London Hedge Fund Manager Alan Miller Makes a Comeback

According to a report in the Financial Times, London hedge fund manager Alan Miller has returned to the industry after a two-year absence by becoming a partner at SilverStreet Capital, a small London fund of hedge funds manager.

Miller, who co-founded New Star Asset Management with John Duffield in 2001, went on a sabbatical in 2006 following a bitter and highly public divorce battle. His absence from the UK fund manager was made permanent in February last year, the FT report said.

SilverStreet Capital is an asset management firm specialising in alternative investments, including hedge funds, private equity and property management.

OTC Hires European Hedge Fund Manager

OTC Valuations Limited, provider of independent derivatives valuation and risk reports for illiquid and hard-to-value securities, structured products, and exotic derivatives, has strengthened its team with the appointment of Dr. Paul Bergbusch to lead the organization’s technology function.

Paul comes to the OTC Val team from BlueCrest Capital Management, one of the largest hedge funds in Europe, he joins OTC Val as Chief Technology Officer, and will lead the effort to introduce the next generation of solutions further expanding the coverage for structured products and exotic derivatives under the OTC Val portfolio.

As an expert in financial derivatives and systems engineering, Dr. Bergbusch brings a wealth of data analysis, derivatives modeling and systems development experience for pricing and processing all derivatives products. He holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Particle Physics from the University of British Columbia.

"Before joining OTC Val I reviewed the market for independent derivatives valuations and realized that structured products and exotic derivatives are not being handled in a transparent and scalable way," Paul Bergbusch said, "The recent market turmoil and the push towards increasing regulation of the derivatives markets highlight the need for independent and transparent pricing."

Bob Sangha, COO, OTC Val, commented, "The fact that Paul joined OTC Val is also a great compliment to our service offering. His deep knowledge of data, models, and systems will enable OTC Val to deliver flexible and responsive solutions."

CNBC Arabiya Re-Launches With New Hedge Fund Programming Included

CNBC Arabiya is dedicating programming to arenas such as women in business, the environment, hedge funds and private equity, as the station moves to a more creative and interactive program schedule.

"We are experiencing an era of economic change for businesses, markets and funds in the Middle East." says Steven F. Hall, CEO, CNBC Arabiya. As the first show of its kind for CNBC Arabiya, a show called "Ma'ahonna" highlights and celebrates successful women within the GCC and Arab business arena. It includes interviews, profiles, insight and commentary through one-on-one interviews.

"Bil Akhdar" focuses on environmental issues impacting the business world, green industry, new sustainable initiatives and companies spearheading the green movement.

"Salat Al Bada'ael" reports the latest news on buyouts, venture capital, hedge funds and growth capital affecting the world of finance. The weekly show, Wednesdays at 8pm (KSA time), discusses the most pressing issues affecting the private equity marketplace.

There are also new shows on Shari'a-Compliant Finance and regulatory issues related to the various Securities & Commodities Authorities. Along with a new programming schedule, the CNBC Arabiya re-launch reveals a brand new studio layout with more capacity for live links. The re-designed CNBC Arabiya website will act as a genuine financial portal to cover stock markets, news alerts and breaking business news.

"CNBC Arabiya is the leader in Middle East business news and reaches over 50 million households through ArabSat & NileSat. We also encourage more viewer-led content via, our upcoming revamped website, and calls to our studios," says Mohammad Abdullah, CNBC Arabiya Executive Vice President.

Hedge Fund Brotman Capital Shows Top Performance

Brotman Capital Partners LP, based in Boca Raton, Florida, has turned in the best performance Year to Date of a Market/Trend Timing Hedge Fund according to Barclays Hedge Fund Database.

Through October, 2008 the Fund is up over 14% net of fees. According to Dr. Randy Brotman, Chairman and CEO, the fund has remained in cash since the middle of August.

He states that “in our Trend Timing Fund, cash is an option, therefore a position.”
The Proprietary Trend Timing Model that Brotman Capital Management LLC employs dictates when the Fund should be long, short or in cash. “Be are comfortable to sit on the sidelines and wait for the trend-timing model to tell us when we will reenter the market, Brottman concluded.

The fund has a $100,000 minimum investment and charges a 2% management fee and a 20% incentive fee.

