• 08 Jan 2009 at 9:09 AM

Dear Highbridge Investors

By Bess Levin

It could’ve been worse? Eh?


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Comments (32)

  1. 1
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:14 AM

    Chum-

  2. 2
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:15 AM

    Why did the convertible arbitrage fail so badly? Can anyone explain their basic strategy?

  3. 3
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:16 AM

    Not much, although there is Tontine to consider.

  4. 4
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:16 AM

    d’ja catch the marketing piece… errr… i mean “news story” on the merg today on EIM?
    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a2IT6Y4JmC48
    “Uma Thurman No Help to Arpad Busson in Madoff Fraud’s Nightmare”
    I was scratching my head on this bit, though:
    “Busson’s high standing among European investors can be traced partly to his family roots in the world of international finance. His step-grandfather Arpad Plesch was a Hungarian-born financier who married three times. Plesch earned his fortune from businesses around the world, including a large stake in the Haitian-American Corp., which owned sugar plantations. ”
    “Plesch first married Leonina Ulam, Busson’s great- grandmother, and after she died, married her daughter, Marysia Ulam Harcourt-Smith, who already had a daughter from a previous marriage — Busson’s mother Florence “Flockie” Harcourt-Smith, an English debutante.”
    his grandfather married his grandfater’s daughter?! that’s not on!

  5. 5
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:16 AM

    @2 you are joking right?

  6. 6
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:18 AM

    Quants rule!

  7. 7
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:20 AM

    @2 – there is a great primer on convert arb here
    finance.yahoo.com

  8. 8
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:22 AM

    @2 = Slapchops Vartanian

  9. 9
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:35 AM

    Yes, I am joking.

  10. 10
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:36 AM

    SAY (SATYAM) clearly mentioned they dont have one single penny of cash
    they dont have cash to pay JAN Salaries
    they haevnt paid DEC vendor dues.
    SAY a dead man walkiong
    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3952805.cms

  11. 11
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:41 AM

    One thing about Satyam HYD is if you pay 1200 USD (in rupees that is) to HR person you will be in Job, there is too much fraud brewing in this company
    for many years….
    http://finance.google.com/group/google.finance.666304/browse_thread/thread/a4a5181d71a832b5

  12. 12
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:42 AM

    love how erin burnett and a rotund body-language expert were examining the Satyam CEO in a prior interview… TG i’m down to 10% CNBC / 90% Bloomberg

  13. 13
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:43 AM

    @2 – Please go away to any other finance site, and STAY AWAY until you have improved on your glaringly obvious modicum of financial knowledge.
    See @7 if you need the name of a site.
    Thanks.

  14. 14
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:47 AM

    http://www.rediff.com/money/2009/jan/08satyam-cfo-srini
    Satyam running out of cash, CFO quits, damage limitation on
    vas-quits.htm

  15. 15
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 9:51 AM

    @2 = Slapchops “big Red” Vartanian

  16. 16
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 10:00 AM

    @4, 10, 11, 12 – you’re all morons. what the f*** does any of that garbage, repost, links, and copy/paste have to do with the story. go kill yourselves.

  17. 17
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 10:01 AM

    @13 It’s got to be lonely at home without a job, no? Learn to read better.

  18. 18
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 10:09 AM

    OK, I know I’m going to get slammed for this, but can someone explain to me being “short correlation” vs “long correlation”. I figure if you’re long correlation and everything goes to 1 your ok, but not much understanding beyond that.

  19. 19
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 10:22 AM

    @16, @4 here, just making the point that there are different types of inbreds in the market.
    there’s the type like yourself, who doesn’t have a clue about how the market really works, and there are the types who work in the hedge fund industry who use models to pretend to be smarter than the market.

  20. 20
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 10:23 AM

    @13:
    Douche.

  21. 21
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 10:24 AM

    Did they not teach sarcasm in ESL?

  22. 22
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 10:24 AM

    Apparently @13 is a douche

  23. 23
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 10:41 AM

    Hi Guys. I am switching careers and would like to get into i-banking from engineering. (2 years out of Penn undergrad.) Can anyone recommend a recruiting firm I should reach out to? Thanks.

  24. 24
    Posted by Anal_yst | January 8, 2009 at 10:44 AM

    @ 23
    Please tell me you’re kidding.
    @ Dbags above (too many to point out):
    Asking about the technical aspects of certain strategies (not everyone is a convert arb, or whatever investor), come on, is it too much to ask to take 15 seconds out of your day to entertain the basic question? Its not like the guy (girl?) asked what a limit order was, damn, testy today ladies

  25. 25
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 11:05 AM

    Man, no wonder BofA laid these guys off.

  26. 26
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 11:13 AM

    the short sale ban in 2008 really hurt convertible arb funds and trders

  27. 27
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 11:26 AM

    Quants (esp Renaissance) did seem to distinguish themselves in ’08.
    @13 needs to improve on his “glaringly obvious modicum” of English.

  28. 28
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 11:39 AM

    Very impressive. Takes talent to lose so much money. Thankfully, they can always shut down and reopen under a new name (WaterUnderBridge?) with a new high water mark.

  29. 29
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 11:53 AM

    Don’t these people understand what “arbitrage” actually means. Hint: not losing half your money.

  30. 30
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 11:55 AM

    What’s a fund?

  31. 31
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 11:59 AM

    @23,
    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aBabxZ9WD2cE&refer=columnist_lewis

  32. 32
    Posted by guest | January 8, 2009 at 12:09 PM

    @ 29 – no, that’s what ‘hedge’ means.

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