Stearns USA analysts triggered a huge market downturn by admitting that market conditions were worse than they admitted.

Now is an excellent time to buy Thailand. The $5 billion of shares that the 79-year-old king controls in the Crown Property Bureau, the asset management company established by the Thailand's government is full proof that these funds can work and with the Royal family having shares in Crown they allow stability. In Crown property Bureau the King of Thailand owns 30 percent- of the Siam Cement Group Pcl, which is Thailand's largest industrial group.

FINANCE COMPANIES WHO HAVE GONE BUST DUE TO PROPERTY SPECULATION AROUND THE WORLD. THE SAME CAN HAPPEN IN THAILAND IF YOU CHOOSE THE WRONG COMPANY TO INVEST IN

HEDGE FUND MANAGEMENT IN THAILAND & THE WORLD

WHAT ARE HEDGE FUNDS

There are over 9,000 hedge funds operating globally, mainly in the USA, UK and now Asia and they offer their investment capabilities primarily to very wealthy individuals or to professional investors such as insurance companies and pension funds but not the average man on the street. But they are moving out to the Eu and Asia now as although they are not regulated and do what they want the USA is starting to change all this.  Finance companies got a jolt when George Soros made $$$ and started the Hedge Fund game betting on the pound being ejected from the European exchange rate back in 1992. Warren Buffet has over $40billion of funds to play with?? So these finance companies set up their own firms instead of working under the banks etc, where they can run their own business and generate more of the profits for themselves rather than with banks or other finance institutions and therefore have more control over where they invest. Hence the Stock market trade has actually gained in strength with these high finance batters but if it tumbles it will affect the whole financial world and the stock market as well due to the amount of money people invest.  Thus a hedge fund is a fund that can take both long and short term equity, use arbitrage, buy and sell undervalued securities like property mortgages, trade options or bonds, and invest in almost any opportunity in any market where it foresees impressive gains; then spit it out when it wants to move on or when the interest rates start moving upwards. They can bid for takeovers but the biggest challenge is will they work for the investors eg. Bears & Stearns crash so the fund manager must have good instincts and an eye to be able to make money not lose it as their punters outlay min of $US1m each to be a part of it all. Here . Bears & Stearns bet heavily on bonds backed by subprime mortgages, or home loans to consumers with shaky credit histories.  Bear Stearns suspended redemptions because the "investment manager believes the company will not have sufficient liquid assets to pay investors. The onetime $642 million fund—means investors have no choice but to sit on their losses. The Hedge fund companies have the swing to be able to make major takeovers and then sell them down the line as they use there funds as collateral but watch out if something goes wrong. However like Bear Stearns collapse with hedge funds they provide no comfort for those who invested. You therefore are playing roulette to eithe win in this high stake game or gamble and lose.

THAILAND & HEDGE FUNDS

 But what about Thailand. Not the best bet since the new interim government wants to impose taxes on foreigners living here but in Asia alone theres around $250b invested with these fund management schemes. There are small players in the vehicle manufacturing.

Although the baht is strong one must be very wary of what they are investing in here as well as we do not want a repeat of the lax banking strategies that lead to the 97 crash. Here we saw easy money walking & banks out of control lending with industries pouring money into expansion to create an overcapacity. The property market went nuts just like the west is doing now and Thailand had a US$90 billion currency debt. The financial bubble started. 1997 with the baht devaluation, capital flew out of Thailand in $$$$$$$$$ & by 1998, over US$20 billion had fled Thailand in panic, creating the banking crisis, which lead to economic and social upheavals of a bubble crash. Hedge funds also made their move and brought in $US20billion sucking the banks dry in 2 weeks then went nuts all over Asia. If left unchecked it can happen again so Thailand needs to stop offshore trading of the baht which is has but be more conscious of the currency predicaments..

FEES

FEES: A hedge fund manager will receive both a management fee and a performance fee. As with other investment funds, the management fee is computed as a percentage of assets under management. Management fees might typically be 1.5% or 2.0%. hedge funds charge 20% of gross returns as a performance fee, but again the range is wide, with highly regarded managers demanding higher fees

RAGS TO RICHES OR ABOUT TURN

Hedge funds are private investment funds, primarily organised as limited partnerships and are really betting syndicates for the very rich. The amount of money they handle, in so far as anyone can estimate this, is very large around $1- 2trn; industry professionals reckon $1.5trn. If hedge funds were a country, it would be the eighth-largest in the world. To invest in one of these funds, you have to put in a minimum of $1m, although that initial investment is very small compared with what can be earned – so in effect Hedge funds are a global-scale gambling racket.  Hedge funds poured money into emerging markets in the search for high returns, they are able to borrow billions at cheap interest rates. But as soon as the cost of borrowing increased they tend to bail out pretty quickly, leaving the developing economies to clean up the mess.

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