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.
Washington Post – The Bush administration’s decision to drop proposed money-laundering rules for hedge funds is "inexplicable, ill-timed and unwise," Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said yesterday.
Hedge funds, private investment pools whose investors are often wealthy individuals, have drawn increased scrutiny during the financial crisis. But even before the market troubles, some legislators worried that the largely unregulated funds could serve as a vehicle for money laundering, perhaps for tax evaders or terrorists.
"Hedge funds are unregulated financial companies that can handle millions of dollars in offshore money without any legal obligation to check who is behind the funds or report suspicious activities," Levin said in a statement. "But instead of plugging the hedge fund regulatory gap by issuing a final rule, the Administration went the opposite way, withdrew its anti-money laundering proposal, and offered nothing in its place."
Reuters – JPMorgan plans to invest more than $1 billion in Asian real estate over the next three years, hoping to fill a gap as Indian and Chinese developers crave funds and rival investors recoil from property markets.
The investment bank, which has fared better than some Wall Street rivals because of smaller exposure to U.S. subprime mortgage investments, is using its special opportunities group to finance Asian property firms and their projects.
"It’s a fantastic opportunity for us at a time when a lot of our competitors are scaling down because of difficulties accessing their balance sheet," the group’s Asia real estate head, Bryan Southergill, told Reuters in an interview.
Bloomberg- Taylor Wimpey Plc, Britain’s biggest housebuilder, may get a 100 million-pound ($199 million) investment from a hedge fund to bridge a financing gap, the Financial Times reported, citing unidentified people close to the money-raising effort.
Shares of Taylor Wimpey fell 42 percent yesterday after the company failed to reach a 500 million-pound financing agreement with shareholders and potential new investors; the stock “spiked,” however, in the last minutes of trading, the newspaper said.
