Funds Hub
Money managers under the microscope
Morning Line-Up: buy-out top up ruling, Pru’s AIA deal discount, F&C in “bully” case
News and views on the asset management industry from Reuters and elsewhere:
Private equity chief “in breach” for refusing fund’s top-up – FT
Pru to soothe scalp-hunters with discount of AIA deal costs - Times
Morning Line-Up: Calstrs, SWFs and the continuing rise of passive
News and views on the fund industry from Reuters and elsewhere:
SWFs likely to add private equity exposure-Carlyle - Reuters
US pension fund Calstrs okays commodity investing - Reuters
Reuters Hedge Fund and Private Equity Summit 2010
Next Monday sees the start of our 3-day Reuters Hedge Fund & Private Equity Summit, in London, New York and Hong Kong.
We have a great range of high-profile speakers this year, who will address issues such as the industry’s recovery, the investment outlook in 2010 after a year of rising markets, and impending regulation.
It’s not just the leverage
If private equity is anything to go by, there is plenty of hope for hedge funds operating in the new, post-Lehman world of lower leverage.
A study by the Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies and Capital Dynamics, out today, finds that two-thirds of private equity’s value creation is down to improving companies it owns or rising market multiples.
Phew, the Gartmore “will it, won’t it” game is over!
SO: Gartmore is going ahead with a listing on the LSE after all, ending a “will it- won’t it” game that has gone on for quite a bit in the past few weeks. Phew!
The company CEO, Jeffrey Meyer, says the firm does not strictly need to raise cash now to pay off any urgent debt. In fact the debt taken on to finance the management buy-out in 2006 is not due for years and years to come. Gartmore is going to market simply because it feels like it is the right moment to do it.
Morning line-up
Hedge fund stories from the past 24 hours from Reuters and elsewhere:
Gartmore plans IPO to cut H&F stake, debt - Reuters
Harbinger Capital sells New York Times shares – Seeking Alpha
Private equity eyes illiquid hedge fund stakes – Reuters
Payback time – The Economist
Time is right for hedge funds, manager says – DealBook
Hedge fund structuring: lessons of the financial crisis – Hedge Week
Tilting at windmills
The growing discomfort among pension funds over EU plans to regulate the hedge fund industry has prompted another public pronouncement, this time from Dutch schemes with assets of about 450 billion euros, including APG and PGGM.
We’ve noted the potential pivotal role the pension industry could play before, but as yet there hasn’t been an appreciable softening in the tone adopted by the hardliners. Their standard bearer Poul Nyrup Rasmussen called London Mayor Boris Johnson “out of touch with reality” after the much-lobbied blonde tried to strike a blow for the alternatives industry on a vist to Brussels this week.
from Commentaries:
Moulton’s parting shot at Alchemy
Real Business is running a copy of what it says is Jon Moulton's resignation letter from Alchemy.
It is full of wonderful nuggets about the private equity boutique he set up in 1997 and gives insight into a wider malaise in financial services. Moulton is not saying if the letter -- which is addressed to investors -- is authentic.
The letter's parting words capture the tone: "I would do it again - but better".
Oaktree’s Marks takes aim at industry fee-for-all
The infamous “2 and 20″ scheme once reserved for a few stars is now the standard. Master and mediocre managers alike charge the same top-tier prices. Yet 2 percent fees for assets under management plus 20 percent of a fund’s profits should be exceptional pay for the best managers, he said, not the rule.
“Pricing in the investment management business was very uniform, and it shouldn’t be,” said Howard Marks, chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles firm that manages $60 billion alternative investments. “If markets are working right, different things have different prices.”
