BERLIN - The German Cabinet on Aug. 20 approved a bill allowing institutional investors in Germany to buy shares of hedge funds and funds of funds directly. Direct investing in hedge funds is currently not permitted. The change is part of an overall investment banking reform bill.
Pending a Nov. 28 vote by the upper house of Parliament, the changes are expected to take effect Jan. 1. Estimates predict up €100 billion ($115.1 billion) in new hedge fund investments could result.
NEW YORK - Hedge funds returned 1.24% in July and 10.23% year-to-date as of July 31, according to the Hennessee Hedge Fund index. The S&P 500 returned 13.68% for the first seven months of this year, and the Nasdaq composite, 29.92%.
Year-to-date, Latin America had the best performance among the Hennessee indexes, returning 20.94%. Next is the Telecom and Media index, at 20.66%, and the Healthcare and Biotech index, 20.18%. The short-biased index had the worst performance, -14.31%, followed by the market-neutral index, -0.18%, and the fixed-income index, 1.22%.
JUNEAU, Alaska - The Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. plans to hire a private equity gatekeeper, marking the $24.6 billion fund's first foray into the asset class.
Chief Investmetn Officer Allan Moore said consultant Callan Associates Inc. is reviewing potential managers, but no timetable has been set for a selection. The manager also will help set the fund's private equity allocation, likely to be $200 million to $400 million a year for the next three years.
GREENWICH, Conn. - FrontPoint Partners bought Ivory Capital Group, a long-short equity hedge fund manager. Terms were not disclosed.
Ivory founder Curtis Macnguyen and his 13-person team will join FrontPoint and continue to manage money according to their strategy. In a news release, Mr. Macnguyen said joining FrontPoint will allow Ivory to concentrate on portfolio management while taking advantage of FrontPoint's business and marketing resources.
LOS ANGELES - ITU Ventures launched its third venture capital fund, WEST I, which will focus on next-generation technologies developed by research institutions and universities in the Western United States. The fund is targeted at $36 million.
Investors include the $49.3 billion pension fund of Boeing Co., Chicago; $23.8 billion Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association, Denver; and $9.5 billion New Mexico State Investment Council, Santa Fe.
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The South Carolina Firemen's Pension Fund added alternative investments as a new asset class, the result of a recently completed asset allocation study of the $20 million plan, said Gary Forte of consultant Prudential Securities.
The plan allocated 10% of total assets to alternatives and raised its target for REITs to a maximum of 20%, It also raised its target for convertible bonds and international equities.
