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.
Cayman Net News – In a landmark decision the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal has settled various questions on the suspension of redemption. The ruling (December 12, 2008) in the Strategic Turnaround Master Partnership (based in New York) versus Culross Global case specifically defined the meaning of redemption in an investment fund context and at what point a member is actually redeemed from an investment fund.
After examining the articles of association, the Court of Appeal found redemption did not take place on the redemption date but was a process which was not completed until the member’s name was removed from the register of members and the member’s shares were available for re-issue.
Given the investment climate and the rash of redemption requests, the court’s decision is important to directors, administrators, auditors, legal advisers and other third parties involved in the determination of the rights and liabilities of investment funds and investors.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Gabriel Capital and founder Ezra Merkin have been sued for their exposure to Ponzi-schemer Bernard Madoff by a disdained investor.
Scott Berrie, who has $500,000 tied up in one of Gabriel’s funds, claims that Gabriel lied to investors when they marketed that they hold a “diverse portfolio of securities,” which “falsely implied that the general partner was actively pursuing the partnership’s strategy in a prudent manner by using numerous and diverse investments.”
Berrie also alleges that Merkin, who heads up GMC financing arm GMAC LLC, neglected at least 27 percent of its investments, the chunk of which was invested with Madoff.
Berrie filed a class-action lawsuit yesterday in a federal court in Manhattan.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
CNBC – The Wall Street fallout is having aftershocks throughout the economy, but believe it or not, the entertainment industry is having no problem securing bank-financed credit.
Sure, it’s not boom time, but the fact that media companies are able to attract financing is impressive, and a testament to the fact that movie going is generally counter-cyclical.
On Friday the government was frantically putting together a bailout plan for the financial markets, while production houses attracted more investment. Last week Steven Spielberg secured $700 million in credit through JP Morgan to back his new production company in partnership with India’s Reliance Big Entertainment, from which he’s getting $500 million in equity.
Reuters – Hedge-fund pioneer Paul Tudor Jones and veteran stock picker James Pallotta are mulling changes to their 15-year partnership, including a possible parting of ways that could affect their $18 billion fund empire, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
A split between Pallotta and Jones, the veteran trader who started Tudor Investment Corp, would mark the end of one of the most successful and well-known hedge-fund duos in history, the paper said.
Jones has talked privately in recent weeks about the possibility of restructuring his firm in a way that could result in a separation with Pallotta, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the discussions.
New York Times- Christopher Cooper-Hohn and his wife, Jamie, follow a simple economic formula: he makes money, and she gives it away.
Mr. Cooper-Hohn runs the Children’s Investment Fund, or T.C.I., a successful — and controversial — hedge fund that has become a gadfly to corporate giants like CSX, the American railroad. Ms. Cooper-Hohn leads an affiliated charity, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, which uses some of the profits that T.C.I. earns to finance programs for underprivileged children.
The partnership has made the Cooper-Hohns the most generous philanthropists in Britain. Last weekend, their foundation reported a £439 million ($856 million) jump in funds for fiscal 2007, reflecting £324 million in donations from T.C.I. and the Cooper-Hohns.