ON THE SPOT
Magda Wierzycka could have made more judicious picks, says top hedge fund manager
Business Day asks top hedge fund manager Jean Pierre Verster for his views on hedge funds after blistering takedown by Magda Wierzycka
Sygnia CEO Magda Wierzycka’s blistering takedown of the hedge fund industry has caused no small degree of consternation among investors in hedge funds and managers in the hedge fund industry. In a column and interview with Business Day, Wierzycka argued that hedge funds are a "marketing con perpetuated by greed", have failed to protect capital, abused performance fees and generally underperformed. We asked top hedge fund manager Jean Pierre Verster for his views. I can understand that her funds might have given negative returns, because she did not pick, on average, even the average hedge fund manager. Her fault at not being good at picking hedge fund managers is not the hedge fund industry’s fault. So Sygnia could have made more judicious picks? Yes. She jumps around between short-term performance and long-term performance, and between the SA context and the global context, and that makes it difficult to pin her down. Also remember it’s an industry where if you perform, you can do ...
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