Hedge Fund EthicsIn the hedge fund industry you have one name and one reputation. If you ruin that you could have influential people in the industry refusing to do business with you for 15-20 years after their initial opinion is formed. In such a competitive close vested industry where large profits can be made the temptation to cut corners or look past fiduciary duties is sometimes too much.The FBI recently had agents posing as a Florida-based hedge fund manager to nab 10 individuals in 5 kickback schemes connected to securities sales. The SEC charged 10 individuals and ... (more)

Greenwich CT Hedge Funds OutperformThe Greenwich Global Hedge Fund Index is up over 10.5% year-to-date as of 12.12.07. These are strong returns considering that the index as a whole dropped 1.61% in November.“Hedge funds’ performance, which was less severe than that felt by the equity markets, highlights their unique ability to limit the downside,” said Ben Rossman, senior vice President at Greenwich Alternative Investments.- RichardPermanent Link: Greenwich Hedge Funds OutperformSubscribe To this Blog via RSS | Or By EmailRelated Terms: Greenwich Global Hedge Fund Index, Greenwich CT Hedge Fund, Hedge Fund in Greenwich ConnecticutPicture Source: Wealt ... (more)

Hedge Fund Job AdviceHere is an email I got earlier today:"I have passion for investing/trading and want to build my career in hedge funds. I am trying to break into the field, so far with no luck. I came across your blog and writing today to see if you could give me some advise on how to land into a full time hedge fund job. I have gone through your blogs and book and admire your helping attitude. I am attaching my resume for your reference..."I get a lot of emails about how to obtain a job within the ... (more)

Sovereign Wealth Funds in the Middle East & AsiaChina Investment CorporationSize: 1.47 trillion yuan (£100 billion)Major investments: Blackstone $3 billionCiticSize: 929.2 billion yuan (£64 billion) at December 2006.Major investments: Recently bought 6 per cent stake in Bear Stearns for $1 billionChina Development BankSize: 2,314 billion yuan (£150 billion) at December 2006.Major investments: Bought 3.1 per cent in Barclays for £1.6 billion.TemasekSize: $108 billion (£54 billion)Major investments: Barclays £2 billion, Standard Chartered £4.25 billionGICSize: $100 billion to $330 billion (estimate)Major investments: £4.8 billion stake in UBSAbu Dhabi Investment AuthoritySize: $875 billionMajor investment: Citigroup $7.5 billionDubai International CapitalSize: €6 billion (estimate)Major investments: ... (more)

Hedge Fund TrendsDirect Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T-BH8cvkJE- RichardPermanent Link: Hedge Fund Trends VideoRelated Terms:hedge fund trends, hedge fund video, hedge funds trend, hedge fund of fund trend ... (more)

Hedge Funds Use LitigationLitigation is becoming more and more a part of the everyday world of hedge funds. Funds are finding themselves in courtrooms in any number of different roles.Hedge funds have increasingly turned to lawsuits as tools with which to influence the management of the companies in which they have invested. One newsworthy example of this is the high-profile InfoUSA lawsuit. InfoUSA's founder, Vin Gupta, is accused of corporate waste on a scale of millions of dollars. He is accused of using company funds and assets to curry favor with Bill and Hilary Clinton (in the form of flights ... (more)

Top 50 US Hedge Fund GroupsBelow is the list of the top 50 US Hedge Fund Groups organized by firm name, location, Jan. 07 AUM$B, Growth in 2006 and SEC Regulated Y/NStark Investments* St. Francis WI 10.83 42.46% YDavidson Kempner Advisers** New York NY 10.26 65.48% YHighfields Capital Management Boston MA 10.00 29.87% NWellington Management Co.** Boston MA 10.00 19.05% YCanyon Capital Advisors Beverly Hills CA 9.60 18.52% YAQR Capital Management Greenwich CT 9.50 21.79% YFortress Investment Group** New York NY 9.40 38.24% YMaverick Capital New York NY 9.30 -15.45% YDuquesne Capital Management** Pittsburgh PA 8.80 10.00% NMillennium Management** New ... (more)

