Released on: May 14, 2008, 10:46 pm

Press Release Author: Opalesque Ltd

Industry: Financial

Press Release Summary: Opalesque, the world\'s largest subscription-based publisher
on alternative investments, hosts an exclusive webinar for hedge fund founders and
partners on how to successfully set up banks and reinsurance companies in order to
secure permanent capital.

Press Release Body:  Exclusive Webinar for Hedge Fund Founders and Partners
only
 Why Lock-Ups and Closed End Funds don\'t work
 Creating a reinsurer or bank can provide significant amounts of permanent
capital without a proportionate increase in risk
 Proven Models: Learn from the successes of Buffett and Einhorn
 Expert Speaker: Joe Taussig\'s expertise includes the generation of billions
of dollars of permanent capital for hedge fund and FoHF managers

Warren Buffett started a hedge fund in 1956. Working out of his bedroom with
$5,000 of his own and $100,000 from fam
ily and friends, he charged no management fee, but he did charge a 25% performance
fee on returns in excess of 6%. 13 years later, after delivering compounded
returns of roughly 30% (net of fees and expenses), he had approximately $100 million
in AuM, 25% of which was his. He was very successful by any standard in today's
hedge fund industry.
Why Warren Buffett gave up his very successful hedge fund
Despite that success, Buffett quit cold turkey - to go into reinsurance and banking
(many years later, regulators forced him to give up control of one or the other and
he sold the bank). Armed with permanent capital from the reinsurance and banking
businesses, a modest amount of very low cost leverage whose availability was
independent of asset values, and market multiples on performance, Buffett became
even more successful than he ever was in the hedge fund business (his investors did
pretty well too).
Why Lock-Ups and Closed End Funds don\'t work
Modern efforts to secure permanent capital using lock ups or closed end funds have
not been very successful. Resistance to lock ups is fierce and closed end funds
generally end up selling at a discount to NAV and today, managers usually have to
commit to repurchasing shares if the discount exceeds a certain amount (begging the
question of whether it really is permanent capital) in order to complete the initial
offering.
Learn from Success:
Drawing on Buffet's blueprint 35 years earlier, David Einhorn and a number of
investors in Greenlight Capital funded Greenlight Capital Re with $212 million in
2004. Einhorn manages all of the reinsurer's investable assets. In May of 2007,
Lehman Brothers and UBS took Greenlight Capital Re public (symbol - GLRE). Assets
currently exceed $1 billion and much like Buffett, Einhorn benefits from managing
the permanent capital provided by the combination of equity capital and premium
generated reserves.
Despite a drop in the insurance indices of roughly 25% since its IPO, GLRE trades
roughly 146,000 shares per day at a premium to book value (and very close to its IPO
price of $19). Investors in GLRE have done better than if they had invested in the
Greenlight Capital funds over the same period of time and also benefit from daily
liquidity. Relative to their returns from investing in the Greenlight funds, UK
and U.S. taxable investors in GLRE also benefit from taper relief in the UK and the
elimination of annual K-1s and lower capital gains rates in the U.S.
Expert Speaker: Joe Taussig
Joe Taussig of First International Capital participated in the creation of
Greenlight Capital Re and will conduct the Webinar. Over the years, he has
partnered with a number of other hedge fund and FoHF managers to create reinsurers
and banks, each of which allocates its investable assets to its sponsoring hedge
fund or FoHF manager. Four or five of these reinsurers and banks are expected to
offer their shares to the public in the next 12 months, generating billions of
dollars in permanent capital for their sponsoring hedge fund and FoHF managers and
superior returns (without a proportionate increase in risk) for the investors.
Matthias Knab, Director of Opalesque Ltd, will moderate this webinar. Matthias Knab
is an internationally recognized expert on hedge funds and alternatives and has
frequently served as chairman of hedge fund conferences in New York, Tokyo,
Shanghai, Hong Kong, Miami, Bahamas, Stockholm, Dubai etc. In addition, he has
presented or moderated at hedge fund events in Sydney, Cape Town, Madrid, and
Bombay, and lectured at numerous universities on the subjects of hedge funds and the
state of the global alternative asset management industry.
Limited to founders (or partners owning more than 15%) of hedge fund or FoHF
management companies
Participation in the Webinar on June 12th at 10 am New York time is limited to
founders (or partners owning more than 15%) of hedge fund or FoHF management
companies who would like to learn more about creating a reinsurer or bank in order
to generate significant amounts of permanent capital and provide superior returns
(without a proportionate increase in risk) for their investors. Provided that a
founder or 15% partner is present, additional colleagues from the hedge fund or FoHF
management company may also participate.


Click here to logon or register for this Webinar:
http://www.opalesque.com/index.php?act=static&and=webinar

About Opalesque:

Opalesque leads the finance media space for its in-depth and innovative products.
Since February 2003, Opalesque is publishing Alternative Market Briefing, the
premium news service on hedge funds and alternatives. The launch of these Briefings
was a revolution in the hedge fund media space (\"Opalesque changed the world by
bringing transparency where there was opacity and by delivering an accurate
professional reporting service.\" - Nigel Blanchard, Culross) combining proprietary
news with the "clipping service" approach of integrating third party news. Each
week, Opalesque publications are read by more than 360,000 industry professionals in
over 100 countries.

Opalesque is the only daily hedge fund publisher which is actually read by the elite
managers themselves (www.opalesque.com/op_testimonials.html). For more information,
please go to www.opalesque.com.



About Opalesque publications:

Alternative Market Briefing:

A daily newsletter on the global hedge fund industry, highly praised for its
completeness and timely delivery of the most important daily news for professionals
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archive
( 26,000+ articles ) on hedge funds and related topics.

A SQUARE:

Opalesque A SQUARE = Alternative Alternatives is the first web publication,
globally, that is dedicated exclusively to alternative investments. A SQUARE\'s
weekly selection feature unique investment opportunities that bear virtually no
correlation to the main stream hedge fund strategies and/or distinguish themselves
by virtue of their \"alternative\" motive - social, behavioural, natural resources,
sustainable /environment related investing.

With its \"research that reveals\" approach, fast facts and investment oriented
analysis, A SQUARE offers diversification and complementary ideas for: private, high
net-worth and institutional investors, pension funds and endowments, portfolio and
hedge funds managers.

Technical Research Briefing:

Delivers three times a week a global perspective/overview on all major markets,
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Opalesque Roundtable Series:

In an Opalesque Roundtable, we unite some of the leading hedge fund managers (single
and multi strategy managers) as well as representatives of the local investor base
(institutions, fund of funds, advisers) to gain unique insights into the specific
idiosyncrasies and developments, the issues and advantages of individual global
hedge fund centers.

No matter if you are a hedge fund investor looking for new talent, a hedge fund
interested in diversifying your investor base or a service provider looking for new
clients, you will get to know some of the leading heads of each hedge fund center
and find invaluable information and intelligence right on your desk, without any
travel involved.

For more information, please go to www.opalesque.com.



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