It seemed nearly impossible for even Europe’s most successful hedge fund managers to dodge the blizzard of redemptions that characterized 2008, as investors rushed to meet their personal liquidity crises by cashing in hedge fund holdings wherever they could.
The fate of Paris-based Sinopia Asset Management, the HSBC-owned quantitative specialist, encapsulates what was a perversely frustrating year for strongly performing investment firms.
“Ironically, two of our flagship funds’ key selling points — strong performance and daily liquidity — were behind considerable redemptions,” Jean-Charles Bertrand, global head of fixed income and absolute return, says of the firm’s now $2.8 billion Global Bond Market Neutral strategy, which shrank last year along with Sinopia’s overall assets, which dropped to $5.8 billion from $12.4 billion. “No lockups meant that [investors] could sell, and good performance meant that people were happy to take profits at a time when they were scarce.”...