State pension fund puts $280 mln with 11 managers

* Most managers get $25 million allocation

* More managers expected to be hired in December

BOSTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Massachusetts, which has long bet big on hedge funds, hired 11 managers on Tuesday as part of the state’s push into direct investments with these types of portfolios.

Trustees for the roughly $46 billion state pension fund voted on Tuesday to send $280 million into some of the world’s biggest and best-known hedge funds.

A year ago, the pension fund agreed to stop using so-called funds of funds to select hedge funds and thereby save on fees. The state’s treasurer, Steven Grossman, said that state prefers to have a direct relationship.

Now the fund unveiled the first managers in its direct hedge fund investment program.

Massachusetts sent $25 million to each of the following fund firms: Anchorage Capital Group, Arrowgrass Capital Partners, BlueCrest Capital Management, Brevan Howard Capital Management, Claren Road Asset Management, Elliott Management, Kingdon Capital Management, Och-Ziff Capital Management Group , Taconic Capital Advisors and York Capital Management. Viking Global Investors will receive $30 million.

The pension fund used consulting firm Cliffwater LLC to help find the hedge funds.

Another group of 10 managers is expected to be hired in December, executives at the pension fund said.

In the past, hedge funds have helped shore up the Massachusetts’ pension fund’s returns but this year many hedge funds are experiencing though times amid concerns about Europe’s debt crisis, the stalled U.S.economy with its stubbornly high unemployment rate, and concerns over upcoming elections around the world in the next year.

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State pension fund puts $280 mln with 11 managers

* Most managers get $25 million allocation

* More managers expected to be hired in December

BOSTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Massachusetts, which has long bet big on hedge funds, hired 11 managers on Tuesday as part of the state’s push into direct investments with these types of portfolios.

Trustees for the roughly $46 billion state pension fund voted on Tuesday to send $280 million into some of the world’s biggest and best-known hedge funds.

A year ago, the pension fund agreed to stop using so-called funds of funds to select hedge funds and thereby save on fees. The state’s treasurer, Steven Grossman, said that state prefers to have a direct relationship.

Now the fund unveiled the first managers in its direct hedge fund investment program.

Massachusetts sent $25 million to each of the following fund firms: Anchorage Capital Group, Arrowgrass Capital Partners, BlueCrest Capital Management, Brevan Howard Capital Management, Claren Road Asset Management, Elliott Management, Kingdon Capital Management, Och-Ziff Capital Management Group , Taconic Capital Advisors and York Capital Management. Viking Global Investors will receive $30 million.

The pension fund used consulting firm Cliffwater LLC to help find the hedge funds.

Another group of 10 managers is expected to be hired in December, executives at the pension fund said.

In the past, hedge funds have helped shore up the Massachusetts’ pension fund’s returns but this year many hedge funds are experiencing though times amid concerns about Europe’s debt crisis, the stalled U.S.economy with its stubbornly high unemployment rate, and concerns over upcoming elections around the world in the next year.

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Crack spread is a term used in the oil industry and futures trading for the differential between the price of crude oil and petroleum products extracted from it – that is, the profit margin that an oil refinery can expect to make by “cracking” crude oil (breaking its long-chain hydrocarbons into useful shorter-chain petroleum products).

In the futures markets, the “crack spread” is a specific spread trade involving simultaneously buying and selling contracts in crude oil and one or more derivative products, typically gasoline and heating oil. Oil refineries may trade a crack spread to hedge the price risk of their operations, while speculators attempt to profit from a change in the oil/gasoline price differential.

Der jährliche Treibstoffverbrauch des Lufthansa Konzerns lag im Geschäftsjahr 2008 bei etwa 7,9 Millionen Tonnen Kerosin. Er stellt für den Lufthansa Konzern eine wesentliche Aufwandsposition dar. Starke Veränderungen der Treibstoffpreise können somit das betriebliche Ergebnis erheblich beeinflussen. Lufthansa setzt deswegen eine regelbasierte Treibstoffpreis-Sicherung mit einem Zeithorizont von 24 Monaten ein. Ziel ist es, die Schwankungen der Treibstoffpreise zu verringern. Die Sicherungen erfolgen überwiegend in Rohöl, nach Möglichkeit ergänzt um die Preisdifferenz Kerosin zu Rohöl.

Bei der Treibstoffabsicherung bedient sich Lufthansa der üblichen Marktinstrumentarien wie Terminkontrakten und Optionen. Lufthansa sichert mit einem Vorlauf von 24 Monaten jeweils monatlich 4,8 Prozent der geplanten Menge in Brent-Collars bis zu einem Sicherungsgrad von 85 Prozent. Den Sicherungsgeschäften liegt also eine feste Regel zugrunde, sie bilden somit einen Durchschnittskurs der Rohölpreise ab. Die auf einen Zeitpunkt folgenden sechs Monate sind daher zu 85 Prozent gesichert.

Als ergänzende Maßnahme zur Risikoreduktion hat sich der Treibstoffzuschlag im Markt etabliert. Es ist jedoch ungewiss, in welchem Umfang sich der Zuschlag je nach Entwicklung der Treibstoffpreise und des konjunkturellen Umfeldes durchsetzen lässt.

Folgende Grafik stellt den Treibstoffaufwand nach Hedging unter Annahme verschiedener Ölpreisszenarien dar.

Ölpreisszenario Lufthansa Konzern
Stand 11. März 2009

Quelle Lufthansa