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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: altair19 who wrote (163567)	3/18/2009 9:56:48 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361615

Hedge-Fund Liquidations Jumped to Record in 2008 / By Saijel Kishan March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Hedge-fund liquidations rose to an all-time high last year as managers posted record losses, according to Hedge Fund Research Inc. About 1,471 funds, including fund of hedge funds, shut down, data compiled by the Chicago-based research firm show. The closures exceeded by 70 percent the previous record of 848 set in 2005, the company said. In the fourth quarter, about 778 hedge funds closed as investors withdrew $150 billion from the investment pools, Hedge Fund Research said. Hedge funds lost an average 19 percent last year, the industry’s worst returns since Hedge Fund Research started tracking data in 1990. Client assets fell 37 percent from the peak in June to $1.2 trillion, amid the biggest losses in equity markets since the Great Depression, according to Morgan Stanley. Among the firms shutting funds were Drake Management LLC, a firm started by former executives from BlackRock Inc.; Peloton Partners LLP, the London-based hedge-fund firm run by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partners; and Ospraie Management LLC, run by Dwight Anderson in New York. About 15 percent of the 9,284 hedge funds, including fund of funds, closed last year, Hedge Fund Research said. More than 275 funds of hedge funds, which allocate money to managers on behalf of clients, shut down. There were about 659 hedge-fund openings last year, the lowest since 2000, when 328 pools were set up, the company said. Fifty-six funds were started in the fourth quarter compared with 117 in the previous quarter. Hedge funds are private, largely unregulated pools of capital whose managers can buy or sell any assets, bet on falling as well as rising asset prices, and participate substantially in profits from money invested. To contact the reporter on this story: Saijel Kishan in New York at skishan@bloomberg.net Last Updated: March 18, 2009 09:09 EDT