Daily News back issues from October 2007:
Credit Suisse, AlphaSimplex Launch 130/30 Index
Oct 01, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Credit Suisse and AlphaSimplex Grouphave launched the first 130/30 index. The Credit Suisse 130/30 Indexaims to help managers build 130/30 portfolios while also giving thema new benchmark. In addition it should allow Credit Suisse to offera suite of products ...
Hedge Fund M&A Seen Rising in Tougher Environment
Oct 01, 2007; ... LONDON (Reuters) - Smaller hedge fund firms hard hit by thecurrent tighter credit conditions may be bought by larger, moretraditional fund houses or may simply fold, law firm Eversheds toldReuters. "There's bound to be a shake-out of hedge funds after the creditcrunch. There are ...
Kat, Palaro Respond to FundCreator Critics
Oct 01, 2007; ... GENEVA (HedgeWorld.com) - Harry Kat and Helder Palaro released apaper this past weekend responding to a number of criticisms thathave been raised against their FundCreator risk control system. Themain points of their argument were also presented by Mr. Kat at aconference on hedge fund ...
HF Pros Support N.Y.'s Habitat for Humanity
Oct 01, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Hedge Funds for Habitat-NYC, aninitiative launched by the hedge fund community to support theefforts by Habitat for Humanity's New York affiliate to buildaffordable homes for low-income New York families, has begun acampaign to raise funds for a building ...
More Changes Afoot at UBS After Heavy Q3 Write Down
Oct 01, 2007; ... ZRICH, Switzerland (HedgeWorld.com) - It's been an eventful yearfor UBS AG, though perhaps not one that the Swiss banking giant willwant to remember. In a surprise announcement Monday morning [Oct.1],the firm revealed it is likely to record a third quarter lossbetween 600 million and 800 ...
Redundant Claims of HF Versus Lawyers Dismissed
Oct 01, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - A New York State judge dismissedseveral of the claims against prominent law firm Akin Gump StraussHauer & Feld in a lawsuit brought by a former Akin Gump hedge fundclient and its principals. The plaintiffs included James MacBride and Keith Larson, ...
New Accusation Revealed in Jayhawk Case
Oct 01, 2007; ... SAN FRANCISCO (HedgeWorld.com) - The attorney for a group ofCalifornia-based hedge funds has accused a heartland hedge fund -Jayhawk Capital Management LLC of Prairie Village, Kan. - and itsprincipal, Kent McCarthy, of deceiving investors in connection withongoing arbitration. ...
Dexion Aims to Raise 200 Million
Oct 01, 2007; ... LONDON (Hedgeworld.com) - Dexion Capital Ltd., the funds of hedgefunds provider, has put a 200 million ($400 million) target on itslatest fund-raising for Dexion Absolute, a fund of hedge funds. With880 million in assets under management Dexion Absolute is theworld's biggest fund of ...
HSBC Launches Climate Change Indexes
Oct 01, 2007; ... LONDON (Hedgeworld.com) - HSBC Corporate, Investment Banking andMarkets on Sept. 24 launched the HSBC Global Climate ChangeBenchmark Index and four investable global climate change sub-indexes. The indexes, developed by CIBM's global research team, willreflect and track the ...
STOXX Launches Supersector Short Indexes
Oct 02, 2007; ... ZRICH, Switzerland (HedgeWorld.com) - European index providerSTOXX Ltd. on Tuesday [Oct. 2] launched 18 new sector indexes thataim to replicate short-selling strategies. The new indexes are based on the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Supersectorindexes. These underlying indexes are composed ...
Pentwater Raises $700 Million for Event-Driven Fund
Oct 02, 2007; ... NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pentwater Capital Management LP, a new hedgefund headed by former Deephaven Capital trader Matthew Halbower,officially opened on Oct. 1, saying it expects to ramp up fromnearly $700 million in capital currently to as much as $1.5 billionby ...
ICE Breaks Records, Recognizes Expense
Oct 02, 2007; ... ATLANTA (HedgeWorld.com) - IntercontinentalExchange Inc. said itsSeptember numbers showed volume growth in all business segments andrecord growth in its energy business. The firm also recognizedexpenses on a licensing deal it concluded in June. ICE Brent and ICE Gas Oil set new ...
