Opalesque

A roundup of last week’s hedge fund launches, closures, index performance, trends, regulatory, legal and financial events pertaining to the alternative investments world.

Last week, we heard of fund launches from PCE Investors (liquid macro); FX Concepts (currency UCITS); Minsen, Shangya, Huiding Zixia (domestic China); Ospraie (equity + commodity); Differential Investment Partners; Rydex SGI (L/S commodity); Thames River (Africa); Sabre (managed futures); and Blacksquare (UCITs FoFs).

As for start-ups, a former Morgan Stanley team set up a company under the umbrella of Dutch global macro fund Worldview to focus on strategic asset allocation for institutional clients; a former AIG manager launched VOC Capital in London to offer commodities futures absolute return strategies; the Active Trader Forum hedge fund hotel has started providing desks for jobless NY traders; and Ronnie Wu, CIO of Penjing Asset Management Ltd is to start a pool of money dedicated to seeding new hedge funds.

JWM Partners closed its Relative Value Opportunity II fund and JWM’s London chief Adrian Eterovic is planning a new fund.

- The Credit Suisse Alternative Index Replication indices were flat in June but positive YTD;
- Newedge CTA Index -1.77%, -4.51% YTD, Short-Term Traders Index -0.37%, -0.89% YTD;
- HFRX Absolute Return Index -1.19% (est.), -2.57% YTD;
- Hennessee’s main index +0.64%, +11.74% YTD;
- HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index +0.13% (est.), +9.41% YTD;
- Absolute Return Composite index returns +0.40% (est.), +6.30% YTD;
- Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index +0.48% (est.), +7.23% YTD;
- Eurekahedge Hedge Fund index -0.02% (est.), +9.38% YTD, asset inflows of $4bn (+0.3%) to $1.33tn;
- HedgeFund.net’s index +0.28%, +9.23% YTD, assets +0.38%, but -8% in 2009;
- Barclay Hedge Fund Index +0.63% (est.), +11.18% YTD, Barclay CTA Index -0.81% (est.), -0.74% YTD;
- And all four hedge fund strategies published by Dow Jones Hedge Fund Indexes posted positive returns in June.

Full story: http://www.opalesque.com/AMW/48/Review_of_hedge_fund_launches_closures_trends48.html

From Kirsten Bischoff, Opalesque New York:

It seems the point has been reached when the feeling of helplessness against market forces has shifted to a feeling of anger, sparking a new wave of investor activism. However, this trend (seen this past weekend with CalPERS/Bank of America, US Government/Auto Industry) does not indicate investors are specifically looking for opportunities in which to invest as activists, but reacting to the poor performance of companies they have already invested in.

The question then for activist hedge funds is, do investors have the interest, the patience and the stamina required to allocate to a strategy with a much longer view than has been required before?

The strategy overall has not fared as well as others during this crisis, and fell more than 30% in 2008 (according to Hedge Fund Research).

» Full Story: http://www.opalesque.com/51897/Financial_market_turmoil_sees_activist_investors854.html