Part of the reason we maintain this weekly feature is that new hedge funds mean new hedge fund jobs — not always, but often. If a small shop just starting out isn’t necessarily hiring, a strong firm launching its fifth fund may very well be. It’s a small world out there, and knowing where the movement is can only help. Chances are, there are very few degrees of separation (1 or 2) between you and somebody involved with any fund mentioned in this feature. An article from FinAlternatives, reporting the first of the funds we list below, directly notes: “Barker and Coley are also in the market to hire traders and other staffers for the new venture.”

Randy Barker and Geoff Coley formerly of Citigroup will start a distressed debt hedge fund.
The Pamplona Credit Opportunity Fund will open in September.
The PCM Green Power Fund (Hong Kong) invests in the environment and alternative energy.
Armored Wolf (California), a new firm, will run a commodity hedge fund.
AltEdge (UK) has opened two funds of hedge funds.
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It’s a good year to be a talented hedge fund marketer or a salesperson with a deep network. Small and startup firms are struggling to raise funds this year, and anyone who can deliver the goods will be highly valued. A few recruiters specialize in the area of sales & marketing of alternatives, and they are the contacts to know about. This hedge fund sales job, exclusive to Hedge Fund Search Digest, is based in New York. It also deals in a part of the market where many funds see opportunity right now.

Hedge fund sales / asset-raising person needed for a new MBS long/short strategy. This is a new fund at an established firm with an excellent track record, specializing in the MBS and fixed income arena. The firm’s seasoned chief was head of trading & research at a top investment bank prior to launching his hedge fund career.

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It is time again to assess where the industry is headed with regard to compensation levels. You are invited to participate in Hedge Fund Search Digest’s annual hedge fund compensation survey, which we are conducting to provide information to evaluate compensation, negotiate better job offers, and benchmark firm compensation practices.

Follow this link to participate in the annual Hedge Fund compensation survey.

Click Here to take survey now.

We had tremendous response last year. A sample of firms who participated last year includes (cited with permission from respondents) Dresdner Kleinwort, Bluebay Capital, UBS, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, ABN AMRO, Perry Capital, Eagle Asset Management, AlphaSwiss, Apex Capital Management and hundreds of others.

All eligible participants will get survey results. Take the survey now to secure access to this valuable data. And please send this to your friends in the industry because every additional response benefits all participants.

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Yesterday we noted the report from Financial News Online that hedge fund launches are in a slump. That was based on the First Quarter 2008 Industry Report from Hedge Fund Research, a Chicago firm. Acutally, fund launches during the first quarter, last year, just barely surpassed this year’s figure, but an eight-year low is still something to notice. An even more telling observation, though, is that the number of fund liquidations is 23% higher than during the same period last year, as London’s Times reports. A spectacular quantity of hedge fund assets did indeed vanish in the the early months of this year.

Poor performance isn’t the only factor at work; fund raising now is more difficult than formerly. (Executive recruiters have noted on this blog that 2008 is a good year for talented hedge fund marketers, and that has been clearly manifested in the hedge fund marketing jobs posted to Hedge Fund Search Digest’s database of opportunities.) However, as we noted last week, some of the larger funds are not only avoiding struggles that face start-ups, but positively thriving; it is a time of consolidation. (From the Reuters article linked below: “The decline in hedge fund launches also shows the preference shown to industry’s largest funds, which tend to be favored by institutional investors.”) Also, since hedge fund strategies differ so widely, there remain ways in which the overall state of the industry defies generalization, almost by definition. Some strategies are thriving precisely because of conditions adverse to others.

And the funds that are in a position to do so are taking advantage of the generally severe financial job market, and hiring. Bloomberg (”Hedge Funds Hire From Wall Street as Jobs Disappear, Pay Falls”) and Reuters (”Investment banking’s pain is hedge funds’ gain”) report on this amplification of a traditional dynamic: a big grab for talent out of investment banks by stable hedge funds, made possible by the cuts that have left many thousands unemployed and many others increasingly willing to leave positions that may not be secure. Traditionally, the potential for much higher pay at a hedge fund had to be set against the greater risk of the more entrepreneurial environment and the relative stability of employment at a bank. But that stability has been comprised, even as shrinking bonuses at investment banks suggest the pay gap will increase where hedge funds are successful. It’s not a bad time to get in touch with your recruiter.

Hedge fund launches are at an eight-year low, according to Financial News Online.  We still read about a steady trickle each week.

The Mortgage Opportunity Fund of Five Bridges Capital will launch soon, investing in undervalued assets.
Odey Asset Management has opened a fund of funds division.
GSO Capital Partners will launch a USD 1.5-2 billion fund.
BlackRock, Lucas Capital Management, Ospraie Management, Tocqueville Asset Management and Zweig-DiMenna International Managers all will launch Shariah-compliant funds during the next two weeks with funding from the Dubai government.
Woori Absolute Partners will launch an Asia-focused fund based in Singapore.
Intelligent Portfolio is a multi-asset fund of funds from Castlestone Management.
Argonaut is a fund from the Restis Group focusing on equities in shipping industries.
A new USD 100 million fund from PCE Investors will seed hedge funds.
Sinfonia Asset Management is a new fund of funds division of the Tenet Group.

Entry level hedge fund jobs aren’t exactly a-dime-a-dozen. This junior position (located in Greenwich, CT) is an ideal illustration of a break-in opportunity for an ambitious candidate with solid skills. View complete details and contact information for this one and others like it in Hedge Fund Search Digest’s hedge fund job database.

