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Recent Hedge Fund Developments

admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:22:00 +0000

Recent Hedge Fund Developments

Here are a series of recent videos released on developments within the hedge fund industry. If you are viewing this video through our daily hedge fund email newsletter please click here now to watch the embedded videos below.

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Tags: hedge funds, hedge fund, private equity, alternative investments, investments, equity, stock markets, investment funds, capital

Plenty of Good Apples : More Awareness Needed

admin — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:02:00 +0000

Plenty of Good Apples

More Alternative Investment Awareness

I recently read a post on Hedge Lines about the alternative investment industry and how Portfolio.com has claimed that private equity firms add no value – only fees. Here are some quotes from that blog post:

“The entire spectrum of alternative asset management is under attack.”

“The problem is that no one is talking about the good apples in the alternatives arena. No one is making the case that hedge funds and private equity are valuable, even important, vehicles for institutions, like pension funds, that should reasonably expect to make money even when the market is down. This should be an easy argument to make, but no one is actively taking it on.”

The Hedge Fund Group (HFG) and HedgeFundBlogger.com are taking this on. Through this financial crisis we have been pointing out how hedge funds have outperformed the markets, how hundreds of new funds are being started right now, and we have also detailed how this diverse industry is as alive as ever.

What the industry needs is a more concerted effort to converse with the public, with government officials, with banks, and wealth management firms. There should be an easier channel for hedge fund manager communication directly with the public whether they are a potential investor or not.

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Tags: hedge fund, hedge funds, investment, investments, stock market, stock markets, hedge fund publicity, hedge fund awareness, hedge fund branding rules, investment branding rules and regulations

Hedge Fund Industry & The Markets

admin — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 06:06:00 +0000

Hedge Fund Trend

Hedge Fund Industry & The Markets

I just had a comment on a past blog post related to how the current markets have changed the current hedge fund strategies being offered right now.

Here was my response:

While many strategies have struggled in 2008 and 2009 global macro and shorting strategies have done well. I’ve also heard of many managers who are shifting their strategies to more short term vol trading instead of long term holding for obvious reasons. Managers who used to do 80% long term holding and 20% short term trading have now flipped those stats on their head. Lots of new commercial financing and distressed asset funds are coming out right now as well.

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Hedge Fund Course | CHA Designation Program

admin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:10:00 +0000

Hedge Fund Course

Hedge Fund Course CHP Designation

Below is a short interview just conducted with popular private equity writer Theo O’Brien.

Theo: What is the Certified Hedge Fund Professional (CHP) program?

The CHP Designation program is an online hedge fund certification program sponsored by the Hedge Fund Group (HFG) starting in 2008.

The CHP Designation is a two part program. Level 1 helps participants gain a comprehensive base level of knowledge about the hedge fund industry. Level 2 allows participants to specialize within a niche area of the industry such as marketing and sales, due diligence or analytics.

Theo: What do graduates from the CHP program receive, as in what are the benefits from taking the program?

For a list of the benefits from completing the program please see this page: http://chadesignation.org/CHA-Designation-Benefits.html.

Our program also benefits hedge fund startups and sub $100M hedge fund managers. Here is how: http://chadesignation.org/How-To-Start-A-Hedge-Fund-Startup-Benefits.html

Theo: How is this program connected to the Hedge Fund Group (HFG) and who decides what goes on the exam?

The Hedge Fund Group (HFG) sponsors the CHP Designation and created it in 2008. There is a team of 5 professionals who have developed and maintain the designation and they are aided by an advisory board of approximately 55 professionals who work at hedge funds, fund of hedge funds and prime brokerage/auditing firms.

Theo: Where are classes held? New York? How much do they cost.

The CHP Designation is offered 100% online and tuition is $599 or $499 if you register within the first 24 hours of registration opening. The program and exam may be taken from anywhere in the world as long as the individual has a reliable internet connection. Last year we had participants from Hong Kong, UK, US, Canada, India and China.

