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) – At a time when most investors are becoming increasingly weary of high risk hedge funds, public pension funds are upping their stake, hoping to make up for recent lackluster performances.
New York State has a cap that limits the amount of alternative investments in the state’s Common Retirement Fund, valued at $153.9 billion. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is urging lawmakers to increase that cap, saying that “we need more flexibility.”
The Common Retirement Fund has followed in the footsteps of other lagging pension funds, posting only a 2.6 percent gain for the year ending March 31. As of now, the fund may allocate up to 25 percent of its capital to alternative investments. DiNapoli did not state how much he wanted that number increased.
Public funds manage over $2 trillion in assets and are actively seeking ways to garner larger returns. However, some argue that market conditions are not favorable enough to start taking wild risks with taxpayer money. Alternative Investments may include hedge funds, private equity funds, or anything that invests in real estate and/or commodities such as oil or gold.
One of Amaranth Advisor’s major investors was the state of Massachusetts, who allocated a substantial amount from its Pension Reserves Investment Trust Fund. When the fund imploded thanks to some bad bets magnified by massive amounts of leverage, followed by the closing of Sowood Capital Management the following summer, the state fund was out $80 million.
In Orange County, the Employees’ Retirement System has invested 7% of their assets into the reputable BlackRock, as well as to Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company. The fund of funds will handle over $200 million of assets. In addition, South Carolina may invest over $13 billion of their total assets worth $29 billion in hedge funds and other alternative investment vehicles.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Alternative investment manager, the Blackstone Group, has launched a new business group focused on investments in the cleantech energy sector and will provide advice on renewable energy strategies across Blackstone’s asset base.
The team is being led by James D. Kiggen, who has joined the firm’s Corporate Private Equity group as a Senior Managing Director. Also joining as Principals from AllianceBernstein are Walter C. Vester and Richard L. Troyer.
“Jamie and his team’s understanding of rapidly evolving technology applications in solar and wind power generation, carbon sequestration, next generation ethanol, and other renewables will be a key input in Blackstone’s investment decisions." Garrett Moran, Senior Managing Director of The Blackstone Group, said, "We look forward to working with the new team across both conventional energy investments and new developments, including those at our portfolio company Sithe Global Power, as well as several other sizeable investments that we are currently evaluating.”
Blackstone’s alternative asset management businesses include the management of corporate private equity funds, real estate funds, hedge funds, funds of funds, debt funds, collateralized loan obligation vehicles (CLOs) and closed-end mutual funds. The Blackstone Group also provides various financial advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory and fund placement service.
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Reuters Shanghai- Ten new China-focused private equity funds raised $12 billion (six billion pounds) in the second quarter, but poor market conditions have forced foreign funds to delay exits of their investments through IPOs and secondary offerings, consultant firm Zero2IPO said on Thursday.
The second-quarter figure is up 107.6 percent from the same period of 2007 but down nearly 40 percent from the first quarter of this year, according to the firm’s quarterly report.
Some 8.1 percent of capital raised by the 10 funds in the second quarter, or $972 million, target investments in Chinese property markets despite China’s tight monetary policy, which may hurt its real estate industry.
Times Online- Philip Falcone is used to demanding change from underperforming company executives, but yesterday he took Harbinger Capital, his activist hedge fund, into new territory.
Complete with financial advisers and a big stake, Harbinger broke cover as a traditional prospective buyer of strategic assets, with a tentative approach to Inmarsat, the London-listed satellite operator.
Harbinger has a 29.9 per cent holding in Inmarsat, as well as stakes in several other satellite companies, including America’s SkyTerra and Terrestar.
Mr Falcone, a former Barclays Capital trader, appears to be intent on acting as an industry consolidator, a role more commonly played by trade buyers or private equity funds.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net)- The EU Parliament has come up with new guidelines regarding hedge fund transparency and ‘asset stripping’. Also proposing some investigative measures and rules so that companies are not left in the dark on the investment policies of hedge funds or private equity investors who buy up their shares.
They also want much more light to be shed on pay and bonus packaged for fund managers. The commission also asked that the EU address the issue of money laundering, specifically in the context of hedge and private equity funds.
MEPs in committee unanimously approved the report by Klaus-Heiner Lehne (EPP–ED, DE) which would – if approved by the plenary – become a formal request to the Commission to put forward EU legislation.
The EP committee proposes to oblige hedge funds and private equity funds to disclose and explain the companies whose shares they acquire or own, retail and institutional investors, prime brokers and supervisors – their investment policy and the associated risks.
The committee also asks the Commission to investigate the possibility to apply, to alternative investments, contract terms allowing for a clear limitation of risk, for measures to be taken if thresholds are exceeded, for a clear description of lock-up periods and for explicit conditions concerning cancellation and termination of investment contracts.
MEPs want the Commission to propose rules forbidding "asset stripping" by investors who misuse their financial power in a way that merely disadvantages the company acquired in the long term, without having any positive impact on its future – or the interests of employees, creditors and business partners. They therefore propose common EU rules to guarantee capital maintenance of companies.
Regarding private equity funds, Members in committee suggested, among several proposals, that the Commission should address the issue of irresponsible lending to private equity funds, where banks disclaim any responsibility for what the loan is used for and where the money that repays the loan comes from.
