Always at your service! - Fund administration....

The third of six articles written by Rolf Majcen, Managing Director FTC Capital GmbH, Vienna, Austria, www.ftc.at:

Gibraltar provides competitive alternatives for the hedge fund industry, be it as a domicile for establishing new funds (or a home for redomiciling of existing funds) or - irrespective thereof - as a location for administering hedge funds domiciled elsewhere.

Gibraltar is flexible and friendly. It is an exciting place to do funds business. The rationale of the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (FSC) is obvious - make it a quick and painless process, to enable funds to launch efficiently in Gibraltar. The competitive Experienced Investor Fund-Regime, which was developed in August 2005, enhanced Gibraltar's attraction as a domicile for alternative investment funds and a good number of hedge funds, private equity funds and property funds have already gone down that route. Authorisation under the EIF Regulations is based on a system of self-certification by the investor, the fund administrator and the fund's lawyer. But Gibraltar is not simply a fund domicile. It's forward-thinking legislation and straightforward regulation enables the local fund administrators not only to specialise in administration capabilities and corporate services for structures domiciled in Gibraltar but also for funds established in other jurisdictions.

Traditionally the hedge fund route has been to domicile hedge funds in offshore jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands, and to a lesser extent, the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda but have them administered in Dublin and listed on the Irish Stock Exchange. However, competition for alternative fund administration business has become intense as it has grown from a small and relatively specialised activity into a mainstream field. Gibraltar has started to get in on that act by servicing sophisticated funds domiciled in other countries. A significant number of these are hedge funds registered in the Caribbean where the promoters require the administration to be carried out in the European time zone. To exemplify, Cayman exempted companies registered as mutual funds under section 4 (3) of the Cayman MFL, the most common fund vehicle in Cayman, or BVI international business companies (private and professional mutual funds) are allowed to be administered from another jurisdiction, therefore even from Gibraltar, which is part of the European Union!

Service providers in Gibraltar are keen to grow the industry, and with its moderate cost base, the domicile is proving to be a very attractive altern......................

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Always at your service! - Fund administration....

Global macro fund Constellation Capital returns 2.18%....

Constellation Capital Ltd has returned 2.18% in October, 10.91% YTD. The strategy is Systematic Global Macro. The fund combines a systematic approach with a discretionary overlay and invests only in liquid instruments to achieve its strategy. It is domiciled in the Caymans, was launched six months ago, and currently manages $22m.....

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Global macro fund Constellation Capital returns 2.18%....

As October hedge fund indices point to devastating month....

Hedge Fund News New York: Late last week the release of the HFRX indices (Global Hedge Fund Index reported -9.26%) confirmed fears that October was even more devastating to hedge fund returns than the previous month. With the other major indices yet to issue finalized numbers the lone bright spot seems as though it may continue to be CTAs. With more than half of the funds reporting October returns Barclay's CTA Index estimate is +3.37% and +10.69% YTD, a ray of light below Barclay's Hedge Fund Index estimate for October (which currently stands at -6.85% and -18.26%YTD with 1023 funds reporting).

US-based Drury Capital offers five trading programs. The firm's Diversified Trend Following Program manages $153m in assets and returned +23.49% in October (+56.91% YTD). President and CEO Bernard Drury recently spoke with Opalesque about CTAs and systematic trading strategies.

Drury credits both the diversified space in which the program trades (across 70 markets with half the portfolio exposure in commodities and the other half in financial instruments) as well as the strategy (systematic trend following) for a track record that extends back to 1997 and boasts annualized returns of +15.54%.

The evolution from sector specialist to systematic trading
As a former grain trader who began his career at the Louis Dreyfus Corporation, Drury spent 20 years accumulating expertise in the fundamentals of the grain markets and has great respect for those traders who are sector specialists. However, while pursuing an executive MBA at the University of Chicago, his studies with Prof. Robin Hogarth in the area of decision making amidst uncertainty had a strong influence on him.

"I entered that U......................

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As October hedge fund indices point to devastating month....

London`s most influential people....

Last month, London's very own newspaper, The Evening Standard, published a list of the 1000 most influential people in London in 2008. Among them were 51 financiers.

Here is a selection of the chosen ones, with snippets from the newspaper's commentaries:

- Michael Spencer, 53, ICAP founder and CEO - "far and away the City's kingpin."
- Noam Gottesman, 47, GLG founder - "hugely rich? but publicity shy; no media picture of him exist."
- Clara Furse, 51, LSE CEO - "one of those responsible for taking London to the top in global finance."
- Christopher Hohn, 41, Children's Investment Fund founder - "makes a fortune with his hedge fund? then gives it to a charitable foundation run by his American wife."
- Crispin Odey, 49, Odey Asset Management founder - "thrived on the credit crisis after being one of the first to predict the coming crunch and taking a short position in Bradford & Bingley."
- Adair Turner, 53, FSA chairman - "a self-confessed technocrat."
- Peter Cruddas, 54, CMC founder and chairman - "lives in Monaco and has given ?100m to charity through his own foundation."
- Hector Sants, 52, FSA CEO - "poacher turned gamekeeper."
- Louis Bacon, 52, Moore Capital founder - "can move world markets and is said to be more powerful than George Soros."
- Michael Hintze, 55, CQS, founder and CEO - "A Russian speaker, his CV is daunting: his degrees include physics, pure mathematics and acoustics."
- Martin Hughes, 47, Toscafund owner - "former top banking analyst dubbed The Rottweiler."
- Johannes Huth, 46, KKR, head of Euro......................

