The Hedge Fund Report: Trading to a Major Quarter

The money is for a capital-guaranteed hedge fund product, a kind of hedge fund derivative. Investors can buy units in the form of bonds and get exposure to two of Man's hedge funds: a managed futures fund and a fund of funds. Man is an expert in this kind of deal, often called structured product notes, which are hybrids of fixed-income instruments and a hedge fund. The capital-guarantee feature offers principal protection as long as the notes are held until maturity. Investors can buy in different currencies targeting different regions.

Same to You

Lawsuits between hedge funds and companies are nothing new, particularly with all the activists floating around these days. Companies often sue when they suspect that hedge funds are acting as a group. When they are, they're required by the Securities and Exchange Commission to file 13Ds jointly -- but the rule has spotty compliance.

Managers, on the other hand, tend to sue companies when they feel that they are being blocked from winning board seats.

That's what happened with Santa Monica Partners, a Larchmont, N.Y.-based hedge fund, which filed a lawsuit against Warwick Valley Telephone Company(WWVY Quote) last week. The suit seeks to prevent the company from employing a bylaw provision requiring 120 days' notice in order to nominate directors. The lawsuit contends that the company announced the resignation of two of its directors on March 24, failing to give the hedge fund enough notice to nominate its two candidates for the April 28 annual meeting. The company is countersuing.