27/06/2008

HFMWeek Snapshot - 27 June

NEWSPAPERS & WIRES

The Hedge Fund Standards Board (HFSB) has appointed Antonio Borges as its first permanent chairman. A former vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs and dean of Insead, Borges will take up the new post on 1st July 2008, HFMWeek reports.

Several of London’s largest hedge funds are backing Barclays’ £4.5bn capital increase, underscoring their complex roles in the recapitalisation of the UK banking sector. GLG, Lansdowne, CQS and Och-Ziff have all agreed to take up a large chunk of Barclays shares as part of its £1.7bn placing with institutional shareholders, according to the bank’s prospectus issued Thursday, the FT reports.

Investors withdrawing money from Pendragon Capital have been reminded once again why they need to pay attention to hedge fund small print. Hidden in Pendragon's terms and conditions is a clause allowing the fund to impose a charge of 5% on withdrawals if total redemptions pass 20% of its assets - as they have, the FT reports.

Janus Capital’s two biggest funds were in good hands last year. Scott Schoelzel's Janus Twenty Fund rose 36%, sixth- best among more than 700 funds ranked by Lipper. David Corkins's Janus Fund climbed 15%, almost triple the advance of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, Bloomberg reports.

Activist shareholders seeking better returns on Japanese investments suffered a setback on Thursday as a majority of shareholders in J-Power rejected calls by The Children’s Investment Fund for higher shareholder returns. In a closely watched confrontation between the Japanese electricity wholesaler and the activist UK fund, shareholders voted against all five proposals by TCI, the FT reports.

PEOPLE MOVES

US-based fund group Ramius has hired a risk manager for its fund-of-funds group, the second such hire by a hedge-fund manager in recent days and underscoring the increasing focus on risk in the wake of the credit crunch. Vikas Kapoor joins Ramius from Arden, where he concentrated on risk management and technology.

LAUNCH

Kyle Shin, former South Korea research office head of Kingdon Capital Management, has set up a new company to tap increased investments in Korean hedge funds expected after a planned regulatory change next year. Hong Kong-based KS Asset Management plans to start investment by the KS Asia Fund at the beginning of September. The fund aims to raise $50 million initially and will invest at least 70% of its assets in Korean stocks in the first six to 12 months.