Opalesque Exclusive: Friedberg's global macro fund posts 40% for 2011 as strategy shifted to respond to market volatility... [more]Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: Friedberg Mercantile Group’s flagship fund, Friedberg Global-Macro Hedge Fund Ltd, was down 8.8% in Q4 but was up 40.9% overall for 2011. Comparatively, the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Global Macro index was up 0.38% in 2011. The Cayman-domiciled fund launched

Opalesque Exclusive: Multi-asset funds gaining traction with investors... [more]Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: Multi-asset alternative funds are gaining in popularity as investors look for ways to hedge against market downturns and increased volatility. Indeed, according to

Opalesque Exclusive: CrossBorder: the euro may grow stronger this year... [more]Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva: Volatility may reign, uncertainty may now be the norm in financial markets, but there are still some who bet on a rebound of the euro, rather than its death. The European Central Bank (ECB) provided €489bn ($644bn) in 3-year emergency loans to ban

GLG: Even at $100bn, Facebook looks under-valued... [more]Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva: Even if Facebook’s valuation may be higher than Google’s, it does not mean it is expensive, according to some, as the site’s revenue should rise with better paid advertising. Facebook Inc., which filed for IPO on February 1st, may command a valuation

Blackstone posts 12% decline in economic net income, 25% increase in total AuM... [more]Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: US-based private equity firm Blackstone Group LP posted a 12% decline in fourth-quarter earnings yesterday. The firm cited declines in investment income and fees across most bus

Launches – Ader Investment Management launches innovative funding platform for hedge fund, Monsoon Capital brings model-driven Asian strategy to Europe, ML Capital to launch Global Macro UCITS fund and Systematic Emerging Market UCITS fund on the MontLake Platform... [more]Ader Investment Management launches innovative funding platform for hedge fund Ader Investment Management (AIM) has launched Accelerator Fund Partners LP, an innovative funding platform for hedge funds looking to boost assets under management and enhance their distribution into family of

Boyer Allan to shut... [more]From HFMWeek.com: Boyer Allan Investment Management, one of London’s longest-running hedge fund managers, is to shut, HFMWeek can confirm. The London- and Hong Kong-based emerging markets specialist, established in 1998, is returning money to outside investors and is in the process of spinning out i

Lansdowne flagship UK hedge fund up 5.7% in January... [more]From Reuters.com: Lansdowne Partners, one of Europe's biggest hedge fund managers, saw its flagship UK fund return 5.7 percent in January, in a sign the industry is benefiting from a rebound in financial markets this year after a torrid 2011. The gains come after the fund, which is run by Stua

Credit Suisse Liquid Alternative Beta Index up +1.34% in January... [more]The Credit Suisse LAB Index was up 1.34% in January according to Dr. Jordan Drachman, Head of Research for Alternative Beta Strategies at Credit Suisse. Dr. Drachman noted, “The Credit Suisse Liquid Alternative Beta Index, which aims to reflect the performance of the overall hedge fund industr

Hedge funds gaining on CLOs drive up volatility... [more]From Bloomberg/SFGate.com: Hedge funds and junk bond investors are emerging as the biggest buyers of leveraged loans, driving up borrowing costs and volatility as the share of the market held by collateralized loan obligations falls to a 14-year low. CLOs bought 40.64 percent of loans sold to

Outlook – Fortress Investment’s Novogratz talks about correlations and hedge fund strategies (video), South Africa hedge funds to grow... [more]Fortress Investment’s Novogratz talks about correlations and hedge fund strategies (video) From Bloomberg.com: Michael Novogratz, principal and director of Fortress Investment Group LLC, talks about investment strategy and Facebook Inc.'s initial public offering. Novogratz, speaks w

Institutions – New signs that hedge funds still charm pension funds despite losses, Was 2011's most successful hedge fund actually a pension?... [more]New signs that hedge funds still charm pension funds despite losses From Pensionfundsonline.co.uk: …One answer seems to be that hedge funds are making a greater effort to win pension fund investments, recognised within the hedge fund industry as its 'institutionalisation'. John Belgrove

Comment – Is the insider-trading crackdown behind lousy hedge fund returns?... [more]From Forbes.com:…The aggressive federal investigation into hedge fund insider trading, which has included tactics like wire taps, is one of two big stories that has dominated the hedge fund industry recently. The other big theme has been that hedge fund returns on the whole have been lousy. For the

Regulatory – UK FSA publishes discussion paper on AIFMD implementation, Signs of split among Volcker rule's foes... [more]UK FSA publishes discussion paper on AIFMD implementation From JDsupra.com: The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, adopted on 8 June 2011, will have to be transposed in national legislation by EU Member States by 22 July 2013. This gives Member States approximately 18 months

MF Global Update – MF Global triggers regulatory rethink at CFTC, Corzine sought ‘yes man’ for MF Global bets, lawmakers say, CME Group creates $100m fund for farmers after MF Global collapse... [more]MF Global triggers regulatory rethink at CFTC From Reuters/Yahoo.com: The head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has ordered an extensive review of how futures brokerages are regulated, following the collapse of MF Global three months ago, a CFTC official told Reuters on Wednes

Europe – SunGard’s APT models impact of Euro breakup, sees shocks across asset classes... [more]SunGard’s APT risk system has modelled different Euro breakup scenarios, using a global factor model incorporating macro-economic factors to estimate cross-asset class effects. The results cover the impact of five main Euro breakup scenarios across FX, interest rates, equities, oil and credit spread

People – Inès de Dinechin to replace Laurent Seyer as Lyxor A.M. CEO, Ribotsky out as head of NIR Group hedge funds, Stenham hires head of risk management... [more]Inès de Dinechin to replace Laurent Seyer as Lyxor A.M. CEO Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking announces the appointment of Inès de Dinechin as Chief Executive Officer of Lyxor Asset Management. She replaces Laurent Seyer who will leave Societe Generale group to pursue other

Commodities – Hedge funds investing in refineries spurred by fracking, Kyle Bass urges Texas fund to hold gold hedge as assets shrink... [more]Hedge funds investing in refineries spurred by fracking From Bloomberg/Businessweek.com: Hedge funds have invested a record $6.5 billion in U.S. petroleum refiners, expecting profit to jump as companies shut aging plants and acquire cheaper supplies of North American crude from burgeonin

News Briefs – Hedge fund manager Cohen considers buying a piece of the Mets, Robert Knapp's Ironsides fund reaches $57.6m, Hong Kong-based asset manager EIP launches seven ETF products... [more]Hedge fund manager Cohen considers buying a piece of the Mets Hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen, who is trying to buy the bankrupt Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, is considering taking a small stake in another team -- his hometown New York Mets, people familiar with the matter said o

…And Finally – Indonesian twins reunited after finding each other in Sweden 30 years later... [more]From Telegraph.co.uk: Non-identical twins Emilie Falk and Lin Backman – strangers until last year – were separated nearly 29 years ago. According to a DNA test the pair had done two months after reuniting in January last year, and which they shared with AFP, there is a 99.98 per cent chance of