Amaranth vs. JP Morgan ChaseThe Amaranth complaint against JP Morgan Chase is a fascinating tale of corporate intrigue and sabotage. Of course, we have a long way to go before we see if the allegations hold up.I am summarizing the complaint here. In order to do that, I have simplified things. There are actually two Amaranth entities listed as plaintiffs and three JPMC entities listed as defendants. I will just refer to Amaranth and JPMC here. If you want to sort out all of the players, feel free to read the 30-page complaint.JPMC served as Amaranth's futures commission merchant ("FCM"). ... (more)

Hedge Fund ConsultantI am a hedge fund consultant in Boston/New York. More specifically I'm a consultant to multifamily offices, trusts/banks, financial advisors, and institutional consultants looking for unique, high pedigree hedge fund managers.What does a hedge fund consultant do?We see 300-400 hedge fund managers each year and I end up only working with 1-2% of those, usually 4-7 at a time. My job is to introduce these hedge fund managers to those who are responsible for selecting hedge fund or hedge fund of funds for their high net worth or institutional clients. We work hard to ... (more)

Credit Default SwapsThe evaporation of the collateralized loan obligation market may be the other shoe dropping. The risks posed by credit default swaps (CDSs) may be not just the other shoe, but the neutron bomb. The rating cut by S&P of ACA Financial Guaranty Corporation (from A to CCC), discussed in this article in today's NY Times, may portend deep trouble.Credit default swaps originated as a form of credit protection that the holder of a credit risk could purchase as a hedge against a borrower's default. A holder of General Motors bonds, for example, can effectively insure against a default ... (more)

Hedge Fund Industry ReviewThe average hedge fund included in the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite index posted a moderate Q3 gain of 1.36%. This was largely due to a down month in August (-1.48%) followed by a recovery in September (2.82%) before quarter end. The first three quarters of 2007 have been a mixed bag for hedge fund performance in relation to the S&P 500. The S&P 500’s returns of 10.86 beat nearly half of all hedge fund indexes. One important point to keep in mind is that 10.86 is a above-average return for the S&P ... (more)

Goldman Sachs Hedge Fund Launch Goldman Sachs is launching a massive hedge fund that will have between $6 and $10 billion invested from day 1. The fund will begin operations on January 1st ran by Raanan Agus and Kenneth Eberts, a couple star traders that Goldman did not want to lose to an outside hedge fund.While some of the initial seed capital will come from Goldman Sachs other parts will come from financial institutions on wall street, banks, trusts & family offices. If they could succeed at raising more than $7 billion it would beat the current seed capital raising ... (more)

Hedge Fund PRI am currently looking for more guest article writers. I am looking for concise advice, knowledge sharing, statistics, analytics, or strategy definitions. If it helps a financial planner, investor, or consultant understand hedge funds better or identify a new trend then I am interested in publishing something on the topic.If you would like some free PR exposure for your firm or an internship doing research on the hedge fund industry please let me know by sending an email to Richard@RichardCWilson.com. - RichardPermanent Link: Hedge Fund PR Related Post: Hedge Fund Blog BookRelated Terms: Hedge Fund PR, Hedge Fund ... (more)

DrawdownDrawdown Definition A drawdown is the maxinimum percentage loss from a hedge fund. This is calculated by subtracting the lowest value from its peak net asset value. You will often here to this a fund's max draw down over 5 years or max drawdown since inception. Some great low volatility funds will have max draw downs of only 3, 5, or 7% while others will have 10 or 20% drawdown figures. Sometimes this is due to the nature of their strategy, other times it can show that they have slipped at least once in moving the ... (more)

Top 10 Hedge Fund Quotes10. “If we don’t charge 2 and 20, no one will take usseriously.”9. “We are 75% cash because we cannot findsufficient investments.”8. “We charge 3 and 30 because that is the only waywe can keep our assets under several billion.”7. “We don’t invest in crowded shorts.”6. “I haven’t shorted before, but I do have my CFA.”5. “Managed Futures are a better investment than HedgeFunds because Hedge Funds are a zerosumgame.”4. “What’s a Master Trust?”3. “Your Head of Equity doesn’t understand our HedgeFund strategy.”2. “Basically, I look at the trading screens all day and gowith my gut.”1. ... (more)

