General News

	Watson Wyatt: Only Skilled Hedge Funds Will Survive	Nov 27/08
	Worsening market conditions and changes to the regulatory landscape will force many hedge funds to close or sell out, according to global consulting firm Watson Wyatt. In a note to its clients, Watson Wyatt said the current c...Read more
	Bell Canada Bombshell Hits Hedge Funds	Nov 27/08
	Some event-driven hedge funds won’t have much to be thankful for tomorrow. Wednesday’s news that Bell Canada’s $50 billion leveraged buyout — the largest in history — is in jeopardy will likely hammer several big funds that...Read more
	SocGen Agrees to Settle Manulife Suit by Buying Fund Notes	Nov 27/08
	Societe Generale SA, France’s second-biggest lender, agreed to settle a lawsuit by Manulife Financial Corp. by buying C$611 million ($495 million) of notes held by the trustee of a bankrupt hedge fund. Manulife, b...Read more
	Hedge fund sues WSJ for disclosure	Nov 27/08
	SRM Global, the hedge fund run by the former star UBS trader Jon Wood, is suing The Wall Street Journal for publishing allegedly confidential information about its performance, setting up a high-stakes battle o...Read more
	Citigroup cuts technology support for hedge fund start-ups	Nov 27/08
	Citigroup has ended a technology support service offered to start-up hedge funds following a downturn in hedge fund launches and as part of wider cutbacks at the embattled bank. The business cons...Read more
	Ailing London Hedgie Panicked	Nov 27/08
	Troubled London hedge fund manager RAB Capital is gearing up to pull the plug on several of its portfolios that invest in hedge funds, known as funds of hedge funds, The Post has learned. The move highlights the trou...Read more
	Satellite Halts Hedge Fund Withdrawals, Fires 30 After Losses	Nov 27/08
	Satellite Asset Management LP, founded by former employees of billionaire George Soros, stopped client withdrawals from its three largest hedge funds and eliminated more than 30 jobs after losses reduced the firm’s ...Read more
	Hedge Funds Prowl Japans Ashiya City for Wealthiest Investors	Nov 26/08
	Japan's Ashiya city has been home to the nation's industrial titans since samurai ruled the land more than a century ago. Now it's a feeding ground for hedge funds tapping the wealth of new multi-millionaires like Kunihisa Sagami....Read more
	Hedge fund, former traders strike deal on alleged manipulation	Nov 26/08
	Amaranth Advisors LLC and two of its former traders havestruck a settlement deal with U.S. regulatory staff over the alleged manipulation of natural gas futures prices.The deal was submitted to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory C...Read more
	MSCI Launches Frontier Islamic Indexes	Nov 26/08
	MSCI Barra is expanding the MSCI Global Islamic Indices to include small-cap emerging market stocks and a set of frontier market countries. With the addition of 16 frontier markets, the total number of MSCI Islamic country in...Read more
	New investment landscape will produce hedge fund winners and losers, says Watson Wyatt	Nov 26/08
	Many hedge funds will be forced to close and there will be significant consolidation because of market conditions and unprecedented changes to the regulatory landscape, according to global consulting firm Watson Wyatt.However, the...Read more
	Hedge funds push for Orient board seats	Nov 26/08
	Mumbai: The battle between the disaffected shareholders of Orient-Express Hotels — the Bermuda-based hotel giant — and its management over its controversial corporate governance structure has started to escalate once again.Less th...Read more
	Hedge fund investors of the world unite!	Nov 26/08
	As the founder of Tremont Capital Management, Sandra Manzke has been in the hedge fund business for more than two decades. So when a veteran like her calls for hedge fund investors to unite and protect themselves aga...Read more
	Prime hedge fund worries	Nov 26/08
	The collapse of Lehman Brothers didn't just take down the whole investment banking model of Wall Street; it also put the squeeze on a significant number of other investments, including principal-protected notes and hedge funds. Le...Read more
	Silda Spitzer joins the world of hedge funds	Nov 25/08
	Silda Wall Spitzer, wife of disgraced former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, is reported to have stepped into the high-rolling world of hedge funds. According to New York Magazine, Ms Spitzer started working last month at Metropo...Read more
	Hedge Funds Have Another $200 Billion to go to Complete Their De-leveraging	Nov 25/08
	Hedge funds looking to slash their use of borrowed money may have to unload another $200 billion in assets to reach their objectives, a new study found, though a Money Morning expert believes the exit door could get pretty narrow ...Read more
	Misunderstood hedge funds suffered in mid-match rule change	Nov 25/08
	Hedge fund managers are spivs and speculators, directly responsible for creating carnage in the world's financial markets and threatening the future of high street banks. At least, that's what some argue. But it is, emphatically, ...Read more
