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HEDGE FUND NEWS
@ Fri 11 May 2007 : GMT
Today we are lost for words.
There is no Hedge Fund news so I would suggest you read some old FiNTAG newsletters and pretend you haven't read them before. This is all pretty good news to me as I am feeling a bit rough after a night at Gordon Ramsey's London NYC restaurant. The food was about as good as his London Hospital restaurant but at half the price. Thank goodness the dollar is worth so little. My weekend starts today and I am being looked after by some old chums in Greenwich who owe me a lot for not spilling the beans about their hedge funds.
As you know I love the USA, but I am not sure why the people are unhappy. New Yorkers are not happy because they are going to suffer the fate us Londoners do every day and that is be snooped on and charged for driving. The rest are probably unhappy because they have read Michael J Panzer's Financial Armageddon book? (Related) Or is it America has lost its way? I had a long discussion last night with a Yank-ophile who said Global Warming is an act of God and it should be embraced. God wants us to be warmer so lets buy Hummers and speed up the process. Is it me, am I in a coma or am I mad?
The UK has its own problems too. Tony Blair is gone and Gordon Brown, the nose picking, nail chewing Scotsman is now PM elect (although he doesn't get the job proper until 27th June) and the City of London is shaking in fear.
Anything But Hedge Fund News
SEC Charges Two Securities Professionals With Insider Trading (sec) (Related)
Hedge fund big beasts pay out £100,000 to enter ARK (ft) (Related)
Ex-Morgan Stanley and ING analysts charged on insider trading (financialnews-us) (Related)
BP boss Lord Browne quits Goldman (bbc) (Related)
Barclays to axe 1,100 staff in UK (bbc) (Related)
Hey! Who are you saying has a 'fat tail'? (allaboutalpha) (Related)
Clinton joins hedge fund in good cause (ft) (Related)
Ontario Teachers' embarks on London scouting mission (financialnews-us) (Related)
How families keep private equity 'locusts' at bay (guardian) (Related)
ABN Amro finance chief quits in middle of takeover battle (guardian) (Related)
Why Multi-Strategy Funds Outperform Fund of Hedge Funds (dailyii) (Related)
INDIAN TAKEAWAY
Indian Ban On Hedge Based On False Data? (dailyii) (Related)
Faulty statistics may be behind the Indian's government decision to keep barring hedge funds from trading on the country's stock markets.
The Reserve Bank of India has been at odds with the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Ministry of Finance over whether to allow HFs direct access, but according to Business Standard, hedge funds have been nixed based on government estimates that they accounted for 70% to 80% of the participatory notes in the stock market, which last year rose 70%.
The PNs are offshore derivative instruments used by foreign institutional investors (FII), which cannot invest directly in Indian stocks, says BN, and the RBI opposes their use because they are basically anonymous in that they are not required to tell where the money comes from, making them ripe for use in money laundering and by normally secretive hedge funds. It turns out now, however, that the government may have woefully overestimated hedge fund share of PNs, and rather than accounting for up to 80% of the market, it may be just one-tenth of that, or 8% to 9%.Thus, hedge funds may have gotten a bum rap, especially when they were blamed a year ago when the benchmark Sensex tumbled 2,000 points. Rajeev Baddepudi of Eurekahedge confirms that suspicion by saying the 35 India-specific hedge funds have total assets under management of just $2.5 billion. Total investments by registered FIIs last year was $8 billion, with about one-third from PNs.
SHORTAGE
LaCrosse aims to raise service standards in fund admin industry (hedgeweek) (Related)
A vacuum has developed in the US hedge fund industry as fund administration services have fallen behind the rapid-fire growth of their customers. With a handful of exceptions, administrators get poor to failing grades for service, timeliness and technology sophistication. For industry veterans Stuart Feffer and Christopher Kundro, who head LaCrosse Global Fund Services, that represented a perfect business opportunity.
LaCrosse is one of a number of prominent firms that have started offering fund administration, middle and back office services to hedge funds. Backed by agricultural and food industry giant Cargill, the New York-based firm opened for third-party business at the beginning of this year. In a business where size matters, LaCrosse launched with 160 employees in 10 offices across nine countries, and plans to reach 200 by year-end.
