Hedge Fund Snow Park Pushes Japara on New Structure (AFR.com)
New York-based hedge fund Snow Park is actively pushing for aged care group Japara to hive off as much as $400 million in property assets in an attempt to realise better value for the stock price, which has been trading below book value. Aged care stocks have tumbled this year due to the announcement of a royal commission into the sector as well as uncertainty about property prices and government funding cuts. Snow Park’s Jeffrey Pierce flew into Australia this week and met with Japara management to pitch the plan of turning Japara back into an operating company with a separate property company that would sell and lease back the aged care real estate.
Sears Investors Claim Hedge Fund Cyrus Improperly Influencing Credit Market: Letter (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors who bought insurance meant to mitigate losses from Sears Holdings Corp’s (SHLDQ.PK) bankruptcy proceedings are claiming that a hedge fund that sold the insurance is improperly influencing market proceedings, according to a letter seen by Reuters. According to the letter, Cyrus Capital Partners LP worked to “torpedo” an auction planned for Tuesday for company bonds by getting Sears to include wording in a bankruptcy court order that would disqualify the bonds in credit proceedings.
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WorldQuant’s New Fund Said to Lose 9.5% as Chaos Smashes Algos (Bloomberg)
(Bloomberg) — WorldQuant’s first fund for outside investors lagged behind its target index in October and has underperformed the benchmark since it started, according to people who have been briefed on the returns. The $2.6 billion quant stock fund, a joint venture between Igor Tulchinsky’s WorldQuant and Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management, is designed to significantly outperform the MSCI World Index, said the people, asking not to be identified because the returns haven’t been publicly disclosed. The fund, which started in May, dropped 9.5 percent in October, compared with a 7.3 percent decline in the index.
Campbell Soup’s Activist Fight Going Down to the Wire Over Two Nominees (CNBC)
In a week, shareholders will vote on whether Campbell Soup’s board will face its most significant disruption in 64 years as a public company. Activist firm Third Point has been waging a proxy battle against Campbell, demanding that it put five of its nominees on its board. In this contest for Campbell, it is seemingly no longer a question of whether it will add Third Point nominees but how many. The number is significant. According to the bylaws, Campbell has 12 board members, with the ability to go to 14, with board approval. (Its bylaws could be amended to boost the board even more.)
Carney: Hedge Funds Are Manuevering to Loot Fannie and Freddie from the U.S Taxpayer (Breitbart.com)
Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity group, and the hedge fund Paulson & Co., run by Trump Wall Street supporter John Paulson, last year reportedly hired the investment bank Moelis & Co. to develop proposals to overhaul the two agencies. The plan went nowhere, in large part because it was dead on arrival in the House Financial Services committee, then run by conservative Republican stalwart Jeb Hensarling. Hensarling, however, chose not to run for re-election and the chair of the committee will now be occupied by leftwing Democrat Maxine Waters of California.
