Boaz Weinstein, the bond trader who lost more than $1 billion last year at Deutsche Bank AG, has raised about $160 million since the end of April for his new hedge fund, according to two people familiar with the matter.
(snip)
“One bad year of performance, especially when that year was 2008, shouldn’t preclude people from raising money, so long as they have a good pedigree and sound long-term track record,” said Peter Greene, a partner in New York at law firm Lowenstein Sandler PC, whose clients include hedge funds.
Great work if you can get it! Note the emphasis on how highly the hedgie lawyer quoted above values pedigree (I bolded it). He must be able to smell suckers a mile away, so he's trolling for new business by kissing up to Saba Capital Management in the press. Apparently having the right parents and prep schools entitles a philosophy major to run billions of dollars. Oh, sorry, he must mean financial pedigree. Right. So having the right mentors at Merrill Lynch, a firm that has been rescued from bankruptcy after making wrong-headed bets, means you're good at making bets for other banks. Right? WRONG!
Is a decade a long enough track record? Warren Buffet would disagree, which is why he confines his investments to businesses that have existed for several decades in mature industries.
Just when I think the best and brightest on Wall Street can't get any dumber, they surprise me once again. Attention Wall Street: I have two business degrees, not some philosophy degree, and both were earned with honors. I've been managing investments for myself at least as long as this Saba dude has and I haven't lost nearly as much money. So where's my hedge fund? Oh, sorry, I don't have a pedigree.
