U.S. Hedge Fund Dispute with South Korea Heads to Arbitration (Reuters)
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – An international arbitration panel will hold hearings next month in the United States in a case filed by two New York-based hedge funds against the South Korean government over a 2015 Samsung merger. Mason Capital LP and Mason Management LLC filed suits in 2018 at both the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), which resolves commercial disputes involving states, and a South Korean domestic tribunal.
Sony Rejects Third Point’s Proposal Calling for a Company Breakup (The Wall Street Journal)
Sony Corp. turned down a request by activist investor Daniel Loeb for a spinoff of the profitable Sony unit that supplies parts for iPhone cameras, saying that keeping the business in-house would preserve synergies. The move, backed by a unanimous vote of Sony’s board, marks the clearest statement yet by Sony Chief Executive Kenichiro Yoshida that he intends to preserve the conglomerate model in which Sony embraces a range of businesses including Hollywood movies, PlayStation videogames, Walkman portable music players, life..
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Elliott Doesn’t Trust AT&T’s John Stankey as a Leader, But Getting Him Ousted could Create Chaos (CNBC)
Elliott Management didn’t mention the name John Stankey in its letter last week to AT&T’s board, but the activist hedge fund was clearly expressing its concern about the WarnerMedia CEO’s decision-making, especially as he assumes a bigger role at the telecom giant. Stankey’s positioning as the next CEO of AT&T was the catalyst for Elliott’s Jesse Cohn, a partner at the firm, and Mark Steinberg, an associate portfolio manager, to take a $3.2 billion stake in AT&T and disclose a plan for “enhancing leadership” at the company. The investors don’t like Stankey and ideally want him out, along with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the details are confidential.
Diamondback Duo Starts Long-Short Hedge Fund With $1 Billion (Bloomberg)
Rich Schimel and Lawrence Sapanski have started their new hedge fund with $1 billion in commitments seven years after shutting their previous firm, according to an email sent to investors. Like Diamondback Capital Management, the duo’s Cinctive Capital Management is a long-short stock fund that uses multiple trading teams, each focusing on a specific sector. The firm has 11 teams and more than 20 investment professionals and plans to hire more people, said a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public.
Exclusive: Buyout Firm CD&R Pursues Bid with PPG for Buffett-Backed Axalta – Sources (Reuters)
(Reuters) – Buyout firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC is in talks to partner with U.S. paint maker PPG Industries Inc to make an acquisition offer for Axalta Coating Systems Inc, the U.S. coatings company whose largest shareholder is Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. The bid would come three months after Axalta said it would explore a sale. It would allow PPG to overcome potential antitrust hurdles it would face were it to buy the entirety of Axalta, and only take on businesses it deems complementary.
Hedge Funds Up 0.17 per cent in August, Says Eurekahedge (HedgeWeek.com)
The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index was up 0.17 per cent in August, bringing its year-to-date return to 6.58 per cent. Roughly 32.6 per cent of the hedge fund managers comprising the index have recorded double-digit gains over the first eight months of the year. The global hedge fund industry AUM has declined by USD9.4 billion as of August 2019 year-to-date. Final Q2 2019 net outflows figure stood at USD40.0 billion, as investor redemptions continued to slow down. Hedge fund managers recorded USD46.4 billion and USD94.7 billion of net outflows in Q1 2019 and Q4 2018, respectively.
Texas Employees, PAAMCO Make First Investment in New Hedge Fund (Pensions&Investments)
Texas Employees Retirement System, Austin, and strategic partner PAAMCO Prisma have made their first seed investment in newly formed long/short equity manager Cinctive Capital Management, ERS spokeswoman Mary Jane Wardlow confirmed in an email. The amount of the investment by the $28.7 billion pension fund and PAAMCO Prisma, made in a strategic alliance called PAAMCO Launchpad, is not being disclosed, Ms. Wardlow said.
Preqin Venture Capital Benchmark Report, Q4 2018 (Preqin.com)
Preqin Private Equity Benchmarks® are calculated using performance information for over 6,000 private equity funds. This report contains global median and weighted performance benchmarks for global venture capital funds and early-stage funds up to Q4 2018, and provides individual median benchmarks for North America-focused venture capital funds. Plus information on pooled and horizon IRRs. Preqin collects performance data from a variety of sources to ensure a high degree of accuracy and confidence. In doing so, we can verify fund data and ensure that performance is consistent with our methodologies, offering the best and most trustworthy information in the market.
Insider Buying Action at Kraft (Seeking Alpha)
Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) director Jorge Lemann picked up 3.496M shares of Kraft on September 16 at a price of $28.60. The Brazilian billionaire has been on the Kraft board since 2015 and was on the Heinz board before that. He is best known as one of the co-founders of 3G Capital. 3G Capital sold off 25M shares of Kraft yesterday.
Cerner Corp (CERN) EVP and Chief Client Officer John Peterzalek Sold $2.9 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
EVP and Chief Client Officer of Cerner Corp., John Peterzalek, sold 42,767 shares of CERN on 09/13/2019 at an average price of $68.33 a share. The total sale was $2.9 million. Cerner Corp is a supplier of healthcare information technology and offers software, professional services, medical device integration, remote hosting and employer health, and wellness services. The Domestic segment generates maximum revenue. Cerner Corp has a market cap of $21.65 billion; its shares were traded at around $67.99 with a P/E ratio of 37.57 and P/S ratio of 4.04. The dividend yield of Cerner Corp stocks is 0.27%. Cerner Corp had annual average EBITDA growth of 14.10% over the past ten years.
Thai Tycoon Resigns After Being Fined for Insider Trading (Bloomberg)
(Bloomberg) — Thai telecommunications tycoon Pete Bodharamik, whose shareholdings are worth more than $1 billion, resigned his positions at two listed firms after being fined $1.9 million for insider trading. Pete quit as chief executive officer of Jasmine International Pcl, one of the top Thai broadband providers, and as chairman of broadcaster Mono Technology Pcl, stock market filings showed Tuesday.
The VP, Finance & CFO of Aaon Inc (NASDAQ: AAON) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the VP, Finance & CFO of Aaon Inc (AAON), Scott Asbjornson, bought shares of AAON for $738.8K. In addition to Scott Asbjornson, 7 other AAON executives reported Buy trades in the last month. This is Asbjornson’s first Buy trade following 4 Sell transactions.
E*trade Financial Corp (ETFC) EVP, Institutional Michael John Curcio Sold $2.4 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
EVP, Institutional of E*trade Financial Corp., Michael John Curcio, sold 53,584 shares of ETFC on 09/13/2019 at an average price of $45.18 a share. The total sale was $2.4 million. E*TRADE Financial Corp is a financial services company. It provides brokerage and related products and services to individual retail investors. It also provides investor-focused banking products and sweep deposits to retail investors.
Two Broker-Dealers to Pay $4.65 Million in Penalties for Providing Deficient Blue Sheet Data (HedgeCo.net)
(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc. has agreed to pay $2.7 million and BMO Capital Markets Corp. has agreed to pay $1.95 million to settle charges for providing incomplete and inaccurate securities trading information to the SEC. Broker-dealers are required to provide the information known as “blue sheet data,” which the SEC uses to carry out its enforcement and regulatory obligations, including investigations of insider trading and other fraudulent activity. According to the SEC’s orders, over a period of several years, Stifel and BMO each made numerous deficient blue sheet submissions containing missing or inaccurate data, largely due to undetected coding errors.
