A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that holds liquid assets and that makes use of complex trading and risk management techniques to improve investment performance and insulate returns from market risk. Among these portfolio techniques are short selling and the use of leverage and derivative instruments. In the United States, financial regulations require that hedge funds be marketed only to institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals.
In the field of finance, private equity (PE) is capital stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public. Private equity is offered instead to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the companies. In casual usage, "private equity" can refer to these investment firms rather than the companies that they invest in.
Fidelity Investments, commonly referred to as Fidelity, earlier as Fidelity Management & Research or FMR, is an American multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in 1946 and is one of the largest asset managers in the world with $4.3 trillion in assets under management, and, as of December 2022, their assets under administration amount to $10.3 trillion. Fidelity Investments operates a brokerage firm, manages a large family of mutual funds, provides fund distribution and investment advice, retirement services, index funds, wealth management, securities execution and clearance, asset custody, and life insurance.
Soros Fund Management, LLC is a privately held American investment management firm. It is currently structured as a family office, but formerly as a hedge fund. The firm was founded in 1970 by George Soros and, in 2010, was reported to be one of the most profitable firms in the hedge fund industry, averaging a 20% annual rate of return over four decades. It is headquartered at 250 West 55th Street in New York. As of 2023, Soros Fund Management, LLC had $25 billion in AUM.
A "fund of funds" (FOF) is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in stocks, bonds or other securities. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment. A fund of funds may be "fettered", meaning that it invests only in funds managed by the same investment company, or "unfettered", meaning that it can invest in external funds run by other managers.
A private equity fund is a collective investment scheme used for making investments in various equity securities according to one of the investment strategies associated with private equity. Private equity funds are typically limited partnerships with a fixed term of 10 years. At inception, institutional investors make an unfunded commitment to the limited partnership, which is then drawn over the term of the fund. From the investors' point of view, funds can be traditional or asymmetric.
In finance, the private-equity secondary market refers to the buying and selling of pre-existing investor commitments to private-equity and other alternative investment funds. Given the absence of established trading markets for these interests, the transfer of interests in private-equity funds as well as hedge funds can be more complex and labor-intensive.
Fortress Investment Group is an American investment management firm based in New York City. Fortress was founded as a private equity firm in 1998 by Wes Edens, Rob Kauffman, and Randal Nardone. When Fortress launched on the NYSE in February 2007, it was the first large private equity firm in the US to be traded publicly. In December 2017, Fortress was fully acquired by SoftBank Group, was delisted, and returned to being a privately held company. Fortress manages $44.7 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2023, on behalf of over 1,900 institutional clients and private investors worldwide across a range of credit and real estate, private equity and permanent capital investment strategies. In May 2023, Mubadala Investment Co agreed to acquire a majority stake in Fortress from Softbank for an undisclosed sum.
Private equity in the 1990s relates to one of the major periods in the history of private equity and venture capital. Within the broader private equity industry, two distinct sub-industries, leveraged buyouts and venture capital, experienced growth along parallel although interrelated tracks.
Publicly traded private equity refers to an investment firm or investment vehicle, which makes investments conforming to one of the various private equity strategies, and is listed on a public stock exchange.
Pequot Capital Management was a multibillion-dollar hedge fund sponsor that closed in 2010. The firm's investment funds invested in a range of markets through a variety of strategies. The firm invested in public equities as well as private equity, venture capital, distressed securities, and various other fixed income securities. The firm closed in 2010 following allegations of insider trading.
Harbinger Capital Partners is a private hedge fund based in New York City, New York, founded by Philip Falcone. Harbinger is a highly diversified multi-strategy hedge fund. Notable investments have included sub-prime mortgages in the United States and the United Kingdom, such as HBOS, and LightSquared, a wireless communications company that filed bankruptcy in 2012.
Michael James Burry is an American investor and hedge fund manager. He founded the hedge fund Scion Capital, which he ran from 2000 until 2008 before closing it to focus on his personal investments. He is best known for being among the first investors to predict and profit from the subprime mortgage crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010.
Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. is a strategic partner to independent investment management firms globally, with equity stakes in a number of partner-owned traditional investment managers, hedge funds, and specialized private equity firms which it calls “Affiliates.” The company has principal offices in West Palm Beach, Florida; Prides Crossing, Massachusetts; Stamford, Connecticut; and London, United Kingdom. The company was founded in December 1993 by William J. Nutt in Boston, Massachusetts, as a privately owned company with initial backing from TA Associates; Its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange occurred in November 1997. Today, AMG's Affiliates manage $651 billion in assets in aggregate.
A royalty fund is a category of private equity fund that specializes in purchasing consistent revenue streams deriving from the payment of royalties. One growing subset of this category is the healthcare royalty fund, in which a private equity fund manager purchases a royalty stream paid by a pharmaceutical company to a patent holder. The patent holder can be another company, an individual inventor, or some sort of institution, such as a research university.
Dymon Asia is an Asia-focused investment management firm based in Singapore. It is considered one of the largest hedge funds in Singapore and Asia.
Tybourne Capital Management (Tybourne) is a growth investment firm based in Hong Kong with an additional office in San Francisco. The firm makes investments in both public and private markets globally.
Perceptive Advisors ("Perceptive") is an American investment firm headquartered in New York City. It is focused on making public and private investments in the healthcare and biotechnology industries.
Vivo Capital ("Vivo") is an American investment firm headquartered in Palo Alto, California. It is focused on making public and private investments in the healthcare and biotechnology industries.
