South China Morning Post (May 21)
“The direction is clear, and the pace is picking up. For investors around the world, the biggest mistake would be to ignore China’s markets and their enormous potential now.” As China’s capital markets continue opening up, “investors—be they European hedge funds, pension funds in Australia, sovereign wealth funds from Asia, or ordinary savers around the world—will need to look at what might be a once-in-a-generation opportunity.” The June 1 inclusion of 200 of the mainland’s large-cap companies into the MSCI alone might “prompt well over half a trillion US dollars to pour into Chinese stocks in the next five to 10 years, as institutional investors adjust index-linked portfolios to MSCI’s change.”
Tags: Capital, China, Direction, Hedge funds, Index, Institutional investors, Investors, Large-cap, Mainland, Markets, MSCI, Pension, Portfolios, Sovereign wealth, Stocks
Institutional Investor (May 17)
“Having witnessed the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook disaster…. Asset managers are getting behind a new set of voluntary best practices in using data that includes personally identifiable information, or PII.” This January, the Investment Data Standards Organization was launched with members including “data vendors and users, such as hedge funds. It has published a set of standards that it views as a work-in-progress, meant to govern and adapt to the fund industry’s early and exploding use of alternative data.”
Tags: Asset managers, Best practices, Cambridge Analytica, Data vendors, Disaster, Facebook, Hedge funds, Investment Data Standards Organization, Personally identifiable information
Reuters (May 8)
“Hedge funds and speculators spent the first four months of the year betting heavily against the dollar. They’re now running for the hills. The increasingly rapid rate at which they’re slashing their short dollar positions is creating a vicious cycle.” Moreover, it looks like “this ‘pain trade’ has further to run because, historically, the overall short position remains large.”
Institutional Investor (July 20)
“After eight straight months of positive returns, hedge funds may have finally redeemed themselves in the eyes of investors…. Total industry assets under management rose by $34.1 billion to $3.1 trillion, with positive returns boosting asset growth. The renewed interest in hedge funds comes in the midst of industry’s greatest period of performance since the financial crisis.”
Tags: AUM, Financial Crisis, Growth, Hedge funds, Investors, Performance, Positive returns, Returns
Financial Times (September 7)
Now nearing $500 billion a year, “stock buybacks are big and controversial.” Some claim buybacks are “killing the American economy…. Fine companies, the idea runs, sacrifice their future to satisfy cash-hungry hedge funds.” This is overblown. “Buybacks do not destroy the cash used. The cash goes to stockholders—often pension funds or mutual funds—that reinvest it, presumably in younger firms that are cash-starved and hungry to expand.”
Tags: Cash, Controversial, Economy, Future, Hedge funds, Mutual funds, Pension funds, Reinvest, Stock buybacks, Stockholders
Institutional Investor (September 21)
The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) “will sell its entire book of hedge funds, including 24 direct interests and another six hedge-fund–of-fund stakes.” This could signal a sea change as other pension funds reevaluate the effectiveness of hedge funds, which have mushroomed to $3 trillion. “Last year on average, hedge funds returned 9 percent, which was 23.4 percentage points less than public market returns.”
Tags: CalPERs, Effectiveness, Hedge funds, Market, Pension funds, Reevaluate, Return
Financial Times (August 1)
“Argentina’s 12-year dispute with a group of hedge funds holding out for full payment on defaulted Argentine bonds is proving to be one of the most wasteful debt restructurings in history…. Indeed the case once again illustrates the need for a better way of managing sovereign defaults.”
Tags: Argentina, Bonds, Debt restructuring, Default, Dispute, Hedge funds, Hold outs, Payment, Sovereign defaults
Euromoney (March Issue)
”The currency war that many feared as an inevitable accompaniment to the credit crisis played out as more of a paint-ball contest until the recent sharp slide of the yen. The violence of the yen fall of roughly 20% reawakened fears of a wave of competitive devaluations.” While many fear the negative repercussions, for investment banks and hedge funds, the revival of FX uncertainty holds out the hope of a recovery in their moribund currency-trading revenues.”
Institutional Investor (August 14)
“Hedge funds are increasingly in a fighting mood. Although overall activism is roughly at the same level as last year, the number of proxy fights initiated by hedge funds is on the rise.” In 2011, hedge funds engaged in 46 proxy fights. In the first 7 months of 2012, they have already been involved in 42 proxy fights, with a higher percentage ending in success.
New York Times (July 4)New York Times (July 4)
The exact role of a director remains something subject to debate. “At Fortune 500 companies last year, the median compensation for a director was $212,512. Other boards pay less but are apparently also less demanding; in the Caymans, one person is a director of about 260 hedge funds.”The exact role of a director remains something subject to debate. “At Fortune 500 companies last year, the median compensation for a director was $212,512. Other boards pay less but are apparently also less demanding; in the Caymans, one person is a director of about 260 hedge funds.”
Tags: Compensation, Directors, Fortune 500, Hedge funds