Harbinger Owns New Bally Equity
Oct 02, 2007; ... CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com) - Bally Total Fitness has successfullyemerged from the umbrella of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as aprivately held company. All of its equity is now in the hands ofHarbinger Capital Partners Master Fund I Ltd. and Harbinger CapitalPartners Special Situations ...
Perella Weinberg Buys Xerion
Oct 02, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Perella Weinberg Partners announcedMonday [Oct. 1] that it has purchased New York-based distressedinvesting hedge fund Xerion Capital Partners. The move is the latest manifestation of Perella Weinberg's bid tobecome a full-fledged alternative investment ...
New Star Launches Property Hedge Fund
Oct 02, 2007; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - New Star Asset Management plc, aBritish fund manager, said it has equity commitments of $50 millionfor a new real estate fund the firm is now marketing. New Star isseeking to raise up to $400 million for the fund. The New Star Real Estate Hedge Fund Ltd., ...
MENA Real Estate Fund Offers High Yield
Oct 02, 2007; ... KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (HedgeWorld.com) - Specialist asset managerGlobal Investment House, which focuses on the Persian Gulf Regionand holds diversified investments in North Africa, Pakistan andBangladesh, on Monday [Oct. 1] announced the launch of the GlobalReal Estate Ijarah Fund. The new ...
Low-Key Quant Strategy Thrives in Choppy Market
Oct 02, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Watching the performance of somequantitative hedge funds this August was enough to increase aninvestor's blood pressure, so wild were the gyrations. There werefunds that lost 30% in a few days, gained 20% in the next few days,then lost some more and ended the ...
Appeals Court Overturns Leniency in Global Time Case
Oct 02, 2007; ... BOSTON (HedgeWorld.com) - The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appealshas reversed the judgment of a district court in the matter offormer hedge fund manager Michael Tom, rejecting a sentence of threeyears' probation as too lenient. The U.S. Attorney's office in Boston, where the matter ...
No Slowdown in China Equities, Hsu Says
Oct 02, 2007; ... LOS ANGELES (HedgeWorld.com) - Following a runup during whichChinese stock indexes have continued to establish new highs, China'sstock market has several more months of upside, according to RobertHsu, manager of the Pearl River Greater China Opportunities Fund,which was launched on July ...
Pension Funds Stick with Commodity Indexes
Oct 03, 2007; ... LONDON (Reuters) - Large pension funds say they are sticking tocommodity indices to diversify portfolio risks, and because theyoffer better protection against inflation than hedge funds. Big losses for pension funds in indices such as the S&P GoldmanSachs Commodity Index - down ...
Credit Suisse CEO Bearish on Mortgages, Bullish On LBOs
Oct 03, 2007; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - While the U.S. mortgage market willremain problematic perhaps through 2008, signs of improvement arealready visible in the leveraged finance market as well as in thecommercial mortgage-backed securities sector, said Brady Dougan,chief executive of Credit Suisse, ...
CQS, Thames River Launch Capital Raisings
Oct 03, 2007; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - Two more prominent British hedge fundoperators have unveiled plans to raise capital for closed-end hedgefunds despite the rocky summer period that saw many funds sufferdrawdowns. The moves offer growing evidence that some managers arefinding investors receptive ...
Russian, CIS Opportunities Not Just in Oil
Oct 03, 2007; ... GENEVA (HedgeWorld.com) - As their economies develop, Russia andthe ex-Soviet economies offer a broadening array of opportunitiesfor emerging markets investors. While oil and gas productioncontinue to dominate the economies in these countries, interestingopportunities also lie in ...
NEW: Per Trac CEO Gerry Mintz on HedgeWorld TV
Oct 03, 2007; ... In this episode of HedgeWorld TV, Gerry Mintz, president andchief executive of Per Trac Financial Services, talks about theimportance of having the right information and viewing thatinformation in the proper context. He also discusses howinstitutional investors have changed the hedge ...
Millionaires Still Getting Gloomier: Spectrem
Oct 03, 2007; ... CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com) - The bad mood among the affluent mayhave found its floor, and accordingly one measure of that moodstayed in September where it had been in August; but the mood ofmillionaires continued to worsen in September, dropping four points. The Spectrem Affluent ...
September Stock Rebound Helped HFs: Dow Jones
Oct 03, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - In a rebound from an overall downAugust for hedge funds, four of the six strategies tracked by theDow Jones Hedge fund Indexes posted net-of-fees gains in September. The September recovery in the U.S. stock markets came after theFederal Reserve cut ...