	Tremont Founder Down on Hedge Funds	Nov 25/08
	The founder of asset manger Tremont Capital Management sent an angry email to fellow investors, asking them to join a union to reform the hedge fund industry. Sandra Manzke, who founded Tremont in 1985, and now heads up Connecticu...Read more
	Few players fully ceasing securities lending to hedge funds, panel says	Nov 25/08
	Margin requirements for securities lending likely to increase.The credit crisis is fuelling a wave of concerns and a flight of securities lenders from the hedge fund industry, but much of the alarm is based on misinformation, a pa...Read more
	EDHEC survey finds finance professionals unconvinced by hedge fund replication products	Nov 25/08
	Following a major position paper last year on the subject of hedge fund replication, entitled “The Myths and Limits of Passive Hedge Fund Replication: An Attractive Concept… Still a Work-in- Progress,” EDHEC wished to compare the ...Read more
	Radio show offers hedge funds comfort, advice and poetry	Nov 25/08
	The show is aired fortnightly at 21.00-22.00 GMT on Mondays (the next show is December 1, then December 15). It broadcasts on the not-for-profit arts/experimental station, Resonance FM: 104.4 FM in London and accessible worldwide ...Read more
	Hedge funds see net redemptions of USD40bn in October, says HFR	Nov 24/08
	The acceleration of the global financial and economic crises in October contributed to continuing losses in the hedge fund industry, with the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index falling nearly 6 per cent for the month, according to...Read more
	Summers Offers Big-Picture Advice to Hedge Fund	Nov 24/08
	In 2006, Lawrence Summers resigned as president of Harvard University and took a position as a part-time managing director with D.E. Shaw Group, a New York hedge fund with a reputation as one of the most secretive trading outfits ...Read more
	Turning Hedge Funds into Private Equity Funds?	Nov 24/08
	Many hedge funds are in trouble. Whether due to bad security selection, issues that were once considered liquid that now "trade by appointment" or by jittery LPs, managers are having to generate cash to meet a flood of r...Read more
	Barclays Said to Eliminate 30% of U.S. Hedge-Fund Service Jobs	Nov 24/08
	Barclays Plc eliminated about 100 positions in its capital markets prime services unit in New York, or 30 percent of the staff, as the hedge-fund industry contracts, a person familiar with the matter said today. The job cuts last ...Read more
	Hedge fund clones get mixed reviews	Nov 24/08
	Some 15 per cent of asset management houses, pension funds and private banks have invested in hedge fund replication strategies, according to a survey by Edhec, the French business school.A further 55 per cent of institutions said...Read more
	Citigroup gets $306 billion rescue from government	Nov 24/08
	The U.S. government agreed to a $306 billion rescue plan for Citigroup Inc, agreeing to shoulder some losses from toxic debt in the latest attempt to bolster a financial services industry in turmoil.Citigroup's package may also pr...Read more
	Stock Markets May Trade Sideways for 15 Years: Hendry	Nov 24/08
	Stock markets may remain stagnant and trade sideways for over 15 years, according to hedge fund manager Hugh Hendry, who believes many large mutual fund firms could disappear as a result. Hendry, partner and chief investment offic...Read more
	Hedging Their Bets, How Hedge Funds Can Curb Critics and Avoid Regulation	Nov 24/08
	Hedge fund managers oversee $1.9 trillion in assets, but no one knows what they invest in or even what those assets are actually worth. That's because hedge funds are not regulated and consequently aren't required to make the same...Read more
	Funds plan to stick with alternatives allocations	Nov 24/08
	Call it the Great Liquidity Squeeze of 2008: Alternatives-heavy endowments found this fall they could access less cash from their portfolios just when they needed the money most. Universities affected include Harvard, Princeton, Y...Read more
	Hedge funds seen lowering fees - Watson Wyatt	Nov 24/08
	With hedge funds struggling to hold on to capital there are signs of managers becoming 'more flexible' over fee negotiations. LONDON, Nov 24 (Thomson IM) - Global hedge funds hard hit by the credit crisis are becoming more open to...Read more
	Hedge Funds May Sell $200 Billion More of Assets, Survey Finds	Nov 24/08
	New Page 1 Hedge funds are about halfway done selling securities to reduce their use of borrowed money and may unload $200 billion more to complete the process, according to managers surveyed by Sanford C. Ber...Read more
	Artemis Decides to Wind Down Its Absolute Return Hedge Fund	Nov 24/08
	New Page 1 Artemis Asset Management Ltd., the $17 billion money manager controlled by Fortis, said it will shut down the Artemis Absolute Return Hedge Fund managed by William Littlewood, even after posting...Read more
	Hedge funds still pack a punch for pensions	Nov 21/08
