Och-Ziff Capital Names Robert Shafir as CEO (Reuters)
(Reuters) – Och-Ziff Capital Management on Tuesday named Robert Shafir as its new chief executive officer, succeeding Dan Och after a battle over who will run the hedge fund firm. The news follows the departure of another director, William Barr, from OZM’s seven-member board over what the company said on Monday was “a disagreement over CEO succession”. Och, the company’s largest shareholder, will continue to serve as chairman of the board through March 31, after which he expects to remain involved with the hedge fund.
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase to Partner on US Employee Health Care (CNBC)
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday announced plans to partner on ways to cut health-care costs and improve services for their U.S. employees. The announcement slammed the shares of multiple companies in the health-care sector. Together, the three companies employ more than 1.1 million workers. “The ballooning costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy,” Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett said in a statement. “Our group does not come to this problem with answers. But we also do not accept it as inevitable. Rather, we share the belief that putting our collective resources behind the country’s best talent can, in time, check the rise in health costs while concurrently enhancing patient satisfaction and outcomes.”
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Activists Third Point, Jana Could Push for a Pinnacle Sale (TheStreet)
A wolf pack of high-profile activists appears to be accumulating shares in Pinnacle Foods (PF – Get Report) , all of which suggests that a sale of the packaged foods company to Conagra Brands Inc. (CAG – Get Report) or a boardroom brawl could be next. At issue is a Reuters report, citing sources, on Friday suggesting that activist Daniel Loeb of Third Point LLC has been accumulating shares in Pinnacle Foods and is seeking a meeting with the packaged food company. A significant accumulation by Loeb would come after Jana Partners Barry Rosenstein – the aggressive activist behind the Amazon.com-Whole Foods hookup – has already been accumulating shares over the past couple quarters.
Ackman’s Pershing Square’s Assets Fell 20 Percent in 2017 (Bloomberg)
Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management reported a net loss of 4 percent on its investments in 2017, with assets under management falling by almost $10 billion over the past two years.
As Scaramucci Puts Hedge Fund Event on Ice, a New Show Emerges (Bloomberg)
Fear not, hedge funders. There will still be a conference in Las Vegas this May. Context Capital Partners is planning to hold a new summit at the Aria Resort & Casino the week of May 7. The event is being planned after Anthony Scaramucci said last week that the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference wouldn’t take place in Las Vegas in 2018. The conference, known as SALT, is one of the most anticipated annual gatherings in the hedge fund industry.
