As hedge fund titans face an intense grilling by congressional committees and thousands of hedge funds around the world close their doors, perhaps it is time to consider a new approach.
A hedge fund structure offers investors many advantages such as maximum flexibility, but the model is sure to change under all the heightened scrutiny.
After […]

Reuters UK - Robust returns for a group of powerful hedge funds that thrived for years using sophisticated trading programs may be a thing of the past after a "Black Swan" event hit global markets this year.
The carnage in financial markets worldwide, what many viewed as a so-called Black Swan event because it was out […]

The Money Times - A U.S. House committee Thursday reviewed hedge funds, which the panel’s chair called "virtually unregulated."
Because they aren’t required to report on their holdings, leverage or strategies, "hedge funds are virtually unregulated," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "Regulators aren’t even certain how […]

International Herald Tribune - Hedge fund managers usually shun the spotlight. But five of them, billionaires all, are about to come under the glare on Capitol Hill.
The money managers — Philip Falcone, Kenneth Griffin, John Paulson, James Simons and George Soros — have been called by a House panel to discuss some of their trade secrets […]

Times Online - Hedge funds are supposed to like risk and to love leverage. However, in the current markets, it has all got too much for Man Group.
The world’s biggest quoted hedge fund manager – and historically one of the most successful – shocked investors yesterday by announcing plans to unwind all […]

Times of India - Often-touted as manipulative, hedge funds have been time and again blamed for indiscriminate selling and thereby pulling down the domestic stock prices even in India. But India-focused hedge funds have also been affected by the meltdown.
The big and secretive India-focused funds have booked losses to the tune of 46% in […]

Seeking Alpha - Risk management Rule No.1: if it can happen then it will happen. Hope for the best but plan for the worst. Recent events have provided good returns for some hedge funds, hard times for other hedge funds but harsher times for long only. Skilled absolute return managers don’t make money every month […]

Times Online - Hedge fund managers are paranoid. And they are right to be. The other day I had lunch with a senior financial official whose view of hedge funds was simple. “They were a con. The returns were all due to leverage. And now that the leverage has gone everyone will see they were […]

New York (HedgeCo.Net) - The largest hedge fund run by Citadel Investment Group has fallen 30 percent this year stemming from losses tied to convertible bonds. The $10 billion Kensington Global Strategies Fund has been hit hard by the credit crunch, prompting CEO Kennith Griffin to warn investors that returns may be extremely volatile […]

AllAboutAlpha.com - The Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland was probably abuzz last week watching history unfold before its eyes.  After all, one of the lynchpins of the organization’s Basel II Accord was the requirement for banks to mark-to-market all assets - including less liquid ones.  And it appears that doing so in a […]

Globe and Mail - Daniel Gross, writing on Slate, makes an interesting point about the latest version of the U.S. government’s bailout plan: The plan, officially known as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, looks a lot like the prospectus for a hedge fund.
“In the past, hedge funds – secretive pools of capital – […]

Globe and Mail - Goodwood Inc., a value-oriented manager, briefed investors Thursday on a dismal September. There’s a lot of these letters going out from hedge fund managers. Goodwood’s funds were down 16 per cent last month, bringing the year-to-date loss to 32 per cent. Year-to-date, the S&P/TSX benchmark is down 13 per cent.
Goodwood executives […]