Marshall Saffer, Vice-President of Business Development
Vitoes Fund Services
March 2009
The past year has been a difficult one for hedge funds. Market conditions, regulatory emergency orders and volatility all affected the ability of funds to develop and maintain strategies that made for consistent performance. Even in that context, funds tended to perform “better” (meaning performing less worse) than traditional asset managers.
Raising assets in a declining asset environment also proved difficult. Combined with a move to cash, a call for redemptions, a consolidation of funds, and unfortunately, liquidation of others, hedge funds were faced with a series of unprecedented challenges.
If the market of 2008 taught us anything, it is that there is no easy way to riches. Since Adam Smith wrote the “Wealth of Nations”, astute investors and competitors have understood that the market is merciless – especially when it tries to right itself.
