The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has requested that hedge fund manager 3 Degrees Asset Management to shut down its operations in response to alle
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has requested that hedge fund manager 3 Degrees Asset Management to shut down its operations in response to allegations that its founder, Mohamed Ibrahim, lent money to another company he controlled reported Reuters this week. Bloomberg were first to report on this surprising news and it is understood that a closed hearing is taking place Thurs 20 October between MAS and 3 Degrees who want to challenge the decision. The official court documents allege that 3 Degrees “had caused and/or procured The Asian Debt Fund Ltd to lend a sum of USD6.7million to Apache Assets Ltd (AA) for the purpose of channeling the funds to 3 Degrees Capital Ltd, a company controlled by Mr Mohamed Ibrahim”.
The Asian Debt Fund is one of four funds managed by 3 Degrees, which in total runs USD215million in assets. MAS decided that Ibrahim’s alleged actions did not make him “fit and proper” to manage funds and would seek to withdraw the firm’s exempt fund manager status as of 9 Nov. Ibrahim sued Indonesian-born Agus Anwar in ’08 to recover some USD40million in debt. Anwar claims that USD6.7million was diverted by Ibrahim from the fund to 3 Degrees but the firm denies this, saying in its court filings that if there ever was such a transaction, it was neither “illegal nor improper”. It believes a fine would have been an appropriate punishment.
