SEC Actively Recruiting Hedge Fund Managers

HedgeCo News - Bloomberg reports that hedge fund managers are being recruited by the SEC to boost oversight of the $14 trillion hedge fund industry.

“The fund world has become much more sophisticated and complex over the last decade,” said Steve Crimmins, a former SEC trial lawyer now at K&L Gates LLP, which represents asset managers. “The SEC hasn’t had the resources or the full expertise needed to keep pace.”

The hedge fund SEC task force is looking for managers and people with “direct exposure to trading and operations” at hedge funds, Bloomberg said. The ad for 5 new recruits was posted by the SEC last month.

The SEC currently has five specialty units targeting financial misconduct ranging from insider trading to corporate bribery, the paper said.

The number of registered investment advisers jumped 50 percent to more than 11,000 from 2002 to 2009, excluding many offshore hedge funds and un-declared funds, according to officials.

The application period is set to close April 19.

Salida Capital Launches Private Equity Fund

HedgeCo News - Canadian alternative investor and fund of hedge fund manager, Salida Capital, is launching a private equity fund focused on the natural resources space. The fund’s official marketing period will begin in May and continue for a 6 to 8 month period, or until it has hit its targeted maximum capital commitment.

“We’re extremely excited about the opportunities we see for our private equity fund,” Courtenay Wolfe, President & CEO of Salida Capital, said. “It’s an area we’ve been planning on venturing into for awhile, and we are pleased to announce that we have already secured a $100 million seed investment for the fund prior to its official launch.”

"We manage our funds within a disciplined risk management framework that has predetermined limits on the percentage of privates that can be held in a fund,” Ms. Wolfe said. “Many of our investors have asked for a longer term time horizon for investing, wishing to access some of the great private investment opportunities we are seeing in the natural resources space.”

The anchor investment comes from Bill Gallacher, President and CEO of Avenir Capital. Gallacher has been involved with the start-up of a number of junior energy companies in Calgary and currently sits on the board of directors of Athabasca Oil Sands Corporation, as well as Maxim Power Corp., Mahalo Energy Ltd., Black Diamond Group Inc. and Avenir Diversified Income Trust.

“My relationship with Salida goes back many years. I’m a huge supporter and friend of the firm and am optimistic about the future of this relationship.” Gallacher said.

Salida Capital manages approximately $650 million for a growing global client base of family offices, high net worth individuals, institutions and fund of hedge funds. Salida said they are also looking to add an oil & gas analyst to their investment team in the upcoming weeks.