Daily News back issues from May 2006:
IRS Provides Transitional Relief for Offshore Deferred Compensation Plans
May 01, 2006; ... On March 22 the Internal Revenue Service provided transitionrelief for non-qualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans that arein violation of the Section 409A provisions of the Internal RevenueCode (Section 409A) related to offshore trusts and employer financialhealth triggers. These ...
Morgan Stanley Plans Aussie Expansion
May 01, 2006; ... SYDNEY, Australia (HedgeWorld.com) - Morgan Stanley is toestablish a prime brokerage business in Australia, national daily TheAustralian has reported. While the U.S. banking giant already has astrong position in the Australian market, according to the article,it has hitherto serviced ...
Loeb to Nabi: Get A New Banker
May 01, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Third Point LLC, the hedge fund firmof Daniel Loeb, has taken a large position (13.7 percent of equity)in Nabi Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of Boca Raton, Fla., a company withan annual shareholders meeting slated for May 12. In a letter to the Nabi board of ...
Angelo, Gordon Buys ForstmannLeff
May 01, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - In a twist on the conventionalscenario that may be a preview of the future, the alternativesmanager Angelo, Gordon & Co. LP, together with management at thelong-only equities shop ForstmannLeff, has purchased Forstmann. Thetransaction is believed to be one ...
Barista' Manager Headed to Prison
May 01, 2006; ... ASHLAND, Ohio (HedgeWorld.com) - A stockbroker who used money heraised for a purported hedge fund to run a coffee shop instead, paybills and make donations to a community art center run by his wifewas sentenced last week to five years in prison after he earlierpleaded guilty to one count ...
MSCI Up in March
May 01, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - The MSCI Hedge Fund Composite Indexwas up 1.91% in March with long/short funds leading the way. The MSCI World Equity Index is still outperforming the hedge fundindexes, with a 2.2% return in March and a year-to-date gain of 6.6%.For the year, the MSCI ...
Capco Warns of Quiet Before Storm
May 01, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Edward Hawthorne, of The CapcoInstitute, has written a report on what he sees as the tenuoussustainability of profit levels and growth in the U.S.-based assetmanagement industry. Mr. Hawthorne, a managing principal at Capco, begins with the goodnews: ...
Technology Briefs
May 01, 2006; ... FXall Hires Banhidi to Management Team NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Andrew Banhidi joined the onlineforeign exchange platform provider FXall as chief technology officer,where he will oversee the company's technology strategy, systemarchitecture and development, engineering, ...
BlueCrest to Launch AIM-listed Multi-Strategy Fund
May 02, 2006; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - BlueCrest, the hedge fund manager, andClose Fund Management are setting up an AIM-listed vehicle calledClose AllBlue Ltd. to tap expected demand from U.K. investors. The new fund is to target a multi-strategy investment approachusing seven different hedge ...
Sears Denounces Pershing's Allegations
May 02, 2006; ... HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (HedgeWorld.com) - Sears Holding Corp.denounced the hedge fund manager Pershing Square Capital ManagementLP in a statement Monday [May 1], claiming that Pershing Capital haslost an ill-advised bet and now seeks to have the regulatoryauthorities in Canada bail it ...
Guilty Plea Implicates Broker
May 02, 2006; ... LOS ANGELES (HedgeWorld.com) - Keith G. Gilabert, who federalauthorities and securities regulators say ran a Ponzi schemedisguised as a hedge fund, has agreed to plead guilty to federalcharges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and securitiesfraud, according to a news release ...
Deephaven Settles SEC PIPEs Case
May 02, 2006; ... MINNETONKA, Minn. (HedgeWorld.com) - Deephaven Capital Managementand one of its former employees have consented to Securities andExchange Commission charges stemming from short selling within 19different PIPE deals. Private investment in public equity has been popular in ...
Warwick Valley's Incumbents Reelected
May 02, 2006; ... WARWICK, N.Y. (HedgeWorld.com) - Warwick Valley Telephone Co. saidMonday [May 1] that its incumbent directors have been reelected, orelected to the terms for which they had earlier been appointed asreplacements, in each case by substantial majorities. Neither of the candidates ...
