UPDATE 1-Hedge Fund Jana Partners Gains 3.1 pct in May- Performance Summary (Reuters)
BOSTON, June 1 (Reuters) – Activist hedge fund Jana Partners told clients that its Jana Partners fund gained 3.1 percent last month, lifting performance to 2.8 percent for the year since January. May’s gain follows on the heels of a 2.1 percent return in April, according to a performance summary seen by Reuters on Friday. The firm’s Jana Nirvana Fund gained 4.5 percent last month, lifting its return to 3.7 percent for the first five months of the year. This puts the New York-based firm ahead of most other hedge funds, which inched up only 0.20 percent last month and are off 0.73 percent for the year, according to data from Hedge Fund Research.
Billionaire Ray Dalio Shares his Best Life Advice: Sell Expensive Stocks and ‘Party Like Crazy’ (CNBC)
Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, who runs the world’s largest hedge fund, believes investors should not just chase the latest hot trend. The fund manager shared his top two pieces of advice for investors during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” question and answer session Thursday. He cited the importance of diversification and analyzing the valuation of investments. “First, know how to balance your portfolio so that you don’t have any systematic bias toward bull or bear markets in anything,” he wrote. “Second, don’t make the mistake of thinking that investments that have been good over the past few years [will continue] Rather than more expensive investments .. think about how to rotate your portfolio to buy that which is cheap and sell that which is expensive.”
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
How Elliott Management’s Paul Singer Took Activist Investing Global (TheStreet)
There is only one Paul Singer. Last week, Hyundai Motor Group withdrew an $8.8 billion restructuring plan designed to consolidate the founding Chung family’s hold over its sprawling empire. The cancelled package of deals represented a clear validation of a campaign waged against the transactions by Elliott Management‘s chief Paul Singer, who will keynote The Deal’s 2018 Corporate Governance conference on June 7. It also was a key demonstration of the $35 billion insurgent fund’s global reach. “Elliott is everywhere,” said Jim Rossman, managing director at Lazard. “Unlike the other activist teams that run in pyramid structures out of New York, or in the case of Cevian Capital or TCI or Knight Vinke, Sweden or London, Elliott is truly diversified and it has many more mid-level people who can pursue ideas.”
Sears Still Screwed, Eddie Lampert Still Gonna Be Fine (DealBreaker)
Things have looked grim for a while at Sears Holdings. Usually, this is not good for the people who own and run such companies. But for Eddie Lampert, who is Sears’ chairman, CEO, controlling shareholder and major creditor? Yea, as suspected, the inevitable death of an icon of American capitalism and retailing on his watch probably won’t register all that much thanks to the bewildering web he’s rather carefully weaved. “Lampert, the company’s chief executive, main shareholder and a key lender through his hedge fund ESL Investments Inc., is unlikely to lose much money, even as other shareholders are wiped out. That’s because Lampert, again and again, has positioned himself to benefit from the moves required to keep Sears in business while shielding him from potential downside…
