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The manager of a 2-year-old equity fund that has generated a 57% compounded annual return may soon close the door to new investors.
See page 5 for more details
The manager of a 2-year-old equity fund that has generated a 57% compounded annual return may soon close the door to new investors.
See page 5 for more details
The manager of a 2-year-old equity fund that has generated a 57% compounded annual return may soon close the door to new investors.
See page 5 for more details
Firebird Management, which has spent 20 years focused largely on Russia and other emerging markets, is ofering its frst U.S. stock fund. Te vehicle, Firebird U.S. Value Fund, began trading on July 15 with $5.8 million from eight backers. Te long-biased fund employs a fundamental-value strategy the frm has used during the past two years to run partner money in separate accounts. Tose accounts achieved a gross return of 0.35% in the fnal quarter of 2012, when the S&P 500 Index fell 2%, then rose 43% in 2013, compared to a 32.3% gain for the S&P. Year to date, the strategy was up 8% at the end of July, versus a 6% increase for the benchmark. Unlike Firebirds other funds, the new ofering wont employ leverage. Its charging a performance fee equal to 30% of investor profts above the return of the S&P 500. Firebird made a name for itself in the 1990s and early 2000s investing in Russia See FIREBIRD on Page 6 Fund Operators Field Phone Calls From SEC Te SEC has begun reaching out to hedge fund managers by telephone to get a better handle on their businesses. The get-to-know-you calls are aimed at fund-management firms that were required to register as investment advisors under the Dodd-Frank Act but havent yet been formally examined. The SECs New York office, which also cov- ers New Jersey, and several other regional offices are involved in the effort. Te chief compliance ofcer at one New York frm recently felded a call from an SEC stafer who wanted to know how the frms business had changed since its last Form ADV fling. Te conversation lasted 40 minutes. Te stafer emphasized that the outreach efort was not a formal examination and shouldnt be viewed as a prelude to an SEC exam. Several hedge fund professionals said they welcomed the initiative, saying it can See FUND on Page 5 Origami Pitching Next Secondary Vehicle Origami Capital is raising money for the next in a series of vehicles that buy illiquid hedge fund shares on the secondary market. Te Chicago frm hopes to complete a frst round of capital raising for Origami Opportu- nity Fund 3 in the frst quarter of next year. Te fund will follow the same investment strategy as its predecessor, Origami Secondary Fund 2, buying stakes in side pockets and other vehicles where hedge funds parked their illiquid investments during the 2007-2009 fnancial crisis. In a letter Origami sent to investors this month, the frm said its planned fund also would invest in real estate fund restructurings, multi-asset mutual funds, bank- ruptcy claims owned by funds, minority interests in general partners and nonper- forming loans that couldnt be foreclosed by lenders. Origami, founded in 2008 by Thomas Elden, has pursued investments in illiquid See ORIGAMI on Page 4 2 BofA Raises Bar for Currency Shops 2 Third Point Targets Real Estate Deals 2 Russell Glass Collecting Pledges 2 Startup Passes Hat for Quant Fund 3 New Vehicles Target Med-School Debt 3 Grant Thornton Eyes Growth Push 4 Deal Extends Axxcess Manager List 4 SEC Project Aids Security Specialist 4 SAC Alumnus Pitching Futures Fund 5 High-Flying Fund May Bar Entry 5 HEDGE FUND PERFORMANCE 7 LATEST LAUNCHES Trader John Low has joined Hitchwood Capital, the hedge fund shop forming under Scout Capital co-founder James Crichton. Low started at the New York operation in the past couple of months, following a run as head trader at Karsch Capital from 2002 until the frm retuned the bulk of its client capital last year. Crichton, meanwhile, is aiming to launch his fund with more than $1 billion. He started Hitchwood afer a decision by Scout co-founder Adam Weiss to exit the asset-management business prompted the $6.7 billion equity shop to unwind. Many former Scout employees are on board at Hitchwood. Marketing specialist Brian Schwartz is leaving One William Street Capital to join CQS as head of client development in the U.S. Schwartz is scheduled to make