Monthly Archives: April 2010

Hedge Funds Care Event – San Francisco | April 28, 2010

Gala Event Brings Hedge Fund Community Together to Help Children

The 9th Annual San Francisco Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit will take place at The Bently Reserve in San Francisco on April 28, 2010 from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The event will raise money for charities dedicated to the prevention and support of abuse toward children. The benefit will include a silent auction, a golf raffle for the Bay Area’s finest golf courses, and appearances from the San Francisco 49ers’ players, coaches and cheerleaders.  This article provides an overview of the event and below we have reprinted a press release issued by the 49ers.

Venue

This year’s event will be held at The Bently Reserve, an eco-friendly conference center for corporate events, business meetings, and private gatherings. The center is equipped with various boardrooms and a historic banking hall that was originally a part of the 1924 Federal Reserve. It is located downtown near the Embarcadero on Battery Street. More than 10 wineries will be serving wine at the event, which will also have cocktails, food, and dessert stations.

Special Guests

The special guests in attendance this year will be the San Francisco 49ers, including the players, coaches, cheerleaders, and alumni. The team partners every year with Hedge Fund Cares to host the annual event to support non-profit child abuse services in the area. The 49ers have helped raise more than $1,000,000 at previous events.

Silent Auction and Golf Raffle

To help raise money, there will be over 50 items up for bidding during the silent auction (electronic brochure to be forthcoming). Companies who donate an item to be auctioned off will be featured in the benefit’s brochure and have their advertising materials displayed at the event. Silent auction donations often include dinners, wine, theater tickets, sporting tickets, vacation packages, golf certificates, spa certificates, and airline certificates. There will also be a golf raffle where there will be an opportunity to win a round on one the Bay Area’s best private golf courses. Raffle tickets will be sold individually for $20 or $100 for six tickets.

Special thanks to Nicole Goddard Photography for donating a professional photography session.  [Note: it is not too late to donate, purchase raffle tickets or purchase event tickets.]

New York’s Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit

While the West Coast event is taking place in April, the 12th Annual New York Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit took place on February 25, 2010 on East 42nd Street in Manhattan. The event, which had 1,100 attendees, topped its total earnings from last year’s event at $2 million.

Call to Action

For more information about the event, including how to register and donate items to the auction, please click here (http://www.hedgefundscare.org/event.asp?eventID=34). Your participation and donations are what make this important event successful every year.

About Hedge Funds Care

Founder Rob Davis established Hedge Funds Care in 1998 with the dream of helping to prevent and treat child abuse. With the encouragement and participation of his colleagues in the hedge fund industry, the first Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit took place in New York in February of 1999 and raised $542,000. What began as a single fundraiser has grown into an international nonprofit organization. Hedge Funds Care has distributed over $21 million through more than 600 grants. In 2010, annual benefits will take place in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Toronto, London and the Cayman Islands. Through the ongoing generosity and commitment of hedge fund industry professionals, HFC continues its rapid expansion. We anticipate future growth to cities in the U.S. and abroad.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 2010

CONTACT: LISA GOODWIN
408-595-4957

HEDGE FUNDS CARE AND SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS FOUNDATION HOST 9th ANNUAL DINNER TO RAISE MONEY FOR CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION CHARITIES

49ers ownership and players to participate to raise funds

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Hedge Funds Care will sponsor the 9th Annual West Coast “Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit” at The Bently Reserve in San Francisco on Wednesday, April 28th at 4:30 p.m. The event will feature a silent auction, raffle, and wine tasting from premier Napa and Sonoma Valley vineyards. San Francisco 49ers Owner John York will be accompanied by several 49ers players, along with 500 people from the West Coast hedge fund industry at this year’s dinner.

Funds raised by the event will be used to distribute grants to existing organizations that address child abuse treatment and prevention in the Bay Area.

“The 49ers Foundation’s mission is to keep kids safe, on track and in school,” said 49ers Owner John York. “The goal of Hedge Funds Care is to quell domestic violence and eradicate child abuse which fits directly with our mission. We have been a part of this event for the past nine years and are looking forward to continuing to raise money and awareness for our youth in need.”

