Opalesque Exclusive: Hedge fund of funds rebounded in the pandemic, build on positive momentum in Q1... [more]Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: 2020 was a surprisingly good year for fund of hedge funds, according to new data from Citco. Fund of hedge funds delivered an average return for the year of 11.2% with the median return at 9.9%. The year was especially good for larger funds. All funds above $500

Man Group reports $600m inflows, confident of more in coming quarters... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: British hedge fund manager Man Group said it saw a rise in funds under management in the first quarter, driven by investment gains and net fund inflows. The London-listed company said it had funds under management of USD127.0 billion on March 31, up 2.8% from USD123

Wealthspring Capital launches the SPAC hedge fund... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: New York-headquartered financial advisor service provider Wealthspring Capital continues to strengthen its foothold in the special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) space with the launch of its second SPAC product and debut hedge fund offering, Fountain Opportuniti

Private debt fund managers closed 32 funds raising a combined $25bn in Q1 2021... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Private debt fundraising slowed in the first quarter of 2021, hit by rising uncertainty around a pickup in inflation expectations, said a report. According to Preqin Quarterly Update Private Debt Q1 2021, the quarter saw private debt fund managers closed 32 funds r

Hedge funds return 1.23% in March, up 4.93% year to date... [more]Opalesque Industry Update - The hedge fund industry continued its positive run in March returning 1.23% for a fifth consecutive month in the black, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge, a division of Backstop Solutions. By comparison the S&P 500 Total Return Index gaine

Hedge funds reap booming profits despite some high-profile problems... [more]From The Guardian: Hedge funds enjoyed soaring profits in the first three months of 2021, following record gains in 2020, as they were able to dodge several high-profile obstacles including the squeeze from retail investors over GameStop shares and the collapse of distressed hedge fund Archegos Capi

After blowout 2020, Worm Capital hits a speed bump... [more]From Institutional Investor: Arne Alsin's Worm Capital, which had a blowout year in 2020 with a 274 percent gain, gave some of it back in the first quarter. Arne Alsin's hedge fund fell in the first quarter, but he's sticking to his guns. Worm's long/short equity fund fell about 17 percent for t

New Launches: Brightstar Capital Partners closes fund II at $1.27bn, Cathay Innovation raises $550m for its second global VC fund, State Street unveils ESG cash reinvestment strategy, DWS launches Blue Economy and European SDG funds, Index Ventures seeks new startup darlings with $200m fund, CPR AM launches two funds to help decarbonisation transition... [more] Brightstar Capital Partners closes fund II at $1.27bn Brightstar Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on partnering with families, founders, entrepreneurs, and management teams, announced that it has successfully closed its second flagship fund at its hard cap, with total com

Amid GameStop frenzy, Elon Musk gets half-hearted support from Einhorn... [more]From Fox: Hedge fund manager David Einhorn "half-heartedly" defended nemesis Elon Musk in his quarterly letter to investors amid accusations the Tesla CEO helped fuel the recent short-squeeze in GameStop shares. The two business titans have in the past feuded publicly over the role short-selle

Inside Goldman's active quant machine... [more]From Institutional Investor: Osman Ali, co-head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management's active quant equity group, wants just enough data. If there's too much data - think large-cap U.S. stocks - his team can't make money because the market is too efficient. Too little data, and GSAM's $60 billion Equit

Institutional Investors: Virginia earmarks $1bn for 4 managers, Kern County sticks with hedge fund consultant, commits $30m... [more] Virginia earmarks $1bn for 4 managers From PIonline.com: Virginia Retirement System, Richmond, announced commitments of $1 billion at a meeting Wednesday of its investment advisory committee. In credit strategies, the $93.6 billion pension fund committed $400 million to Whitehorse Li

SPACs: SPACs face potentially sweeping impact from SEC's accounting guidance, Family offices are targeting 800% returns with SPAC economics, SPAC attack! SPAC IPOs are booming... [more] SPACs face potentially sweeping impact from SEC's accounting guidance From Institutional Investor: Lawyers, accountants, and sponsors for special-purpose acquisition companies are bracing for impact. The potential effects of new SPAC guidance issued earlier this week by U.S. regulato

People: Mitch Golden, head of Greenlight's high-performing fund of funds, is leaving the firm, Blackstone Growth picks managing director to lead European investing, Citi expands global CIO and investment head's remit amid restructure... [more] Mitch Golden, head of Greenlight's high-performing fund of funds, is leaving the firm From Institutional Investor: The Greenlight Capital portfolio manager who heads up the firm's little known, but wildly successful, hedge fund of funds is leaving the firm. Mitch Golden, who runs Gr

