June 11, 2008

Tudor Investment Corp, a hedge fund group led by veteran trader Paul Tudor Jones III, on Tuesday said it hired the former co-heads of Bear Stearns' distressed debt group to build a new credit business. Tudor, which manages over USD18-billion (US), said Gregory Hanley and Alan Mintz, the former senior Bear executives, are joining the firm, along with other members of the Bear credit team including Mitchell Sussman, Eric Friel and Howard Norowitz. The move comes as many large hedge funds have established or expanded distressed debt operations to trade a burgeoning array of corporate debt that is priced well below face value in response to a slowing economy and rising defaults.

Investors pulled a net USD5.9 billion out of US hedge funds in April, marking the industry's biggest outflow in 6-1/2 years as they punished managers for their worst-ever returns at the start of 2008. According to new data released by TrimTabs Investment Research and BarclayHedge late on Monday evening, investors took USD9.4 billion away from individual hedge fund managers and added USD3.5 billion to funds of hedge funds, portfolios that spread select a group of individual hedge funds.

Constellation Brands' Columbia Winery has been sold along with sister winery Covey Run as part of an eight-winery, $209 million deal with Ascentia Wine Estates, a newly formed private company based in California.