22/02/2010 Author: Tony Griffiths

HFMWeek Daily Snapshot - 22 February

NEWSPAPERS & WIRES
Stanley Fink, the former chief executive of Man Group, is set to return to the forefront in a tie-up with one of the industry's biggest names, reports the FT. Fink's hedge fund management company ISAM, established after leaving Man three years ago, will this week announce plans for a strategic partnership with Hite Capital Management, the hedge fund run by Larry Hite, the creator of so-called systematic trading and one of Wall Street's most revered money makers. The partnership will see ISAM launch a new fund, ISAM Systematic, in April, according to people familiar with the situation. The fund, which will be run by Hite, is expected eventually to raise up to $6bn.
 
Top hedge funds Moore Capital, Maverick Capital, Viking Global Investors and Stark Investments are planning to open offices in Asia over the next few months to meet investor appetite for a slice of Asia's growth, bankers said, Reuters reports. Louis Bacon's Moore Capital, which manages $14.6bn, is the biggest among the new arrivals. Maverick Capital, run by Lee Ainslie, reportedly has about $10bn in assets, while Viking Global had $9.6bn in early 2009. Stark Investments saw its Asia team in Hong Kong and Singapore break away to found Orchard Capital Partners in October 2009.
 
Pension fund asset manager PGGM Investments is shaking up its hedge fund strategy, says Global Money Management. The Zeist-based group, which administers €87bn in assets, is phasing out fund of hedge funds exposure in favour of direct investments, said Spokeswoman Diana Abrahams. Fund of funds allocations currently account for two thirds of the €1.7bn hedge fund portfolio. PGGM will gradually eliminate this asset class, terminating its fund of hedge funds managers in the process
 
Hedgebay Trading has launched a new monthly index that will give the hedge fund industry a detailed insight into the average discount or premium to NAV that investors are paying for assets that have no contractual redemption rights to investors, such as side-pockets or for hedge funds that have suspended redemptions. The Hedgebay Global Illiquid Asset Index is the first time that a breakdown of liquidity data has been made available to investors. Difficulties in providing accurate valuations of illiquid assets have emerged as a key factor behind the collapse of several hedge funds.
 
Some Connecticut lawmakers are resurrecting efforts to pass new state regulations on the hedge fund industry, frustrated by what they see as inaction in Washington, says the Hartford Courant. Sen. Robert Duff, D-Norwalk, co-chairman of the General Assembly's Banks Committee, says last year's failed bill that required hedge funds and private equity funds to disclose conflicts of interest between an investor and a fund manager, will be "a starting point" for new legislation this year aimed at making the industry more transparent for investors.

Nomura, the global investment bank, and Hedge Fund Research (HFR) today announced the launch of the HFRq Hedge Fund Replication Long Index and the HFRq Hedge Fund Replication Short Index, developed in collaboration with sub-adviser and quantitative think tank, QES. The HFRq Indices are designed to approximate hedge fund returns using factor analysis and a unique and proprietary modular methodology. Using exclusive access to daily performance and risk sensitivity data from Hedge Fund Research, the HFRq maximises the correlation to the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index.
 
Alternative managers are poised to snatch talent from traditional fund houses in order to equip their businesses for the growth of Ucits-compliant hedge funds, the FT reports. The search is now on for distribution professionals who can bring knowledge of the Ucits retail market to hedge funds, according to recruitment specialists and market experts. Murat Ünal of consultancy firm Funds@Work says: “You certainly need people with a good understanding of relevant investor groups, but who are at the same time sophisticated enough to understand the approach of the hedge fund manager.”

Makoto Haga, chief strategist at online broker Monex Inc. and Nomura Holdings’s first hedge fund manager, has died. He was 46. Haga died of a heart attack on 19 February at his home in Kawasaki City, near Tokyo, according to a statement on Monex’s website, Bloomberg reports. After joining Nomura in 1998, Haga ran the first hedge fund at Japan’s largest securities firm. He departed for Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. in 2001 where he managed that firm’s first hedge fund as well. Haga founded asset manager Wing Asset Management Co. in 2008 and joined Monex last year.
 
LAUNCHES
BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, plans to start a hedge fund to trade corporate bonds in Asia, two people with knowledge of the matter said, Bloomberg reports. The New York-based manager will launch the BlackRock Asian Credit Hedge Fund in March, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Neeraj Seth, the Singapore-based head of Asian corporate credit, will oversee the fund, they said. Seth declined to comment.
 
Nikko Asset Management has announced it is to launch its Nikko AM World Bank Green Fund for European and Middle Eastern investors. The fund – the first of its kind – can invest up to 100% of its portfolio in green bonds issued by the World Bank. All proceeds of these bonds will support World Bank funded projects that are designed to tackle the causes and consequences of climate change in the developing world. The fund will be actively managed by Stuart Kinnersley and Simon Down. The Luxembourg-domiciled Ucits III fund will be available in sterling, US dollar and euro share classes.