Hedge fund assets surge in Q1 to to $3.18tn but still below 2018 record high... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Hedge fund industry assets increased during the first quarter to $3.18tn as of March 31, 2019 (Q1) driven primarily by strong investment performance overcoming continued net outflows. Total capital invested in hedge funds surged in the first quarter of 2019, paring

Venture capital investment declines in Asia as mega-deals decelerate... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: After Asia's impressive run in 2018 that set record high, economic uncertainty and trade concerns appear to have taken a toll on venture capital (VC) investment in Asia during the first quarter of 2019. VC investment in Asia fell in Q1'19, dropping from $21.4b

Willis Towers Watson says investment community should redouble stewardship efforts... [more]Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: The investment industry should substantially step up its game when it comes to stewardship, according to a new research paper by Willis Towers Watson. The paper looks at six large asset managers who collectively manage assets in excess of US $17 trillion: Bl

Hedge fund flows turn positive in February... [more]Opalesque Industry Update - Hedge fund flows turned positive in February, as a January stock market rebound, hopeful signs in U.S.-China trade talks and indications of a pause in U.S. interest rate hikes spurred investors to reverse a five-month trend of net redemptions. The hedge fund industr

New Launches: Bruised oil investor Andurand is launching a new fund that takes on more risk as a way to benefit from crude's recovery, Well Fargo AM unveils two Ucits equity funds, Financier with ties to an oligarch starts crypto derivative hedge fund, Man GLG launches credit multi-strategy alternative fund, Shore Capital expands beyond health-care roots with new food-and-beverage fund, HTC executive launches $50m VC fund for blockchain startups... [more]Bruised oil investor Andurand is launching a new fund that takes on more risk as a way to benefit from crude's recovery From Financial News: Pierre Andurand, a prominent oil hedge fund manager who lost big during last year's price slump, is launching a new fund that takes on more risk as

Wilshire Liquid Alternative Index gains 0.60% in March... [more]Opalesque Industry Update - The Wilshire Liquid Alternative Index, which provides a representative baseline for how the broad liquid alternative investment category performs, returned 0.60% in March, outperforming the -0.17% monthly return of the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index. The Wilshire Liquid Alt

Institutional Investors: Manchester Employees commits $6m to 2 real estate funds, China's state pension fund to run dry by 2035, These are the most responsible asset allocators... [more]Manchester Employees commits $6m to 2 real estate funds From PIonline.com: Manchester (N.H.) Employees' Contributory Retirement System made two new real estate commitments totaling $6 million, said Gerard Fleury, executive director, in an email. The $235 million pension fund committe

David Einhorn goes mano a mano with Elon Musk... [more]From Bloomberg: Hedge fund wunderkind David Einhorn and futurist Elon Musk are locked in a zero-sum contest. Einhorn is betting big, in reputational capital if not actual dollars, that Musk's Tesla Inc. is doomed to fail. "We believe that right here, right now, the company appears to again b

Investing: Hedge funds realise going long has its rewards, Stocks near records, but investors still skittish... [more]Hedge funds realise going long has its rewards From FT: Buying stocks and hoping they gain in price was once considered the poor cousin of hedge fund investing. But as the industry looks to recover from its first annual drop in assets since the financial crisis, high-flying fund managers

Crypto: How do you pay taxes on bitcoin? Congress demands explanation, Japan to require crypto exchanges to bolster internal oversight, Demand for legal experts with blockchain tech knowledge is high, Binance's Singapore fiat-to-bitcoin exchange is launching next week, Yes, blockchain can be hacked too, Coinbase launches in 11 countries with crypto-to-crypto conversions only... [more]How do you pay taxes on bitcoin? Congress demands explanation From The Guardian: US lawmakers asked the the Internal Revenue Service how US residents should pay taxes on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, in a remarkable letter that shows just how unregulated the cryptocurrency space rem