After last year’s event, Dr. Bart Grossman from the University of California at Berkeley School of Social Welfare provided guidance to help Hedge Funds Care allocate funds raised to the following designated agencies: APA Family Support Services, CALICO Center, Community Violence Solutions, Compass Community Services, Contra Costa County Employment and Human Services Department, Edgewood Center for Children and Families, FamiliesFirst, First Place for Youth, La Casa de Las Madres, La Clínica de La Raza, Inc., The Link to Children, San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center, San Francisco Court Appointed Advocates, Shelter Network, The University of California – San Francisco, Child Trauma Research Project.

The co-chairs of this year’s West Coast Committee of Hearts, who plan the “Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit,” are Angela Osborne from Blackrock, Elisabeth MacKnight from Conifer Securities, and Todd Goldman from Rothstein Kass.

“We are excited to host this event in San Francisco and to partner with the 49ers Foundation for the ninth time,” Osborne said. “Last year’s event was a tremendous success, raising more than $650,000. We look forward to the continued support of the hedge fund industry for this very worthy cause.”

Hedge Funds Care is an industry alliance formed in 1998 with the sole mission of raising funds to prevent and treat child abuse. To date, the group has distributed over $21 million internationally through local agencies. In addition to the dinner in San Francisco, Hedge Funds Care also holds events in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, London, Toronto, Cayman Islands, and New York.

Money will be raised through ticket sales, a golf raffle, and a silent auction. Tables for 10 guests may be purchased for $15,000. Individual tickets are available for $1,750. There are also event corporate sponsorship opportunities. For more information, please call Dan Butchko at 212-991-9600 ext. 336.

About the 49ers Foundation The San Francisco 49ers Foundation is the non-profit community funding arm of the San Francisco 49ers. Now in its 19th year, the San Francisco 49ers Foundation supports development programs for underserved youth that “Keep Kids Safe, On Track and In School.” A significant portion of its funding goes toward family violence prevention and youth development programs that teach leadership and respect. Through the direction of team owners Denise and John York, the 49ers Foundation has raised and distributed over $10 million to non-profit organizations over the last eight years. For more information, visit www.49ers.com.

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Bart Mallon, Esq. runs the Hedge Fund Law Blog and provides legal services through Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP He can be reached directly at 415-868-5345.

San Francisco Hedge Fund Event | April 14, 2010

The Bay Area Hedge Fund Roundtable is hosting an event next week.  We have reprinted the information below.

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Bay Area Hedge Fund Roundtable

presents:

Reasonable Expectations:
Capitalizing On Secular Stock Market Cycles

Featuring:

Ed Easterling

Author of Unexpected Returns and Investment Manager

Ed Easterling is the founder and President of Crestmont Holdings, an Oregon-based investment management and research firm. Crestmont manages a fund of hedge funds and publishes provocative research on the financial markets at www.CrestmontResearch.com. Mr. Easterling has over twenty-five years of alternative investment experience, including private equity, financial markets, and business operations. He is the author of Unexpected Returns: Understanding Secular Stock Market Cycles, a contributing author to Just One Thing (John Wiley & Sons; 2005), and he co-authored chapters in Bull’s Eye Investing by John Mauldin. In addition, Mr. Easterling is a Senior Fellow at the Alternative Investment Center at SMU’s Cox School of Business in Dallas and previously served as a member of the adjunct faculty teaching the course on alternative investments and hedge funds for MBA students. Mr. Easterling holds a BBA in business, a BA in psychology, and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.

April 14, 2010  ♦  3:30 pm  ♦  San Francisco, CA

Registration begins at 3:00

Sens Restaurant @ 4 Embarcadero Center Promenade Level

Admission is $25 – Cash only please, receipts will be provided.

♦ Cocktail Reception to Immediately Follow ♦

The Bay Area Hedge Fund Roundtable (“BAHR”) is an informal (and not for profit) organization of members of the Bay Area hedge fund community that was established in 2001. BAHR strives to provide intelligent, fresh perspectives from industry leaders on current developments and offer an open, casual environment where members can exchange information and expertise and further develop their relationships within the industry.

