The Canadian National Railway publicly cautioned its former chief executive, E. Hunter Harrison, on Friday against participating in the hedge fund manager William A. Ackman’s plan to put him in charge of running the Canadian Pacific Railway, saying that would violate his employment contract. Mr. Harrison is widely credited with turning Canadian National into one of North America’s most cost-efficient railways. But the directors of Canadian Pacific have rejected Mr. Ackman’s proposal to have him lead a similar transformation at that railroad, which lags behind Canadian National in efficiency.
SAC, Z Said To Be Near Deal For Golden Gate’s Neways Under Restructuring (Bloomberg)
Creditors SAC Capital Advisors LP and Z Capital Partners LLC are poised to take control of Golden Gate Capital Corp.’s Neways in a restructuring that would allow it to avoid bankruptcy, said people with knowledge of the talks.
Icahn Buys 14.5 Percent Stake In CVR Energy (Reuters)
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn and his affiliates have picked up a 14.5 percent stake in CVR Energy Inc (CVI.N), saying the shares were undervalued. This makes Icahn and his affiliates the largest shareholders in the refining company, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Warren Buffett Is On A Radical Track (Value Walk)
Warren Buffett believes in making money. He believes in fairness. He believes in the ability of government to make people’s lives better. But most of all, he believes in luck. “I’ve had all this good fortune,” Buffett says. “It starts with being born in this country, though. It starts with being born male in 1930.” Genes, luck and birthplace may have helped make Buffett the world’s third richest man. But in the past year, his good fortune has also turned him into one of America’s most unexpected radicals. He’s an ardent capitalist who is demanding higher taxes on the rich.
Lightsquared Asks For More Tests After U.S. Cites GPS Disruption (Bloomberg)
Philip Falcone’s LightSquared Inc. called for more tests of its proposed wireless service after U.S. officials said interference with the global-positioning system precludes quick approval of the venture. No further testing is warranted after findings that LightSquared disrupts many GPS receivers, the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation & Timing said yesterday in a letter to the U.S. Commerce Department. The inter-agency body advises the government on GPS technology.
Greylock Capital Management’s Hans Humes On Greek Debt Talks (Reuters Hedge World)
Hans Humes, president of Greylock Capital Management talks with Bloomberg TV’s Margaret Brennan about a halt in the talks between Greece and its creditors after negotiations in Athens failed to yield an agreement. “You could say there’s a bit of an impasse right now,” Humes said. “I think the issue at hand now is, the creditors have really given a lot of ground. … The sticking point is coming down to what the interest rate would actually be on the new bond, and then some of the structural elements.”
European Hedge Funds Line Up Bets On China Downturn (Reuters)
European hedge fund managers are betting that China’s once red hot economic growth will cool dramatically in 2012, hitting companies, economies and commodity prices that have been fuelled by the world’s second largest economy in recent years. Managers are taking bets ranging from short positions on equity markets or the currency to buying credit protection on companies that export to China. Others are shorting natural resources stocks in other countries that rely on Chinese demand.
Selig Confident Dodgers Will Be Sold By April 30 (Reuters)
Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Bud Selig said Saturday he was counting on the bankrupt Los Angeles Dodgers to be sold by April 30. Prospective bidders include a who’s who list of sports and financial heavyweights, including former Dodgers manager Joe Torre, basketball great Magic Johnson, hedge fund titan Steven Cohen, media mogul Mark Cuban and sports agent and Los Angeles businessman Dennis Gilbert who hosted Saturday’s event.
T. Boone Pickens’ Top 10 Stock Picks (Insider Monkey)
T. Boone Pickens is not an average hedge fund manager. He is an insider of the oil industry, thanks to his decades of experience. Now, instead of taking risks in the oil fields, he takes risks in the financial markets. His BP Capital Management mainly focuses on investing in energy futures and stocks. His oil and gas commodities funds distributed nearly $2.8 billion to investors since starting in 1997. The top 10 positions in Pickens’ 13F portfolio at the end of the third quarter returned 28% since the end of September, versus 15% for SPY in the same period. The calculation assumes that Pickens did not increase or reduce his positions in the 10 positions.
10 Sell Ideas From Whitney Tilson (Insider Monkey)
In a recent letter to investors, Whitney Tilson’s T2 Partners discussed what went wrong in 2011, likening its performance last year to 2008/2009. The letter spoke in very honest terms about the fund’s numbers and detailed its current positions. Amongst those holdings listed was a ranking of T2 Partners’ largest short positions. These are mostly high PE stocks or companies facing serious competitive or regulatory challenges.
Hedge Funds May Attract $80B In 2012: Barclays (Bloomberg)
Investors may add about $80 billion of new capital to hedge funds globally this year, the most since 2007, Barclays Plc (BARC) said in a report. About 56 percent of investors surveyed by Barclays plan to increase such investments in the coming year, more than seven times the number that plan to reduce their allocations, the U.K. bank said in an e-mailed statement dated Jan. 13. Endowments, foundations, private banks and public pensions will most likely be the sources of new capital to the industry, it said.
Hedge Funds Wager Wrong Way As Prices Decline Most In A Month: Commodities (Bloomberg)
Speculators increased wagers on rising commodities to the highest level since November just as prices headed for the biggest three-day slide in almost a month. Money managers expanded combined net-long positions across 18 U.S. futures and options by 7.2 percent to 719,991 contracts in the week ended Jan. 10, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of 24 raw materials fell 2.5 percent in the following three days.
Poorest Nations Host Biggest Gas Finds In Sign Of Takeovers Ahead: Energy (Bloomberg)
One of the world’s poorest regions is also home to the biggest natural-gas discoveries in a decade, luring investors from steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal to Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (RDSA). Smaller explorers in the region are ready to do deals. Ophir Energy Plc, (OPHR) a London-based African specialist that counts the Mittal family and New York hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC among its largest investors, says it’s seeking partners to drill off Tanzania. Cove Energy Plc (COV), which holds a stake in Mozambique finds, said Jan. 5 it may sell the company. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is looking to sell assets.
More Asian Hedge Funds Return Money To Investors (Hedge Fund Intelligence)
More hedge fund managers have decided to return money to investors following a difficult 2011 –and facing an increasingly uncertain environment in 2012. AsiaHedge understands that several Hong Kong-based firms, including Isometric Capital, Thaddeus Capital and Tribridge Investment Partners, have joined a lengthening list of funds that have returned money to investors in the aftermath of a difficult year.
