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.
All Headline News – Hedge funds will require registering under a new proposal to regulate the market segment that lost $600 billion in 2008 due to financial crisis, an all time record.
Under the bill by two senators today would lead to the regulation of hedge funds by the Securities and Exchange Commission, a step that is considered to protect investors and prevent the U.S. financial system from further sinking into the recession.
The Hedge Fund Transparency Act, sponsored by Senator Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), was filed on Thursday amid the new administration’s initiative to overhaul some legislation of the regulatory system.
North by Northwestern – By the start of his 9 a.m. class, Weinberg freshman Brian Levin has begun watching his investments.
When the markets open, he checks his models to try to predict what will happen in the markets, and then starts formulating investment positions. He calls other professionals and traders on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade to see what they’re doing that day, or if there are any rumors going around the trading community. He adjusts his investment positions throughout the day until 3 p.m. when the equity market closes.
Levin has been investing since he was 13 years old. Three years ago, he took on clients and founded the hedge fund BDL Capital Advisors, which he still runs today — when he’s not in class. Levin has over forty clients, an office in Vernon Hills, IL, and a snazzy website. Despite the current economic downturn, 2008 was BDL Capital Adviser’s best year yet financially.
West Palm Beach, Dec 15, 2008 – Adding to its array of new and interactive features, HedgeCo.Net has unveiled the Hedge Fund blog platform, which provides both accredited investors and the general public the rare opportunity to view the world of hedge funds through the eyes of the industry experts themselves.
The HedgeCo.Net blogs provide a much anticipated compilation of expert analysis and opinion, while giving the user a detailed look into the minds and biases of industry gurus, which are all too often absent in mainstream media.
HedgeCo has already gathered a group of experts who will be contributing their timely knowledge to HedgeCo’s audience through the blogs. Topics will include everything from regulation issues and political influence, to due diligence procedures and tips on investing.
"Over the years HedgeCo.Net has worked towards promoting transparency in the Hedge Fund industry," explains HedgeCo Co-Founder Evan Rapoport. "The HedgeCo.Net database has gone a long way to provide simple communication between accredited investors and hedge funds. The Hedge Fund blogs further promote this idea by providing a way for the general public to get a glimpse into the lives of hedge fund professionals. The traffic and response we have gotten so far has been very positive."
To peruse the blogs or post a response, visit http://www.hedgeco.net/blogs.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Hedge funds may not be having their best year, but whoever said they lost their glamour obviously didn’t attend the HedgeCo Holiday Networking Event.
About 650 guests piled into Nikki Beach on Manhattan’s east side last Wednesday evening, drinking dirty martinis and partying into the early hours of the morning. For some, the event presented a sort of rare opportunity in the current times; a chance to network within the industry without the imminent reminder that nothing is guaranteed.
“For months, all you hear about is lagging numbers, layoffs and huge bailouts. Just for a night, I wanted everyone to forget all that. I think everyone was long overdue for a good time!” says Evan Rapoport, Co-Founder of HedgeCo Networks and organizer of the event.
"After a few hours of mingling, the tables that run down the middle of the place were transformed into a catwalk-type dance floor," said Cathy Eidorowicz, who also helped organize the event. "Everyone just kind of let loose and partied the night away, there was surprisingly a really good vibe in the air."
While some were there strictly to party, others used the event as a glorified job fair. With so many in the industry under one large white tent, it didn’t hurt to flash a resume while moods were merry. Especially when Wall Street job losses are expected to hit 48,000 by the end of next year
While hedge funds were once thought to manage around $3 trillion in assets, new estimates put that number closer to $1 trillion. Rapoport believes that although hedge funds have taken a hit, a stronger and more resilient industry is around the corner.
“The build-up is going to be much stronger," he said. Once we weed out the negative effects of over-leveraging, we are going to see a more stable, albeit smaller industry emerge.”
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
USA Today – It is last call for investors to ask for their money back from poorly performing hedge funds. Whether that is a bullish or bearish sign for battered stocks is anyone’s guess.
Wall Street hopes the passing of the Nov. 15 deadline — the last day for many investors to make a request to redeem hedge fund shares payable at year’s end — could mark the beginning of the end of "forced selling" by funds to raise cash. If the selling recedes, it could help lift some of the downside pressure on stocks. Forced selling has been blamed for sharp stock price swings and plunging asset values in the financial crisis.
Investors have redeemed an estimated $85 billion from hedge funds through the end of the third quarter, says Charles Gradante, co-founder of hedge fund adviser Hennessee Group.
Bloomberg – PXP Vietnam Asset Management, which oversees $225 million, plans to start a hedge fund by early next year as it seeks bargains in Asia’s second-worst-performing stock market, said co-founder Kevin Snowball.
The PXP Vietnam Value Fund will raise as much as $200 million to invest in undervalued stocks, Snowball said today.
