The eighth international Conference on Hedge Fund Investments wrapped up yesterday at the Fairmont Southampton Princess.

The conference attracted about 800 participants from across the globe - as far away as Hong Kong and Singapore, including international hedge fund managers and those companies involved in the industry.

More than 80 exhibitors - representing a cross-section of service providers from the US, UK, Europe and Bermuda - were at the conference.

Reuters reported yesterday that the hedge fund industry is feeling the fallout from last month's attacks on the United States as dozens of participants cancelled plans to attend the industry's biggest annual meeting.

Hedge funds, loosely regulated investment pools designed for the wealthy, are the year's hottest investments, out-performing all the major US stock indices. But, participants who spoke with The Royal Gazette at this year's conference said they were more than satisfied with the turn-out and opportunity to network with others in the industry. Richard Redding, of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, said attendance may be down, but it has actually been easier to talk to people this year.

"There are only so many people you can talk to," Mr. Redding said, adding that he does not see any change in the value of attendance at the conference this year, over previous years.

Adam Gurwitz of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange called the conference a good networking opportunity. He balked at the idea that the conference was "one nonstop party", as stated in the Reuters report.

Mr. Gurwitz said the rounds of golf, dinners and cocktail parties are a relaxed time to talk shop. He said that in the work-a-day world appointments have to be made after trading closes for the day at 4pm, and then everyone wants to get home to their families - but those time constraints don't apply, during the conference. Both Mr. Redding and Mr. Gurwitz called attendance at the conference - which they said is the largest of its kind - a good investment of their time. Carol Kaufman, president of Organiser Systems, which has a Web-based accounting software system for hedge funds and fund-of-funds, also called the conference an invaluable investment of time and money.

A representative of Ernst & Young's Dublin office echoed the positive sentiments, saying there was no appreciable difference in the value of the conference, even with reduced attendance.

Meanwhile, new kid on the block, Invesdex: a Bermuda-based company that opened in 1999, and unveiled a new product - MarketPlus - this week, said they had been able to pitch to their target audience. Invesdex president Valere Costello said, in particular, the new product was getting interest from the smaller hedge funds, through which they may be able to invest in futures, without being in conflict with certain US regulatory issues.