21/06/2011 Author: Tony Griffiths

HFMWeek Daily Snapshot - 21 June

NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
Investors are asking for more of their money back from hedge funds in June than in any other month in 2011, data showed on Monday, as fund returns hit by May's commodity rout shake client confidence, reports Reuters. The GlobeOp Forward Redemption Indicator – a monthly snapshot of clients giving advance notice they want their money back as a percentage of GlobeOp's assets under administration – rose to 4.01% from 3.92% in May. This represents the biggest month of withdrawal requests since December 2010. 

Hedge funds gathered a net $8.1bn in May, recording their sixth consecutive month of positive flows, a research report from industry tracker Eurekahedge showed on Tuesday, says Reuters. Net flows for the first five months of 2011 stood at $113.8bn. The industry's total assets fell marginally to $1.82trn after a 1.24% loss in portfolios as fears of slower economic growth and the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis led to a 2.52% drop in the MSCI World Index, the Singapore-based firm said. 

European hedge funds' top executives will be in cautious mood this week as they gather in Monaco for their annual summit, after big losses in May took some of the shine off a year of inflows and strong returns, Reuters reports. Bosses such as Man Group CEO Peter Clarke, whose firm is finally enjoying client inflows, Centaurus chairman Bernard Oppetit and commodity manager Armajaro's co-founder Anthony Ward will discuss how to get the industry back in track.

A group of Washington Mutual’s creditors, including Black Horse Capital, is seeking to join a probe of four hedge funds accused of using confidential data to trade in the debt of the bankrupt former bank holding company, reports Bloomberg. Lonestar Capital Management, Greywolf Capital Management and other holders of WaMu’s trust preferred securities asked the judge overseeing the company’s bankruptcy to force the four hedge funds to turn over trading-related documents.

The conviction of ex-Primary Global Research consultant Winifred Jiau was the third trial win for the US government in its crackdown on insider trading tied to hedge funds, reports Bloomberg. Jiau was convicted of one count each of conspiracy and securities fraud in Manhattan federal court for passing earnings and other information about Nvidia Corp. and Marvell Technology Group to hedge fund managers Noah Freeman, a former SAC Capital Advisors portfolio manager and Samir Barai, founder of New York-based Barai Capital Management.

Quantz Capital Management's Quantz Quark Equity Market Neutral Fund posted a 1.06% gain in the first two weeks of the month and was up 5.42% this year through June 15, according to an investor letter, says the Wall Street Journal. The hedge fund, which seeks to profit from market inefficiencies with proprietary quantitative models, held up last month when many funds were battered by huge swings in the currency and commodity markets. Quantz's fund gained 1.87% in May when hedge funds on average were down 1.28%, according to Hedge Fund Research.

LAUNCHES
Deutsche Bank and Sloane Robinson have announced the launch of a Ucitscompliant Asia fund that will be managed by the same investment team responsible for Sloane Robinson’s flagship Asia Fund. The Ucits fund, called DB Platinum Sloane Robinson Asia, was launched on Deutsche Bank’s Platinum platform in May 2011. The fund is managed by Richard Chenevix-Trench and Jonathan Barnett in a similar way to the Sloane Robinson Asia fund, modified where needed to comply with Ucits regulations.

PEOPLE MOVES
Russian financial group Otkritie, a provider of high frequency trading solutions and prime brokerage services, has hired a team of eleven to bolster its expanding fixed income and strategy department. Ron Solberg has been appointed managing director, head of fixed income research and strategy, and will report into Alexander Burgansky. Prior to joining Otkritie, Solberg was co-founder and managing director of Armored Wolf, a global investment manager, where he was responsible for all emerging market investment activity.

Sally Crane has joined hedge fund technology provider Linedata in June 2011 as managing director, responsible for growing Linedata’s business in Asia. Key responsibilities include business development, delivery and strategy, as well as oversight for the Hong Kong office. Prior to that, Crane was regional director for FactSet Pacific in Hong Kong, after moving to Asia in 1997. During that time she oversaw all aspects of setting up a new office and developed and managed a successful sales and consulting force to manage the growing business.