Analysis: Hedge Fund Nation Britain Looks Exposed
Oct 03, 2007; ... LONDON (Reuters) - Britain, with its dependence on propertyspeculation, consumer debt and the spoils of high finance, islooking very vulnerable to the global credit crunch. And as for Bankof England Governor Mervyn King and his bank's interest ratedecision on Thursday [Oct. 4], he is ...
People Briefs
Oct 03, 2007; ... Strauss-Kahn to Head IMF WASHINGTON (HedgeWorld.com) - Former French Finance MinisterDominique Strauss-Kahn was selected Sept. 28 as the new head of theInternational Monetary Fund. The IMF's executive board said it selected Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 58,by consensus to succeed ...
Higher Taxes on Partners Across the Board: Schumer
Oct 04, 2007; ... WASHINGTON (HedgeWorld.com) - Sen. Charles Schumer, a New YorkDemocrat and member of the Senate Finance Committee, expanded on hisviews on the taxation of carried interest in a recent interview withBloomberg News. Mr. Schumer said in July that he wouldn't support higher taxes ...
Deutsche Bank Takes $3.1 Billion Charge; Guidance Raises Questions
Oct 04, 2007; ... FRANKFURT, Germany (HedgeWorld.com) - In the end, Deutsche BankAG's exposure to the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis wasn't as bad asmany had expected. Outlining preliminary third-quarter results inLondon on Wednesday [Oct. 3], the German banking giant's Chairman,Josef Ackermann, told ...
Managers Quit Absolute Capital
Oct 04, 2007; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - Two portfolio managers of the AbsoluteGermany Fund run by Absolute Capital Management Holdings Ltd. haveleft the firm. Frank Siebrecht and Stefan Heieck resigned citing"personal reasons," AbCap said in a statement on its web site. AbCap was thrown into ...
Merrill Won't Invest in Dow Kim's New HF
Oct 04, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Merrill Lynch was going to invest inthe new hedge fund of one of its top investment bankers, Dow Kim,but the bank recently changed its mind. The decision was made amidpessimistic predictions from several Wall Street analysts thatMerrill's third-quarter results ...
Global Cashes in India, China IPO Investments
Oct 04, 2007; ... KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (HedgeWorld.com) - Global Investment House,an asset manager that specializes primarily in the Middle East andNorth Africa, said on Thursday [Oct. 4] that its GlobalOpportunistic II Fund has made "significant gains" from two majorinvestments in China and India. The ...
Report Finds Universal's Assets are Illiquid
Oct 04, 2007; ... BOCA RATON, Fla. (HedgeWorld.com) - The court-appointed examinerfor Universal Express Inc., a logistics and transportation companynow in receivership, filed her first report on the assets of thatcompany last week - a report that indicates that some of the assetsare quite illiquid, and ...
HSBC Halbis Launches Macro Fund, Eyes Distressed Debt
Oct 04, 2007; ... LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC Halbis Partners, the active fundmanagement arm of HSBC Investments, has launched a global macrohedge fund and says distressed debt strategies will also offeropportunities for investors. Bill Maldonado, head of alternativeinvestments at Halbis, said the firm ...
Proxy Briefs
Oct 04, 2007; ... Genzyme Sticks With Best Offer CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (HedgeWorld.com) - Genzyme Corp., abiotechnology firm that has offered to buy another such firm,Bioenvision, said that it won't change its purchase price of $5.60in cash per share. The president of Genzyme Oncology, a unit of ...
Futures Industry Groups Enter Amaranth Fray
Oct 04, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Several organizations prominent inthe U.S. derivatives markets have jointly filed a brief in Manhattanfederal court asking for a stay of the Federal Energy RegulatoryCommission's enforcement action against Amaranth Advisors LLC. In July, the FERC charged ...
CTAs Flounder Through August: CASAM Index
Oct 04, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Autumn couldn't come soon enough fora lot of the commodity trading advisers tracked by the CASAM CISDMCTA indexes. As the summer sun beat down in August, many CTAs sawtheir returns melt and trickle away, leaving several sectors downfor the year. The ...
Technology Briefs
Oct 04, 2007; ... Aussie Options Introduced on IB Platform GREENWICH, Conn. (HedgeWorld.com) - Online brokerage InteractiveBrokers LLC introduced direct-access trading of Australian stockoptions through its Trader Workstation desktop platform, allowingusers to trade options listed on the Australian ...
