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Hedge funds were not a major contributor to the stock market crash of 2008 and early 2009, but they are very likely to face increased regulation, according to the latest survey of the world’s media from Walek.
Released on the first anniversary of the disclosure of the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, the survey found that while the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities scandal impacted the hedge fund industry, poor performance, liquidity issues, and gating of funds were far bigger negatives for hedge funds over the last 12 months.
The survey is the third in a series examining media attitudes toward
The Lyxor Global Hedge Fund index rose by 1.1 per cent in November, taking its year-to-date performance to 5.5 per cent.
Markets faltered at the beginning of November on poor housing data, rallied on better than expected news mid-month, and then lost momentum as month-end neared.
Lyxor says such back-and-forth news flow seems consistent with a bumpy recovery.
Trading volume was especially light, obscuring the messages from investors. Alternative managers had a number of interesting ingredients to mix into attractive portfolios this month.
Many long/short equity managers posted decent performance numbers on the back of the mixed data. Variable bias
Interdealer broker Icap has expanded its base metals broking business by opening a New York sales desk and hiring Marc Carozza.
Carozza previously worked for Bear Stearns and Calyon Financial.
Icap began broking London Metal Exchange base metals in January 2009 with a Category Two membership of the LME.
Robert Rees, managing director, global base metals, says: “We are focused on extending our global reach in base metals and building on the successes of our London based business.”
The improved economic outlook has encouraged managers to launch a raft of new funds.
Culross Global Management, a London-based fund of hedge funds manager, has launched the Culross Long Term Alpha Fund.
Over the past decade, credit has been an important profit generator for Culross, and the company believes that the less liquid opportunities now on offer merit their own vehicle.
The fund undertakes not to invest in funds offering less liquidity than the fund itself. It will invest across eight to 15 funds and has a target return of 15 to 20 per cent. Expected volatility is in the eight to ten per cent range.
Culross Global Management was founded by Nigel Blanshard
Thames River Longstone Fund says it has delivered positive performance in 20 out of 24 calendar months as it celebrates its second anniversary.
Since inception on 30 November 2007, the EUR79.2m Longstone Fund is up 18.1 per cent whilst its benchmark, the EPRA Index, is down 42.6 per cent.
The fund has made money both in a savage bear market and in its subsequent rally.
The fund also had low annualised volatility of 2.4 per cent compared to 29.5 per cent for its benchmark.
Managed by Christian Roos (pictured), the Thames River Longstone Fund aims to capitalise on
Offshore law firm Mourant du Feu & Jeune has appointed James Wauchope as an equity partner in the Cayman Islands.
Wauchope (pictured) specialises in all areas of offshore finance and corporate work, with a particular focus on investment funds.
He worked at the City office of Simmons & Simmons before moving to the Cayman Islands in 1993 and was a partner at Maples and Calder before joining Mourant.
Neal Lomax, head of Mourant du Feu & Jeune’s Cayman Islands office, says: “We are delighted to welcome James to the partnership. Hiring talented lawyers who can contribute to the success of
Taxation, directly or indirectly, of the alternative investment industry has been in the headlines on both sides of the Atlantic this week. In the UK, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced in his pre-budget report, for the most part a heads-up on next year’s taxing and spending plans, that the government would implement a one-off 50 per cent tax to be paid by banks on bonus payments above GBP25,000.
The proposed tax will include investment and trading businesses within banking groups, which appear to include proprietary trading activities and alternative investment businesses that are part of the groups affected.
Australian absolute return and hedge funds outperformed the ASX200 for the second month running in November, returning 1.98 per cent for the month, according to Australian Fund Monitors.
This brings year-to-date performance for Australian hedge funds to 16.62 per cent.
Equity based funds returned 2.16 per cent in November, taking their YTD performance to 24.13 per cent.
Non equity based funds rose by 1.71 per cent in November and 7.23 per cent YTD.
Fund of funds also rose in November, up 0.87 per cent, while single funds gained 2.06 per cent.
The best performing strategy in November was equity long,
The Hedge Fund Replication Index gained 1.1 per cent in November, bringing year to date gains to 9.0 per cent.
Although this appears to significantly lag the non-investable HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index performance, which is up 18.8 per cent year to date, the replication index only trails by two per cent since the start of 2008.
The replication index has performed comparably to the investable HFRX Equal Weighted Strategies Index, which has returned 10.41 per cent year to date, and is significantly ahead over the two year period.
Although the investable indices are often criticised for their construction methodology
