The third annual SkyBridge Alternatives (SALT) Conference, taking place from May 11-13, 2011, promises to provide an unmatched opportunity to connect with global leaders and network with industry peers. Please visit www.SALTconference.com to register!

SkyBridge Capital (SkyBridge), a global alternative investment firm, today announced that President George W. Bush, General Colin Powell and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will serve as keynote speakers at the SkyBridge Alternatives (SALT) Conference on May 11 to 13, 2011, at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

Approximately 1,500 participants, including global leaders, economists and members of the alternative investment industry, will gather from around the world to discuss current global issues. The three-day conference will offer attendees the opportunity to listen and discuss investment ideas and strategies within the context of a changing economic environment, while networking with industry peers including hedge fund managers, institutional and other end-investors, broker-dealers and investment consultants. 

“The goal of SALT is to provide the alternative investment community with a forum that allows for the unique exchange of ideas surrounding global issues,” said Victor Oviedo, partner of SkyBridge and director of SALT. “We’ve assembled the world’s top thought leaders to discuss where the global economy is, how we got here and where we are headed.”

Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs (2007-2010) will join Ken Griffin, Founder & CEO of Citadel, and others on a panel to discuss the Dodd-Frank Act’s impact on the financial industry. Other industry leaders confirmed to speak at SALT 2011 include: Jane Buchan, CEO, Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company (PAAMCO); John Burbank, Founder, Passport Capital LLC; Jamie Dinan, Founder, Chairman, & CEO, York Capital Management; Izzy Englander, Founder, Millennium Partners; Dan Loeb, Founder, Third Point LLC; and Marc Lasry, Chairman, CEO & Co Founder, Avenue Capital Group.

Other notable speakers confirmed for SALT 2011 include: Niall Ferguson, Historian, Professor and Author of The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World; Nouriel Roubini, Co‐Founder & Chairman, Roubini Global Economics; Jeremy Siegel, Professor of Finance, The Wharton School; Steven Levitt, Economist and Co-Author of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything; and Stephen Dubner, Journalist and Co-Author of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. 

Through SkyBridge Gives, a portion of the SALT 2011 registration fees will be donated to non-profit charities including: charity: water, Grameen America, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and Faster Cures. For more information regarding registration or sponsorship opportunities please visit the SALT 2011 website at www.saltconference.com.

Many of Wall Street’s biggest financial players are attending a conference this week at the Bellagio that never would have come about had it not been for a controversial remark President Barack Obama made last year at an Indiana high school.

Obama had been referring to bankers who accepted federal bailouts when he told the audience: “But, you know, you are not going to be able to give out these big bonuses until you pay taxpayers back. You can’t get corporate jets. You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers’ dime.”

The comment enraged Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who demanded an apology, and caused bailout recipient Wells Fargo Bank to cancel a meeting in town. But it also piqued the interest of executives at SkyBridge Capital, a global private equity and hedge-fund investment firm headquartered in New York. They saw a great opportunity to do business in Las Vegas by hosting a conference for their industry.

“We felt that it was not the right time to stay away from these types of gatherings, that it was important to find a way to manage ourselves out of this economic mess,” Victor Oviedo, a SkyBridge partner, said Thursday. “Vegas was a perfect place to do this, a city that built something from nothing in the middle of the desert.”

So when Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller came calling early last year to attract more Wall Street investment in Nevada, SkyBridge was more than happy to oblige. Miller and his father, former Gov. Bob Miller, introduced the company to gaming mogul Steve Wynn and legendary financier Michael Milken. Mix in a courtesy call the company made to an enthusiastic Goodman and SkyBridge came up with an idea.

Why not invite top hedge fund managers, bankers, pension fund executives and other Wall Street types interested in nontraditional forms of investing to share their thoughts in Las Vegas about macroeconomics, public policy, geopolitics and investment strategies?

This led to the first SkyBridge Alternatives Conference last May at Wynn Las Vegas with 400 participants. That gathering created so much buzz among alternative investment professionals that when SkyBridge announced its second conference — a three-day event that wraps up today — it had to cap attendance at 1,500. SkyBridge has penciled in its third conference for next May in Las Vegas, with the location yet to be determined.

Because hedge fund investors are known for running counter to popular opinion, Scott Prince, SkyBridge co-managing partner, said it made sense for his company to come to Las Vegas when the city began feeling abandoned by Wall Street.

“We got a lot of support from officials in Las Vegas to make this happen, so we feel this is a real partnership for us,” Prince said....

Read the full text of the article online at http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/may/21/street-hits-strip/ ">. 

It's rare that four of the most successful and well-known hedge-fund managers in the world are all on the same stage. But it's happening today at the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference in Las Vegas. James Dinan of York Capital Management, Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, Marc Lasry of Avenue Capital, and Glenn Dubin of Highbridge Capital Management are talking about their current perspectives in a panel moderated by CNBC's David Faber.

2:38 p.m. PDT: Lasry talks about how competitive hedge-fund managers are, even joking that he called up Dinan to tell him he's beating him.

2:36 p.m. PDT: Dinan says nobody on the panel is doing it for the money. Bedlam nearly ensues.

2:30 p.m. PDT: As far as changes to carried interest tax rules, Griffin says... 

Read the full text of the article online at  ">http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100519-715521.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines&mg=com-wsj.