Hedge fund industry commentary

The second quarter of 2010 was decidedly eventful with several political and economic issues coming to a climax. The quarter began with cautious optimism for continued recovery, and ended with renewed discussions of a double-dip scenario and an "unusual uncertainty" as described by Mr. Bernanke. The significant events of the quarter included Eurozone sovereign debt rating downgrades, a joint rescue of Greece by the EU and the IMF, amounting to USD1T, additional tightening in China through a hike in bank reserve requirements (the third this year), the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Australia's Resource Super Profit Tax which culminated in the Prime Minister's resignation, Germany's ban on naked short selling, and China's indication of exchange rate fleswissHedge flexibility. While Western developed countries focused on deleveraging and fiscal consolidation without hindering economic growth, the focus in Asian emerging economies is on preventing inflation and overheating. In the US, companies reported healthy profits and built up record-breaking cash reserves but remained reluctant to increase employment or investments.

In order to have the whole article of Rajiv Shetty from Harcourt, please click on :
http://www.swisshedgemagazine.ch/

PerTrac Research Proves that Younger and Small to Mid-Sized Hedge Funds Achieved the Best Returns in 2009

PerTrac Financial Solutions (http://www.pertrac.com), the leading provider of analytic, reporting and communications software to the investment industry, today released its fourth annual study examining hedge fund performance, volatility and risk as they relate to the size and age of a fund. The analysis of 2009 hedge fund performance reaffirms the existing trend of less tenured funds outperforming older ones and reverts to findings from earlier studies indicating that small to mid-sized funds outperform larger ones.

“Coming off the worst calendar year losses in history in 2008, the hedge fund industry provided investors with a strong comeback in 2009. According to our research, the rally was led by the younger funds,” said Jeff Hendren, Co-President of PerTrac. “When we looked at performance according to the size of a fund, our research revealed that the small and mid-sized funds achieved the highest performance. These two findings are likely related because fund size tends to correlate with fund tenure.”

As in past studies, PerTrac conducted two different analyses: one based on a fund’s asset size, and the other based on a fund’s age. Monthly hedge fund returns were compiled from leading hedge fund databases and analyzed using the capabilities of the PerTrac Analytical Platform. This software provides comprehensive access to manager performance data as well as statistical performance and simulation tools that, among other things, analyze and report returns across large indices.

The whole study is on :
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2100/01/prweb4715634.htm

Aduro to allocate to emerging managers

Aduro Asset Group, a Florida-based multi-strategy fund of managed accounts hedge fund, is expanding its emerging manager platform and making additional allocations following its launch last quarter.

R Nicholas Brack Jr, chairman and CEO, said the firm is growing its platform due to demand from an incoming institutional investor and will deploy capital to various types of fund strategies and asset classes with less than $100m in assets under management with the main focus on managing risk and transparency.

Please refer to this link :
http://www.hfmweek.com/news/527367/aduro-to-allocate-to-emerging-managers.thtml

Conference - Emerging Managers Summit

If you are looking to expand and diversify your asset allocation by investing in emerging managers as well as women and minority owned investment managers, the emerging managers conference will provide the unique opportunity to access a diversified group of up-and-coming performance-oriented managers and manager of managers.

https://village.albourne.com/user/conferences.pcg?id=2320&f=d

W.K. Kellogg Foundation Launches $100 Million Emerging Manager Program

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (“Kellogg Foundation”) has announced a newly formed partnership with Progress Investment Management Company LLC (“Progress”) to support and cultivate smaller, entrepreneurial, high-potential investment management companies. Under the terms of the partnership, the Kellogg Foundation will establish up to a $100 million diversified portfolio of emerging fixed income and equity managers to be managed by Progress.The program’s goal will be to generate positive, market rate returns for the Foundation while providing entrepreneurs in the investment industry with the resources they need to build their businesses, thereby helping further the Foundation’s commitment to engender success and to support communities across the country.

The full article is on :
http://www.hedgetracker.com/article/WK-Kellogg-Foundation-Launches-100-Million-Emerging-Manager-Program

Emerging Managers Summit

If you are looking to expand and diversify your asset allocation by investing in emerging managers as well as women and minority owned investment managers, the emerging managers conference will provide the unique opportunity to access a diversified group of up-and-coming performance-oriented managers and manager of managers.

The conference will explore the benefits and opportunities offered by investing in emerging managers as well as new strategies for implementing an emerging managers program. If you are an emerging manager, you will learn the procedures used by institutions to launch and maintain successful emerging manager programs. This event will showcase a variety of emerging mangers as well as minority-owned manager funds and other high potential smaller investment firms, and it will offer participants invaluable networking opportunities.

http://www.opalgroup.net/conferencehtml/2010/emerging_managers_summit_2010/emerging_managers_summit.php

50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds

In an industry that celebrates the accomplishments of alpha males, it is often overlooked how many successful women are working in key roles in hedge funds. But despite estimates that women manage only 3% of the $1.5 trillion invested in hedge funds, a growing number of entrepreneurial, innovative and accomplished women now work in a variety of roles with funds, service providers and investors. This survey of 50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers1, shows how women are making an increasing contribution to the industry’s development and success. The rationale for this survey is to document and recognise the valuable contribution of women, but also to use it as an example of the opportunities that are opening for more women to progress in the hedge fund industry.

The following is on :
http://www.thehedgefundjournal.com/magazine/201002/research/50-leading-women-in-hedge-funds.php

John Dunn : the hedge fund life circle - early stage managers

Together with Tushar Patel of Hedge Funds Investment Management, John Dunn wrote an article on the life cycle of hedge funds, addressing the relative outperformance of early stage hedge funds.

You can read the article at the following :
http://www.oakpointinvestments.com/articles/Capital%20Report%20Dunn%20Patel%202008.pdf

Emerging hedge fund managers draw investors

The number of investors avoiding untested hedge fund managers has fallen by a quarter following the crisis, as investors increasingly look outside crowded trades for new sources of returns. A survey published this week by data provider Preqin shows that 71% of investors consider investing in emerging managers, up from 61% this time last year. Many investors have made use of the turbulence of the last 18 months to assess emerging managers.
The most widely-used form of emerging managers among institutional investors are investment teams that have spun off from other, more established, firms. Only 25% of respondents said that they would not invest in spinoffs, down from 38% last year.

The article is on:
http://www.wealth-bulletin.com/archive/keyword/seed/content/1056271881

An article within Prequin :
http://www.preqin.com/blog/101/1968/hf-investors-using-emerging-managers