Hedge Fund Exchange

Battle Continues Between Cohen and Ex-Wife

By The New York Times, March 30, 2010

It may be hard to feel sorry for the billionaire hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen, but his personal life is complicated. A nasty divorce from 20 years ago continues to haunt him, threatening his $13 billion financial empire, SAC Capital Advisors, which he rules with his current wife from his 32,000-square-foot mansion in Greenwich, Conn.

Mr. Cohen’s ex-wife, Patricia, remains on the attack, despite some legal setbacks. “Having been married to him, I know what he’s made of and it’s not much; he’s a coward,” Ms. Cohen wrote in an e-mail message, according to New York magazine. “The twisted man is at heart a wimp.”

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Gartmore Suspends Rambourg Amid Trading Inquiry

By The New York Times, March 31, 2010

Gartmore Group, the British fund manager, said Tuesday that talks with the Financial Services Authority had led it to suspend Guillaume Rambourg until it resolves an internal inquiry over “directing trades.”

The company said it was “not connected with the recently reported joint investigation on insider dealing by the FSA and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.”

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Paulson hedge fund too big to fail?

By Jim Kim for Fiercefinance.com, March 29, 2010

Hedge funds are growing their assets again (hedge fund news), positioning themselves to collectively top the $2 trillion mark again. Which prompts a good question: Are some funds now too big to fail?

Bloomberg raises the issue with its look at Paulson & Co. Recall that John Paulson (John Paulson news) has set the industry on fire the last three years. He made a whopping $3 billion in 2007. Paulson & Co. now manages $32 billion in its hedge funds, which ranks it third behind JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Bridgewater Associates.

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Hedge Fund Lobby Heats Up, Doubles Fourth-Quarter Spending

By FINalternatives.com, March 30, 2010

With the prospect of new hedge fund regulations in the U.S. on the near horizon, the industry’s top lobbyist has redoubled its efforts—and doubled its fourth-quarter lobbying budget.

The Managed Funds Association spent $1.08 million over the last three months of 2009 lobbying on such issues as requiring hedge funds to register with the SEC, despite the fact that the measure is a near-certainty and that the MFA itself has expressed support, in principle, for mandatory registration. The MFA also lobbied on President Barack Obama’s proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, new derivatives regulations and a proposal that would force defined benefit pension plans to disclose their hedge fund investments, according to a filing with the House of Representatives’ clerk’s office.

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Citi adds to hedge fund operation

By Brooke Masters for Financial Times, March 28, 2010

Citigroup has expanded its up and coming hedge fund servicing team by adding 13 new hires to its Global Prime Finance Group in London and New York.

The newcomers specialise in trading and risk and are led by John Nicholson, a former Barclays Capital executive who will become a managing director in Citi’s US trading team, and Eric Hughson, a former Commerzbank executive who will become a managing director in Citi’s European trading team.

BarCap is the big loser in this particular hiring spree: seven of Citi’s new employees are former Lehman Brothers employees who moved on to BarCap after the US bank’s demise. Citi has also picked up five new directors who formerly worked at Morgan Stanley, one of the sector leaders.

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Hedge fund managers' unhappiness postponed along with AIFM directive

By Gavriel Hollander for American Chronicle, March 30, 2010

It is not often that hedge fund managers find themselves hailing a Labour Prime Minister as their saviour, but that's what happened earlier this month when Gordon Brown's personal intervention delayed discussion of EU legislation that could drastically alter the funds landscape.

The storm cloud on the horizon for fund managers and their plethora of legal advisers is the Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) directive, an issue that is causing its fair share of alarm in the City. "It's very frightening and has crept up on us," says Bridget Barker, head of investment funds and financial services at Macfarlanes. "Everybody knows there'll be a directive in some form and it'll be one they're not very happy with, so it's a question of making the best of it."

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Ex-I.B.M. Executive Pleads Guilty in Galleon Case

   

By Michael J. de la Merced for The New York Times, March 29, 2010

2:12 p.m. | Updated with Mr. Moffat’s court statement A former I.B.M. senior executive pleaded guilty on Monday to providing confidential information about Advanced Micro Devices and Lenovo to a hedge fund consultant accused of participating in a wide-ranging insider trading scheme.

The executive, Robert W. Moffat Jr., is the 11th individual to plead guilty in the case, which revolves around the Galleon Group hedge fund and its founder, Raj Rajaratnam.

In a half-hour hearing before Judge Frank Maas of federal magistrate court in Manhattan, Mr. Moffat, formerly a senior vice president of I.B.M.’s systems and technology group, pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy and securities fraud for his role in the scheme.

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Financial centres vie for slice of hedge fund pie

By Yuri Bender for Financial Times, March 28, 2010

Against the background of the looming European directive on alternative investment fund managers and the upcoming fourth instalment of the Ucits legislation governing cross-border investment products, financial centres in Europe and further afield are trading the first punches in the latest round of the regulatory arbitrage contest.

Their handling of business around Ucits III and Ucits IV provisions – the former defining investment powers and the latter allowing funds to merge and run more efficient operations – have left Ireland and Luxembourg once more as prime movers.

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Special report: Ucits III - Something for everyone

By Nick Reeve for FTAdviser.com, March 29, 2010

For European hedge funds, the European Union’s (EU) third Undertaking for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (Ucits III) legislation may turn out to be a lifesaver. The industry has been in turmoil since the onset of the financial crisis, and a worryingly large number of highly leveraged funds found themselves up credit creek without a paddle.

Ucits vehicles, on the other hand, have recovered more strongly than hedge funds in terms of inflows. Statistics from the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) published this month show that Ucits funds saw €123bn (£112bn) worth of new business coming in over the year, compared to net outflows of €356bn during 2008.

EFAMA said it believed this turnaround was largely due to the combination of low interest rates, favourable equity prices and higher liquidity, but it also noted the emergence of Ucits as a 'global brand'. Luxembourg alone received 35 per cent of its 2009 new business from the Asia Pacific region, according to EFAMA’s statistics.

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Hedge Fund Founder Sued in Atlanta

By Hedgeco.net, March 25, 2010

New York (HedgeCo.net) – Robert L. Duncan, an Atlanta hedge fund manager is being accused of misleading investors. His fund, Seaside Partners Fund LP. is being sued by an Atlanta trust and two investment managers, the Piedmont Family Office Fund LP and West Mountain Partners LP., according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

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