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.
New York (HedgeCo.net) – Hedge fund investor, logi ENERGY LLC., has announced the formation of The Peak Oil Value Fund. Launched September 8, the new hedge fund is the first of its kind aimed at institutional and accredited investors.
“We believe that the effects of Peak Oil on the markets are a temporary Global Macro series of events” Larry Ortega CIO of the Peak Oil Value Fund said, “We only have a few years to take advantage of these opportunities.“
The fund’s investment strategy employs five approaches: 1) Publicly Traded Equities and Equity Options; 2) Investment in oil in storage; 3) Investment in Oil, Gasoline and Heating Oil spreads in the Futures Markets; 4) Private Investment in Public Equities of Oil and Gas Exploration Companies; and 5) Private Investment in Private Companies or Oil and Gas Fields.
“Our superb models developed by our deep, complex team of expert geophysicists, mathematicians, oil professionals and oil traders have been able to predict and identify the fluctuations of oil prices and indicate when we expect prices to move based on both fundamentals of oil production and demand as well as storage, refinery processing, price action and economic utilization.” Ortega said, “They are not perfect, but we’re extremely pleased with the results. We invest like Warren Buffett, which is we make our money when we purchase our positions at deep value, thus the effects of our errors are minimal. Our difference is that in most of our strategies we also hedge nearly every position we take.”
The fund’s goal is to purchase or make significant investments in oil and gas exploration firms for their reserve positions while supporting their production and exploration efforts with direct investment in their fields and then hedge position value, reserves and future production. The fund expects to invest based on fundamental valuation of each position they take.
Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.net alex@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!
Bloomberg – Union Bancaire Privee, the Swiss hedge-fund investor whose clients lost about $700 million with Bernard Madoff, plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce this year after assets under management declined.
“UBP should reduce its staff by 10 percent over the course of the year, from a headcount of 1,372 at the end of December, through redundancies, early retirements and not filling vacant positions,” said Jerome Koechlin, spokesman for the Geneva- based firm.
HedgeTracker – The top solar hedge fund investor is Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital. Mr. Ainslie is a “Tiger Cub,” or a former protégé of Julian Robertson of Tiger Management. As of Q1 ’09, the fund had $180.33mm of its $5,529mm, or 3.26% of its portfolio, invested in solar. However, Maverick Capital is not necessarily a believer in the solar sector overall, as the firm’s solar exposure is entirely concentrated in First Solar Inc. (FSLR) with 1,358,902 shares. Notably, over the first quarter, the firm purchased $85.29mm or 642,756 shares of FSLR.
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Swiss based hedge fund and FoHFs provider, Infonic AG, has expanded to the US by establishing a New York office. Infonic named IT specialist Nolan Phillips as Chief Operating Officer, and financial expert, Bridget Piraino, Head of Global Marketing & Sales.
“I’m delighted to welcome Nolan Phillips and Bridget Piraino to the executive team. Adding to the depth of our management team demonstrates Infonic’s commitment to becoming the trusted operational backbone of the institutional hedge fund investor industry,” said Tom Furrer, Infonic’s CEO. “With the establishment of a New York office we will expand our presence delivering innovative products and dedicated client services to asset managers and administrators of funds of hedge funds.”
Nolan has held executive and consulting positions at Coopers and Lybrand, Union Bank of Switzerland, Société Générale, Bankers Trust, IQ Financial Systems and Bank of Bermuda, Alternative Investments Program.
Piraino’s career has included Aregon International, the UK financial data delivery system provider, and Goldman Sachs and Co’s Fixed Income Research group. She held senior technical management and financial services marketing positions with Sybase, TIBCO Financial Systems and SeeBeyond.
Headquartered in Switzerland with offices in Zurich and New York, Infonic AG is the provider of HedgeSphere, a product suite for operations of funds of hedge funds.
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HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Hedge fund investor consultant and adviser, Hennessee Group LLC, today announced some highlights from the first half of 2009 and the month of June, excerpts follow:
“Most hedge fund managers are not buying into the ‘Green Shoots’,” commented Charles Gradante, Co-Founder of Hennessee Group. “While markets rallied sharply in April and May, most managers remained conservative. I think we have reached an inflection point as momentum seems to have faded. We should see a return to stock picking based on fundamentals, which are rather negative. In addition, the technicals are also bad, leading us to believe in a summer correction.”
“Hedge funds have outperformed equity benchmarks by a 10% margin in the first half of 2009,” said Lee Hennessee, Managing Principal of Hennessee Group. “The outperformance is largely due to the ability of hedge funds to profit from their short portfolios, as we saw in January and February. While hedge funds are routinely publicized as high risk vehicles, the reality of the situation is that the average hedge fund has demonstrated significantly less volatility than traditional asset classes for the 22 years we have been advising investors.”
Despite a flat June, the second quarter gain was the strongest quarterly gain since 1998. In June, energy and materials sectors declined as worries mounted that the global economy could experience a drawn out recovery after the World Bank cut the global growth forecast.
Managers remain concerned that the recent rally in the financial markets and resurgence in confidence is built on hope supported by government stimulus rather than a real improvement in fundamentals (i.e., employment and housing).
Long/short equity funds will continue to rely on individual security selection while maintaining low levels of directional exposure as the official second quarter earnings season gets under way with the Alcoa earnings announcement on July 8th. Many managers are overweight technology in long portfolios, the top performing sector for the month and the year, while maintaining short positions in consumer and financial sectors.
