Hedge fund boss gives £5 million to build new museum maths gallery (Standard) A hedge fund manager who built his business on mathematical reasoning has given the Science Museum an unprecedented £5 million towards building a new maths gallery. It is the largest individual donation the South Kensington institution has ever received. David Harding, 53, who founded Winton Capital Managements, said he wanted to help the cause of maths and science in the UK. “We all, certainly me and my ilk, went to the Science Museum as kids and it was a formative experience,” he said. “We have a memory of going and pressing a few buttons.”
An App Helps the Ultra-Wealthy Keep Track of It All (WSJ) It’s no easy thing for the ultra-rich to keep track of their wealth–not just the money, but the businesses, homes and household staff, the planes and cars, and the precious art. One high-end wealth-management firm now has a mobile app for that, available only to a handful of their richest clients. The customized, iPad-based software provides these clients with an easy way to review the details of their fortunes. With a tap on the screen, they can get a rundown of their hedge-fund holdings, for example, or their many mansions and the people employed in each of them.
Split for PwC too in City power couple’s billion-pound divorce (Telegraph) As hedge fund tycoon Chris Hohn and his former wife, Jamie Cooper-Hohn, hammer out Britain’s first billion-pound divorce settlement, the auditor for the couple’s philanthropic foundation is splitting too. In happier days, PwC signed off the automatic transfer of seven-figure profits from Mr Hohn’s The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI) hedge fund to The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) charity managed by Mrs Cooper-Hohn. …Happily, however, PwC’s split appears to be more straightforward than the City power couple’s acrimonious High Court wranglings.
ACKMAN: Allergan Has The ‘Most Shareholder-Unfriendly’ Defense In The ‘History Of Corporate America’ (BusinessInsider) Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman sent the following letter to Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN)‘s board telling them they have put up the most “shareholder-unfriendly” defense in the “history of corporate America.” Ackman, who runs Pershing Square, has teamed up with Valeant to pursue a hostile takeover bid for the maker of Botox. …It has been nearly five months since Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) proposed to merge with Allergan. During this period, Allergan has distinguished itself in running the most shareholder-unfriendly, hostile defense process perhaps in the history of corporate America. In doing so, Allergan has wasted corporate resources, poisoned its relationship with its shareholders, and destroyed shareholder value.
Maples Fund Services opens Boston office (HedgeWeek) Boston will be a full-service office that will cater to both US domestic and offshore funds looking to be serviced by a Maples Fund Services team physically present in the US. The office will give the firm access to a tight-knit community of hedge fund, fund of hedge fund, and private equity managers, located in Boston, and it also improves its ability to be closer and more accessible to clients and their investors across the US market. “On the back of our recent strategic acquisition in Asia, we are extremely positive about the continued global expansion of our fund administration business through the opening of the Boston office,” says Scott Somerville, CEO of MaplesFS.
CFTC OKs Hedge-Fund Advertising (Finalternatives) The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission yesterday removed one of the last hurdles to hedge-fund advertising. The regulator voted to ease restrictions on marketing private offerings. The move brings the CFTC into line with new rules adopted last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission at Congress’ behest. But hedge funds that use some derivatives, regulated by the CFTC, were still restricted by its rules, and few have taken advantage of their new rights under the SEC regulation.
Alibaba roadshow moves to Boston (CNBC)
Hedge Fund, Brokers Lose Claims Against Lehman: Bankruptcy (BusinessWeek) Co-underwriters with Lehman Brothers Inc. don’t have so-called contribution claims against the liquidated investment bank related to offerings in which it was the lead underwriter in the sale of its own securities. Also as the result of a Sept. 5 ruling by a federal district judge in New York, hedge funds in effect won’t have claims when Lehman, acting as a prime broker, failed to carry out trades in its own securities. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James M. Peck ruled in January that hedge fund manager Claren Road Asset Management LLC and underwriters ANZ Securities Inc.
Scaramucci inks deal with Fox Business (NYPost) Hedge-fund impresario Anthony Scaramucci is jumping to the Fox Business Network from CNBC, The Post has learned. Scaramucci’s FBN debut will be on Maria Bartiromo’s “Opening Bell” show on Wednesday. The founder of SkyBridge Capital was a frequent guest on CNBC for the past four years. The 50-year-old investor recently signed an exclusive deal to appear on both FBN and the Fox News Channel, sources close to the situation said.
Inversion Pioneer Ubben Delivers 17% as Quiet Activist (Bloomberg) Jeffrey Ubben had a hand in the management shake-up at Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) His ValueAct Capital Management LP helped build Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (VRX) into the serial acquirer pursuing Botox maker Allergan Inc. with fellow agitator Bill Ackman. The firm manages $14 billion, more investor cash than most of its activist peers oversee. Yet few have heard Ubben speak, let alone shout, and he prefers it that way, Bloomberg Markets magazine will report in its October special issue on the 50 Most Influential people in global finance.
A Former Hedge Fund Star Just Launched His Own Channel Because He’s Sick Of Finance TV (BusinessInsider) Former global macro fund manager Raoul Pal doesn’t think financial television channels are providing real value for viewers. That’s why Pal has decided to take matters into his own hands by launching Real Vision Television-an on-demand, subscription video service providing a library of content on economics and investing. “It’s a real mix of things it’s somewhere between TED and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) and The Economist,” Pal told Business Insider in a telephone interview.
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