The Witches of Greenwich
Last year was such a terrible year for hedge funds, and for many of the intermediaries that invest in them (called funds of funds), that Shakespeare was inspired to rise from his grave and paraphrase some of his earlier work:
Spoken in unison by two Funds of Funds:
Double, double, earn or fumble
Alphas fall, investors rumble
Fund of Funds 1:
Seed a fund and try to spark it
Measure it against the market
Equity was some mistake
Gave me quite the stomach ache
Changed my mind and chose distressed
Emerging markets, quite the mess
Spinoffs market ever humble
Lock-ups make the pensions mumble
FoF 1&2:
Double, double, pick and bumble;
Fees on fees ensure a stumble
Fund of funds 2:
Multi-strats crossed blackened cats
Arbitrage was killed on stats
Pension plans like losers acted
Health care perks are soon redacted
Unions, top hats, retirees
Are such a fickle crowd to please
Risky bets, so hard to measure,
Seldom lead to any pleasure
FoF 1&2:
Double, double, toil and trouble
Hedge funds roil, and markets bubble

January 21st, 2006 at
I feel like nothing more needs to be said.