Buffett’s Bet Paves Way for Japan as a Global Value Trade (Bloomberg)
Warren Buffett’s $6 billion wager on Japan’s trading companies may serve as a catalyst to bring back foreign investors to the country’s value-sector heavy stock market, according to some strategists. Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s purchase of stakes in five major trading firms that dominate Japan’s energy and raw-materials industries — Itochu Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co. and Sumitomo Corp. — shows the U.S. conglomerate is likely looking beyond the pandemic and betting on global growth, said Amir Anvarzadeh, a senior strategist at Asymmetric Advisors in Singapore.
Billionaire Bill Ackman Says Mandatory Investing Accounts for Every US Child Could Combat Wealth Inequality (Business Insider)
Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman views wealth inequality in the US as a “black-swan-type” risk for investors, and sees two potential solutions for aiding lower- and middle-income Americans. In a letter to Pershing Square Capital investors, the billionaire defended capitalism as “the best system for maximizing the size of the economic pie.” Yet long-stagnant wage growth for the majority of Americans presents “one of the principal problems” with the US economy, he added. If the disparity worsens, a growing share of Americans will push for radical changes to the system or look to overhaul it completely.
Hedge Fund Manager Steven Cohen in Exclusive Talks to Buy New York Mets (CNBC)
Steven Cohen, the billionaire hedge fund manager, has entered exclusive negotiations to buy the New York Mets, according to numerous sources close to the sale process. Cohen, who had been very close to a deal to acquire the Major League Baseball team for a price of roughly $2.6 billion late in 2019, has fended off challenging bids from a group of investors led by Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez, as well as a bid from a group led by private equity titans Josh Harris and David Blitzer.
Copyright: welcomia / 123RF Stock Photo
Bridgewater and Tekmerion, the Startup Accused of Stealing Its Secrets, End Legal Wrangling (Institutional Investor)
The case between Bridgewater Associates and two of the founders of Tekmerion Capital Management, a small investment firm, has been resolved. On Friday the two filed a “stipulation of discontinuance” with the New York State Supreme Court, seeking to permanently dismiss the case. This will likely end a years-long arbitration process between Bridgewater and Tekmerion’s founders, Lawrence Minicone and Zachary Squire, two former Bridgewater employees. The parties were at odds over Bridgewater’s concerns that Minicone and Squire had breached the confidentiality agreements laid out in their original employment contracts.
Azimut Alternative Capital Touts Global Reach, Permanent Capital in Hunt for Firm Stakes (The Wall Street Journal)
Azimut Alternative Capital Partners is on the hunt for stakes in midsize private-markets investment firms, betting that the power of permanent capital and access to global markets will help it win deals. “GPs are interested in more than just getting a check,” said Jeffry Brown, chief executive of Azimut Alternative Capital Partners, or AACP. “They look for people that have experience running a firm successfully.”
