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 UK – Hedge funds have increased their bets on a fall in voting shares in Europe’s biggest carmaker Volkswagen, according to data on Tuesday, despite the heavy losses suffered by such funds last year.
Hedge funds shorting VW were caught out in October when VW shares more than quadrupled after Porsche announced it had effective control of 74.1 percent of VW.
This left less than 6 percent tradeable in the market and saw funds scrambling to cover their positions.
New York Times – Russell Herman, the chief executive of the hedge fund firm Dawson-Herman Capital Management, is the latest manager to shutter his fund after heavy losses last year and differences with the firm’s founder, Jonathan Dawson.
Mr. Herman told clients in a letter last week that he was shutting the Southport Millennium Funds and returning capital to investors. The move was first reported by Dealbreaker.com on Friday. The firm currently has about $902 million of capital under management after reaching a height of $3.2 billion at the beginning of 2008.
Like many in the hedge fund industry, Dawson-Herman suffered big losses last year. The main Southport fund was down more than 35 percent and has failed to make up for the losses this year. “We have not been able to build the portfolios with high conviction ideas and themes to the degree that is satisfactory to me and in line with our historical standards,” Mr. Herman said in the letter.
Forbes – Long-only hedge fund strategies posted the best returns of the asset class in July as global stock markets continued their upward trend, according to data in a report published by Lipper Global on Tuesday.
As the industry looks to repair itself following last year’s heavy losses and record redemptions, these new figures will give more ammunition to market watchers who claim that the industry is on the road to recovery.
Stuff – Hedge funds posted more gains last month, providing fresh evidence that the US$1.4 trillion industry is recovering after last year’s heavy losses and record redemptions.
The average hedge fund gained 2.42 percent in July after having inched up 0.13 percent in June, data released on Friday by performance and flows tracking group Hedge Fund Research show.
On average the funds are up 12.17 percent for the year through July 31, the data show.
Reuters – Hedge funds posted more gains last month, providing fresh evidence that the $1.4 trillion industry is recovering after last year’s heavy losses and record redemptions.
The average hedge fund gained 2.42 percent in July after having inched up 0.13 percent in June, data released on Friday by performance and flows tracking group Hedge Fund Research show.
On average the funds are up 12.17 percent for the year through July 31, the data show.
Nasdaq.com – Jeffrey Gendell of Tontine Partners LP, who is closing two of his hedge funds after steep losses, has raised money for his new Tontine Total Return Fund, according to regulatory filings.
The Tontine Total Return fund, which Gendell said would be launched in February, has received $11 million from investors, according to a May 21 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A separate filing shows the overseas version of the fund has raised $1.6 million. A Tontine spokesman declined to comment.
Gendell last year began to shut down his Tontine Capital Partners LP Fund and flagship Tontine Partners Fund, after heavy losses. That was after his flagship fund had averaged annual returns of about 39% from 1997 to 2007.
Dallas Morning News – An Amarillo charitable foundation is suing Dallas-based Highland Capital Management LP to recover more than $1.8 million from a Highland hedge fund that was shut down in October after heavy losses.
The Mary E. Bivins Foundation, which focuses on helping the elderly, had asked to withdraw its investment from a fund called Highland Credit Strategies in March.
Highland agreed to return more than $1.9 million as of July 1 but said it would pay the money back over nine months, the foundation said in a lawsuit filed last month in Amarillo. It has given back only $80,000 so far, the lawsuit said.
CNBC – The hedge fund industry has been battered this year, suffering heavy losses in part due to redemptions by investors as they asked for their money back amid the market turmoil.
According to a Singapore-based hedge fund research firm Eurekahedge, the industry has lost some one-fifth of its assets this year to $1.55 trillion. About $125 billion of the losses came from redemptions.
The scandal surrounding Bernard Madoff is certainly not helping the industry. The investment adviser and former Nasdaq stock market chairman has allegedly swindled clients out of $50 billion through a bogus fund. It’s forgivable if seasoned high-net worth investors get cold feet and steer clear of this form of investment.
Stephen Gollop, CEO of Tyche, expects one-third of the hedge funds to disappear in the first-quarter of next year.
