Features

Wall Street and reality TV don’t usually go hand in hand. But as the collapse of Bear Stearns, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and a handful of high-profile hedge fund blowups force major changes in the way hedge funds borrow and employ leverage, the prime brokerage industry is in the middle of what can only be called an extreme makeover.

PCE Investors, a British hedge fund incubator, is adding to its repertoire.

AIG Investments last week announced a joint venture with Larch Lane Advisors, with the two alternatives shops teaming up to seed emerging hedge fund managers.

Need a car but can’t get a bank loan? Try a hedge fund.

Merriman Curhan Ford Group, an investment bank best known for cleantech research, is aiming to make its mark in the asset management business.

Newly-formed hedge fund shop Insparo Asset Management this week raised a $125 million fund to invest in Africa, which has become the favored new frontier for hedge fund and private equity managers alike.

Blank check companies, also known as Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, are making noise in the hedge fund community.

Last summer’s meltdown of cash manager Sentinel Management Group and the recent blowup of Bear Stearns have once again brought the issue of cash management to the forefront for hedge funds and their investors.

Agency brokerage JonesTrading Institutional Services has recently ramped up its offerings to include distressed debt trading in an effort to offer clients an alternative to traditional capital intensive or electronic trading mechanisms.

Public investing on Wall Street is a funny thing, and knowing or understanding reality has very little to do with making money, according to one former Wall Street analyst and clean technology expert.