There has been no shortage of calls from continental European leaders such as Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy for regulation of the hedge fund industry to limit potential systemic risks to the global financial system.

But it’s little surprise that some executives in London, where the vast majority of European hedge funds are actually based, have privately suggested the calls stem from motives rather more mixed than simply wanting better regulation.

These, they say, can be anything from these leaders wanting to hide their own political problems, to them feeling some ownership because many hedge fund investors are based in continental Europe, to a simple feeling jealousy of an industry that in Europe at least is mostly British.

Whatever the motives, the hedge fund industry has chosen to focus on the many benefits it believes it brings — to Britain.

In a pamphlet entitled “A British success story”, which has been sent to all members of parliament and leading civil servants, the Alternative Investment Management Association talks about how much UK hedge fund firms run, how many people in Britain it employs, and its benefits to the British pensions and savings industries.

As industry bodies such as AIMA strive to head off stringent regulation for the industry, UK managers will be watching and waiting — and wishing them ‘best of British’.

No surprise that private equity firms (even the publicly-traded ones) are reluctant to disclose the individual performance of their funds, particularly in a down market.

A letter from Blackstone Group to the SEC argues against disclosing such information to its public shareholders.  Looks like investors voted with their wallets on Monday, with Blackstone’s shares down 9 percent. Here’s an extract from the Dec 5 letter, first reported by Bloomberg:

“We do not believe that disclosure of detailed performance information within MD&A for each of the investment funds that we manage for each period presented is either required by Regulation S-K or, more importantly, a meaningful measurement of our results of operations. The principal disclosure to reflect our revenue recognition of performance fees is the disclosure of changes to performance fees and investment income set forth in our segment disclosure in MD&A and the financial statements. The individual rates of return have no direct impact on our financials and therefore we question the relevance to our investors.”

To read the letter click here:

For some of the information that Blackstone doesn’t want out in the public market, here’s a link to a recent Reuters story detailing the writedowns made on individual funds for 2008.

In retrospect, GM CEO Rick Wagoner’s demise was perhaps the most inevitable twist in the autos overhaul saga to date. The chance that he would present a radical plan to Obama this week, one dramatic enough to save his job, was slim at best. A more shocking result, one clearly less viable for Obama, would have been to make a few more threatening noises and hand out the cash that the company so desperately needs without demanding a very public pound of flesh – a head, in this case.

With only another 60 days to effect a U-turn in defiance of a skidding market, former GM COO Fritz Henderson doesn’t have a lot of room to maneuver. It’s hardly enough time for Washington to have installed a new crash-test chief executive.

The Chrysler bailout story is more intriguing. The private-equity owned car maker has been given 30 days to do a deal with Fiat, which has in deal talks to date pledged somewhere around zero in financial support. If that price was too much for the Italian auto maker, they may think that the ticking of the clock could give them some leverage to squeeze a few billion out of either Chrysler’s private-equity owners or U.S. taxpayers.

While Fiat managers may feel like kids in a Hot Wheels factory, they should probably temper their enthusiasm. Giving a foreign car maker U.S. taxpayer dollars would probably be politically poisonous to Obama, leaving bankruptcy a more viable option for the private-equity venture.

Deals of the Day:

* Turkey’s Sabanci family is buying a 15.3 percent in German airline Air Berlin, scooping up part of Len Blavatnik’s stake, more than two months after the U.S. billionaire sold the holding.

* Chinese car maker Geely Automobile Holdings will pay up to about A$58 million ($40.22 million) for its acquisition of Australian automatic transmission supplier Drivetrain Systems International (DSI).

* Reclusive, cash-rich Russian oil firm Surgutneftegaz made its first move on foreign markets, getting a foothold in eastern Europe with a surprise deal to buy 21 percent of Hungarian oil group  MOL.

* OTE, Greece’s biggest telephone company, has agreed to sell its Macedonian mobile phone unit Cosmofon and retail chain Germanos Telekom Skopje to Slovenia’s Telekom Slovenije.

(PHOTO: General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner addresses the media during a news conference at GM world headquarters in Detroit, Michigan February 17, 2009.  REUTERS/Rebecca Cook)

The sunny, secretive Cayman Islands have an image to protect. Bracing for a crush of reporters looking for comments a few weeks before a G20 meeting that may target tax havens like the Caymans, the island’s financial officials have a message for hedge funds and others who might get grumpy with a flood of nosy scribblers: don’t muss us.

Among the presentation tips for dealing with “surprise” or uncomfortable encounters, the island’s Portfolio of Finance & Economics sent around this week:

–Remain calm and pleasant.

–Keep eye contact with the reporter.  Do not look directly into the camera, especially when speaking.

–Do not put your hands over your face or push away a camera.  And do not in any way make physically aggressive movements.

–Use bridging statements to respond to inquiries: “We are not in a position to meet right now, but would be happy to take down your questions and get back to you with answers,” which can then be provided in writing.  It’s OK to repeat this sentiment ideally, varying the phrasing: “I’m not the best person for this topic but…”

Finally (and this was not in the memo) they can hold out the hope that the media’s fascination with offshore funds will fade within a week. After all the G-20 meeting itself begins on April 2 in London and most of the producers, cameramen and scribes will reluctantly follow the story to that decidedly more inclement locale.

The advisory in full is attached below.

(Reporting by Suzy Valentine)