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.
West Central Tribune – A federal magistrate judge ordered the release on bail Wednesday of an Illinois hedge fund manager who allegedly helped Minnesota businessman Tom Petters orchestrate what prosecutors call a $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme.
Prosecutors tried to persuade U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Keyes that Gregory Bell should be held without bail because he has no significant ties to Minnesota and has millions of dollars in offshore accounts.
They said he also may have or be able to get citizenship in Russia, which has no extradition treaty with the U.S. Bell was born in Moscow in 1965, emigrated to the U.S. in 1981 and is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Caribbean Net News – The trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff’s investment-advisory business has asked a judge for a default ruling against Harley International Ltd, arguing that the Cayman Islands hedge fund failed to respond to a lawsuit accusing it of taking $1.07 billion in fake profit from Madoff’s firm.
If trustee Irving Picard’s July 2 request is granted, the hedge fund, run by Cayman Island-based Euro-Dutch Management Ltd, would be ordered to return money it allegedly withdrew during the six-year period before New York-based Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC collapsed in a $65 billion fraud. Harley is being liquidated in a Cayman Islands court.
CNBC – Attorneys for a hedge fund are asking for the appointment of an examiner in horse track owner Magna Entertainment’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
A hearing was scheduled Tuesday on the request by Greenlight Capital Offshore Partners, which wants an investigation of ties between Magna and its parent company, known as MID.
MID has played a dual role as both a potential bidder for MEC assets and one of its primary lenders.
Greenlight, an unsecured creditor of Magna as well as a large shareholder in MID, is concerned about the fairness of any asset sale.
Bloomberg – Two years ago, German investment adviser Dieter Kaiser had to board a plane bound for New York to speak with senior U.S. hedge-fund executives.
These days, those same managers visit Kaiser, the director of investment management for Feri Institutional Advisers GmbH, at his office in Bad Homburg, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Frankfurt.
“We’re seeing hedge-fund managers here, and they’re wearing ties now,” said Kaiser, 31, whose firm has allocated about $1 billion to private funds for its clients.
Forbes – It’s hard to fathom. But as lousy returns start pouring in, managers of some of the most successful hedge funds in recent years are apologizing for their dismal showing.
"The last quarter has been abysmal," wrote TPG-Axon Capital Manager Dinakar Singh, highlighting the sentence in bold and underlining the word abysmal. "And we are sorry to have let you down with the terrible performance of the portfolio." TPG-Axon is down about 20% through September, say market players. A spokesman declined to comment.
Greenlight Capital, well-known for its long-time bearish position on Lehman Brothers, acknowledged to investors that "we made some mistakes. … In hindsight, our suggestion from last quarter’s letter to go to cash and go to the beach would have been the better option."
