Potential for Hedge Fund Returns Is Still There For Investors - Report

According to a recent survey conducted by the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), a poll of 1,300 sophisticated private investors showed that 15% believed that hedge funds offer the potential for strong returns in the current environment. However they are also concerned about their perceived lack of transparency (17%) and riskiness (17%).

Investors are also cautious about hedge funds because they believe that they are not regulated (14%), and are concerned about the reputation for high charges (12%). Some investors also find them confusing (11%) and believe they are only accessible to the wealthy (5%).

Although some sophisticated private investors are wary of hedge funds, 6% of those surveyed are already investing in hedge funds, 5% have invested in the past and 3% are planning to invest in the future. Interestingly, nearly half (46%) of investors believe they may possibly invest in hedge funds in the future whilst only 29% of investors surveyed would never invest in hedge funds.

"Many of these investors' concerns over hedge funds are addressed through the listed hedge fund and fund of hedge funds sectors," Annabel Brodie-Smith, Communications Director of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) said, "The listed structure of closed ended hedge funds and fund of funds means investors have access to a much higher level of transparency. Shares in listed funds are available on the stock market just like any other share so they are available to those of modest means as well as the super wealthy."

"This is a real growth area of the industry with the hedge fund sector making up 65% of the assets raised this year in the investment company sector. However, it is still a young sector, so long-term performance records are not available for the majority. Investors need to do their homework to make sure they select the right fund for them in this diverse sector and if they are unsure they should take independent financial advice," she concluded.

Ian Plenderleith, Chairman of BH Macro, said, "Hedge funds who can maintain the necessary standards of investment expertise and risk management have demonstrated that they can deliver superior returns on a consistent basis. Listed hedge fund vehicles give a wider range of investors access to alternative investment strategies through an avenue they are familiar with. They get the benefit of the regulatory safeguards and disclosure obligations, and the secondary market liquidity that go with stock exchange listing."

Robin Bowie, Chairman of Dexion Capital, said: "When dislocation in financial markets reaches the present level, it provides an ideal environment for hedge funds, which are well-placed to make opportunistic investments where they recognise value and can hedge out the market risk. Some of those positions will be illiquid, which will be unsuitable for most managers of open-ended funds. Closed-ended funds employ ‘permanent capital', raised on the stock exchange, which allow managers to blend liquid and illiquid assets and take advantage of the current mismatch in the markets. In essence, closed-ended funds bring liquidity to illiquid situations."

Airline Files For Chap.11 After Petters Arrest

Holiday airline Sun Country filed for bankruptcy yesterday, just 3 days after the arrest of investor Thomas Petters, founder of Petters Group Worldwide, the firm that owns Sun Country among other investments.

Petters was charged with mail and wire fraud, money laundering and obstructing justice.

"We were forced to take this action as a result of recent events at Petters Group Worldwide," said Sun Country Chairman and CEO Stan Gadek. The airline said that it would continue to fly its regular schedule.

A federal judge in Minneapolis order Petters to be held without bail after a taped phone conversation revealed that the disgraced entrepreneur planned to leave the country. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

Petters has stated that he plans to fight to be released from custody and maintains his innocence.

Blackstone Closes China Investment in Bluestar

State-owned company China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) and hedge fund manager the Blackstone Group announced the closing of Blackstone’s investment in ChemChina subsidiary, China National Bluestar Corporation.

Bluestar has also completed its group restructuring and has registered as a Sino-foreign joint stock limited company. Blackstone will invest up to $600 million in Bluestar for a 20% stake. Two Senior Managing Directors of Blackstone, Antony Leung and Ben Jenkins, will join the board of Bluestar.

Headquartered in Beijing, ChemChina was founded in 2004, and administrated by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council of China. Through fast growth in the last 4 years, ChemChina is now a large group corporation with both asset value and revenue exceeding RMB100 billion ($14.6 billion). ChemChina is ranked 35th among China's top 500 corporations, according to National Bureau of Statistics of China.

