Institutional investors check on sexual harassment at portfolio-management firms... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Probable sexual harassment at fund portfolio management firms is an increasingly important concern for institutional investors as they seek to allocate assets. But, according to a survey, most investors are not asking money managers about their record on sexual har

Five Star Funds launches $400m hedge fund targeting Las Vegas wealthy... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Las Vegas-based asset management and advisory firm Five Star Funds has announced the formation of the Flamingo All Weather Fund, LP, the first hedge fund of its kind to be based in the City of Las Vegas. The area has enjoyed sustained periods of significant economi

Hedge fund industry returns 8.6% in the year to November 30, says HFR... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index gained +1.2 percent in November, as optimism regarding U.S. economic growth outweighed risks and negative sentiment around trade/tariff negotiations and impeachment proceedings, according to HFR. Heading into year-end, hedge fu

Opalesque Roundup: Ackman's 51.3% net YTD return proves there's hope for hedge funds: hedge fund news, week 46... [more]A report in the week ending December 6th 2019, said that with gains in November, Bill Ackman's hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management is on track to land massive returns. It posted a 3.4% gross gain for November, or 3.2% after fees. The month's performance brought its year-to-date re

Hedge funds key in exacerbating repo market turmoil, says BIS, U.S. banks' reluctance to lend cash may have caused repo shock... [more]Hedge funds key in exacerbating repo market turmoil, says BIS From FT: Hedge funds exacerbated the recent turmoil in the repo market with their thirst for borrowing cash to juice up returns on their trades, according to the Bank for International Settlements. Investors, bankers and

Hedge fund White Elm to shut down, posts double digit returns... [more]From Reuters: Hedge fund White Elm Capital is returning money to outside clients at the end of the year, ending a 12-year run of picking stocks for pensions, endowments and wealthy families, its founder, Matthew Iorio, wrote in a letter on Friday. Iorio, whose fund is having one of its best ye

New Launches: Magnetar seeks $400m for its first health-care hedge fund, London's Basinghall Partners to unveil $111m Europe tech fund, Octopus Renewables smashes target with $460m launch... [more]Magnetar seeks $400m for its first health-care hedge fund From Bloomberg: Magnetar Capital, the alternative investment firm started by Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser, is set to launch its first health-care hedge fund next year, seizing on a strong sector for startups. The firm is se

Fund managers spy opportunity as distressed debt grows... [more]From FT: A trio of investment managers that specialise in the riskiest corners of the corporate bond market are planning to launch new funds, hoping to take advantage of a rising share of junk-rated debt trading at a level that signals severe financial distress. Bond giant Pimco is marketing a

Institutional Investors: CPPIB earmarks $600m for India infrastructure, Westfield Contributory looks to allocate to private equity, real estate funds, San Francisco City & County commits $90m to 3 private equity funds... [more]CPPIB earmarks $600m for India infrastructure From PIonline.com: Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Toronto, announced commitments and co-investments totaling $600 million with the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund of India, in a news release Thursday. The C$409.5 bil

Investing: Why some hedge funds are warming towards Europe, Intelsat is hurting these hedge funds, The outlook for investing in US solar stocks... [more]Why some hedge funds are warming towards Europe From FT: Investors expecting "more of the same" from equity markets could be in for a shock next year. For much of the past decade there has been little reason to question the orthodoxy of buying and holding stocks, preferably in the US an

People: Former US Ranger ready to take command at Bridgewater, Mercer appoints global alternatives leader for wealth business... [more]Former US Ranger ready to take command at Bridgewater From FT: A decade ago Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio set out to convince David McCormick, a former US Treasury official, to join his $160bn hedge fund. Over dinner, Mr Dalio told him that there were "very high odds" of him succeeding

Crypto: Korea's top court acknowledges economic value of cryptocurrencies, SEC: A Bitcoin ETF is coming soon, Crypto market is 0.25% of global stock market: Can Bitcoin catch up?... [more]Korea's top court acknowledges economic value of cryptocurrencies From Business Korea: The Supreme Court of South Korea acknowledged the economic value of cryptocurrencies for the first time in May last year. At that time, the court ruled that the Bitcoin is an intangible asset, implyin

