...may be a safer bet. Sad but true, entities are trying to distant themselves from the name “hedge fund” with a host of other monikers. “Hedge funds got so popular so quickly that all types of investment funds wanted to market themselves as hedge funds,” Joel Schwab of Channel Capital Group told Reuters. “Everyone wanted to get in and have the money that seeking hedge funds find them.” But a series of scandals, not-so-hot returns and the latest hedge fund hijinks – activism – have inspired designations that aroused a less emotional response, such as “alternative asset management fund” (Tudor Investment Corp.’s choice) or “registered investment advisor” (P. Schoenfield Asset Management). Even George Soros, reports Reuters, has said “performance fund” is a more apt appellation. Truth be told, “hedge fund” perhaps never was a good name, says Christopher Geczy of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “Hedge funds are so heterogeneous,” he said in a Reuters interview, suggesting a better name would be “private fund.” Which, of course, would make no difference to sophisticated investors, but for those who get queasy about “hedge funds,” a change in appellation could lead to a flow of a great deal of change, “Since the SEC has no legal definition of a hedge fund,” Schwab said, “Why not call yourself something else?”