The Blackstone Group's alternative asset management businesses include the management of corporate private equity funds, real estate opportunity funds, funds of hedge funds, mezzanine funds, senior debt funds, proprietary hedge funds and closed-end mutual funds.

HedgeCo Launches Hedge Fund Calculator

HedgeCo Networks LLC today announced the launch of the next generation online analytical and reporting tool, the Hedge Fund Calculator.

Designed for hedge funds and funds of hedge funds, the calculator is available for a monthly or annual subscription service. HedgeCo says, "(the calculator) facilitates the rapid computation of quantitative statistics, net performance numbers and the creation of branded marketing materials."

Aaron Wormus, Managing Director of HedgeCo Networks said, "Through the HedgeCo.Net hedge fund database and Hedge Fund Websites platform, we have worked with thousands of funds worldwide to create statistical performance reports and compelling investor presentations."

"By combining our deep experience with cutting edge development technology, we have been able to deliver a powerful and cost-effective tool that can dramatically enhance marketing and reporting capabilities at any hedge fund firm." Wormus explained.

Key features of the Hedge Fund Calculator include:

* Online Access - Easily create, modify and distribute reports from any web-connected PC
* Branded & Customized Tearsheets - Quickly update fund information, customize statistics, select data points and generate PDF reports with a simple 3-click process
* Contact Manager - Efficiently manage investor and prospective investor lists, email fund marketing materials and track leads with integrated, easy-to-use contact management
* Benchmark Analysis - Compare fund performance to industry standard benchmarks, HedgeCo Indices or add your own benchmarks.

Agecroft Hires Hedge Fund Manager

Hedge fund third party marketing firm, Agecroft Partners has hired its 5th Managing Director, Jarratt Ramsey. Jarratt spent the last 11 years at multi-billion hedge fund Chesapeake Capital Management.

"Jarratt is a wonderful addition to our firm. Our business model is to introduce large well established hedge funds in a consultative manner to institutional investors," Agecroft Partners' Managing Partner Don Steinbrugge said, "It is imperative that the members of our firm are highly technically competent. Jarratt's educational and professional experiences are very impressive. Furthermore, his knowledge of the hedge fund industry, and security markets should give him a lot of credibility with large institutional investors."

Jarratt's responsibilities will include assisting with due diligence on potential hedge funds the firm may represent and introducing the firm's hedge fund clients to large institutional investors located within the Northern region of the United States.

Agecroft Partners recently received the 2008 Third Party Marketer of the Year award. It was founded by Donald A Steinbrugge, CFA, a Founding Principal of Andor Capital Management when it was the 2nd largest hedge fund firm in the world. Don was also Head of Institutional Sales for Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. Agecroft Partners, LLC is a Member FINRA and SIPC.

Mooring Hedge Fund Gains Amid Losses

Mooring Financial Corp., a private investment firm specializing in the management of alternative assets, has seen its hedge fund, the Mooring Intrepid Opportunity Fund gain 37% year-to-date, while global hedge fund returns have declined almost 10% this year.

The fund gained by capitalizing on corrections in the high-yield corporate bond, commercial mortgage-backed securities and subprime residential mortgage markets. The Fund has gained 132.1% since its inception on March 1, 2007, the Fund’s highest gain on investment to date.

"The centerpiece of our objective for Mooring Intrepid Opportunity Fund is the expectation of a repricing of risk in the credit markets," said president and founder John Jacquemin, "We mapped out a strategy two years ago in anticipation of the credit markets debacle now taking place. The fund’s positions are volatile and aggressive, and appropriate only for investors who understand these risks."

In recent weeks, the fund has begun to take additional bearish positions in financial and commercial real estate stocks as well as exchange traded funds in anticipation of continued deterioration within these markets.

"We believed strongly that the credit markets had reached a point of excess never before experienced in modern history." Jacqumin explained, "and we felt strongly that the risk/reward ratio was very much in our favor. This has proven to be the case."