Increasing Use of Side Letters Likely to Generate Scrutiny
May 02, 2006; ... As institutions and pension funds continue to increase theirallocations of capital to hedge funds, the use of side letters isgrowing in popularity. In essence, side letters are confidentialagreements providing preferential terms to select hedge fundinvestors. Although there is no ...
Emerging Manager Service Launches
May 03, 2006; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - A new firm is gearing up to act as aconduit between emerging hedge fund managers and investors who areallocating increasing sums to absolute return strategies. Noble Asset Management expects to unveil the initial fund launchesin the coming weeks for which ...
Bingham Disgorgements Top $1 Million
May 03, 2006; ... ATLANTA (HedgeWorld.com) - A federal judge in Georgia recentlygranted a default judgment to the Securities and Exchange Commissionin a lawsuit it brought in August 2005 against Barry A. Bingham andBingham Capital Management Corp. The complaint alleged that in 2001 and 2002, Mr ....
Bayou Onshore Receiver Appointed
May 03, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Jeff Marwil was appointed by U.S.District Judge Colleen McMahon to help recover assets on behalf ofinvestors who placed $450 million with Bayou Management LLC'sdomestic hedge funds. A partner at Jenner & Block, Mr. Marwil was given complete ...
Pershing Outlines Scotia, SunTrust Dealings
May 03, 2006; ... NEW YORK, N.Y. (HedgeWorld.com) - In response to a May 1 statementfrom Sears Holding Corp., Hoffman Estates, Ill., Pershing SquareCapital Management LP and two other minority shareholders in SearsCanada Inc. have set out for the public the particulars of theirobjection to Sears' effort ...
Affluent Outlook Stuck in Neutral: Millionaires Still Bullish
May 03, 2006; ... CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com) - The Spectrem Group said that theinvestment outlook traced by its "affluent index" (based on a surveyof households with US$500,000 or more in assets) lost three points inApril, on top of a three-point loss in March. So from a "mildly bullish" reading in ...
Joint Forum Examines Liquidity Risk
May 03, 2006; ... BASEL, Switzerland (HedgeWorld.com) - The Joint Forum's workinggroup on risk assessment and capital has today published a papertitled "The Management of Liquidity Risk in Financial Groups." TheJoint Forum, established through the collective efforts of the BaselCommittee on Banking ...
Hedge Funds Resume Growth Mode
May 03, 2006; ... RYE, N.Y. (HedgeWorld.com) - After dipping into negative territoryin the fourth quarter of 2005, hedge fund net asset flows turnedpositive during the first three months of 2006, according to figurescompiled by Tremont Capital Management Inc. Across all hedge fund styles tracked by ...
Morgan Stanley Appoints Alternatives Chief
May 03, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Stu Bohart, the former head of MorganStanley's prime brokerage and familiar to the many hedge funds thatuse that service, is to lead the bank's growing alternativeinvestments venture. He will report to Owen Thomas, president and chief ...
Japan Hedge Funds Grow in Double Digits
May 04, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Japan's hedge fund industry has grownat an unprecedented pace of 30% every six months since 2003. A global investment boom that began in 2003 has begun to slow downin Japan, according to a report authored by Ferenc Sanderson, aresearch analyst at Lipper ...
Henderson Settles with Hong Kong SFC
May 04, 2006; ... HONG KONG (HedgeWorld.com) - Henderson Group will pay HK$400million (US$51.5 million) to settle complaints from investors to theHong Kong Securities and Futures Commission that its old Towry Law(Asia) division improperly sold hedge fund products to certaininvestors, failed to perform due ...
Jana, Houston Exploration Trade Jabs After Meeting
May 04, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Jana Partners LLC declared a victoryfor its own campaign to persuade shareholders to withhold their votesfrom the board of directors of the Houston Exploration Co., while thecompany itself appeared unmoved. A dispute has arisen because on April 7, 2005, ...
Customer Assets Up 50% at R.J. O'Brien
May 04, 2006; ... CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com) - Independent futures brokerage R.J.O'Brien and Associates Inc. grew its customer assets 50% in the firstquarter of the year, raising the firm's total assets to $1.9 billionfrom $1.7 billion at year-end 2005. All RJO business segments saw growth in the ...
