Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Exits Yahoo, Amazon Last Quarter (Bloomberg)
Tiger Global Management LLC, the $14 billion investment firm run by Chase Coleman, increased its stakes in industrial companies last quarter and reduced holdings of technology firms. Tiger bought 3.9 million shares of car-rental company Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR), which had a market value of $190 million as of March 31, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today, and 1.64 million shares of real-estate data firm Zillow Inc (NASDAQ:Z) worth $144 million. The New York-based firm exited its stakes in Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX).
Daniel Loeb’s hedge-fund Third Point LLC added sizeable new stakes in companies including American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL), Anheuser Busch Inbev SA (ADR) (NYSE:BUD) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), according to a regulatory filing Thursday. The hedge-fund manager, who recently settled a seven-month-long battle with art auction house Sothebys (NYSE:BID), disclosed he held at the end of March 2.7 million shares of American Airlines, 1.4 million shares of Anheuser-Busch and 3.5 million shares of Verizon worth about $166 million.
The rise of David Tepper (MarketWatch)
David Tepper is arguably the most influential “smart-money” voice in the markets right now. While hedge funds have persistently underperformed the market of late, there are at least a handful of talented money managers with some undeniably jaw-dropping track records. Tepper is in that category. SkyBridge Capital’s Anthony Scaramucci, the host of the SALT hedge fund conference in Las Vegas, says that $1 million invested with Tepper’s Appaloosa Management when it was founded 20 years ago would be worth $149 million now, net of fees. Tepper’s public pronouncements remain rare.
Billionaire Democrat Sets Eye on Senate Races (New York Times)
Tom Steyer, the billionaire climate activist, recently contributed $5 million to a “super PAC” dedicated to keeping Democrats in control of the United States Senate, cementing his alliance with the party as the 2014 campaign swings into high gear. Mr. Steyer, a retired hedge fund manager, has used some of his fortune in an effort to make climate change a more potent political issue in pivotal states like Florida, Iowa and Virginia. He is planning to raise $100 million to run campaigns on climate issues, including efforts to persuade lawmakers and the Obama administration to block the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
Hedge funds haunted by deflation spectre (Financial Times)
There was an incongruity to the warnings of European deflation and grindingly disappointing US growth that were sounded from the stage at the SALT conference, when the evenings were spent at lavish poolside parties, replete with masked ball-style costumes, fire-eaters and a revival performance by Lenny Kravitz. One would have worried about the cognitive dissonance, if one’s cognition were not made fuzzy by the delicious cocktails. The invite-only event is a name-dropper’s paradise, where 1,800 attendees from hedge funds rubbed shoulders last week with the titans of their industry, while Tony Blair added political gravitas and Kevin Spacey and Francis Ford Coppola brought Hollywood glitz.
Verizon rises on hedge fund bets (CNBC.com)
Hedge fund manager Chanos wary of Japan PM’s plans to rearm (Reuters)
Prominent hedge fund manager Jim Chanos on Friday called Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the most dangerous figure in Asia, citing his plans to rearm his country. Abe could destabilize the region more than what any Chinese leaders are doing, said Chanos, who heads Kynikos Associates, at the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference here. He was responding when asked to name the most dangerous person in Asia.
Soros cuts bearish bet on S&P 500, adds Russell 2000 bear call (MarketWatch)
While it wasn’t one of its biggest bets, noteworthy among the 13Fs released Thursday was news that Soros Fund Management pulled back on a bearish bet on the S&P 500 in the first quarter of this year. The firm founded by George Soros decreased a put position on the S&P 500 ETF by 77% from the fourth quarter of 2013. A put position gives the holder the right to sell a security at a set price for a certain period of time. Such a bet usually implies that the investor believes that security will decline.
Hedge fund assets reach new all-time high of USD2.938trn (HedgeWeek)
Hedge fund assets under management have reached an all-time high of USD2.938 trillion, according to eVestment’s April 2014 Hedge Fund Asset Flows Report. The previous high was set in Q2 2008 just a few months before the height of the financial crisis. Investors allocated USD17.9 billion to hedge funds in April, the third consecutive month of elevated inflows. Investors have added USD68.4 billion through April, far surpassing inflows from 2013 and 2012 for the same time frame.
FHFA’s Watt Says He’s Not Worried About Fannie-Freddie Investors (Bloomberg)
The regulator of Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac said it isn’t his job to worry about the two companies’ shareholders. “I don’t lay awake at night worrying about what’s fair to the shareholders,” Melvin L. Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said in an interview taped yesterday for C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” television program. “My responsibility is to think about how can I do what is responsible for the taxpayers.” Investors including Bruce Berkowitz’s Fairholme Capital Management and hedge fund Perry Capital LLC have been pushing the U.S. to return the companies to private ownership. They’ve also challenged an arrangement in which the FHFA and the Treasury Department require the companies to pay 100 percent of their profits to the U.S.
Trian Fund Cuts Stake in Wendy’s by About 22% (Wall Street Journal)
Trian Fund Management LP cut its stake in The Wendy’s Co (NASDAQ:WEN) by about 22% in the first quarter, according to a filing released Thursday. The activist investment fund sold more than 18 million shares of the burger and fast-food chain, where Trian co-founder Nelson Peltz serves as chairman of the board and fellow founders Ed Garden and Peter May are also on the board. Trian continued to own 64.8 million shares of Wendy’s, a 17.7% stake, as of the end of March, according to the filing.