Salus Alpha offers a fund based on world's best hedge fund index to investors

Because of investors’ demand Salus Alpha decided to make the Salus Alpha Directional Market accessible as a fund. This way Salus Alpha continues to launch tracker funds for all hedge fund indices launched by Alternative-Index Ltd.

The Directional Markets Index (DMX) convinced investors this year with outstanding +53% YTD performance and above-average performance in the last years, the DMX
contrasts clearly with other Hedge Fund Indices.

Investors are able to achieve profits even in falling markets because of the widening of the product range Salus Alpha. It responds to investors’ needs in the current volatile market environment and offers a lager selection of funds with no correlation to bonds or equities.

The Salus Alpha Directional Markets employs directional trend following strategies in multiple time frames and markets. The funds objective is to achieve low to negative correlation to traditional longonly investments such as bonds or equities. The fund also tracks the Vienna Stock Exchange listed DMX.

Since inception of the calculation the DMX displays a performance of approximately 28.40% p.a. with a volatility of 17.88% p.a.

The subscription period for the Salus Alpha Directional Markets is from 5th November 2008 to 30th November 2008. During subscription period no sales fee will be charged.

BIO Congratulates President-Elect Obama on His Presidential Election Victory

The following statement was issued by Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) President and CEO Jim Greenwood following the U.S. elections:

"On behalf of the more than 1,200 members of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, I offer our congratulations to Senator Barack Obama on his election victory. We also offer our congratulations to the newly elected and returning members of Congress, governors and other elected officials across the United States.

"From health care to energy to climate change to environmental sustainability, President-elect Obama will enter office facing a daunting array of complex challenges threatening the well-being of our nation and the environmental health of our planet.

"Biotechnology is uniquely suited to help provide answers to these challenges. Biotechnology provides hope for millions of people suffering from debilitating diseases like cancer, H.I.V.-AIDS, Parkinson's and diabetes. By reducing the incidence of disease, we can dramatically reduce health care costs and help spur economic growth. Biotechnology provides the key to sustainable, renewable alternative fuels that increase our nation's energy security. And we develop crops that produce more food per acre while requiring less plowing, reducing fuel use, carbon dioxide emissions, and overall environmental impact.

"Biotechnology is one of the most promising sectors of America's burgeoning innovation economy. To continue our nation's global leadership in innovation and continue to fulfill the promise of biotechnology, we will work with President-elect Obama and the new Congress to ensure that we have the proper public policies that promote and facilitate continued innovation.

"We must maintain strong protections for intellectual property – the key to an innovation economy – while enhancing patent quality and the objectivity, predictability, and transparency of the patent system. We must increase resources for the federal Food and Drug Administration to enable the agency to keep pace with rapidly evolving biomedical science and make sound regulatory decisions in a timely and efficient manner. We must provide the tax and investment incentives that promote continued biotech innovation and help accelerate the commercialization of advanced biofuels technologies. And we must ensure the National Institutes of Health have the funding needed to sustain the public-private collaboration that is transforming biomedical discoveries into innovative treatments for patients. At the same time, we need the proper policies and incentives at the state and local level to help grow and nurture biotechnology research and product development to ensure America remains the world leader in biotechnology innovation.

"We look forward to working with President-elect Obama, the new Congress and public officials at all levels of government to achieve these goals and continue to build our nation's innovation economy. Together, we can implement the public policies necessary to help heal, fuel, feed and clean our nation.”

BIO represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the world's largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world.

Former Citigroup Manager Joins RFA

Hedge fund IT provider, Richard Fleischman & Associates, announced that Colin Moe has joined the firm as account manager. The appointment furthers RFA's unprecedented growth and commitment to serve its client base of 400-plus alternative asset firms.

Increased demand for flexible technology solutions by RFA clients is being driven by turbulent market conditions and the need to stay nimble with IT infrastructure for expansion or contraction in the immediate future.

In this role, Colin will work with clients to assure optimized service levels and performance outcomes. As a focal point of contact, he will orchestrate the deep bench of resource available to RFA clients ensuring client satisfaction.

