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.
Los Angeles Times – In the decade’s early years, high-net worth individuals and cash-flush hedge funds poured billions into Hollywood, backing independent productions and co-financing big-budget popcorn movies. But as those investors lost fortunes in the markets (and, too often, on dead-on-arrival movies), they pulled back on their show business speculating, forcing the studios to put more of their own money at risk — like homeowners undone by their mortgages.
“It does something radical to an industry when $12 billion to $14 billion suddenly goes away,” said Gill. “That places an enormous strain on the system. And nothing is replacing it. It used to be ‘let’s get the Germans’ and then the Germans went away, so it was ‘let’s get the Japanese’ or ‘let’s get the insurance companies.’ There was always going to be somebody else. Now it looks like it’s not going to be someone else.”
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Hedge fund manager Headline Capital Management LLC, is spearheading a series of capital introduction events showcasing the largest gathering of hedge fund managers from the Charlotte region. Aegis Funds Management, Afton Capital Management, Blackhawk Capital Management, Charlotte Global Advisors, Gorelick Brothers Capital, Keane Capital Management plus other hedge funds in the Charlotte region are also participating.
As the nation’s second largest banking center, Charlotte is also an attractive haven for hedge funds. Some of the nation’s most talented investment professionals relocated here to work for Bank of America and Wachovia, now a wholly-owned subsidiary and east coast headquarters for Wells Fargo. Many of these former bankers and traders stayed here to start their own hedge funds, especially after merger-related layoffs.
What is truly unique about the Charlotte Hedge Fund Forum is that in a highly competitive market, 7+ hedge fund managers from the same city have the foresight to jointly promoting a series of capital introduction events. “We’re still competitors. By working together, however, we can leverage our marketing dollars to attract more investors than we could alone,” says Mark McClanahan, the marketing director at Headline Capital Management.
The Charlotte Hedge Fund Forum provides more value than the traditional cap intro event by showcasing several hedge fund managers from the same city. The Charlotte showcase is more efficient for institutional investors with tight travel budgets who want to meet several managers at the same time. Wealthy families and high net worth individuals who are more comfortable investing in managers located closer to home, especially in this post-Madoff era, will also benefit from this Charlotte showcase. The real payoff is after the event when the investor needs to visit each hedge fund’s office for due diligence. Investors who attend the Charlotte Hedge Fund Forum will save time and money following up with several Charlotte-based managers during one trip.
The Charlotte Hedge Fund Forum is scheduled for September 23, 2009 at the historic Duke Mansion where tobacco baron James B. Duke founded The Duke Endowment. Mark Yusko, President and CIO of Morgan Creek Capital of Chapel Hill, North Carolina will deliver the Keynote Speech on “Alternative Thinking for Investments” during a complimentary luncheon. Afterwards, each hedge fund manager will deliver a formal 10-12 minute podium presentation and then meet with investors during a series of 30-minute, informal “meet the manager” roundtable discussions.
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!
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Rosemawr Management LLC, two months ago launched the Rosemawr Municipal Partner Fund LP,. The fund has seen returns of 0.82% in May and 0.86% in June, since inception on May 1st 2009.
With former Managing Director at Lehman Brothers, Greg Shlionsky, as portfolio manager, the new fund’s investment approach is fundamentals-driven. The investment team believes it possesses a unique understanding of municipal investments’ fundamentals. The investment strategy is based on thorough analysis of securities’ structure and credit, rather than on short-term momentum or technicals.
The fund limits its capital allocation (before leverage) to any one investment to 15% of the Fund (with exceptions made for short-term very liquid securities). Leverage is only applied to securities that the Investment Team considers liquid.
Rosemawr Management LLC, the Fund Manager, is an SEC-registered Investment Adviser focused exclusively on the U.S. Municipal market. The Fund’s Investment Team is comprised of professionals who draw on decades of senior-level experience overseeing municipal portfolios and major trading desks to manage credit, interest rate and event risk. Average Principal’s tenure in the municipal market is 20 years.
In addition to the fund, Rosemawr oversees value-added municipal strategies for family offices (including those of Forbes 100 and Forbes 400 families), ultra high net-worth individuals, and select institutional clients.
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!
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Hedge fund and alternative investment advisory company, Tru/Alpha Capital Advisors (TACA), is being launched to specialize in international alternative markets, advising institutional and corporate clients, as well as high-net worth individuals.
Based in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, TACA is headed by Harvard-graduate and past Morgan Stanley executive Monty Bruell. Mixing its full-scale advisory expertise and network of reputable partners, TACA’s team brings years of experience, credentials and proven performance in the alternative and International investment marketplace.
The company is one of few African-American owned wealth and asset management companies in the southeast.
Tru/Alpha’s niche in the international and alternative markets offers more focused insight and expertise on strategies such as international equities, international fixed-income, structured notes, commodities and hedge funds among others.
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!
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Hedge fund performance specialist Alternative-Index Ltd., fully owned by hedge fund manager, Salus Alpha Group AG, reported that the Relative Value Index (RVX) is the top performing Alternative Investment Indices (AI-Index) in June 2009 with a month-to-date performance of +0.52% listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange.
The RVX outperformed the German equity index for the month to date by +1.49%.
The Relative Value Index is an investable benchmark of the performance of the Alternative Investment Sub-Strategies Fixed Income Arbitrage, Long/Short Credit and Convertible Bond Arbitrage.
The Alternative Investment Indices target to offer investors an unbiased reference of the performance of alternative asset classes. Daily index prices are calculated by the Vienna Stock Exchange, and are also available via Reuters, Bloomberg and other data terminals.
