Reuters UK – Lansdowne Partners, one of the country’s largest hedge fund managers, has stopped accepting investments in its flagship fund with several other big funds set to follow suit, according to the Financial Times.

It said the 4.9 million pound Lansdowne UK equities fund, which is up around 18 percent so far this year, was no longer accepting new money after more than $1.2 billion (728 million pounds) was withdrawn in record redemptions.

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Tags: financial times, hedge-fund-managers, investments, lansdowne partners, new-money, redemptions, reuters, uk equities

Independent – Lansdowne Partners, the hedge fund, has made almost £13m from a short position in Aviva – and stands to make more if the beleaguered insurer announces a rights issue.

The London-based investor has had a net short position on 0.27 per cent of Aviva shares since 13 February. The stock has since tumbled to less than half its value and on Friday a trade could have netted the fund £12.7m.

Hedge funds which made a killing last year short-selling banks ahead of rights issues are turning their attention to the insurance sector.

Lansdowne last month made a possible profit of almost £2.7m from short positions in Old Mutual and Legal & General, and has continued with trades in Aviva and Prudential. Lansdowne is not alone. Rivals including Odey Asset Management, Diamondback Capital and Gilder Gagnon Howe have also been playing the game.

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Tags: 13 february, amp, asset-management, aviva, banks, gilder gagnon howe, insurance, insurance sector, insurer, investor, lansdowne partners, london, playing the game, prudential, rivals, short position, stock, trades

guardian.co.uk – A hedge fund admitted yesterday it had been speculating that shares in Barclays would fall. The admission by Lansdowne Partners that it had been shorting Barclays shares on Friday – a day when the bank lost a quarter of its value – came amid concern that hedge funds could be blamed for the dramatic slide in bank shares yesterday.

Hedge funds have to disclose any short positions – where they sell shares they do not own in the hope of buying them back at a lower price to make a profit – but are no longer banned from the practice after a change to the Financial Services Authority’s rules at the end of last week.

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Tags: admission, barclays, dramatic slide, financial-services-authority, guardian, lansdowne partners