Thames River Drops IPO, Bids Adieu to Jones
May 04, 2006; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - Thames River Capital LLP, the British-based hedge fund and asset management firm, has ruled out floating onthe stock market following a review of its business, and its chiefexecutive, Glyn Jones, is to step down. The moves come just seven months after Mr ....
Crescendo Partners Enters Topps Proxy Fight
May 04, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Pembridge Capital Management notifiedTopps Company Inc. that it has added the managing director ofCrescendo Partners to its nomination slate, replacing Eric Newman. Mr. Newman, an attorney, was nominated for election to the Toppsboard of directors on ...
Duquesne Trader Joins Group G
May 04, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - The fixed-income hedge fund managerGroup G Capital Partners LLC has hired Marc Frank as head trader. Hewill report to Group G chairman Geoffrey Gwin and implement thefirm's credit strategies. Mr. Frank was previously a trader at Stanley Druckenmiller's ...
CME and Reuters Team to Create FXMarketSpace
May 04, 2006; ... CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com) - As foreign exchange emerges as an assetclass, the global FX market continues to evolve, market participantsare clamoring for broader access to FX markets, non-bank financialinstitutions have made inroads and electronic and algorithmic tradingis growing in ...
Mellon to Vote Against ASM Resolutions
May 04, 2006; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - Mellon HBV Alternative Strategies saysit will vote against several key resolutions of ASM International, aDutch-based semi-conductor devices maker, in which the fund has a6.1% stake. Mellon HBV said it will vote at the May 18 AGM against theadoption of ...
SuperDerivatives Appointment Heralds New Products
May 04, 2006; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - SuperDerivatives, a London- and New York-based developer of options benchmarking systems, has appointed LeorJivotovsky as product specialist for commodities. The companyattributes the appointment to the success of its SD-CM pricing systemfor commodity ...
Italian Asset Growth Continues
May 05, 2006; ... MILAN, Italy (HedgeWorld.com) - Italian hedge fund assetscontinued their positive streak in April according to data justreleased by Assogestioni, the Italian fund managers association. Thiscategory of fund attracted total inflows of 468.5 million euro, anincrease of 1.32% month-on-month ....
AIS To Issue New Shares
May 05, 2006; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - Responding to demand for shares of itsAIS Ltd. fund of funds, Alternative Investment Strategies Ltd. saidit would issue an additional 85 million Class C Sterling Hedgedshares at 1 per share. The fund of funds, the first to be listed on the London ...
NASAA Sides with Nanopierce Against Preemption
May 05, 2006; ... WASHINGTON (HedgeWorld.com) - The North American SecuritiesAdministrators Association Inc. has filed a friend-of-the-court briefwith the Supreme Court of Nevada, in a move that if successful wouldclear the way for state lawsuits against registered clearing housesover the effects of naked ...
Numeric Adds Chief Executive
May 05, 2006; ... CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (HedgeWorld.com) - Michael Even will becomepresident and chief executive of Numeric Investors LLC on June 1. Mr. Even had been at Legg Mason, where he was responsible for theintegration of former Citigroup Asset Management assets into the LeggMason investment ...
People Briefs
May 05, 2006; ... Wayland Named Portfolio Manager at Rock Crest DARIEN, Conn. (HedgeWorld.com) - Patrick S. Wayland joined RockCrest Capital LLC as managing director, overseeing all aspects ofportfolio management for the technology focused long/short hedgefund. "I have known Pat for eight ...
Key Sponsors FOF Technology
May 05, 2006; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - Excel spreadsheets have their limits forkeeping track of a fund of funds. That's the experience for most funds of funds, according to SimonEwart, chief operating officer and chief executive at Key AssetManagement. His $1.2 billion fund of funds firm had ...
Proxy Advisers Split in Massey Fight
May 05, 2006; ... RICHMOND, Va. (HedgeWorld.com) - The two best-known proxy advisershave taken very different views of an ongoing fight over two seats onthe board of directors of Massey Energy Co., a dispute to be resolvedat a shareholders' meeting on May 16. Institutional Shareholders Services, ...
