Basis Capital: Disaster Down Under
How about from first to worst? That seems to be the story from Australia, where Basis Capital is domiciled:
Basis Capital, a firm with more than $2 billion in assets that was named Australian hedge fund of the year in 2006, has become the latest to be hit by turmoil in the subprime mortgage market. Marketwatch
Not long ago they were walking on water…
It won Hedge Fund of the Year at the 2006 Australian Hedge Fund Awards in Sydney. Industry publication AsiaHedge named the firm the best hedge fund in the fixed-income, high yield and distressed category in October. A year earlier, Basis won AsiaHedge’s Fund of the Year award.
Assirt, a fund research firm owned by S&P, gave the Basis Yield fund a “very strong,” five-star rating. Other research firms were also full of praise. InvestorWeb gave the fund a four-star “buy” rating and Lonsec and Zenith said it was “highly recommended,” according to Basis’ Web site.
S&P put its ratings on two Basis hedge funds “on hold” on Thursday.
“S&P has been unable to secure a meeting with the management of Basis Capital, and to date our phone conversations with the manager have not provided the level of insight we require, S&P fund analyst David Erdonmez, said in a statement.
Hmmm...maybe Chanos was right about the ratings agencies. Sounds like a another sh*tshow.
Basis fund misses margin calls
Marketwatch
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