The Strategic Listing Decisions of Hedge Funds
41 Pages Posted: 11 Aug 2013
Date Written: November 11, 2012
Abstract
The voluntary nature of hedge fund database reporting creates strategic listing opportunities for hedge funds. However, little is known about how managers list funds across multiple databases or whether investors are fooled by funds’ listing decisions. In this paper, we find that hedge funds strategically list their small, best performing funds in multiple outlets immediately while preserving the option to list their other funds in additional databases later. We generally find that investors react rationally to these fund listings based on the predictability of performance. Finally, our results lead to specific guidelines on handling backfilled returns to minimize biases.
Keywords: hedge funds, advertising, public database, performance evaluation, backfill bias
JEL Classification: G11, G23, G32
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation