another source familiar with the matter.