THE GRAPEVINE AUGUST 20, 2014 Due to the annual break in our summer production schedule, the next issue of Hedge Fund Alert will be dated Sept. 10. BofA Raises Bar for Currency Shops Bank of America is culling unproftable clients from a prime- brokerage unit that clears trades for currency-focused hedge funds. At the end of July, the bank notifed certain managers that they have 45 days to fnd another currency broker. BofA declined to comment, but a source said the prime-brokerage division had been working with about 40 currency-trading shops. In recent months, BofA has taken a number of steps to lighten the burden its prime-brokerage operation places on the banks balance sheet. For example, it stopped providing fnanc- ing to funds that primarily buy and sell bonds, and it is trans- ferring its swap-trading operation to an unrated subsidiary in an efort to better manage its regulatory-capital obligations. Some industry professionals were puzzled by the pull-back from foreign exchange, since that business typically would have only a slight impact on a banks balance sheet. But others noted that currency brokers in general are sufering from thin spreads and low trading volumes. FX volumes have been very low and ranges very tight, so not many FX [prime-brokerage] groups will make their budgets, a currency-fund manager said. Other major prime brokers, including Goldman Sachs, have been fne-tuning their prime-brokerage operations in a bid to improve margins and reduce risk in the face of increasingly burdensome banking regulations. Goldman, for example, has begun severing ties with less-proftable clients and raising fees on others. Third Point Targets Real Estate Deals Third Point founder Dan Loeb is expanding the scope of his business to include investments in commercial real estate. Tird Point has hired real estate veteran Justin Rimel to oversee the efort. Te frm will invest in commercial proper- ties via a yet-to-be named afliate capitalized by Loeb and his partners. Tey havent allocated a specifc amount of equity for the initiative, but the buzz is they could invest a few hundred million dollars of the their own money over the next few years. Te initiative frst was reported by sister publication Real Estate Alert. Rimel spent the past 11 years at CIM Group, a Los Angeles real estate shop where he was frst vice president for invest- ment and development. In 2010, he opened CIMs New York investment ofce, working on acquisitions, recapitalizations and development. He will continue to be based in New York, where Tird Point is headquartered. He starts afer Labor Day, reporting to Loeb. Until now, Tird Point is known to have made only two real estate investments. Last summer, it teamed up with Woods Cap- ital of Dallas to buy a foreclosed Dallas ofce building the 1.4-million-square-foot Tanksgiving Tower for $71 mil- lion. Tird Point also has acquired land in Miami. Several other large hedge fund operators already run real estate vehicles, including Cerberus Capital, Five Mile Capital, Fortress Investment, Garrison Investment and Och-Ziff Capital. Most focus on opportunistic plays. Tird Point had about $14 billion under management as of the frst quarter. Russell Glass Collecting Pledges Russell Glass RDG Capital has taken in at least $23 million for its debut hedge fund. Glass, an activist investor best known for his associations with Carl Icahn and Sam Wylys Ranger Capital, is marketing onshore and ofshore versions of a vehicle called RDG Capital Fund. Its unclear whether the fund has begun investing. RDG is working with placement agent Young America Capi- tal of Mamaroneck, N.Y. When word got out that Glass was planning to launch an activist fund, market professionals saw it has having the potential to raise upwards of $100 million. Staring in the 1990s, Glass earned a reputation as a savvy investor frst as a protege of Icahn and then at Ranger, where he was recruited in 2003 to build an equity business dubbed Ranger Partners. For the past four years, Glass has been managing his own money via New York-based RDG. Glass brief stint at Ranger ended in a high-profle legal dis- pute in which Ranger accused him of mismanaging the equity fund and he accused Ranger of breach of contract. Te two sides eventually settled the case. But one source speculated that memories of the court battle could give investors pause about backing the RDG fund. Startup Passes Hat for