Theo: So the CHP Designation program is really international and not based within the Manhattan or any one location for that matter.

Yes that is correct.

Theo: How well known is the program? Have mainstream media outlets interviewed your team?

To some extent we have been covered. We have not graced the cover of the WSJ or any large American newspaper but we have been picked up by the Financial Times, Alpha Magazine, Institutional Investor and Job Search Digest. Most of these stories were ran in interview form. The Financial Times was the most thorough, we spent over 4 hours speaking with them and that doesn’t count their inquiries to actual participants within the program as well.

Theo: Is there anything else you want to mention here before we end this interview?

We have much more information on our website: http://chadesignation.org/.

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Truth About Hedge Fund Performance 2008

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:47:00 +0000

Hedge Fund Performance

Truth About Hedge Fund Performance

(HedgeFundBlogger.com) Hedge funds have been hurt by their overall negative returns in 2008. The truth about hedge fund performance is that it still far outperforms the broader markets. With all of the recent bad press hedge funds have been receiving you would think they had lost twice as much as the S & P 500, the truth is they lost less than 20% while the S & P was down over 38% for 2008.

Counterparty risks, fraud and redemption notices are obviously the hot topics which are hurting the hedge fund industry just as much if not more than performance. Many in the industry hope and believe that many groups are sitting on cash, waiting to allocate and completing much more due diligence before investing back into the markets or hedge funds. Hopefully these issues mentioned above cease to break the front pages of the WSJ and fade away with the weak economy in 2009.

Here is a short snippet from a recent news story on hedge fund performance:

Although hedge funds finished up 2008 with some of the worst numbers to date, they showed some signs of promise in December. According to the latest research by the Hennessee Group LLC, a New York-based advisor to hedge fund investors, hedge funds advanced .51 percent in December.

Hedge funds finished up the year down 19.15 percent according to the research. Although it was a dismal year for funds as a whole, they still outperformed the S & P, which was down 38.5 percent on the year, the Dow Jones, who dropped almost 34 percent, and the NASDAQ Composite Index, which posted a 40 percent drop on the year. source

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Ways Which Hedge Funds Add Value

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:17:00 +0000

Benefits of Hedge Funds

List of 4 Hedge Fund Benefits

In the midst of 200 articles on the Bernard Madoff fraud case which you can read about here, I spotted an article by Alphaville spelling out the top 9 ways in which hedge funds add value to the investment industry. Here is a short version of the list:

Providing liquidity
Bursting bubbles
Restore confidence during risky investment periods
Survival of the fittest models

Here is the full article.

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Hedge Fund Tracker Note Updates | Managers

admin — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:33:00 +0000

Hedge Fund Tracker Updates

Hedge Fund Tracker Notes | Updates

Our team has recently updated the Hedge Fund Tracker Notes on these hedge funds:

Read through profiles on over 1,000 hedge fund managers within our Hedge Fund Tracker Tool.

Tags: Hedge Fund managers, hedge fund, hedge funds, investment managers, investments, investment, stock market, stock markets, hedge fund investments, hedge fund bios

What To Know About Hedge Funds | Short Video

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:07:00 +0000

Video on Hedge Funds

What to Know About Hedge Funds

Here is a short video on hedge funds, the attention they are getting in the media and on short selling. What is nice about this movie is that in plain English it explains why most of what is going on is not new and how short selling is not evil. To view this video via my daily hedge fund newsletter please click here, otherwise please see below.

View over 50 additional Free Online Hedge Fund Videos.

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The Truth About Hede Funds | A Matter of Time

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:04:00 +0000

The Truth

The Truth About Hede Funds

“All Truth passes through Three Stages: First, it is Ridiculed…
Second, it is Violently Opposed…
Third, it is Accepted as being Self-Evident.”

- Arthur Schopenhauer (1778-1860)

I believe by 2012-2015 that the value of hedge funds will be self-evident. We are living through the ridicule and violent opposition but in the end there is a place for hedge funds and there will always be investors in hedge funds.

