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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 Logista Capital (oil); Autumn Gold (CTA); Ramius with Hatteras (FoHFs); Skybridge (seeding); GCI (hybrid securities); GSO (rescue) and several China hedge funds.

  Swiss firm Horizon21 closed 3 funds of hedge funds and Blue Lake Capital closed one.

  A study from PerTrac, a hedge fund database, revealed that there were only 1.3% fewer funds and a 36% drop in total AUM (down to $1.33tn) last year.

  Swedish hedge fund Brummer & Partners continued a trend by targeting retail investors; in Australia, days after Wallace Absolute Return Fund ousted its founder after a 95% plunge, Brett Howard stepped down as chairman of the struggling HFA fund; Zwirn is to cede control of his firm, D.B. Zwirn & Company, to another fund manager who will liquidate its holdings (nine are competing); and Fortress claimed it had suffered a $125.7m loss in the Dreier fraud as seven HFs filed claims (Fortress also announced it would not pay a dividend for 1Q09;) Cerberus Capital Management might "require investors seeking withdrawals from one of its hedge funds to be paid with a stake in a special purpose vehicle that could take years to liquidate."

  On the M&A scene, Julius Baer's GAM Asset Management unit is to buy back London-based Augustus A.M.

  As the G20 summit in London gathered, a group of hedge funds vowed to fight too much intervention and leave London; the G20 working group on regulation called for broader rules for hedge funds, large financial institutions and credit rating agencies (new financial regulations were especially pushed by France and Germany, who put this project ahead of new stimulus packages.) Some hedge funds said the G20 crackdown was making th......................

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