AI Center Identifies Sharpest Swiss Funds of Funds
May 08, 2006; ... WINTERTHUR, Switzerland (HedgeWorld.com) - The AlternativeInvestment Center at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in theSwiss town of Winterthur has published its monthly data on the tenbest-performing Swiss hedge funds from 39 funds of funds denominatedin Swiss francs. The data ...
Kuwait's Global II To Curtail Offer Period
May 08, 2006; ... KUWAIT CITY (HedgeWorld.com) - Global Opportunistic Fund II,launched two weeks ago by Kuwait-based Global Investment House, looksset to curtail the offer period for the $1 billion fund due to anenthusiastic response from investors. Since launch, the fund hasalready raised $500 million, ...
Judge to Say Who Gets Into Delphi Hearing
May 08, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Appaloosa Management LP filed aobjection Friday [May 5] to efforts by the United Auto Workers tolimit participation in a hearing scheduled for Tuesday [May 9] onDelphi's request to cancel its obligations under union contracts. In particular, Delphi seeks ...
RAB Capital AUM Rocket Past $4 Billion
May 08, 2006; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - Unprecedented capital inflows for thefirst four months of the year saw assets under management at RABCapital, a publicly listed U.K. alternative asset firm, soar 55% to$4.06 billion, the firm reported in a trading update that coincidedwith its annual ...
Hedge Funds Hum in April
May 08, 2006; ... CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com) - Hedge fund managers scored positive netgains in April, according to index providers. This year's hedge fund returns seem to be ahead of those in 2005,with no clear winners or losers emerging from the pack. Equity, bondand arbitrage strategies all have ...
Single Strategy Focus Emerges Among Plan Sponsors
May 08, 2006; ... CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com) - Pension funds globally are stillinterested in funds of hedge funds, and U.K. and U.S. investors areevolving into single-strategy hedge funds, according to managersearch statistics compiled by Mercer Investment Consulting. Mercer, an investment consulting ...
Technology Briefs
May 08, 2006; ... FXall Daily Volume Exceeds $54 Billion NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Foreign exchange traders pushed dailytrading volume to more than $54 billion on FXall, the online foreignexchange portal, in the last week of April. According to FXall Chief Executive Phil Weisberg, ...
Fee Pressure Feeds into Administrator M&A Culture
May 08, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - A survey compiled by research firmCarbon360 found that some administrators saw their market positionslip in recent years as the number of mega hedge fund launches hasslowed, hedge fund performance has dipped, and hedge funds haveswitched administrators. All ...
PAAM Receiver Files New Lawsuit Versus Man
May 09, 2006; ... PHILADELPHIA (HedgeWorld.com) - The receiver for the PhiladelphiaAlternative Asset Management Co. LLC filed a complaint against ManFinancial and some of its employees Monday [May 8], alleging that thedefendants enabled and facilitated the wrongful conduct of its formerpresident and ...
No April Showers for Hedge Funds
May 09, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - There were many smiling faces in hedgefund land in April, as nearly all strategies in both the HennesseeHedge Fund Index and the HedgeFund.net Hedge Fund Aggregate Averageearned positive returns last month. The Hennessee index was up 1.53% and is up ...
Moyer Joins Tennenbaum
May 09, 2006; ... SANTA MONICA, Calif. (HedgeWorld.com) - Tennenbaum CapitalPartners LLC, a private investment firm that manages more than $3.8billion in assets, announced that Stephen G. Moyer joined the firm asa director. He comes to the firm from Imperial Capital LLC, BeverlyHills, Calif., where he was ...
Role for D.E. Shaw in Owens Corning Deal
May 10, 2006; ... TOLEDO, Ohio (HedgeWorld.com) - Owens Corning announced anagreement in principle with the representatives of each of its keycreditor groups on the terms of a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. The Owens Corning bankruptcy, filed in October 2000, is closelywatched not only for its ...
