Today is hedge fund redemption day
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Doug Krizner: Taking many out of a hedge fund is not like withdrawing cash from your bank account. Most funds require 45-day notice before investors can get redeem shares. For many investors today is the deadline, if they want to pull out before the end of the third quarter. Jill Barshay reports on what redemption day might means for the markets.
Jill Barshay: The market is waiting to see how many hedge fund investors have had enough of this summer’s investment losses.
Tom Whelan is the chief executive of Greenwich Alternative Investments. He expects investors to bail out of two types of hedge funds. The kind that invest in subprime mortgages, and the kind that are run by quantitative computer models.
Tom Whelan: I think the number will be probably $30-$40 billion range, maybe.
Whelan says it’s only a tiny fraction of the $1.7 trillion in hedge funds.
Whelan: I don’t think it’s going to have huge impact on the equity markets.
Not all hedge fund experts are so calm.
If too many investors ask for their money back today, hedge fund managers are allowed to close the gates and block investors from making withdrawals. Several funds have already announced such gate closings.
Some fear these gate closings will cause more investors to panic and decide to bail, just like a run on the bank.
In New York, I’m Jill Barshay for Marketplace.
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