By Simon Kerr, Principal of Enhance Consulting ABACO Financials Fund is a market-neutral equity fund with a European bias dedicated to investing in the Financial sector. The portfolio of long/short positions is structured to generate absolute returns by capturing relative value within the sector while targeting low volatility. The return stream produced for their growing […] Read more »
The Grind Continues for Many Hedge Fund Managers
>Whilst there is a constituency within the hedge fund industry which have obtained the Hollywood version of the trappings of success in the financial sector – the cars, the ranches, and the (part-owned) private jet – there is also a very long tail of funds which have not been in performance fee nirvana for some […] Read more »
Chart of the Day – Funds of Hedge Funds Flat-line in Asset Flows in North America
By Simon Kerr My Chart of the Day comes from The Eurekahedge Report which looks at 2010 hedge asset flows and investment returns. The chart compares the monthly asset flows to North American hedge funds and funds of hedge funds since the start of 2008. The contrast in flows in the recovery phase is […] Read more »
Two Sides of a Short Position – A High Quality Argument on Netflix
>During my time as an analyst of hedge funds in 2000-2002, and later as a consultant working on portfolio management and risk management issues with hedge fund portfolio managers, I have been granted the privilege to hear the fundamental cases for positions taken by very good managers. Hearing about a single position in detail gives […] Read more »
John Paulson on the Benefits of Activism
John Paulson John Paulson may have made been the subject of the book “The Greatest Trade Ever” about his shorting of (residential) mortgage-backed securities, but that trade was as typical for him as Michael Steinhardt going long U.S. Treasuries in 1981. Steinhardt was an analytical equity investor betting his reputation on an unfamiliar asset […] Read more »
Bob Prince, Co CEO of Bridgewater, on Alpha and Beta in HF Portfolios
> Bob Prince Now, if you look back at the history of Bridgewater, for the average market that we trade, we made 1 percent return with 3 percent risk. We’ve had a .3 ratio for each market. Our overall ratio is about 1. The difference between these two is diversification and portfolio structuring. So, two […] Read more »
Hugh Hendry on Debt Deflation
By Simon Kerr At one time Hugh Hendry, manager of the Eclectica Fund, used to write monthly commentary and distribute a full attribution for fund returns at the same time. Now he writes manager letters of some length periodically, but still informs his investors about risks assumed and how the P&L has been shaped […] Read more »
The Culture at Bridgewater Associates
By Simon Kerr I’m in the process of changing my day job. So one of the things that is going around my head is considering the culture of the next place of work. I was fortunate in this regard with the employers I left this week as there was a good work culture, and […] Read more »
Mixed Messages on Health of Hedge Fund Business in Europe
Around three-quarters of the capital in the European hedge fund industry is managed out of London. So looking at the health of the British hedge fund industry effectively reflects the European industry, even taking account of leakage to Switzerland at the margin. Corporate finance firm Imas Corporate Advisors has done some good work in tracking the investment […] Read more »
Hedge Fund Portfolio – "The Nemesis of Any High-Octane Hedge Fund"
>I don’t put a blogroll on this site, but that does not mean I don’t appreciate the high quality output carried on other hedge fund related blogs. A case in point is the “Hedge Fund Portfolio” written by Kris Chikelue, and which you can find at http://hfpf.blogspot.com. Although I haven’t read all of them, I have […] Read more »