Hedge funds lose their edge Globeinvestor.com
Hedge funds were adept at making money, and lots of it, in any market – up, down, sideways. They would sell short, buy long and use put options for protection. Great gobs of leverage were used to amplify returns.
In spite of notable blowups – Long Term Capital Management and Amaranth come to mind – hedgeland was paradise for many years. Double-, even triple-digit returns were routine. The $2-trillion (U.S.) industry seemed unstoppable.
Until September, that is, when the superhero myth of hedge fund managers was so rudely exposed. Guess what? These guys can't make money all the time. Maybe no one could have, in this meat grinder of a market, but if anyone had a chance of escaping with minor flesh wounds it was supposed to be them. In theory, the funds could even have made fortunes, though the temporary ban on the short-selling of financial stocks crimped the style of some funds.
If schadenfreude is on your list of pleasurable sins, you'll enjoy some of the gruesome hedge fund return numbers for September.
Let's start with
Jeffrey Gendell's Tontine Funds, based in – where else? – Greenwich, Conn., the hedgies' “Gold Coast.” Mr. Gendell launched Tontine in 1997 and reaped consistent double-digit returns. The returns in 2003 and 2005 were 100 per cent in each year as his bets on home builders and steel companies, both well on their way to bubble status, proved spectacularly correct.
A Barron's article in 2003 said “he's right so often, he's scary.” He plowed some of the spoils into the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, where he is part-owner.
By the end of September, the fund was down 67 per cent, with almost all of the loss coming in that one month alone. Tontine had $10-billion of investments at the end of June, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Not any more.....
.....To be sure, the hedgies' losses this year are less than, say, the average mutual fund loss. But that's not the point. These guys were supposed to make fat returns in any kind of bull or bear market and were paid handsomely to do so – generally a 2-per-cent management fee plus 20 per cent of the profits. They were supposed to be smarter than you and me. And for a long time they seemed to be, at least until the big test came.
Some, perhaps many, hedge funds will collapse as they get overwhelmed by investor redemptions; a few have already disappeared, including Ospraie Management's flagship fund. The survivors will become more conservative with leverage, reduce their overheads – goodbye high-priced non-talent – and no doubt cut their outrageous fees. Citadel is already launching a new family of cheapie funds.
Mostly, we hope, they will stop strutting around like roosters and learn a little humility. The hedge fund managers are not gods, as September proved, nor even that smart. Now how about giving back the mansions the investors paid for?Candidates voice views News Times
... Roraback also said
Connecticut gets 13 percent of its income tax revenue from Greenwich, and about 40 percent from Fairfield County, but it is likely to see that decrease because many of their residents work on Wall ...
Economy dominates Shays-Himes race The Day
... Shays battles Democrat Jim Himes. Iraq is taking a back seat. Shays has represented the 4th District anchored by
Greenwich and other wealthy suburbs outside New York City since 1987. Shays' district, where many voters work on Wall Street or have ...
Trouble Shooter New York Post
... remaining lock-up periods." Rumors of Tontine's demise are greatly exaggerated, executives inside
the secretive Greenwich, Conn., fund tell The Post. "There is a lot of misinformation floating out there," one executive of the fund told The Post last ...
New association to cater to 'exceptionally wealthy' InvestmentNews
There are already plenty of associations for wealthy individuals and family offices, but Angelo Robles, a
Greenwich, Conn.-based consultant and former insurance executive, is betting that there is room for yet ...
Death notices The Standard-Times
... by a Mass at 9 at Our Lady of Grace Church, Westport. Burial will be in Beech Grove Cemetery, Westport. Burns: of
Greenwich, Conn., Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008, Ward, 80. Husband of Cynthia (Butterworth) Burns. A graveside service will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday ...
Simone Development Companies Appoints New Director Westchester.com
... A office properties Harrison Executive Park, a multi-building office park in Purchase, NY and One Sound Shore in
Greenwich, CT. Conveniently located on Westchester Avenue off I-287, the Harrison Executive Park comprises three modern office buildings ...
Stamford Advocate
He said his interest in financial matters inspired him to enroll in Greenwich High School's Investment class, taught by Jan Reid. ...
It's all about economy for Shays, Himes NewsTimesLive.com
... Shays battles Democrat Jim Himes. Iraq is taking a back seat. Shays has represented
the 4th District anchored by Greenwich and other wealthy suburbs outside New York City since 1987. Shays' district, where many voters work on Wall Street or have ...