The firm has acquired and managed more than $2 billion of financial assets since inception in 1982. Mooring Financial Corporation manages four funds across different asset classes, including distressed commercial loans, real estate tax liens, publicly traded equities and credit derivatives.

Pharos Funds Resilient, But Drop With Russian Market

Conservatively positioned given the high level of stress that existed on the global financial system, the 3 Pharos Russia Funds' current strategy uses alpha generation which comes from a combination of stock selection and active use of hedging tools available in the marketplace.

The three funds are showing the most resilience among funds in the Russia & CIS universe year-to-date. However, during the month of August, the Pharos Russia Fund was down 7.8%, the Pharos Small Cap Fund was down 8.8% and the Pharos Gas Investment Fund was down 2.3%. Meanwhile the MSCI Russia Index was down 14.7% over the same period.

August saw a continuation in the decline in markets globally, with Russian markets succumbing to the sell-off in global credit markets, continued pressure on commodities and dollar strength.

The Russian authorities have shown a willingness to intervene to protect against domestic dislocations caused by distressed selling. The Russian state has announced a liquidity package of more than $150bn.

It has increased its deposits held at the largest banks and offered them repo lending that references inflated asset valuations. The state-owned Vneshekenom Bank will also provide up to $50bn to Russian companies and banks to help redeem the $65bn of external debt coming due through 1Q'09. Meanwhile the interbank lending market is being supported by a government guarantee against defaults.

"Given the relative size of the economy," Pharos says, "Russia is better positioned than most to withstand a downturn in credit markets with its $581bn of reserves and over $200bn Stabilization Fund."

"Valuations are compelling and we expect to take advantage of these opportunities. We look for catalysts to the market to guide our entry points, such as stability in the industrial commodities markets, a reversal in measures of global risk aversion and global monetary easing."

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Hedge Fund Manager Launches Lettable Space Park In Romania

Argo Group, an emerging markets investment manager, announced the launch of The Era Shopping Park Iasi. Projected to generate EUR 18 million ($25.7 million) in annual rental income the launch is funded by Argo's private equity fund, the Argo Capital Partners Fund 1, together with a local joint venture partner, Omilos Group.

"From Argo's perspective this has been an excellent investment," says Argo Capital Management chief investment officer Andreas Rialas. "Through our partnership with Omilos we acquired two excellent sites at a time when property and land prices were relatively low. Since then both projects are well advanced and demonstrating their potential to generate substantial returns."

The Park is the first of two planned retail parks to operate under the Era Shopping Park brand. The Iasi retail park will be the largest outside of Bucharest and the second largest in Romania.

Based in Romania's second largest city, situated in the north-east of the country close to the Moldovan border. The Era Shopping Park Iasi will offer on completion more than 115,000 square metres of gross lettable area.

The second facility planned, the Era Shopping Park Oradea, is located in Oradea in the north-west of Romania, close to the Hungarian border. This smaller project with a gross lettable area of 65,000 square metres is expected to open in March next year. The Oradea site is projected to generate annual rental income of EUR 10.5 million.

"Economically, Romania continues to perform strongly. Following its EU accession, there has been a significant uplift in consumer spending and as demonstrated by tenant demand for Era, western European retailers are increasing their presence in the country," Rialas concluded.

The Argo Group has significant experience in property notably through the Argo Real Estate Opportunities Fund, a Guernsey-domiciled closed-ended investment company that invests in the commercial property markets of Central and Eastern Europe. The AIM-listed company is managed by Argo Capital Management Property, which has offices in London, Bucharest and Kiev.

The Argo Capital Partners Fund I was launched in August 2006 to focus on delivering private equity returns from different types of investments and situations in emerging markets. The fund, which was launched targeting a minimum internal rate of return of 40 per cent, has not yet exited any investments.

