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.
Bloomberg – Hedge funds and other tenants in London’s Mayfair and St. James’s district, the world’s second- most expensive business location, face a doubling in property taxes in the next five years, real estate brokers said.
Tenants in central London may start demanding rent cuts to compensate for municipal business property taxes, known as “rates,” that may increase to 50 pounds ($81.50) a square foot by 2014 from 25 pounds now, according to adviser Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.
The tax, reset to property rental values in April 2008, will rise even as rents in London’s West End area are tumbling. Since that reference date, prime rents have fallen 46 percent to 58.50 pounds a square foot after inclusion of rent-free incentives, JLL said. The financial crisis and the recession have cut demand from financial services firms, which account for 60 percent of tenant seeking to locate in the district.
Media Monitors Network – "The US Federal Reserve Bank, a private institution, is printing $1 trillion to buy toxic bonds to shore up the economy. Will this work? Perhaps temporarily but most economists predict a sharp decline in the value of the dollar within the next five years. With too many dollars in circulation and a massive debt, the dollar will fall in value vis-à-vis other currencies. The Chinese have already called for a new global reserve currency to replace the dollar as it did to the British pound after the Second World War."
Seeking Alpha – The one group of investors that’s been vilified more than any other by the business press and government officials alike in 2008? Hedge fund managers.
After years of rapid growth in terms of both assets and numbers of funds in operation, the hedge fund industry has taken a PR black eye this year. Media reports would have you believe that the industry is about to collapse in size, see its revenue drop dramatically through fee reductions and become heavily regulated to protect unsuspecting investors from another Bernie Madoff scam.
Hedge funds certainly make an easy target. They’ve had a bad year, along with every other retail and institutional investor. But the industry is about to grow dramatically over the next five years. This coming year will mark the beginning of the next wave of this industry’s growth.