Procimmo Launches First Pure Play' on Swiss Real Estate
Oct 04, 2007; ... GENEVA (HedgeWorld.com) - Nov. 5 will see the closing of thefirst round of financing for the Procimmo Swiss Commercial Fund.According to the fund's literature, this is the first fund tospecialize in the lower end of Switzerland's commercial real estatesector, and will invest ...
U.S. Attorney Looking at Bear Stearns Hedge Funds: WSJ
Oct 05, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - The U.S. Attorney for the EasternDistrict of New York, Roslynn R. Mauskopf, is investigating thecollapse this summer of two Bear Stearns hedge funds that investedin troubled U.S. mortgages, according to a story in the Wall StreetJournal on Friday [Oct ....
Swiss Re Buys 15% of Brevan Howard
Oct 05, 2007; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - The deal making merry-go-round wherefinancial services giants buy into hedge fund operators has jumpedback into motion with Swiss Re, one of the world's biggest insurancegroups, paying an undisclosed amount for a 15% stake in BrevanHoward Asset Management LLP, a ...
Baronsmead Opens in Dublin
Oct 05, 2007; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - Baronsmead Partners LLP, a specialistinsurance broker to the funds industry, has opened an Irish divisionin Dublin. It is thought to be the first such brokerage solelyfocused on Ireland. Andrew Dillion joined the firm as managingdirector of Baronsmead Partners ...
BSAM Unveils Plans, Dispels Rumors
Oct 05, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Jeffrey Lane, the new chairman andchief executive officer of Bear Stearns Asset Management, used thebank's Investor Day presentation on Thursday [Oct. 4] as a platformto reassure investors and communicate his outlook for the $45billion business. Mr ....
Julius Baer Acquires Monaco Footprint
Oct 05, 2007; ... ZRICH, Switzerland (HedgeWorld.com) - Julius Baer, Switzerland'slargest dedicated wealth management firm, on Friday [Oct. 5]announced the acquisition of Monaco-based Capital Invest SAM.Capital Invest, which provides portfolio management and advisoryservices to high-net-worth individuals, ...
Reech Builds Uncorrelated, Scaleable Funds
Oct 05, 2007; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - After selling his risk management andderivatives services firm to SunGard Data Systems Inc. in 2005,Christophe Reech faced tough decisions about how to invest the saleproceeds. Approached by private bank wealth managers to invest in hedgefunds, he found ...
Bear Stearns Reshapes Its Mortgage Business
Oct 08, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. announcedlast week that it was combining its mortgage origination lendingbusinesses, Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage and Encore Credit,into a single unit under the name Bear Stearns Residential MortgageCorp., or Bear Res ....
Global Cap Fund Blends 130/30, Agriculture Themes
Oct 08, 2007; ... ZRICH, Switzerland (HedgeWorld.com) - For many commoditiesexperts, agricultural commodities are on the verge of a secular boomthat some managers, such as Nicholas Maduz at $1.3 billioncommodities fund of funds manager Tiberius Capital Management, saycould last 10 years or more. A ...
IXIS Becomes Apostle Following Buyout
Oct 08, 2007; ... SYDNEY, Australia (HedgeWorld.com) - IXIS Asset ManagementAustralia Ltd. has been bought out by its management team and re-named Apostle Asset Management Ltd. Management and staff of IXIS,which had 5.7 billion Australian dollars ($5.12 billion) undermanagement at the time buyout, will ...
BNP to Support Edhec ALM Research Chair
Oct 08, 2007; ... NICE, France (HedgeWorld.com) - A new research chair in Asset-Liability Management and Institutional Investment Management hasbeen set up at Edhec Business School's Risk and Asset ManagementResearch Centre, with the support of BNP Paribas Asset Management.The chair will be piloted by a ...
Proxy Briefs (Corrected Version)
Oct 08, 2007; ... Genzyme Sticks With Best Offer CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (HedgeWorld.com) - Genzyme Corp., abiotechnology firm that has offered to buy another such firm,Bioenvision, said that it won't change its purchase price of $5.60in cash per share. The president of Genzyme Oncology, a unit of ...
GSAM Fund Buys Stake in Winton
Oct 08, 2007; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - A private equity-type fund set upearlier this year by Goldman Sachs Asset Management Internationalhas paid an undisclosed amount to acquire a 9.99% stake in WintonCapital Management, the British quantitative fund operator. Goldman's new private equity-type ...
