SIMON MUMME

Government efforts to defend economies from the global downturn – primarily official interest rate cuts and spending packages – could make inflation a significant threat to investors’ portfolios once the crisis has run its course, according to Urs Wietlisbach, executive vice chairman of Partners Group, a CHF24 billion (US$21 billion) alternatives manager.

While the net asset values (NAVs) of private equity funds have been spared the steep declines taken by major indexes, the reporting lags inherent in private equity fund valuations should unveil double-digit losses for the first half of 2009.

The peak body for the global hedge fund industry, the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has backed a proposal mandating the full transparency and disclosure of ‘stematically significant’ positions and risk exposures held by hedge funds to their national regulators.