Search This Blog

2 Mar 2007

Disclosure Ruling Has Hedge Funds Retreating

Judge Allan Gropper of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York this week ordered a group of hedge funds that were demanding the formation of a shareholders committee to disclose all of their holdings in the airline, when they were purchased and for how much.

Soon after the disclosure ruling the hedge fund shareholders withdrew their motion to have a say in the payment deals after the Northwest Airline Corp reorganization. Hedge funds are known for their fiercely guarded trading secrets and so far have succeeded in resisting regulation.

The shareholder group led by Owl Creek hedge fund has said it holds a total of 30% of Northwest's stock and about $164.7 million in claims. Northwest said shareholders will receive nothing and existing shares will be canceled upon the carrier’s exit from bankruptcy.

Gropper's ruling would enforce Bankruptcy Rule 2019, which says parties in a Chapter 11 case acting as a group must disclose certain information about their holdings. The decision requires the 13 investment funds on the official committee to make public information about trading patterns, holdings and pricing, which hedge funds have labored for decades to keep secret.

Citigroup Exec Quits to Launch Hong Kong Hedge Fund

Ajay Kapur, a top Citigroup executive is leaving the firm to found his own hedge fund, according to reports.

Kapur is returning to Hong Kong, where he has residency rights, to set up a hedge fund called First Horse Capital with Niall MacLeod and two other members of Kapur's team that also left Citigroup. Kapur's new fund will invest in equities globally.

Kapur said the results of investment models that he and his team had devised were "pretty good." and that, "I just thought that one should eat one's own cooking,"Kapur said from London. The fund is based in Hong Kong in order to get information from China, India, Japan, "you need to be closer and on the ground." he said.

Asian hedge funds returned 16.1% last year, compared to the 11.5% gains of their counterparts in North America and 11.35% in Europe, according to indexes run by Eurekahedge, a company in Singapore that tracks the industry.

Kapur has followed a well-worn path from investment banking to hedge funds, other Wall Street advisers have also joined Asia-based hedge funds and buyout firms. In January, the chairman of J.P. Morgan Asia Pacific, Ralph Parks, joinedOaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles hedge fund with more than $33 billion in assets.

First Horse Capital, named for the Indian cavalry regiment Kapur's father served in, will invest in stocks worldwide. Kapur declined to say how much money he's raised for First Horse Capital.

Hedge Fund News: Heads of US Hedge Fund Study Group Warn Against Over Regulation

Hedge Fund News: Heads of US Hedge Fund Study Group Warn Against Over Regulation