• Donaldson seems determined to have hedge funds register with SEC
• Student Activists Now Promote SRI, Farallon urged by 70 campuses to disclose investments
• CFTC closes Clinton Group probe without action
• Fiserv Is Latest Trade Processor Drawn Into Fund Probe
• SEC May Police Fair-Value Pricing at Mutual-Fund Firms
• Spitzer Turns to Insurance Brokers
• Shareholder activist to launch corporate governance hedge fund
• Pennsylvania pays millions in hedge fund fees
• San Francisco Financial Advisor Offers Managed Accounts at $25K only
• Deutsche Bank and UBS see departures from their hedge fund platforms
• Julius Baer seeks to attract $1 billion for second hedge fund
• UK County puts E16m into hedge funds with Pioneer
• AP2 backs more transparent EU hedge rules, expects Swedish HF allocations reach 10%
• German hedge fund rush going slow
• Eurekahedge offers `hedge fund hotel` in Singapore
• Deutsche Bank fund launched in HK
• Chinese assets could rise tenfold next 7 years from currently USD168bn
• Greenspan Warns China May be Overheating
• Excessive Loans May Indicate Downturn in China and Korea

• 11th Annual Hedge Fund Forum New York City - Save up to $500
• Private Equity and Venture Capital: SuperReturn USA April 27-29
• Asset Allocation Summit London - 10% discount for subscribers
• Hedge Funds for Pension Funds Amsterdam - 10% discount for subscribers
• gaim 2004 - ICBI`s 10th Annual Global Alternative Investment Forum
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Convertible Arbitrage: Insights and Techniques for Successful Hedging
Nick P. Calamos
ISBN: 0-471-42361-0
Hardcover
304 pages
July 2003

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To the Recommended Reading Archive

A Dow Jones News Analysis: The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission seems determined to have hedge funds sign up with his agency. In remarks Thursday and earlier this month, William Donaldson pushed the benefits of having hedge funds register with the SEC. Source

Several of the coalition members are also involved in a 70-campus campaign asking Farallon Capital Management, one of the countries largest hedge funds, to dialogue and disclose how it invests university endowment assets. Last week, the campaigners announced a "National Day of Action for Transparency in University Investments." Transparency is one of the biggest challenges facing the Responsible Endowment Coalition as well. Source

Mar/Hedge reports that Clinton Group told investors in a letter dated yesterday that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has "closed its investigation without further action." Source

A Fiserv Inc. subsidiary that processes mutual- fund trades has been drawn into the ever-widening regulatory probe centered around fund-share trading practices. Fiserv said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday that it has been responding to SEC inquiries related to market timing and late trading as part of the SEC's ongoing industry investigation into those practices. Source

The Securities and Exchange Commission for the first time is weighing bringing disciplinary actions against mutual-fund companies that have failed to use so- called fair-value pricing for portfolio holdings with out-of-date market prices, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported, citing agency officials. Source

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the scourge of Wall Street, may have found new prey: insurance brokers. The inquiry by Spitzer's office is said to be in its infancy and involves allegations of possible kickbacks to the insurers. Source

The FT reports Bob Monks, the doyen of US shareholder activists, is planning to launch a dedicated corporate governance hedge fund in a move that breaks ground in the realm of responsible investing. The product, an equity long-short fund that will target some of the world's worst governed companies, is expected to be launched next year. Source

Pennsylvania hasn't gotten rich yet from its $5 billion investment in hedge funds. But the hedge funds have. For every dollar they made for the state pension plan last year, hedge-fund operators collected more than 50 cents in fees, says a report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by the manager of 55 of the plan's 183 hedge investments. That compares with less than 3 cents in fees for every dollar produced by the pension system's $20 billion in other investments (such as stocks), which were, on average, more profitable than the hedge funds. Source

Peter-Eric Philipp, a Financial Advisor with Cambridge Investment Research announced today an innovative alternative to mutual funds now available in the San Francisco Bay Area. “Up until now, mutual funds may have been your best opportunity to have professional money management and to own a diversified portfolio of securities,” said Peter-Eric Philipp. “However, given the recent mutual fund scandals, I believe there is now a better way to manage your money.” “In conjunction with Curian Capital, I can now offer investors an alternative to mutual funds,” Peter Philipp explains. “With this unique program, your account will be diversified with up to 20 professional money managers with an account minimum of only $25,000.
Curian Capital LLC is an indirect subsidiary of the United Kingdom’s Prudential plc, a leading international financial services group with operations in the U.K. and Europe, Asia, and the United States (not affiliated with Prudential Financial), and more than $250 billion of assets under management. Source

Deutsche Bank and UBS are seeing some departures from their hedge fund platforms. Deutsche Bank's Mark Donegan and team have started their own hedge fund while UBS duo Chris Salter and Graham Pattle have also decided to go it alone. More: Source