Quant Fund A new quantitative hedge fund is seeking backers. BrightView Capital, a startup in Red Bank, N.J., is market- ing its debut vehicle, dubbed BrightView Adaptive Fund. Te manager takes a systematic approach to trading large-cap U.S. stocks and equity derivatives, employing trend-following, mean-reversion and other quantitative methods. Positions typically are held for a week or less. Te exact timing of the funds launch is unclear, but it hadnt raised any outside capital as of Aug. 1. BrightView is led by chief executive Michael Kerris, who set up shop earlier this year afer spending three years devel- oping and testing his adaptive strategy. Kerris resume includes stints at hedge fund shop Cohanzick Management and UBS. August 20, 2014 2 Hedge Fund ALERT Got a Message for the Hedge Fund Community? Your advertisement in Hedge Fund Alert will get the word out to hundreds of professionals who actively manage funds, invest in them and provide services to the alternative-investment community. For more information, contact Mary Romano at 201-234-3968 or mromano@hspnews.com. Or go to HFAlert.com and click on Advertise. New Vehicles Target Med-School Debt A Chicago startup is planning two hedge funds that would refnance student loans for medical professionals. Link Capital aims to launch the vehicles in September or October with a combined $50 million. One of the entities, Link Capital Absolute Return Fund, will operate without leverage while aiming to produce annual returns of about 4.5%. Te other, Link Capital Strategic Opportunities Fund, will employ a warehouse line while targeting gains of 12-14%. Link Capital Absolute apparently would allow the loans in its portfolio to amortize over time, or it could sell them. Link Capital Strategic would periodically securitize its accounts, at which point limited partners would have the option to rein- vest proceeds from the bond sales or cash out. Both vehicles are intended to provide stable fxed-income returns. Link is in advanced talks with a number of potential back- ers, who will determine how to split their capital among the two funds as the talks move forward. Its marketing targets include hedge fund operators and other investment firms. But its focus has been on chief financial officers and chief investment officers at hospitals and other healthcare opera- tions. Tose individuals, in California, New York, the Midwest and Southeast, apparently are drawn to Link because they are aware of the struggles that young doctors and nurses face in paying of large student-loan debts. Link, meanwhile, is simultane- ously gearing its hospital presentations toward lining up back- ers and striking agreements to ofer its refnancing service as part of employee-beneft packages. Link believes it is the only education lender with an exclu- sive focus on refnancing medical-school debt. It is limiting its loans to doctors and nurses who have been out of school for less than fve years and are currently employed, a group the frm sees as carrying the lowest level of risk among all student- loan borrowers. Links targeted audience has at least $35 billion of medical-school debt outstanding, with the average graduate owing almost $170,000. Te frm believes it can help them cut costs by bundling their loans into lower-interest accounts, typi- cally 10-year credits with a rate of 5.75%. Both of the frms funds would lock up investor capital for 12 months, with Link Capital Strategic imposing a 5% penalty on withdrawals during the following six months. Both vehicles will collect a 50 bp management fee and a 75 bp servicing fee, with no performance charge. Link Capital Strategic also will assess a 50 bp fee for its ware- house line, and take 1% of its securitization pools. Link is led by chief executive William Claus, who previously focused on healthcare businesses as a vice president in Bar- clays investment-banking division. Also on board are chief operating ofcer Katharine Hebenstreit, formerly an associate in J.P. Morgans private-banking unit, and chief fnancial of- cer Loren Kronemeyer, who has worked at KPMG and Cadence Health. Tey are joined by Angelo Pileggi, a sales specialist who is in charge of lining up borrowers. Grant Thornton Eyes Growth Push Grant Thornton is laying the groundwork for a staf expan- sion that would position the accounting frm to work with a far-larger number of hedge fund managers. Te Chicago frms hedge