Funds Hub
Money managers under the microscope
An unpleasant prospect
There’s no shortage of ill will towards bankers at the moment.
But some executives in the private equity and hedge funds industries feel they are getting beaten with the same stick by politicians and the public, despite feeling relatively blameless in this crisis.
BC Partners managing partner Andrew Newington, speaking at the Reuters Hedge Fund & Private Equity Summit in London today, explained.
“There is clearly no political goodwill towards financial services in general and everyone within financial services is being lumped into the same bucket,” he said.
“So whether you’re an investment bank, whether you’re Fred Goodwin, whether you’re a private equity firm or hedge fund, it doesn’t matter, you appear on a placard at Canary Wharf with a noose around your neck, which isn’t a very pleasant prospect.”
Je ne regrette rien
Schroders today reported exceptional losses of 167 million pounds — this was largely due to 147 million of writedowns on its own investments in hedge funds, private equity, fixed income and seed capital.
Analysts at UBS noted that these four areas had total investments of 585 million pounds at September 30, meaning the group had taken a 25 percent writedown.
