Paulson Is Right: Gold Producers Must Fix Their Bad M&A Habits (Bloomberg)
Billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson is right to press top gold producers to avoid repeating their bad deal-making habits as prices press higher after notching up their biggest annual gain since 2010, according to Australia’s second-largest supplier. “I have a lot of empathy for what Paulson has been saying,” Evolution Mining Ltd. Executive Chairman Jake Klein said in an interview. “They’ve highlighted a number of very important and valid points about the industry’s behavior.” Paulson & Co., which calculates mistimed deals led to $85 billion of gold writedowns so far this decade, is organizing a Shareholders’ Gold Council — a collection of institutional investors who remain wary on the sector’s record on deals, executive pay and board appointments.
Hedge Funds Expect Counter Bid for Sky After Comcast Offer (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) – Two hedge funds that have criticized Twenty-First Century Fox’s (FOXA.O) takeover of Britain’s Sky (SKYB.L) have said Comcast Corp’s (CMCSA.O) rival $31 billion offer for the broadcaster is likely to trigger a higher counter-bid for the company. Hedge fund manager Crispin Odey, who has long argued that Fox’s takeover proposal is too cheap, told Reuters the bid from Comcast, the biggest U.S. cable operator, was “fantastic” and that a counter offer was now likely. Disney could bid directly for the British pay-TV company instead of Fox, which has faced regulatory obstacles to its Sky offer, said Odey, who is a former son-in-law of Murdoch. Hedge fund Polygon, which has also previously argued that Fox’s offer undervalues Sky, said the British company could now be sold for more than 15 pounds-a-share.
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Dalio Says Central Banks Face Challenge After ‘Goldilocks’ Phase (Bloomberg)
Central banks face a challenge getting things right a year or two down the road as they struggle to balance growth and inflation, said Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of the world’s biggest hedge fund. The U.S. is further ahead than Europe in the economic cycle, meaning it may cut monetary stimulus and raise interest rates sooner, Dalio, whose Bridgewater Associates manages about $160 billion, said during an interview in Beijing with Bloomberg Television. “We are in the Goldilocks part of the cycle, where it’s not too hot and not too cold,” he said. “We have growth and we don’t have an inflation problem. That’s the beautiful part of the cycle.”
Some 90% of Hedge Funds Aren’t Worth the Fees, But There’s Still a Place for Them, Says Expert (CNBC)
Hedge funds have received their fair share of criticism for their hefty fees, but there are still reasons to invest in them, according to an expert. “There’s 15,000 hedge funds out there and I think 90 percent of those hedge funds aren’t worth the fees that people pay,” said Donald Steinbrugge, chief executive and founder of Agecroft Partners, a consulting and marketing firm that focuses on hedge funds. Warren Buffett, famously compared active managers to monkeys in his annual shareholder letter last year and took issue with what he perceived as exorbitant fees. In his latest annual letter released on Saturday, Buffett also discussed winning a 10-year bet against hedge funds. “Performance comes, performance goes. Fees never falter,” he wrote.
Activist Hedge Fund to Pressure Genesco for More Asset Sales: Sources (Reuters)
(Reuters) – Activist hedge fund Legion Partners LLC will pressure U.S. footwear retailer Genesco Inc (GCO.N) to sell assets beyond its Lids Sports Group business, and could challenge its board if it does not do so, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Legion Partners, which together with investment firm 4010 Partners LP owns 5.3 percent of Genesco, wrote to the company’s board of directors on Monday asking it to carry out a full review of strategic alternatives, the sources said.