Salus Alpha Group AG is a Swiss Alternative Investment expert and manages capital for institutional clients and High Net Worth Individuals since 2002. The Group was the first Asset Manager worldwide to introduce a synthetic fund of hedge funds as a UCITS fund in 2003.
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!
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – I recently conducted an interview with Colleen Sorrentino, CIO, and Charles M. Wright, CFA, of FoHF’s Advanced Strategies II, LP (AS II) as part of a manager interview to be featured on our HedgeCo.net Manager Database. I thought to publish some excerpts in advance.
On the topic of the FoHF’s positive 5 year track record, Wright said, "Our goal is to achieve 75 to 80% in the bull market and we have met that through the history of the fund, beating the S&P 500 about 8.54% last year. Our 5 year track record Feb 2004-2009 beat the S&P 500 by 35%."
As a multi-strategy fund with $36 million under management, a 1.50% management fee and a minimum initial investment of $250,000, AS II recently celebrated its 5 year track record this February.
"We are not afraid of volatility and our edge is in our long-short policy, we don’t use leverage as much as other funds." Sorrentino said, "AS II is a great fit for family offices, institution investors, foundations and high net worth individuals."
"Our strategy is combination of art and science," Sorrentino continued, "We put a lot of time into into our managers and their selection in order to generate maximum return. We are not a hot fund, moving from manager to manager, we do complete background checks at the start, following up with a focus on due diligence, meeting on site on an annual basis as well as with independent advisers."
AS II stays away from over-leveraged funds, with no leverage at the fund level. "We do not place money with hedge funds that invest a substantial portion of their assets in esoteric investments such as derivatives, structured investment vehicles, CDOs, or managers that utilize black box quantitative models. We have been managing funds of hedge fund portfolios since 1992. The Firm’s partners and employees maintain a substantial stake in AS II." the FoHF’s website states.
AS II’s parent company, Wall Street Access Advanced Strategies LLC (WSAAS), has been managing fund of hedge funds portfolios for over 15 years. WSAAS is also an affiliate of Wall Street Access, which is a New York Stock Exchange member. G&S Fund Services is Fund Administrator.
Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: alex@hedgeco.net
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!
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Singapore hedge fund manager, 3 Degrees Asset Management, is launching ADF Prime Ltd, a credit opportunities fund that will invest primarily in the performing debt obligations of Asian companies that have been mispriced as a result of the Global Financial Crisis.
3 Degrees also manages the award winning Asian Debt Fund, an Asian distressed debt fund that has been active since 2004.
In Asia, debt prices have corrected far more sharply than in the US and Europe. This is driven by technical factors, the fund manager says, as Asian investment banks unwind their portfolios, global hedge funds close their Asian operations, and capital is generally pulled from the region.
The new fund will capitalize on the systemic inefficiencies endemic to Asian credit markets. Due to the limited number of players, and the highly relationship‐driven nature of Asian markets, inefficiencies are being exaggerated by the global financial crisis.
Targeting quality companies that either have, or can generate, enough cash flow to repay maturing debt without dependence on capital markets, the fund seeks annual, unlevered net returns in excess of 25%.
3 Degrees has received numerous awards, including “Best Asian Distressed Debt Fund” and “Best Singapore Hedge Fund”. In 2007, Moe Ibrahim, the founder, was selected as one of 20 Rising Stars of Hedge Funds by Institutional Investor. ADF Prime will be co‐managed by Moe Ibrahim and Jeff Tolk.
ADF Prime is also available to institutional investors and ultra high net worth individuals via the Firm’s Managed Accounts platform.
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!
Reuters – Fund managers who buy U.S. life insurance policies to cash in the death benefits have predicted a bumper year in 2009 as investors seek uncorrelated alternatives to mainstream markets.
Supply is also is expected to increase as more individuals, stung by tumbling investment portfolios, could sell their policies at discounted prices.
Managers of funds investing in traded life policies (TLP) are forecasting that assets under management could as much as double as mandates pour in from other fund managers, hedge funds and high net-worth individuals seeking steady returns uncorrelated to equities and bonds.
WBT – U.S. stocks appeared headed for a rebound Tuesday as investors awaited the start of a two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve that is widely expected to bring another reduction in interest rates.
The sharp rise in stock market futures contracts Tuesday was to be expected given the extreme volatility that has been the hallmark of Wall Street’s behavior for more than a month. At the same time, the sometimes light volume of futures trading can make it difficult to determine the market’s overall mood. In recent weeks, stock futures have moved solidly in one direction, while actual trading was more moderate after the opening bell.
A higher open would come as casualties from the global crisis piled up Tuesday: Whirlpool Corp. said it will cut about 5,000 jobs by the end of 2009, Iceland said it needs $6 billion and Germany said Pakistan must secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund within a week.
Hedge funds reduced their bets in the past year that U.S. stocks would gain as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined and credit conditions tightened, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said.
Such wagers accounted for 32 percent of funds’ equity investments as of June 30, compared with 45 percent a year earlier, analysts led by David Kostin said in an Aug. 21 report.
Hedge funds cut their holdings in financial, consumer and industrial companies, while investments in utilities, telecom services and materials were little changed in the period, Goldman said. Bets that financial stocks would fall accounted for 24 percent of holdings at the end of June; the previous year, 32 percent of funds’ portfolios wagered that financials would rise, the bank said.
Goldman analyzed quarterly filings of 745 hedge funds with combined equity holdings valued at $881 billion. The filings exclude trades using options and futures contracts as well as indexes that may offset funds’ equity holdings. The filings also exclude holdings of companies not based in the U.S.
