yup...some fund managers uses the futures as a hedging tool,to shift the price risk.
anyway,the group that is responsible for the iris,mobif and a couple of stocks' astronomical price move is finally revealed.
QUOTE
Aeneas Hedge Fund Faces Probes in U.S and Malaysia
By Otis Bilodeau and Katherine Burton
Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Aeneas Capital Management LP, the hedge fund
company run by former SAC Capital Advisors LLC money manager Thomas
Grossman, is under investigation by regulators in the U.S. and Malaysia
after bets on Malaysian stocks caused losses of about 60 percent in one
of its funds, people familiar with the situation said.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is examining Aeneas to
determine whether it broke any securities laws, three people with
direct
knowledge of the inquiry said. In Kuala Lampur, Aeneas is being probed
for potential stock manipulation, said the people, who declined to be
identified because the investigations aren't yet public.
Aeneas, which managed as much as $400 million and invested mostly in
emerging markets, highlights the risks of funds that make concentrated
bets and don't have to make routine disclosures with regulators. More
than 500 hedge funds have shut in the past two years, according to data
compiled by Chicago- based Hedge Fund Research Inc. Altogether, they've
caused less disruption to global markets than the collapse of
Greenwich,
Connecticut-based Long-Term Capital Management LP in 1998.
Malaysia's market regulator, the Securities Commission, said in an
e-mailed response to questions that its investigations into ``the
manipulation of certain shares are ongoing and individuals acquainted
with the facts of the cases have been called in to assist.'' The e-mail
didn't name Aeneas and officials there declined to comment further.
``The SC will take the necessary action where there is evidence of
deliberate conduct or attempt to interfere with the genuine forces of
supply and demand,'' the commission said.
Losing Bets
Aeneas, whose biggest fund returned an average 6.5 percent from 2000 to
2005, lost money in stocks including Iris Corp. and Farm's Best Bhd.,
prompting Deutsche Bank AG to demand repayment of loans that financed
the trades, said the people familiar with the firm's situation.
Grossman
told investors on an Aug. 14 conference call about the losses in its
Priam fund, which also hurt its bigger Aeneas Portfolio fund, said two
people with direct knowledge of that discussion.
Neither Grossman nor any of his employees has been accused of
wrongdoing. Grossman didn't reply to a request for comment and his firm
referred questions to attorney Kenneth Breen, a partner at Fulbright &
Jaworski in New York. Breen declined to make Grossman available for an
interview.
``Aeneas is cooperating fully with securities regulators,'' Breen said.
SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment.
Malaysia Exchange
Bursa Malaysia, manager of the country's stock exchange, ``continuously
monitors and reviews the trading activities of market participants and
will take necessary actions, if requred,'' Chief Regulatory Officer
Devanesan Evanson said in an e-mailed statement. He wasn't specific
about any cases that are under investigation.
Hedge funds are private pools of capital that allow managers to
participate substantially in the gains on money invested by clients. An
SEC rule that tightened oversight of the $1.2 trillion industry was
struck down by a federal appeals court in June, leaving the agency
without the power to conduct random inspections of many funds.
Grossman, 40, formed Aeneas in 2000 after leaving SAC Capital, Steven
Cohen's $10 billion hedge fund company in Stamford, Connecticut. *He
worked at New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc.*, the world's top
trading firm by revenue, following his graduation in 1988 from Lehigh
University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he played fullback on the
football team.
Grossman's Fund Performance
At SAC Capital, Grossman managed an international equities fund from
1997 through 1999, posting annual returns of 39 percent, 27 percent and
59 percent, after fees, according to performance figures obtained by
Bloomberg News. SAC Capital invested with Grossman when he started
Aeneas.
Aeneas Portfolio, Grossman's flagship fund, made money for investors in
five of the past six years. It had a negative return of almost 16
percent in 2001. The fund's best year was in 2004, when it gained 22
percent after fees.
Performance figures weren't available for *Priam, the Malaysia-only
fund
that suffered losses of 60 percent. A person familiar with the
situation
said the _fund has no capital left_.*
Aeneas was among the largest investors in at least four Malaysian
stocks
that more than doubled this year, according to filings with the Kuala
Lumpur Stock Exchange. Priam and Aeneas Portfolio a_*massed stakes of
more than 10 percent in Iris and Farm's Best, as well as Kosmo
Technology Industrial Bhd. and MoBif Bhd*_., the filings show.
Trading Curbs
Shares of all four companies collapsed after regulators began probing
the rapid appreciation in their shares.
* Iris*, a Kuala Lumpur-based electronics maker, gained more than 270
percent this year after the funds run by Grossman acquired almost 20
percent of the company's shares in February and then continued buying.
The stock exchange imposed trading curbs in May on Iris shares and last
month said it was ``very concerned'' that the stock's ``trading
patterns
were inconsistent'' with movements in the broader market.
/* ``I have no idea'' about any investigation, Iris Managing Director
Tan Say Jim said today in a telephone interview. Any manipulation of
Iris's stock ``has nothing to do with the company or its management,''
he said.* /
Stock Plunge
Shares of Iris have dropped 81 percent since the exchange tightened
rules on trading. Grossman's Priam fund still held Iris shares as of
Sept. 14, filings show. His Aeneas Portfolio fund sold 5 million shares
on Aug. 23.
* By mid-July, Priam and Aeneas Portfolio held almost half of the
outstanding shares of Melaka, Malaysia-based Farm's Best,* which sells
poultry products and animal feed. The stock has since dropped more than
70 percent, following an Aug. 17 letter from Malaysian regulators that
faulted the company for selling a stake to unidentified private
investors at ``far below the market price.''
The two funds *bought up 46 percent of the outstanding shares of MoBif,
*an Internet security company in Penang, Malaysia, from February
through
June. During that period, the stock rose more than 80 percent. In
August, the Malaysian exchange issued a statement questioning the
``sharp increase in price and high volume'' of trading in the stock.
The
shares are down 83 percent from their high on Aug. 16.
Loans Called
* Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, in August
called the loans Aeneas used* to increase the size of its trading bets,
the two people familiar with his conference call said. Rohini Pragasam,
a Deutsche Bank spokeswoman in New York, declined to comment.
The SEC is investigating whether Grossman's firm improperly shifted
assets or liabilities between its accounts, the three people familiar
with the agency's inquiry said.
_/* Trading records at the Kuala Lumpur exchange show Priam and Aeneas
Portfolio were active in the same stocks on the same days. In one
instance, Aeneas Portfolio fund sold 12 million shares in Mahajaya Bhd.
on Dec. 30, 2005. The same day, Priam, the Malaysia-only fund, acquired
12 million shares of the company, a Kuala Lumpur-based real estate
developer.* /_
Investors continue to pour money into hedge funds. Hedge Fund Research
estimates that the industry attracted $42.1 billion from April through
June, the most in a quarter since at least 2003. At the same time,
returns are dwindling. In July, they declined for a third straight
month, the longest losing streak since September 2001.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/18/bloomberg/sxhedge.phphttp://www.banknet360.com/news/NewsAbstract.do?na_id=5316 
Sep 15 2006, 12:35 AM
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