Cerner Stock Jumps on Starboard Director Appointments, Buyback (TheStreet)
Shares of health care technology provider Cerner (CERN) jumped Tuesday after the company said it had reached an agreement with activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP to appoint four new Starboard-picked directors to its board, and said it would boost its buyback program by $1.2 billion. Cerner stock jumped 9.8% to $62.67 in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. In a statement, Cerner said it has appointed four new directors, effective immediately: John Greisch, former president and CEO of Hill-Rom Holdings; Halsey Wise, former chairman and CEO of MedAssets; Melinda Mount, former president of AliphCom, also known as Jawbone; and George Riedel, former chairman and CEO of Cloudmark.
Nordic HF Managers Collect Lipper Awards (HedgeNordic.com)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – After receiving several Lipper Fund Awards outside the Nordics, DNB TMT Absolute Return and Nordea 1 – Alpha 10 MA Fund have also been named winners in two award categories of the Nordic Lipper Fund Awards 2019. DNB TMT Absolute Return, a market-neutral equity fund focused on the global telecom, media, and technology sectors, was recognized as the best fund over three years in the “Alternative Long/Short Equity Global” category in the entire Nordic region. Earlier this year, the fund managed by Anders Tandberg-Johansen (pictured) alongside Sverre Bergland, Erling Thune, and Erling Kise received a similar award in the same category in Switzerland.
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SoftBank Hires Three Execs for $5 Billion Latin America Fund (Bloomberg)
SoftBank Group Corp. tapped industry veterans from Dan Loeb’s Third Point and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to help oversee a $5 billion technology fund focused on Latin America. Paulo Passoni, who until earlier this year was a managing director at Daniel Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point, will serve as investment partner with SoftBank’s own Shu Nyatta for the SoftBank Innovation Fund. The two will be focused on finding and executing deals, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. André Maciel, who ran JPMorgan’s investment-banking advisory business for Brazil, is joining as a managing partner who will helm the fund’s Brazil office, the company said.
Hedge Funds Up 1 per cent in March, Says Eurekahedge (HedgeWeek)
The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index gained 1.00 per cent in March, supported by strength in global equity and bond markets as central banks shy away from tight monetary policies. Optimism over the progress of the US-China trade talk supported both countries’ equities over the first quarter of the year. The Eurekahedge Greater China Hedge Fund Index was up 11.46 per cent year-to-date as the country’s onshore equity markets recovered from the devastating losses in 2018. China A-shares also benefited from MSCI’s announcement to increase their weight in the emerging market indices this year.
Don’t Count on a Hollywood Showdown at Sony (The Wall Street Journal)
Activist investor Daniel Loeb seems to be taking aim at Sony for the second time in six years. He failed to rally support for a spinoff of movie and music assets in 2013, and he may fail again. Shares in the Japanese company jumped 9% Tuesday after Reuters reported that Third Point, Mr. Loeb’s $14 billion New York-based hedge fund, is building a stake to push for changes, including the sale of assets. The fund has tried this before: It amassed as much as 7% of Sony in 2013, after a weak couple of years for the stock, and…
Protégé Partners Weinberg joins APG Asset Management (Opalesque.com)
Michael Weinberg has joined APG Asset Management as Head of Hedge Funds and Alternative Alpha Hedge Fund Investments. APG Asset Management is the investment arm of APG Groep NV, the largest pension provider in the Netherlands. The $482 billion asset manager invests for its pension clients. Weinberg will be based in New York. Before joining APG Asset Management, Weinberg was previously the Chief Investment Officer at MOV37 and Protégé Partners. Over his career, Weinberg has also held roles at Man Group, Credit Suisse and Soros Fund Management..
Investors Pay the Price when Egos Rule for Fund Managers (The Irish Times)
Legendary investor Bill Gross was the most successful bond manager of his generation but his career ended miserably earlier this year after he made risky bets in a doomed attempt to prove he “could still do it, and do it quickly”. It raises the question: how big a problem is ego in the money management business? It was certainly a problem for Gross. Long known as the bond king, Gross was the most influential figure in the global bond market before being ousted from the firm he founded, investing giant Pimco, in 2014. An acrimonious legal battle with Pimco followed and Gross started again at a smaller outfit, Janus Henderson, but it didn’t work out; in the final three years of his career, Gross underperformed more than 90 per cent of his peers.
Here’s Why Eagle Materials Jumped 10.3% in March (The Motley Fool)
An activist investor is attempting to shake up the company. What happened: Shares of Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) jumped over 10% last month, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The stock posted a 15% gain on a single day, March 28, when Sachem Head Capital Management disclosed a 9% stake in the building materials manufacturer. The hedge fund is attempting to break up the company to create more value for shareholders. According to reporting by Bloomberg, Sachem Head Capital Management thinks Eagle Materials should divest its frac sand business, find buyers for its cement and wallboard segments, and institute a share repurchase program. Whether or not the plan materializes, investors were happy about the potential for change.