fund practice currently encom- passes 75-85 professionals in New York and Edison, N.J. Te plan is to move the Edison team to a larger space in Wood- bridge, N.J., in October while also opening an outpost in Stamford, Conn. Some existing employees would transfer from New York to Woodbridge or Stamford, with an undetermined number of new recruits joining all three locations. As they do now, the stafers would perform auditing, tax and advisory work for hedge fund operators. Te expansion is being overseen by Frank Kurre, a managing partner who is senior to hedge fund chief Michael Patanella. Te aim of the project is to equip Grant Tornton to increase its roster of hedge fund clients by at least 50% in the coming years, adding to a list of names that already includes Elliot Man- agement, Mariner Investment and Structured Portfolio Manage- ment. Grant Tornton ranked ninth among auditors working with hedge funds large enough to be registered with the SEC as of March 31, with assignments covering 177 vehicles, accord- ing to Hedge Fund Alerts Manager Database. Tat was down 19% from 196 a year earlier. Te ranking doesnt account for tax or consulting work. Grant Torntons ambitions come partly in response to KPMGs June 30 takeover of Rothstein Kass. Tat combina- tion has concentrated more business among the largest auditing frms KMPG now rivals Ernst & Young and Price- waterhouseCoopers as a market leader forcing the hands of smaller competitors that want to keep up. Indeed, expectations are that a number of accounting frms will react with acquisitions or expansions, or by adding ser- vices. Grant Tornton also hopes to pick up smaller clients who had been working with KPMG or Rothstein but now are look- ing elsewhere. A lot of hedge funds are seeking alternatives to the big four, Kurre said. Grant Tornton might also be able to broaden its reach by recruiting KPMG and Rothstein stafers. At the same time, Grant Tornton is preparing for an infux of business from fund operators that are outgrowing their bou- tique accountants but are worried that they wont get enough attention from the largest auditing frms. August 20, 2014 3 Hedge Fund ALERT Got a Message for the Hedge Fund Community? Your advertisement in Hedge Fund Alert will get the word out to hundreds of professionals who actively manage funds, invest in them and provide services to the alternative-investment community. For more information, contact Mary Romano at 201-234-3968 or mromano@hspnews.com. Or go to HFAlert.com and click on Advertise. Deal Extends Axxcess Manager List Axxcess Wealth Management is for the frst time ofering exposures to small and emerging hedge fund operators through its multi-manager business. Te Carlsbad, Calif., frm maintains a menu of some 70 large hedge funds that it ofers clients via separate accounts. Tis week, the shop augmented that roster through an agreement with Gar Wood Securities that gives it access to some of the bro- kerage frms manager clients, including: Te $25 million Canid Asset Management. Te $126 million GROW Partners. Te $20 million Market Concepts. Te $100 million Probabilities Fund Management. Te $22 million Sabra Capital. Te deal was arranged between Axxcess chief executive Mike Seid and Gar Wood capital-introduction chief Darren Day. Chicago-based Gar Wood, which handles trade-clearing and execution functions for some 45 hedge funds, hired Day this year as part of an efort to expand its client base. Axxcess had $124 million under management in Febru- ary, representing a mix of discretionary and non-discretionary capital run mostly for wealthy individuals, family ofces and business owners. Tat fgure includes the assets of the multi- manager hedge fund business and money that the frm and its clients have allocated to private equity vehicles and other alternative-investment products. Axxcess specializes in devel- oping customized investment plans for its clients, while allow- ing them to pick and choose their managers. SEC Project Aids Security Specialist Te SECs February announcement that it would examine the computer-security practices of hedge fund managers has given a big boost to cybersecurity frm eSentire. Te New York operation now claims more than 400 clients with $1.7 trillion under management, up from 350 clients when the SEC disclosed its plan. About 160 of those shops work directly with the frm, with the rest using its sofware via bun- dled services