February 2008

Hedge funds are on the verge of large-scale direct recruitment of talented graduates, a recent student-organized LSE alternative investments conference suggests. Neil Wilson reports.

The growth in size, expertise and therefore competition in the Shariah-compliant market in 2008 made Euromoney’s choices for our Islamic finance awards the hardest to date. The best firms not only got bigger, they brought new levels of innovation to bear in a series of landmark deals.

Hedge fund M&A activity on the rise.

Greg Medcraft, former global head of securitization at SG, has left the bank after a 27-year career there. The new global chief, Jean-François Despoux, has appointed Jerome Jacques to replace Medcraft in the US, as head of securitization in the region.

After a stop-start year of asset-backed securities issuance in 2007, Fitch Ratings expects European emerging market securitizations to perform comparatively well in 2008. However, it says that a prolonged credit squeeze could hit demand for structured bonds. "Borrowers with hard-currency refinancing needs have so far weathered the liquidity crunch remarkably well but their funding needs will become more acute if the international capital markets remain closed for another two or three quarters, and local markets are not deep enough to provide alternative funding," says Jaime Sanz, head of European emerging market securitization at Fitch in London.

Emerging markets Equity indices in emerging markets outperformed those of developed markets in 2007, rising 42% compared with a gain of just 9.4% in developed markets, according to Standard & Poor’s global stock market review, The World by Numbers.

US and European fund managers are snapping up stakes in Brazil’s small, specialist fund boutiques. They are looking to gain exposure to some of the world’s fastest-growing financial markets, diversify revenues, and capture the huge Brazilian shift out of bonds into equities and other assets. For their part, Brazilian managers are gaining know-how, technology and access to well-oiled marketing machines.

Proposals for establishing an EU-wide definition for bank capital have caused a stir in the arcane world of hybrid regulation.

"It’s mainly America’s fault," says a Tokyo analyst with a smile as he walks to the elevator after a meeting. The US is often unjustly invoked as the cause of problems in Japan but this time it’s hard to argue with the assessment. On January 22 the Nikkei 225 stock average plummeted 5.7% to 12753, prompted largely by fears of a US recession. It was a depressing year for Japanese stocks in 2007, with IPO volumes shrinking by more than 50% year on year and the Nikkei creeping downwards. This year looks to have had a bad start too: blame the US or not, local analysts say the index could dip below 12000 this year.

Managers are still learning the ropes.

The list of credit bosses to resign from their positions has grown longer. Grant Kvalheim has resigned as co-president of Barclays Capital, leaving Jerry del Missier as president of the UK bank under the chief executive, Bob Diamond. Kvalheim lost the credit trading book in the autumn to del Missier, leaving him with a somewhat reduced role. John Winter and Peter Goettler, who were part of the team that followed Kvalheim out of Deutsche Bank in 2001, continue in their respective roles as heads of European and US investment banking.

Icap is determined to boost the position of its spot trading platform, but mutually owned venues are at a disadvantage.

Mizuho Corporate Bank and its German subsidiary have together bought a Russian bank, Michinoku Bank (Moscow), completing the purchase of 100% of all 10 million outstanding shares on January 21.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and CLS Bank International have launched a central settlement service for over-the-counter credit derivatives transactions. The service is an automated solution for the calculation, netting and issuing of payments between counterparties to bilateral contracts.

Lehman’s new loan modification programme reveals its pessimistic view of the UK housing market.

The credit crunch has spurred an increase in the number of new hedge fund launches. Marco Masotti, partner in the fund formation practice at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York, says he has had an increasing number of enquiries from new managers over the past two to three months. "Some are setting up as they wish to take advantage of the investment opportunities that have sprung up, others are leaving financial institutions to start on their own as they are unhappy with management changes, or bonuses at their financial institutions."

Ulan Bator has become the latest destination for hedge fund managers, following the creation of the first offshore investment fund to be focused exclusively on Mongolia. The Mongolia Discovery Fund has been established by Alisher Djumanov, formerly of Uzbek investment banking firm Asher Group, who has raised an initial $5 million of seed capital for the new fund, which is being launched by newly established management company Silk Road Fund Management.

Japanese ECM issuance fell 177% in 2007 to just $25.5 billion and 266 deals. Japanese companies raised just $6 billion in IPOs, a decrease of 68% from 2006 when they raised $18.9 billion.

Neal Neilinger is the new global head of credit at Calyon. He is responsible for trading, sales and syndicate in the debt and credit markets product line. He reports to his former boss and colleague Jim Siracusa, global head of debt and credit markets.

Redecard, a merchant servicing business in Brazil that Citi holds a majority stake in, plans to undertake a follow-on secondary offering. The announcement came within hours of Citi announcing write-downs of $18.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007.

But lack of legislation might deter traditional investors.

Net inflows into hedge funds in 2007 were higher than 2006 levels in spite of turbulent markets.

According to prime brokers in New York and London, funds of hedge funds are reducing the number of new managers they are taking on their books, and, in some instances, are reducing their existing portfolios of managers. One prime broker says that some funds of hedge funds have reduced their books of managers by 10% to 20% over the past two quarters.

Ambac’s inability to issue surplus capital notes could mean that the writing is on the wall for this entire sector.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez raised the regulated price of milk and threatened to seize dairies that tried to charge more as he attempted to increase milk supplies.

Goldman Sachs has taken a minority stake in Kiev-based investment bank Dragon Capital via a share capital increase. "This development is recognition of the professionalism and success of our 120-strong multinational team and of our track record of triple-digit returns on equity," says Tomas Fiala, Dragon Capital’s managing director and controlling shareholder.

Cognotec, an FX trading solutions provider, has formed a partnership with Saxo Bank. As a result, Saxo will stream liquidity to Cognotec’s RealStream Margin trading platform, which Cognotec developed specifically to target what it calls the professional retail market. In a press release, Brian Maccaba, Cognotec’s chief executive, said: "We are delighted to partner with a progressive bank such as Saxo Bank with its depth of FX experience, and particularly their leading profile in the professional retail trading market."

Electronic broker Icap, the world’s biggest interdealer broker, acquired a 15% stake in the Bolsa de Productos de Chile (BPC) commodity exchange in January. This deal makes Icap the first international investor to have an ownership stake in a Chilean exchange, after acquiring the last three shares that belonged to BPC for Ps400 million ($800,000). This deal values the Chilean exchange at $5.6 million.

In a signing ceremony witnessed by UK prime minister Gordon Brown and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, Standard Chartered Bank agreed on January 18 to provide credit to a microfinance organization in China. It is the first time an international bank has backed such a project in China. The bank is to supply an initial Rmb20 million ($2.76 million) to the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) to support farmers and small business owners. Microfinance initiatives are seen as key tools in the fight against poverty. Providers of microcredit in poor areas get help in reducing their operating costs; the investment banks benefit from being attached to these PR-friendly projects and often make decent returns on their investments. Standard Chartered is no idle investor: in return for its expertise and reach the bank expects CFPA’s assistance to expand its business in rural China.

Former chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan has joined Paulson & Co as a member of its advisory board. He will provide advice to Paulson’s investment management team on financial markets in an exclusive arrangement. John Paulson, founder of the event-driven hedge fund, saw assets balloon from $7 billion to $28 billion last year because of correct calls on the sub-prime market.