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High-Water Marks and Hedge Fund Management Contracts

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Author Info
William N. Goetzmann () (Yale University, School of Management)
Jonathan E. Ingersoll Jr. () (School of Management)
Stephen A. Ross () (Sloan School of Management)

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Abstract

Incentive or performance fees for money managers are frequently accompanied by high-water mark provisions which condition the payment of the performance fee upon exceeding the maximum achieved share value. In this paper, we show that hedge fund performance fees are valuable to money managers, and conversely represent a claim on a significant proportion of investor wealth. The high-water mark provisions in these contracts limit the value of the performance fees. We provide a closed-form solution to the high-water mark contract under certain conditions. This solution shows that managers have an incentive to take risks. Our results provide a framework for valuation of a hedge fund management company. We conjecture that the existence of high-water mark compensation is due to decreasing returns to scale in the industry. Empirical evidence on the relationship between fund return and net money flows into and out of funds suggests that successful managers, and large fund managers are less willing to take new money than small fund managers.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Yale School of Management in its series Yale School of Management Working Papers with number ysm81.

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Date of creation: 08 Feb 1998
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Handle: RePEc:ysm:somwrk:ysm81

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Web page: http://mba.yale.edu/
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G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services

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  1. Huberman, Gur, 2007. "Is the Price of Money Managers Too Low?," CEPR Discussion Papers 6531, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Jens Carsten Jackwerth & James E. Hodder, 2003. "Incentive Contracts and Hedge Fund Management: A Numerical Evaluation Procedure," CoFE Discussion Paper 03-10, Center of Finance and Econometrics, University of Konstanz. [Downloadable!]
  3. Nicholas Chan & Mila Getmansky & Shane M. Haas & Andrew W. Lo, 2005. "Systemic Risk and Hedge Funds," NBER Working Papers 11200, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
    • Nicholas Chan & Mila Getmansky & Shane M. Haas & Andrew W. Lo, 2007. "Systemic Risk and Hedge Funds," NBER Chapters, in: The Risks of Financial Institutions, pages 235-338 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  4. Jens Carsten Jackwerth & James E. Hodder, 2005. "Incentive Contracts and Hedge Fund Management," CoFE Discussion Paper 05-02, Center of Finance and Econometrics, University of Konstanz. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Castaneda, Pablo, 2005. "Portfolio Choice and Benchmarking: The Case of the Unemployment Insurance Fund in Chile," MPRA Paper 3346, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 30 Dec 2006. [Downloadable!]
  6. Basak, Suleyman & Pavlova, Anna & Shapiro, Alex, 2005. "Offsetting the Incentives: Risk Shifting and Benefits of Benchmarking in Money Management," CEPR Discussion Papers 5006, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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