Madoff Legacy Forces Move from New Zealand Fund coverage Pure London

Pure Capital Ltd., the hedge fund in New Zealand led by Anthony Limbrick, will move its base to London to be closer to customers and the legacy of the Ponzi scheme of Bernard Madoff makes it more difficult to convince investors dispose of money.

pure capital headquarters will be in the United Kingdom within six months, said Limbrick, president of the fund and chief investment officer, who is based in the New Zealand capital, Wellington. Away from the financial world, is "very difficult" to attract assets, he said, declining to disclose the fund size or performance.

Madoff, who pleaded guilty in March 2009 to use money from new investors to pay old, compounded the challenge of attracting funds in remote locations, said Limbrick. Others are following, Sydney-based Global Trading Strategies, established in London to court potential investors.

"Proximity to investors is a very important thing that came Bernie Madoff," Limbrick said in an interview from 08 December. "There is a natural human tendency to trust someone beside you rather than at the end of the phone."

Almost all the 23 billion U.S. dollars put into hedge funds during the first half of the year went to those with more than $ 5 billion, Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research Inc. said Sept. 15. These funds represent 60 percent of the industry of 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars of assets.

London wins

"We have major problems getting people" to Australia to do due diligence, Murray said Chatfield, director of operations for Global Trading Strategies, a global macro fund that oversees about $ 400 million. "We have often organized meetings with other managers to make a trip worthwhile. We now have a presence in London to partially offset this issue."

Pure Capital will launch in London with a partner, Limbrick said by telephone, declining to comment further. As president of the New Zealand Absolute Return Association, which represents domestic hedge funds, we recommend any fund has half of its business in a financial center like Hong Kong or New York.

Limbrick, who is also director of the London-based hedge funds 36 South Investment Managers Ltd., said he chose to London in Singapore as the new headquarters of pure capital is that the majority of investors in Europe. This concentration may migrate to the east in a decade, he said.

"We can imagine that in five to 10 years to move to Asia," he said.