'LaCrosse entered the market as a sizeable, independent provider of operations, middle office and administration services,' says Feffer. 'LaCrosse leverages Cargill's shared services related to systems that enable us to increase our operational capacity when required. In addition, we take advantage of Cargill's geographic reach and global knowledge.'
Thanks to its solid pedigree and large physical footprint, demand is soaring. Assets under administration are nearing USD9bn, including USD6bn from Black River, Cargill's asset management arm since 2003. For nearly two decades, the only clients of the administration business were Cargill Global Capital Markets and more recently Black River.
Cargill spun LaCrosse out in October 2006 in order to sell its numerous services - including portfolio valuation, facilitation of custodian and prime brokerage communications, trade-settlement, processing of over-the-counter derivatives, and management of cash and collateral, accounting, and reporting - to third-party clients.
The firm services assets ranging from traditional bonds and equities to intricate financial instruments linked to commodities, debt, fixed income, foreign exchange and interest rates. It promises key reports, including profit & loss, by 6.30 a.m. local time, anywhere in the world.
Along with services, clients are also looking for dependability, according to Feffer and Kundro. 'The fund administration business has a reputation of over-promising and under-delivering,' Kundro says. 'Client service is viewed as poor to non-existent. Before launching LaCrosse, we made significant investments in our infrastructure to ensure we can deliver what our clients need, where, when and how they need it.' An additional spur is that Cargill expects LaCrosse to meet its commitments to safeguard its own reputation.
In a crowded marketplace, LaCrosse aims to stand apart by taking charge of all non-prime brokerage processing and accounting functions, allowing the manager to focus on raising and managing money. It is capable of processing, accounting and valuing esoteric asset classes, such as private equity, distressed debt and private credit instruments, and offers the ability to service trades in 50 established and emerging markets around the globe on a single integrated technology platform.
Before joining LaCrosse, Feffer and Kundro jointly led BearingPoint's wealth and investment management practice and Capco's private client and investment management business. They have worked together for roughly a decade and are best known for their work in setting up hedge fund platforms and studying operational risk and valuation practices.
MAKING THE NUMBERS UP
3i enjoys 'exceptional' results (bbc) (Related)
Private equity group 3i has reported a 27% return on its investments after what it called an "exceptional year".
3i said it made a total return of £1.08bn in the year to March, with the value of its assets up 25% to £7.1bn.
The group added it would be returning £800m to shareholders, partly through issuing new shares.
Private equity firms have been in the spotlight recently, taking over businesses ranging from the AA to Birds Eye in the past year.
Private equity groups use a mixture of their own money and debt to buy firms which they feel are underperforming. They usually look for a profitable sale within three to seven years.
However, while the government says such companies boost the economy and create jobs critics dismiss them as asset strippers.
'High return'
"This has been an exceptional year for 3i," the firm said.
"The group has delivered a high return on shareholders' funds and a strong cash flow and, most importantly of all, has taken important steps to develop the business for the longer term."
Other companies owned by the group include the NCP carparks firm.
However, the buyout market has become increasingly competitive, prompting 3i to expand its international operations and boost investment in new markets.
@ Fri 11 May 2007 : GMT
permalink (Related) | mail this (Related) | tag cloud (Related) | posted by finbar taggit: fri 11 may 2007 07:10 gmt | filed under: hedge funds (Related) india (Related) insider trading (Related) administrators (Related) pirate equity (Related)
FINTAG COMMENTToday we are lost for words.
There is no Hedge Fund news so I would suggest you read some old FiNTAG newsletters and pretend you haven't read them before. This is all pretty good news to me as I am feeling a bit rough after a night at Gordon Ramsey's London NYC restaurant. The food was about as good as his London Hospital restaurant but at half the price. Thank goodness the dollar is worth so little. My weekend starts today and I am being looked after by some old chums in Greenwich who owe me a lot for not spilling the beans about their hedge funds.
As you know I love the USA, but I am not sure why the people are unhappy. New Yorkers are not happy because they are going to suffer the fate us Londoners do every day and that is be snooped on and charged for driving. The rest are probably unhappy because they have read Michael J Panzer's Financial Armageddon book? (Related) Or is it America has lost its way? I had a long discussion last night with a Yank-ophile who said Global Warming is an act of God and it should be embraced. God wants us to be warmer so lets buy Hummers and speed up the process. Is it me, am I in a coma or am I mad?
