As a new local hedge fund raised $50 million, the larger industry registered a 0.2 percent return on investments in June, overcoming losses among hedge funds focusing on futures according to an index maintained by Greenwich Alternative Investments.
That matched the performance of the S&P 500; for the first half of 2009, hedge funds had a 9.1 percent return, nearly triple the performance of the Standard & Poor”™s index.
Fairfield County has one of the five largest concentrations of hedge funds in the world, lightly regulated investment firms that use sophisticated trading platforms in an attempt to beat traditional investments. The Fairfield County cluster recently added a new member in Greenwich: 5:15 Capital Management, which this week revealed a $50 million investment from an affiliate of London-based Man Group PLC. The startup hedge fund reportedly was started by alumni of Brevan Howard Asset Management L.L.P. and RBS Greenwich Capital.
With a 2 percent return, fixed-income investment funds were the top performers in June, according to Greenwich Alternative Investments, along with “special situation” funds that trade opportunistically has events dictate.
Futures funds, the second largest class of hedge fund tracked by Greenwich Alternative Investments after value funds, suffered a 1.6 percent reversal in June.
