A slow week for new funds making headlines.
The Redtower Global Macro Fund will be invested up to 80% in emerging market currencies
The SAGA / Ginepri Alpha Fund will invest in independent films
The Koshdan Beta Neutral Fund, founded by traders from Bridgewater Associates, will launch in the third quarter
The YouGov Alpha Fund will be managed by Four Capital and use opinion poll data from YouGov to inform its investments
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We watch for new hedge funds, including fund-of-funds, each week.
V-Pro by Quaesta Capital of Switzerland is a L/S foreign exchange volatility fund that will start trading at the end of the month
The India Dynamic Fund is a multi-strategy fund run by Kotak Mahindra Bank in India
John McPherson formerly of Société Générale will launch the energy-focused Homestake Trading Fund under Sequoia Financial Advisory Services in Portland, OR
Veriton Fund Management in Connecticut will be the new firm of Amaranth founder Nicholas Maounis
The UK-based Ebullio Commodity Fund launched this month, and the Ebullio Power & Emissions Fund will launch next quarter
Aaron Nieman will run a new event-driven strategy at Blackstone Altius Advisors in Hong Kong
The Dislocation Fund of Morgan Creek Capital Management is targeted as a $500 million distressed fund-of-funds
Pensato Capital is run by Graham Clapp formerly of Fidelity Investments and will launch a Europe-focused L/S equity fund
Former employees of Shooter Fund Management have founded Dacharan Capital to invest in currencies
Former employees of Iron Mountain Capital Partners will launch the Veritas Global Alpha Fund, a fund-of-funds
Mark Fuchs formerly of Credit Suisse will start a regionally-focused hedge fund in Singapore
The Bohong China Arbitrage Fund in Shanghai and Hong Kong will trade various asset classes
The Yield Curve Opportunities Fund is sponsored by Magnum Global Investments
The Emerging World Fund of Focus Capital opened this week
This week’s roster of new firms with fund-raising completed, underway, or soon to begin.
Emergent Asset Management will launch its Global FX Fund and Geo Macro Fund this summer.
The Sasco Energy Fund, founded by Todd Esse (co-founder of Sempra Energy Trading), will trade in natural gas.
R3 Capital Partners, header by Rick Rieder of Lehman Brothers, will invest in fixed income securities.
The Africa and Middle East Fund by Insparo Asset Management will take a multi-strategy approach across sectors and currencies.
BlueHawk will be run by Mike Hutchins along with a number of other veterans of Dillon Read Capital Management.
Boris Ehsani of Merrill Lynch is setting up an independent hedge fund shop.
The global Codium Fund will be launched in June.
Last year’s Hedge Fund Compensation Report by Hedge Fund Search Digest was based on hundreds of responses to the 2007 Survey, representing small and large firms including startup shops and the biggest banks. With turmoil in the markets and the employment picture rapidly evolving, the 2008 Report will be a must-read.
The 2008 Survey will be out by early summer, and all hedge fund employees are encouraged to participate. It’s quick to complete, participation is free, and all qualified respondents will have access to the aggregated results — critical information to manage your hedge fund career and your fund, perhaps, as well. Keep an eye on this column for the announcement of the Survey launch sometime within the next two months.
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 “Five Questions To Ask Yourself”?
Yes, here are my “five questions hedge fund professionals should ask themselves to evaluate their job security in an uncertain environment.”
(1) How diversified is your firm? The more diversified the strategies, the more likely there will still be funds performing well enough to keep the firm viable (and hopefully your position) if one or more funds are especially impacted by a market movement.
(2) Does your firm have some very liquid funds? In March 2008 a number of hedge funds closed, all of the same type of strategy. They were outstanding firms run by experienced professionals that had their positions in almost every single strategy impacted by the markets (i.e., mortgage-backed real estate, fixed income derivatives, munis, distressed debt, etc.). They had very few liquid strategies like a quantitative fund that could be closed out to generate needed cash for increasing margin calls, etc.