The UK has its own problems too. Tony Blair is gone and Gordon Brown, the nose picking, nail chewing Scotsman is now PM elect (although he doesn't get the job proper until 27th June) and the City of London is shaking in fear.
Anything But Hedge Fund News
SEC Charges Two Securities Professionals With Insider Trading (sec) (Related)
Hedge fund big beasts pay out £100,000 to enter ARK (ft) (Related)
Ex-Morgan Stanley and ING analysts charged on insider trading (financialnews-us) (Related)
BP boss Lord Browne quits Goldman (bbc) (Related)
Barclays to axe 1,100 staff in UK (bbc) (Related)
Hey! Who are you saying has a 'fat tail'? (allaboutalpha) (Related)
Clinton joins hedge fund in good cause (ft) (Related)
Ontario Teachers' embarks on London scouting mission (financialnews-us) (Related)
How families keep private equity 'locusts' at bay (guardian) (Related)
ABN Amro finance chief quits in middle of takeover battle (guardian) (Related)
Why Multi-Strategy Funds Outperform Fund of Hedge Funds (dailyii) (Related)
INDIAN TAKEAWAY
Indian Ban On Hedge Based On False Data? (dailyii) (Related)
Faulty statistics may be behind the Indian's government decision to keep barring hedge funds from trading on the country's stock markets.
The Reserve Bank of India has been at odds with the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Ministry of Finance over whether to allow HFs direct access, but according to Business Standard, hedge funds have been nixed based on government estimates that they accounted for 70% to 80% of the participatory notes in the stock market, which last year rose 70%.
The PNs are offshore derivative instruments used by foreign institutional investors (FII), which cannot invest directly in Indian stocks, says BN, and the RBI opposes their use because they are basically anonymous in that they are not required to tell where the money comes from, making them ripe for use in money laundering and by normally secretive hedge funds. It turns out now, however, that the government may have woefully overestimated hedge fund share of PNs, and rather than accounting for up to 80% of the market, it may be just one-tenth of that, or 8% to 9%.Thus, hedge funds may have gotten a bum rap, especially when they were blamed a year ago when the benchmark Sensex tumbled 2,000 points. Rajeev Baddepudi of Eurekahedge confirms that suspicion by saying the 35 India-specific hedge funds have total assets under management of just $2.5 billion. Total investments by registered FIIs last year was $8 billion, with about one-third from PNs.
Fintag says
The Indian stock market is a shocker. We trade on it but keep our fingers crossed at all times. The Indian authorities have a habit of putting in new rules at short notice, closing the exchange if it looks a bit volatile and spreads increase rapidly if they know you are a foreigner.
And people think India is the next USA? Come off it.
The Indian stock market is a shocker. We trade on it but keep our fingers crossed at all times. The Indian authorities have a habit of putting in new rules at short notice, closing the exchange if it looks a bit volatile and spreads increase rapidly if they know you are a foreigner.
And people think India is the next USA? Come off it.
SHORTAGE
LaCrosse aims to raise service standards in fund admin industry (hedgeweek) (Related)
A vacuum has developed in the US hedge fund industry as fund administration services have fallen behind the rapid-fire growth of their customers. With a handful of exceptions, administrators get poor to failing grades for service, timeliness and technology sophistication. For industry veterans Stuart Feffer and Christopher Kundro, who head LaCrosse Global Fund Services, that represented a perfect business opportunity.
LaCrosse is one of a number of prominent firms that have started offering fund administration, middle and back office services to hedge funds. Backed by agricultural and food industry giant Cargill, the New York-based firm opened for third-party business at the beginning of this year. In a business where size matters, LaCrosse launched with 160 employees in 10 offices across nine countries, and plans to reach 200 by year-end.
'LaCrosse entered the market as a sizeable, independent provider of operations, middle office and administration services,' says Feffer. 'LaCrosse leverages Cargill's shared services related to systems that enable us to increase our operational capacity when required. In addition, we take advantage of Cargill's geographic reach and global knowledge.'
Thanks to its solid pedigree and large physical footprint, demand is soaring. Assets under administration are nearing USD9bn, including USD6bn from Black River, Cargill's asset management arm since 2003. For nearly two decades, the only clients of the administration business were Cargill Global Capital Markets and more recently Black River.