Managers have found opportunities in strategic acquisition activity as well as distressed merger and acquisition activity.
After three months of strong gains, emerging markets cooled, declining slightly in June, but are substantially positive year to date. China was one of the few bright spots in June as the equity markets continued to advance. The Hennessee Macro Index declined -1.08% in June (+7.10% YTD).
While May was a record breaking month for commodities, June brought a sharp pull back. Positions in gold, silver, and agricultural commodities all detracted from performance as prices fell. Managers also suffered losses as the U.S. dollar rallied versus most currencies on speculation that the current market rally has ended and reports that the Fed will not expand its purchases of Treasuries. Oil was a positive, up +5.4% in June; although, many believe that prices are being driven by speculation and expect profit taking as oil is up +56.4% thus far this year.
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Reuters UK – Hedge funds are going to have to dance to their investors’ tune once more as lucrative profits fall and a new breed of clients begins flexing its muscles, demanding more results from managers.
Institutional clients, a growing part of the hedge fund investor base, are questioning high fee levels and say they want to see what managers are really doing with their money — an understandable worry since the Madoff fraud.
They also want to know how hedge funds manage risk in choppy markets after record performance losses last year, and are balking at funds that are restricting investors from accessing their money by using so-called gates.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – “Hennessee Group research and discussions with hedge fund managers has lead us to believe that the 20 year secular bull market in bonds is over.” Charles Gradante, Co-Founder of hedge fund investor consultant, Hennessee Group LLC, said of the 9 year high point seen this month in hedge funds.
“We see a problem growing in the bond market. The Government is issuing more debt than it is buying back. This has to lead to rates increasing and equity PE ratios adjusting downward. Our contacts among hedge fund managers continue to buy gold and short Treasuries. However, Hennessee Group expects the Treasury and Fed to put a short squeeze on at an opportune time.”
The Hennessee Hedge Fund Index advanced +5.68% in May (+11.40% YTD), while the S&P 500 increased +5.31% (+1.76% YTD), the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced +4.07% (-3.14% YTD), and the NASDAQ Composite Index advanced +3.32% (+12.52% YTD). Bonds also rose, as the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index advanced +0.73% (+1.33% YTD).
Managers have been maintaining a conservative investment strategy, which has caused them to lag in the recent market rally. In May, funds also benefited from long positions in energy and commodity-related positions, which performed strongly.
“With hedge funds up +5.68%, May was the best month for hedge funds since February 2000, when the index was up +6.83,” said Lee Hennessee , Managing Principal of Hennessee Group . “Gains were largely driven by arbitrage strategies. However, long/short equity managers, with reduced levels of exposure, also performed well, participating significantly in the market rally while maintaining hedges. With a market correction in the short term being a possibility, we feel that most hedge funds are positioned conservatively and will be able to quickly alter exposures to protect capital if the market experiences a correction.”
“May had the biggest one month run up in commodities in 35 years,” commented Charles Gradante. “It appears to us, from Hennessee Group research and manager conversations, to be speculative and led by commodity ETF demand, which exceeds "real" demand. Furthermore, margin requirements favor the speculators. Hedge funds are betting commodities will continue to rise with many long agriculture commodities, such as sugar and corn.”
Editing by Alex Akesson
For HedgeCo.Net Email: alex@hedgeco.net
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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.
Marketwatch – David Einhorn, head of hedge-fund firm Greenlight Capital, called AAA credit ratings a curse and said he is betting against rating agency Moody’s, during a speech at a closely watched investment conference on Wednesday.
Einhorn said that many institutions with AAA ratings, including the U.S. government, turned that supposed benefit into a disaster by borrowing recklessly, according to a hedge-fund investor who attended the conference in New York and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The leading purveyor of AAA ratings is Moody’s (MCO), so Greenlight Capital is short that company’s shares, the investor quoted Einhorn as saying.
Reuters – Prominent hedge fund investor Mark Yusko on Monday warned endowments against putting the bulk of their money into stocks, arguing that these assets perform only when economies are growing.
For years most investors ranging from big institutions to average Americans saving for college and retirement have bet mostly on the U.S. stock market.
But in the wake of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Yusko, who worked with two large college endowments before founding his own firm, Morgan Creek Capital, said investors need to change their thinking.
Bloomberg – Signet Capital Management Ltd., a hedge fund investor that overseas about $2 billion, wrote down to zero an investment in Weavering Capital, the London-based hedge fund that filed for administration last week.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is liquidating the $506 million Weavering Macro Fixed Income Fund after discovering the fund had $637 million in swap agreements with a company controlled by Magnus Peterson, the firm’s founder. That company “lacked the value to support the swaps,” PwC said.
Financial Times- When hedge fund manager and convicted fraudster Samuel Israel III disappeared this month, leaving nothing but the message "suicide is painless" scrawled in the dust on his car, you can be sure his life assurer did not pay out – not least because police believe he was trying to fake his death.
Another type of insurance policy might soon help investors caught up in scams such as the $400m Mr Israel sucked out of Bayou Management.
At the least, the new products being created should provide hedge fund investors with peace of mind amid widespread fear of fraud in the industry.
Today, a second insurance product begins offering hedge fund investors cover for fraud losses, as Integro, a New York insurance broker, and Amber Partners, a risk rating agency for the industry, aim to capitalise on the fear of swindlers.
"While they [frauds] are not frequent within our industry, they occur enough that it causes investors to consider it seriously," said Reiko Nahum, chief executive of Amber.
