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KPR Capital Limited announces the launch of the KPR Diamond Fund. The fund offers investors a unique access to physical diamonds capitalising on the price appreciation of top quality colourless diamonds.
The Fund aims to provide returns which are not correlated with traditional asset classes, act as a hedge against inflation and benefit from the supply/demand imbalance over the long term. The fund is part of KPR Fund SPC, a Cayman Islands open-ended investment company.
The investment manager has engaged a team of diamond industry experts that have in-depth knowledge and industry insight of the diamond market.
The fund’s investment adviser is Goldwinds Asset Management Limited, a London based asset management firm.
Giovanni Pennetta, CEO of Goldwinds Asset Management, said:
“The long term outlook for diamonds is robust. We are confident that this fund will provide the means for investors to diversify their portfolio and gain exposure to physical diamonds in a cost-efficient way. We see this as a huge investment opportunity that investors should not miss.”
The fund is open to investors in February and will launch on the 2nd March 2009. The fund has a minimum investment of US$ 250,000. Investors in the fund may benefit from the option to purchase stones on selected diamond sales by the fund at a wholesale price. The Diamond Segregated Portfolio may be offered, sold or transferred directly or indirectly to Non US Taxpayers and US Tax-exempt investors. US Taxpayers may invest in interest of the Partnership, KPR Diamond Fund L.P.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Alternative investment manager, Investcorp, sponsored a group of Bahraini students from the Crown Prince’s International Scholarship Program (CPISP), to spend a day at Investcorp’s London office, meeting and questioning senior managers and learning about hedge funds and other alternative investments.
As a global operator with strong roots in the Gulf region, Investcorp was of great interest to the group. Presentations on Investcorp’s various business areas were made by Carsten Hagenbucher, who presented on private equity; Jonathan Feeney, who spoke on hedge funds, and Alex Lien, who discussed technology investment.
"The Crown Prince’s International Scholarship Program should be congratulated on providing such an exceptional opportunity for young Bahraini students to take places in top international Universities and Colleges." Investcorp President and Chief Operating Officer, Gary Long, said, "Investcorp is very proud to continue its support of the program."
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – The recent wave of scandal related to hedge funds and funds of funds has made investors think twice about investing in self-administrated funds, see ‘Andrew Schneider on Nadel Funds’.
Dermot Butler, Chairman of alternative fund administrator, Custom House Group, said, “In today’s new investment environment, more than ever hedge funds and funds-of-funds must have independent outside administrators as a foundation to help rebuild investor confidence and attract new investment capital.”
Fund administrators, such as the $35 billion Custom House Group, provide a range of services to funds and fund-of-funds including (but not limited to), fund accounting, portfolio valuation, NAV calculation and shareholder services as well as anti-money laundering services and reconciliation services and record-keeping functions.
“In anything less than an independent fund administration relationship, there is at the very least a perception that a conflict of interest may exist that could prevent objective verification of a fund’s investment activities and even the existence of underlying assets in a given fund, let alone an objective and accurate valuation of the fund’s assets,” Butler said. “This perceived conflict may occur when an outside administrator is affiliated with a financial institution, with an investment manager, or when the administrator is associated with a hedge fund itself.”
“As stand-alone companies, independent administrators have no affiliations to any outside financial entities, et ergo, no such conflicts exist,” he concluded.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Global alternative asset manager, GLG Partners LP, is teaming up with two of the founding partners of London hedge fund Pendragon Capital, Kaveh Sheibani and Julian Harvey Wood, to focus on event driven strategies.
In addition, GLG Partners LP will become the investment manager of the funds and accounts managed by Pendragon Capital. Before founding and managing Pendragon Capital with Gordon Lawson, Kaveh and Julian had worked together managing European proprietary trading in equities at Salomon Brothers (subsequently Citigroup).
"Kaveh and Julian are both highly experienced, event driven professionals and we expect that this team will greatly enhance and expand GLG’s own event driven franchise," Emmanuel Roman, Co-CEO of GLG commented.
As of September 30, 2008, GLG managed net AUM of over $17 billion.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – One of Hong Kong’s largest independent financial institutions, Sun Hung Kai Financial, is teaming up with hedge fund Paulson & Co, launching a distressed asset investment fund, according to a Reuters report.
John Paulson will act as the new $100 million offshore fund’s investment manager. The fund will only be open to professional investors and will feed into Paulson’s existing “recovery fund”, which invests in distressed financial assets, according to the report.
With approximately $29 billion in assets under management Paulson hedge fund has offices in New York, London and Hong Kong. Sun Hung Kai has over HK$50 billion ($6.45 billion) in assets under management, Reuters said, together, the funds plan to invest globally, but are focused mainly on the United States.
Rizal Wijono, Managing Director at SHK Fund Management Limited, the Sun Hung Kai’s asset management business said, “There is a lot of turmoil in the U.S., which is Paulson’s home market. They’ve been looking at a approximately 100 financial institutions who they think are going to be the survivors and the failures,” he said, “To date, they’re looking into Asia, but they haven’t identified potential positions yet. If you’re looking for maximum appreciation, the obvious place is the developed world.”
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Reuters – Blackstone Group LP said on Tuesday it plans to liquidate two hedge funds as a lack of outside investing amid tight credit markets will prevent them from getting big enough to be meaningful to the company.
The private equity firm plans to consolidate its distressed securities fund with GSO Capital Partners, a hedge fund manager it acquired in March for $10 billion.
Blackstone also plans to spin off Blackstone Kailix advisers, the investment manager of its long/short equities fund, to a management team led by Manish Mittal, who plans to form a new fund as an independent entity.
"We believe these measures will enable us to operate more profitably in the current environment," Chief Operating Officer Tony James said.
Times Online – A French investment manager who entrusted $2.1 billion (£1.42 billion) with Bernard Madoff was found dead in New York yesterday.
Thierry de la Villehuchet is thought to have committed suicide. He was found early yesterday morning in his office on Madison Avenue by a security guard.
He was found at his desk with both wrists slashed, with a box cutter (similar to a Stanley knife) and a bottle of sleeping pills on the floor, according to the Associated Press, citing NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.
Mr Villehuchet, 65, was the co-founder and chief executive of Access International Advisors, a fund management company.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – The Blackstone Group is making changes to the single manager hedge funds businesses within its Marketable Alternative Asset Management (MAAM) segment.
Blackstone is consolidating its distressed securities fund onto a single operating platform and moving Blackstone Kailix Advisors, the investment manager of Blackstone’s long/short equities fund, which will be spun off to its management team led by Manish Mittal, who intends to form a new fund as an independent entity.
Commenting on the changes, Tony James, President and Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone, said, “We believe these measures will enable us to operate more profitably in the current environment. Although these funds have performed better than the S&P 500 and other global market averages, we expect that adverse fundraising conditions in the hedge fund industry will prevent these two initiatives from scaling up to a size where they are meaningful for our business on a stand alone basis.”
Blackstone will be an investor in the new fund and investors in the existing fund will be offered the option of investing in the new fund on a preferred basis as their interests in the existing fund are liquidated. Although the existing fund has outperformed global equities measures, its size does not make it a core strategic business for Blackstone and it is not anticipated that this will change in the near term. The fund has not imposed any gates or liquidity restrictions on investors.
“We continue to have a significant commitment to the hedge fund business," James continued, "The current market turmoil with its associated dislocation of asset prices presents us with a multitude of compelling opportunities to invest capital. It is during times like these that we need to be especially disciplined to focus both our people and our capital on the largest opportunities.”
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