Monday 15 December 2014

Clearfield Capital Management?

Oh! Oh! Oh! ... 'Eh?' / Exciting news, guys! Someone is launching a new hedge fund. (Clearfield Capital Management, it's called.) And that someone is ... wait for it ... drum roll ... wait for it ... Philip Hilal! 'Never heard of him, boss.' Don't be like that, Voice! I've never heard of Mr Hilal either. But it's Christmas, and I've got some financial news, and we should just be excited that people are still launching hedge funds, man. 'Fair enough.'

Our Phil used to work at Kingdon Capital Management. And for eight years! 'A true veteran!' Yeah. / The fund won't launch for a while yet. 'Oh no. Pie in the sky, eh?' Give him a chance, for Christ's sake! It takes time to get this sort of thing off the ground. / I can tell you, reader(s), that Phil has raised $200 million. (He's over in New York, by the way.) And Mark Kingdon has given him a bit of money. A few dollars. 'Who on earth is Mark Kingdon?!' The clue is in the name, Voice. 'Is it?' He's the founder of Kingdon Capital. 'He named it after himself?!' Yeah. Of course he did. 'The ego of these people!' Shut up, you idiot! It's a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

One extra detail (for those of you who get off on extra details): Phil's fund will employ a concentrated special-situations strategy. 'What's that, then?' Oh, I don't know. The readers will know. 'Your readers know so much shit, man.' They're experts, son.

...

Anything else? Well ... not really. It's only Monday. / God. I'm looking forward to having next week off. I need a rest. Er ...

One more thing: I bought a Jeff Beck DVD the other day. Filmed live at Ronnie Scott's. I'm thinking now that he may be the greatest living guitarist, rather than Eric Clapton (who appears in the DVD). Jeff has an advantage though, in the sense that he's a specialist. He doesn't do much but play guitar. Whereas Clapton plays guitar, sings, writes classic songs, and records albums that sell millions. (I've read that Cream sold thirty million albums in only two years.) / I have no desire to be as good as Jeff. It would take up too much of my life. However, being like Clapton would be amazing. 'You're dreaming, Mikey!' Give me five years, Voice. I'm the man with the plan.