Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager David Tepper Reportedly Close to Finalizing Deal for Carolina Panthers at Record Price (CNBC)
Billionaire hedge fund manager David Tepper is close to finalizing a deal for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, according to the NFL Network and ESPN. The deal would transfer ownership from Jerry Richardson, who put the Panthers up for sale following accusations of sexual misconduct and using racial language at work. Tepper is founder and president of Appaloosa Management. The hedge fund has earned Tepper billions, with Forbes estimating his net worth at more than $11 billion.
Nelson Peltz Is In a League of His Own When it Comes to Activist Investing (TheStreet)
When it comes to activist investing, Nelson Peltz, and Trian Fund Management LLC have managed to set themselves apart from the pack. Peltz, who will keynote at The Deal’s 2018 Corporate Governance conference on June 7, gained credibility among the institutional investor class following his acquisition and turnaround of Snapple Beverage Group in the late 1990s. The move has imprinted Peltz, and Trian with the ‘operational activist’ moniker and set the investor apart from ‘financial activist’ funds, often hedge funds without operational backgrounds which focus on balance sheet initiatives such as hiking leverage and making capital distributions.
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Hedge Fund Focused on Fighting Tech Addiction Dumps $80 million Worth of Facebook (CNBC)
A hedge fund that’s spoken out against iPhone addiction sold all its holdings of Facebook shares in the first quarter, while taking a new stake in Apple. Jana Partners sold 474,000 shares of Facebook, according to a required quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. The data reflects changes made at some point in the first quarter. It is not known whether Jana sold out before Facebook dropped more than 20 percent after revealing a consumer data scandal affected 87 million accounts. As of the end of December, Jana’s Facebook stake was worth $84 million.
Bill Ackman’s Big Deals Don’t Look Better in Hindsight (Bloomberg)
Scott Wapner is an on-air personality for CNBC who, in addition to hosting a midday show, makes it a point to be in constant touch with the big shareholder activists who bestride Wall Street. To judge from the evidence in his newly published book, “When the Wolves Bite,” 1 Wapner has their phone numbers at his fingertips, and can get a near instantaneous reaction from them when something newsworthy takes place. Most important for a CNBC journalist, he can get them to appear on his show from time to time. All of which is to say that it’s not in Wapner’s best interest to say anything unflattering about the hedge-fund big shots he covers. He needs them a lot more than they need him. Yet I don’t think I’ve ever read as devastating a portrait of a professional investor as Wapner’s portrayal of Bill Ackman in “When the Wolves Bite.” It’s completely unwitting – which makes it all the more powerful.
NYC Hedge Fund Eyes Its Next Distressed-Debt Target: Bahrain (Bloomberg)
Greylock Capital Management LLC, a hedge fund that holds the distressed bonds of Mozambique and Venezuela, says Bahrain is its next potential target. The cash-strapped Gulf nation has been slow to implement reforms compared with its richer neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, after the slide in oil prices that began in 2014 eroded their wealth. Bahrain will have to revive its financial fortunes to prevent its debt from slumping to distressed levels, according to Bashar Zakaria at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the largest U.S. pension fund.