Greenwich Time
With the stock-market sell-off wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth, the past two weeks have brought a reunion, of sorts, between clients and consultants of Greenwich-based Whitehall Financial Advisors.
Value Amid the Storm Barron's
WHEN SOUND SHORE MANAGEMENT MADE ITS ANTEDILUVIAN move to
Greenwich, Conn., from lower Manhattan way back in 1982, clients and colleagues "thought we were crazy," laughs Harry Burn, who along with T. Gibbs Kane ...
Thomas Maloney, 42, of 22 Ivy Hill Road, Brewster, N.Y., was arrested and charged with boating under the influence and reckless operation of a vessel Friday, according to a police report.
Maloney was initially arrested in September after crashing his speedboat on a sandbar off Greenwich Point during a storm, with his girlfriend and her children, 9 and 13 years old, aboard. He was charged with reckless endangerment and risk of injury to a minor, police said.
He was released on a $1,000 bond and his court date was not available.
Mother's cookie company closes amid bankruptcy Sun-Bulletin
... Archway & Mother's Cake and Cookie Co. of Battle Creek, Mich. The private equity company that owned the company,
Greenwich, Conn,-based Catterton Partners, a private-equity firm in Greenwich, Conn., said rising fuel and ingredient prices contributed ...
Greenwich Time
After long enjoying a greater than 2-to-1 lead over Democrats in voter registration, town Republicans are losing their comfortable margin of political dominance in Greenwich, with the two major parties growing closer to parity in membership. As of late September, the ratio of red to blue in Greenwich was 1.6-to-1, down from just over 2-to-1 in 2004 and 2.4 to 1 in 1998, according to data from the registrars of voters. "I think it's a question of the demographics of the town changing, different interests and changing demographics,"said former editor of the Greenwich Time and longtime observer of town politics Bernie Yudain.
Yudain suspected that many of the people who've moved to Greenwich over the last decade are young families from areas that are more traditionally Democratic.
Whatever the reason for the recent slip below 2-to-1, Republicans vs. Democrats, it's only the latest play in a game getting closer to tied over the last half-century. As far back as 1956, Republicans outnumbered their liberal counterparts here almost 4.5-to-1. The last 50 years has seen a steady decline in the percentage of registered GOPers, coupled with a rise in that of registered Democrats. The percentage of unaffiliateds here has hovered between 25 and 37 percent, the current figure, throughout.
Even the most traditionally Republican parts of town have felt the change. In District 10, Northwest Greenwich, Republicans no longer comprise a majority of the voting population.....
Tigers win thriller News Times
Two yards away from a two-touchdown deficit early in the second quarter, the
Ridgefield High defense swarmed Greenwich quarterback Justin Warzoha inches from the goal line.
Greenwich Time
For Brian Bielfelt, a typical "day at the office" means spending eight hours in a lush backcountry meadow staring up at the sky.
Read it: 'Gardens Private & Personal: A Garden Club of American Book' Star-telegram.com
... If I had my druthers, I'd be languishing next to the poolside otter sculpture, perfectly placed in a garden in
Greenwich, Conn. Ah, to dream. - Catherine Mallette
Greenwich Time
"Pay attention!" If nothing else works, Marianne Diekmann uses an English phrase that every one of her 9- to 11-year-old pupils knows all too well.
The children at the German School of Connecticut, about 30 of whom come from Greenwich, are studying a fairytale about a pirate who lived several hundred years ago. They read the tale in German.
Danbury stuns Greenwich NewsTimesLive.com
With just 1:04 left in the game Maycon Pimenta side-stepped Greenwich goalie Conor Murphy and scored on an open net, lifting the Danbury boys soccer team to a thrilling 1-0 win over last year's Fairfield County ...
Greenwich Time
HARTFORD - Stephen Davis was on his way to work in New York City yesterday, and his partner, Jeffrey Busch, was preparing for a family bat mitzvah when the Wilton couple received news they'd been awaiting since spring 2007.
Their attorney phoned to say the state Supreme Court was, after nearly 18 months, going to rule at 11:30 a.m. on the lawsuit Busch, Davis and seven other gay couples filed to overturn Connecticut's ban on same-sex marriage.
In a change of plans, the two instead drove to Hartford with their adopted son, Elijah, for a victory news conference with the other plaintiffs from across the state.
VirtualBank sues Countrywide for fraud Palm Beach Post
... of speculation that gripped real estate markets during 2005 and 2006. VirtualBank's suit also names as a plaintiff
Greenwich Capital Products Inc. of Greenwich, Conn. It bought the loans from Countrywide, then sold them to VirtualBank.
