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Reuters UK – Fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management is eyeing opportunities to snap up funds of hedge funds and funds of private equity funds at bargain-basement prices, its chief executive said on Thursday.
Martin Gilbert said that with opportunities in these areas "now pretty strong" as the global financial crisis causes upheaval in the industry, the fund manager could look at making small acquisitions.
"Funds of hedge funds (FOHFs) and funds of private equity are a lot cheaper than they were six months ago, and they are significantly cheaper than they were two years ago.
"FOHFs, for example, were selling for 15 percent of assets under management two years ago. They are now down to very, very manageable levels, very attractive levels, and a lot of them are subscale, so I think there is an opportunity to consolidate in that area," Gilbert told Reuters in an interview.
Reuters – General Electric Co plans to raise $15 billion through stock sales — including $3 billion from Warren Buffett — to improve liquidity and give it the option of more acquisitions at a time of intense market turmoil, the U.S. conglomerate said on Wednesday.
The news helped to erase some of the day’s slide in GE shares, which fell more than 9 percent earlier, but was not enough to push them into positive territory. Investors remained worried about the troubles at GE’s vast finance arm — which has businesses ranging from loans to mid-sized business to investing in real estate.
It was the second big strategic investment by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc in the battered finance sector in as many weeks. Last week Berkshire said it would invest $5 billion in Wall Street’s Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Daily Telegraph – Cerberus, the American hedge fund, has sold its stake in Merchant Equity Partners, the owner of the MFI furniture chain, to Hilco and Goldman Sachs.
The secretive investment firm was one of the original backers of MEP but is understood to have sold its stake in the furniture chain’s owner several months ago. It is believed that its stake was split between Goldman and Hilco, the turnaround specialist, both of which were existing MEP backers.
MEP was launched by Henry Jackson, a former investment banker, and has made two acquisitions in the furniture retail sector.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Trump Organization USA announced plans to launch a $1 billion hedge fund to invest in Indian real estate. Donald Trump Jr.’s interest in the Indian real estate market was sparked in 2007 when he visited the subcontinent for the Cityscape real-estate conference in Mumbai.
"We feel it is now time to invest in Indian realty projects as the quality has moved up and we see emergence of some high-end developers with a product level that will support our brand," Trump Jr. said.
Trump announced in late July that he intends to set up a hedge fund worth up to $1 billion to invest in Indian real estate, the privately held fund would initially target property in Mumbai.
Thirty year-old Trump did not give specific details about the fund, such as how he plans to raise the money, or where the first investment would be made. But in an interview with Bloomberg LP, he did say that it would start conservatively and expand as the opportunities presented themselves.
"The fund will be for acquisitions of real estate in the high end and across the spectrum," Trump said. "We’ll start it off relatively small and grow it as we get more familiar with the Indian market. Our entry has to be in Mumbai, and that’s where everything is going on right now in terms of the high-end real estate. That’s the place where one is going to achieve the highest prices per square foot. It sets the tone for all of the other future developments."
When asked at the conference which cities Trump Organization would consider for business deals, Trump responded, "Certainly, the city I’m standing on (Mumbai), Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore, where the IT sector has witnessed a boom."
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New York Times Blogs- Big Brown may have failed to complete his Triple Crown sweep on Saturday — indeed, he came in dead last. But hasn’t slowed down what appears to be a burgeoning new sector: the race-horse hedge funds.
Big Brown’s owner, International Equine Acquisitions Holdings, isn’t the only player trying to raise a new horse-focused hedge fund, in which the owners adopt the much-ballyhooed two-and-twenty fee structure. The Wall Street Journal reported that Nick Zito, the trainer whose horse bested Big Brown, is also seeking to get into the game with his own fund.