“Colin is an accomplished and respected industry professional with outstanding credentials and extensive prime brokerage expertise that our clients will immediately identify with,” said Don Previti, director of business development at RFA. “His important role as Strategic Account Manager will further reinforce RFA’s position as the vendor of choice for firms in the alternative asset space."

With more than ten years of experience, Colin joins RFA following long tenures in account management with Citigroup Prime and Bear Stearns Prime. He has a wide range of account experience, having worked in depth with hedge funds of differing trading strategies, investment styles and asset sizes, ranging from start-ups to multi-billion-dollar funds. His professional specializations encompass trading facilitation, technologies, implementation and training, and asset financing.

Established in 1990 and headquartered in New York, NY, Richard Fleischman & Associates is a trusted technology advisor to over 400+ hedge funds, private equity funds and fund of funds globally, offering both turnkey IT solutions and on-site and remote monitoring staffed 24/7/365.

Man's Investment Research Laboratory at Oxford Expands

A pioneering collaboration that brings together the best of the academic and finance worlds has been such a success that the venture has outgrown its premises, just a year after its establishment.

Man Group plc, one of the world's largest alternative investment companies, founded the Man Research Laboratory ("MRL"), in Oxford in September 2007. The role of MRL is to undertake commercial research projects for the various quantitative groups within Man, and in particular, for its wholly owned subsidiary fund manager AHL. Although quantitative techniques are widely used throughout Man, it is within AHL that they have been used extraordinarily successfully for more than twenty years.

The laboratory was established at the same time as the Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance ("OMI"), which is part of the University of Oxford. Man provides the principal funding (an initial commitment of GBP 13.75 million - $21.9 million) for the institute, which shares common facilities with the laboratory.

"The partnership between Man and the University of Oxford is unique," said Dr Anthony Ledford, a senior executive at AHL and Research Director of MRL. "While other hedge fund managers have opened their own, private research centres, none has done so in partnership with the University of Oxford itself."

"The aim for both the University and Man is to create a stimulating environment of research and innovation, where ideas flourish," Dr Ledford continues. "Practitioners from a wide spectrum of disciplines can bring their skills into collaboration, and learn from each other."

Staff numbers are expected to double over the coming year. OMI, which brings together academics from a wide spectrum of Oxford University departments, already has fourteen faculty members, another fourteen associate members and four permanent academic staff - three research fellows and the institute's Director - along with twelve higher-degree students.

"The collaboration has been a great success", Dr Ledford added. "It has exceeded the expectations of both the University and Man. Planned staffing levels in both the laboratory and the institute were met ahead of schedule, and the number of applications for positions has necessitated a search for larger premises."

Although the institute and laboratory are independent of each other and follow different research programmes, there is significant interaction between them. This has benefited both parties, and OMI is attracting significant international attention. In its first year, as well as a series of over one hundred seminars and presentations, it has hosted a symposium and two conferences - one of its guest speakers being a Nobel Prize winner.

MRL has already made significant commercial contributions to Man and AHL, which specialises in systematic automated trading. A new trading model - first conceived at the laboratory - which operates on high frequency data is now actively trading the global markets and providing new sources of enhanced investment opportunities. Another benefit is the magnetic effect the laboratory is having in attracting the next generation of top talent into Man from around the world.

Dr Ledford added: "The interaction between our Research Lab and the Institute has put us at the cutting edge in our field. Looking at what we've already achieved, we're really excited about the prospects for the future."

Hedge Fund Pentwater Suspends Redemptions

In a letter to investors, Hedge Fund manager Pentwater Capital announced that due to a number of unexpected redemption notices for year-end they have suspended redemptions and withdrawals, effective immediately.

"The entire hedge fund industry is bracing for large redemptions at year-end so as not to become forced sellers in the midst of a severe market crisis," says the Pentwater letter, "In turn, this has put additional pressure on hedge fund investors to find liquidity wherever they can, because they have to fund their own potential redemptions."

"If the Fund were to meet the year-end redemption requests we have received, the Fund would be forced to sell more of its investments into one of the worst markets since the great depression."

The fund has instead opted to create two new classes that have modified liquidity, fee and expense provisions as compared with the current classes. Investors will have the choice to transfer all or part of their investment into one or both of the new classes or remain in the existing classes.

