NEW YORK, NEW YORK — The CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index is down 0.58% for April 2004, according to Oliver Schupp, President of Credit Suisse First Boston Tremont Index LLC.
�Several factors in the world economy contributed to the negative return in April, including declining U.S. equity markets driven by fears of imminent interest rate hikes and a slowdown in growth in China, negative high yield markets overall, and severe declines late in the month in several emerging markets,� said Mr. Schupp.
�The dedicated short bias managers were the strongest performers for the month,� said Robert I. Schulman, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Tremont Capital Management, Inc. �Additionally, within the long/short equity sector, the Japanese managers reported strong performance numbers, primarily due to the generation of solid returns in their short books, which consisted of many China-related positions that sold off sharply during the month.�
Performance for the CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index and the ten style-based sector indices is calculated monthly. April, March and year-to-date 2004 returns for all categories are available at www.hedgeindex.com.
The CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index value is 294.97, returning 194.97% for the 124-month period since inception (January 1, 1994 through April 30, 2004).
For additional current and historical data including more comparisons with other widely followed global indices, visit the CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index web site at www.hedgeindex.com.
The CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index is comprised of 433 funds as of April 1, 2004.
There were three drops and 28 adds last month. ACM Research Fund, Sabre Market Neutral Fund and Tudor Hawthorn Fund were dropped from the Index as they are no longer reporting. Funds that were added to the Index are: Hermitage Fund, Admiralty Fund, FX Concepts Global Currency Program Fund, Oracle Partners, Jayhawk China Fund, Boyer Allan Japan Fund, Wessex Asia Pacific Fund, Henderson Asia Pacific Absolute Return Fund, Bridgewater Pure Alpha Fund, Caduceus Capital, Martin Currie Absolute Return Japan Fund, Vega Feeder Fund, Asymmetric Convertible Fund, Martin Currie Absolute Return Asia Fund, Martin Currie China Hedge Fund, FX Concepts Multi-Strategy Fund, Asuka Japanese Equity Long Short Offshore Trust, Bricoleur Enhanced, Mellon HBV Multi-Strategy, Kingsford Capital Management, M&M Arbitrage, Analytic US Market Neutral, Zebedee European Fund, Seligman Tech Spectrum Fund, Systeia Event Driven Fund, JANA Master Fund, Longacre Master Fund, and RAB Europe Fund. In addition, there were three technical additions and five technical drops last month as a result of the aggregation of various share classes of the same fund into a composite vehicle.
The Index is constructed using the TASS and CSFB/Tremont databases of more than 3,000 hedge funds. It includes both open and closed funds located in the U.S. and offshore, but does not include funds of funds. In order to qualify for inclusion in the index selection universe, a fund must have a minimum of US $10 million under management, a 12-month track record, and audited financial statements. Index funds are selected using a formula based on assets under management that ensures the Index represents at least 85% of total assets in each of ten strategy-based sectors in the selection universe. Once added, funds are not excluded until they liquidate or fail to meet the reporting requirements, in order to minimize survivorship bias. The Index is calculated as a total return index on a monthly basis, adjusted for asset in- and outflow, including a reselection according to the procedure outlined above on a quarterly basis.
Returns for the CSFB/Tremont Investable Index
The CSFB/Tremont Investable Hedge Fund Index is down an estimated 0.94% for the month of April 2004. The confirmed performance for March is 0.04%.
�Overall, markets were negative for the month. Managed futures, in particular, were generally unprofitable as many markets reversed from longer-term fundamental trends,� said Mr. Schupp. �Many macro and CTA managers entered April long the Japanese Yen and suffered as the currency reversed course and weakened throughout the month.�
�Dedicated short bias funds are on top, up 3.92%, but emerging markets are leading year-to-date, up 3.04%,� said Mr. Schulman.
Performance for the CSFB/Tremont Investable Hedge Fund Index and the ten style-based sector indices is calculated monthly. Returns for the months of April, March and year-to-date 2004 for all categories are available at www.hedgeindex.com.
The CSFB/Tremont Investable Hedge Fund Index was launched with 60 funds across 10 style-based sectors. The Investable Index was set at 100 on August 1, 2003 with aggregate assets under management representing approximately US$55 billion, making it the industry�s largest investable index.
The funds currently included in the index are available on the web site at www.hedgeindex.com.
The CSFB/Tremont Investable Hedge Fund Index is designed to give investors broad exposure to hedge funds as an asset class. It fulfills investor demand for index-linked products created to reduce dependency on fund manager selection and fund concentration risk.
The CSFB/Tremont Investable Hedge Fund Index is based on the broad CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index, which is the largest hedge fund index with $262 billion in assets managed by 433 funds as of April 1, 2004.
The funds in the CSFB/Tremont Investable Index, selected from the funds included in the main index, generally comprise the six largest funds that are open to investment and meet certain liquidity conditions in each of the 10 style-based sectors. The fund selection rules can be found on www.hedgefundindex.com and include the following criteria:
� Funds are selected from the CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index by an asset-based formula
� The funds generally represent the six largest eligible �open� funds in each of the ten sectors
� The funds are determined by application of the construction rules
The CSFB/Tremont Investable Hedge Fund Index will be calculated monthly and re-balanced semi-annually.
Additional features of the Investable Index include:
� Transparency via www.hedgeindex.com and pages on Bloomberg and Reuters
� Member funds must provide timely performance reporting, audited financials and offering memorandum review for inclusion
� Investable index eliminates dependence on manager skill
� A broad suite of investment products, soon to be announced
Credit Suisse First Boston Tremont Index LLC is the joint venture company of Credit Suisse First Boston Index Co., Inc., a subsidiary of Credit Suisse First Boston Inc., and Tremont Capital Management, Inc. Credit Suisse First Boston Tremont Index LLC is headquartered at 11 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010-3629.
Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) is a leading global investment bank serving institutional, corporate, government and individual clients. CSFB�s businesses include securities underwriting, sales and trading, investment banking, private equity, financial advisory services, investment research, venture capital, correspondent brokerage services and asset management. CSFB operates in 69 locations in 34 countries across five continents. The Firm is a business unit of the Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group, a leading global financial services company. For more information on Credit Suisse First Boston, please visit our Web site at http://www.csfb.com.
Tremont Capital Management, Inc. is one of the leading global alternative investment management firms, whose business lines include research and investment management services, sale and distribution of its proprietary investment products, and database sales and information services. Tremont advises on approximately $9 billion in alternative investment assets, including more than $1billion in its proprietary funds. Through its information and market intelligence unit, TASS Research, the firm provides data on the performance of more than 3,000 alternative investment managers and funds. Tremont, headquartered in Rye, New York with offices in Toronto, Bermuda and London, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oppenheimer Acquisition Corp, the parent company of Oppenheimer Funds, Inc., one of the nation�s most respected asset managers.
