Jana Partners Ekes Out November Gain Despite Some Notable Losses (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
After a rocky start to the month, Barry Rosenstein‘s Jana Partners, the activist and event-driven hedge fund managed by the New York–based investment firm of the same name, gained a modest 1 percent in November, bringing its gain for the first 11 months of the year to 16.6 percent. Jana, which manages about $7 billion, also posted a 1.6 percent gain for November in its Jana Nirvana Fund, a more concentrated fund. Jana Nirvana is up more than 25 percent for the year. The firm, which specializes in shareholder activism and other opportunistic investment strategies, was heavily held back last month by several of its recent high-profile activist targets and other stocks that rank among its largest portfolio positions.
Hedge Fund Uses Japan to Predict International Equity Growth (TheStreet)
Equipped with a couple of engineering degrees, Robert Page started his career at Lehman Brothers’ interest rate derivative option desk. In the early 90s, the bank offered him the whole Yen derivative book to trade; he moved to Japan and built the book into a large business with 12 currencies. “It was a very interesting time to begin trading in Asia,” he says in a recent Opalesque TV interview. “I arrived in Japan the week that the Japanese Government Bonds market began its collapse of 1994. In my first week of trading, I learned that the market absolutely collapses for unforeseen events; that was my first trial by fire, the first time running a large amount of risk.”
44% of institutional investors invest in hedge fund managers’ long-only strategies (PIOnline)
A surprisingly high percentage — 44% — of institutional investors invest in long-only strategies run by hedge fund managers, according to data released Monday by Deutsche Bank Markets Prime Finance. That compares to 40% of investment consultants, 36% of private wealth managers and 28% of hedge funds of funds, according to Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:DB)‘s “From Alternatives to Mainstream” hedge fund report. About 50% of hedge fund managers surveyed said they offer “non-traditional hedge fund products” such as long-only strategies, UCITS funds and mutual funds. About 30% of hedge fund firms said they offered long-only strategies totaling $177 billion as of Oct. 31.
Five out of six Market Vectors Hedge Fund Beta Indices positive in November (HedgeWeek)
Each of the indices is constructed using transparent, liquid ETFs to produce hedge fund-style returns without hedge fund pricing, opaqueness and redemption restrictions. MV Asia (Developed) L/S Equity Hedge Fund Beta Index was the top performer with a return of 1.88 per cent, followed by MV North America L/S Equity Hedge Fund Beta Index (1.62 per cent), MV Global L/S Equity Hedge Fund Beta Index (1.38 per cent), MV Global Event L/S Equity Hedge Fund Beta Index (0.78 per cent) and MV Western Europe L/S Equity Hedge Fund Beta Index (0.29 per cent). MV Emerging Markets L/S Equity Hedge Fund Beta Index was the only index to finish the month in negative territory recording -0.51 per cent.
A Second Act for a Top Wall Street Strategist (NYTimes)
J. Tomilson Hill was a well-known Wall Street deal maker in the 1980s, a skilled merger tactician whose work on the bidding war for RJR Nabisco earned him a role in the book “Barbarians at the Gate,” which memorably said he came across to enemies as “an oiled-back Gordon Gekko haircut atop 5 feet, 10 inches of icy Protestant reserve.” But in 1993, Mr. Hill’s climb up the ladder at Lehman Brothers ended when he was ousted as co-chief executive, and he spent the next seven years of his career in less prominent roles at the The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX), the private equity firm.
Critic Siedel asks SEC to investigate R.I. pension fund’s hedge fund investments (ProvidenceJournal)
Following up on a scathing 105-page report, financial industry critic Edward “Ted” Siedle called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Monday to investigate “soaring investment fees” and possibly illegal investment practices that the state Employees Retirement System has pursued under General Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo. Siedle, hired by Council 94 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees to review state pension fund investments, said the complaint builds on his earlier report and provides a “silver platter” of information “with in-depth analysis” for the SEC to investigate.