ofered by companies including Edge Technology and EzeCastle Integration. Some 75% of them are hedge fund managers. Most of the rest are hospitals. Clients typically pay monthly fees equal to $100 to $150 per employee. Founded in 2001 by Eldon Sprickerhoff, eSentire aims to help protect clients from hackers and sophisticated viruses by constantly monitoring their networks to immediately detect and block attacks. With the SEC planning to start its examinations in the next few weeks, such services have become a priority for fund managers. A document on the regulators website contains some of the questions it might ask, including whether managers have expe- rienced past attacks, how they guard customer information, how they authenticate clients for online access and how they protect personal identifcation numbers. Sprickerhof also points to increasingly frequent and sophis- ticated attacks from Eastern Europe and Asia, including a fve- fold increase in phishing attempts from China. He additionally reports that someone in Taiwan has been trying to obtain pass- words for hedge fund websites, perhaps as a diversion from a more-subtle attack. Along with tricking hedge fund stafers into transferring money into unauthorized accounts, getting access to trades and stealing data on wealthy clients, hackers may try some tactics that ofen arent viewed as cybersecurity issues, Sprickerhof said. For example, a frm that trades student loans might be targeted for information about underlying borrowers. Hackers also have installed so-called malware on the sites of two man- agers and one law frm that are clients of eSentire. SAC Alumnus Pitching Futures Fund A veteran energy trader whose resume includes a stint at SAC Capital launched a hedge fund on Aug. 1. Richard Chausse began trading his Nokomis Commodities fund with $1 million, including his own money and contribu- tions from a small pension and an individual investor. His frm, also called Nokomis Commodities, is in Greenwich, Conn. Although Chausse spent most of his career trading electricity, his fund will shun electricity futures due to liquidity concerns. Instead, it will trade highly liquid futures tied to a wide variety of commodi- ties and fnancial instruments, employing a rules-based strategy Chausse has been using to manage his own account since 2008. Chausse began trading energy futures in the 1990s, initially at Hydro-Quebec and later at PG&E Energy Trading and WPS Energy Services. From 2006 to 2008, he was part of a four-person energy-trading team at SAC. He subsequently worked at Integrys Energy Services and on the trading desk at oil giant BP. Origami ... From Page 1 funds since the fnancial crisis. Most of its deals are complex and privately negotiated, with the frm seeking to acquire assets at deep discounts, ofen around 50 cents on the dollar. Origami has acquired some $2 billion of fund stakes over the years, generating an internal rate of return of 44%, accord- ing to the investor letter. Te frm currently has $500 million under management. Opportunity Fund 3 will have a three-year investment period, followed by a fve-year harvest period and two optional one- year extensions. Investors participating in the frst close will pay a management fee equal to 1.5% of invested capital, less than the 1.75% that will be charged to limited partners who commit later. Te fund will charge a 1% fee on unfunded commitments. Afer investors receive an 8% preferred return, the manager will collect a performance fee equal to 20% of gains, but the initial performance fee will be higher under a provision that will allow it to catch up to the 20% proft split. Teres a fairly narrow feld of secondary-market buyers of hedge fund interests. Te others include Crestline Manage- ment, Dorchester Capital and Rosebrook Capital. Tere are also frms such as Lexington Partners that invest primarily in private equity fund shares but also buy stakes in hedge funds. August 20, 2014 4 Hedge Fund ALERT High-Flying Fund May Bar Entry Te manager of a 2-year-old equity fund that has generated a 57% compounded annual return may soon close the door to new investors. Lemelson Capital of Marlboro, Mass., just launched an of- shore version of its Amvona Fund, which had $28 million of gross assets as of April. But founder Emmanuel Lemelson already is considering a halt to fund raising, for fear that his small operation will become distracted by marketing