The Secondary Market For Hedge Funds Is Thriving

As hedge fund investors find it difficult to unload their shares (often due to missing redemption deadlines, or not wanting to wait through their holding period), some are utilizing the secondary market to sell their shares (see WSJ article). Hedgebay Trading Corp., which began business in 1999, operates a secondary market to match buyers and sellers of hedge fund stakes. Initially, when hedge funds were doing well, Hedgebay would have buyers paying a premium in order to take a stake in an attractive fund that may have been closed to new investors. As the market has turned, investors are now offering their shares at a discount, with the average discount recently doubling to 3.5%. Clients include individual investors, funds of funds, pension companies, and endowments. Funds of funds in particular have been aggressively utilizing the site and have actually redeemed more money than they need out of fear that when they do need the money, the individual hedge funds will put up redemption gates. JPMorgan has estimated that there will be up to $100 billion in redemption requests from funds of funds in Q4. The secondary market has even generated new opportunities for Permal Group, which is launching a $500 million fund that buys distressed priced hedge fund stakes, with shares coming from Hedgebay and existing relationships. Just another example of how capitalism does amazing things when it is allowed to operate. Now if only some private entity can do this efficiently with credit default swaps and credit derivatives, investors might actually be able to once again sell attractive hedge fund stakes for a premium.