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 Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) - The Opalesque South Africa Roundtable was held November 10th 2008 in their Cape Town Office. There, the participants also discussed the particularities of investing in Africa (ex-South Africa).
South Africa’s equity and fixed income markets displayed exemplary robustness during 2008. Many global allocators may not be aware that the South African financial market infrastructure matches or exceeds its "first world" counterparts in many respects.
The equity and fixed income markets demonstrated exemplary robustness throughout the turbulences of 2008: no short-selling ban, no trading halt and no failed trades. Offshore investors can benefit from efficient and proven ways to get pure South African alpha without taking currency risk.
During the Roundtable, portfolio managers explained new ways to construct hedges, and informed on new and upcoming products. How global investors can benefit from the "Africa story", which is probably the largest opportunity set in the new investment paradigm called "frontier investing"? How do you deal with restricted liquidity, and is Africa really uncorrelated?
The following experts participated in the Opalesque South Africa Roundtable: James Gubb, Founding Partner of Clear Horizon Capital St. John Bungey, Partner, Praesidium Capital Management James Addo, Portfolio Manager, Finch Asset Management Simone Lowe, Portfolio Manager, Thames River Capital Andy Pfaff, Founding Partner of Trendline Funds Ian Hamilton, Founder, IDS Group Ryan Proudfoot, Co-Head RMB Prime Broking Warren Chapman, Head of Peregrine Prime Broking Kevin Ewer, Portfolio Manager, Blue Ink Investments.
South African hedge fund managers and hedge fund investors share surprising insights. For example, – South African single strategy hedge funds offer transparency "far superior to anything anywhere else", according to investors – South African hedge funds suffered their first – and only until that point – net redemptions in October 2008, but only 2.5% of total assets – South Africa is the first country in the world that actually distinguishes between normal fund managers and hedge fund managers, with higher criteria required for hedge fund managers.
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New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Those who push for greater transparency of the hedge fund industry had a victory this week, when an EU official all but declared that funds in the European Union will be regulated.
Charlie McCreevy, the bloc’s internal market commissioner, launched a public discussion on whether or not hedge funds need stricter oversight. Though McCreevy has said in the past that no greater oversight is needed for hedge funds, the majority of those present disagreed.
“We don’t need more consultation. We need regulation. We know exactly what are the problems,” said ex-Prime Minister of Denmark Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, who shares the view that short-selling by hedge funds have had a hand in prompting turmoil in the market.
The results of the consultation, which is still underway, are expected to be known in early 2009. Though most hedge funds fall outside the EU, London is home to several large hedge funds and many portfolio managers.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
Globe and Mail – Since many hedge fund managers like to drive Porsche roadsters, it’s somehow appropriate that the German auto maker just ran them down.
The European hedge fund community took a pounding Monday covering short positions in Volkswagen. Shares in the auto company doubled Monday on a short squeeze that came after Porsche announced it had used derivatives to build a 74 per cent stake in VW. That move brought a long-running takeover near the finish line, and also meant portfolio managers betting on a drop in Volkswagen shares had to cover positions.
In their rush to cover shorts, often at massive losses, hedge funds pushed up the value of Volkswagen by 123 per cent on Monday, briefly making the auto maker the largest company on earth. Shares subsequently slipped, but ended the day up 25 per cent.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Finvest Asset Management is set to launch a new capital protected offering for investors who are seeking to generate annual returns of between 12-20 percent in a low risk structure.
The total offering is for $500 million and is open to non-U.S. investors only. The capital protected product will be offered to investors in the form of a U.S. Dollar denominated subscription. Downward pressure on the Euro relative to the dollar, will further enhance the investment and provide a source of upward performance for investors.
The Zurich-based Asset Management company has also received a mandate to allocate around $300m to the fund of hedge funds sector as part of a low-risk strategy to capitalise on the turbulence in global financial markets market.
Allocations will be made to funds that have a track record of at least three years, have an attractive Sharpe ratio, and are targeting annual returns of between 10 and 15 per cent. Funds of funds that may have incurred negative returns will not be excluded from the selection process.
"The decision to allocate to a hedge fund goes against the current trend," says Finvest portfolio strategist Mayer Greenwald. "However, we see a tremendous amount of upside in the fund of funds space, providing that portfolio managers apply the appropriate risk management." He argues that a good fund of funds can provide value in its ability to optimise allocations and achieve an appropriate risk/reward profile.
Finvest currently operates an office from Zurich and recently announced plans to open an office in London and Cypress. It also manages the Finvest Primer and Finvest Yankee funds.
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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Reflecting a growth in corporate activities, Vodia Group has rebranded as Finadium. The move was made, the re-named Finadium says, to showcase an ability to develop new ideas and create products and marketing strategies in financial markets, expanding beyond the original scope of Vodia Group.
The Finadium name comes from the abbreviation Fin for finance and the latin word Aedium, meaning house. As Finadium, the firm emphasizes its core value proposition – providing ideas, product development and marketing strategies to the securities and investments industry.
Based on proprietary surveys and market knowledge, the company is looking multiple market sectors such as institutional investors, hedge funds and traditional asset managers.