Trends: Family offices: A threat to private banks and fund managers?, Private debt firms boost loan syndication capability, Appraisal arbitrage makes a comeback... [more]Family offices: A threat to private banks and fund managers? From City Wire: What has caused strategic consultancy groups such as KPMG to acquire Ken McCracken from Withers and Deloitte to buy Peter Leach's eponymously named business? Why has nearly every private bank and boutique fund ma

U.S.: Trump's opportunity zone rules deliver on investors' wish list, BlackRock profit beats estimates as assets rebound above $6tn, U.S. investors are throwing in the towel on international stocks... [more]Trump's opportunity zone rules deliver on investors' wish list From Bloomberg: There's plenty of enthusiasm for new U.S. tax breaks for investing in low-income communities designated as opportunity zones. But many people have delayed spending because of uncertainty about how the incentive

Europe: Brexit creates 'huge question mark' over unhedged funds, Santander and Credit Agricole to create $3.78tn custodial bank, Liquidity buoys European buyouts as PE funds get comfortable with 'take-private' deals... [more]Brexit creates 'huge question mark' over unhedged funds From Portfolio Adviser: Sterling weakness since the Brexit referendum has acted as a boon for investors with exposure to global assets, but a potential uptick in the pound if the UK's future becomes clearer could threaten portfolio g

Asia: Japan's real estate lending balloons to bubble-era peak, China's bond market reaches a tipping point, For private equity, Japan still beats China... [more]Japan's real estate lending balloons to bubble-era peak From Nikkei: Japan's real estate lending appears to be overheating, the nation's central bank warned Wednesday in a report that depicts a credit landscape last seen in the economic bubble year of 1990. The Bank of Japan's Financ

Outlook: Bridgewater warns of peak U.S. profit margins, lower stock prices... [more]From Reuters: The major drivers of high U.S. corporate profit margins are unsustainable and "now under threat", which will eventually result in much lower equity prices, Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund, said on Wednesday in a report. "Over the last two decades, U.S. corpo

Legal: The hedge fund trying to buy Gannett faces federal probe after investing newspaper workers' pensions in its own funds, Department of Labor investigating hedge fund's handling of retirement plan assets... [more]The hedge fund trying to buy Gannett faces federal probe after investing newspaper workers' pensions in its own funds From Washington Post: Alden Global Capital, a prominent hedge fund that controls more than 100 local newspapers, moved nearly $250 million of employee pension savings into

Regulatory: Leveraged loan risks may require legislation, SEC's Jackson says... [more]From Bloomberg: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may need more power from Congress to police risks emerging in the $1.1 trillion market for leveraged loans, according to a top official at the Wall Street regulator. "As a former banker, I think leveraged loans are an area where invest

Activists: Third Point to eye corporate governance more closely as it makes new bets, Elliott made a big bet on Windstream bonds, U.S.-based activists are expanding, everywhere except the U.S., A successful strategy for activist investors in Japan: Ask, don't tell, Activist investing is alive and well, Activist investor takes stake in KAR Auction, Pernod CEO: In regular and 'courteous' talks with Elliott... [more]Third Point to eye corporate governance more closely as it makes new bets From Reuters: Hedge fund Third Point LLC, which sometimes pushes companies to perform better, said it is beginning to look more closely at corporate governance issues, including executive pay, as it evaluates future

News Briefs: Obama fundraiser and former hedge fund executive Eric Mindich plans to help Joe Biden in 2020 campaign, Mansions are piling up in Greenwich... [more]Obama fundraiser and former hedge fund executive Eric Mindich plans to help Joe Biden in 2020 campaign From CNBC: Eric Mindich, a former hedge fund executive who helped raise money for Barack Obama's White House runs, plans to help former Joe Biden raise cash for the 2020 campaign, accord

And, finally: Long-lost $50,000 lottery ticket found one day before expiration... [more]From UPI: A Missouri couple found a lottery ticket in their glove compartment and discovered it was a $50,000 winner just one day before it would have expired. Joseph "Randy" Moore of St. Peters told Missouri Lottery officials his wife, Karen, stopped for a tea on her way to work and discovered