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.
Detroit Free Press – In our view, incessant selling is coming from the liquidation of hedge funds, and it is the new element in the securities markets that no one has experienced before.
This new source of selling has added to the normal amount of selling pressure generated by pessimistic investors, and in a confusing way. Hard information is tough to come by, but a better understanding can be achieved by arranging what we know.
In round numbers, the hedge fund industry peaked at some $1.6 trillion in assets. By the nature of the beast, that asset base is composed of trading strategies using stocks, bonds, options, futures, credit default swaps, you name it.
The funds are also leveraged 1.4 times as an industry average. So, $1.6 trillion becomes $2.25 trillion on a working basis. It is also to be noted that for every position in a trade, someone is on the other side of it. By definition, then, one part of the trade is right, and the other is wrong.
Reuters – General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC are considering accepting a pre-arranged bankruptcy as the last-resort price of getting a multi billion dollar government bailout, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with internal discussions.
In response to automakers’ bailout plea, staff for three members of Congress have asked restructuring experts if a pre-arranged bankruptcy — negotiated with workers, creditors and lenders — could be used to reorganize the sector without liquidation, Bloomberg said.
General Motors and Chrysler could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.
Industry executives and analysts say the immediate carnage from a bankruptcy of General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co or Chrysler would spread throughout an industry that is bleeding cash in a global slowdown.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Following in the footsteps of other large hedge funds trying to weather the credit crunch, Blue Mountain Capital Management has suspended withdraws on its $3.1 billion fund.
The Blue Mountain Credit Alternatives Fund lost a little over 2 percent in October, while posting admirable returns the rest of the year. The firm decided to halt redemptions hoping they won’t have to sell assets in the current falling credit markets.
“We are not comfortable with this state of affairs,” Feldstein wrote in a letter to investors obtained by Bloomberg News. “If we were to unwind or sell positions to meet current redemptions, the severe liquidation costs would be borne inequitably by the remaining investors.”
The move comes as a shock to some, since the Credit Alternatives Fund has posted an average return of over 45 percent since its inception in 2003. The firm’s other funds aren’t faring too bad either, with its $1.1 billion equity alternatives fund losing only 0.9 percent and its $400 million BlueCorr Fund boasting returns of 21.3 percent, according to the letter. Hedge funds as a whole have had their worst year ever, losing 20 percent according to the Chicago-based HFRX Global Index.
Investors were given until November 10 to decide whether they wanted to redeem their current investment or exchange it for any one or more of three share classes. If they choose to stay, the lock up provisions of the fund will be waived.
For an industry that was once thought to manage close to $3 trillion in the beginning of 2008, assets are falling off sharply according to an estimate by Morgan Stanley, who says that number might drop to $1.3 trillion.
Fears of liquidity crunches have forced investors to rush to redeem their cash, causing several notable funds to freeze up capital this year. Last week, Deephaven Capital Management froze their $1.6 billion fund after investors rushed to withdraw 30 percent of their capital. Meanwhile, RAB took a more drastic route, opting for a three year lock-up in their Special Situations Fund after losing half of its value this year.
“This level of redemptions in the current market environment forces the question of whether such redemptions can be processed in the ordinary course without disadvantaging both continuing and later redeeming investors,” explained Deephaven CEO Colin Smith in his letter to investors.
It is unclear how long Blue Mountain Capital plans on restricting access to redemptions. The company manages an estimated $5.5 billion from locations in New York and London.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
Reuters – Blue Mountain Capital Management LLC has temporarily halted redemptions at its largest hedge fund after clients asked to withdraw money despite its "distinguished" performance, according to a letter to its investors.
New York and London-based Blue Mountain said in the letter it had come up with a "redemption and recapitalization plan" to protect all its investors in the $3.1 billion Blue Mountain Credit Alternatives Fund.
The fund is down 2.4 percent year-to-date, the letter said, far less than the average fund which has lost 20 percent this year. Blue Mountain has a total of $5.5 billion assets under management.
The pressure on the credit fund came from some large fund-of-fund investors, "themselves facing liquidity pressures from their own investors," submitting significant redemption notices, the letter said.
"If we were to unwind or sell positions to meet current redemptions, the severe liquidation costs would be borne inequitably by the remaining investors," wrote CEO Andrew Feldstein in the letter, seen by Reuters.
New Yorker – “Death by a thousand cuts.” “Fire-sale liquidation.” “A vortex of selling.” No matter how people described the market collapse that hit a month ago, the message was the same: it felt like there was nowhere to go but down, and it felt like we’d be going there forever. (Given last week’s dip, it still does.)
Beginning on September 29th, the U.S. stock market fell on nine of the next ten trading days, plummeting twenty-six per cent; then, after a short, sharp rally, it lost ten per cent more in less than two days.
Explanations for the crash often focussed on the hysteria and panic that periodically seem to seize investors. But the madness of crowds wasn’t the whole story. In a healthy market, there are countercyclical forces—mechanisms and institutions that go against the general market trend and encourage diversity of thinking—that make it harder for feedback loops and vicious cycles to take hold. Lately, though, many of these institutions and mechanisms have become procyclical: instead of countering trends, they amplify them.
24/7 Wall St. – The idea of bailing out hedge funds or helping them in any way runs counter to the best instincts of most citizens, regulators, and law makers. The wealthy do not need a Good Samaritan.
Allowing hedge funds to fail is likely to accelerate and put pressure on whatever forces are in place that are moving down the markets. By some estimates, hedge funds control over $2 trillion. Most of the investments they have made involve some level of leverage. As those investments lose their value in the crisis, hedge funds have few resources to pay back the money which has created that leverage..
According to The Wall Street Journal industry experts are "expecting between 10% and 20% of the hedge-fund industry’s assets to be withdrawn by year end." That means a lot of investments will be sold off, and many of those will be stocks. An equity market recovery could certainly be undermined by that level of liquidation.
Bloomberg – RAB Capital Plc is trying to freeze client redemptions for three years to avoid liquidation of its flagship hedge fund, which lost almost half its value this year.
RAB fell as much as 14 percent in London trading after it said investors have until Sept. 29 to vote on the plan, which would cut fees and postpone redemptions until Oct. 3, 2011.
Special Situations, RAB’s largest fund, has lost more than $1 billion this year from investments in Northern Rock Plc, a mortgage lender nationalized by the U.K. government, and small natural-resources companies such as Oxus Gold Plc, a miner down 68 percent this year. RAB Chief Executive Officer Philip Richards stepped down this month to focus on the fund, once one of London’s best performers, returning 1,475 percent in 2003.
“If the investors reject the proposal, the group would then have to liquidate the portfolio,” said Irfan Younus, an analyst at NCB Stockbrokers in London who has a “reduce” rating on the stock. “In a worst-case scenario, unwinding of this could pose a significant threat to the franchise.”
RAB plans to liquidate the investments if it’s unable to get investor support for the new structure, the company said. It didn’t disclose how many investors had to approve the changes.
We “regret the impact that the performance will have on investors,” Richards said in a statement. “We believe that the underlying thesis of investment in early-stage natural resources is one that will repay patient investors over time.”
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
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds! Be sure to check out our sister sites. For more information, visit www.hedgeconetworks.com
Times Online- Hedge funds are continuing to feel the full force of the credit crunch, with 170 funds forced into liquidation during the first quarter, a Chicago research firm reported yesterday.
The bleak figures published by Hedge Fund Research (HFR) also showed that fewer funds were launched over the three-month period than at any time since 2000.
Publication of the report came as speculation was mounting that several London hedge funds are sitting on heavy losses after being caught on the wrong side of a sharp change in sentiment about future interest rates in the past fortnight.
