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.
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Swiss-based alternative asset manager, Partners Group, has been selected as the manager for a private equity secondary mandate by the sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Corporation (KIC).
KIC aims to profit from current dislocations in the secondary market which offers high discounts to net asset value and attractive return potential. The hedge fund firm has four offices located in the Asia-Pacific region, with Singapore being the second-largest office worldwide.
”We are very pleased to launch this secondary investment mandate with Partners Group.” Dong-Ik Lee, Head of the Alternative Investment Team at KIC, said, ”We believe that leveraging a very strong and experienced manager like Partners Group is the right way to explore and profit from this market.”
Steffen Meister, CEO of Partners Group, added, ”We are extremely pleased and honored to work with the Korea Investment Corporation, which we consider to be one of the most prestigious sovereign wealth funds around the world and one of the most sophisticated investors in Asia.”
Partners Group has over CHF 24 billion ($22 billion) in investment programs under management in private equity, private debt, private real estate, private infrastructure, absolute return strategies and listed alternatives.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Viathon Capital, LP has announced the launch of a new credit focused opportunity fund, the Whitewater Master Fund, LP, as of May 1, 2009. The launch has affiliated with Citigroup Alternative Investments LLC (CAI) as seed investor in this new fund.
The fund employs a fundamental, credit-intensive research process in order to identify long and short investment opportunities in both US and European markets.
"We have a multi-million dollar, best-in-class trading and risk management system that allows us to manage portfolio risk on a real time basis and seamlessly integrate with our prime brokers and independent administrator." Bob Becker and Rob Comizio, managing partners said, "In addition, we have the relationships, infrastructure and investment process in place to effectively execute our investment strategy."
"As managers of the Whitewater Master Fund, we are keenly aware of the current changes and challenges in our industry. As a result, we have instituted a number of key policies and initiatives specifically designed to service the needs of sophisticated investors in this new environment." they said.
The performance estimate for Whitewater Master Fund for the month of May 2009 was approximately +1%. Viathon Capital, LP has 60 years of combined market experience including four investment professionals and two trade support/back office personnel to manage the new fund.
Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: alex@hedgeco.net
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Herald Tribune – Investors are always searching for the "Holy Grail" of investing; that is, investments with high returns, low risk and little correlation to the returns of the broad stock and bond markets.
Some investors believe that they have found it in the category of investments labeled as hedge funds.
A hedge fund is an investment partnership open only to a limited number of "qualified" (meaning wealthy and supposedly sophisticated) investors that engages in a range of non-traditional investment strategies, many of which are not permitted to mutual funds.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – British Virgin Islands based hedge fund manager Tranen Capital took the lead in the Fixed Income – Asset-Backed Lending category for March 2009 with a return of 2.49%.
In addition to the March performance, the fund, ‘Tranen Capital Alternative Investment Fund Ltd.’ posted a YTD (through April) change in NAV of 11.5%.
“Investors are keenly aware of the dismal and unstable returns from the major financial markets. They are demanding alternatives and absolute returns. The Barclay ranking certainly highlights the strategy’s excellent returns but more importantly, it demonstrates that the funds’ performance is non-correlated to financial markets. The Fund’s NAV has increased 27% since July 2008, which has been independently determined by our actuaries, Data Life, and confirmed by our Administrator Commonwealth Fund Services. Additionally, we have also recently delivered our first independent audit to investors," says Kenneth Landgaard, Portfolio Manager.
Tranen Capital’s strategy is to trade life insurance policies in the Life Markets Space, more commonly referred to as the Life Settlements Market. The Life Markets Space enables seniors to sell their life insurance contracts for more than the cash surrender value than they would otherwise receive from the Insurance Company. The credit crisis has helped create more supply as Seniors (65 or older) are looking for other ways to generate cash. In fact, the life settlements market is expected to grow to over $160 billion over the next several years, according to a Sanford Bernstein report.
