At least 36 die in Philippine ferry sinking, 127 survive

      

JUL 2, 20155:54 PM

[MANILA] A ferry carrying 189 passengers and crew capsized off the central Philippines in heavy waves on Thursday, killing at least 36 people but the majority of those on board were rescued, the coast guard and police said.

The MBCA Kim-Nirvana, a motorised outrigger with 173 passengers and 16 crew on board, capsized suddenly minutes after leaving the port of Ormoc.

Coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo said 127 people survived, but could not immediately give details of their rescue, while 26 were still listed as missing. "Search and rescue operations are ongoing. Initially we learned that it was due to big waves," said Rey Gozon, director of the office of civil defence for the region.

Scores, sometimes hundreds, of people die each year in ferry accidents in the Philippines, an archipelago of 7,100 islands with a notoriously poor record for maritime safety. Overcrowding is common, and many of the vessels are in bad condition.

Balilo said authorities were looking at various possible causes for the accident, including human error and bad weather. "There was an occasional swell but the sea condition was manageable. Some motorised outriggers were able to sail," he told a local TV news channel. "There was no gale warning and while there was a tropical depression, it was far from the area of the accident," he said.

Eli Borinaga, the vice mayor of Pilar town on an island to the south who had hoped to join the ferry but didn't make it on time, told local radio that there was only light rain at the time of the accident.

He cited a witness at Ormoc port who saw the boat make a sharp turn just before it capsized.

REUTERS

      

Hedge funds see more demand fueled by solid first half returns

JUL 3, 20157:20 AM

[BOSTON] Hedge funds will likely attract billions of dollars in new money in the next six months after posting solid returns in the first half even as Wall Street's sell-off, sparked by Greece's debt drama, took a bite out of some managers' June returns.

Hedge funds that bet mainly on stocks could take in as much as US$14 billion in fresh cash in the second half, roughly double what came in during the first five months of the year, according to forecasts from industry research firm eVestment. "There are a lot of assets in play and what is driving these flows to hedge funds is a redistribution away from traditional exposures," said Peter Laurelli, eVestment's head of research.

Investors bracing for fresh turbulence fueled by fears over Greece, a slowdown in China and forthcoming Federal Reserve interest rate hikes are scouting for funds with a more flexible trading style that can make money in all markets, something hedge funds have long promised, investors and analysts said.

Globally, hedge funds oversee about US$3 trillion in assets.

Preliminary data from Hedge Fund Research show the average fund returning 1.27 per cent in the first six months of 2015 compared with the Standard & Poor's 500 index flat return. "These guys made money," said Troy Gayeski, senior portfolio manager at SkyBridge Capital which invests with hedge funds."The best news is that the average hedge fund will have outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 index." June's late month sell-off did hurt monthly returns at Barry Rosenstein's Jana Partners, which fell 1 percent, and Och-Ziff Capital Management's OZM Master Fund, which dipped 0.5 per cent, while its OZ Europe Master fund fell 0.98 percent, investors told Reuters.

Similarly Daniel Loeb's Third Point, which has some exposure to Greece, dipped 0.8 per cent last month while David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, hurt by a sell-off in Micron Technology, ended the month down 4.3 per cent. "The last few days of June were tricky for funds across a series of strategies and many gave back some of the positive performance generated over the previous few weeks," said Michael Rosenthal, who invests with hedge funds at family office Signia.

But Jana, Third Point and Och Ziff are all in the black in the first half. And there are funds delivering even stronger returns than these prominent players.

Kingdon Capital climbed 13 per cent, Maglan Capital gained 15 per cent, Pentwater Capital is up roughly 12 pe rcent and Polygon's European event driven fund gained 9.5 per cent this year, investors in the funds said.

With investors forecasting more gains in hedge fund returns in the second half, flows are expected to be much stronger than they were a year ago in the second half of 2014, eVestment forecast. "Hedge funds may not raise money hand over fist in the next months, but they are likely to compete with equity returns and should outperform bonds and cash, so people will be nibbling."

REUTERS