Hedge fund job interviews can take many directions. One thing is for sure, your logic and quantitative abilities will be tested. Here is a common question that asks the candidate to dip their toe in the water - so to speak.
Q: You start with a single lily pad floating in an empty pond. If that pad grows and the surface area of the pad doubles every day, it will take 30 days to cover the entire surface of the pond. If instead of one lily pad you start with eight lily pads (each identical in characteristics to the original lily pad), how many days will it take for the surface of the pond to become covered?
A: The trick here is to figure out the relationship between …
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HANRiver Capital will launch a Korea-focused hedge fund in July
Threadneedle will launch a commodities hedge fund in the fall
The Hermosa Capital Fund, based in California, will hold positions in ETFs globally
San Diego-based Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management launched its US Systematic Large Cap Growth 130/30, US Systematic Small-Mid Cap 130/30, and Global Equity 130/30 funds
AlphaTran Capital, a new global long/short equity hedge fund, was seeded with $50 million from Thames River Capital
Brevan Howard (BH) Global is a listed feeder fund targeted at $500 million to be launched at the end of May
The Veotoro Commodities Hedge Fund aims to raise $250 million, employing a relative value strategy in commodities and global energy sectors; managed by Virgilio Guma formerly of Merrill Lynch
Greg Coffey will leave GLG Partners in October and likely start his own fund
Galleon Group will run an Asian macro fund expanding from $250 million, as part of its new Singapore operation
Hagin Investment Management will offer a market-neutral hedge fund later this year, managed by Kathleen DeRose and Nathan Lee
Blue Oar Asset Management will launch a European long/short equity fund, also later this year
Ermitage Group’s Clean Resources Fund is a green fund of funds
Lu Jun of Congrong Capital Investment Management, formerly of JPMorgan in China, has raised $43 million for what is effectively a domestic hedge fund
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 this year in financial services employment.
The overall picture for hedge funds jobs in 2008 is down, with the exceptions of accounting and compliance positions. (This site has also reported on sales and client service as possible strong areas.) Since the Forecast covers the financial services industries broadly, hedge fund employment is only one of many areas discussed. But the big picture should be of interest. First, for someone who hasn’t yet broken into the industry, how to best position oneself never stops being a consideration. Second, someone who finds himself out a hedge fund job this year has to consider what to do while waiting for another shot.
The Forecast not only describes the leading positive and negative indicators and their import for various sectors, but also discusses personal strategy in a section entitled, “What To Do If You’re In A Potential Non-Growth Area.” As Kathy writes: “Winter can be a lovely season if you’re prepared for it…” Key points: review your resume and rethink your employment history; consider whether additional training or education will be an asset; consider where your skills can transfer; network, network, network.
Kathy Graham (kathy at hqsearch.com) is a financial recruiter and consultant via her several Chicago-based firms: Highest Quality Search, HQ Seminars, HQ Scripts, and HQ Services. The complete version of the 2008 Financial Services Job Forecast is available via her website, www.hqsearch.com, or from Kathy by email.
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 partner level. Plan on each relationship lasting a lifetime.
There might be a few hundred recruiters worldwide with a really strong hedge fund practice, and these are the ones to know about — not that trying to maintain too many such relationships is a great idea, but knowing the lay of the land is.
Schwab Enterprise is a specialist hedge fund recruiter and regularly posts to Hedge Fund Search Digest’s job database. CNN pitches the story of Schwab’s incorporation into mega-recruiter Heidrick & Struggles as the story of a giant of the recruiting world growing another limb. But since recruiting is a relationship business — a person-to-person business — the interest of the story lies in the fortunes not of the large firm, but the small one, and more specifically, of the individuals at that firm you already have, or may yet have, a relationship with.
Get in touch with other small, hedge fund-focused recruiting shops like Schwab — worldwide — using Hedge Fund Search Digest’s Recruiter Rolodex.