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.
The Ledger – The financial crisis may have turned much of Wall Street’s wealth into dross, but a select group of hedge fund managers has managed to maintain a golden touch that might make King Midas blush.
As major markets and economies careened downward last year, 25 top managers reaped a total of $11.6 billion in pay by trading above the pain in the markets, according to an annual ranking of top hedge fund earners by Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine, which comes out Wednesday.
James H. Simons, a former math professor who has made billions year after year for the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, earned $2.5 billion running computer-driven trading strategies. John A. Paulson, who rode to riches by betting against the housing market, came in second with reported gains of $2 billion. And George Soros, also a perennial name on the rich list of secretive moneymakers, pulled in $1.1 billion.
FINalternatives – The richest hedge fund manager in the world, clocking in as the 29th richest person in the world, is George Soros, whose $11 billion fortune actually increased during the difficult 2008. Joining him among the top 100 are fellow hedge fund managers Carl Icahn (43rd place with $9 billion), James Simons of Renaissance Technologies (55th place with $8 billion), John Paulson (76th place with $6 billion) and Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors (87th place with $5.5 billion).
Reuters – Renaissance Technologies LLC, the multibillion dollar hedge fund known for delivering top returns by relying on complicated computer models, hired a new president and chief executive officer for its institutional business.
The fund firm, which manages roughly $20 billion, said on Tuesday that it has hired Matthew Scanlan to replace Stephen Robert, who retired from the firm.
Scanlan joins the firm from Barclays Global Investors where he worked for 12 years and was most recently the company’s head of institutional business in the Americas.
BloggingStocks – Over the past few weeks you probably saw signs in retail stores touting "big sales" with discounts of 50% to 70& off. It seems that Wall Street has caught on to main street’s way of doing business – discounts, discounts, discounts!
The Renaissance Technologies LLC, a large hedge fund, has waived all of its management fees for 2009. Originally it charged a 1% fixed management fee, but with the new policy it will take a $30 million dollar haircut. However, the other larger Simon’s Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund will not cut its management fee in 2009. Other funds are using similar practices. The Citadel Investment Group LLC gave back about $300 million dollars in fees it collected in 2008.
Renaissance, like many other hedge funds, suffered losses in 2008 ranging from 12% to 16% but managed to beat the S & P losses by 4-6%.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Renaissance Institutional Futures, a $3 billion futures fund run by hedge fund management company, Renaissance Technologies, has waived all it’s management fees for 2009, even if the fund delivers good results in 2009, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Renaissance told investors in a end-of-year letter that the futures fund was waiving it’s 1% fixed management fee following poor performance in 2008. The discount is estimated by the Journal to save investors $30 million.
Renaissance Technologies was started in 1982 by James Simons, Renaissance currently has approximately $20 billion in assets under management. The company operates in East Setauket, Long Island, New York, near Stony Brook University. Administrative functions are handled out of offices in Manhattan.
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Reuters – Some of the world’s biggest hedge funds suffered a dramatic drop in assets in the first half of 2008 as financial markets tumbled and many investors asked for their money back, according to a survey released on Monday.
Renaissance Technologies, which runs one of the world’s most successful hedge funds that also charges some of the world’s highest fees, saw assets under management shrink by 14.71 percent during the first six months of the year. The firm, run by former mathematics professor Jim Simons, managed $29 billion at the end of June, according to a survey conducted by magazine Absolute Return.
While total assets may have shrunk, its $8 billion Medallion fund soared 48 percent at the end of July, net of fees, the New York Post reported, citing people familiar with the returns.
Farallon Capital Management’s assets declined 8.3 percent to $33 billion, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management saw assets fall 7.9 percent to $26.9 billion.
