Third Point Announces Proxy Contest at Bath & Body Works in Letter to Board (Reuters)
Third Point told Bath & Body Works on Wednesday that it plans to launch a proxy contest and that the company’s recent board refresh does not adequately address the hedge fund’s concerns about governance, capital allocation and pay. “As fiduciaries, we have no choice but to put forth qualified director candidates and give our fellow shareholders the opportunity to elect directors who can hold the stewards of their capital responsible for the decisions they make,” Third Point founder Daniel Loeb wrote in a letter to the company’s board.
D.E. Shaw Racks Up $1.1bn Across Two New Funds (Opalesque.com)
The D. E. Shaw group, a global investment and technology development firm, has raised $1.1bn across a pair of new funds. The US manager, a large multi-strategy player with more than $60bn across its investment range, said in a press release that two new funds, D. E. Shaw Voltaic Fund, and D. E. Shaw Diopter Fund, are focused on private market investment opportunities. The firm’s entities, principals, and employees contributed more than $150 million in total to the new funds. These fundraises represent the latest milestone in the long-term buildout of the firm’s private investing strategies, said the release.
Strong Performance for Keva’s Hedge Fund Portfolio (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Finland’s largest pension fund Keva saw its hedge fund, private equity, and real estate investments offset some of the losses stemming from fixed-incomed and listed equity investments in 2022. Keva’s hedge fund investments, which accounted for 7.2 percent of its €62 billion investment portfolio at year-end 2022, generated a return of 6.1 percent last year after delivering a return of 17.3 percent in 2021.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
BlackRock Still Manages $4 Billion of Texas Assets Despite Divestment Vows (Bloomberg)
BlackRock Inc. manages more than $4 billion in funds for the biggest public pension in Texas, undercutting claims by Republican Governor Greg Abbott that the state has cut ties with the world’s largest asset manager because of its advocacy of sustainable investing. The Teacher Retirement System of Texas sold all its shares in BlackRock by the end of 2022 to comply with a state law that prohibits government entities from directly investing in finance firms that are deemed to “boycott” the fossil fuel industry. However, the TRS still uses BlackRock to manage about $4 billion of its assets — or about 2.2% of the $179.7 billion total — according to documents obtained by Bloomberg News under public records laws.
Why Some Fund Managers Prefer Dividends Over Share Buybacks (Forbes)
Now that the full extent of the market rout in 2022 is coming into view, some investors are reassessing their strategies and, in some cases, starting to consider dividend stocks and dividend-focused funds. Record dividend payments in 2022: It’s no secret that 2022 was a bleak year for stock returns. However, companies in the S&P 500 paid out a record $565 billion in dividends throughout the year. Data from S&P Dow Jones Indices reveals that dividend payouts from the index grew an impressive 10% year over year.
