Reuters – Hedge fund managers are facing D-day as investors demand back billions of dollars from ailing and healthy funds alike.
Funds managers around the world said they are sitting on record levels of cash to meet an expected flood of "I want my money back" notices on Sept. 30 — the end of another month of horrible industry performance and the deadline for most funds offering monthly and quarterly redemptions.
"This is not like flicking a light switch," said Timothy Mungovan, a partner who advises hedge funds at law firm Nixon Peabody LLP. "It is more like a bowling ball careening down an alley where we don’t know if it will go down the gutter or be a strike and take out several big funds."
The issue goes beyond well-paid hedge fund managers losing lucrative asset management fees: Global markets could be jolted if hedge funds are forced to dump stocks, bonds and other securities to meet redemptions.
Even industry stars such as Kenneth Griffin of Citadel Investment Group are nursing losses and the average hedge fund is down roughly 10 percent so far this year — the worst performance in more than a decade.
