While hedge funds have been part and parcel of the global asset management landscape for well over fifty years, it is only relatively recently that they came to prominence as one of the fastest growing and most vigorous sub-sectors of the financial services industry. Despite their growing significance for global and European financial markets, hedge funds continue enjoying a sui generis regulatory status. The ongoing credit crisis and its lessons for the wisdom of unregulated or loosely regulated pockets of financial activity raise, with renewed urgency, the issue of deciding how long for the relative regulatory immunity of hedge funds is to be tolerated in the name of financial innovation. This well-thought-out book, the first of its kind in this particular field, examines the case for the European onshore hedge fund industry's regulation, making concrete proposals for its normative future. Following a detailed account of the 'established' regulatory systems in Ireland and Luxembourg, as well as of the 'emerging' hedge fund jurisdictions in Italy, France, Spain and Germany, and of the regulatory treatment of hedge funds in the UK, this book examines to what extent the continuing exclusion of hedge funds from harmonized European regulation is defensible, whether their differences to traditional asset management products justify their distinct regulatory treatment and, ultimately, if their EU-wide regulation is possible and, if so, what form this should take. This book offers enormously valuable insights into all facets of the subject of the regulation of hedge funds, including: * the legitimacy of the public policy interest in their activities; * the conceptual underpinnings and systemic stability emphasis of a realistic hedge fund regulatory scheme; * the main parameters of a workable onshore hedge fund regulatory framework; * the role of investor protection and market integrity as part of a holistic hedge fund regulatory scheme; * the possible use of the UCITS framework as a foundation for the EU-wide regulation of hedge funds; * the MiFID's impact on the regulatory future of the European hedge fund industry; * existing cross-jurisdictional differences and similarities in the normative treatment of hedge funds within the EU; * hitherto initiatives and recommendations of the Community institutions and bodies; and * the need for more efficient co-operation and information-sharing arrangements amongst national supervisors for the monitoring of the cross-border risks inherent in the activities of hedge funds. As the first ever comprehensive account of the profile, main features and normative future of the contemporary global and European hedge fund markets - including a systematic inquiry into the conceptual underpinnings of hedge fund regulation and a detailed examination of the European hedge fund industry's treatment under Community and domestic law - this book represents a major contribution to the literature on hedge funds and their regulation which, through its concrete proposals for the onshore industry's regulation and its clear analysis of the conditions necessary for their implementation, should be of extraordinary value to policymakers, supervisors and academics alike.

This unique and detailed Handbook provides a comprehensive source of analysis and research on alternative investment funds in the EU, the US and other leading jurisdictions. Expert contributors offer an unparalleled perspective on the contemporary alternative funds industry, the main areas of regulatory policy concern surrounding its activities, and the role that alternative funds have played in recent financial crises, as well as an account of the rules governing their operation in selected jurisdictions. Providing insight and analysis of the contemporary investment funds industry at a time of crisis and transition, the Research Handbook on Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Alternative Investments will be a valuable tool for scholars, practitioners and policy makers alike. Contributors include: J. Adams, P. Athanassiou, A. Brav, T. Bullman, L. Chincarini, D.K. Das, A. Erskine, F. Goltz, N. Greene, D. Harrison, A. Hankova, M. Jickling, W. Jiang, H. Kim, V. Krepely Pool, M. Lamandini, N. Lang, F.-S. Lhabitant, H. McVea, T. Oatley, L. Phalippou, D. Schroeder, M. Stromqvist, W.K. Winecoff, P. Yeoh

This unique and detailed Handbook provides a comprehensive source of analysis and research on alternative investment funds in the EU, the US and other leading jurisdictions. Expert contributors offer an unparalleled perspective on the contemporary alternative funds industry, the main areas of regulatory policy concern surrounding its activities, and the role that alternative funds have played in recent financial crises, as well as an account of the rules governing their operation in selected jurisdictions. Providing insight and analysis of the contemporary investment funds industry at a time of crisis and transition, the Research Handbook on Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Alternative Investments will be a valuable tool for scholars, practitioners and policy makers alike. Contributors include: J. Adams, P. Athanassiou, A. Brav, T. Bullman, L. Chincarini, D.K. Das, A. Erskine, F. Goltz, N. Greene, D. Harrison, A. Hankova, M. Jickling, W. Jiang, H. Kim, V. Krepely Pool, M. Lamandini, N. Lang, F.-S. Lhabitant, H. McVea, T. Oatley, L. Phalippou, D. Schroeder, M. Stromqvist, W.K. Winecoff, P. Yeoh

An important aspect of the Russian Civil War were the several Allied expeditions immediately following World War I in support of the disunited Russian 'White' armies resisting the Bolshevik Revolution. Although they ended in failure, these ventures were long resented, and were the origin of the 70-year-long Soviet suspicion of the Western Allies. British and US expeditionary forces operated in North Russia and Siberia in support of General Yudenich and Admiral Kolchak respectively, and a French and Greek expeditionary force (plus Romanian and Polish elements) operated in Crimea and south-western Ukraine, in support of General Denikin. The situation was further complicated by the presence of strong Imperial German elements still under arms, and by war between various factions in the Ukraine. This Southern theatre of the Allied interventions is far less well known than that of the British and Americans in the North and East. Featuring rare photos and new colour plates, this fascinating new book describes this major Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. Dr Phoebus Athanassiou writes a compelling account of how the French and Greeks alongside White Russians were greatly outnumbered by pro-Bolshevik forces and were relentlessly pushed back by the Ukrainian forces. In just over 4 months, on 28 April 1919, the last of their forces were evacuated by Allied navies from Sevastopol in Crimea.