Investing May 9, 2003

S&P: Hedge Fund Index Up 1.06% in April

May 9, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The S&P Hedge Fund Index was up 1.06% in April as three out of four components recorded positive returns.
Reported by

The Index has now returned 3.56% for the year, compared to the S&P 500 Price Index’s 8.10% April return and 4.22% year-to-date results, according to a news release.

Leading the way for the month was the 2.39% gain in the Directional/Tactical sub-index, which is now up 5.37% year to date.   Following this performance was the Event-Driven sub-index, up 1.44% for the month and 3.64% for the year.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan benefits news.

On the other side was the negative 0.65% turned in by the S&P Arbitrage Index.   However, for the year, Arbitrage is still in the black, up 1.68%.

S&P’s March addition, the S&P Managed Futures Index,  was also higher in April, turning in a 0.84% return.   For the year, Managed Futures remain positive, up 6.53%.

The Managed Futures index is   designed to be an investable benchmark focusing on trading methodologies that constitute a significant portion of the managed futures investment strategies, according to the news release.   T he Index has 14 constituents, four of which are also constituents of the S&P Hedge Fund Index, which was launched in November (See    S&P Introduces Hedge Fund Index).

Administration May 8, 2003

Wellpoint Sues Aetna, Reveals Possible Merger Plans

August 29, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - WellPoint Health Networks is suing managed-care rival Aetna Inc. over the hiring of a former WellPoint executive and has revealed that the two companies had considered a merger, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Reported by
In the suit filed in the US District Court for the Southern District in New York Wellpoint charges that Aetna breached an August 2000 agreement between the two companies not to solicit or hire certain of each other?s employees for one year, according to the report.

According to the complaint, the companies entered into the non-hiring agreement in order to evaluate a possible merger of the healthcare businesses of both companies.

However, Wellpoint charges that Aetna hired Ronald Williams, a senior WellPoint executive, to be Aetna’s operations chief in March this year and accuses Aetna of obtaining confidential and proprietary information concerning WellPoint, including its business plan, from Williams.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan benefits news.

According to the report, Wellpoint further charges that Aetna has hired or plans to hire more WellPoint employees who worked for Williams at WellPoint. The suit seeks to prevent Aetna from hiring more WellPoint employees and asks for financial damages.

«