Who’d be a hedge fund operational professional? In the good times they are anonymous; hidden by the shadows of over-achieving portfolio managers. In bad times they are often the last bastion between survival and destruction.
"It’s all too easy to attack ‘speculation’ because it is almost impossible to differentiate between speculation and trading in general"
With the UK trying to tame a record deficit, it would be a reckless Treasury that let tax pounds slip through its fingers. Yet this may well be the unintended consequence if current FSA proposals for bonus restrictions are applied to hedge funds.
Is the Ucits-dream over? Probably not, but one does sense that a year of hubris could be halted in its tracks after a disappointing July and new Lyxor research flagging up the performance drag of these structures.
"I simply fail to see how some of these measures, when related to most asset managers, contribute to financial stability and prudential soundness"
There’s no smoke without fire. After months spent fanning the hidden flames inside its hedge fund businesses, the first whiff of Wall Street’s reaction to the Volcker Rule is pluming into view.
Like Paris in the spring, the lure of the Ucits space is proving a heady experience for many managers. First Europe fell for the charms of these onshore products, now the Americans are joining in a communal swoon.
"It is imperative that investors of all types ensure they understand the relationship between the introducing party and the manager"
Playing the ‘what if’ game can be fun but, depending on the number of variables in question, it can get a little out of control. Apply this conceit to the hedge fund sector's performance during the financial crisis and the possible permutations become legion.
Journalism’s palette extends to mostly black, with a smidgen of white. Hardly a spectrum of colours, but effective enough if you want to paint an unsettling picture. Hedge funds frequently fall victim to this particular school of art; a series of unsubtle brush strokes rendering the industry as the unacceptable face of capitalism.
Volatile markets, demanding investors and the frustrating inability to shake the label of financial industry ‘bad guy’; it’s fair to say that hedge fund managers don’t have the most relaxing of jobs. Even those rare moments of downtime are flecked with work-related blackberry messages, compliance calls and the need to brainstorm with peers.
It was probably on a rare night off back in 1991, then, that fund managers Barry Sternlicht and Dan Stern stopped at a friend’s house in Aspen, and climbed into the hot tub – an act that proved to be a moment of inspiration for the pair who decided then and there then that Starwood, the name of their friend’s property, would be a perfect name for their new joint enterprise.
Such tranquil times must now seem like a very distant memory for the pair, who are said to be striving to escape from the luxury hotel sector, while the debt of the firm’s Louvre Group subsidiary now stands at over $2bn, according to reports.
Starwood Capital has total assets under management (AuM) of $25bn with offices in six regions:…
RAB Capital chief executive quits amid declining assets; David Einhorn offloads majority of F&C stake; Goldman Sachs questions validity of Basis Capital lawsuit; and finally, Signet launches first 'Newcits' fund...
The $1.48bn (£960m) pension fund for Flintshire County Council has issued two tenders for absolute return pooled vehicles today.
Today: Veteran fund manager quits Gartmore; New York hedge fund in talks to buy Burger King; Greenlight Capital outperforms US equity markets in August; and finally, report reveals rise in global currency trading...
22/09/2010
The next HFMWeek Subscribers' Club breakfast will take place on Wednesday 22 September. Join us and…
30/09/2010
The next US HFMWeek Subscribers' Club breakfast will take place on Thursday 30 September. Join…
26/08/10
The exclusive free event consists of two days of in-depth panel discussion and plenty...
Andrew Rubio, CEO, Throgmorton 
Opening a restaurant, patenting a ground-breaking invention, finally finishing that novel – no matter how much we may love our day jobs, there are few people that haven’t, at one time or another, yearned for something more. 
Rare is the hedge fund manager happy to blend into the crowd – when it comes to returns at least. 