Julius Baer Holding, Switzerland's largest publicly traded bank, is seeking to attract about $1 billion for a second hedge fund to tap demand from investors who want to make bets on currencies and fixed-income assets, according to one of its managers. The Julius Baer Global Rates Hedge Fund opened to investors on April 1. The Zurich-based bank's Diversified Hedge Fund, which started in January 2002, attracted about $1.2 billion. Source

Flintshire County Council has awarded a fund of hedge funds mandate on behalf of the 550 million-pound (834 million-euro) Clwyd Pension Fund to Pioneer Alternative Investments. “In this highly specialist area, we selected Pioneer Alternative Investments for the strength of their process, their performance record and the stability of the investment team,” a council spokesperson said. Source

From IPE.com: The head of fixed income and alternative investments at the 140.4 billion-crown (15.3 billion-euro) Andra AP-fonden pension fund has welcomed moves to a more transparent hedge fund framework. “Any development towards a more transparent regulatory framework and growth of EU-domiciled funds is therefore of great importance for AP2 as an investor in hedge funds,” Ole Petter Langeland told a seminar in Stockholm. Gröttheim saw institutional interest in alternatives rising in the next few years to a possible 10% allocation. Source

From the FT: The expected rush into onshore hedge funds in Germany has not materialised, with barely any products on the market and scant money flowing into them. But sales of offshore products into the country appear to be booming. The article mentions Goldman Sachs did more hedge fund business in Germany in the three months to the end of March than it did throughout 2003. According to BaFin, a further eight onshore funds await approval. A representative from Man was cited: "The [onshore] race hasn't really started yet, but everyone's getting warmed up." More: Source

Eurekahedge, a Singapore-based hedge fund consultancy, has set up what it claims is Asia's first "hedge fund hotel" to provide logistical support for start-up hedge fund operations. "We provide office space and human resources support to new funds and whatever else is needed to run a hedge fund more effectively and cheaper," said chief operating officer Alexander Mearns. Source

Deutsche Bank has launched a capital guaranteed fund in Hong Kong that provides exposure to hedge funds via the HFRX Global Daily Hedge Fund Index. Source

Finance Asia reported that assets could rise up to 10 times in the next 7 years from the current USD168bn. Life insurance companies and pensions' funds are expected to spearhead this extraordinary growth. By 2010, it is projected that USD1.6 trillion will be managed to the tune of USD360bn of pension assets, USD750bnl of life insurance assets and USD500bnl of mutual funds. No online Source

From RiskCenter.com: U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warns that China ’s economy is overheating. Greenspan said this week that the major problem for China was not so much the strong demand for commodities but it was the increasing concern "that they are overheating as a consequence of fairly rapid increases in the money supply, which has been going up approximately 20% a year." Analysts feel that China 's currency is held at an artificially low level, which gives it a trade advantage, an article in People’s Daily stated yesterday. In a move to mitigate further risk in China, the country aims for greater yuan flexibility, but this will not happen over the short term because of potential damage it might cause to Chinese and Asian economic stability. Source

From RiskCenter.com: The increased amount of investment in China and Korea has boosted the loan-to-GDP figure to 147% in China last year and 91% in Korea in 2002, according to an article in yesterday’s Asian Banker. Extreme levels of lending above the rate of economic growth has soared in recent quarters and outstanding loans in China jumped 21% last year. Source

From the team that brought you GAIM USA, the only must-attend event of the summer on key regulatory and investment issues in the heart of New York City. **Register Today and Save up to $500**

• Special track specifically for investors looking to make an early allocation to hedge funds - plus the opportunity to meet leading institutional investors including - Verizon Investment Management, Stanford Management Company & the Ford Foundation
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Have you registered for SuperReturn USA yet? We have had a fantastic response from the market to this event and this meeting is booking up fast, so please make sure you reserve your space today!

Currently, at least 50% of our attendees are LPs. Following is a list of just some of the companies that have registered to date: CSFB, Pacific Corporate Group, MC Financial, Citigroup, Quellos, GM, JPMorgan, Five Arrows Capital, TIAA-CREF, GE Asset Management, Alternative Investment Management, IFC International Finance Corporation, Fed Reserve Bank of Chicago, General Motors, Investment Management Corp., Wilshire Associates, NY Life Cap Partners, PA Public School Employee Retirement, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, LaSalle Bank, New York Life Capital Partners, Fidelity Investments, John Hancock Financial Services, Pantheon Ventures, Arundel Holdings, IFC International Finance Corporation, Abbott Capital Mgmt., Hamilton Lane Advisors, Public School Employees Retirement System of PA, Allianz Private Equity Partners, Capital Z Investment Partners, UNC, Chapel Hill Mgmt. Co., MA Pension Reserves Investment Mgmt. Board, Grove Street Advisors, Public Employees Retirement Assoc. of CO, TIAA-CREF, Duke Management Company, CDP Capital Europe, LA City Employees Retirement System, NIB Capital Private Equity, Fund Evaluation Group, Asset Consulting Group

