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The signs are undoubtedly good. Investor interest is returning, performance is improving and total assets are within touching distance of the all-important $2trn mark: all in all, 2011 looks set to be a positive year for the hedge fund industry.
There are many indices in the hedge fund sector, but no one has ever tried to track confidence by the names of firms’ meeting rooms. It’s hardly scientific, but, given the unreliability of other performance indicators, this could well be a new way of assessing the mood of the sector.
"The really good IR teams can provide more depth and clarity of message than the manager can. I’ve seen thinly veiled groans when managers start going off-message again"
Despite a few isolated voices – Warren Buffett’s among them – advocating opportunity for the patient, the troubles in the Middle East and Japan have whipped most investors into a panic. Nervousness abounds; investors and managers have been pulling anything with exposure to the two regions.
Ronnie Cohen, private equity player and current backer of hedge fund business IAM, is well-known for writing about the second bounce of the ball. The moment, frequently difficult to predict, when opportunity rears its head and turns risk into reward.
"An ever-growing majority of hedge fund AuM is sourced from institutional investors, which means that when hedge funds are successful, it is socially valuable investments that are being enhanced"
With communities erased, and a potential nuclear crisis unresolved, it seems too soon to ponder the future of Japan’s hedge fund sector. But 2011 was the year that was meant to see Nippon-focused managers come blinking into the light after a period of darkness.
Traders and deal-makers may be the twin forces that control investment banks, but it’s surprising how a good prime brokerage unit – which really fulfils neither of these functions – is also coveted by the average ibank.
"Which hedge funds are going to be successful navigating markets in what has certainly started as a difficult year? In some ways it’s not unlike 2010"
For those hedge fund administrators big enough, the battle for business is taking place on three key geographical fronts: Europe, Asia and the US.
29/02/2012
Join us and our panel of experts for HFMWeek's Subscribers' Club February's UK breakfast briefing…
29/02/2012
The next US HFMWeek Subscribers' Club breakfast, will take place on Wednesday February 29. Join…
02/02/2011
HFMWeek's European Hedge Fund Services Awards are designed to recognise companies that have outperformed...
