27/08/2010 Author: Shannon Hawthorne

HFMWeek Daily Snapshot - 27 August

The Alternative Investment Management Association (Aima), a global body representing hedge funds, announced it will meet US policymakers and supervisors in September over the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, reveals Dow Jones Newswires. Aima Chairman Todd Groome said in a statement. The London-based association, which represents over 1,000 corporate members in 40 countries managing over 75% of global hedge fund assets, didn't specify which organisations it will meet with in September.

Anthony Ward's huge cocoa bet could be melting away according to the Wall Street Journal. Ward's Armajaro Holdings shook up the commodities market in July by buying a $1bn cache of cocoa, but since Ward made his audacious bet, cocoa prices have dropped 26%. Two hedge funds run by Armajaro, including its CC+ Fund, which focuses on cocoa and coffee, lost about 6% of their value during the first two weeks of August. The funds remained up about 12% on the year through the middle of August, the investors say.

Investors in Parkcentral Capital Management hedge funds, whose investments were wiped out in 2008, sued Ernst & Young, accusing the accounting firm of fraud in its role as the funds’ auditor, reports Bloomberg. Ernst & Young concealed information and “facilitated, assisted in and participated in” securities fraud by the managers of the funds, the investors claimed in a complaint filed yesterday in state court in Houston. Parkcentral, based in Plano, Texas, marketed its funds by saying its money managers had invested for billionaire and former presidential candidate Ross Perot and his family, according to the lawsuit.

Korea Investment Corp, the sovereign wealth fund that bought a stake in Chesapeake Energy Corp in June, plans to make more direct investments, departing from its strategy of buying stocks and bonds in public markets after returns sagged this year Bloomberg reports. The $35bn fund, known as KIC, may invest in energy, clean technology and natural resources companies, CIO Scott Kalb said in an interview. KIC may also put more money into hedge funds and real estate, he said.

Hedge fund manager Centaur Performance Group has been putting a lot of cash to work in the markets lately, but argues the lack of solid evidence for an economic recovery still warrants conservative deployment of capital, report Dow Jones Newswires. The Greenwich-based firm has over $160m in AuM. For many of those assets, it employs a relative value credit strategy that seeks to earn consistent returns without betting on the overall direction of the credit market.