"We will allow investors that wish to invest new capital to do so in one of these new classes and until further notice allow them to retain the benefit of their existing high water mark on any new investment. Further, investors that have already submitted a redemption notice will have a one-time option to rescind that notice, reduce the size of their redemption request, and/or choose to participate in one of our new classes."

Pentwater was not immediately available for comment.

The Central Bank of Bahrain Joins Hedge Fund Summit

West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) - The Central Bank of Bahrain will be participating in the Hedge Funds Review, Middle East Summit in Bahrain on November 11-12, 2008.

"As the funds industry continues to gather pace in the global arena, the CBB is determined to maintain its regulatory precedence in setting up the necessary initiatives to enable this development," said Abdul Rahman Al Baker, executive director, Financial Institutions Supervision, at the CBB who will be presenting an overview of the Hedge Funds Market and regulation in Bahrain on the first day of the event.

The two-day summit organised by Incisive Media will be addressed by Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Minister of Finance and Tarek Sakka, CEO of Ajeej Capital.

This will be the second time the event will be held in Bahrain. More than 250 major investors from across the region are likely to attend the summit, along side leading fund managers from Mena, Europe and the US discussing innovative alternative investment strategies.

The sessions will highlight opinions from expert investment managers, and views from academics on the global credit crisis.

Alex Akesson

Editor for HedgeCo.Net
Email: alex@hedgeco.net

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Polygon Concedes to British Energy, Winds Down Flagship Hedge Fund

Alternative investor, Polygon Investment Partners LLP has agreed not to further oppose the restructuring of the company by British Energy and other shareholders, in exchange the shareholders and British Energy have agreed to stop all outstanding legal actions against Polygon.

In the circumstances, Polygon believes that there is no commercial logic in proceeding with the EGM or supporting the proposed resolutions.

Polygon has also frozen redemptions on their $4bn flagship multi-strategy fund, Global Opportunities, while it unwinds the fund and returns money to investors.

Polygon Investment Partners LLP ("Polygon") is a global private investment firm based in London and New York, investing in a wide range of publicly traded securities. The firm currently has over $1.35 billion under management.

Emissions Fund Pure Capital Peforms Well

In this time of extreme market moves and poor investment performance, specialist investment manager, Pure Capital, a “targeted non-correlation manager” has been performing nicely, according to sources.

“The bespoke portfolio solutions we have developed for our customers over the last 24 months have been bearing fruit” says founder and Chief Investment Officer Anthony Limbrick. Pure Capital targets European, Asian and Australasian fund of funds and institutional investors, giving clients full position level transparency and daily reporting.

Pure Capital is a quantitatively-driven investment management firm providing low or negatively correlated return profiles for discrete geographical or asset-class benchmarks. However the negative correlation is not at the expense of positive returns through the economic cyble, according to the investment manager.

Pure Capital has a research and advisory subsidiary, Pure Carbon Limited. The research team for the Pure Carbon Trading model comprises Anthony Limbrick (Chief Investment Officer), Daniel Butler, emissions trading expertise, Dr Siva Naguleswaran (Head of Research) and Hamish Limbrick, software developer.

Pure Capital is looking for strategic partners with which to launch their Pure Carbon strategy as both an alternative investment product, and an emission credit risk management solution.

The primary objective of the strategy is to provide positive access to both the upper and lower tails of carbon price distributions – and as part of a carbon portfolio – to both smooth, and increase an emission credit portfolio’s investment returns. The model is approximately 50% more short the market (than long the market) from a dynamic positioning stance.

Pure Capital has two business lines. The first, Pure Non-Correlation is a range of “off the shelf” negatively correlated returns-based products targeting specific geographical or asset class benchmarks e.g. Pure Energy, Pure Carbon. Pure Capital’s flagship Japan strategy has a greater then 2 year track record of 14% annualized - with a correlation co-efficient of -0.19 against Japanese equity index beta. Pure Capital’s product offerings are +25% year-to-date on average.

Pure Capital’s second business line is Pure Bespoke – customized negatively-correlated portfolio solutions addressing portfolio problems such as pervasive beta and gap risk. It is these products that are helping Pure Capital’s clients weather the current financial storm.

