HBK Investments

What is HBK Investments?
Founded in 1991 by Harlan B. Korenvaes (the name of the firm is from his initials), HBK Investments is a hedge fund sponsor. Based in Dallas, Texas, HBK Investments also has offices in New York, London, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. They employ around 400 people and invests approximately $14 billion. It is considered one of the largest hedge fund managers in the world.

The founder of HBK Investments is the former Managing Director of Merrill Lynch, where he was responsible for their convertible arbitrage trading and sales. He founded HBK Investments with $30 million in capital from four partners.

What are hedge funds?
HBK manages hedge funds, which are private and unregistered investment pools. Hedge funds are similar to mutual funds because they both pool investors money and in turn invest it collectively. The term "hedge" refers to utilizing a number of different techniques to safeguard the investors from a loss on their investments.

The difference in hedge funds is that they follow different rules and regulations by the United States. Mutual funds are regulated by a number of Acts, including the Securities Act and the Investment Company Act. They are exempt from a number of requirements that mutual funds have in order to protect investors, including regulations that require investments have a certain amount of liquidity, that require shares be redeemable at any time, and the limited use of leverage. Basically, these requirements don't apply to hedge funds since they are private and unregistered.

Who invests in hedge funds?
Hedge funds are invested in by a diverse group of people and organizations for the purpose of minimizing their overall risk in investments and increasing their rates of return. People with high net worth, insurance companies, banks, and endowments all invest in hedge funds. Generally speaking those who are more advanced and sophisticated investors who understand the market very well will invest in hedge funds.

Who manages hedge funds?
Companies like HBK Investments employ experiences investment professionals to manage their hedge funds. It is often said that hedge funds are managed by the best in the investment business, typically because of the fact that the fund managers' pay is based on attractive performance incentives. Not only that, but hedge fund managers often have a vested interest in how well the investments performed, as they usually have their own money invested in the fund they are managing as well. HBK itself is an employee owned hedge fund sponsor.

Hedge fund strategies
Hedge funds employ a number of different types of investment strategies. These range from using leverage to utilizing very little or no leverage at all. In addition, a number of hedge fund strategies are designed to reduce stock and market risk. Also, derivatives are seldom used, and when they are it is only for hedging.

HBK Investments takes a multi-strategy approach. Some of these strategies include arbitrage strategy (this is the buying and selling of securities in different markets and then profiting from the price differences in the market), market neutral strategy, and absolute return strategies.

HBK Investments is one of the largest hedge funds in the world, based in Dallas Texas with offices all over the world. They employ a wide range of people, and their 400-plus employees include market analysts, investment analysts, portfolio managers, equity traders, and risk management profes