Cargill spun LaCrosse out in October 2006 in order to sell its numerous services - including portfolio valuation, facilitation of custodian and prime brokerage communications, trade-settlement, processing of over-the-counter derivatives, and management of cash and collateral, accounting, and reporting - to third-party clients.
The firm services assets ranging from traditional bonds and equities to intricate financial instruments linked to commodities, debt, fixed income, foreign exchange and interest rates. It promises key reports, including profit & loss, by 6.30 a.m. local time, anywhere in the world.
Along with services, clients are also looking for dependability, according to Feffer and Kundro. 'The fund administration business has a reputation of over-promising and under-delivering,' Kundro says. 'Client service is viewed as poor to non-existent. Before launching LaCrosse, we made significant investments in our infrastructure to ensure we can deliver what our clients need, where, when and how they need it.' An additional spur is that Cargill expects LaCrosse to meet its commitments to safeguard its own reputation.
In a crowded marketplace, LaCrosse aims to stand apart by taking charge of all non-prime brokerage processing and accounting functions, allowing the manager to focus on raising and managing money. It is capable of processing, accounting and valuing esoteric asset classes, such as private equity, distressed debt and private credit instruments, and offers the ability to service trades in 50 established and emerging markets around the globe on a single integrated technology platform.
Before joining LaCrosse, Feffer and Kundro jointly led BearingPoint's wealth and investment management practice and Capco's private client and investment management business. They have worked together for roughly a decade and are best known for their work in setting up hedge fund platforms and studying operational risk and valuation practices.
Fintag says
As Fortis, Citco, BoNY and friends abandon Fund of Funds are go for single managers with USD500m plus, the smaller guy has been abandoned. With the SEC ready to force all Hedge Fund managers in the US to have an independent Administrator to price their funds, many new entrants have come into the market which is good news as the big boys are getting a bit too cocky.
We use the ones I just mentioned and they are all as bad or as good as each other. They all use the same systems and the same people (job hopping is frequent). They are our back and middle office and without them I would be running a trading function and not the traders themselves. How dull would that be?
As Fortis, Citco, BoNY and friends abandon Fund of Funds are go for single managers with USD500m plus, the smaller guy has been abandoned. With the SEC ready to force all Hedge Fund managers in the US to have an independent Administrator to price their funds, many new entrants have come into the market which is good news as the big boys are getting a bit too cocky.
We use the ones I just mentioned and they are all as bad or as good as each other. They all use the same systems and the same people (job hopping is frequent). They are our back and middle office and without them I would be running a trading function and not the traders themselves. How dull would that be?
MAKING THE NUMBERS UP
3i enjoys 'exceptional' results (bbc) (Related)
Private equity group 3i has reported a 27% return on its investments after what it called an "exceptional year".
3i said it made a total return of £1.08bn in the year to March, with the value of its assets up 25% to £7.1bn.
The group added it would be returning £800m to shareholders, partly through issuing new shares.
Private equity firms have been in the spotlight recently, taking over businesses ranging from the AA to Birds Eye in the past year.
Private equity groups use a mixture of their own money and debt to buy firms which they feel are underperforming. They usually look for a profitable sale within three to seven years.
However, while the government says such companies boost the economy and create jobs critics dismiss them as asset strippers.
'High return'
"This has been an exceptional year for 3i," the firm said.
"The group has delivered a high return on shareholders' funds and a strong cash flow and, most importantly of all, has taken important steps to develop the business for the longer term."
Other companies owned by the group include the NCP carparks firm.
However, the buyout market has become increasingly competitive, prompting 3i to expand its international operations and boost investment in new markets.
Fintag says
Most of 3is profits are unrealised, unaudited and made up. Ask two accountants to value an unquoted company and you will get two different answers. There is no market and with lost of creative accounting and wild goodwill and intangible asset valuating, and so on, the pirates always manage to reach their hurdles. Oh and there will be lots of provisioning for rainy days too.
Never trust a pirate.
Most of 3is profits are unrealised, unaudited and made up. Ask two accountants to value an unquoted company and you will get two different answers. There is no market and with lost of creative accounting and wild goodwill and intangible asset valuating, and so on, the pirates always manage to reach their hurdles. Oh and there will be lots of provisioning for rainy days too.
Never trust a pirate.
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