Hedge fund style âdriftâ is said to occur when a hedge fund manager strays from their stated investment strategy.  The term used to be an esoteric one, used only by professional hedge fund analysts.  However, âdriftingâ is a problem that is lately coming into view more by regulators and in litigation by disgruntled investors.
Managers that are asked about drifting will usually confidently pull out their offering memo and point to an âinvestment strategyâ section which indicates in extensive legalese that the fund can invest in basically every known security instrument known to the financial world. Â This language of over-inclusiveness precludes any claim of drifting they will say. Â âWe are allowed to invest in absolutely everything, so how could we possibly be âdriftingâ? â Â Thatâs how the conventional thinking now goes, but in recent cases and with changes to the advertising landscape yet to come, we believe the reliance on just the offering memo laundry-list language is coming to an end.
read more...