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 portfolio run by Man Group, the world’s biggest listed hedge fund firm, has invested $50 million (30 million pounds) in a new start-up fund run by three former Brevan Howard traders.
Man’s RMF Global Emerging Managers strategy has put money with 5:15 Capital Management, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based fixed income arbitrage firm set up this month and named after a song from The Who’s 1973 album Quadrophenia.
Man will take a share of revenue from the firm, whose founders also worked together at Greenwich Capital Markets.
CNN Money – AQR Capital Management LLC, among the world’s largest hedge fund managers, will introduce another hedge fund-style mutual fund next month, as it expands its reach beyond the biggest investors.
Greenwich, Connecticut-based AQR, a $20 billion firm led by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc star Cliff Asness, led a new wave of hedge funds marketing to the masses when it launched the AQR Diversified Arbitrage Fund in January.
"We, in about two weeks, expect to introduce a whole new series of style exposures for retail investors," AQR co-founder David Kabiller told Reuters in a rare interview.
Bloomberg – Three traders from Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP and RBS Greenwich Capital Markets started a government-bond hedge fund named for one of their favorite songs by the Who.
5:15 Capital Management LLC, named for the track “5:15” on the British rockers’ 1973 album “Quadrophenia,” will begin trading today with about $60 million, according to Morris Sachs, one of the founders, who said the fund will grow to $100 million. Joining him at the Greenwich, Connecticut-based fund are E.G. Fisher, 40, and Rob Wahl, 42.
“We’re all Who fans and love that tune,” Sachs, the fund’s chief risk officer, said in a telephone interview. “What are we going to do, try to find another name for the Greek god of money?”
Bloomberg - Philip Duff, Morgan Stanley’s former chief financial officer, last month fired 80 of the 100 people at his 11-month-old hedge fund, and now he’s looking to sublet excess office space in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Record losses and terminations at hedge funds like Duff Capital Advisors have reduced Connecticut’s tax revenue, and that means the city schools in Bridgeport, 25 miles north, may soon have less space. Facing an anticipated $12 million drop in state aid, Superintendent John Ramos says he may close some of his 35 schools.
Officials across the state face similar cuts. After income- tax-fueled surpluses that totaled $3.6 billion from 2004 through last year, Connecticut’s budget now has a $1.1 billion gap, according to state Comptroller Nancy Wyman. The deficit is forecast to grow by $6 billion by 2011. Quarterly taxes on bonuses and capital gains — which make up 40 percent of income tax collections — dropped 20 percent in one year to $568.2 million last month, Governor Jodi Rell said.
Bloomberg – Jeffrey Gendell, whose investment firm Tontine Associates LLC is liquidating two hedge funds after losses of more than 60 percent this year, plans to start a new fund in February.
The Tontine Total Return Fund will invest in stocks believed to be undervalued and won’t use borrowed money, Gendell said in a letter to investors. Steve Bruce, a spokesman for Greenwich, Connecticut-based Tontine, declined to comment.
Tontine, started by Gendell 12 years ago, had been one of the industry’s best performers, with its four funds returning an average of 38 percent annually since inception through 2007. The firm last month said it was unwinding Tontine Capital Partners LP, a fund that plunged 77 percent this year through October, and Tontine Partners LP, which fell 67 percent through September.
Globe and Mail – Canadian hedge funds posted a brutal 11.2 per cent decline in September, losses that are likely to leave many investors questioning this expensive alternative asset strategy.
The latest installment of the Scotia Capital Canadian Hedge Fund Performance shows these funds outperformed the S&P/TSX composite index last month – it was down 14.7 per cent. But mounting losses on funds sold to investors as market neutral, or absolute return, are going to translate into redemptions.
“September was an extremely challenging month for Canadian hedge fund managers who were largely unable to successfully navigate erratic price movements in stocks and falling energy prices,” said Scotia Capital’s note on the sector’s performance.
“Panic selloffs in an environment driven by fear and uncertainty left major equity markets significantly down at the end of September,” said the investment bank. Obviously, the market swings have become even more violent in October.