and investor-relations duties. His long-biased fund, launched on Sept. 1, 2012, gained 19.3% in the last four months of that year, followed by a 61.4% return in 2013 and a year-to-date gain of 23.2% through the end of July. By comparison, the HFRI Equity Hedge (Total) Index gained 14.3% last year and was up 2.4% for the frst seven months of this year. Lemelson employs both special-situations and activist strategies to invest in U.S. companies. Amvona Fund began with about $3 million of net assets, and was up to $12.1 million at the start of this year. In addi- tion to stellar returns, Lemelson has attracted notice by mar- keting the vehicle under the JOBS Act, which permits private fund operators to advertise their performance. Te manager charges fees equal to 1% of assets and 25% of gains above a 6% hurdle. Lemelson has an unusual background for a portfolio man- ager. Before he began managing money for separate-account clients in 2010, he operated several small businesses, including an online photographic-equipment company, and invested in commercial real estate. In 2011, he was ordained as a priest in the Greek Orthodox Church. Lemelson also has gained a degree of notoriety for waging a legal campaign challenging the right of a securitization trust to collect the principal and interest on a mortgage he and his wife took out in 2006. Te Lemelsons recently reached an agreement with trustee U.S. Bank under which they would pay $900,000 to retire a mortgage with a remaining balance of $1.5 million. Te agreement would save the Lemelsons a total of $1.2 million in principal, interest and fees. Fund ... From Page 1 only help the SEC better understand their business. I would be happy they are doing a good job to get to know the funds, said a chief operating ofcer at a frm that hadnt yet received a call from the regulator. In some ways, the outreach efort is an extension of the presence exam program, in which the SEC set out in 2012 to examine about a quarter of newly registered fund operations. Tat program is now winding down. Presumably, the agency sees the telephone campaign as a more efcient way of survey- ing frms that didnt undergo presence exams. It can help the SEC focus more time and resources for inten- sive examinations on those frms that may be unresponsive to the outreach program or that exhibit other indications of high- risk activity during the call, a hedge fund lawyer said. August 20, 2014 5 Hedge Fund ALERT Hedge Fund Performance July YTD Return Return (%) (%) BENCHMARK INDICES S&P 500 -1.38 5.66 Russell 2000 -6.05 -3.06 MSCI EAFE (Europe, Australia, Far East: net) -1.97 2.72 Barclays Aggregate Bond -0.25 3.67 Barclay/Global HedgeSource -0.51 3.18 2,000+ funds (unweighted) Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index -0.10 2.82 2,500+ funds (unweighted) Greenwich Global Hedge Fund Index -0.33 2.74 2,000+ funds (unweighted) HedgeFund Intelligence -0.43 3.68 7,000+ funds (unweighted) HFN Hedge Fund Aggregate Average -0.57 2.68 4,900+ funds (unweighted) Fund of funds -0.57 1.55 Equity hedge -1.14 1.95 Relative value -0.02 2.93 HFRI Fund Weighted Composite -0.62 2.47 2,000+ funds (weighted) 31 Hedge Fund Alert, the weekly newsletter that delivers the early intelligence you need to anticipate money-making openings in the fund-management arena. Tomorrows opportunities. Start your free trial at HFAlert.com or call 201-659-1700 Firebird ... From Page 1 and other countries of the former Soviet bloc, with assets under management peaking at about $4 billion. But heavy redemp- tions during the fnancial crisis prompted the New York frm to restructure its Firebird Global Fund. Firebirds assets now stand at $1.1 billion. Among the frms other oferings are the Firebird New Rus- sia Fund and Firebird Republics Fund. In an Aug. 4 interview with Bloomberg, partner Ian Hague said Firebird had recently cut its exposure to Russia over concerns about the countrys handling of the crisis in Ukraine and the sanctions it faces from the U.S. and European Union. Meanwhile, the frm is working on two new private equity- style vehicles one focused on listed companies in Mongolia, the other on growth-equity opportunities in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In March, the frm held a frst close for Firebird Mongolia Class 3, raising $3.5 million toward an overall equity goal of $20 million. And in the fourth quarter, Firebird plans to begin marketing Amber Trust 3 with a 200 million ($270 million) fund-raising target. Firebird ran the frst two funds in the Baltic-focused Amber series in partnership with Danske Bank. Te Danske team has since spun of as KJK Capital of Helsinki, which will serve as co-manager for Amber Trust 3. August 20, 2014 6 Hedge Fund ALERT presents OCTOBER 1-2, 2014 CONVENE TIMES SQUARE NEW YORK, NY 8 th ANNUAL REGISTER TODAY! 