The hedge fund career path used to be paved in gold: make an absurd sum on a bank prop desk, then strike out on your own with a few hundred million dollars in your knapsack, leveraged up five or six times by a kindly investment bank. The fairytale is over for the next generation of hedgies. Conditions for launch are gradually improving; some institutions say they're looking to put cash hoards to work after months of heavy withdrawals, while this week Noam Gottesman of GLG Partners, the listed London group, talked up an “opportunity-rich environment”. But as bankers sound out investors, they had better be prepared to give a lot of ground.
以往，對沖基金從業者的職業生涯是用黃金鋪就：在銀行自營交易部門賺得大把的錢，然后用囊中的數億美元開創自己的事業，通過熱心的投行獲得5、6倍的杠桿比率。對于下一代對沖基金來說，這種童話已不再有。推出新基金的環境正逐漸好轉；一些機構表示，在為期數月的大舉撤資后，它們正打算動用現金儲備，而倫敦上市公司GLG Partners的諾姆?戈特斯曼(Noam Gottesman)本周也開始大談“當前環境下機會多多”。但在銀行家試探投資者之時，最好拿出有力的理由。