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Reuters – JPMorgan Chase & Co plans to shut down its Principal Investment Management Group’s hedge-fund business and private-equity division, with the exception of a team that focuses on Asia, Bloomberg said, citing two people familiar with the plan.
Bob Case, the head of Principal Investments, may be given another post, the people told the news agency, adding that most of the group’s 150 employees will move to other parts of the firm.
Reuters – Fortress Investment Group LLC , one of the few publicly traded U.S. alternative asset managers, said on Monday its quarterly loss more than quadrupled, hurt by writedowns in some private equity funds.
The net loss was $140 million, or $1.50 per share, compared with a reported net loss of about $29 million, or 43 cents, a year earlier, New York-based Fortress said.
Results reflected a $265 million loss in principal investments. This included a $228 million for investments in private equity firms, a $27 million loss on investments in hedge funds, and $10 million of interest expenses.
Bloomberg – Tozai Investment Advisory Ltd., a Tokyo-based hedge fund adviser, is closing its business after market losses and investor redemptions cut its funds’ assets to zero from a peak of $70 million, a senior partner said.
The Cayman Island-based Trident Pacific Japan Absolute Return Fund, which Tozai advises, was closed last month, Angus McKinnon, senior partner at Tozai said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. The fund, launched in December 2004, invested in Japanese equities using a so-called long-short strategy that bets on rising and falling stock prices, McKinnon said.
Global hedge funds are bracing for the worst year on record as more than 80 firms liquidated hedge funds, segregated assets or limited withdrawals following the MSCI World Index’s 44 percent drop this year and tightening credit conditions. Citadel Investment Group LLC, the hedge-fund manager founded by Kenneth Griffin, said yesterday it will close its Tokyo office, eliminating 12 jobs.