212-457-7905 www.corpcounsel.com/hedgegc Strategies for In-House Counsel and Chief Compliance Ofcers from Fund Managers and Investors OCTOBER 7-8, 2014 LONDON QUANT RISK MANAGEMENT 2014 E: info@cfp-events.com _ T: +44 (0)845 680 5172 cfp-events.com/quantrisk ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF REGULATION ON THE QUANTITATIVE RISK PROFESSIONAL PRE-CONGRESS MASTERCLASS OCTOBER 6 2014 Model Risk Management Masterclass - A Practitioner`s Guide Led by: Jon Hill, Executive Director, Head of Market and Operational Risk Model Validation, Morgan Stanley SUPER EARLY BIRD 799 Register by August 29, 2014 EXCLUSIVE 15% DISCOUNT: HFA14 HEAR FROM OVER 20 SENIOR QUANT RISK PROFESSIONALS INCLUDING: Julian Phillips, Managing Director, ief Model Risk Ofcer, BAML Gael Robert, Director, Risk Management, Mizuho International Andrew Green, Head of CVA/FVA Quantitative Research, Lloyds Bank Andrew Lyon, Director, Global Valuation Group, Deutsche Bank Raphael Albrecht, Director, Independent Validation Unit, Barclays Jeremy Vice, Managing Director, Head of CVA Trading, UniCredit Hunor Albert Lorincz, Global Head of Rates Ination Model Validation, Nomura Keith Garbutt, Head of Model Risk Management, Credit Suisse Michael Wardle, Head of Market Risk Review Team, Bank of England Igor Smirnov, Managing Director, Fixed Income Quants, Banco Santander As part of the Private Wealth Series, the Family Oce/Private Wealth Manage- ment Forum West is Opal's premier West Coast conference in North America for high net worth individuals and family oces. This event will explore the challenges and opportunities associated with investing in emerging markets, alternative investments, real estate, direct energy, venture capital, numerous other asset classes and will also address many of the softer issues related to the family oce such as tax and regulation, asset protection, philanthropy, structuring a family oce, and many more. If you are interested in attending, sponsoring, speaking or exhibiting at this event, please call 212-532-9898 or email info@opalgroup.net Sponsorship and Exhibiting Opportunities are Available Family O ice & Private Wealth Management Forum - West October 27-29, 2014 / Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa, Napa, CA Register To register, visit us online at www.opalgroup.net or email us at marketing@opalgroup.net ref code: FOPWWA1409 August 20, 2014 7 Hedge Fund ALERT
LATEST LAUNCHES
Fund Portfolio managers, Management company Strategy Service providers Launch Equity at Launch (Mil.) Amvona Fund Domicile: British Virgin Islands See Page 5 Emmanuel Lemelson Lemelson Capital, Marlborough, Mass. 508-630-2281 Equity: Long-bias Prime Broker: BTIG Law firm: Armor Compliance Auditor: Michael Coglianese Administrator: Michael J. Liccar & Co. July 1 BrightView Adaptive Fund Domicile: U.S. See Page 2 Michael Kerris BrightView Capital, Red Bank, N.J, 732-924-4215 Equity derivatives Firebird U.S. Value Fund Domicile: U.S. See Page 1 Steven Gorelik Firebird Management, New York 212-698-9266 Equity: Long-bias July 15 $5.8 Link Capital Absolute Return Fund Link Capital Strategic Opportunities Fund Domicile: U.S. See Page 3 William Claus Link Capital, Chicago 312-226-6700 Lending: Student loans Sept./Oct. $50 Nokomis Commodities Domicile: Delaware See Page 4 Richard Chausse Nokomis Commodities, Greenwich, Conn. 203-252-9075 Managed futures Aug. 1 $1 TO SUBSCRIBE HEDGE FUND ALERT www.HFAlert.com ... From Page 1 THE GRAPEVINE Telephone: 201-659-1700 Fax: 201-659-4141 E-mail: info@hspnews.com Howard Kapiloff Managing Editor 201-234-3976 hkapiloff@hspnews.com Mike Frassinelli Senior Writer 201-234-3964 mike@hspnews.com James Prado Roberts Senior Writer 201-234-3982 james@hspnews.com Andrew Albert Publisher 201-234-3960 andy@hspnews.com Daniel Cowles General Manager 201-234-3963 dcowles@hspnews.com Thomas J. Ferris Editor 201-234-3972 tferris@hspnews.com T.J. Foderaro Deputy Editor 201-234-3979 tjfoderaro@hspnews.com Ben Lebowitz Deputy Editor 201-234-3961 