Hedge Hogging

Rare is the opportunity to chat with a legendary financial figure and hear the unvarnished truth about what really goes on behind the scenes. Hedgehogging represents just such an opportunity, allowing you to step inside the world of Wall Street with Barton Biggs as he discusses investing in general, hedge funds in particular, and how he has learned to find and profit from the best moneymaking opportunities in an eat--what--you--kill, cutthroat investment world.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. Chapter One: The Triangle Investment Club Dinner: Hacking Through the Hedgehog Jungle. Chapter Two: The New Hedgehogs May Have Been Golden Boys, but They Still Bleed Red. Chapter Three: Short Selling Oil: The Crude Joke Was on Us. Chapter Four: Short Selling Is Not for Sissies. Chapter Five: The Odyssey of Starting a Hedge Fund: A Desperate, Frantic Adventure. Chapter Six: The Roadshow Grind: Blood, Sweat, Toil, and Tears. Chapter Seven: The Run--Up and Haunted by Remembrances and Doubt. Chapter Eight: Hedgehogs Come in All Sizes and Shapes. Chapter Nine: The Violence of Secular Market Cycles. Chapter Ten: The Battle for Investment Survival: Only Egotists or Fools Try to Pick Tops and Bottoms. Chapter Eleven: From One Generation to Another: Bismarck and the Yale Endowment. Chapter Twelve: Nature's Mysticism and Groupthink Stinks. Chapter Thirteen: The Internet Bubble: I'd Still Rather Have Air--Conditioning. Chapter Fourteen: Great Investment Managers Are Intense, Disciplined Maniacs. Chapter Fifteen: You're Only as Beloved as Your Most Recent Performance. Chapter Sixteen: Once You Have a Fortune, How Can You Hang On to It? Chapter Seventeen: Three Investment Religions: Growth, Value, and Agnostic. Chapter Eighteen: The Trouble with Being Big. Chapter Nineteen: Bubbles and the True Believer. Chapter Twenty: Divine Intervention or Inside Information? A Tale That Will Make Your Blood Run Cold. Chapter Twenty--One: John Maynard Keynes: Economist, Hedge--Fund Manager, and Fascinating Character. Conclusion. Recommended Reading.

About the Author :
BARTON BIGGS spent thirty years at Morgan Stanley. During that time, he formed Morgan Stanleya s research department and lead it to prominence as one of the best in the world. He also formed the firma s investment management division, and served as its chairman for thirty years. By the mid--1990s, Morgan Stanley Asset Management was annually adding more new institutional accounts than any of its competitors. At various times during this period, Biggs was ranked as the number one U.S. investment strategist by the Institutional Investor magazine poll and then, from 1996 to 2003, as the top ranked global strategist. He was also a member of the five--man executive committee that ran Morgan Stanley until its merger with Dean Witter in 1996. In June 2003, Biggs left Morgan Stanley and with two other colleagues formed Traxis Partners--the largest new hedge fund of 2003. Traxis now has well over a billion dollars under its management. Biggs has spoken at forums in every major country and has appeared on CNBC and other programs on more than 300 occasions.

Review :
"!a real glimpse of the investing world!by telling individualsa stories, Biggs...reveals far more about the ups and downs of hedge fund investing than the usual numbers--heavy dissertations!reveals just what a whacky world many hedgers occupy" (Daily Telegraph, 29 December 2005) It seems Barton Biggs, the former chief investment strategist for Morgan Stanley who has been off running a hedge fund for the past two years, is about to become the Samuel Pepys of the investing world. Biggs has been quietly writing a tell--all diary of his investing adventures that is likely to put a few noses out of joint and also -- since he uses only first names and has occasionally changed even those names -- will keep a lot of people guessing. Who is Richard, a man who Biggs describes "as slick and slimy as they come, although he has a smooth, cultured Harvard veneer, wears fancy suits and talks with a hint of a Boston accent"? Richard used to show up at Triangle Club dinners--New York gatherings of hedge fund managers -- where he was suspected of being a sandbagger (someone who talks a stock up to fellow fund managers while quietly selling it). In case that and various anecdotes, including details of his propensity to cheat at tennis, isna t enough to identify Richard, Biggs also reports that the man insisted on being called Richard and not Dick. Clearly a novelist manque, Biggs tells several instructive stories about how people he knows made and lost money and gives a no--holds--barred description of setting up his own fund, Traxis. There is a memorable account of Morgan Stanleya s huge annual hedge fund conference at The Breakers in Palm Beach ("Germans with bulging eurobellies from family offices mingle with bloated Arabs in pale suits ... their handshakes as cool and clammy as snakeskin. Former investment bankers exchange lies with portly ex--diplomats, permanently deformed by self--importance". All this left poor Barton feeling "estranged and disoriented"). He drops a few investing tips along the way -- among other things, that he believes the next hot and potentially crazy market will be emerging markets equities, especially Africa and the Middle East. The book, HedgeHogging, appears far more useful than the thousands of how--to--invest--and--get--rich books that pour out every year. But will Biggs ever eat lunch in this town again? (The Financial Times, November 30, 2005) "...an intelligent book on a serious subject that is also a joy to read." (Professional Investor, April 2006) "...evokes the a agony and ecstasya of the frenetic and highly competitive world of hedge funds...funny and sobering" ( The Mail on Sunday, May 2006) "...a reassuring tale for ordinary mortals..." (Financial World, May 2006) "...legendary..." (Futures Magazine Group, July 2006) "!is punchy, entertaining and insightful." (Money Week, December 2006) "!a real page turner! an extremely well written, funny and fascinating book!" ( The Technical Analyst, January 2007)