Hedge Funds 01 (Aug 08 - Nov 15)

[LenaHuat]

Yesterday, IHT ran an article abt how some hedge funds made pots of $ from this crisis. Temasek's subsidiary Fullerton Investments is plowing a large allocation to hedge funds. Read 2day's reuters report that pensions seen fueling $$ into hedge funds :

http://www.reuters.com/article/PrivateEquityandHedgeFunds09/idUSTRE52O74N20090325

[LenaHuat]

Found the IHT article:-
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/25/business/25hedge.php

[Poles]

this is like secret fishing spots.....once it is known, there will be no more fish left......

[winston]

Dear All,

Apr 15 was the deadline for Hedge Fund Redemptions for July 1.

There was expectation of high redemptions after Madoff and a few other similar scandals.

However, I have not picked up any news there would be a lot of redemptions this time.

If you have any news on the latest Hedge Fund redemptions, I would appreciate if you would post them.

Thanks and take care,
Winston

[winston]

Hedge-Fund Redemptions Slowed in March; Assets Fell By TESS STYNES

Hedge-fund redemptions slowed in March in another encouraging sign for the industry, though total assets continued to decline despite small performance gains in the month, according to HedgeFund.net.

The hedge-fund tracker said funds returned an average of 1.84% in March, though redemptions and liquidations trimmed assets by roughly 1%. The decline was much narrower than the prior two months of 2009, which were hurt by a still-slumping stock market that bottomed -- at least for now -- in early March.

Other hedge-fund trackers also reported similar industry returns for March, while noting performance badly trailed that of rebounding stocks.

According to HedgeFund.net, declines in hedge-fund assets have been slowing since topping out at $186.43 billion in December. March's figure was $17.6 billion. Total assets at the end of the month stood at $1.724 trillion.

Last year was the worst on record for hedge funds, as the financial crisis spurred investors to convert holdings to cash and some funds faced unexpected disruptions to their trading strategies, including temporary bans on short-selling stock.

For the first quarter, hedge-fund assets fell an estimated 11% on $217.75 billion of reductions. Investors have been pulling their money out of hedge funds in droves as returns slumped and people wanted increased access to cash amid the worsened credit environment.

[millionairemind]

Ouch!

April 27, 2009
Asian hedge funds down 40%
ASIAN institutions and wealthy individuals investments in hedge funds is expected to have declined by 40 per cent over the 18 months to mid-2009, said an official of Bank of New York Mellon Corp, the world's biggest custodian bank.

Asian investments in hedge funds will decline to US$206 billion (S$308 billion) by mid-this year from US$344 billion in December 2007, Andrew Gordon, the bank's Hong Kong-based executive vice president of financial markets and treasury services, said in an interview with Bloomberg news.

Government entities such as sovereign wealth funds will help drive a recovery in the dollar value of Asian hedge fund investments to US$382 billion by 2013, he said.

'What you do have in Asia is a number of sovereign wealth funds and government entities that are relatively new,' Mr Gordon said. 'They're going through their early asset allocation decisions and some of those are the ones who have said they will be making allocations to hedge funds.'

Asian investors are among the most fickle after the worst year for hedge funds in 2008, according to a joint study by the bank and Connecticut-based consulting firm Casey Quirk & Associates LLC. Asia will represent 25 per cent of total industry outflow in the two years to December 2009, while Asian investors' share of global hedge fund assets may shrink by 5 percentage points over six years to 15 per cent in 2013.

The study forecast global hedge fund assets to halve to US$1 trillion by mid-this year from the 2008-peak before inflows and investment profits boost the industry's size to US$2.6 trillion by 2013.

'Fundraising anywhere is challenging at the moment, including Asia,' said Will Tan, a recruiter at Singapore-based Principle Partners Pte. 'It should not be the imperative for establishment of an Asian office for international hedge funds.'

International fund managers such as Citadel Investment Group LLC, Blackstone Group LP and Oaktree Capital Management LLC have set up offices in the region over the years, lured by its expanding capital markets and the potential to raise capital from local institutions and high-net-worth individuals.

Japanese institutions may have withdrawn more than 20 per cent of their investments in hedge funds, in many cases as a result of stop-loss policies that require them to sell holdings when investments fall below a certain threshold, according to the study.

Asian wealthy individuals are expected to reduce their hedge fund holdings by more than 30 per cent in the year through June 2009, the study found. The pace of recovery of demand from high-net-worth individuals may vary significantly, because they are very return-driven.

[winston]

Another one. Wonder how rampant is the problem ? You would thought that with the collapse of Barings a while back, all those systems would have been in place to ensure that records cannot be falsified..

Hong Kong regulator freezes Hedge Fund

HONG KONG, April 28 (Reuters) - The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said on Tuesday it had commenced proceedings against 11 defendants related to Descartes Athena Fund SPC, a hedge fund that the regulator is investigating for allegedly falsifying accounts after liquidating the fund.

The SFC said following an urgent application in the High Court by the SFC on Monday, the court appointed two administrators. It also granted an injunction order to freeze assets of up to $90.6 million in relation to two unnamed individuals.

"The SFC's urgent action was prompted by concerns that client monies were at risk of dissipation," the SFC said in a statement.

The administrators will take possession of the companies' records and bank accounts, the SFC said, and the case will return to court on May 19.

[winston]

Nearly 20 pct of Asia hedge funds close since '08 Associated Press

Almost 20 percent of Asia's hedge funds closed shop since the start of 2008 as a wave of investor redemptions and sharp losses amid the financial crisis took a heavy toll on the region's once high-flying industry, a new survey said Monday.

At least 129 funds were shuttered in 2008 and 17 more in the first quarter of 2009, a study by London-based AsiaHedge magazine said.

Hong Kong, one of the region's key hedge fund centers, was hardest hit with 27 closures last year alone. Japan suffered the fewest with nine.

The global hedge fund industry has taken a beating since the financial crisis erupted last year, hit by their own poor performance and relentless withdrawals by investors.

Hedge funds - loose pools of capital invested in everything from stocks to currencies and commodities - are expected to see more pain. Monday's survey predicts the pace of closures in Asia will only quicken as smaller funds reel from higher operational costs.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/04/ ... 40531.html

[winston]

HK tops Asia hedge funds

Hong Kong remains the largest hedge fund center in Asia, with managers in the city overseeing US$22 billion (HK$171.6 billion) in assets as of December 2008, the Alternative Investment Management Association Hong Kong said.

The city had 245 hedge fund managers by December, versus 150 in Singapore and 145 in Australia. There were 30 hedge fund startups in Hong Kong in 2008, raising the most assets for Asian hedge fund managers with US$1.6 billion, the London-based AIMA said yesterday, citing AsiaHedge data. Singapore came second with US$638 million.

Asian hedge fund assets declined 28 percent to US$126 billion last year.

Hong Kong was the only major hedge fund center which had more startups than closures last year, AIMA said. The number of startups in Hong Kong increased from 25 in 2007, and funds raised jumped 22 percent last year over the previous 12 months, according to Neil Wilson, editorial director of HedgeFund Intelligence, which publishes AsiaHedge.

Talent leaving investment banks and managers departing global hedge funds to start their own will continue to drive startups in Hong Kong this year, said Christophe Lee, chairman of AIMA's Hong Kong and China national group.

This probably will turn out to be the year of the startups, he said.

Source: BLOOMBERG

[winston]

TOL:-

The next redemption date is July1.

There is a 45 days notice meaning May 15 is the last day for redemption.

Have not heard that there's a lot of redemption this time but will keep an eye out for any announcement.