Source:
http://www.opalesque.com/AMB2008/48243most_influential_people_in_finance.html

Dutch funds suspend redemptions: Falcinvest and Prisma...

Opalesque received news from Peter Vermeulen, director A.I. at Inveztor.nl, of two separate Dutch hedge fund managers who have had to block redemptions.

Falcinvest suspends redemptions until `pricing has become more realistic`
Dutch fund management company Falcinvest, based in Veenendaal, runs several FoHFs, of which the FalcInvest Specialist Finance Fund, an ABL FoHFs launched in 2006 which returned -1.76% ($) in September. The FalcInvest Global Markets Fund returned -9.02% and the FalcInvest Opportunities Fund returned -11.81%. Redemptions on 5 Falcinvest's funds have been temporarily suspended as of September 30th and "will be permitted again once the financial markets have calmed and sufficient liquidity has returned." (website)

Prisma Plus fund moves redemption gate as of October 31
Following Falcinvest's move, Prisma Plus has had to block redemptions too. According to Peter Vermeulen, the cash position of Prisma Plus, based in Utrecht, is insufficient to fulfil sell orders from investors in the fund.

"Prisma Plus Fonds" specializes in alternative investments, specifically hedge funds and CTAs. Prisma Plus......................

Source:
http://www.opalesque.com/AMB2008/48228Dutch_funds_suspend_redemptions_Falcinvest_and_Prisma.html

With the end of the US election, managers begin to plan for new administration`s effects....

Opalesque New York: For the US financial markets, as the credit crisis unfolded there was, along with the desire for immediate action, a sense that the government was taking temporary steps until the election would decide which administration would be the next to hold office.

As the November 4th election has determined the next US President to be Barack Obama, hedge fund managers gathering at the Walkers "Fighting the Tape" seminar on Thursday (November 6th) will include in their discussions on the outcome of the Presidential Election and the direction of the hedge funds industry.

"I do not look for a President-elect Obama to increase taxes on successful individuals as he has proposed. It is one thing to get elected, another to govern." Professor Jeffrey Rosensweig, Director of the Global Perspectives Program at Goizueta Business School of Emory University told Opalesque. A speaker at the "Fighting the Tape" seminar, Prof. Rosensweig will examine the global economy, market trends, changing demographics and global opportunities for investors and investment managers. "Given the backdrop of looming recession, he will realize this is no time to raise taxes on those who create jobs and/or put capital to productive use, and would face the disincentive of high marginal tax rates which he currently proposes."

Neil Michael, Head of Quantitive Strategies at SPA ETF recently released a global economic outlook ahead of the US election. He cited rising unemployment on the back of sharply slowing industrial production, expectations of economic activity to continue to worsen as economies de-lever, and the sharp deterioration of the OECD leading indicator of US economic activity as reasons to expect that "Since the real economy will continue to slow through next year on the back of the credit crisis and its recent intensification, equities are unlikely to experience a sustained rally this year."

This situation and these expectations for a continued slowdown in the US economy have the potential to change normal expectations of the actions of a Democratic administration. Regarding fears of finance and business executives of a Congress and Presidency controlled by the Democratic Party (as of the writing of this article "Democrats continued to hope for the kind of extensive sweep that would leave them with a 60-vote majority in the Senate, giving them the power to cut off filibusters" Source), Prof. Rosensweig does not believe that such Democratic domination will lead to massive government spending.

"In this unique case, such fears may be unfounded. First, the outgoing Administration was one of the most profligate in U.S. history, to the dismay of many Republican fiscal conservatives. Second, the present time, for the first time since the Great Depression, may call for some direct government spending to stimulate the economy. The job market is fragile at best, and could soon become awful. This is already apparent in the financial services industry." Prof. Rosensweig says.

"Similar to the jobs created by FDR in the 1930s, a President Obama, if he does win, may work with a Democratic Congress for a second stimulus package. The first one, tax rebates, had only limited impact because much of it was sa......................

Source:
http://www.opalesque.com/AMB2008/48225With_the_end_of_the_US.html

Investors to look into 2009`s HF winners...........

Latest Hedge Funds News:

Kirsten Bischoff, Opalesque New York: Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer John Mack recently told CNBC anchors that he estimated 30% of hedge funds within the industry would close by the end of the credit crisis. $88bln left the industry in September 2008, and Morgan Stanley analyst Huw van Steenis, reported to clients that he expects US hedge funds to lose 15% of their assets and European funds to lose 25% of assets (both through redemptions) by year end, predicting that the industry could shrink to $1.3tln in assets.

But there are investors who view the condensing of the industry as a way to find those managers who have performed well in light of the credit crunch and these investors are beginning to formulate a strategy for investing in 2009.

In fact, a recent report sponsored by Rothstein Kass surveyed ultra-wealthy investors and found 58% of single family office respondents (from a global pool) planned to increase hedge fund allocations in 2009 (coverage).

“As difficult as this environment is I believe that it will ultimately result in huge opportunities for managers and investors alike” Jane Halsey, President of Roundtable Forum told Opalesque. Halsey, who is in the midst of planning a December 2nd Cap Intro event to be held in New York City has run roundtable forums introducing hedge funds and investors since 1999.......................

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Investors to look into 2009`s HF winners...........