Active PremiumThe Active Premium is a measure of an investments annualized return minus the appropriate benchmark's annualized return.Example: If your All Cap Growth equities manager returned 19% to date benchmarked against the S&P 500's return of 5% than the active premium would be 14%. If you chose a more institutional benchmark such as the Russel 3000 which say had gained 8% YTD than the active premium would be just 11%.Managers are largely able to choose their respective benchmarks for themselves so it is important to understand the differences between them and note when they are different while comparing two ... (more)

Man Annual Hedge Fund ReportMan Investments releases an annual report on the hedge fund industry, this years was very upbeat about hedge fund performance. Their view is that some volatility in the US markets could lead to trading opportunities and general outperformance by hedge funds. Granted this is similar to an investment banking saying that the company they are underwriting is a great buy, it does go along with what other alternative asset experts have been reporting over the past couple of quarters.The report predicts that relative value, even driven and managed futures hedge funds will come out ... (more)

Hedge Fund ListThe following is a list of hedge funds with links to their individual websites.The Abernathy Group - Long/Short equity alternative asset management firm located in New York City. Absolute Capital investments - An alternative investment management firm specialising in hedge fund and structured debt products. Their proprietary investment process, is designed to combine non-traditional investment strategies to achieve our absolute return objectives. Adair Capital LLC - Private research and alternative investment firm specializing in hedge fund of funds. Aerodynamic Investments Inc - An offshore and domestic hedge fund with extensive chart libraries to learn about technical ... (more)

Hedge Funds Face Financial Ruin! (or not)Here is a blog post that generalizes hedge funds as speculative risky/leveraged vehicles which are "facing financial ruin." Within the article Dean Baker discusses some current issues in the market which are a whole separate discussion but he starts by saying "Hedge Funds are facing financial ruin." While a few hedge funds are always facing financial ruin here are 4 points on why the whole industry is not.1. There are 10,000 reported hedge funds and probably closer to 15,000 total in existence. Of all of those only around 80 have reportedly closed in ... (more)

Why Are Hedge Funds So Successful?I found an interesting discussion of this topic within a University of Chicago Law Blog if anyone is interested.Link: Why are Hedge Funds So Successful?- Richard ... (more)

Hedge Funds & the Ultrawealthy A recent study by the Institute for Private Investors showed that the ultrawealthy are increasingly allocating more of their portfolios to hedge funds. Ultrawealthy investors are those who are typically define as having over $50M in investible assets, they are sometimes also referred to as ultra high net worth individuals (uhnw). In this most recent study 25% of the ultrawealthy who responded to the study said they were looking to increase their allocation to hedge funds while 11% said they were planning on decreasing ... (more)

Sovereign Wealth FundsNo longer to be ignored sovereign wealth funds seem to be popping up in the WSJ as often as Ipod advertisements and pink slips for CEOs. These are pools of fully discretionary capital that are controlled by the government an often times but a small financial committee of close political allies to the president or leader of the respective nation where the funds are based. Many of these funds range in the tens to hundreds of billions of dollars and some have estimated that this pool of capital will grow from $3 trillion to over $12 trillion by ... (more)

Hedge Fund Tax VideoDirect Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hysnk-wx0Xk- RichardPermanent Link:Hedge Fund Tax VideoRelated Terms: Hedge Fund Tax, Hedge Fund Taxes, Hedge Fund Tax Update, Hedge Fund Tax Rate, Hedge Fund Tax Rates ... (more)

Hedge Funds Crush Mutual FundsInteresting fact for anyone out there working in the hedge fund industry or tracking its growth. In 2007 hedge funds have gained over $279 billion in assets while mutual funds have only gained $79 billion. "The hedge fund industry's 3.5% return in October was the highest in the past seven years," says Sol Waksman, chief executive officer of BarclayHedge Ltd. "Nevertheless, recent market turmoil has made investors a bit more cautious about investing in hedge funds."- RichardPermanent Link:Hedge Funds Crush Mutual FundsRelated Terms: Hedge Fund assets, Hedge Fund Industry Growth, BarclayHedge LTD., Hedge ... (more)

Hedge Fund Regulation VideoBelow Houman Shadab of George Mason University analyzes the markets and hedge fund regulation.Alternative Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVBTJzeY-GA- RichardPermanent Link: Hedge Fund Regulations VideoRelated Terms: Hedge Fund Regulation, Hedge Funds Regulation, Hedge Fund Regulations, The Regulation of Hedge Funds, Alternative Investment Regulations ... (more)