Hedge Fund Titans Pull Money From Funds for Huge Tax Bills (Bloomberg)
Hedge-fund billionaires were already struggling to keep investors from heading out the door. Then along came another problem: big tax bills. David Einhorn, John Paulson, Steve Cohen and other high-profile managers cumulatively owed billions of dollars to federal, state and local governments for taxes, thanks to a 2008 rule change tied to offshore holdings that gave them a decade to comply. To make the payments, they had to pull some of their own money from their funds.
Activist Jana Takes Pinnacle Foods Stake, May Push for Sale (Bloomberg)
Jana Partners, the activist fund run by Barry Rosenstein, disclosed a stake in Pinnacle Foods Inc. and is urging the packaged food manufacturer to explore a sale or another transactions in the frozen food space. The New York-based hedge fund and its partners own 9.5 percent of the food manufacturing company, according to a regulatory filing Thursday. Jana said in the filing that it believes Pinnacle is in a good position to consider consolidation given its strong position in the frozen foods industry. Jana said it may also discuss other issues with the company, including its cost structure, operations and board composition.
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Meet the Billionaire Investor Whose Advice Can Make You Really Rich (Maxim)
When Ray Dalio was eight years old, his jazz musician father, Marino Dallolio, moved the family from Jackson Heights, Queens, to Long Island. Like many kids, young Ray had a paper route and did odd jobs around the neighborhood, mowing lawns and shoveling snow for pocket money. When he was 12, he began caddying at a nearby golf club. The club’s membership included quite a few Wall Streeters, and having become interested in the market from what he’d overheard on the links, Ray bought 60 shares of Northeast Airlines with $300 he had managed to save. When Northeast subsequently became a takeover target, the stock tripled; by the time Ray graduated from high school, he had several thousand dollars invested in the stock market.
Och-Ziff So Messed Up Top Exec. Is Fleeing To The Comparative Calm Of Cryptocurrencies (DealBreaker)
Eighteen months ago, things didn’t look so good for Och-Ziff Capital Management. There was the bribery-so much bribery!-and the fallout thereof. There was the terrible performance, and the massive redemptions. Oh yea, and there were the early rumblings of a battle for control between firm founder Dan Och and his soon-to-be-designated successor and his son’s former waterskiing instructor, Jimmy Levin. Into this breach stepped OneWest Bank and Merrill Lynch veteran Alesia Haas as the embattled firm’s new CFO. And she helped turn things around. But then Och decided things were going too well and decided to blow up his deal with Levin. And, coincidentally or not, Haas is off to do her CFOing in the apparently more predictable and stable world of cryptocurrency exchange.
A Hedge Fund that has been Predicting Tesla will Crash within Months Just Got Even More Bearish (Business Insider)
A few weeks ago, we shared a note about Tesla from the hedge fund Vilas Capital Management. The firm, which is short the shares, said “Tesla is going to crash in the next 3-6 months.” I received an update from Vilas this morning explaining why they’re even more bearish on Tesla today. The firm pared its short positions after the recent selloff. And Telsa now comprises about 98% of their short book. Clearly Vilas thinks Tesla’s reckoning is imminent.
London-based Onslow Capital Calls Time on Emerging Markets Hedge Fund (Reuters)
LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) – British emerging markets-focused hedge fund Onslow Capital Management has closed after a long period of low volatility hit returns and assets fell below a sustainable level, it said in a letter to investors. The move by founder Nicolas Galperin to close after 11 years comes despite forecasts for markets to be more turbulent in the coming months as central banks shift their easy monetary policies, and follows the closure of Harmonic Capital Partners in February for a similar reason.