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• Milton Berlinski, Vice Chairman, Strategy and Corporate Development Group, Head of Financial Sponsor Investment Banking Services; GOLDMAN SACHS & CO.
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At this critical juncture for the development of the world's equity and bond markets, this conference will be examining strategic and tactical asset allocation, current strategy and alternative investing. Our conference in October 2003 attracted over 300 participants to the Inter-Continental Hotel.

"THE BIG EVENT FOR THE BIG PICTURE"

The theory and practice of asset allocation is undergoing dramatic change. The dominant position of equities in pension schemes is under question and investment consultants are putting forward new ideas regarding the structure of asset allocation benchmarks. Multi-asset mandates are coming back into fashion. Asset allocators are grappling with uncertain economic and market conditions, and the correlation between equity and bond markets has reversed. Alternative Investments are seeing record new money flows. The Asset Allocation Summit features speakers at the very heart of these key developments. For anyone involved in asset allocation, this could be the most significant investment conference of 2004.

OVER 300 DELEGATES IN 2003

ASSET ALLOCATION SUMMIT 2004 features presentations on:

• Current investment strategy
• Dynamic asset allocation strategies
• Liability driven benchmarks and risk budgeting
• Tactical asset allocation
• Using style analysis
• Investing in hedge funds
• Investing in private equity
• Gold, commodities and other alternatives
• Portable alpha strategies
• Currency overlay strategies
• Derivative overlays and structured products
• Implementation tools and strategies

Institutions - both at the evaluation stage and as active investors - have been attending IQPC's hedge fund for pension fund series for the past 4 years to hear from peers and make informed decisions about hedge fund investments; and you need to benchmark against them. Here?s a selection of attending organisations:

Stichting Pensioenfonds Apothekers, PSP Investments Canada, MN Services, Suez-TRACTEBEL, Kodak, Electrolux, Hermes Pension Management, Unilever, Mutual Insurance Company Pension-Fennia, PP Pension, Telia Pension, Prudential, Stichting Pensioenfonds Hoogovens, Skandia Liv Philips Pensions, MN Services, Schootsepoort, ABN Amro, BPMT, Merrill Lynch plus many others

Access a unique group of expertise - from the perspective of pension funds committed to hedge funds, through to direct advice from leading investment specialists. Hear:

• How you can achieve a trustee-accepted balance between risk and reward in a hedge fund strategy
• Proven tools available to ensure your eyes are open to the inherent hurdles, and risks within the disparate hedge fund strategies and styles
• Why the importance of manager selection has never been greater, or more challenging
• What methods you can employ to ensure robust hedge fund management and operation
• How your peers have chosen the right kind of fund for their business strategy and how you can be sure to do the same

There are no hard and fast solutions to trustee demands or funding challenges, but this event offers the chance to hear directly how your peers are assessing opportunities when it comes to hedge fund investments. 2004 will sell out. To guarantee your place visit: http://www.iqpc.co.uk/GB-2182/h or email:

With 1200 attendees in 2003, Gaim 2004 is the largest global hedge funds event around. Gaim is also known for its extensive and objectively researched programme to find the very latest and most successful talent in the industry. Over 200 speakers are on the 2004 programme - including Cutting-Edge Academics & Leading Thinkers, The Most Significant & Groundbreaking Institutional Investors, The Most Successful FOF And Multi-Manager Houses, Leading Economic Strategists, and Over 100 Of The World's Top Performing Open, Emerging & Established Hedge Fund Managers, some of which you will never have seen anywhere else! To enhance your learning & networking opportunities there are several new features for 2004 including:

• The live global hedge fund industry electronic survey - see what the industry really thinks
• Institutional investor panel of leading North American institutional investors
• Enhanced GAIM Absolute Winners? Gallery - 2004's emerging top performers
• 6 Streams - moving from four to six streams offers more choice to tailor your individual programme
• Glamorous 10^th Anniversary Gala Dinner at the splendid Porte Des Irises, Chateau de Vullierens
• New venue in Beaulieu, Lausanne in Switzerland - only 35 minutes from Geneva with state-of-the-art facilities
• Asia - Special focus on the Far East - GEMS & Japan
• Longer sessions - More extended sessions = more information and discussion on major issues

Contact ICBI: +44 20 7915 5103, or email info@icbi.co.uk, website: www.icbi-gaim.com

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