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By Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque London: 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 Tontine Capital.

Blackstone is to trim its hedge fund operations and close two funds.

According to HFR, the hedge funds industry was down 23.2% by Christmas Eve. And it was said that money had flown out of hedge funds at record rate this year, as $32bln went out last month.

Glenview Capital had to lay off a dozen staff and reduce pay; GLG suspended its dividends as shares had fallen 84% in 2008; John Paulson criticized hedge-fund managers for putting up gates, and said he was looking at distressed debt in 2009. Following the Madoff affair, the AllWeather FoFs restructured to cope with its exposure; a crackdown on hedge funds is expected; and it was noted that investors were exiting hedge funds at increased pace, as a result.

Attica, GAM, Cerberus, Harbinger and Westpac-controlled BT Investment Mgmt limited fund redemptions.

The following forecasts were noted: Jacob Schmidt saw changes to hedge fund transparency and fees; the Australian HF industry will be facing tougher times partly due to the short-selling ban; Cerulli said that 84% of asset managers expected the hedge fund industry would contract significantly; Agecroft Partners’ Steinbrugge said that investor demand would continue shifting toward market neutral strategies and strategies that used little leverage and provided transparency and liquidity; Doug Kass predicted that the HF industry would not recover in 2009; and the WSJ said that survivors of 2008 would likely enj......................

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