What I Do Now

… and what I can do for you

My goal as a journalist is not to compete with major financial news outlets. Rather, it is to provide news and information on money managers that readers may not be getting from the likes of Bloomberg, Dow Jones, and Reuters on hedge, private equity and, on occasion, registered mutual and closed-end funds. Clients can subscribe to my biweekly newsletter, request research on a contractual basis, or both. If I don’t think I can get what you’re looking for, or if it seems like a long shot, I'll tell you that up front.

Proprietary Information

When it comes to getting proprietary information, the key is knowing where to look. Having worked with regulatory filings for years, I know where and how to find different types of data that’s buried away in electronic file cabinets maintained by federal and state agencies. I couple that with the ability to compile data from various sources, analyze financial statements and fund structures, and tap into an extensive list of people working in money management, fund finance, and investment management regulation.

One of my strengths is, having worked with regulatory filings for years, I understand the potential pitfalls and limits of using the information therein. While in theory filing disclosures should be uniform and straightforward, in practice there is a wide range of variability in the way that fund managers provide information through public documents. I also understand how figures in regulatory filings are calculated and presented, and thus know what conclusions can and can’t be drawn from the information. This makes my reporting more accurate and helps me catch nuances that other journalists might miss.

Unique Insights

Here’s one example of how I use documents to obtain unique insights into the workings of various funds. Tiger Global, the money manager run by Chase Coleman and Scott Shleifer, generated 48% returns in their hedge funds in 2020. Using public documents, I discovered that the firm capitalized on the outstanding performance by raising more than $2 billion of capital at the end of that year, most likely from overseas investors through a confidential process known as Regulation S.

This capital raise, in turn, allowed Coleman and Shleifer to withdraw billions of dollars of their personal capital from the hedge funds without forcing them to sell any of its portfolio holdings, according to other documents. During 2021, the two managers invested these personal proceeds in Tiger Global’s new venture capital funds, which were raising billions of dollars to take stakes in private tech companies.

The shift proved fortunate for Coleman and Shleifer. Tiger Global’s hedge funds lost more than half their value as publicly traded tech stocks tumbled through the first nine months of 2022. In contrast, Tiger Global’s venture investments in privately held companies were largely insulated from the turmoil in publicly traded markets.

Topics I’ll Cover

I plan to cover the following fund-related topics:

  • Financing agreements, data and trends

  • Leverage

  • Private loans to individuals secured by fund interests, art and other assets

  • Capital flows

  • Ownership by insiders and institutions

  • Changes in trading strategies

  • Holdings