03/02/2010
Record numbers of hedge fund investors are currently entering the secondary market space, taking advantage of record discounts and the renewed interest in hedge fund investment.
Culross Global Management, a UK-based fund of hedge funds (FoHF), is one of many firms currently exploring the sector and is engaged in a number of fresh negotiations, having recently launched a new FoHF designed to trade, in part, in the secondary market.
“There’s more liquidity in the secondary market, month-by-month, than there was last year,” says Chris Keen, a partner with Culross. “There is a steady stream of
03/02/2010
Lighthouse Financial Group has struck a partnership deal with third-party marketing firm Brighton House Associates to boost the cap intro capabilities of its Lighthouse Prime Services division.
Through the partnership, the New York-based boutique prime brokerage business’s clients will gain access to Brighton House's team of over 20 analysts and marketers to provide additional capital introduction and marketing services.
Brighton House will also work alongside Lighthouse at cap intro events the boutique prime broker puts on throughout the year.
Steve Simmons, head of prime services sales, said the Brighton House partnership will give Lighthouse clients
03/02/2010
The investment team at the University of Tennessee endowment is currently considering allocations in a handful of hedge fund managers.
The $600m endowment is particularly interested in managers within the long/short equity arena, said Charles Peccolo, vice president and treasurer.
He revealed Conatus Capital, a long/short fund managed by David Stemerman, formerly of Lone Pine Capital; and Ivory Investment Management, another long/short manager based in Los Angeles, as just two of a number of funds currently being reviewed by the university.
According to the treasurer’s report for 2008, the endowment had around $110m in
03/02/2010
BlueMountain Capital Management has bolstered its capital-raising team as it looks to take advantage of growing inflows into the industry, HFMWeek has learned.
The $4bn credit specialist has added three employees to its existing marketing team of six. Two of the employees will be new to the firm, one based in New York and the other in London. Meanwhile, the third, Josh Drazen, will move into the group from BlueMountain's business management and strategy division, where he has been since 2007.
The firm's expanded marketing team will look to build assets by targeting pensions and endowments
03/02/2010
Sigma Partnership, the hedge fund advisory business, is branching into investment consultancy, as increasing numbers of institutional allocators look for better due diligence on their investments.
Although Sigma will not offer investment advice, it’s new service – called 360° ODD – is a ‘consortium’ of third-party advisors, capable of dealing with a number of key investor concerns, including corporate governance.
Historically limiting itself to the due diligence needs of hedge fund managers, Sigma’s move is timed to take advantage of current fears about the transparency of the sector.
“We are hoping to build relations
03/02/2010
Marathon Asset Management, a global alternative investment and asset management company with over $11bn under management, will steadily increase its employee base in 2010, HFMWeek can reveal.
According to a source familiar with the plans, the New York-based firm will make the hires based on market opportunities. In the commercial and residential mortgage-backed securities arena, which includes the US Department of Treasury's Public-Private Investment Programme (PPIP) fund, Marathon will hire one or two employees. It will also add two people in emerging markets investments, one in New York and one in London. Finally, it expects to bring in
03/02/2010
The announcement that redemption-hit Vicis Capital is to put its second fund launch on hold is a case of ‘too much too soon’ for the hedge fund. Vicis built up from a standing start to manage of more than $5bn in AuM in just three years, before watching it all fall apart in 2009.
To see hedge funds falling off the cliff in 2008 wasn’t surprising, but to survive and then unravel at the end of 2009 certainly is. Surprisingly for a convertibles-heavy fund, Vicis struggled on performance in 2009; Of all the strategies you wanted to
03/02/2010
Analysts continue to question Man Group’s strengths in the long term. The share price in the world’s largest listed hedge fund fell 6.5% after poor early-year results in its flagship Man AHL fund were announced last week. Earlier in the year, Man announced poorer-than-expected results for the end of 2009, making it the first down year for the flagship fund.
Analysts appeared caught out by the asset outflows from the whole business for the last three months of 2009 and suffered from the general uncertainty surrounding the UK banking sector, which filtered through to Man Group.
03/02/2010
The pension board for the Employees’ Retirement System of Milwaukee County (ERS) has approved the appointment of two new managers. The decision signals the $1.78bn pension fund’s first hedge fund investment.
The board approved two equity long/short funds of hedge funds (FoHF) for the portfolio: ABS Investment Management and K2 Advisors.
In July last year, the ERS board decided to start a search for a long/short equity FoHF for a $160m mandate – a 10% allocation of the total pension, which was around $1.6bn at the time.
The managers were recommended to the board by
03/02/2010
The Florida State University, which manages an endowment of $399m, is considering hedge fund purchases in the secondary market, revealed Ralph Alvarez, associate vice president for budget/planning and financial services.
The move to enter the secondary market is part of a gradual repositioning of the endowments overall investment portfolio, with the long-term aim of investing exclusively in direct hedge fund strategies. A target Florida State is well on the way to achieving.
The endowment, which started investing in hedge funds in 2003 through funds of hedge funds (FoHFs), has slowly been adding direct hedge fund strategies
