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.
Khaleej Times – Hedge fund assets may be on the rebound after a year of massive redemptions, Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Financial Officer David Viniar told analysts on Tuesday, although the prime brokerage business will remain under pressure.
“Assuming (hedge fund) performance stays OK — which it has been through the first half of this year — it feels like we are pretty much through the redemption cycle, and it actually looks like you are going to start to see some money flowing into hedge funds,” he said during a conference call.
The hedge fund business suffered record withdrawals at the end of 2008 as markets imploded, sending the industry’s assets under management down by about 40 percent.
Bloomberg – Crude oil was little changed near $60 a barrel in New York amid concerns the global recovery has yet to take root, postponing a rebound in demand for fuel.
Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators reduced their net-long position in New York in the week ended July 7, according to the latest data from regulators. Stocks dropped from Dubai to Taipei and Treasuries rose on speculation that government rescue measures have not taken effect.
“Bearish sentiment in the market is persisting,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London. “It’s weak, so a move to $58.30 is possible, but we should consolidate around there.”
Reuters – The current rebound in stock markets is a bear rally and could turn by September, according to hedge fund manager Hugh Hendry, who has recently cut exposure to agricultural stocks.
Hendry, who is partner and chief investment officer at Eclectica Asset Management, said that while stock markets have rallied in recent months on hopes for an economic upturn, developed economies are still heading for a 1930s-style depression.
"To date we are maintaining the profile of the economic contraction that we witnessed in the 1930s. Nothing as yet has changed that profile. It’s still a profile of concern to me," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the GAIM 2009 conference in Monaco.
Bloomberg – Commoditrade Inc. plans to introduce an energy hedge fund in the fourth quarter, complementing a fund that invests in industrial metals.
The new fund will use the relative-value strategy followed by the metals fund, Chief Executive Officer David Phipps said yesterday in a phone interview. He declined to comment on the performance of the metals fund, the AMCO Commodity Fund, which Georgetown, Grand Cayman-based Commoditrade bought in February.
Commoditrade and competitors are opening energy funds as oil futures listed in New York rebound from the worst slump ever. Galena Asset Management Ltd. started an energy hedge fund this month that it said may expand to more than $1 billion. Andrew Serotta, who worked for Vitol Group, aims to raise $100 million for an oil hedge fund called Logista Capital.
Opalesque – The Australian Fund Monitor (AFM) released last week its “March Absolute Return and Hedge Fund Review” report which showed that the strong rebound in equity markets both in Australia and overseas saw equity-based hedge funds managed in the region post not only their best returns this year, but for the past three years.
AFM took the results of all funds – including non-equity strategies such as Global Macro and Commodities, and including funds of funds, and found that all had posted the best result in March since the start of the Global Financial Crisis in 2007.
With the ASX posting an impressive rebound in March of over 7%, which continued in April, equity-based hedge funds (with 85% of funds results reported) returned 3.18%. Over the past 12 months, equity-based hedge funds returned a negative 13.20%, against the ASX 200 which lost 33.11% and the S&P500 which fell 39.68%.
Reuters – World stocks steadied on Friday but were still on track for a sixth consecutive week of gains, while the euro fell on worries about the region’s prospects.
MSCI‘s main world stock index was flat despite modest gains in Europe and a rebound in Japan. But the index was up 1.6 percent on the week, gaining around 28 percent since a March 9 low.
U.S. financial services firmState Street said evidence was building that big investors were buying into the rally, particularly in U.S. and emerging market stocks.
Bloomberg – The global hedge-fund industry lost $64 billion of assets in November, with an index tracking its performance declining for a sixth month as economies in Asia and Europe joined the U.S. in recession, Eurekahedge Pte said.
“It’s very clear that there is going to be significant consolidation in the hedge-fund industry,” said Duncan Smith, a partner in Hong Kong at Ogier, a firm that provides corporate and legal services to financial companies. “Conditions are quite difficult and that really goes without saying. Underlying liquidity is very hard for funds.”
Market declines contributed to $18 billion in net losses, while investor redemptions made up $46 billion, Singapore-based Eurekahedge said, based on preliminary figures taken from 41 percent of the funds it surveys. It said hedge-fund assets shrank by $110 billion to $1.65 trillion in October.
Bloomberg - The global hedge-fund industry lost $64 billion of assets in November, with an index tracking its performance declining for a sixth month as economies in Asia and Europe joined the U.S. in recession, Eurekahedge Pte said.
“It’s very clear that there is going to be significant consolidation in the hedge-fund industry,” said Duncan Smith, a partner in Hong Kong at Ogier, a firm that provides corporate and legal services to financial companies. “Conditions are quite difficult and that really goes without saying. Underlying liquidity is very hard for funds.”
Market declines contributed to $18 billion in net losses, while investor redemptions made up $46 billion, Singapore-based Eurekahedge said, based on preliminary figures taken from 41 percent of the funds it surveys. It said hedge-fund assets shrank by $110 billion to $1.65 trillion in October.
CNN Money – In another sign the financial crisis is hitting Asia’s once booming hedge-fund industry, Alexis Fosler, the head of Citigroup Inc.’s ( C) prime brokerage team in Singapore has left the company, two people familiar with the situation said Tuesday.
Fosler was leading a three-person team that was set up more than a year ago to serve hedge funds clients in the island. She had previously worked in the offshore banking industry based in the British Virgin Islands.
One person said Citigroup remains committed to the Singapore prime broking business despite Fosler’s departure.
Bloomberg – The global hedge fund industry lost $100 billion of assets in October, according to an estimate from Eurekahedge Pte, as firms including Sparx Group Co. and Man Group Plc were hammered by investor redemptions.
Funds fell an average 3.3 percent, based on preliminary figures from the Singapore-based data provider, as measured by the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index, which tracks the performance of more than 2,000 funds that invest globally. That compares with a 19 percent slide in the MSCI World Index last month.
The biggest market losses since the Great Depression and investor withdrawals hurt the $1.7 trillion hedge funds industry that manages largely unregulated pools of capital. The index of global funds has lost 11 percent this year, set for the worst performance since 2000 when Eurekahedge began tracking the data.
Times of India – Can the wealthy trust their wealth managers any more after losing 30 to 60% of their wealth during the current global financial crisis?
The world’s top banks including brands like Morgan Stanley, UBS, Barclays and Standard Chartered operating in Asia are desperately struggling to find a suitable answer to this question.
It is interesting to see the usually suave and self-confident community of private bankers looking dazed and fearful of survival. There is already a run on deposits with some of Asia’s wealthy pulling out money from accounts of private banks. The future looks dismal. Some of the world’s top banks have either gone bust or merged with others to stave off closure.
"Professional advisers have failed to prove their worth," Peter Flavel, senior managing director of The Standard Chartered Private Bank told a conference of wealth managers in Singapore on Friday. "The players have changed in a way that was unimaginable a few months back. They will continue to change," he said.
Reuters – Asian stocks plummeted, led by an 11 percent drop on Japan’s Nikkei, and oil prices dropped to a one-year low on Thursday as fears grew of a more protracted and sharp global slowdown than initially expected.
Major European stock markets were expected to open down as much as 5.9 percent, according to financial bookmakers, as investors anticipated poor corporate results in such an uncertain economic environment, while the dollar gained in a flight from risk.
Optimism about the stabilisation in money markets has been swept aside and widespread selling of global equities has resumed in earnest as the quarterly results season gets underway and reports trickle in about sharp losses at hedge funds.
"I think today there is just a combination of uncertainty and deleveraging in the market," said Amar Gill, head of thematic research at CLSA in Singapore.
