The hedge fund career path used to be paved in gold: make an absurd sum on a bank prop desk, then strike out on your own with a few hundred million dollars in your knapsack, leveraged up five or six times by a kindly investment bank. The fairytale is over for the next generation of hedgies. Conditions for launch are gradually improving; some institutions say they're looking to put cash hoards to work after months of heavy withdrawals, while this week Noam Gottesman of GLG Partners, the listed London group, talked up an “opportunity-rich environment”. But as bankers sound out investors, they had better be prepared to give a lot of ground.
以往，对冲基金从业者的职业生涯是用黄金铺就：在银行自营交易部门赚得大把的钱，然后用囊中的数亿美元开创自己的事业，通过热心的投行获得5、6倍的杠杆比率。对于下一代对冲基金来说，这种童话已不再有。推出新基金的环境正逐渐好转；一些机构表示，在为期数月的大举撤资后，它们正打算动用现金储备，而伦敦上市公司GLG Partners的诺姆•戈特斯曼(Noam Gottesman)本周也开始大谈“当前环境下机会多多”。但在银行家试探投资者之时，最好拿出有力的理由。