PXP, the initials of Phan Xi Pang, Vietnam’s highest mountain, is betting that the stock market will recover as inflation eases and the nation’s trade deficit widens at a slower pace. The benchmark VN Index may double to 750 by the end of 2009, Snowball said.
“In the long term, the story’s intact,” Snowball, 47, said in an interview in Ho Chi Minh City. “As long as the government handles the development of the economy and the market correctly – - so far they’re doing a very good job — then I think we’re fine.”
Bloomberg – At 5-foot-4 and 48 years, Nissim “The Miracle” Tse is the shortest and oldest of 34 boxers signed up for this year’s Hong Kong Hedge Fund Fight Nite.
Calling himself “a financial warrior,” Tse likens boxing to his daytime job as a co-founder and head of trading for Hong Kong-based Pi Investment Management Ltd., a unit of London hedge fund manager RAB Capital Plc.
“It’s mental, it’s physical, it’s crazy, it’s stressful,” Tse said in an interview. “But it all happens very quickly, just like you are managing a hedge fund.”
The annual charity fight tonight, in its second year, takes place amid the most severe financial crisis since the 1930s and with the hedge fund industry bracing for its biggest annual loss since Hedge Fund Research Inc. started to keep data in 1990.
The fight night aims to raise HK$1 million ($129,000) to repair children’s facial deformities and combat crime and juvenile delinquency in low-income and immigrant communities. The event beat the same target last year.
TIMES – The ups and downs of the Dow are making Wall Street’s so-called "smart money" look dopey. Hedge funds lost nearly $300 billion due to bad investments in the first nine months of the year, according to an analysis of return data by TIME.com.
If the losses stand it would be by far the worst year for these funds, which are unregulated and open only to high-net worth investors, since their returns began being tracked in the mid-1970s. "It’s not going to be a good year," says Peter Laurelli, vice-president at HedgeFund.net. "We can be pretty sure of that."
The calculation does not include gains some of the funds may have made in Monday’s rally, but analysts say that won’t be nearly enough to erase the hundreds of billions of dollars the funds are down. "The losses should concern every investor because these are supposed to be the smartest guys out there," says Charles Gradante, who is the co-founder of hedge fund advisory firm Hennesse Group. "If they can’t manage their investments how is average person with a 401(k) supposed to cope?"
Reuters Paris – European hedge funds have had a bad week due to the market turmoil from the bailout of AIG and the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the co-founder of French fund of hedge fund manager ERAAM said on Thursday.
Paris-based ERAAM selects European hedge funds in which to invest its clients’ money and constantly monitors the performance of these hedge funds.
"This is a bad week. The driver of the market is not valuations any more. It’s just rumours and liquidity," said Cyril Julliard.
"Some could have been short on HBOS and long on Morgan Stanley," he added, referring to the British retail bank and U.S. investment bank.
Bloomberg – The brother of former Bayou Group LLC finance chief Daniel Marino, who is serving 20 years in prison, pleaded guilty to a federal charge that he helped conceal a $400 million fraud at the bankrupt hedge-fund firm.
Matthew Marino entered his guilty plea yesterday in U.S. District Court in White Plains, New York, federal prosecutors said. Marino faces as long as three years in prison when he’s sentenced on Dec. 4, according to prosecutors.
Marino admitted “that he knew a fraud was being perpetrated on Bayou investors,” U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said yesterday in a statement.
Daniel Marino was sentenced in January to 20 years in prison for defrauding investors. Bayou co-founder Samuel Israel is serving a 20-year prison term.
Bayou, based in Stamford, Connecticut, was among the biggest hedge-fund firms to come under federal scrutiny for missing money. Bayou filed for bankruptcy in May 2006, prompting lawsuits claiming it operated a Ponzi scheme that paid off old investors with money from new ones.
Defense attorney Eugene Riccio said yesterday in a phone interview that Matthew Marino pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony for failing to report the crime. Marino faces as long as 27 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, Riccio said. He declined to comment further.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Greenwich-based Andor Capital Management will liquidate its $2 billion hedge fund after posting losses due to unfavorable market conditions, following in the footsteps of many failed hedge funds this year.
Co-founder Daniel Benton announced the decision in a letter to investors this week while outlining a liquidation to start in October.
"My desire to devote more time to my family and other interests runs counter to the obligations of a hedge-fund manager who must be immersed in the markets in order to meet client expectations," Benton said in the letter. He also stated that he will be retiring from managing outside capital after 24 years in the business.
In 2004, Andor made headlines when Benton split from Co-Founder Christopher James. At that time, Andor held over $6 billion in assets and was just starting to experience turbulence after a period of enviable returns.
Benton, having been a technology investor at Pequot, built up high stakes in energy and commodities companies. However, the volatility associated with these companies has not translated well for many hedge funds invested in those sectors.
The hedge fund will continue to invest throughout August and September.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
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