Goldman Sachs Reorganization and Funds

How will Goldman Sachs funds be affected by structural changes? The changes in question arise from new rules still being hammered out by federal regulators as well as suggested by the company’s internal “Business Standards Committee Report”.

BlackRock Go-Anywhere Strategy

Chidem Kurdas

Where do investors want to be?  If we take BlackRock’s asset inflows as an indicator, investors want to be in any market that looks promising—taken there by managers able to move swiftly from one market to another.

Asia Search Leads to Macquarie

It sounds like US-based hedge fund investors are earning a lot of frequent flying miles with trips to Hong Kong and Singapore in search of promising Asian equity managers. Some of them have ended up with an Australian manager—an arm of investment bank Macquarie Group.

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Life Insurance Investing Ramps Up

Chidem Kurdas

The life settlement market shows evidence of rising again, putting an end to exaggerated rumors of its demise. One sign of resurgence: new funds launched to invest in life insurance policies. Like one from Rochdale, a long-time high-net-worth investment adviser and manager of hedge and mutual funds.

Man Futures Long vs. Short View

Chidem Kurdas

Compare Man Group’s AHL, one of the oldest and largest futures trading programs, with a conventional investment, say the S&P 500 index. You get very different short-term and long-term impressions.

Apple Win for Renaissance

Chidem Kurdas

Understanding Renaissance Technologies’ moves is difficult because many of its trades are short-term, a result of temporary market conditions that an outside observer can’t detect in retrospect. Even so, it is interesting to watch the giant hedge fund manager’s bet on Apple Inc. 

Derivatives Traders Get Attention

Some large investors expect to put more money into futures and options trading funds while reducing their allocation to private equity.

Lehman Brothers’ Short Selling Lesson

Chidem Kurdas

Share prices are now high by certain standards. Some are ripe for shorting, at least in theory. But in practice short trades are almost guaranteed to lose money in a rocketing market.  Short-biased hedge funds lost money in the past 12 months and short selling fell in December as stocks climbed.  

Och-Ziff vs. the Index

Investors on occasion express doubt as to whether hedge funds are worth the trouble. So let’s compare the performance of  Daniel Och, a well-established and highly regarded manager, with a broad-gauge investable index.

The largest fund Mr. Och manages, the Och-Ziff Master Fund with around $19 billion in assets as of November, made 8.44% in 2010. The MSCI All Country World Investable Market Index made 11.4%—almost three percentage points more than OZ Master Fund. Should institutions just put their capital into an index? 

Angelo Gordon Steel Turnaround

Chidem Kurdas

When Angelo, Gordon & Co. lent to United States Steel Corp. in the Spring of 2009, the steel maker was in serious trouble. The steel business slumped in tandem with construction. US Steel’s stock went into a tailspin after hitting a high of $187 in late 2008. It has not recovered; it is fluctuating around $60 now.  Yet Angelo, Gordon did well with the US Steel notes.