Mercer Links with HFR for Research
May 10, 2006; ... CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com) - The appetite for single-strategy hedgefunds is picking up among pension funds, and one prominent investmentconsulting firm is leaning on an external hedge fund database to getthe job done. Mercer Investment Consulting has signed a deal with Hedge ...
Industry Trends Favor Wide-Ranging Services
May 10, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Multiple strategies, hedge fund/private equity hybrids, institutional investors and otherincreasingly prevalent factors are creating a need for comprehensiveservices that go well beyond conventional fund administration. Banks are gearing up to meet this ...
DMA Demand Growing
May 10, 2006; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - Latency has become an impolite termamong fast-trading hedge fund managers using algorithmic strategiesto exploit tiny price changes. Conceptually, the term latency refers to the delays in datatransmission that are introduced by distance or by ...
People Briefs
May 10, 2006; ... Smead and Goldberg Added to Halcyon Management Team NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Halcyon Asset Management appointedRoss Smead to lead a new collateralized loan obligation business unitand Aaron Goldberg to serve as chief financial officer. Mr. Smead most recently served at ...
SEC Case Against Bayou Moves Forward
May 10, 2006; ... WASHINGTON (HedgeWorld.com) - The Securities and ExchangeCommission announced this week that it has permanently barred BayouFund principals Samuel Israel III and Daniel E. Marino from thesecurities business. This court action comes roughly eight months after investorsrealized ...
Another Adviser Weighs In on Massey
May 10, 2006; ... VIENNA, Va. (HedgeWorld.com) - Proxy Governance Inc., a new proxyadvisory service, has joined the fray over the election of members tothe board of directors of Massey Energy Co., issuing a recommendationthat shareholders vote for two members of the management slate, JamesB. Crawford and ...
Samberg Gives $25m to Columbia Biz School
May 11, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Arthur J. Samberg, chairman and chiefexecutive of Pequot Capital Management, has donated $25 million tohis business school alma mater, Columbia Business School at ColumbiaUniversity. The donation, the largest of three gifts announced by the schoolon ...
Hedge Fund and Medical Business Form Alliance
May 11, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - TPG-Axon, Dinakar Singh's $5.8 billionhedge fund firm, has teamed up with the clinical trial companyQuintiles Transnational Corp. to invest in pharmaceutical products atthe final stages of development. The venture, named NovaQuest, will help ...
SGAM Offers an Indian Focus
May 11, 2006; ... PARIS (HedgeWorld.com) - Socit Gnrale Asset Management hasannounced the launch of SGAM Fund Equities India, a sub-fund withinthe 59 compartment SGAM SICAV, registered in Luxembourg. The UCITS-compliant fund will be advised by a team from State Bank India FundManagement, India's second ...
Managed Futures Lead S&P
May 11, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Six months and counting, hedge fundshave been in positive territory, with managed futures strategiesleading the way. Standard & Poor's reported that its index is up 5.08% for the yearto date and inched up 1.01% in April, which was the S&P Hedge ...
Shepherd Energy Joins Swedish Fold
May 12, 2006; ... STOCKHOLM, Sweden (HedgeWorld.com) - Shepherd Energy Fund, aStockholm-based hedge fund, has been added to the Nordic Hedge FundIndex. The fund was launched in March 2004, and currently managesaround SEK 100 million ($13.8 million) via a combination ofdiscretionary and managed ...
Rock Capital Launches Real Estate Long/Short Fund
May 12, 2006; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - Rock Capital Group is to launch the RockReal Estate Securities Fund, a pan-European, open-ended fund, whichwill invest in long/short real estate securities. The real estate fund management group says it is the only fund ofits type focused solely on Europe ....
Most Managers Expect to Enter New Markets
May 12, 2006; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Reflecting the search for higherreturns, a large majority of U.S.-based hedge fund managers plan todiversify their trading by moving into new areas, a survey by TabbGroup shows.Two-thirds of the firms in the study said they plan to expand toother ...
Technology Briefs
May 12, 2006; ... New European Credit Platform from Thomson TradeWeb LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - Thomson TradeWeb, an online marketplacefor fixed income securities and over-the-counter derivatives,launched a new European cash credit electronic trading platform,which will offer fixed and floating ...