From Kirsten Bischoff, Opalesque New York: There is a grass roots movement amongst angry hedge fund investors gathering steam. With the onset of the financial market turbulence and the decline of hedge fund industry assets and performance the number of hedge funds imposing redemption restrictions has grown, leaving frustrated investors looking for a louder voice in future discussions of regulation.
Fund of funds pioneer Sandra Manzke spent a portion of her week reaching out via email ( full text here) to 500 contacts in a rallying cry to voice concern over some of the outrageous abuses she has seen on the part of some hedge fund managers. “I’ve gotten tremendous response…people are really upset,” Manzke told Opalesque.
“I am, not saying the whole hedge fund industry falls into this category, and I do understand that this is a difficult market environment, but at the same time I am seeing abuses that are outrageous and causing problems for everyone in the industry,” she said.
Some of the abuses which Manzke addresses include:
- Managers attempting to redeem their own money ahead of investors (Manzke recalls when hedge fund managers were responsible for the first 1% of asset losses, investing their own capital to provide a 1% buffer of AUM.)
- Charging fees on illiquid assets (In favor of SEC registration for hedge funds, Manzke has registered her own firm Maxam Capital Management with the SEC and so does not charge her investors fees on any assets which she believes underlying funds have inaccurately priced).
- Managers threatening long, drawn-out liquidations if investors do not approve extended lockups, and managers informing investors liquidation will take multiple years even as the same fund manager announces they are starting a new fund. (Manzke suggests giving investors the right to appoint another manager to take over and run a portfolio that one manager may want to walk away from).
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