From the category archives:

Hedge Fund Recruiters

US hedge funds are looking to take advantage of new stringent capital rules on European banks to buy discounted asset-backed securities and bad loans from European banks. Bloomberg reports that hedge funds are competing with private equities for discounted assets in Europe and are hiring staff as well as relocating executives in hopes of finding sellers of distressed assets at throw away prices. A report by UK’s Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc shows that European lenders have sold distressed assets worth 3.5 trillion euros since 2012. The report adds that Eurozone banks need to sell a further 1.8 trillion euros by 2018 to comply with regulations on capital and leverage.

US Funds Shopping in Europe

Bloomberg reports that Ellington Management Group LLC is among funds active in the European asset-backed securities market. The $5.6 billion Old Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund opened an office in London two months ago and has hired Daniel Turner from Chenavari Credit Partners LLP to head its asset-backed securities business. The fund is targeting to add three more people to work on opportunities in Europe. Laurence Penn, a vice chairman of Ellington says the fund’s move into Europe is a result of the pick up in the volume of asset sales from European banks.

Other hedge funds that made similar moves include the New York-based funds MKP Capital Management LLC and GoldenTree Asset Management LP.  MKP Capital sent key executive Christopher Muller to the UK to get a firsthand assessment of the opportunities. It also pouched Pritesh Solanki from HSBC Holdings Plc to lead its operations. Nilam Patel, who is a partner and money manager at the firm, says asset-backed securities in Europe offer attractive investment opportunities due to greater risk premium and improving fundamentals.

Hedge fund GoldenTree Asset Management LP, on its part, relocated fund manager Cee Sarabi from New York. Another New York hedge fund, Marathon Asset Management LP, which has roughly $11 billion under management, operates a fund focused solely on distressed assets in Europe.

Bargains for as Low as 5 Cents on the Euro

Working against a deadline issued by the European Central Bank to strengthen balance sheets by November 2014, the Eurozone lenders are disposing of bad loans at deeply discounted prices, ranging from five cents to 40 cents on the euro, according to consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. One such transaction was the sale by Spanish bank Banco de Sabadell SA. The bank revealed in December that it sold 632 million euros of distressed debt for a paltry 41.2 million euros representing just seven percent of face value.

The move by US hedge funds to look at opportunities across Europe is a typical example of the way hedge funds operate. When the funds see opportunities, they move in quickly and aggressively.  Such a focus on generating returns and the flexible approach of hedge funds to investing in different asset classes are factors that attract top talent to the hedge fund industry.

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Business Week has released a Special Report on the “World’s Most Influential Headhunters,” and the time is certainly ripe.  Those with secure jobs will find the Report worth skimming at least, and those who are out of work will want to read with care.  The leader notes that the “world’s top headhunters control access to the lion’s share of C-suite succession and leader-replacement searches for the world’s largest corporations,” and continues in a vein more relevant to hedge fund players: “Their influence also extends to the top ranks of the most ambitious smaller companies, which understand how crucial top talent is and are willing to pay for it.”  That certainly applies to hedge funds.

Over a dozen topics comprise the Report, such as:

  • “Complete List: Most Influential Headhunters”
  • “How to Let the Headhunter Do the Job”
  • “Video: Acing the Headhunter Interview”

The hundred individuals who make the cut are all profiled, with contact information and brief statements of philosophy and advice.

The article, “How To Manage Your Executive Résumé,” may be of special interest right now.  Related advice, specific to advancing in the hedge fund industry, can be found in the interviews with hedge fund recruiters on this site.  And cross-referencing Business Week’s top 100 list with our index of hedge fund recruiters will create an excellent industry employment resource.

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Interviews with Hedge Fund Recruiters

August 1, 2008

We’ve been commenting on a boom in hedge fund hiring, so it’s a good time to revisit some of the interviews we’ve published during the past year with hedge fund recruiters. These recruiters work mainly in the USA, but occasionally in Europe and Asia. For the candidate looking to manage recruiter relationships professionally and effectively, […]

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Jobs In The Strong Asian Hedge Fund Industry

July 31, 2008

The hedge fund industry is arguably doing better in Europe than in the USA, and better still in Asia. In an article entitled “Hedge-fund Mania Hits Asia”, BusinessWeek reports: “From Tokyo to Singapore, hedge funds are as hot as Thai chili peppers.” Jim Rogers, co-founder of the Quantum Fund, says: “I am told a new […]

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2008 Job Forecast, Part II: Hedge Fund Industry

May 6, 2008

We followed up directly with finance recruiter Kathy Graham about her 2008 Financial Services Career Forecast (about which we posted a few days ago) to hear more about where hedge fund employment will head this year. Her are some of her thoughts. How can someone evaluate job security in an uncertain environment? Can you suggest […]

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2008 Job Forecast: “Winter Can Be A Lovely Season”

May 2, 2008

Speculations and casual soothsaying about the markets abound. Seasoned finance recruiter Kathy Graham puts her job forecast down in writing, in five pages of detail. The 2008 installment of her annual Financial Services Job Forecast (now in its seventh year) examines upwards of a dozen indicators to produce a sector-based analysis of the likely developments […]

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Schwab Enterprise Changes Hands: News in Hedge Fund Recruiting

May 1, 2008

Landing, or offering, a hedge fund job means working with the busy, colorful world of hedge fund recruiting, and that’s why one of our themes is: Know your recruiter. Productive relationships with recruiters can last an entire career. Successful candidates advance, become clients with positions on offer, and then perhaps become candidates again at the […]

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