Scariest Article I've Read In Weeks

This is a hedge funds biggest nightmare...Seeing another one of such magnitude go down.



Blue Mountain Freezes $3.1 Billion Hedge Fund After Withdrawals
2008-11-03 20:22:36.790 GMT


By Saijel Kishan
Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Blue Mountain Capital Management LLC froze its largest hedge fund after clients asked to pull a ``meaningful percentage'' of their money even as it outperformed the industry average by almost 10-fold this year.
The $3.1 billion Blue Mountain Credit Alternatives Fund declined 2.4 percent through October, compared with the
19.6 percent loss by the HFRX Global Index compiled by Chicago- based Hedge Fund Research Inc. Withdrawals were suspended so Blue Mountain wouldn't be forced to sell assets in falling credit markets, the firm said today in a letter to clients.
``This shows that nobody is immune from the huge investor outflows in the industry at the moment,'' said Matt Simon, analyst at New York-based Tabb Group, a financial-services consulting company.
Investors fleeing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression have forced firms such as Deephaven Capital Management LLC and RAB Capital Plc to halt redemptions. In most cases, the funds have underperformed competitors. The Deephaven Global Multistrategy Fund was down 15 percent this year through September and lost an additional 10 percent in October.
Several of Blue Mountain's fund-of-funds shareholders were under ``liquidity pressures'' from their own clients, Blue Mountain Chief Executive Officer Andrew Feldstein said in the investor letter, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News.
``We are not comfortable with this state of affairs,''
Feldstein wrote. ``If we were to unwind or sell positions to meet current redemptions, the severe liquidation costs would be borne inequitably by the remaining investors.''
A spokesman for Blue Mountain, which oversees $5.5 billion from offices in New York and London, declined to comment.

Affiliated Managers Stake

The firm was started in 2003 by Feldstein, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. managing director, Stephen Siderow and Gery Sampere. BlueMountain last year sold a minority stake to Affiliated Mangers Group Inc., the U.S. holding company for more than two dozen investment firms.
The Blue Mountain Credit Alternative fund has returned an average of 45.8 percent annually since inception. The fund seeks to profit from discrepancies in the prices of securities in the corporate loan, bond, credit and equity derivatives markets, a strategy known as relative-value trading.
The firm's $1.1 billion equity alternatives fund has lost
0.9 percent this year through October, while its $400 million BlueCorr fund has returned 21.3 percent, according to the investor letter.
Blue Mountain is waiving the notice and lock-up provisions of the Blue Mountain Credit Alternative fund for all clients.
Investors have until Nov. 10 to decide whether to redeem their existing investment or exchange all or part of their investment with any one or more of three share classes.
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.

For Related News:
Top fund stories: TFUND
Top hedge-fund stories: TNI HEDGE WWTOP

--Editors: Larry Edelman

To contact the reporter on this story:
Saijel Kishan in New York at +1-212-617-6662 or skishan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Edelman at +1-617-210-4621 or
ledelman3@bloomberg.net

World Travels

I've posted a collage from some of my recent travels abroad. I was never big into traveling until I went on my trip to Greece, most of the trip I did on my own. It was the first time for me traveling by myself and it was probably one of the most enjoyable trips I've ever been on. Being free to do whatever you like and meeting tons of new people are some of the best things of solo traveling. I'd highly recommend trying it, especially if you're still not married w/ out children etc. The below photos are from Greece (Athens as well as random islands), Tokyo Japan, Seoul Korea, Pairs France, Dublin Ireland, London England (as well as some of the outer UK), and some from NYC.

Ad Vitam Paramus

"We are preparing for Life" - a popular Latin phrase, especially amongst universities throughout the United States. As students we realized that the time and effort we put into our work would eventually pay off later on down the road once graduation came and the ultimate decision of what to do next (which was looming in the background unseen for so long) had imminently dawned upon us. It was college though, so parties were an obligation! and in a way that prepared us for life as well, structuring our social side and personality.

Each individual found his/her own way of coping with the “balancing act” of studies and social activities. Some partied more then others, some studied more, others had more items to juggle such as a job or playing a collegiate sport. Yet, at the end of it all graduates can say “we made it.” At least I remember feeling that way plus I couldn’t wait to get out! I took my lsat’s just incase I wasn’t able to find a job and then made the decision of not going back to school. After a few months on Wall Street I really started to miss college, well the fun things about college. For me that was playing division one soccer and having a large amount of time to put towards my social life (especially during the off season lol).

Nowadays time is scarce and everything is fast paced, my path which used to be somewhat foreseeable has become blurred. I’m not sure weather I’ll even been living in this country a week from now. Not that I have any plans on moving, just that work elsewhere occasionally calls. I’ve been in 6 different countries this year – thank the lord (or bill gates) for internet and online education so that I can continue to educate myself while working. Intensity of global market movements, the abundance of information, the lack of sleep, watching coworkers get fired daily and high ambition to get ahead; all lead to severe stress levels. The rewards thus far have been immense but it comes at a cost to the quality of life.

This is the life I’ve chosen but based upon turnover ratios and websites that track peoples job changes it isn’t uncommon for a person to switch career’s from one industry to another multiple times throughout their life.

Well enough information about myself, I’ll post more under my profile so that you can get better knowledge of my background. My reasoning for making this blog is to question the quality of life. What is life? What does/should it entail? How much work is enough? How much money is enough? How much free time is needed to remain sane in a crazy world? And many more questions like that which I hope you’ll enjoy being a part of.


I’ll end my first post w/ a saying from the fortune cookie I ate during lunch today – “Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.”