Arthur Bowen, Director and in-house counsel explained, “The growth in the life settlement market confirms the validity of this asset class and we continue to see great interest from institutional investors. These sophisticated investors understand the strategy and they appreciate that Tranen has gone to great lengths to provide an institutional quality product with a great level of transparency.”
Tranen Capital offers qualified offshore investors access to the Tranen Capital Alternative Investment Fund Ltd. with a 1% acquisition fee and a 20% incentive fee. The minimum investment is $100k.
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Bloomberg - Marc Dreier, the New York lawyer jailed since his arrest for allegedly cheating hedge funds, won’t be able to post the $20 million bond that would free him, his lawyer told a federal judge.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Eaton in New York today modified an earlier ruling that ordered Dreier held without bail until trial. Eaton required Dreier to have four co-signers and submit to home detention and electronic monitoring. Dreier’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel, said he will probably appeal.
“Effectively, that will keep my client in jail,” Shargel told Eaton, the same judge who set $10 million bail for accused swindler Bernard Madoff, who is charged with running an unrelated $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
Dreier, 58, was arrested Dec. 7 on charges that he persuaded two unidentified hedge funds to give him more than $100 million by falsely claiming he was selling at a discount notes issued by Sheldon Solow, a New York developer. Prosecutors later said “very sophisticated investors” lost $380 million. In a letter to the judge yesterday, they said that the loss topped $400 million.
Dreier, a graduate of Harvard Law School and Yale College, hasn’t formally responded to the wire- and securities-fraud charges. Prosecutors, who arrested Dreier on a criminal complaint, must file an indictment with the court by Feb. 7, Shargel said outside the courtroom.
Bloomberg - Marc Dreier, the New York lawyer accused of cheating hedge funds, said he told his 19-year-old son he could have properties worth $12.5 million after the teenager agreed to spend the summer with him, prosecutors said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Streeter in New York made the disclosure yesterday in a letter urging a federal judge to deny bail to Dreier, who is accused of defrauding investors of hundreds of millions of dollars. Streeter said statements made by Dreier to the receiver of his law firm, Dreier LLP, aren’t “credible” and that Dreier may have assets hidden overseas.
Dreier, 58, was arrested Dec. 7 on charges that he persuaded two unidentified hedge funds to give him more than $100 million by falsely claiming he was selling at a discount notes issued by Sheldon Solow, a New York developer. Prosecutors later said “very sophisticated investors” lost $380 million. In yesterday’s letter, they said the loss topped $400 million.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – The CEO of Man Group, Peter Clarke, announced the appointment of the new CEO of the Middle East arm as Patrick Merville, to take effect from 1 October, following the retirement of Antoine Massad.
Man, a global leader in alternative investments, was the first hedge fund provider to open a local office in the Middle East 22 years ago. Under the leadership of Massad, Man has broken new ground and today enjoys clear leadership in the region.
Merville joined Man three years ago as deputy regional CEO and head of institutional business. He succeeds Antoine Massad who has decided to retire after nearly 20 years’ service with Man to pursue private interests.
Mr Clarke said the appointment was testament to Man’s ability to attract the best talent in the industry.
"Patrick takes the reins of the leading alternative investment firm in the Middle East at a time when sophisticated private and institutional investors are, increasingly, seeking an alternative to the traditional investment classes," he said.
"For Patrick, this is as a step up in his long career in alternatives. Patrick’s continuing goal will drive the business to new levels of success in the region on the back of Man’s range of innovative products and the region’s growing role in the global economy."
Before joining Man, Mr Merville was a director at Merrill Lynch in London, where he spent six years, first as an institutional salesperson in emerging market equities and then in the hedge fund prime brokerage sales group. An experienced banker with exposure to hedge funds and alternative investments throughout his career he has also held roles at HSBC in New York as vice-president in institutional sales, emerging market equities, and at Credit Agricole where he was an associate in the private equity business.
Merville holds a BA in Economics from the American University of Beirut and an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School.
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