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Bart Mallon, Esq. runs the Hedge Fund Law Blog and provides hedge fund information and manager registration services through Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP He can be reached directly at 415-868-5345.

CFTC Launches New Website

(www.hedgefundlawblog.com)

In a move that has been long overdue, the CFTC has launched a new website which was designed to make getting to CFTC information easier.  We have had a chance to explore the new site and believe that it is a significant improvement over the old site, even if the new colors (orange) and flash are a bit distracting.

Some of the interesting things about the new website:

  • RSS feeds added – this is probably the best update.  Previously the CFTC did not have an RSS feed for its news.  This new feature is great, however it is only for general press releases, enforcement press releases and Speeches & Testimony.  It would have been nice to an RSS feed for other parts of the website like staff interpretations.
  • Follow us feature – yes, the CFTC is now on facebook, flickr and youTube.  Now you can follow the CFTC through social media…what use this is, I am not sure.
  • Easy navigation – the navigation is improved by about 1000%.  I found it very easy to get to Financial Data for FCMs.
  • Plug for CCH? One of the pictures on website is of a book published by CCH on the Commodities Exchange Act.  I didn’t think the government was allowed to endorse one product over another so I am not sure why this picture is there.  CCH is probably ecstatic that they get this sort of free advertising by the government – I would imagine that West, Lexis, and other groups are not happy and will be asking the CFTC to replace the picture.

Overall the new website is probably a good step forward for the CFTC even if the orange color is distracting.

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CFTC Launches New Website Designed to Improve Access to Market and Agency Information

New site is available at www.cftc.gov.

WASHINGTON – The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today launched a new website designed to enhance access to important market and agency information through CFTC.gov. The new site is part of the agency’s ongoing effort to promote transparency.

“Both the markets and the government serve the public best when they are transparent and easy to navigate,” CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said. “The CFTC’s new website enhances the public’s ability to find the most important information on our homepage, including market reports, agency reports and agency news, and helps fulfill our ongoing efforts to bring sunshine to both the markets and the government.”

Important website enhancements include:

• Improving the website’s homepage to make it easier to access the most relevant information on CFTC.gov. The new site also includes drop-down navigation to enhance usability of the site with fewer clicks.

• Consolidating and simplifying the public comments section of the website by creating a page where members of the public can find every item that is open for public comment, including rulemakings, industry filings and other issues.

• Enhancing the look and feel of the website to make the homepage more usable and easier to navigate.

To improve the agency’s ability to disseminate important information to the broadest audience, CFTC.gov now incorporates videos and other imagery, as well as social media through Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.

Last Updated: April 2, 2010

Media Contacts
Scott Schneider
202-418-5174

R. David Gary
202-418-5085

Office of Public Affairs

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Bart Mallon, Esq. runs the Hedge Fund Law Blog and provides hedge fund information and manager registration services through Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP He can be reached directly at 415-868-5345.

Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP Quarterly Newsletter | 1st Quarter 2010

Below is our quarterly newsletter.  If you would like to be added to our distribution list, please contact us.

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April 1, 2010
www.colefrieman.com

Cole-Frieman &  Mallon LLP Quarterly Newsletter

Clients and Friends,

We take this opportunity to provide you with a brief overview of the major items we have reported on over the last quarter.  We have also provided a list of some of the major compliance issues that managers should be aware of during this time period.

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New Quarterly Reporting Rule for CPOs – new NFA Rule 2-46, which became effective on March 31, 2010, requires registered commodity pool operators (including registered CPOs managing 4.7 or 4.12 pools) to provide a quarterly report to the NFA through the NFA’s EasyFile system.  Managers will report information on key relationships, a statement of the change in the fund’s NAV, monthly ROR, and a schedule for major investments.  The report will need to be filed within 45 days of March 31 and the process will be familiar to those groups who have filed their annual returns with the NFA previously.

For a complete overview of the new rule, click here.

