Globe and Mail- You think you’ve got bad timing with your investments? Spare a thought, and maybe a prayer, for hedge fund manager Jim Allan. <\/p>\n
Back in the rosy hope of summer, which feels like a hundred years ago, Mr. Allan invited friends and business acquaintances to a party. The scene was the Rosedale Golf Club in Toronto and the occasion was a birthday: His firm, Roundtable Capital, was one year old. Paul Beeston, who once ran the Toronto Blue Jays, was there. So was former RJR Nabisco boss Ross Johnson, a man who will live on forever as the antagonist in Barbarians at the Gate<\/em>, one of the best business books ever written.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The guests noshed on tuna sashimi and coconut shrimp. Mr. Allan dished out some thoughts on the stock market. A society photographer captured the event and the National Post published a short item on it. Three days after it appeared – July 31 – he launched a new, multimillion-dollar fund. Life was good.<\/p>\n Then all hell broke lose.<\/p>\n