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.
NYT – James H. Simons, one of the most respected money managers in the hedge fund industry, told investors Thursday he planned to step down from day-to-day management of Renaissance Technologies, the firm he founded over 30 years ago.
Mr. Simons, 71, plans to become the nonexecutive chairman of Renaissance on Jan. 1 but will remain the firm’s majority shareholder and participate in all major corporate decisions, he said in a letter to investors.
Peter Brown and Robert Mercer, who have been co-presidents of the firm, will be elevated to co-chief executives and have responsibility for the firm’s 300 employees.
Press Release – Cogent Consulting LLC today announced a free version of its HedgeTrak web-based broker review and evaluation service for hedge funds. HedgeTrak Lite enables hedge funds to properly value trading and research services provided by their brokerage firms, in anticipation of upcoming registration requirements, and to meet the competitive requirements demanded by clients.
HedgeTrak Lite is being released in the wake of a new generation of hedge funds being launched, demands for increased transparency around the use of research and the commission sharing arrangements used to pay for them, and the SEC’s proposed registration requirements for hedge funds. HedgeTrak Lite is based on the full version of Cogent’s industry leading solutions HedgeTrak and ResearchTrak which are used by money managers to evaluate services provided by more than 600 brokers and third party research providers worldwide. Cogent currently supports more than 100 client sites for firms managing in excess of $10 trillion.
Triangle Business Journal – Chapel Hill, which over the years has become the home base of choice for money managers of all stripes, has a new hedge fund.
Raven Rock Capital launched September 1 with at least $7.6 million under management, according to a Securities & Exchange Commission filing. The online publication Hedge Fund Alert put the figure at between $10 million and $20 million.
Reuters – Harvard University’s multibillion dollar endowment is adopting a strategy of selling off some holdings in hedge funds, private-equity firms and other money managers to bring more money under the control of internal investing staff over the next few years, the Wall Street Journal said.
Jane Mendillo, head of Harvard endowment, told the paper the university’s move would allow it to be more nimble, have better transparency into the portfolio and more liquidity.
Reuters – Harvard University’s multibillion dollar endowment is adopting a strategy of selling off some holdings in hedge funds, private-equity firms and other money managers to bring more money under the control of internal investing staff over the next few years, the Wall Street Journal said.
Jane Mendillo, head of Harvard endowment, told the paper the university’s move would allow it to be more nimble, have better transparency into the portfolio and more liquidity.
New York Times – Despite the industry’s record losses in 2008, hedge funds generally aren’t lowering their fees without concessions from investors, such as longer lock-up periods and commitments of at least $100 million, money managers and consultants tell Bloomberg News.
While Larry Powell, deputy investment chief for the $16 billion Utah Retirement Systems, could crow at a June industry dinner in New York that more than half of Utah’s 40 hedge-fund managers agreed to changes in their fees, with four adopting his recommendations, top-performing managers haven’t adjusted yesteryear’s top-dollar fees, Bloomberg says.
Bloomberg – Man Group Plc, the largest publicly traded hedge-fund manager, rose as much as 4.5 percent in London trading after redemptions by institutional investors slowed.
Pension plans, endowments and money managers pulled $1.8 billion on July 1, half the $3.6 billion of redemptions three months earlier, London-based Man Group said in a statement today. The stock was up 1.7 percent at 243.25 pence as of 9:05 a.m.
CNN Money – Money managers must offer new portfolios and keep cutting costs to survive in an era where frightened investors prefer safer fixed-income funds to stock and hedge funds, a report released Monday showed.
Badly bruised by last year’s financial crisis when tumbling markets and investor redemptions shrank global assets 18 percent to $48.6 trillion, asset managers face more tough times in 2009 and the years ahead, The Boston Consulting Group wrote in its seventh annual asset management industry survey.
Profits will shrivel again, likely falling to 30 percent or less this year from 34 percent at the end of 2008 and 38 percent at the end of 2007, the consultants forecast.
Bloomberg – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking information from more than two dozen pension funds, placement agents and other companies as it steps up an investigation into whether money managers made improper payments to win business.
“The SEC is interested in finders’ fees and other payments,” spokesman John Nester said late yesterday. The SEC contacted pension-fund managers, agents that line up business for investment advisers and “other intermediaries,” he said.
Reuters – Money managers are flooding the market with exchange-traded funds (ETF) and mutual funds designed to give even the smallest of investors access to hedge fund returns without all the usual restrictions or hefty fees.
IndexIQ Advisors, a start-up firm that seeks to replicate hedge fund performance, on Tuesday launched the index-based IQ Hedge Macro Strategy Tracker ETF, about 75 percent focused on emerging markets and 25 percent on global trends. The offering joins the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF, which began trading in March and is up 17 percent.
BusinessWeek – For years pension funds, university endowments, and other big investors essentially wrote blank checks to hedge funds and private equity firms. They readily paid stiff fees and agreed to onerous restrictions. Investors had no choice if they wanted access to the money managers and outsize gains.
All that is changing. With returns dismal and cash scarce, investors are demanding—and winning—concessions on everything from cost to oversight. "The balance of power has shifted," says a private equity executive.
In recent months some of the biggest institutional investors, including the $175 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System, have gathered at closed-door meetings in New York and Toronto to talk about ways they might flex their newfound muscle. A number of public pensions, such as the $16 billion Utah Retirement System, have pushed firms publicly to ease terms.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – The Connecticut-based hedge fund manager who had his assets frozen by the SEC last month, Francesco Rusciano, was released to the custody of his parents on a $500,000 bond after a federal court hearing.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Francesco Rusciano solicited investments for two hedge funds, Ponta Negra Fund I, LLC and Ponta Negra Offshore Fund I, LTD, which is the principal of Ponta Negra Group, LLC, located at his residence in Stamford, Conn.
The hedge fund manager also sent out an e-mail to investors saying that his Ponta Negra hedge funds had $59 million in assets under management as of February 2009. According to the SEC’s complaint, the hedge funds had less than $10 million.
The SEC says that Rusciano forged brokerage account statements to make it appear that another hedge fund account had more than $43 million in assets, when it had less than $3 million.
"Rusciano went to great lengths to deceive investors, and the SEC is committed to ensuring that money managers who provide inaccurate information to investors and fail to uphold their fiduciary duties are held responsible for their misconduct," said Rose Romero, Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office.
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