There has been a lot of hype for the JOBS Act and the changes it could bring to the hedge fund community.
Many had high hopes for the act, which would allow hedge funds to advertise. But when the rules were put into place in September 2013, investors could barely tell the difference.
At the time, Ron Geffner (whose New York-based law firm, Sadis & Goldberg, represents more than 600 hedge fund managers worldwide) told StreetID that it was too soon to determine the usefulness of the legislation.
Fast-forward to January 2014. By now, some had thought that at least one hedge fund would develop a Super Bowl ad. Others disagreed, but the general consensus is that some notable ad campaigns were on the horizon.
That may be true, but the horizon seems to be further off than many had anticipated.
Aksia, a hedge fund research and portfolio advisory firm, recently conducted a survey of 198 hedge funds, which collectively manage more than $1 trillion in assets. That may be a small sample, but the results are very telling: only one percent of the funds surveyed intend to advertise because of the JOBS Act.
An astonishing 73 percent of funds surveyed claimed that they don’t plan to advertise at all. The remaining 26 percent are taking a “wait and see” approach.
This isn’t necessarily a problem for the hedge fund industry. It does not mean that hedge funds are shrinking, that the industry isn’t growing or that problems are brewing.
But it might suggest that hedge funds were more content with the way things were than the JOBS Act supporters had indicated.
In October, marketing strategist and digital media expert April Rudin told StreetID that the industry could be looking at a slow rollout.
“I think what will happen is, people will come slowly, and then the larger firms will realize that they do have opportunities,” said Rudin.
By Street ID