Proposed Forex Regulations – for forex managers, the announcement of the CFTC’s proposed forex regulations was the major topic of conversation over the last quarter.  The proposed regulations include a number of new requirements for forex managers: (i) registration requirements for forex CTAs, CPOs, and IBs; (ii) net capital requirements for forex dealers; (iii) reduction in leverage from 100:1 to 10:1; and, (iv) a guarantee requirement for all forex IBs.

Overview of the proposed regulations can be found here.

Mallon P.C. comments on the proposed regulations can be found here.

Compliance Reminders

Form D Update – managers should be aware that for continuous offerings (most hedge funds), Form D needs to be updated on an annual basis.  Managers who have not updated Form D within the last year should check whether the fund’s Form D needs to be updated. For more information please click here.

Blue Sky Filings – managers need to make sure they are up to date with all blue sky filings.  Mallon P.C. has a team devoted to blue sky filings and compliance and is happy to answer any questions you may have. For more information on blue sky filings, please click here.

Investment Advisers – investment advisers should have completed their annual update of Form ADV through the IARD system by March 31, 2010 for 2009.  Managers who have not done this yet will need to do so immediately. Additionally, some states will require managers to submit other information such as updated financials. The requirements for California registered investment advisers can be found here.

CFTC Registrants – managers who are registered with the CFTC and members of the NFA have a number of yearly compliance requirements.  Generally these managers will have already done the following: (i) submitted annual reports (if required to be filed with the NFA); (ii) sent out a physical copy of their privacy policy to all investors/clients; (iii) completed the yearly NFA Self-Exam Checklist; and, (iv) updated their compliance policies and procedures accordingly.  Some CFTC registrants will have a requirement to review the procedures with respect to bunched orders on a quarterly basis.

Cleantech & Carbon – a recent 100 Women in Hedge Funds event focused on the cleantech industry and how hedge funds and VC funds are looking at investments in this space.  We wrote a summary of the event and were encouraged by the turnout and industry participation.  We look forward to greater interest in this sector by hedge funds.  Additionally, we are closely watching Congress as cap and trade legislation and energy bills become a topic of consideration.  We will continue to monitor any cap and trade legislation and will report on how this may impact the investment management industry.

2nd Quarter Events – New York CTA Expo April 21 – Mallon P.C. sponsors the CTA Expo which was established in 2008 to help professional capital raisers and allocators identify futures trading talent and to promote investing in managed futures. It is a one day conference consisting of speakers and panels combined with a schedule of thirty minute presentations by individual CTAs.  The New York event will take place on April 21, 2010 at the CME Group Building.  For more information, please see the CTA Expo website.

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For assistance with any compliance, registration, or planning issues on any of the above topics, please contact Bart Mallon of Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP (www.colefrieman.com) at 415-868-5345 or [email protected].

Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP is a law firm with a national client base and is focused on the investment management industry.  Our clients include hedge fund managers, investment advisers, commodity advisors, and other investment managers.  We also provide general business and start-up legal advice and have an emerging practice in real estate and cleantech.

Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP
150 Spear Street, Suite 825
San Francisco, CA 94105
Telephone: (415) 352-2300
Fax: (646) 619-4800

Hedge Fund Events April 2010

The following are various hedge fund events happening this month.  Please email us if you would like us to add your event to this list.

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April 7-8

April 8

April 8-9

April 9

April 13

April 13

April 14

  • Sponsor: Bay Area Hedge Fund Roundtable
  • Event: Bay Area Hedge Fund Roundtable
  • Location: San Francisco, CA

April 14

April 14

April 14-15

April 15

April 18-20

April 19

April 19

April 19-20

April 19-23

April 20

April 20

April 20

April 21

April 21

April 21

April 21

April 21

April 21

April 21-22

April 26

April 26-27

April 26-29

April 26-29

April 27

April 27

April 27-28

April 28

April 28

April 28

April 28

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Bart Mallon, Esq. runs the hedge fund law blog and provides hedge fund information and manager registration services through Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP He can be reached directly at 415-868-5345.