Growth in hostile territory

Leading convertible bond arbitrageurs are now getting good returns after being battered by huge losses and protracted investor redemption activity. Those that survived last year's annus horribilis have seen competitors fall by the wayside and the market transformed. By Navroz Patel

While secrecy is still a common trait among much of the hedge fund community, familiar names that little more than a year ago were prominent in convertible bond arbitrage are now incommunicado for an altogether different reason. Emails bounce back, while attempts to contact some via a telephone call yields nothing but a disconnected tone. "A number of large arbitrage accounts have gone," says Michael Hintze, London-based chief executive of CQS, a convertible bond and capital structure arbitrage