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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Hedge fund prime broker, Newedge, has started using a Dubai Point of Presence (POP) connection to facilitate their access to the Dubai Gold and Commodity Exchange (DGCX). The new connection has high bandwidth and is more secure than an internet-based connection, the company said.
Amaury de Villemandy, CEO of Newedge Europe and Middle East, commented on its fixed line capacity, saying, “Our investment in establishing direct connectivity to DGCX was based on the increased interest among our clients in capitalizing on the commodity and currency trading opportunities offered by the Exchange.”
Newedge is a 50/50 joint venture between Societe Generale and Calyon. With a presence in 25 locations in 17 countries, Newedge primarily serves institutional clients, providing access to more than 85 exchanges.
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Forbes – French bank Societe Generale (SocGen) plans to reduce its holdings in its China fund joint venture due to regulatory concerns after a global reorganisation, two people familiar with the situation said.
SocGen already owns a fund venture with a unit of Shanghai Baosteel Group, and will become an indirect stakeholder in Credit Agricole’s Chinese venture after the two banks complete a planned merger of their global asset management businesses.
Reuters – One of London’s top analysts, James Montier, has resigned from French bank Societe Generale to join a hedge fund, a source with knowledge of the situation said on Thursday.
The source did not say which hedge fund has employed Montier, recently voted best strategist in the Thomson Extel survey, alongside colleague Albert Edwards.
The pair joined Societe Generale from Dresdner Kleinwort in December 2007 as co-heads of global strategy.
Reuters – A team of hedge funds managers at Societe Generale is leaving to set up their own hedge fund with capital from the French bank, La Tribune reported on Tuesday.
The paper said the move was led by Arié Assayag, head of Sgam Alternative Investments at SocGen, who would take with him some 15 members of staff to create a new outfit called Premium Asset Management (PAM).
ReviewJournal.com – The majority owner of the Greek Isles blamed "greedy hedge-fund guys" interested in wiping out the current owners’ equity stake for pushing the property into Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday.
Harold Rothstein said the Greek Isles’ creditors have already taken $14 million in fees and interest out of the property since the financial markets collapsed.
"The ownership of the property was negotiating in good faith to reorganize and reposition the property," Rothstein said. "Even though the plan that was presented (to the creditors) was a plausible plan, the New York hedge fund is still acting like it was two years ago. They’re trying to play the big, bad wolf."
Reuters – Amiri Capital, the Islamic asset manager backed by investment firm Olivant, said on Monday it has teamed up with broker Newedge to launch the first Islamic fund of long/short hedge funds marketed in the Middle East.
The partnership with Newedge — itself a joint venture between Calyon and Societe Generale — allows Amiri to launch the fund, which was put on hold when original partner Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection in September.
Hedge funds are a relatively new concept in Islamic finance and a bone of contention, with some scholars rejecting them as speculative and others sanctioning them as a tool for diversification.
Bloomberg – Distressed assets offer the best investment opportunities this year as the global recession deepens, billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson said.
“The decline in the market has created a very good buying opportunity,” Paulson, 53, whose New York-based Paulson & Co. oversees about $30 billion, said in a speech at a hedge-fund seminar hosted by Societe Generale and Lyxor Asset Management in Tokyo today. “Distressed opportunity in the U.S. is shaping up to be the best opportunity in a lifetime.”
Paulson said he’s focused on assets such as mortgages and debt from bankrupt companies, while in the equities markets he cited the utilities, consumer staples and pharmaceutical industries. Financial stocks remain risky, Paulson said.
In the 15 years since starting its first funds, Paulson & Co.’s one down year was 1998. All his funds were profitable in 2008, with the flagship fund returning about 38 percent, compared with a loss of 19 percent for hedge funds worldwide on average. The 2008 returns came after his funds made more than $3 billion for the firm in 2007 by anticipating the collapse of the U.S. housing market and subprime mortgages.
Investors are chasing distressed assets after more than $1.1 trillion in losses at financial firms globally and frozen credit markets helped drag the U.S., Europe and Japan into their first simultaneous recessions since World War II.
Reuters – Societe Generale and Credit Agricole have signed a preliminary agreement to merge their asset management arms and create a top 10 global player, the French banks said on Monday.
The new company will be 70 percent owned by Agricole and 30 percent owned by SocGen.
According to proforma figures from September 30, 2008, the new entity would have 638 billion euros ($826.5 billion) of assets under management. It would have revenues of 1.8 billion euros and an operating profit of 900 million euros.