Sophisticated quantitative hedge fund is seeking a Junior Execution Trader to work the night shift on the European Markets Desk. Qualifications:

• 1-5 years executing trades in the European OTC equity and futures markets, interest rate derivatives markets, and commodities markets
• willing to work from 2 a.m. until noon each day
• quantitatively trained with solid programming skills (C++ and SQL required; JAVA and Perl preferred) to operate/enhance the fund’s trade execution strategies, algorithms and market impact models.

Candidates should have a BS or MS in Math, Engineering, Computer Science, Physics or Finance, with a strong GPA. Fund offers a very attractive compensation and benefits package.

Today the Wall Street Journal reported that the Hedge Funds are feeling the employment pinch and the rich are getting richer.

Just a few years ago, Wall Street players could leave their investment banking jobs and easily start their own hedge fund or join an existing fund and enjoy a much better quality of life. “[Hedge Fund] investors beat down the doors with eagerness reminiscent of the late-1990s dot-com frenzy. It took only a decade for the industry to grow to 8,000 funds from a few hundred.”

The article goes into the increasing number of smaller hedge funds that are closing and how it has become more difficult to open a new fund. The investors simply are not as willing to fund new projects. In 2007, 1,152 new funds were launched. That number is down almost 50% from its 2005 peak. Now, that said, the upside is that the hedge fund industry expanded by 589 funds last year - so, it’s not all gloomy news.

David McCarthy, a 20-year hedge fund veteran, recently closed his fund - even though his fund beat the market last year. Why shut the doors? “Investors kept telling him the $300 million firm was too small.”

Perhaps the most interesting point brought up by the report was about the dominance by the largest funds. By the end of last year, 87% of all the money in hedge funds was handled by funds managing $1 billion or more. A full 60% of that was held by managers sitting on $5 billion or more. Of course, the largest public hedge fund is Man Group PLC. It increased its assets to $78.5 billion. Now, THAT’s some capital! (and yes, they are trying to fill hedge fund jobs.)

Here’s our weekly sum-up of new fund action from the past week, showing continuing action in the distressed sphere, property, and global emerging markets.

Ping Jiang is fund-raising for Ping Capital Management after leaving SAC Capital.
Geoff Grant, a founder of Peloton Partners, will launch LiquidMacro in September in California.
Absolute Return Partners has launched the ARP Credit Opportunities Fund.
The TriAlpha Global Property Strategy Fund is a fund of hedge funds under the Stonehage Group.
The Frontier Market Fund is the first hedge fund of Copenhagen-based Danfonds.
Blacksquare Capital’s Commodity Fund of Funds will invest in 10-15 managers.
Shane Finemore formerly of UBS will launch Manikay Partners in August.
Fred Jones formerly of Bear Stearns has set up the Global Recovery Fund, a distressed debt fund.
Ginger Capital will launch a new China-focused fund from Hong Kong.
The Thoroughbred Legends Racing Fund will be launched by three master horse trainers.
Ahab Capital Management will launch the Ahab Distressed Debt Fund next month in New York.

As the ranks of the hedge fund universe swell with new additions, Hedge Fund Search Digest reports hedge fund job opportunities more comprehensively than any site or recruiter.

This hedge fund job is based in Southern California. Hedge Fund Search Digest lists well over 500 current hedge fund jobs worldwide, as well as profiling more than 100 hedge fund recruiters.

6 year-old equity hedge fund / broker-dealer is looking for a unique combination of talents. Will be COO of this small fund and a technologist, architecting systems and infrastructure to accomodate new strategies in a high volume trading environment. Must be able to take direction from the CEO and execute strategies and must know the relevant technologies. There are compliance, SEC reporting, and tracking variables as well. Requires a demonstrated knowledge of systems and architecture in an equity hedge fund, with an understanding of the nature and complexity of the trading environments. A very good grasp of the options market would be helpful. The CEO and quant engineer have built models they would like to implement; the successful candidate will be the technology expert to make it happen.

Our main focus is hedge fund careers.  We keep a weekly eye on nascent or young hedge funds that make the news, too.

The JME Equities Strategies Fund is Juno Mother Earth Asset Management’s third commodities fund.
The Genesis Merchant Partners fund is an asset-based lending fund based in Greenwich, CT and run by Sands Brothers Asset Management.
La Française des Placements (LFP) has launched a diversified absolute return fund of funds.
Acuity Funds has launched the Acuity Pooled 130/30 Fund.
Shaka Capital Management runs a new Japan-focused L/S fund from New York.
Cranwood Capital Management is launching its Fixed Income Arbitrage Fund and the Cranwood International Fund.
The GAM Star Absolute EuroSystematic Fund is a regulated version of GAM’s existing hedge fund.
Charlemagne Capital has launch a MENA hedge fund.
The Barclays Structured Principal Investing Fund will hold a variety of credit instruments.
The VAM Alternative Strategy Fund is a Luxembourg-based multi-strategy fund of funds.
The California Distressed Land Fund of Three Arch Investors is investing in devalued real estate.
INTL Consilium will launch an Africa- and Middle East-focused hedge fund.
The Pioneer Absolute Return Equity Asia fund has launched.
Belmont (Lux) Global Emerging Markets is a multi-strategy fund of funds run by Harcourt Investment Consulting.