By Hedge Fund Insight staff
A group of hedge fund allocators and feeder fund marketers are all travelling by train to Lausanne for the same conference. The allocators of capital make a big deal out of making sure they each have their tickets, but the marketers report that they just had one of their number buy a ticket, and the rest would do without, which the allocators of course thought was just braggadocio. Before long, the conductor comes down the aisle, collecting tickets, and all the marketers of feeder funds get up and crowd into the toilet. After the conductor collects all the rest of the passengers’ tickets, he knocks on the WC door, demanding, “Ticket!” The marketers slip their one ticket out the door, which the conductor takes and stamps and hands back before going on his way.
One the return trip, the allocators of capital to hedge funds are all a-grin, and they proclaim that they’ve just got one ticket between the lot of them. But now the marketers say they haven’t any tickets at all. The allocators mumble amongst themselves words to the effect of, “Marketers, what are they like!” Then the conductor starts down the aisle, and all of the allocators crowd into the toilet. And one of the feeder fund marketers goes the the WC door, knocks, and demands, “Ticket!”