One year ago
»» Hedge funds basked in the glow of a profitable year, with the HedgeFund Intelligence Global Composite Index up 8.08% in early returns. It was a year in which about 85% of the funds reporting to the HedgeFund Intelligence database produced a positive annual return.
What a difference a year makes. In 2011, the benchmark dropped 1.94%, only the second negative year in its 14-year history. Hardest hit were emerging market equity funds, which plunged 14.85%. In the U.S., the AR Composite Index dropped 0.48%, a dramatic reversal from 2010’s 9.05% gain. As of the most recent data, nearly 60% of funds reporting to the database lost money in 2011.
A silver lining, however, is that in this year at least global hedge funds did not fall of stocks globally, at least according to one measure: The MSCI World Index rose 11.76% in 2010 but fell 9.9% in 2011, far steeper than the drop of the HFI benchmark.
Five years ago
»» Noted activist firm Bulldog Investors, run by Phil Goldstein, called for the removal of Wilshire Enterprise’s poison pill, which prevented shareholders from exceeding a 15% stake in the New Jersey real estate company.
Bulldog followed by pushing for Wilshire’s sale on the grounds that it was too small to remain independent, and attempting to win two seats on the company’s board. It took two years for Bulldog to reach an agreement with Wilshire, but they finally did privately in 2009, ending what one columnist called Goldstein’s “jihad.”
It was one of many high-profile attacks during that era from Goldstein, who ran approximately $225 million at the time. He also won a battle against the Securities and Exchange Commission at the time regarding a requirement for hedge fund managers to register (though mandatory registration was eventually legislated, in addition to even more stringent requirements for some firms).
Bulldog could not immediately be reached for comment.
