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StreetInsider.com – Connecticut State Treasurer Denise Nappier is moving forward with a plan to invest in hedge funds after losing $5 billion of pension assets this year.
Nappier will begin allocating up to 8% of the $20 billion she oversees for public sector employees and teachers into hedge funds after the state’s investment advisory council approved the plan later today.
Ironically, Connecticut, which has many of the world’s largest hedge funds, is one of the few states that doesn’t invest its public pension in the asset class.
The three retirement funds Nappier controls are heading for the worst annual performance since at least 1991, according to treasurer’s office data. Bloomberg reported asset values fell 19.5% to $20.7 billion from $25.9 billion between July 1 and the end of October.
Reuters- Hedge fund firm GSA Capital plans to raise a further $200-$300 million for its new Alpha Capture fund, which aims to use top stock ideas from investment banks for its trades, the company told Reuters. Alpha Capture, which was launched as a hedge fund on July 1, has $700 million in assets due in part to investments by two GSA multi-strategy funds. It will open for external investment on Oct 1 and is likely to be closed at $1 billion, it said recently.
Alpha Capture is a market neutral portfolio that aims to take the best stock ideas from investment banks by analysing their track record of recommendations.
Reuters- Antonio Borges, a former senior banker at Goldman Sachs, has been appointed chairman of the Hedge Fund Standards Board (HFSB), the custodian of the voluntary standards scheme devised by leading members of the sector.
Borges, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International until February and a former dean of the European business school Insead and vice governor of Banco de Portugal, will assume the role on July 1.
The HFSB will oversee the code of practice devised by the Hedge Fund Working Group, which comprised 14 leading hedge fund executives mainly based in London and was led by Andrew Large, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England.
New York Sun- A majority of the City Council is backing a tax-the-rich plan that would require hedge fund and private equity fund partners to pay a city tax on income generated by investments, making it more likely to gain traction in Albany.
Assemblyman Micah Kellner, who represents the Upper East Side, recently introduced a bill that would change the city’s tax law so it would apply to hedge fund and private equity managers.
Twenty-six of the council’s 51 members signed a letter in support of the tax proposal, which is being touted as a way to raise more than $200 million a year. As the council and Mayor Bloomberg near a July 1 budget deadline, members are searching for new ways to generate revenue for the city to protect favored programs and classrooms from anticipated budget cuts.