Its current portfolio includes Infarmasa, a generics pharmaceutical company in Peru, Nigerian commercial and retail bank Intercontinental Bank, Greek triple-play telecommunications Telecoms and Russian regional bank Probusinessbank as well as the Era Shopping Parks.

Vodia Expands Into Frontier Markets

Reflecting a growth in corporate activities, Vodia Group has rebranded as Finadium. The move was made, the re-named Finadium says, to showcase an ability to develop new ideas and create products and marketing strategies in financial markets, expanding beyond the original scope of Vodia Group.

The Finadium name comes from the abbreviation Fin for finance and the latin word Aedium, meaning house. As Finadium, the firm emphasizes its core value proposition – providing ideas, product development and marketing strategies to the securities and investments industry.

The Finadium name comes from the abbreviation Fin for finance and the latin word Aedium, meaning house. As Finadium, the firm emphasizes its core value proposition – providing ideas, product development and marketing strategies to the securities and investments industry.

Based on proprietary surveys and market knowledge, the company is looking multiple market sectors such as institutional investors, hedge funds and traditional asset managers.

As part of the rebranding, the company are launching a monthly newsletter for portfolio managers, traders and others looking for briefings on prime brokerage, securities finance and custody but who do not need the detail of our full reports.

Also expanding into frontier and emerging markets, Josh Galper, Managing Principal, says “As Finadium, we are pleased to expand our audience in prime brokerage, securities finance and custody to include a broader range of market professionals. We also look forward to tackling the complex subject matter of financial services in frontier and emerging markets.”

Bracewell & Giuliani LLP Announces Legislation Task Force

Bracewell & Giuliani LLP today announced that it has formed a multi-disciplinary Task Force to guide financial institutions, private investment funds, institutional investors and other market participants through the legislative, regulatory and enforcement challenges posed by the Troubled Asset Relief Act and other impending actions by Congress, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the SEC.

The Task Force will focus in particular on legislation, regulatory actions, enforcement matters and strategic communications to assist market participants in their efforts to navigate one of the most significant governmental actions in the history of the U.S. economy.

Commenting on the formation of the Bracewell Task Force, senior partner Rudy Giuliani said, "Our team of former government officials and experienced attorneys in the fields of legislation, enforcement and finance are equipped to guide institutions in this quickly evolving and complex environment." Mr. Giuliani noted that the Bracewell Task Force includes a former Comptroller of the Currency, a former Assistant Secretary of Legislative Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, former members of Congress from both political parties, former federal prosecutors, and former SEC enforcement attorneys.

In addition, the Bracewell Task Force will draw heavily upon our resources in the areas of broker-dealer and market regulation, financial restructuring, and corporate and securities.

As part of its services, the Task Force is establishing a blog to relay critical real-time information on the development of policy related to the legislation, regulation and enforcement priorities, and will also be providing periodic updates directly to interested clients.

SGAM Launches Hedge Fund Replicant

SGAM (Société Générale Asset Management) Alternative Investments launched the SGAM ETF T-Rex (for total return exposure), on Euronext Paris.

"It is possible to build a portfolio of dynamic strategies designed to replicate overall allocations in the hedge funds industry," SGAM says, "and thus attempt to replicate performances by taking up equivalent positions in these asset classes."

The portfolio invests in the main asset classes of equities, bonds and currencies, and is managed dynamically using liquid financial instruments such as futures. The new fund has no minimum subscription, and offers real-time liquidity and total transparency. Launched in a mutual fund format in August 2007, the strategy in an ETF format offers investors a choice between the subscription/redemption channel of a traditional fund and the flexibility of a real-time stock market negotiation via the ETF.

"Based on the concept of alternative beta, involving the replication of estimated hedge fund allocations in traditional asset classes," SGAM says, "academic studies show that hedge fund investments can on the whole be broken down into long/buy positions and short/sell positions in traditional asset classes."