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Hedge Fund Maguire | Letter Blasts the Actions of Desperate Hedge Fund

admin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:34:00 +0000

Hedge Fund Maguire

Hedge Fund Maguire | Letter to Hedge Funds

(http://HedgeFundBlogger.com) Below is a short excerpt from the NY Post and their comments on a letter which Sandra Manzke sent out earlier this week regarding the recent actions of many desperate hedge fund managers. If anyone has the full version of this letter please shoot it over or post it below. For now here is an excerpt of the review article:

Fed up with misbehavior in the hedge-fund industry, respected hedge fund investor Sandra Manzke is fighting back.

A pioneer in hedge-fund investing and best known for founding Tremont Capital Management, Manzke sent an angry missive to hundreds of her peers earlier this week, calling on them to join together to push for reform in the $1.5 trillion industry.

“I am appalled and disgusted by the activities of a number of hedge-fund managers,” said the letter, which raises a fist against what Manzke sees as a general degradation of ethics in the industry.

The letter, reminiscent of the way in which Tom Cruise’s Hollywood agent character penned a manifesto blasting his cutthroat industry in the hit movie “Jerry Maguire,” comes amid a historic shakeout of this once-lucrative business. Hedge funds are battling the double blows of poor performance – down an average of 20 percent so far this year – and billions in investor withdrawals, known as redemptions. Read more…

Here is the actual letter:

MAXAM Capital Management LLC
RE: AN IMPORTANT LETTER TO HEDGE FUND INVESTORS
Dear Sir/Madam:

I was one of the earliest investors in hedge funds. I made my first investment in 1985 when the industry was exclusive to the United States and there were only 68 funds in existence. As such, I have watched the industry grow from a small private investment club to its current state managing in excess of a trillion dollars with more than 10,000 funds. I was an early proponent of the fund of funds business which enabled smaller investors the ability to access the talent pool, and gain diversification with lower minimum investment. I once was proud of the industry, now I am concerned.

While we all recognize the difficulties of the current market environment, I am appalled and disgusted by the activities of a number of hedge fund managers. The increased use of gating, side pocketing, suspension of redemptions, failure to post an NAV, fund liquidations that favor management are just a few of activities that are giving this industry a bad name. Worse, there are managers who are attempting to get their money out ahead of investors, attempts to eliminate high water marks, asking investors to increase fees to pay for fund expenses, receiving fees on liquidating funds, receiving fees on illiquid securities, and mispricing their books.

We have seen funds which claimed to have no leverage, in fact, facing margin calls that wipe out capital. And managers who have received millions of dollars in incentive fees, walking away and leaving investors with nothing. Further, management fees have crept up to outrageous levels and hedge fund organizations are paying employees lucrative wages, while investors are bearing these costs, unjustified by mounting losses.

I was in favor of SEC registration and oversight and 2008 is certainly a poster child for the need for better regulation. Now, I feel that investors need to form an organization to protect against the egregious hedge fund manager. Hedge fund managers do not disclose their investors and we are each operating in a vacuum. We should be able to unite to change how this industry operates. I am proposing that we form the “Hedge Fund Investors United Forum” to propose reform in the industry that would protect our clients’ and our own interests.

Carl Icahn has started his shareholders group to change the behavior of corporate America. I urge everyone to go to his blog and join, because corporate America has lost its way. Corporate management needs to get back to running companies to make money for shareholders, not for personal gain. We need to get hedge fund managers to work for their investors and not for their personal gain.

As a group we can influence the future of the industry. We can start to define neutrally beneficial terms, not punitive investor terms. If we want to survive, we have to restore confidence and reshape the industry. I am not saying everyone out there is a bad apple, but there are too many bad apples for my taste and it only takes a few to bring the industry to its knees.

If you are interested in joining with me to bring reform to this industry, please email me and together we can start the process.

With great concern,
Sandra L. Manzke
Chief Executive Officer

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