the_unlettered_tellurian

Everyone is pouncing on hedge funds once again… some of the results of a simple google news search on “hedge funds”…

Hedge funds brace for redemption wave, cash high

Asia Hedge Funds, Among Worst Performers, Close at Faster Rate

Year-end redemption requests loom over industry

Hedge funds hit by wind-ups as markets bite

Hedge Funds Wash Out of High-Stakes Game

Hedge Funds Are Bracing for Investors to Cash Out

Hedge funds face loss of investors

Why does all this coverage and analysis have to be ex-post? Haven’t they done enough of that after LTCM? Couldn’t they do some ex-ante analysis this time around?

Alpha has this news about Third Point LLC’s outspoken and brash CEO Daniel Loeb writting a letter to his investors indicating it’s losses resulting from a sharp reversal in energy and financial stocks in the first three weeks of July have wiped out all profits made in the quarter.
To add to the firms woes, the SEC has apparently begun a formal investigation into Third Point’s communications with portfolio managers at other hedge funds.
Wall Street’s poison pen lived up to his reputation as he wrote “As a friend said to me, ‘Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without Hell.’” in the letter.

Loeb was listed in the “Bad Boys – The Meanest” category in this 2007 New York Magazine special feature ranking some of the best hedge-fund managers.

Found this article on hedge fund manager Peter Thiel from Clarium Capital Management. It appeared in the January 2007 ‘Hedge Fund’ special issue of Bloomberg Marketsmagazine.
Apart from giving brief details of Peter’s background and a glimpse into his personality, the article gives a perspective on his investment strategies and a broad overview of the bets he’s placed.

Peter was listed in the “Whippersnappers – Legends in the making” category in this 2007 New York Magazine special feature ranking some of the best hedge-fund managers.

On interesting bit of info I found in the article is that Peter Thiel happens to have executive produced of the 2005 movie Thank You for Smoking. Didn’t know about that before!

I came across this BusinessWeek roundup of the top 10 U.S. Hedge Funds. It’s a slide show that was posted last year, so there will be significant change in the numbers (and the officials listed?) now. But I still felt it worthy enough to spend time converting some of the info on those slides into this table.

Would like to remind again… data is old…most probably from first quarter of 2007.

Found this 2007 New York Magazine special feature ranking some of the best hedge-fund managers in six categories, based on a poll of ten industry insiders.

The six categories are listed below:

1. Top Dogs – The very best in the business
2. Brainiacs – The smartest
3. Bad Boys – The meanest
4. Singles Hitters – Consistent performers
5. Home Run Hitters – Fearless risk-takers
6. Whippersnappers – Legends in the making

All the profiled managers have been attributed one of four “Styles” – Trader, Stock Picker, Distressed Investor, or Quantitative Investor.

I have put up these tables for each of the categories…

That’s what this latest articleEven Hedge Funds Are Hurting from BusinessWeek says. It cites the lose of steam in the bull-ride, drying up of easy access to capital among the most important reasons for this.
Apparently, the S&P 500 outperformed the hedge funds in July…hmm

Stumbled across this page while searching for stuff on Lawrence Hilibrand of Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) fame (infamy might be more appropriate)

The page lists a whole bunch of hedge fund managers… the original post is dated August 26, 2005… not sure if it has been updated after that but the info is useful.