The allocation process of the SGAM ETF T-Rex portfolio is based on a quantitative model, created by SGAM AI's structured asset management team. The model automatically calculates the allocation that optimises correlation to the index, composed of more than 2,000 hedge funds tracked in the HFR database. Positions are reviewed every month.

Société Générale Asset Management had EUR 309 billion ($452 billion) in assets under management at the end of June, including EUR 50 billion ($73.2 billion) in alternative investments.

SGAM Index is a wholly owned Société Générale Asset Management subsidiary that offers passive management, differentiated index management, structured ETFs and alternative beta products, and whose funds are commercialised by SGAM Alternative Investments.

MSCI Barra Joins Morningstar Arrangement

MSCI Barra and Morningstar have entered into an arrangement to calculate and distribute hedge fund indices jointly.

“We are delighted to be working with Morningstar, and believe that this exciting development will greatly benefit all users of our hedge fund indices. Going forward they will have access to enhanced hedge fund indices from Morningstar based upon MSCI Barra’s methodology applied to one of the largest hedge fund databases,” said David Brierwood, Chief Operating Officer, MSCI Barra.

“For more than 35 years, MSCI Barra has produced some of the most widely used and well-respected indices in the industry, and we’re pleased to apply the MSCI Hedge Fund Index Methodology to our extensive hedge fund database,” said Liz Kirscher, President of Data Services for Morningstar. “The combination of MSCI Barra’s methodology and Morningstar’s large hedge fund universe will allow us to offer a valuable set of robust benchmarks to both MSCI Barra clients and ours.”

These indices and the Morningstar database will replace the current MSCI Hedge Fund Indices and Database after a brief transition period. MSCI Barra will continue to calculate and distribute the MSCI Investable Hedge Fund Indices and the Barra Hedge Fund Risk Model. Morningstar will continue to calculate and distribute its existing Morningstar Hedge Fund Indices, including the Morningstar® 1000 Hedge Fund Index.

The MSCI Hedge Fund Index Methodology uses primary and secondary hedge fund characteristics to build the indices based on investment process, asset class, geography, and Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®) sectors. This granularity is unique among hedge fund indices and allows investors to benchmark precise investment opportunities. Morningstar collects 300 data points from 8,500 hedge funds and funds of hedge funds for its database including information about portfolio holdings, strategy allocation and hedging techniques.

MSCI Barra is headquartered in New York, with research and commercial offices around the world. Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm, is the controlling shareholder of MSCI Barra.

Recently named Index Provider of the Year at the 2008 European Pensions Awards, MSCI Barra is a provider of investment decision support tools worldwide, including indices and portfolio risk and performance analytics.

Morningstar, Inc. is a provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

PROXY Governance, Inc.(PGI), a leading proxy advisory firm, has recommended that shareholders support management in the Cleveland-Cliffs proxy battle.

Cleveland-Cliffs is a mining company that produces iron ore pellets and supplies metallurgical coal to the steelmaking industry; the company also has announced plans to build a biomass fuel plant.

As an Ohio corporation, Cleveland-Cliffs is subject to the state's "control share acquisition," which requires shareholder approval for any acquisition of shares which, when added to its existing ownership stake, would entitle the acquirer to control any of the following ranges of voting power in the election of directors: One-fifth or more but less than one-third, one-third or more but less than a majority, or a majority.

In this instance, Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund 1, Ltd., and Harbinger Capital Partners Special Situations Fund, LP (“Harbinger”), which presently own approximately 15.6% of outstanding shares, seek to increase their aggregate holdings to greater than 20%, but less than 33 1/3%, of the company’s outstanding common shares.

PGI notes that Harbinger's acquisition could allow it to influence corporate strategy and decision-making, yet provides no immediate or obvious economic advantages to existing shareholders.

Hedge funds Down in August

The Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund Index lost 3.12% in August, significantly underperforming U.S. and global equity and bond markets.

