News

Amaranth Advisors lost billions trading natural gas contracts on the Intercontinental Exchange, and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission wants to make sure that nothing like it ever happens again.

The Kansas Public Employees Retirement System needs help. Private equity help, to be exact.

The pension fund has issued a request for proposals from private equity advisors.

Piper Jaffray thinks hedge fund Vermilion Capital Management’s strategy is a little too familiar, and it’s not laughing.

Investors’ appetite for hedge funds has abated somewhat in the face of this summer’s difficulties, but not enough to keep the industry from its annual inflow record-breaking.

In a sign that the alternative investments community fears it will not be able to scuttle new rules that would vastly inflate their tax bills, it has struck upon a new strategy to make the tax hike more palatable.

Thames River Capital is set to launch a real-estate long/short fund later this year, adding a Pramerica Real Estate Investors veteran to its property team in advance of the offering.

“It’s a property long/short fund investing in pan-European real estate securities,” said Michael Warren, an investment director at Thames River. “It will look at the property market from the point of view of a long/short book of equities and it will also take a directional view.”

India is fast becoming the region of choice for private equity pros. The subcontinent is set to receive US$13.5 billion in private equity funding during 2007, ranking it among the top seven countries in the world, according to a new report.

Index-based investing is the future for hedge funds investors, a prominent hedge fund indexing firm says.

FRM Credit Alpha, a Guernsey-domiciled credit fund of hedge funds traded on the London Stock Exchange, is looking to raise additional capital following its strong performance since launch on April 1.

Och-Ziff Capital Management reported an increase in assets under management in advance of its planned initial public offering.

The New York-based hedge fund said its assets under management rose 3.4% to $30.1 billion, as net inflows offset a decline in the value of its funds.