Clients pull money at hedge fund that helped kill Toys 'R' Us, Solus suffers after bad bets on failing companies... [more]Clients pull money at hedge fund that helped kill Toys 'R' Us From WSJ: Solus Alternative Asset Management, a New York hedge fund best known for its role in the bankruptcy of Toys "R" Us, is under pressure from investors unhappy with its performance. In a sign of discontent, some in

Latin America's fund market tipped to double by 2025... [more]From FT: Latin America's asset management industry is set to double by 2025, driven by the growing wealth and size of the region's middle class, as well as a big increase in pools of pension savings. Assets held in mutual funds, institutional mandates and alternatives across Latin America are

Asia: China's privately offered funds expand in November, Chinese IPOs continue to drive Asian stock markets... [more]China's privately offered funds expand in November From Xinhua: China's privately offered funds managed 13.74 trillion yuan (about 1.95 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of November, industry association data showed. The figure was up 49.27 billion yuan, or 0.36 percent from a month ear

PE/VC: Drop in European private equity exits via IPOs as tough conditions bite, Why Chinese capital is venturing into Africa's fintech future, Private equity has quietly increased exposure to RIAs, More asset owners clamoring for multistrategy private credit... [more]Drop in European private equity exits via IPOs as tough conditions bite From City AM: The number of European private equity exits executed via listings is declining as sponsors seek alternative routes amid challenging market conditions, new figures show. Of the European private equity exi

Study: AQR: Active fixed-income strategies don't deliver much 'true alpha', Quant mutual funds lag stocks this year, Bank of America says... [more]AQR: Active fixed-income strategies don't deliver much 'true alpha' From Institutional Investor: Active fixed income strategies tend to beat their benchmarks - but much of that excess return just comes from passive exposures to traditional risk premia, according to researchers at AQR Ca

Outlook: Negative yields, shrinking unicorns and more challenges for 2020, What does the global economic downturn mean for infrastructure investing?... [more]Negative yields, shrinking unicorns and more challenges for 2020 From Yahoo: Risk took on some surprising shapes in 2019. People stood up to governments. Negative yields rattled the bond market. Passive funds overtook the stockpickers. Leverage peaked, unicorns deflated, and illiquidity

ESG: Wealthy and young investors are driving shift towards ESG, Climate change requires 'much more' governmental effort - investors, This has been a good year for many U.S. sustainable funds... [more]Wealthy and young investors are driving shift towards ESG From Investment Europe: The idea of applying ESG criteria to the investment process is increasingly gaining momentum among HNW investors, according to Cerulli Associates. In its latest report, the Boston-based research firm revea

Legal: Argentina asks hedge fund to wait on new leader before suing... [more]From Bloomberg: Argentina tried a novel defense as a fourth hedge fund tried to sue it: asking the investors to wait until the country's new president is sworn in. The London suit began with three funds -- Palladian Partners LP, HBK Master Fund LP and Hirsh Group LLC that allege the country ma

Activists: Premier Oil becomes the target of record $174m short bet by Hong Kong hedge fund, How hedge fund giant Steve Cohen could change the NY Mets, Saga to sell care operations under Elliott break-up threat... [more]Premier Oil becomes the target of record $174m short bet by Hong Kong hedge fund From This Is Money: A Hong Kong hedge fund secretly built up the biggest ever short position in the UK by taking huge bets against Premier Oil shares. Asia Research & Capital Management should have revealed

News Briefs: Hedge fund of the year: Hildene Capital Management, How South Africans are finding inflation beating returns in alternative asset investments, Elon Musk is wrong to praise Japanese giant's block on short-selling... [more]Hedge fund of the year: Hildene Capital Management From Risk: After months of smooth sailing, US structured credit markets hit a spot of turbulence in October and have found the going rough ever since. Demand for collateralised loan obligations (CLOs) had already fallen with rates, and

And, finally: 80 Stitches Is a Small Price to Pay For a Great Story... [more]From BizarreNews: A Louisiana man's decision to jump on an 11-foot alligator left him with a gash on his hand that required 80 stitches. "I've always been the kind of guy who learns the hard way," said Glen Bonin in the understatement of the year. Bonin and three of his friends confessed they tried