The fund performs best during strongly trending emissions prices and does not use leverage. The target rate of return is 15% per annum with a capacity to hold AUM to $50 mln, with the possibility of up to $1 bln if emissions markets continue to grow as anticipated.

Pure Capital is looking for partnerships with businesses that are already established in the distribution of emissions products and investors looking for access to alternative return profiles in a new asset class.

The core Pure Capital team has been together since April 2005. Limbrick is also a Director and Member of the Investment Committee of 36 South Investment Managers, a volatility and tail risk manager, and Chairman of the New Zealand Absolute Return Association. He has been working with Dr Siva Naguleswaran since May 1999.

Vantage Changes Name And Hires Investment Specialist

Vantage Reporting said it has changed its name to Vantage Software, reflecting the company’s focus on delivering products to private investment firms with modular software designed to easily enhance their existing systems.

“Since founding Vantage, we have worked with world-class clients to continually develop a solid set of core products that deliver the robust functionality of comparable packaged solutions,” said Vantage Software CEO Greg Woolf. “By virtue of our innovative software design, we also give clients the option of customizing our solutions to meet their unique operational requirements.”

To support Vantage’s continued global growth, David Sayles has also joined Vantage as director of sales and client service. Sayles will be responsible for the development and implementation of sales, account management and business development efforts. Sayles has more than 18 years of experience developing, bringing to market and managing financial technology solutions, particularly for the private investment industry. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and industry events.

“David brings a wealth of experience in the financial and technology industries, including valuable insight into the unique operational environments of private investment firms,” Woolf added. “Given the company’s continued global growth, we are pleased to have such a seasoned sales and client service veteran help us continue to expand our market position and quality of service to our clients.”

Vantage has offices in Boston and New York and has four core software products – Vantage Deal Manager™, Vantage Performance™, Vantage Funds-of-Funds™ and Vantage Investor™. Leading private investment firms that have embraced Vantage’s unique approach manage raised more than $250 billion dollars in capital to date.

Point Nine expands into Middle East

Hedge fund technology service, Point Nine, has announced the opening of their new office in Limassol, Cyprus. This is the second office opening for Point Nine this year, which follows the recent opening of Point Nine’s facilities in New Delhi, India.

The Cyprus office is the second to be launched by newly appointed CEO of Point Nine, Yannis Matsis. Matsis’ 15 years experience in building and managing global debt capital market teams for Mizuho Bank and ING has been instrumental in the direction and supporting technology of Point Nine’s Middle and Back Office Services offering.

"The current financial crisis and the associated reduction in revenues for fund managers has put a bigger emphasis on cost reduction. Outsourcing of the middle and back office operations to reliable service providers like Point Nine is an ideal way for fund managers to increase their operating efficiencies and reduce their operational risks and cost base”, says Yannis Matsis, CEO Point Nine. “We are expanding our geographical coverage to provide the highest quality service to our clients that we can be proud of."

The recent expansion from its London headquarters into the Middle East and Asia means a more personalised service for customers and ensures that all trade capturing/management, operations and reporting can now be handled in the relevant time zones required.

“When choosing to outsource the middle and back office operations, a customer must feel like the provider is an extension of their own team”, says Pavlos Christoforou, Head of Technology. “This expansion allows us to be closer to our customers and provide them with the best service within the industry.”

Point Nine’s technology interfaces with a number of prime brokers and fund administrators and provides accurate and secure transactions, which are processed by experienced staff across three locations in Europe, Middle East and Asia. Customers include Tier-1 banks, large Asset Managers and cutting-edge hedge funds.

BNP Paribas Launches Hedge Fund Service Team

BNP Paribas has launched a global, transversal, multi-asset, hedge fund client service team. The team will be a single point of entry for Hedge Funds for all inquiry, according to BNP, leveraging the bank's capabilities and focusing on operational efficiencies.

The team is headed globally by John Polivko, based in New York and reporting locally to Jean-Patrick Kaiser, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, and globally to Bernard Gavgani, Equity and Commodity derivatives COO and Francois Freyeisen, Fixed Income COO.

Polivko recently joined the firm from Merrill Lynch where he was in charge of the client service organization for Prime Brokerage and more recently worked in financing sales. Prior to Merrill Lynch, Polivko also spent 7 years as a Managing Director at Bears Stearns in Prime Brokerage.

