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Technology Stocks : Blank Check IPOs (SPACS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (867)	2/10/2007 4:13:34 PM
From: spac_trader	Respond to of 3862

I had intended to buy a small FIG position but was busy at work and when I checked it at about 15 minutes into the session it was already above 30. Too rich for my blood. There seems to be a growing ominous fear in the financial press about the hedge funds taking down the markets at some future point in time. Alan Abelson's column today a case in point.

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (867)	2/10/2007 8:48:05 PM
From: RockyBalboa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3862

Again OT, I looked at FIG, briefly and found the valuation already lofty from a first glance. I have been in the business for 4 years, at a HFOF and during this time I saw lots of portfolio turnover and single managers come and go even as this time was pretty "bullish" in terms of deal flow, liquidity and inefficient pricing in the markets. There were not only the Amaranth Style high profile deaths of funds but lots of small accidents but still costing several % in performance over time. Last but not least the statistics of historic investment returns are thoroughly biased, by selection and survival.. In this period also fell the public comments made by no less than Warren Buffet in that the commissions are way too high, and many consider that the lofty 2/20 will inevitably shrink. As a result the MAN stock was obviously one of the most heavily shorted issues at the London Exchange. While I still think that commissions are generous others are less well meaning and consider them "extortionate"... Related to FIG, the question lies in the business plan of the company - as their revenue base is not only AUM based like in mutuals but to a larger extend depending on performance fees and hence the aggregate success of their investment strategy. There is also a technical issue; the class b can not be converted to the traded stock, class a for some time so it will likely trade ahead of the FV based on the relative scarcity of the stock. Isn't it an odd coincidence that right ahead of the G7 comments on hedge funds regulation the FIG deal is completed? To be continued...