Hedge Fund News: Jeff Vinik, Meredith Whitney & Jim Chanos’ Thoughts on Oil

Hedge fund manager James Fry gets 17½ years in Petters fraud (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle sentenced James Fry to 17½ years in prison Wednesday for his role as a key financial resource to former Wayzata businessman Tom Petters and his $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme. Kyle told a stoic Fry that his offense constituted a “serious crime” that required a “substantial prison sentence” after Fry’s June conviction on 12 counts of fraud and making misleading statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fry’s sentence is second in length only to the 50-year sentence of ringleader Tom Petters among the nine defendants sentenced so far for their roles in the Ponzi scheme.

Kyle Bass Reveals Why He Bought J.C. Penney Stock (Insider Monkey)
Kyle Bass is one of the most notorious personalities in the hedge fund universe. Especially when it comes to companies that are on everyone’s radar. Today, on CNBC, the manager of Hayman Advisors made several important points regarding J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP). Here’s what Bass had to say about the company’s management: “The prior CEO [Ron Johnson] destroyed more value in a such short amount of time that I’ve never seen in my life. He was clearly the wrong guy for the job. Bringing back Ullman, someone who knows retail very well…he has grown up in retail, he knows who the customer is, and our investment was predicated on the fact that…we thought J.C. Penney had an adequate liquidity to get through the holiday 2014.”

Pensions chief joins credit hedge fund manager Angelo Gordon (Creditflux)
Hedge fund giant Angelo Gordon has announced that it has hired Lawrence Schloss, the chief investment officer for the New York City Retirement Systems (Nycers). Schloss will start in his new role on 11 November, joining as a president and also becoming a partner in the employee-owned firm. Nycers with $140 million of assets under management is regarded as the largest municipal public pension scheme in the US. Schloss is credited with reversing the fortunes of the fund and growing AUM by $40 billion during his four years at the helm. One of the core strategies he employeed was to reduce exposure to equities and increase allocation to the debt markets.

Ignis Unveils First Hedge Fund (FINalternatives)
Ignis Asset Management is a long-only firm no more. The Phoenix Group money manager launched its first hedge fund, seeded with £25 million of internal capital. The Global Macro Government Bond Fund is just the first of at least four hedge funds the London-based firm, which has a fund of hedge funds unit, plans. The new vehicle is a souped-up version of its Absolute Return Government Bond Fund. The hedge fund, run by Russ Oxley, is targeting twice the volatility of the existing fund, which the firm hopes will allow it to return between 10% and 12% per year above cash.