	PENSION funds are likely to continue raising allocations to hedge funds over the longer term, despite a disappointing performance this year, a leading pensions consultant said yesterday.Lane, Clark and Peacock said that while trus...Read more
	Red flags at hedge funds that worry experts	Nov 21/08
	Forensic accountants, former prosecutors and private investigators list some potential red flags at hedge funds that might indicate irregularities and should make investors take notice and probe further.*Returns that seem too good...Read more
	We Need ETF-Based Hedge Funds	Nov 21/08
	As hedge fund titans face an intense grilling by Congressional committees and thousands of hedge funds around the world are closing their doors, perhaps it is time to consider a new approach. A hedge fund structure offers investor...Read more
	Fidessa launches index to measure stock liquidity fragmentation	Nov 21/08
	he London-based Fidessa group has launched the Fidessa Fragmentation Index, designed to provide the trading community with an accurate, unbiased measurement of the true state of liquidity fragmentation across order-driven markets ...Read more
	All Pain, No Gain for Convertible Arbitrage Funds in 2008	Nov 21/08
	The Convertible Arbitrage sector started the year strong with over half of the funds in the space posting positive returns as of June 1. Today, all funds are in negative territory as Convertible Arbitrage managers have seen six ye...Read more
	The Hedge Fund Cash Hordes	Nov 21/08
	The Nov. 15 deadline for end-of-the-year hedge-fund withdrawals has passed, and some big firms are filing form 13F holdings reports. Eyes are now on the $1.5 trillion hedge fund industry, how it's affecting the markets now and wha...Read more
	Hedge fund managers expect increased regulation under US administration	Nov 21/08
	More than 98 per cent of senior hedge fund managers believe the new US administration is likely to increase regulation of the hedge fund industry, according to a report by accountancy firm Rothstein Kass.The report, 'A New Regime:...Read more
	Northern Trust wins Canadian mandate	Nov 21/08
	Northern Trust has been named trustee and custodian for the Halifax Regional Municipality Master Trust ('HRM'), which includes two pension plans with combined assets of approximately C$1 billion. Northern Trust will provide custod...Read more
	Investors withdrew $40bln from HFs in October	Nov 21/08
	HFR report: Investors withdrew $40bln from HFs (including $22bln from FoHFs) in October, industry AUM down to $1.56tln. Investors redeem from underperforming Funds of Hedge Funds; Short Selling, Macro continue to post strong gains...Read more
	Hedge fund manager helps nomadic orchestra buy permanent home in Manhattan	Nov 21/08
	``It's like a dream come true,'' Marianne Lockwood, the Orchestra of St. Luke's executive director, said in a phone interview. ``I have to keep pinching myself. Given this economic climate, we consider ourselves lucky to be where ...Read more
	Paulson Seeks to Charter Hedge Funds	Nov 21/08
	Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is calling for hedge funds to be chartered in order to permit oversight by regulators.Speaking at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Paulson said government inaction and outdated regulatory sys...Read more
	Morgan Stanley makes prime brokerage job cuts	Nov 21/08
	Morgan Stanley's global prime brokerage unit has informed staff today of substantial redundancies.Insiders say that the scale of the cut-backs, which will apply to both the bank's US and UK operations, significantly exceed the one...Read more
	Yang resignation could renew hedge funds focus on Yahoo!	Nov 20/08
	Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang has announced that he is stepping down as chief executive after 16 months at the helm of the online giant. In a memo to staff, Yang said he would leave the top job and return to being 'Chief Yahoo!' - ...Read more
	Coffee Falls as Supplies Gain, Demand by Hedge Funds Dwindles	Nov 20/08
	Coffee dropped the third straight day in New York on higher bean output by the world's biggest producers and signs that commodity investments by hedge funds are dwindling. Coffee supplies in warehouses monitored by ICE Futures U.S...Read more
	Hedge Funds May Sell At Year End As Banks Skimp On Lending	Nov 20/08
	For equity markets, 2008 will long be remembered as a year of massive selling, and it's likely to end the same way.Hedge funds will find it increasingly difficult to obtain lending at the end of the year, a time when banks typical...Read more
	C8Software launches reporting tool for investment industry	Nov 20/08
	C8Software has developed a presentation and reporting tool for investment professionals called Consolid8.Managing Director Rob Gray says: 'Client service directors will benefit from being able to create and present pixel-perfect c...Read more
	Citi Shuts Yet Another Hedge Fund	Nov 20/08
	Citi doesn't seem long for the hedge fund business as the bank reportedly closes yet another fund. Citi is liquidating a corporate special situations fund that was down 53% in October, the Financial Times reported. The fund closur...Read more