31/01/2012

HFMWeek Daily Snapshot - 31 January

NEWSPAPERS AND WIRES
Hedge funds increased wagers on rising commodity prices to the most in two months and the rally in raw materials accelerated as the Federal Reserve pledged to keep borrowing costs low for three more years, reports Bloomberg. Money managers raised combined bullish positions across 18 US futures and options by 13% to 742,902 contracts in the week ended 24 January, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show.

For hedge fund managers looking to profit from a fall in the euro, history is repeating itself, writes the FT. Speculators have put on record bets this month that the euro will fall against the dollar as concerns over the eurozone’s debt burden rumble on. Yet, so far this year, the single currency has risen by more than 1%. That experience is all too familiar. The currency stayed stubbornly strong in 2011 in spite of increasing fears that the eurozone could break apart, to the bafflement of many investors.

New York hedge fund manager Donald Drapkin will get his last $16m from former mentor and friend Ronald Perelman, a jury has ruled, reports FINAlternatives. It took the Manhattan federal court jury just 90 minutes to decide that Perelman's MacAndrews & Forbes had violated its 2007 separation agreement with Drapkin, who had worked at the buyout house for two decades as vice chairman and in-house investment banker.

Serone Capital Management has added the Zenith High Yield Bond fund to its platform and appointed the fund’s existing manager as partner upon his arrival at the firm, a company statement detailed on Monday. Vaskevitch will be primarily responsible for managing the firm’s liquid investments, building up the high yield research and execution team. 

LAUNCHES
Direct Access Partners, the institutional-focused, multi-asset agency-only trading partner has launched a new asset management unit and hired former Dahlman Rose & Co president Donald Motschwiller to head it, HFMWeek exclusively revealed today. In his new role Motschwiller will deploy seed and acceleration capital to emerging managers.

PEOPLE MOVES
The chief executive of RAB Capital has left the hedge fund manager, it emerged yesterday, marking the latest chapter in a long saga of tumbling assets and defecting clients, writes City AM. Former Credit Suisse executive Charles Kirwan-Taylor left RAB at the end of last year, having joined in September 2010.