Greenwich Time
Backcountry Greenwich, an enigmatic Russian multimillionaire and 26 toilets - the recipe was bound to attract international media to town last spring, and now a second round is in the works.
a Giant Conspiracy Theory from a Little Acorn Grew: BrothersJudd Blog
... sell them to
the working poor in subprime areas of New York's outer boroughs, has a repayment rate that lenders in Greenwich, Conn., would envy. In 27 years, there have been fewer than 10 defaults on the project's 3,900 homes. That's a rate of 0.25 ...
Weyerhaeuser plans to sell division Portland Business Journal
... Holdings for an undisclosed price. The Federal Way-based forest products company (NYSE: WY) said the deal with
Greenwich, Conn.-based Atlas includes 428 employees located at manufacturing plants in Hillsboro and Stayton, as well as Chino, Calif., ...
Pigskin Preview Greenwich Citizen
Greenwich High s Justin Warzoha has filled in seamlessly for injured quarterback Mike Lefflbine.
DeVico's Action Speaks Volumes Greenwich Citizen
... football Coach Vince Lombardi said that. With apologies to one of the greatest leaders of men, one leader here in
Greenwich appears to have been born. Friday night at Danbury High,
Greenwich senior football captain Jeff DeVico exhibited the kind of ...
Cards Splatter Hatters Greenwich Citizen
Cardinal football. That's how many of
Greenwich High's players summed up the defensive aspect of last week's 34-14 drubbing of Danbury High.
King Outlasts 'Wick Gridders in OT Thriller Greenwich Citizen
... vain to catch a pass attempt on the final play of overtime in last Saturday s loss to King. (
Dave Choate / for the Greenwich Citizen) With Saturday best known for college football, there are many moments to remember each week. When Brunswick and ...
Things Seen on the Side of the Road Greenwich Citizen
... the man with a knowing smile. "He is not here."
Rev. Kenneth Kieffer is pastor of First United Methodist Church in Greenwich. E-mail him at
27Yankees@optonline.net .
Protect Yourself Yesterday Greenwich Citizen
... will cause the most illness during the season.
Vaccinations against flu and pneumonia will be offered to all Greenwich residents by the Greenwich Department of Health during immunization clinics during the following times in October: Wednesday, Oct. ...
Stamford Advocate
St. Joseph 2, Greenwich 1
St. Joseph edged
Greenwich in a Saturday morning get-together between FCIAC rivals....
Author-Illustrator Tells Little-Known Story of Lincoln: Devoted Father Greenwich Citizen
... novels and illustrates her many children's books - she produces two or three a year - in
her studio in downtown Greenwich where she moved to from Briarcliff, N.Y. four years ago. Her two daughters graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart. "I ...
Stamford Advocate
TUESDAY
GREENWICH LIBRARY Selective Eye Book Discussion "Moon Tiger" by Penelope Lively. 1-2:30 p.m. 101 W. Putnam Ave.,
Greenwich. 622-7938.
Bush calls for calm amid global stock market panic Hindustan Times
... -- there's an atom or two of confidence returning," said market strategist
Steve Goldman at Weeden & Co in Greenwich, Connecticut. Many investors have been looking for global leadership, but Bush is a lame duck ahead of the November 4 presidential ...
Greenwich Time
To the editor:
From a different perspective, I want to write about the new policy for Island Beach.
I was a 33-year resident of Greenwich, moving away in 1992. We raised four children in the Greenwich public school systems, and this summer they wanted to return to Greenwich for a family reunion. There are now 10 grandchildren, four of them Greenwich residents.
We planned a trip to Island Beach because we could get there with the new, open policy. We went on a beautiful late August Saturday morning, and did not crowd the parking lot, the boat, the beach or lunch tables. I have pictures to show that.
Thank you to the town. It was a pleasure for my children to show their children the places where they had spent a lot of summer days.
We spent a lot of money, including on lunch. That was OK. However, I don't want to count up the money spent on going to Greenwich Point the next morning with this reunion group. Only desperate former Greenwich residents would consider making the visit.
Perhaps there could be an alumni fee or a few special privileges for former resident senior citizens. That would not crowd the beach.
A final point: I was happy to read in your paper that the turkey was rescued safely from the Point. I was there several weeks ago and viewed a disheartening scene of Greenwich animal control troops chasing the turkey with a van and a net, even onto the beach. It was not successful, and everyone cheered.
Sandra Grady
Norwalk
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