In addition, the appointments of regional managers reporting directly to John Polivko are Victoria Baker, Neil Spice and Jacqueline Man as regional head of hedge fund client service based in Hong Kong.

Talbot Stark, global head of hedge fund relationship management said, "Hedge Funds are a very important client base for BNP Paribas, following the acquisition of Bank of America's Prime Brokerage business as well as the growth of the hedge fund relationship managements team, the creation of this function is another step in better serving those clients."

Ansher Frontier Funds Up in October

Alternative investor Ansher Holding Limited, which is focused on investments in Central Asia and the Caucasus, has reported their equity long/short hedge fund is up 13% YTD.

“Central Asia and the Caucasus region have emerged as one of the world’s fastest growing regions and has shown notable development potential,” says Pascal Buschor, Executive Director and member of the investment committee, “The region is rich in oil, gas, cotton and gold with reasonable infrastructure and human capital and a strategic location between Asia and Europe. The diversified economies of most Central Asian countries show also very attractive valuations in the banking, insurance, food processing and telecommunication sectors.”

Anshers 2 hedge funds have a rather narrow regional focus to invest across Central Asian and the Caucasus' equity and property markets, the Ansher Regional Property Fund (ARPF) and Ansher Regional Equity Fund (AREF). The funds have shown strong performance since launch, in 2006 showing a positive return of +34.2%, 2007: +33.1%, 2008: +13%, for the equity fund, and +8.6%, for the newly launched real estate fund.

With a low correlation to main markets and strong links in the area, including political, the investment objective of AREF is to take advantage of high yield and relatively undervalued assets in fast-growing industries such as oil & gas, mining, energy, financial institutions, and consumer goods sectors in order to achieve long term capital appreciation primarily through an actively managed portfolio of securities and assets in the Region.

Endowed with world class natural resources, the Region is experiencing strong economic growth and attracting billions of dollars in foreign investments, Ansher says in its monthly report, expecting also to benefit from great deal of spill over effect of oil & gas and mining industries on other sectors of the economy.

Ansher Fund Management is the asset management arm of Ansher Holding Limited. Founded 1998, the company has managed number of successful funds dedicated to emerging markets of the CIS as well as Turkey and Mongolia. Ansher FM has managed three different funds with consolidated AUM of $80 million with mandates of investing in the equity markets, property markets and private equity opportunities.

This exceptional performance is attributable to being the only regional focused family of funds with physical presence of the team in the region Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Dubai (UAE), Zurich (Switzerland). The team of Ansher FM consists of 10 investment professionals as well as 4 back office employees to cover the region.

Domiciled in the Cayman Islands, Ansher has a 2% management fee, a 20% performance fee with a 8% hurdle rate and a minimum investment of $100.000.

New York Hedge Fund Managers On Biopharmaceutical Board of Directors

N30 Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and
commercialization of drugs that regulate nitric oxide bioavailability, announced that it has completed a financing and expanded its Board of Directors.

Joining the company's Board of Directors are hedge fund managers Arnold Snider and Marc Elia. Snider will assume the role of Chairman of the Board.

Snider previously founded and managed Deerfield Management, a New York-based multi-billion dollar hedge fund focused on healthcare and life-sciences companies. Snider is also on the Board of Directors of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and is a trustee of Davidson College.

Elia co-founded N30 while at Tiger Management, a New York hedge fund, and has had previous roles in life sciences corporate strategy at Chiron Corporation and L.E.K. Consulting.

"I am pleased with our investors' ongoing commitment to the major clinical potential of N30 Pharma, particularly in difficult economic times," commented Charles Scoggin,
M.D., President and CEO of N30, " In addition, I welcome Arnie and Marc to their roles on the Board. Arnie is widely regarded as one of the premier healthcare investors in the world. Marc brings a multitude of talents and intellect to the N30 Board. I look forward to drawing on their expertise and long experience with biopharmaceutical companies as we continue to move N30 forward."

N30 will use proceeds from this financing to advance its clinical program in Cystic Fibrosis and expand its discovery and preclinical research in the area of small molecule drugs that modulate nitric oxide bioavailability in cardiopulmonary diseases. The financing is the company's second since its formation in 2007.

