03/02/2009 Author: Tony Griffiths

HFMWeek Snapshot - 3 February 2009

NEWSPAPERS & WIRES

London-based hedge fund managers feel secure compared to their US counterparts in terms of regulation, says the Financial Times. The FSA, the UK regulator, treats hedge fund managers the same way as other asset managers so there is no escaping its oversight.

Kanetsu Asset Management will liquidate hedge funds, including Japan’s best performer last year, DragonHorse, as commodities trading shrinks, Bloomberg reports a company executive as saying.

Christopher Chung, Kevin Brunnock and William Savino – three former brokers at Merrill Lynch & Co. and UBS AG, whose allegedly deceptive trades for hedge fund Millennium Partners contributed to $67.5m in regulatory sanctions – have agreed to be barred from the industry in New Jersey, reports Bloomberg.

Marc Dreier, the jailed New York law firm founder, denied federal charges that he cheated investors, including hedge funds, out of over $400m. Dreier’s not-guilty plea is his first response to federal fraud charges since his arrest, explains Bloomberg.

John Meriwether, along with his hedge fund company, JWM Partners, is considering a new fund, Reuters reports the Wall Street Journal as saying. The new fund could be part of JWM Partners or a new company, the paper said, citing an official at the firm.

Shareholders of Lawrence Partners Fund yesterday voted to let its manager, Ravi Sood, have another go at reinvesting some of the struggling hedge fund's assets, says The Globe and Mail. Lawrence Asset Management had been proposing a restructuring for the fund.

Republican Mike Castle, a key lawmaker, on Monday introduced legislation requiring that hedge fund managers register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and open up their books periodically to government examiners, reports MarketWatch.

Andrew Hill, Nikko Citigroup’s co-head of Japan prime finance sales, will move to Singapore this month to lure more hedge fund business for Citigroup in Southeast Asia and India. “There continues to be attractive investment opportunities for hedge funds in Japan, India and across the ASEAN region,” he said in an e-mail to Bloomberg.

Citadel Investment Group, the Chicago-based hedge-fund firm whose largest funds lost about 55% last year, in January posted its first gain in seven months, Bloomberg reports citing to an investor.

Michael Zimmerman, who runs Prentice Capital Management, plans to start a hedge fund focused on retail and consumer stocks after his main fund halted redemptions and lost almost 88% last year, Bloomberg says citing marketing documents and investors.

The Obama administration may want legislation requiring hedge funds to disclose more information to regulators, but, according to Hedge Fund Research (HFR), the majority of them already do. HFR said that about 55% of US hedge-fund firms are voluntarily registered with the SEC, explains Thestreet.com.