New York vs. London, As Seen From Hong Kong
Oct 08, 2007; ... HONG KONG (HedgeWorld.com) - The chief executive of Hong Kong'sSecurities and Futures Commission, Martin Wheatley, weighed in lastweek on the relative merits of the world's great financial centers,from the point of view of issuers contemplating an initial publicoffering. Mr ....
Ellington Freezes Two Funds
Oct 08, 2007; ... OLD GREENWICH, Conn. (HedgeWorld.com) - Ellington Capital GroupLLC, the mortgage-backed securities specialist, has frozenredemptions from two of its hedge funds. Michael Vranos, Ellington'sfounder and chief executive, informed investors of the news in arecent letter in which he cited the ...
Sidley Settles EEOC Lawsuit
Oct 08, 2007; ... CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com) - Ending litigation that has attracted agreat deal of interest from law partnerships throughout the UnitedStates, Sidley Austin LLP and the Equal Employment OpportunityCommission have reached a settlement in which Sidley agreed to pay$27.5 million to demoted ...
Hedge Funds Come on Strong in September: Hennessee
Oct 08, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - Subprime mortgages what were thoseagain? By hitching their wagon to a charging equity market, hedge fundsseem to have pulled themselves out of the credit market morass thatbogged down some funds' performance over the summer and swallowed afew funds ...
Speculators Fuel Risks For Commodity Brokers
Oct 09, 2007; ... LONDON (Reuters) - Huge amounts of investment money pouring intocommodity markets is increasing the risks for brokers, leaving themarket more vulnerable to volatility, the chief executive ofbrokerage firm Sucden said. "We're now living in different market conditions than we did ...
China, Middle East: Everyone Wants to Be There
Oct 09, 2007; ... WASHINGTON and NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - The race is on betweenhedge funds, private equity powerhouses and Wall Street firms tofind strategic investors in China or the Middle East. Last week, James Cayne, chief executive of Bear Stearns Cos.Inc., said he was not looking for an ...
JF Asia Fund Targets Returns, Low Volatility
Oct 09, 2007; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - Hedge fund investors attracted to theopportunities in Asia often remain rooted on the sidelines due tothe volatility associated with the region's fast-expanding markets.That lesson underscores a key shift in the JF Asia Absolute Returnfund, a long/short ...
Morgan Stanley Launches Emerging Markets HF
Oct 09, 2007; ... NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com) - FrontPoint Partners, the hedge fundplatform acquired by Morgan Stanley last year, launched its firstglobal emerging markets fund on Tuesday [Oct. 9]. Targetinginstitutional clients, the new FrontPoint global emerging marketsstrategy will be managed by Adam ...
Presidential Candidates Take on Carried Interest
Oct 09, 2007; ... CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (HedgeWorld.com) - The taxation of carriedinterest may not have much of a future in this session of Congress,but it does seem likely to have a future on the presidentialcampaign trail, especially on the Democratic side. The campaign of former North Carolina Sen ....
Minnesota Case Tests Popular HF Tactic
Oct 09, 2007; ... MINNEAPOLIS (HedgeWorld.com) - Food distributor Nash Finch Co.said a state court in Minnesota issued a temporary restraining orderagainst a group of hedge funds that bans the funds from declaringthe acceleration of any debt due under a certain indenture whilelitigation continues ....
Hedge Funds Bounce Back from August Tumble: HFR
Oct 09, 2007; ... CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com) - After the credit crunch rocked manyhedge funds in August, hedge fund strategies gained 2.98% inSeptember as equities recorded strong gains, according toperformance figures from Hedge Fund Research Inc. The improvement is significant after the HFR Weighted ...
Manager Working Group Launches Consultation (Updated Story)
Oct 10, 2007; ... LONDON (HedgeWorld.com) - The Hedge Fund Working Group, a forumcomposed of the leaders of Britain's biggest hedge funds, has issueda consultation paper urging improved disclosure to investors throughenshrining best practice standards across the industry. The two-part, 128-page ...
Pequot's Wien Warns about Recession
Oct 10, 2007; ... WESTPORT, Conn. (HedgeWorld.com) - While many investors seem tothink that the worst is behind us, some of the most respected voicesin the hedge fund community remain cautiously pessimistic. Byron Wien, chief investment strategist at Westport, Conn.-basedhedge fund Pequot Capital ...