Wall Street Survivor - Virtual Stock Portfolios

A new online game has been brought to my attention, it's called Wall Street Survivor, where novice investors can contemplate their present and future investment plans without gambling with their hard earned savings.

As volatility in the world’s financial markets have even the most hardened Wall Street warriors at a loss, the game lets potential investors test the waters with a simulated, risk-free platform designed to help individuals take control of their financial futures.

Utilizing the web’s sophisticated trading simulation engine, Wall Street Survivor enables users to build and track virtual stock portfolios bought with pre-set fictional (play money) trading budgets, all while executing a full range of trading actions. The Wall Street Survivor features the world’s only simulator where trades and portfolios are executed and updated in real time.

The platform also possess robust web 2.0 social networking capabilities such as Facebook style message “Walls”, buddy lists and a community of traders to learn from and compete against. The competition aspect of the site lets users pit their portfolio against friends, family, peers and fellow students and the streaming leader-board allows budding financial wizards keep one on eye the market and one on the game.

Highlighting its educational benefits, the site’s proprietary technology platform is in use by over 200,000 students worldwide as part of the curriculum at 900 schools including Columbia, the University of Chicago , Yale, London School of Business, McGill University and others. The platform also maintains an evolving database of stock trading tips and articles on investment strategies.

“In this day and age people, now more than ever must take the time to properly prepare themselves prior to taking risks,” states Rory Olson, CEO of Stock-Trak Group.

UK Hedge Fund Managers Recieve AIMA's Latest Capital Adequacy Guidance

Global representative association for the hedge fund industry, the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), has issued updated guidance to its members on how to implement an Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process.

"The hedge fund industry has embraced the capital adequacy debate proactively and the sophisticated risk management techniques undertaken by hedge funds make this framework possible," Andrew Baker, AIMA’s Deputy Chief Executive, said, "Hedge fund managers employ progressive business management techniques and we are fortunate to be able to draw on the expertise of leading advisers from the industry to guide our membership on how to most effectively implement this process."

AIMA’s ICAAP Guidance Note – originally published in July 2007 - has been revised to address issues that have been identified now that firms and the FSA have gained more practical experience of the ICAAP; and to include examples of the processes that have been implemented by firms to date.

The Guidance Note was produced by an AIMA-led ICAAP Working Group, consisting of industry experts from compliance advisory, auditing and law firms. Members of the group include: John Griffiths of MMS Regulatory Solutions; Stephen Burke of IMS Consulting Ltd; Uner Nabi of Deloitte and Touche LLP; Philip Niel of FIM Advisers LLP; Sarah Nowell of Ernst & Young LLP; Fiona Raistrick of BDO Stoy Hayward LLP; and Matthew Jones of the AIMA Regulatory and Tax Department.

Verizon Expands Despite Economic Conflict

Verizon Communications Inc. reported strong results in the third quarter 2008, reporting 59 cents in diluted earnings per share (EPS) in the third quarter 2008, compared with 44 cents per share in the third quarter 2007.

"Verizon again reported solid revenue, earnings and cash flow growth this quarter," said Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg. "The strategic investments we made over the past few years continue to drive growth in wireless, enterprise, broadband and video.

"Although the capital markets and economy may present challenges, we will continue to execute on our business plan and invest for future growth," he said. "We increased the dividend 7 percent this quarter, reflecting confidence in continued growth opportunities. Verizon has a great set of assets and an employee team focused on creating value for our customers and shareholders."

Verizon had total revenues of $5.4 billion, or growth of 1.2 percent compared with last year's third quarter. This was Verizon Business' eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year pro-forma revenue growth.

Verizon Business continued to expand its global network reach and capabilities, announcing during the quarter that the first phase of the Trans-Pacific Express submarine cable system directly connecting Mainland China, the U.S., South Korea and Taiwan is ready for service. The company also began a significant expansion of its operations in India, activating Private IP nodes in five major business centers following receipt of international and national long-distance licenses earlier this year.

New commercial customer agreements included CA Inc., First Data, H&R Block, Husqvarna and Kuwait Petroleum International Ltd. Verizon Business also signed new contracts with several U.S. government agencies.