Trend Of US Hedge Fund Firms Morphing Into Family Offices Continues

Tom Burroughes

10 April 2015

Another US-based hedge fund business has reinvented itself as a family office as new regulations and economic conditions spur it to make the move, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Kamunting Street Capital is returning capital of non-family members to investors and making the conversion to a family office, its founder Allan Teh told the news service. The business is also known as K-Street.

A number of firms, most famously the hedge fund business of industry legend George Soros, have converted into family offices, spinning off non-family money. Firms that run non-family money are now under the umbrella of US regulations, a step that some firms have found too high a burden.

The article said a number of hedge fund businesses have decided to close down certain business lines or return outside capital, such as TigerShark management and Loeb King Management.

In March last year, confirming a run of speculation, the embattled hedge fund manager Steven A Cohen changed the name of his US-based SAC Capital Advisors to a family office structure called Point72 Asset Management. Cohen’s firm no longer manages client money.

“In a zero interest-rate environment, it’s much more difficult to make money without taking more risk,” Teh was quoted by Bloomberg as saying. He added that the firm’s largest investor was no longer interested in having a large exposure to the credit strategy he trades. K-Street sought to profit from price differences between credit instruments.