August, like July, was characterized by a large drop in emerging markets and commodities. "Even though commodity prices have started to descend, their lofty valuations slowed growth and demand, especially in emerging markets,” said Morningstar Hedge Fund Analyst Nadia Van Dalen. "It was only a matter of time before hedge funds riding these waves crashed."

The Morningstar Emerging Markets Hedge Fund Index lost 7.13% in August while the Global Trend Hedge Fund Index, which profited from a previous upward trend in commodities, lost 5.35%. Both of these indexes experienced similar losses in July. Through July however, these funds continued to receive the largest inflows of assets this year, approximately $10.9 billion.

Unlike emerging market hedge funds, U.S. equity hedge funds fared relatively well. The Morningstar US Equity Hedge Fund Index earned 0.47% in August. Even though these hedge funds performed better than those in other equity categories, they still underperformed the markets—the S&P 500 Index gained 1.45% in August. Similarly, the Morningstar US Small Cap Equity Hedge Fund Index lost 2.81% while the Russell 2000 Index gained 3.61%

The U.S. equity markets were propped up for most of the month by the rising dollar and weakening Euro. Morningstar calculates its hedge fund indexes by converting hedge fund returns into U.S. dollars using the spot rate at the end of the month. This methodology does not hedge U.S. dollar exposure, and reflects the negative impact of Euro-denominated funds.

Along with the Euro, European equity markets dropped in August, reacting to weak economic data. The Morningstar Europe Equity Hedge Fund Index dropped 3.33%. Year to date through July 31, funds in this index have seen the largest outflows, approximately $9.6 billion. Despite the appreciation of the Yen, developed Asian equity markets followed that of emerging markets in general. The Morningstar Developed Asia Equity Hedge Fund Index lost 3.10%. Currency traders on the right side of the dollar, Yen, and Euro trades helped to cushion the blow for the Global Non-trend Hedge Fund Index, which lost 1.63%.

Global bonds, as measured by the Lehman Global Aggregate index ended the month in the red, and the Morningstar Global Debt Hedge Fund Index and the Morningstar Debt Arbitrage Hedge Fund Index both experienced losses of 3.64% and 1.33%, respectively. During the month, credit spreads widened amid financial distress at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, hurting funds in these indexes. Volatility in the credit markets also affected funds in the Morningstar Convertible Arbitrage Hedge Fund Index, which lost 1.08%.

Distressed securities funds and corporate event funds continued to wait for a market turn around. The Morningstar Distressed Securities Hedge Fund Index and Corporate Actions Hedge Fund Index dropped 1.28% and 2.34%, respectively. Multi-strategy funds outperformed hedge funds of funds. These indexes fell 2.40% and 3.99%, respectively.
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Brotman Boldly Launches Market Timing Fund

Brotman Capital Management has chosen this, the worst year for hedge funds in over a decade, to launch its flagship Market Timing Fund.

Since inception through August 2008 the fund is up 14% net of fees. The fund has a $100,000 minimum investment, 2% Management fee and a 20% Incentive allocation.

Domiciled in Boca Raton, Florida, Brotman Capital Partners began trading in January 2008. The proprietary Trend Timing Model that the hedge fund employs dictates when the partnership should be long, short, or retained in cash.

Although trend timing is certainly not a mainstream Wall Street philosophy, the General Partner believes that the Trend Timing Model is valid and will deliver superior returns in the long run when compared to a “just buy and hold the S&P 500” philosophy.

"Even though most market gurus believe nobody can “Time the Market” correctly and consistently," Dr. Randy Brotman, Chairman and CEO, stated, "We are very pleased with our performance and we never use margin to enhance our results."

SEC Plans to Protect Lehman Investors

While coordinating with overseas regulators to protect Lehman's customers and maintain orderly markets, the SEC staff who have been on-site at the U.S. broker-dealer will remain in place to oversee the orderly transfer of customer assets to one or more SIPC-insured brokerage firms.