As part of the rebranding, the company are launching a monthly newsletter for portfolio managers, traders and others looking for briefings on prime brokerage, securities finance and custody but who do not need the detail of our full reports.
Also expanding into frontier and emerging markets, Josh Galper, Managing Principal, says “As Finadium, we are pleased to expand our audience in prime brokerage, securities finance and custody to include a broader range of market professionals. We also look forward to tackling the complex subject matter of financial services in frontier and emerging markets.”
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds!
Wall Street Journal – With anxiety about hedge-fund woes gripping the market, funds have their own fear: their investors.
Some investors, particularly what are known as "funds of funds," are demanding their money back and may ramp up requests in the weeks ahead. That has prompted hedge-fund managers to sell securities to raise cash.
"As the hedge fund investor base broadens, hedge fund portfolio management…slips out of the hands of the portfolio managers and into the hands of the investors," wrote Andrew Redleaf, who runs Whitebox Advisors, a Minneapolis hedge fund with about $5 billion under management, in an August client letter. "It is no insult to the investors to say that this worsens performance."
Funds-of-funds select hedge funds on behalf of pension funds, wealthy individuals or other investors, and charge a layer of fees on top of the hefty fees levied by hedge funds themselves. They often ask hedge funds for the option to redeem money as often as monthly and get good terms because they can bring in big chunks of cash at once.
Wall Street & Technology – Now that Apple has improved security and enterprise connectivity capabilities for the iPhone 3G, industry specific applications are starting to emerge. One of the first iPhone applications for the securities industry is a tool that provides real-time portfolio management called Lab49 Capital from Lab49, Inc. a technology consulting firm that builds solutions for the financial services.
The application helps buy-side portfolio managers track the performance of their assets in real time, and "slice and dice" positions, P&L and changes in the portfolio across multiple dimensions such as strategy, industry, country and manager, according to Marc Jacobs, director at Lab49. (See a Lab49 Capital ScreenCast demo.)
"For a portfolio manager, they don’t spend all of their time at their desks," Jacobs adds. "But their mind is always ‘where are we right now?’ Allowing portfolio managers to such visibility into their fund is a key aspect that this application provides. Lab49 Capital is inspired by several projects we have going on with a number of firms. Lab49 Capital is a representation of actual work we are doing with some of our clients."
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Citigroup Inc. will close its $400 million Tribeca Convertible hedge fund in what will help wind down the $2 billion Tribeca Global Investments Group, according to a report published on Bloomberg.com. The closing of the fund has not yet been made public, but investor redemptions are thought to be the reason for the fund’s demise.
The fund uses a convertible arbitrage strategy, which involves acquiring company bonds that can be converted to common stock which in turn may be shorted. Tribeca Convertible was down a mere 5 percent this year.
This is the latest failure in a string of attempts by Citigroup to offer their clients a broader array of alternative investments. Two months ago they closed the $800 million Old Lane Partners, founded by Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, after investors redeemed over $200 million.
Citigroup was hit hard by the subprime-related mortgage fallout last summer, forcing its hedge funds to suffer. The bank’s Falcon Strategies funds were closed this year, even after a $500 million influx of capital by Citigroup.
CSO Partners, another hedge fund run by Citigroup also closed its doors this year after suspending investor redemptions. The company wrote down over $15 billion in losses the first two quarters of 2008.
Tribeca Convertible Portfolio Managers Andrew Wang and Jeffry Chmielewski are rumored to be thinking about starting their own fund.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds! Be sure to check out our sister sites. For more information, visit www.hedgeconetworks.com
New York (Hedgeco.net)- HedgeCo Networks has just launched the next chapter within their network of companies, HedgeCo Employment Solutions. As a top tier recruiting firm, HedgeCo Employment Solutions secures the finest candidates in the hedge fund and financial services industry and matches them to corresponding employers.
HedgeCo Employment Solutions is unlike other recruiters and staffing agencies in many regards. It is more than just a database of qualified candidates. It is an extended network of potential employees, found only through HedgeCo’s existing relationships that extend deep into the hedge fund community.
Through years of experience working in the financial field, HedgeCo has built and maintained relationships with individuals from all sectors within the industry. These candidates may not even consider themselves available and won’t be found on job boards or employment websites. However, they have aligned themselves with HedgeCo to present premier opportunities to them should they occur.
"Clients trust our ability to facilitate that perfect ‘fit.’ Employers come to us with the expectation of securing highly sought after candidates and employees come to us knowing that we have the tools to take their careers to the next levels," says Evan Rapoport, Managing Partner for HedgeCo Networks.
"Extensive screening and background checks are all a part of the diligence process applied to every applicant. By the time the candidate reaches the potential employer, a rigorous discovery process has already taken place along with a compatibility assessment, " states Matthew Deering, Managing Director of HedgeCo Employment Solutions.
Fields of placement include hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, investment banking, fund marketing, compliance, wealth management and human resources, to name a few. Positions include analysts, portfolio managers, traders, CFO/COO, business development leaders and numerous others that span the entire spectrum of the hedge fund industry.
