06/01/2012 Author: Will Wainewright

HFMWeek Daily Snapshot - 6 January

NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
GlobeOp Financial Services is in talks with private equity firms Advent International Corporation and TPG over possible takeover offers, as the hedge fund services firm carries out a strategic review to try and boost its share price, writes Reuters. The London and New York-based firm, which has $173bn in client assets under administration, said the talks have come after it appointed Evercore Partners to advise on a review.

Three directors at Paulson Europe, the London-based arm of one of the world’s best known hedge funds, have scooped a near £12m ($7.8m) payday, reports the Telegraph. The business, which is controlled by US hedge fund manager John Paulson, made a profit of £26.5m ($17.1m) in the year to the end of March 2011, according to accounts filed at Companies House. The fund’s highest paid director – likely to be Paulson Ltd, the parent group – received nearly £15m ($9.7m).

Hedge funds fell 4.9% last year as global stock markets slumped amid fears that the European sovereign-debt crisis would spread and managers struggled with increased market volatility, writes Bloomberg. The newswire’s aggregate hedge fund index dropped 0.9% in December, with long-short equity and multi-strategy funds falling. Macro funds, which bet on global economic trends, rose last month and declined in 2011.

A Connecticut-based hedge fund that included $100m in investments by the Kentucky Retirement Systems has failed and will shut down, according to the Republic. TJ Carlson, chief investment officer for the Kentucky Retirement Systems, told the Lexington Herald-Leader that Arrowhawk Capital Partners couldn't raise enough money from investors to succeed.

LAUNCHES
Albert Sohn, the former head of securitized products at Credit Suisse Group, plans to start a hedge fund this year within the bank’s asset-management unit, according to a person familiar with the matter, reports Bloomberg. Sohn is planning to oversee money for the Swiss bank’s clients and will be joined by Gary Buchalter, Amar Sujanani and Alok Verma, said the person, who asked not to be named because the information is private.

PEOPLE MOVES
Steven Cohen is adding some more firepower to his own team at SAC Capital Advisors, writes FinAlternatives. Cohen is moving industrials trader Charles Simonian onto the so-called Cohen Account, personally overseen by Cohen and managing about $3bn of the $14bn firm's assets. Simonian will reportedly oversee the account's industrials trading with longtime Cohen protégé Chandler Blockage.