One emerging site, where small and midcapitalization hedge funds make themselves available to institutional investors, is Hedge Connection Inc. Andrew Saunders, director of the New York based site, sells his site as a place where high-net-worth and institutional investors can browse and find managers that suit their varied priorities.
This is how it works: Hedge fund managers sign up and use the site to create profiles that detail their fund’s particularly strategies, lockups and investor preferences. Meanwhile, investors, taking into consideration the size of funds, their strategies and a hundred other factors, can browse through the site to find the right match or get invited to networking events. The site is particularly useful for smaller hedge fund managers seeking investors they might otherwise not get introduced to, Saunders says.
Lately, Hedge Connection has stepped up its services. Last month, the Web-based firm, which Saunders describes as an introduction platform company, inked a transaction with M.S. Howells & Co., a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based boutique prime broker. Hedge Connection will handle capital introduction services for M.S. Howell’s hedge fund clients.
A collaboration between the two groups has emerged over time. M.S. Howell first began working with Hedge Connection a couple years ago, said Saunders, when the prime broker introduced some of its hedge fund customers to the networking platform to see what they thought. Saunders added that Hedge Connection is in negotiations with a couple other potential prime brokers. — Ron Orol
Ron Orol is a Washington-based reporter for The Deal and author of Extreme Value Hedging: How Activist Hedge Fund Managers Are Taking on the World.