blebowitz@hspnews.com Dan Murphy Deputy Editor 201-234-3975 dmurphy@hspnews.com Michelle Lebowitz Operations Director 201-234-3977 mlebowitz@hspnews.com Evan Grauer Database Director 201-234-3987 egrauer@hspnews.com Mary E. Romano Advertising Director 201-234-3968 mromano@hspnews.com Josh Albert Advertising Manager 201-234-3999 josh@hspnews.com Joy Renee Selnick Layout Editor 201-234-3962 jselnick@hspnews.com Barbara Eannace Marketing Director 201-234-3981 barbara@hspnews.com JoAnn Tassie Customer Service 201-659-1700 jtassie@hspnews.com Hedge Fund Alert (ISSN: 1530-7832), Copyright 2014, is published weekly by Harrison Scott Publications Inc., 5 Marine View Plaza, Suite 400, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5795. It is a violation of federal law to photocopy or distribute any part of this publication (either inside or outside your company) without rst obtaining permission from Hedge Fund Alert. We routinely monitor forwarding of the publication by employing email-tracking technology such as ReadNotify.com. Subscription rate: $3,897 per year. Information on multi-user license options is available upon request. YES! Sign me up for a one-year subscription to Hedge Fund Alert at a cost of $3,897. I understand I can cancel at any time and receive a full refund for the unused portion of my 46-issue license. DELIVERY (check one): q Email. q Mail. PAYMENT (check one): q Check enclosed, payable to Hedge Fund Alert. q Bill me. q American Express. q Mastercard. q Visa. Account #: Exp. date: Name: Company: Address: City/ST/Zip: Phone: E-mail: MAIL TO: Hedge Fund Alert www.HFAlert.com 5 Marine View Plaza #400 FAX: 201-659-4141 Hoboken NJ 07030-5795 CALL: 201-659-1700 Signature: August 20, 2014 8 Hedge Fund ALERT the move in the fourth quarter. At One William Street, he has been heading marketing alongside Josh Simons who now will handle those responsi- bilities on his own. Schwartz will work in the New York ofce of CQS, the London-based multi-strategy shop led by Michael Hintze. CQS had $14 billion under management at the start of this year. Mike Shillman has lef his post as an analyst at Skytop Capital to join Ravenuer Investment. New York-based Ravenuer was founded earlier this year by former Tricadia Capital portfolio manager Mark Black, with a strategy that spans a mix of debt and equity products. Te frm was scheduled to launch its debut fund dur- ing the second quarter, but its unclear if the vehicle has started trading yet. Emerging-markets fund opera- tor TRG Management elevated Jay Cohen this month to partner from managing director. Cohen man- ages the New York operations legal and compliance functions, a role in which he also directs the structur- ing and formation of new products. He joined TRG in 2010 as assistant general counsel, moving up to chief compliance officer in 2012 and gen- eral counsel in January 2013. TRG, founded in 2002 by Nicolas Rohatyn, does business as Rohatyn Group. It started this year with $4.8 billion of regulatory assets. D.E. Shaw has picked up an analyst. Max Grant arrived at the New York invest- ment shop this month from investment- banking frm Foros Group, where he worked for three years. He is covering technology, media and telecommunica- tions stocks under portfolio manager Edwin Jager. D.E. Shaw was founded in 1988 by David Shaw. It had $33 billion under management as of July 1. A one-time Lazard analyst has signed on with the same title at equity fund operator Southpoint Capital. Keson Choy arrived last month as a member of Southpoints investment team in New York. Choy was on board at Lazard from 2010 to 2012, focusing on mergers and acquisitions involving healthcare businesses. Afer that, he worked as an associate at New York private equity frm Welsh Carson. Southpoint fnished last year with $3 billion under manage- ment. Flyberry Capital is in the fnal stages of negotiations with a new backer that would park $10 million in a separate account run by the Cambridge, Mass., quantitative-investment shop. Te agreement would follow the June arrival of a $2 million commitment from First Spring Corp., a New York invest- ment frm that holds an equity stake in Flyberry. Tat contribution was routed through a Typhon Capital separate- account business called Typhon Access, fowing into a new vehicle called Fly- berry Nautilus. Te vehicle was up 2.6% from June 24 to July 31. Flyberry was founded in 2012 by Michael Chang.