Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Management to start Quantitative Trading hedge fund

SAC Capital Advisors, the Stamford-based hedge fund founded by Chief Executive Officer Steven A. Cohen, has announced that it will be launching a quantitative trading based hedge fund due to requests from current investors. According to an article from Bloomberg, quantitative trading already makes up 15% of SAC Capital’s $35 billion in assets under management. It is thought that the new quantitative fund will be run by roughly 20 different teams of quantitative traders.

This news comes a week after an announcement that SAC Capital Advisors is considering closing off its flagship fund to new investors, despite attracting $1.5 billion in new investment since last year. Steven Cohen kept the flagship fund closed for 13 years in order to ensure returns remained high, and it could be the same story this time around. Also, SAC has decided to wind down its multi-strategy hedge fund, which it opened in 2005, due to heavy losses incurred during the 2008 financial crisis.

$100mm+ Hedge Fund Launches by Indaba Capital & Ionic Capital

A couple of hedge fund managers are proving that the fund raising environment for new launches is improving. Earlier this month, newly formed Indaba Capital launched its first hedge fund with a reported $150 million in assets under management, while Ionic Capital Management has reportedly raised more than $100 million for its newly launched convertible bond focused hedge fund.

Indaba Capital, which employs an event-driven strategy, was founded last year by Farallon Capital veteran Derek Schrier. While at Farrallon, Schrier was responsible for managing credit investments. Indaba only targeted a limited number of investors for the launch and hopes to double its assets during the second quarter when it opens up to outside investors.

To view HedgeTracker’s lists of Top Hedge Fund Launches, please click below:

Top Hedge Fund Launches of 2011
Top Hedge Fund Launches of 2010
Top Hedge Fund Launches of 2009

For Detailed Investor Profiles on these Investors, click below
Indaba Capital Management

Ionic Capital Management LLC

Robertson’s Tiger Management seeds Nezu Asia Capital with $50 million

Julian Robertson’s well-respected investment group Tiger Management has recently invested $50 million in Nezu Asia Capital, a hedge fund manager that oversees six funds with $400 million in assets under management. According to Reuters, Tiger Management has seeded Nezu’s long/short equity focused Nezu Asia Fund and its short-biased equity Nezu Kuma Fund, which is focused on Japan. Nezu Asia and Robertson hope to double the fund manager’s assets to $800 million by the end of this year. Former Tiger employee David Snoddy and Sohei Taki have been named the hedge fund's portfolio managers and will work out of Tiger Management’s New York offices. Nezu Asia is based in Hong Kong.

Tiger Management

Nezu Asia Capital Management

Jim Pallotta launches Raptor Evolution Fund

Legendary hedge fund manager Jim Pallotta is returning to the industry with the launch of the Raptor Evolution Fund. The new hedge fund management firm has reportedly raised approximately $200 million and will employ the same long/short equity strategy that established Pallotta during his impressive run at Paul Tudor Jones’ Tudor Investment Corporation. According to theNew York Times, Mr. Pallotta achieved returns that averaged over 19% annually over his 15 year tenure at Tudor.

To read full article, click here.

Emerging Hedge Fund Managers raising assets

Here are the recent hedge fund launches that should be of interest to industry analysts and hedge fund investors. A number of them have raised more than $100 million in assets under management, which is impressive considering the market environment.

Name / Founders / Assets
Areion Asset Management / Einoshin Arima & Giselle Leung / $120 million

Collard Capital Management / Simon Collard & James Beaton / N/A

OGI Global Global Macro Fund / Hideyuki Fred Omokawa & Allan Bedwick / $100 million

Round Rock Capital Advisors / Tan Maruyama / $16 million +

Top hedge fund firm launches of 2010 YTD raise over $700 million

The first six months of 2010 have seen a number of new firm foundings, fund launches, and spin-offs in the hedge fund world, some led by a new generation of young managers and others headed by industry veterans looking to start anew or reassert their investing prowess. But the figures from this year’s halfway point also mark an adjustment to the norms of hedge fund launches. The most noticeable changes are the dramatic fundraising difficulties facing hedge fund managers worldwide: so far this year, not one new hedge fund firm has launched with close to $500 million in assets under management, not to mention anything comparable to the $1 billion raised by Roc Capital Management and its founder Arvind Raghunathan or the $800 million Tony Chedraoui raised for the Tyrus Capital LLP launch last year.

To see complete article click here.

A short guide to the history Hedge Funds

The Wall Street Journal recently published a great article on the history of the hedge fund industry. This is a must read for hedge fund enthusiasts, industry job seekers and hedge fund investors. Enjoy!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703302604575294983666012928.html

Global Macro Hedge Funds

I find Global Macro hedge funds to be very fascinating, as they tend to make large bets on macro economic themes. When hedge funds most commonly only invest in equity and debt securities, macro funds invest in a wide array of securities across all asset classes. Amazingly, a number of macro funds never invest in equities.

Here is a recent article about some major macro investors. My favorite is Brevan Howard. Its pretty incredible how they are able to achieve high returns with such a large asset base ($20bn+): http://www.hedgetracker.com/article/Top-Global-Macro-Hedge-Funds-Brevan-Howard-Asset-Management-Round-Table-Investment-Management-Balestra-Capital

For a list of top global macro hedge funds, including George Soros, as well as a definition on how they invest, check out:
http://www.hedgetracker.com/directory/Global-Macro

Raising Assets in 2010: What emerging hedge funds and fund of hedge fund managers need to know

Interesting upcoming event from Emerging Manager Focus that will feature industry experts discussing strategies for hedge funds that are raising capital. For more information, please see:
http://www.hedgetracker.com/article/Raising-Assets-in-2010-What-emerging-hedge-funds-and-fund-of-hedge-fund-managers-need-to-know

GLG Partners Launches new fund from its Distressed Strategy

Thanks to an impressive 84% return this year in its distressed strategy, GLG Partners has decided to dedicate an entire fund to the strategy. According to the Financial Times, GLG Partners has launched a new fund which will invest in distressed European debt. Formerly a part of GLG's credit and market-neutral fund, the new fund launches with $300 million in assets under management.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Harbinger to Launch Troubled Bond & Loan Focused Fund

Philip Falcone’s Harbinger Capital is launching a distressed fund. The firm is going forward with the launch, despite the fact that its flagship fund is limiting investor withdrawals.
See Source