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8 Jan 2007

Hedge Fund Technology Training 2007

Chameleon productions is holding a conference on the future of algorithmic trading this March in London. Chameleon is asking hedge fund managers and other high level investors to submit papers on working showcase application, case studies, progress through research, and evidence of outcomes, among other things. Submission deadline date: 14th January 2007.

The conference is aimed at attracting hedge fund managers, investment bankers, and asset managers who are considering algorithmic trading solutions for increasing investment returns. Algorithmic or rule based trading strategies are fast becoming the standard across a number of financial institutions.

Institutional and high net worth individuals are being targeted with algorithm-based strategies that are constantly gaining in sophistication. The conference will allow for sell-side financial institutions to market their algorithmic trading strategies and for buy-side financial institutions to determine how these can be complementary to their existing trade process.

Algorithmic Trading 2007 will be a focal point for research and discussion on new strategies within algorithmic trading and a forum for existing vendors to display their models and supporting technology.

In an environment where gaining investor confidence is becoming more and more difficult; the demands set by potential investors rest more on finding asset classes that provide diversification and stable positive returns. It has become increasingly important to start exploiting new algorithm based investment strategies.

The conference also aims to be the definitive breeding ground for a new type of investment professional. One that uses the power of mathematical inference to generate alpha and exploit anomalies found in global financial markets.


For more information see; http://www.chameleonproductions.co.uk/algorithmics.html

Hedge Fund buys Access to Energy Trading and Delivery

Highbridge Capital Management, a $17 billion hedge fund is reported to have taken a $1 billion equity stake in the energy business of Louis Dreyfus Group, the old-line commodities trading firm, in a deal worth about

Highbridge Capital, which is majority owned by JPMorgan Chase, said it invested in Louis Dreyfus to gain more access to energy delivery and trading markets on its own. “We saw this as a real opportunity that is uncorrelated to everything else we’re doing,” said Glenn Dubin, managing partner of the hedge fund. He explained that he had considered trying to get the hedge fund into the energy trading business more heavily on its own, but concluded, “there was no way we could do this by ourselves.”

Highbridge and Dreyfus will jointly manage the venture, which will be called Louis Dreyfus Highbridge Energy and maintain its headquarters in Wilton, Conn. Before the Highbridge investment, Louis Dreyfus Energy was one of the 10 largest natural gas marketers in the United States and had worldwide interests in both the physical delivery of petroleum and natural gas as well as financial interests in energy.

JPMorgan Chase bought its stake in Highbridge in 2004 to gain exposure to the fast-growing hedge fund sector. The deal proved to be well-timed, as pension funds and other institutions continued to pour billions in to hedge funds, including Highbridge.

BGI gets Ahead with Hedge Fund Technology

"We didn't set out to be a hedge fund giant," said Blake Grossman, the head of Barclays Global Investors in San Francisco.

But it has!... BGI manages almost $1.7 trillion in assets and has a stake in 65 of the world's 100 largest pension plans, making them one of the most powerful forces in money management today.

New Technology goes into the picking of the shares, such as computer software called Optimizer, which crunches corporate earnings data and dozens of other variables for almost every stock in the world. Ph.D.s, mathematicians and other quantitative analysts, or quants, spend their time at BGI designing investing strategies for thousands of stocks, bonds and currencies and then use computers to pick which ones to buy and sell.

Grossman has used his quants to transform a firm built on index investing into one of the world's largest hedge fund managers. In an article by Bloomberg, it was reported that Grossman is converting corporate and public pension funds into what BGI calls a scientific approach to hedge funds.

Institutional investing is undergoing radical change, according to Grossman. Ten or 20 years ago, money managers who had been entrusted with people's retirement nest eggs refused to make risky investments or short stocks.

Now, these managers are adopting hedge fund strategies to generate the returns they will need to keep their promises to workers and retirees.

"As of Sept. 30, the firm had amassed $17 billion in long/ short funds......We think this artificial divide between long-only and long/short is one that's destined to become extinct over the next several years" Grossman said.