>It has been a tough time for funds of hedge funds post the Credit Crunch. At last it looks like the aggregate assets under management are beginning to emerge from the prolonged bottoming phase. Three months ago there was a comment here on the flat-lining in asset flows for North American funds of hedge funds. […] Read more »
Working in Equity Market-Neutral – A Q&A with ABACO Financials
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 »
Bridgewater Associates in Numbers
Among the 1100 staff at Bridgewater there are as many as 130 client service personnel looking after around 300 clients. Bridgewater manages $87bn in assets. Ray Dalio’s total remuneration for 2010 will be of the order of $3bn. The flagship Pure Alpha Fund produced its best year ever last year with a return of 44.8%. […] 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 »
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 »
Strategy Allocation in Funds of Hedge Funds – IAM as an example
>International Asset Management Limited is Investment Manager for Alternative Investment Strategies Limited, a Channel Islands Listed diversified portfolio of hedge funds. Through the Channel Islands Stock Exchange some top level information is made available. For example, the strategy allocation as at 30 September 2010 was Long/Short Equity 30.7 Macro 18.4 Credit 11.4 Fixed Income Rel Val […] Read more »