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.
Jackson, NJ – Senate Republican Budget Officer Tony Bucco called on Governor Jon Corzine to release all documents detailing links between casinos and a hedge fund company in which the governor is invested. The Governor’s financial disclosure forms show that he has invested in a hedge fund called TPG-Axon.
The Star-Ledger reported that the fund has the same addresses and almost the same name as Texas Pacific Group (TPG), an operator of hedge funds that bought Harrah’s Entertainment in 2006. Harrah’s owns four casinos in Atlantic City. Yet the governor contends that his investment meets the letter and the spirit of the state casino laws.
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – In order to achieve capital reduction, Swiss alternative investment company ALTIN AG has launched a share buyback program as part of a broader range of measures to reduce share price discount.
The hedge fund company has already succeeded in bringing the difference between the NAV and the share price from 33% at the end of 2008 to 21.7%. This, among other things, should enable ALTIN’s stock market price to come closer to the NAV.
The Annual General Meeting of shareholders approved a share buyback programme of up to 10% of the share capital. A second trading line for the registered shares of ALTIN will be opened on the SIX Swiss Exchange on 22 July 2009. ALTIN intends to buy back up to 5% of its shares until the end of March 2010.
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SearchDataCenter.com – A large, worldwide hedge fund company needed to reduce its server memory latency to keep investors from experiencing costly trading delays. It found the answer from the small Oregon-based software startup RNA Networks and is using their technology to replace aging Tibco software.
The hedge fund’s Unix group is in the process of standardizing on RNA Networks’ product, RNAmessenger, to replace Tibco software in all the company’s data centers, including those in New York City, London, Singapore and various colocation facilities. The company’s CTO, who wished to remain anonymous, hopes to complete the rollout over the next 12 months.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – The Banker Middle East Industry Awards 2009 has given Man Investments the ‘Best Hedge Fund Company’ award. Attended by H. E. Mr. Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, the Banker Middle East Industry Awards gathered more than 350 government officials, regulators as well as banking and finance executives to recognise and award the best institutions operating in the Middle East in 24 different categories. Man Investments also won the hedge fund award in 2008.
"Winning the award for the second year in a row is an honour for us as it shows that other industry leaders recognise Man as a leader in developing the hedge fund industry in the Middle East." Patrick Merville, CEO of Man Investments Middle East, said.
Man Investments’ first regional office in the world was opened in 1986, based in the Arab region. Since then, the company has established a robust base of institutional and retail clients. Man Investments is part of Man Group plc, one of the world’s largest hedge fund providers.
"Banker Middle East Industry Awards are widely recognised as the benchmark of excellence and we are very pleased to have been the winner in this category since its inception," added Merville.
During the voting process, which started in April and closed early this month, nominees were elected from a shortlist pre-selected by the judging panel, which comprises international industry specialists from the major rating agencies, the region’s financial centres and independent banking consultants who remain anonymous to ensure unbiased selections.
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!
SearchDataCenter.com – A large, worldwide hedge fund company needed to reduce its server memory latency to keep investors from experiencing costly trading delays. It found the answer from the small Oregon-based software startup RNA Networks and, in the process, is now replacing aging Tibco software.
The hedge fund’sUnix group is in the process of standardizing on RNA Networks’ latest product, RNAcache, to replace Tibco software in all the company’s data centers, including those in New York City, London, Singapore and various colocation facilities. The company’s CTO, who wished to remain anonymous, hopes to complete the rollout over the next 12 months.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Citadel Securities has added three former Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs senior investment bankers to the hedge fund company, at the same time launching Citadels Investment Banking division.
Todd Kaplan joined Citadel in March, he will assume the role of Head of Investment Banking for Citadel Securities. Brian Maier joins as Head of Industry Groups and Carl Mayer joins as Head of Leveraged Finance.
“By bringing Todd to Citadel Securities to head up our banking effort, we are executing our strategy of developing a leading, fully integrated, client-facing franchise across investment banking and institutional sales and trading," Rohit D’Souza, CEO of Citadel Securities said "Todd and his team are outstanding investment bankers with strong relationships who have experience across a broad spectrum of capital markets areas."
Commenting on the opportunities for Citadel in the marketplace, Kaplan said, "Now more than ever, corporations are looking for sound, actionable advice. With Citadel Securities’ unique set of assets, I look forward to building our investment banking operation as we provide innovative products and services to a broad group of clients in an increasingly complex environment.”
“We have the foundation of an exceptional team of esteemed banking professionals,” said D’Souza. “Together we will be able to deliver fully developed world class capabilities to meet our clients’ needs.”
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!
Wall Street Journal – Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA said Thursday it has decided to pull out of the hedge-fund market, shutting down Proxima Alfa Investments and exiting two other joint ventures.
Spain’s second-biggest bank by assets said the pullout was the result of tough market conditions and in anticipation of potential effects from the financial crisis on the hedge-fund industry. The closure affects around 100 employees, and represents less than 1% of the bank’s €130 billion ($165 billion) in assets under management, said a BBVA executive, whose name the bank declined to release.
The global financial crisis has cooled a once-blossoming romance between banks and hedge funds, with some banks experiencing how being too closely associated with the industry could taint their image. BBVA’s larger rival Banco Santander SA recently took a hit to its reputation from news that its fund-of-hedge-funds manager Optimal Investment Services had an exposure of €2.3 billion to Bernard Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme. It has since said it would shut down Optimal.
In addition to Proxima, BBVA is winding down Altitude and exiting BBVA Partners, two smaller alternative-investment managers. Most of the 2,000 or so clients that are invested in the 24 funds affected by the closure are institutional investors, the BBVA official said.
With $930 million in assets under management, Proxima Alfa was BBVA’s biggest bet on hedge funds. The bank invested $1 billion of its own funds when it formed Proxima in 2006 as a $3 billion joint venture with hedge-fund company Vega Asset Management.
Reuters – John Meriwether and the other partners in his hedge-fund company, JWM Partners LLC, are considering launching a new fund, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a senior official at the company.
The new fund could be set up within JWM Partners or in a new company, the paper said, citing the official.
The fund’s launch remains some way off and could still fall apart, the paper said.
The official told the paper that it was too early to say what investment strategy the fund would use.
