Investing September 15, 2003

Van Global Hedge Fund Index Ends August With 1.7% Gain

September 16, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Van Global Hedge Fund Index posted a 1.7% net gain in August, according to Van Hedge Fund Advisors International.
Reported by

Year-to-date 2003, the Index has returned 10.8% net of fees. Excluding the performance of funds of funds, the Index turned in a 1.8% August net and 11.6% net year to date.

Meanwhile, domestic domiciled hedge funds and those offshore ran neck in neck with both the Van US Hedge Fund Index and the Van Offshore Hedge Fund Index throwing back 1.7% net gains in August. US funds were better off since January 1 however, as the US Index has returned 11.7% net versus 10.3% net for the Offshore Index year to date.

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The best performing Global Index strategies for August were Emerging Markets, Aggressive Growth and Opportunistic, which turned in a 5.8% net, 3.5% net, and 3.1% net respectively, according to a news release. All three strategies have benefited from improving equity markets this year. On the other hand, Short Selling fared the worst in August, firmly in the negative column with a -3.5% net loss.

For year-to-date 2003, the best performing Global Index strategies are Emerging Markets, Aggressive Growth and Distressed Securities, which have gained 24.5% net, 20.2% net and 16.7% net , respectively. The only strategy in the red since January 1 is Short Selling at -17.7% net.

The latest preliminary figures are based on the reported returns of over 900 hedge funds, according to a news release.

Administration September 12, 2003

DoL Sues Ill. Exec Over Plan Debts

December 9, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The US Department of Labor (DoL) has filed a lawsuit against the executive of Omni Circuits, Inc., in Glenview, Ill., to block any potential efforts to skip out on repaying debts to the company's welfare plans through his personal bankruptcy.
Reported by

The suit filed in US Bankruptcy Court in Chicago alleges that James Schwarz violated ERISA by not remitting $23,996 in premiums and payments, contributed by employees between December 1, 2001 and February 21, 2002, to insurers and using the money to pay corporate operating expenses.   Schwarz was president and chief executive officer of the family-owned company

The plans provided health, dental and supplemental life insurance benefits to 70 employees of the company.   Omni Circuits, which was the plans’ administrator, ceased operations in February 2002.

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In a related action, the department filed a civil lawsuit against Schwarz and his daughter, Corinne Moderhock, over the delinquent premium and payments of employees.   The suit seeks to require that the defendants restore all losses plus interest to the plan and be permanently barred from serving as a fiduciary to any ERISA-covered plan.

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