West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) -  FSA regulated asset manager, Silk Invest Ltd, successfully launched the African Lions Fund and the Arab Falcons Fund, which helped the hedge fund manager achieve its goals in becoming a specialist in Arab and African equities.

The Luxembourg domiciled African Lions fund and Arab Falcons fund went live on 27th March with an NAV of Euro 100 ($135.2). The portfolio managers, based in London, Cairo, Casablanca and Johannesburg, plan to build up the portfolio up cautiously, taking advantage of liquidity opportunities.

"Raising assets in these markets proved extremely challenging," Zin Bekkali, CEO of Silk Invest said, "Ultimately, the strength of our investment proposition, and the valuation of the markets we specialise, convinced investors to support the launch."

African and Arab markets account for 4% of worldwide market capitalization and this is projected to increase as the region is set to further grow its share of the world’s GDP.

Baldwin Berges, director of business development, observed that “the funds should grow in size fairly rapidly. Investors understand well our proposition and we have built a pitch book in excess of Euro 500 million ($676.2 million). Many of these investors have committed to invest in our funds, once the fund is up and running.”

Daniel Broby, the Chief Investment Officer of Silk Invest says that the launch “is perfectly timed from an investor perspective. There is now immense opportunity in frontier markets of the dramatic declines caused by the credit crisis.”

Alex Akesson

Tags: accredited-investors, african lions, arab markets, asset-manager, broby, chief-investment-officer, credit-crisis, dramatic declines, hedge-fund-manager, hedgeco, immense opportunity, investment proposition, launch, market capitalization, palm-beach, pitch book, portfolio-managers, worldwide market

West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Some analysts are saying that the mighty New York Times might be headed down the same path as the bankrupt Tribune Company, owner of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.

Hedge fund shareholders, Harbinger Capital Partners Funds and Firebrand Partners own 19% of the NYT Company, and the outlook does not look good. NYT is approximately $1 billion in debt, the result of its move to a new building on Eighth Avenue a couple of years ago.

Harbinger Capital Partners has grown to one of the 15 largest hedge funds, by assets, in America. Firebrand Partners is an operational activist firm that invests in publicly-traded companies whose brand equity represents significant upside relative to their market capitalization.

The NYT Company includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe and 15 other daily newspapers.

Alex Akesson

Tags: accredited-investors, boston globe, brand equity, chicago tribune, daily-newspapers, firebrand-partners, fund shareholders, harbinger, harbinger capital partners, hedgeco, international-herald-tribune, los angeles times, market capitalization, new york times, nyt, partners funds, tribune company

West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – After being awarded $2.5 billion in allocation for investment in private equity, hedge fund manager Finvest Asset Management, announced the launch of a private equity initiative. Finvest is also separately dedicating $300 million to a fund of funds.

The $2.5 billion capital allocation to Finvest is being made by a European family office seeking to increase its exposure in the private equity space.

Targeting companies which are listed on the main boards in Northern American and European markets, the fund will seek to allocate capital to between 25 and 100 companies, with each allocation ranging in a value of between $10 million and $250 million.

The new fund’s time horizon will be between 3-5 years, although liquidity will be an important criterion assessing risk. Companies below a $200 million market capitalization will not be discounted, however, the fund will be favorably disposed towards companies with higher market capitalization levels, and which exhibit a high percentage of outstanding shares. The model which is being applied by Finvest is slightly different to the typical private equity structure, which generally would consider stakes in private companies which are not listed and perhaps seek to extract value through an IPO.

The team at the Finvest Private Equity fund indicated that their due diligence turn around period is quite aggressive. "While we are not looking to cut corners on due diligence, we are looking to fast track the allocation process, so that we can take advantage of a market which has been beaten to shreds," said Finvest portfolio strategist Mayer Greenwald.

"We do not have an agenda to take control or necessarily secure a controlling interest in the firm. We typically would base an interest in a company on the fact that management know what they are doing, and understand their area of endeavor better than others. Our philosophy is to provide company management with additional capital, and give them the opportunity to continue running with the ball. Obviously, we appreciate regular feedback on progress or challenges which are being faced in the industry," Greenwald concluded.

Alex Akesson

Tags: capital allocation, controlling interest, due diligence, equity hedge, equity initiative, equity structure, european markets, greenwald, hedge-fund-manager, hedgeco, launch, market capitalization, outstanding shares, palm-beach, portfolio strategist, private equity fund, risk companies, shreds, time-horizon