Andrey Hicks Scams $1.7 million with Fake Hedge Fund (Barrons)
Fifty-four years after Sputnik, the American public finally gets the message: Math is way cool. For those of us under six-foot-seven, who can’t run the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, hit a curve ball or avoid the water hazard, it’s the latest path to quick riches. We’ve all noticed that mathematicians are raking in millions on Wall Street by writing algorithmic instructions for their high-frequency-trading computers.Martin Coward to Launch Hedge Fund to Rival Ikos (FT)
Hedge Funds Bet on Soccer Player Transfer Markets (Bloomberg)
Hedge funds are making bets on the soccer player transfer markets in Spain, Portugal and Turkey, clashing with fans who say they are profiting from teams’ financial woes. Quality Sports Investments Ltd., based on the island of Jersey in the English Channel, and London-based Doyen Capital Partners LLP are working with teams including Atletico Madrid, Sporting Lisbon and Turkey’s Besiktas to bankroll signings in return for a share of any profit when the players are traded to another club. The investments — which yielded returns of as much as 64 percent per player for a fund managed by Banco Espirito Santo SA — are taking hold in Spain as banks refuse to extend credit to clubs, according to former league vice-president Javier Tebas. The trend is undercutting club’s ability to make money from player sales, one of their main sources of income, said Jose Luis Sanchez, head of “Senales de Humo,” an Atletico fan club.
Many Hedge Funds will have to Start Reporting to SEC June 15, 2012 (Businessweek)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission responded to objections from hedge funds and private- equity funds by dialing back demands in its new rule requiring fund advisers to report internal information to regulators. The commission approved its final rule in a unanimous vote today, easing the thresholds for defining which large funds will have to report the most information to regulators. The final rule, which requires some funds to begin reporting as soon as next year, also allows private-equity funds to report less often than initially proposed.
Hedge Fund Firms Bring Incremental Value in the Alternative UCITS Space (HedgeWeek)
In spite of having registered significant investor appetite in recent years, empirical research on Alternative UCITS is a rare commodity. The major contribution of a new Lyxor research report is therefore to give investors a precise measure of the main characteristics of publicly regulated Alternative UCITS vehicles in comparison to traditional hedge funds, says Stefan Keller of Lyxor Asset Management. For the first time, a comprehensive set of data has been analysed on a period from June 2004 to May 2011. The results shed light on what really matters for investors: regulation, manager skills and risk.