Crypto: Brevan Howard's main hedge fund to start buying cryptocurrencies, 3 in 4 fund managers say bitcoin in a bubble, Grayscale cryptocurrency AUM holdings passes $50bn, Coinbase's popularity among Reddit's retail brigade topped GameStop and Tesla... [more] Brevan Howard's main hedge fund to start buying cryptocurrencies From Bloomberg: Brevan Howard Asset Management is preparing to start investing in digital assets, becoming the latest money manager looking to exploit the boom in cryptocurrencies. The firm led by Aron Landy will begin

SWF: SWFs unlikely to emulate Temasek and BlackRock's VC firm... [more]From Asian Investor: The two investors' new JV underlines Temasek's commitment to carbon neutrality, but other sovereign wealth funds are unlikely to follow with their own venture capital investments. The decision by Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek and fund house giant BlackRock to launc

U.S.: Fed's Daly calls for Treasury market reforms, hedge fund scrutiny, BlackRock profit beats estimates as assets top $9tn... [more] Fed's Daly calls for Treasury market reforms, hedge fund scrutiny From Reuters: San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly on Thursday said the U.S. economy is still far from making "substantial progress" toward the central bank's goals of 2% inflation and full employment,

Europe: Denmark's PFA Pension achieves 6.3% return in first quarter... [more]From PIonline.com: PFA Pension, Copenhagen, posted a 6.3% gross return on its investments in the three months ended March 31, boosted by the performance of its equity portfolio and the prospect of COVID-19 lockdowns easing. An update Thursday said the Danish pension company's gain was equal to 1

Asia: Singapore trader's lavish lifestyle allegedly fuelled by $740m fraud, What are the top renewable energy opportunities in Asia?... [more] Singapore trader's lavish lifestyle allegedly fuelled by $740m fraud From Bloomberg: At 33, Ng Yu Zhi had all the trappings of a wildly successful trader: a Rolodex full of rich clients, a three-story villa in a posh Singapore neighbourhood and a Pagani Huayra supercar reportedly worth m

PE/VC: How a secretive hedge fund is disrupting the venture capital industry, Digital health companies raise a record $7.2bn in VC funding in Q1 2021... [more] How a secretive hedge fund is disrupting the venture capital industry A firm you've probably never heard of is disrupting the surprisingly hidebound venture capital industry and making money as fast as it can. Tiger Global Management has realized that there's something unique about the c

Study: Consultants drive institutional allocations to private debt, Diversity harder to find at the top in money management firms... [more] Consultants drive institutional allocations to private debt From Institutional Investor: Investors are increasingly committing to private debt funds on the advice of top investment consultants, according to Private Credit Fund Intelligence's first-quarter report on consultant activity.

Opinion: 'From a traditional perspective, the market is fractured and possibly in the process of breaking completely,' says hedge-fund titan Einhorn... [more]From Market Watch: David Einhorn says that regulators are asleep on the Wall Street beat and that anomalies in the market are increasingly being ignored. "From a traditional perspective, the market is fractured and possibly in the process of breaking completely," wrote the head of Greenlight Cap

ESG: Hedge fund adviser sees 'potential' for exposing ESG fakes, SEC shouldn't require ESG metrics - commissioner, Net-zero group tackles manager proxy voting, ESG funds: Darker clouds ahead?... [more] Hedge fund adviser sees 'potential' for exposing ESG fakes From Bloomberg: Hedge fund managers will play a crucial role in figuring out who's not living up to their environmental, social and governance promises, according to an adviser to the industry. Petra Dismorr, chief executive

Activists: Activist hedge fund builds up big stake in GlaxoSmithKline, Exxon, activist spend over $65m in battle for oil giant's future, How hedge funds are destroying corporations and society... [more] Activist hedge fund builds up big stake in GlaxoSmithKline From The Times: Elliott Management has built a stake in GlaxoSmithKline, one of Britain's biggest drugs companies, ahead of a significant restructuring and amid long-running weakness in its share price and performance. The Am

News Briefs: The vanishing billionaire: how Jack Ma fell foul of Xi Jinping, Hedge fund Indaba says disappointed with Benefitfocus' response to settlement terms... [more] The vanishing billionaire: how Jack Ma fell foul of Xi Jinping From FT: China's most outspoken billionaire has gone silent. No one has seen Jack Ma at the business school he founded. Nor at his tai chi studio. His raucous speeches headlining an annual meeting of entrepreneurs in his h

And, finally: FL women not impressed with alligators at their home... [more]From BizarreNews: A pair of Florida women used a Swiffer mop to try to eject a baby alligator that invaded a home and documented the experience in a live-streamed video. Sazan Powers said her neighbor, Erika Venza, had left the sliding glass door open at her home in Wesley Chapel, just outside of Ta