Billionaire John Paulson to Host NYC Fundraiser for Trump (Fox Business)
When President Trump returns to New York City to speak at the United Nations next week, he will be having a fundraiser at the luxurious Upper East Side townhouse of legendary hedge fund billionaire John Paulson, who is also one of his main economic advisers and an early supporter. Paulson was the first major Wall Street mover and shaker to publicly endorse Trump after he secured the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2016. Paulson, who runs the investment management firm Paulson & Co., famously made his name by betting against the subprime mortgage market bubble that led to the Great Recession in 2008. Forbes puts his net worth at $4.2 billion.
Third Point’s Phony Battle with Sony (The Wall Street Journal)
Activist investor Daniel Loeb is facing another setback at Sony. But if this is what failure looks like, he should try to fail more often. The Japanese conglomerate on Tuesday rejected a request from Third Point, a New York-based hedge fund run by Mr. Loeb, to spin off its semiconductor unit. In June, the fund said it had invested $1.5 billion in Sony and called for a breakup, arguing that the company’s semiconductor business, which makes image sensors for smartphones including Apple’s iPhones, has little to do with its games…
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GoldenTree Asset Management Implements Hazeltree Collateral Manager (HedgeWeek)
GoldenTree Asset Management (GoldenTree) has implemented Hazeltree Collateral Manager to manage daily collateral calls. Hazeltree Collateral Manager provides GoldenTree with a comprehensive view of derivative positions with counterparties, as well as analytics and collateral automation algorithms to manage collateral positions and address margin call discrepancies.
Tom Steyer Says He Can’t Disclose Hundreds of Millions in Financial Assets (TheDailyBeast.com)
Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer has insisted publicly that he is divested from his once-extensive fossil fuel interests. But he also has hundreds of millions of dollars tied up in assets that he will not or cannot disclose. The California billionaire filed a new personal financial accounting last week giving a broad view of his extensive assets and sources of income. But he declined to go into detail about significant segments of his investment portfolio, citing confidentiality agreements that bar him from publicly disclosing the underlying assets in which he is invested.
Elliott Pushes for Sale of Hilton Grand Vacations (Bloomberg)
Activist investor Elliott Management Corp. has built a position in Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. and has been advocating for a sale prior to the company putting itself on the block, according to people familiar with the matter. The New York-based hedge fund run by billionaire Paul Singer bought a stake of less than 5% in the time-share operator in July, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public.
Valley Forge Capital Management Surpasses $500 Million in Assets Under Management (BusinessWire.com)
WAYNE, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Valley Forge Capital Management (“VFCM”), one of the largest equity hedge fund managers in the mid-Atlantic region, announces that the firm recently surpassed $500 million in assets under management. Founded by Dev Kantesaria, VFCM runs a long-biased equity strategy that employs a bottom-up fundamental approach to find high-quality businesses that trade at large discounts to their intrinsic values. VFCM holds a concentrated portfolio of high conviction ideas that meet rigorous criteria for business quality, financial metrics and operational standards.
Investors Turn to Hedge Funds for Asset Protection (Opalesque.com)
Hedge fund investors are looking to the asset class to offer asset protection as they anticipate an equity market downturn, said Preqin Investor Update. The report on alternative assets during H2 2019, said that despite the underwhelming 12-month performance, hedge funds’ downside risk protection makes them an important tool for investors. Almost half of the investors think the asset class fell short of performance expectations over the past 12 months, but a notable 42% of respondents believe the industry’s performance will improve in the year to come. Almost three-quarters of investors now believe equity markets are at a peak, and many are looking to hedge funds to help provide diversity and downside protection.
Quiet August for Nordic Fixed-Income HFs? (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Nordic fixed-income hedge funds edged down 0.3 percent in August (97 percent reported), the second negative month for the group in 2019. On a year-to-date basis, the fixed-income funds within the Nordic Hedge Index gained 3.7 percent on average. While the August performance figures are not attention-grabbing, fund managers had to navigate some volatile markets during the month. Nykredit MIRA has been on a disappointing run of performance after falling 8.5 percent in August alone and 15.4 percent year-to-date. Global fixed-income hedge funds slightly outperformed their Nordic peers last month. The Eurekahedge Fixed Income Hedge Fund Index, which reflects the performance of over 300 funds employing fixed-income strategies, edged up 0.1 percent in August.
Goldman Alumni Come Together for Sean Gallagher’s Hedge Fund (Bloomberg)
Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Sean Gallagher is bringing in some former colleagues as he seeks investors for his fledgling hedge fund. Bloomberg’s Sonali Basak reports and Saira Malik, global head of equities at Nuveen, joins the conversation on “Bloomberg Daybreak: Americas.” (Source: Bloomberg)
KLS Carves Out ‘Structured Income’ Book (HFAlert.com)
KLS Diversified Asset Management has a new fund in the market. The drawdown vehicle, KLS Structured Income Fund, would isolate several of the least-liquid strategies the debt-fund operator manages through its $2 billion hedge fund, KLS Diversified Master Fund. Since 2012, the “structured income” component of the flagship fund has generated double-digit returns every year but one via investments in specialty finance, commercial and residential real estate debt and bank regulatory capital-relief programs. The planned vehicle is designed to “capture more durable yield premia as a result of illiquidity and complexity,” according to marketing materials KLS began circulating in the past few weeks. And with a two-year investment period and three-year harvest period — plus two one-year extension options — the vehicle would help investors “gain ‘higher ground’ should market and/or economic conditions soften.”
