Hedge Funds 02 (Dec 15 - Dec 24)

[winston]

Hedge Funds Brace for Redemptions

by Katherine Burton and Saijel Kishan

Industry coming off worst third-quarter inflows since 2009

BlueCrest, Och-Ziff among firms that saw withdrawals in 2015

Source: Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... quee-firms

[winston]

Agecroft Partners’ Top 10 Hedge Fund Industry Trends for 2016

Source: HedgeThink

http://www.hedgethink.com/industry/agec ... -for-2016/

[winston]

Hedge funds have a hot idea: retreat

By Rob Copeland

Some are stockpiling cash. Others, including some managers who are known for making bold bets on stocks when markets plunge, are bracing for an extended downturn unlike any seen in recent years.

“Everybody likes buying a bargain, but catching a falling knife is no fun at all.”

The average hedge fund lost money in 2015, falling short of a thin gain for the S&P 500, including dividends, and a broad Barclays bond index. Investors pulled money from the industry overall in the fourth quarter for the first time in four years, industry tracker HFR Inc. said.

Source: Wall Street Journal

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-fun ... 00335.html

[winston]

Hedge Funds Buy Energy Stocks: Too Early?

By Tracy Ryniec

Source: Zacks Investment Research

http://www.thetradingreport.com/2016/02 ... too-early/

[winston]

Not dead, just resting

A bunch of hedge funds have closed. Has the industry reached its peak?

Source: The Economist


http://www.economist.com/news/finance-a ... k-not-dead

[winston]

Event-Driven Hedge Fund Manager Gruss Shutting Hong Kong Office

by Bei Hu

Firm received Hong Kong asset-management license in 2008

Gruss managed $3.2 billion in regulatory assets as of December

Source: Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ong-office

[winston]

Hedge funds have been getting crushed, and it is hurting everyone else in the market

By Bob Bryan

Source: Business Insider

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-fun ... 26725.html

[winston]

More Hedge Funds Shuttered Than Opened During 2015 Turmoil

by Will Wainewright

Hedge-fund shutdowns outnumbered startups last year for the first time since 2009, according to data firm Hedge Fund Research, as the global industry contracted amid market volatility.

In the last quarter, 305 funds closed compared with 257 a year earlier, taking the total for the year to 979.

Startups totaled 968, the Chicago-based company said in a report on Thursday.

In 2009, hedge-fund closures totaled 1,023 and 784 opened.

Source: Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... l-ilwb20bg

[winston]

Will Hedge Funds Be Around in 10 Years?

By Sean Ross

Net outflows from hedge funds in January were $21.5 billion, the largest redemption binge to start a year since 2009.

January was also the sixth consecutive down month for hedge funds, a historically poor stretch that began in August 2015, itself the worst month since the depths of the Great Recession.

Hedge funds lost another $20+ billion in market value over the same period. Total assets under management (AUM) for global hedge funds dropped below $3 trillion for the first time since May 2014.

Source: Investopedia

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/in ... er=YahooSA

[winston]

Buffett says hedge funds are a bad deal for investors

"There's been far, far, far more money made by people in Wall Street through salesmanship abilities than through investment abilities," Buffett said.

Buffett, Munger slam drugmaker Valeant

OMAHA, Nebraska: Warren Buffett nibbled on sweets during his presentation to shareholders on Saturday but he took a bite out of hedge fund managers.

The storied stockpicker - speaking at a table festooned with Berkshire Hathaway Inc-owned See's Candies at the conglomerate's annual shareholder meeting - suggested that "supposedly sophisticated people" and institutions are being fleeced by hedge funds and their backers.

"There's been far, far, far more money made by people in Wall Street through salesmanship abilities than through investment abilities," Buffett said, citing a simple Vanguard Group index fund that tracks the S&P 500 index of large American companies. He said that fund has beat a group of costlier hedge funds over time.

"Now that may sound like a terrible result for hedge funds, but it's not a terrible result for the hedge fund managers," Buffett said to laughter at the event held in Omaha.

During the financial crisis, Buffett bet the asset management company Protege Partners LLC $1 million that the S&P 500 will outperform a portfolio of hedge funds over the 10 years through 2017. Buffett said Saturday the index fund is beating the hedge funds by nearly 44 percentage points over 8 years.

Hedge funds are famous for their price tag - known as "two and 20" - a fee of two percent of the assets they manage each year and 20 percent of all gains.

It is not the first time Buffett has delivered the message. In his annual letter to shareholders two years ago, Buffett said he has ordered most of the money he is not giving away at his death to be placed in an index fund.

"You just have to sit back and let American industry do its job for you," Buffett said.

Buffett said the cost of consulting and management fees, as well as commissions, eat up investment returns for the wealthy individuals, endowment funds and public pensions that use hedge funds.

New York City's largest public pension voted to exit all of its hedge fund investments earlier this month.

Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, who was seated next to Buffett, offered that some people who have given their savings to Berkshire and some other investors have done well. But, he said, finding such investors is "like looking for a needle in a haystack."

Source: Reuters