May 23, 2008

Sovereign wealth funds, which control up to USD3.7 trillion in assets and have been making headlines as they buy assets in the West, will ultimately have the biggest impact on private equity and hedge funds, analysts at JPMorgan Chase said in a report on Thursday. State-run investment funds currently own up to 7.5 per cent of so-called alternative assets, or about USD340 billion, and this stake could grow to as high as 17 per cent by the end of 2012, said David Fernandez and Bernhard Eschweiler, analysts at the bank.

Which Banks Own ASARX - AMF Ultra Short Mortgage Fund? We notice several thrifts disclosing in recent 10-Q filings (and some via 10-Ks) that they hold investments in a mutual fund of mortgage-related securities that has declined in value. The AMF Ultra Short Mortgage Fund is managed by Shay Assets Management in Chicago and trades under the ticker "ASARX". On the surface, the trading price of ASARX has dropped from a high of $9.50 in 1Q-08 to last night's close of $9.18. For a fixed income fund, especially one with a short-term focus, a 3.4% drop is not irrelevant. However, the real concern should be whether there are appropriate bids for the underlying mortgage securities within the ASARX fund (i.e., see the fund's disclosures via this link: http://www.amffunds.com/html/fdetails-asarx.php).

May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Heckmann Corp. said it agreed to buy China Water & Drinks Inc. for $625 million in cash and stock to tap into the fast-growing Chinese bottled-water market and gain a foothold in the global water business.