In cases such as this, the SEC says, Lehman Brothers' customers will benefit from their extensive protections under SEC rules, including segregation of customer securities and cash as well as insurance by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. These safeguards are designed to ensure that a broker-dealer's customers will be protected.

"For several days, we have worked closely with regulators around the world including the FSA in the United Kingdom, the BaFin in Germany, and the FSA in Japan, as well as our counterparts in other markets around the world, to coordinate our actions in the interest of orderly markets," said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. "In doing so we have also worked closely with the Treasury and the Federal Reserve and market participants. We are committed to using our regulatory and supervisory authorities to reduce the potential for dislocations from Lehman's unwinding, and to maintain the smooth functioning of the financial markets."

In the meantime, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. will continue to operate while the bankruptcy process facilitates the reconciliation of claims and the realization of value from its assets in an orderly fashion, according to the SEC.

Lehman Goes Banktrupt in High Profile Casualty Case

Lehman Brothers, Wall Street's fourth biggest investment bank has filed for bankruptcy, making it the largest and highest-profile casualty of the global credit crisis, with approximately $639 billion in assets.

The bank said the Chapter 11 filing will not include its broker-dealer operations and other units, including Neuberger Berman. Lehman is looking at selling its broker-dealer operations, and is still in advanced discussions with a number of potential buyers of its investment management division.

Investors in recent weeks had grown increasingly jittery about Lehman's $46 billion of mortgages and asset-backed securities, as well as its credit rating and its ability to raise capital.

Bankruptcy also represents a bad end to Chief Executive Dick Fuld's four-decade career at Lehman. Fuld, who piloted the investment bank through prior crises with aplomb, was widely seen as too slow to recognize Lehman's need to raise capital and shed bad assets.

Lehman listed its biggest unsecured creditors as Citigroup Inc, Bank of New York Mellon Corp, Aozora Bank, and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. Citi and Bank of New York Mellon are trustees for Lehman bonds.

The firm said that as of May 31, it owed about $110.5 billion on account of senior unsecured notes, about $12.6 billion on account of subordinated unsecured notes and about $5 billion on account of junior subordinated notes.

WhiteRock Says Markets May Be Rollercoastering but Recruitment is Accelerating

Recruiters at WhiteRock Group are seeing increased opportunity for job-seekers and hiring firms.

The meltdown in sub-prime mortgages, and the ensuing credit crunch, has led to uncertainty and turmoil throughout financial markets worldwide, says WhiteRock, but as with any deal, what’s bad news for one party is often very good news for another.

"There’s never been a better time to look for a job on Wall Street, or the Asian financial markets," says Gustavo Dolfino, founder and chief executive officer of WhiteRock Group. And amazingly, there’s never been a better time to be looking for talent either."

To understand why the recruitment business is booming even as the industry appears to be retrenching, one must understand that the overheated markets of the past few years have actually made recruiting more difficult.

Dolfino, who was quoted last week in Crain’s New York Business as well as the Wall Street Journal and is frequently interviewed for market perspective by CNBC, Bloomberg News and other financial news services, explains.

"With markets soaring these past few years, the price of top talent went through the roof. Everyone had golden handcuffs. Nobody wanted to work for anything but a top-tier firm. Now, you’ve got a situation where suddenly all those people who were ‘unhirable’ might be available. And they don’t necessarily want to work at a top-tier firm – those are the ones who’ve been in the paper everyday, mostly with bad news. Right now, the smart money is picking people up."

Dolfino pointed out that the greatest growth is currently in Asia, especially China, where "If you can get a CFO on the phone, you can get a job." He adds, "And we have everyone’s phone number."

To keep up with this still exploding demand, WhiteRock Group has opened three new offices, all in Asia, and brought on more top recruiting talent. The company is now nearly fifty professionals strong and expects to add to that number before year’s end.

Insider uncorks secret liquor store code

The highly descriptive terms used to describe wines sold by Sweden's alcohol retail monopoly Systembolaget are riddled with secret code, according to an inside source.

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