Hennessee: Hedge Funds Add 0.28% In April (FINalternatives)
Hedge funds extended their winning streak to four-for-four in April, but not by much. Hedge funds rose an average of 0.28% in the most-mixed month of the year so far for the industry, the Hennessee Hedge Fund Index shows. Indeed, long/short equity funds lost ground on the month even as the broader index rose, shedding 0.17% in a month that saw the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index jump 1.81%. The average hedge fund is now up 5.09% on the year, and the average long/short equity hedge fund 5.71%, while the S&P500 is up 12.02%.
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Among Billionaire Ray Dalio’s Long-Term Stock Picks (Insider Monkey)
Helvetic criticises EU approach to hedge fund regulatory changes (Investment Europe)
Gibraltar based Helvetic Fund Administration has criticised the EU’s approach to hedge funds, stating that the European Commission has picked the wrong time to focus on introducing liquidity buffers and leverage caps. Nicola Smith, CEO, said that managers are struggling enough as it is with implementing AIFMD, and need to focus on AIFM passports with the support from European institutions and clear guidance from national regulators. “The lack of detailed information, combined with the delays from ESMA, has already lead to uncertainty and turbulence amongst EU based funds over the implementation of AIFMD,” she said.
Pioneer Joins Mirae Favoring Baht to Peso on Yield (Bloomberg)
Pioneer Investments in London said it added to Thai holdings as scope for monetary easing gives the nation stronger growth potential than its Southeast Asian neighbor. Mirae Asset Global Investment Co. and Neuberger Berman Group LLC also prefer Thai debt. Thailand’s 10-year yield is 92 basis points higher than inflation, compared with 18 points in the Philippines. Philippine local-currency notes handed investors more than six times the gain in Thailand this year after the central bank reduced interest rates on its special-deposit accounts to deter peso purchases by foreign funds. The Bank of Thailand will eventually bow to government pressure to lower borrowing costs in 2013 to stem inflows that drove the baht to a 16-year high in April, according to Mirae.
APB Financial Group and Hedge Fund Solutions to Host Webcast to Discuss First Manhattan Co’s Activist Investment in VIVUS, Inc. (Virtual-Strategy Magazine)
APB Financial Group today announced that Damien Park, Managing Partner at Hedge Fund Solutions, will interview two of First Manhattan’s nominees for election to VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS) Board of Directors as part of APB’s ongoing series of interviews on shareholder activism. The director nominees to be interviewed include Dr. Sam Colin, Partner and Senior Managing Director of First Manhattan Co., and Michael Astrue, the former Commissioner of the Social Security Administration and former CEO of Transkaryotic Therapies, a biotech company whose stock price rose under his two-year tenure from $3.80 to $37.00 before it was sold to Shire plc.
