08/03/2010 Author: Tony Griffiths

HFMWeek Daily Snapshot - 8 March

NEWSPAPERS & WIRES
The Telegraph reports that London's share of the hedge fund 'billion dollar club' has dropped by more than 15% since last year, despite the sector's recovery in recent months. The capital is now home to 55 hedge funds that manage more than a billion dollars, compared to 65 last year, according to a survey of the global sector by Hedge Fund Intelligence. Global hedge funds assets rose by 10% to $1.82trn (£1.2trn) during the second half of last year, although the final figure is only just above the level at the end of 2008.

Greece ordered its bankers to exclude hedge funds from a bond offering this week in an effort to punish the speculators it blames for destabilising its debt markets, reports the Financial Times. The decision came amid growing anger among European leaders over what they see as the role speculators played in undermining the Greek debt market and driving the country towards a possible default.

Pictet & Cie, Geneva’s biggest private bank, said now is “good time” to invest in “brand” hedge funds, which have become attractive in the wake of the financial crisis, reports Bloomberg. Pictet Funds SA, which has about $4bn invested in fund of hedge funds and $1bn with single-fund strategies, aims to double its more than Fr100bn  ($93.4bn) in assets under management over the next five years, said the unit’s CEO Laurent Ramsey.

Commercial banks will come to resemble hedge funds over time, unless new rules are introduced setting limits on proprietary trading, White House economic adviser Paul Volcker said on Saturday. Reuters reports that in a speech at the Bellevue presidential palace in Berlin, Volcker made the case for proposals being pushed by the administration of President Barack Obama that would lead to a clamp down on risky bank activities.

A research paper that concludes that Canadian hedge funds generally outperform their global peers has been awarded the 2009 Aima Canada - Hillsdale Research Award and a cash prize of $10,000, reports Investment Executive.

British diplomats will today begin the final stage of a desperate rearguard action against new European legislation that London-based hedge funds and private equity firms warn could drive them out of business, reports The Independent. While Britain has been fighting for some time for a significant watering down of the reforms proposed by the Alternative Investment Fund Management (AIFM) Directive, time is running out to secure concessions on behalf of the City, where much of Europe's hedge fund and private equity sector is based. A source close to the talks warned "the UK is not going to get everything it wants". Britain has spent much of the weekend trying to win the support of smaller European countries.

From next month, there will be precious little left visible of the legacy of John Duffield, the founder of New Star Asset Management, and one of the industry’s highest profile figures of the past decade, reports Financial News. In April it will be a year since New Star’s fund managers switched on their trading screens at Henderson’s offices on Bishopsgate and began to settle in at their new home.

Bloomberg reports that US regulators are encouraging public pension funds that control more than $2trn to inject capital directly into the banking system by buying failed lenders, said people briefed on the matter. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is trying to attract pension funds that want to buy stakes or assets of distressed bank-holding companies

LAUNCHES & CLOSURES
DE Shaw, the $28bn hedge fund founded by mathematician David Shaw, is to open offices in Shanghai and Tokyo as part of an expansion in Asia, according to people familiar with the situation, reports the Financial Times. The Shanghai office, to house a team of private equity analysts, will increase the group's presence in the region and mark its first expansion into mainland China. It will focus on acquisition opportunities in China. In the Tokyo office investor relations staff will deal with such functions as marketing and account management.