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12 Jan 2010

UK Hedge Fund Manager Launches Green Investment Opportunity

HedgeCo News - Future Capital Partners (FCP), the £6 billion ($9.68 billion) hedge fund and alternative investment boutique, has launched a groundbreaking investment opportunity that will allow UK investors to invest in the rapidly growing Renewable Transport Fuels (RTF) sector for the first time.

The production of European RTFs is expected to grow tenfold over the next decade, and RTFs are currently the only sector into which Shell and BP are committing significant Renewable Energy investments.

The partnership expects to provide its investors returns of over 30% per annum over a five to seven year period. It will be raising £40 million ($64.56 million) equity, of which it has already secured over £5 million ($8 million) (including a £3 million ($investment from Future Capital Partners itself), and there will be a minimum investment of £50,000 ($87,000). A trade sale or IPO is targeted within 5 years of commissioning of the plant.

“RTFs are the investment opportunity of the future." Tim Levy, CEO at Future Capital Partners said, "The global focus on renewable energy is there for all to see, yet opportunities to invest in such an obvious growth sector are currently non-existent. Future Fuels will provide investors with the opportunity to invest in one of only three RTF production plants in the country. Climate change “is the moral issue of our time” (Ed Miliband) and “the greatest challenge facing humanity” (Lord Stern). Many of us believe that ranking not far behind are issues of oil reserves and price, together with food security. This project has at its heart all of these issues.”
Levy added: “Investment in first generation Renewable Transport Fuels is essential to underpin investment in second and third generation technologies – and is a crucial step towards the long term goal of replacing oil in transport fuels (in the UK this accounts for about 70% of our oil imports).”

EU and UK directives have indicated that by 2020 13% (estimated at 23 billion litres) of all the Europe’s petrol fuel must come from renewable sources. Currently, just 2 billion litres (or 3.5%) of the Europe’s petrol fuel comes from renewable sources, meaning that the petrol based Renewable Transport sector is set to grow more than ten-fold in the next decade.

“We believe this project is not only worthy of investment on purely commercial terms but also allows investors to be a ‘catalyst for change’ in an incredibly important way." Levy said.    

“It is a chance to capitalise on a non-correlated, niche investment of huge potential and at the same time benefiting from the risk controls we have placed around the partnership. Moreover, by securing off take agreements for the plant’s produce, we have done a great deal to ensure the project’s long term success. For the first time, Future Fuels will give UK investors the chance to take advantage of the next decade’s most lucrative investment.” Levy concluded.

Bandon Embraces Alternative Strategy for Non-accredited Investors

Hedge fund manager, Bandon Capital Management, LLC, announced a new relationship with American Independent Securities Group, LLC (AISG) enabling the advisors of AISG to make available Bandon’s flagship investment strategy, the Directional Interest Rate Strategy (DIRS), to clients as a separately managed account featuring daily liquidity with minimum investments as low as $25,000.

The Strategy, available to both accredited and non-accredited investors, was created by a former New York Federal Reserve economist and seeks to provide investors with absolute returns, uncorrelated with the equity and fixed income markets, by investing in the US Treasury Market through ETF’s or mutual funds.

Diana Burrell, President of AISG said “We‘re incredibly excited about the new relationship with Bandon and the opportunity for our clients to have access to liquid, non-correlated, absolute return strategies. We believe investors make money in the long term by constructing portfolios with high compound annual returns, low volatility and low probability of large draw downs - Bandon qualifies on all accounts.”

Bandon identifies institutional quality alternative strategies that can be translated and implemented using liquid, transparent securities and distributes these solutions through financial intermediaries.

Father-Son Advisor Team Charged With Nadel Related Hedge Fund Fraud

HedgeCo News - The SEC has charged two investment advisers with securities fraud for misleading investors about the financial condition of three hedge funds they managed, and misrepresenting that they controlled the funds' investment and trading activities when in fact they were being handled by Arthur G. Nadel.

The SEC alleges that Sarasota, Fla.-based Neil V. Moody and his son, Christopher D. Moody, distributed offering materials, account statements, and newsletters to investors that misrepresented the hedge funds' historical investment returns and overstated their asset values by as much as $160 million.

According to the SEC's complaint, hedge funds Valhalla Investment Partners L.P., Viking IRA Fund LLC, and Viking Fund were controlled by Nadel with no meaningful supervision or oversight by the Moodys. The SEC charged Nadel with fraud last year and obtained an emergency court order to freeze his assets.

"The Moodys led investors to believe that they were faithfully managing funds invested with them," said Glenn S. Gordon, Associate Director of the SEC's Miami Regional Office. "Instead, they abdicated their responsibilities to investors and ignored warning signs that should have alerted them to the fraud that was occurring all around them."

In its complaint against the Moodys, the SEC seeks permanent injunctions, financial penalties, and disgorgement of illegal gains. Without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations, the Moodys have consented to permanent injunctions against future securities fraud violations and are bared from associating with any investment adviser for five years.