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 – Abax Global Capital Ltd., a Hong Kong-based hedge fund manager backed by Morgan Stanley, plans to start a private equity fund in China that invests in companies making environmentally friendly products such as clean energy.
The yuan-denominated fund aims to raise about 500 million yuan ($73 million) from Chinese investors by its first close in two months, Donald Yang, Abax’s Hong Kong-based president, said in a phone interview Aug. 21. It will be sponsored by a large Chinese financial institution, whose name he declined to reveal because of pending regulatory reviews of the plan.
Wall Street Journal Blogs – From its 17th-floor offices in the New Beijing Poly Plaza building, the monolithic landmark commissioned by the state-owned conglomerate China Poly Group Corp., China’s massive sovereign-wealth fund has established itself as a prime destination for overseas hedge-fund managers hoping to come home with big checks in their pockets.
Droves of hedge-fund and private-equity fund managers have made the pilgrimage since last year, when China Investment Corp. moved into its new offices, which is itself just two years old.
CIC, established in 2007, wields control over $200 billion, making it one of the world’s youngest but biggest sovereign-wealth funds. It also is emerging as one of the new hedge-fund emperors, a source of fresh cash for an industry thirsty for it.
AltAssets – Florida’s State Board of Administration has launched a $250m growth capital fund of funds that will invest in technology and growth-related businesses with a presence in the US state.
The Florida Growth Fund, to be managed by private equity fund of funds manager Hamilton Lane, will invest on behalf of the Florida Retirement System Pension Fund.
“Florida needs leadership to develop economic growth, because this is one of the biggest issues currently facing our state,” said Attorney General McCollum, one of the SBA’s Trustees. “We have to find a balanced way to stimulate our economy and solve these problems rather than simply relying on federal handouts.”
AltAssets – NB Private Equity Partners, the private equity fund of funds that emerged from failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers, is looking to list its shares on the Specialist Fund Market of the London Stock Exchange.
The company will retain its current listing on Euronext Amsterdam and so, if successful, will trade in both London and Amsterdam.
NBPE is not offering any new Shares or other securities in connection with the listing.
Forbes – Plummeting stock prices in Eastern European should have made the region full of rich pickings for Western investors, but hedge funds and private equity firms have been sitting on the side lines for the last few months, fearful that things would continue to deteriorate. Now the tide is finally changing, and the some of the first investors dipping their toes back in are from the private-equity sphere.
Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali has just put 300 million euros ($419.8 million) into a joint private-equity fund to invest in Central and Eastern Europe. It is launching the 615.0 million euro ($874.7 million) fund with PPF Group of the Czech Republic, which has already invested some 400.0 million euros ($568.9 million) into the region, focusing on mid-cap companies, a PPF spokesman said.
New York Times Blogs – John Paulson, the hedge fund manager who reaped a windfall betting against the U.S. housing market before the credit crunch, is now hoping to ride to riches on the property industry’s recovery, The Telegraph reported.
Mr. Paulson’s firm, Paulson & Company, is in the early stages of raising money for a new private equity fund, Paulson Real Estate Recovery Fund, the newspaper said.
Reuters – U.S. hedge fund Steel Partners said it has urged shareholders of loss-making wig maker Aderans Holdings to reject an offer by Japanese private equity fund Unison Capital to buy Aderans shares.
Japan’s Aderans said last month it supported Unison Capital’s bid for at least a 35 percent stake in Aderans to replace top shareholder Steel Partners, which has been pushing for management changes.
Unison Capital’s proposed offer is "inadequate and coercive", Steel Partners said in a statement on Monday.
GlobeSt.com – Locally based direct private lender Silo Financial Corp. has formed an alliance with a New York City-based private equity fund to concentrate on non-performing loans, says Silo founder Jonathan Daniel. The fund has earmarked $100 million "for opportunistic real estate lending, acquiring non-performing loans, lending against nonperforming loans and potentially even doing some strategic preferred equity," Daniel tells GlobeSt.com.
The time is ripe for such a venture, in the view of Daniel and the founders of KPO Ventures, two former partners at multi-billion-dollar hedge funds. "Obviously, the current environment is very conducive for private lending, due to the fact that there’s no capital out there," says Daniel.
American Chronicle – Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners has raised $1.14 billion in commitments for its new private equity fund of funds, Morgan Stanley Private Markets Fund IV.
The capital raised for the new fund represents a nearly 15% increase over that of Morgan Stanley Private Markets Fund III, which was closed in 2006, the company said.
AltAssets – Abbott Capital Management, a US-based independent investment manager, announced today that it has met its target for the Abbott Capital Private Equity Fund VI, having raised over $1bn.
Like Abbott’s previous funds, the investment strategy for ACE VI is to invest in a range of venture capital and growth equity, buy-out and special situations funds within the US and other developed markets.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Goldman Sachs Asset Management announced today that it has raised its fifth dedicated private equity secondaries fund, GS Vintage Fund V, with approximately $5.5 billion in capital commitments.
GS Vintage Fund V will focus primarily on acquiring portfolios of private equity assets, including limited partnership interests in private equity funds, as well as providing unique liquidity and capital solutions to both limited partners and general partners around the world.
The GS Vintage Funds evaluate opportunities ranging from $1 million to over $1 billion in size, across all private equity strategies and geographies. As one of the largest investors in the secondary market for private equity, the GS Vintage Funds draw on Goldman Sachs’ global sourcing network, due diligence capabilities, risk management expertise, and extensive private equity relationships.
GS Vintage Fund V is the latest fund raised by the Alternative Investments & Manager Selection (AIMS) Group of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. With more than 200 professionals worldwide, the AIMS Group provides investors diversified and customized portfolio solutions, across traditional long-only managers, hedge funds, and private equity funds around the world. To date, the private equity strategies of the AIMS Group represent more than $32 billion of capital commitments across private equity fund-of-funds, secondary market funds and co-investment vehicles.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management is the asset management arm of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), which manages $779 billion as of November 28, 2008. Goldman Sachs Asset Management has been providing discretionary investment advisory services since 1989 and has investment professionals in all major financial centers around the world. The company offers investment strategies across a broad range of asset classes to institutional and individual clients globally. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is a leading global financial services firm providing investment banking, securities and investment management services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Two high-ranking men who worked in the New York State comptroller’s office were arrested yesterday after it was discovered they took millions of dollars in kickbacks from private equity and hedge funds, said Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
David Loglisci, who was the top investment officer of the state’s $122 billion pension fund, along with Henry Morris, who fund-raised for former comptroller Alan Hevesi, were nailed in a 123-count indictment, which included charges of money laundering, securities fraud and bribery.
It was discovered that over 20 transactions made by the pension fund involved kickbacks, with five of those coming from the renowned private equity fund The Carlyle Group.
Morris, who was released after posting a $1 million cash bail, allegedly received $13 million from The Carlyle Group, from investments that totaled $730 million.
“Morris used the fund as his own piggy bank and took approximately $30 million in fees for himself and his business partners on investments which Morris himself had a role in approving,” Cuomo said.
Lawyers for both men contend their clients are innocent, saying that all of the transactions benefited the pension fund and were agreed upon by outside financial institutions. The Carlyle Group has stated they have “fully cooperated with the New York Attorney General’s Office and is not a target of the investigation.”
If convicted, both men could face a life sentence in prison.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
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