Hedge fund mogul Tepper warns: Don’t be too long U.S. stocks (Reuters)
Billionaire hedge fund manager David Tepper sounded a cautious message on Wednesday, telling a ballroom packed with other managers and investors that he was “nervous” about the stock market but that this was not the time to sell. Billed as the star attraction at the $2.7 trillion industry’s biggest annual event, Tepper discussed economic growth, central bank policies as well as his personal commitment to supporting local soup kitchens and food banks in his adopted home state.
Jana Says Firm Is Working With Walgreen After Transaction (Bloomberg)
Barry Rosenstein, founder of Jana Partners LLC, said his hedge-fund firm is working behind the scenes with Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG) after the drugstore chain’s purchase of a controlling stake in U.K. retailer Alliance Boots Gmbh. “Effectively, this is Alliance Boots taking over,” Rosenstein said at the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference in Las Vegas today. The fund company invested $1 billion in Walgreen to become one of the biggest shareholders of the drugstore chain, Scott Ostfeld, a partner at Jana, said last month. Walgreen, based in Deerfield, Illinois, bought 45 percent of Alliance Boots in August 2012, giving it the option to acquire the rest of Europe’s largest pharmacy chain within three years.
Odey Opposes Murdoch Bid For German TV Channel (FINalternatives)
Crispin Odey has son tough words for his former father-in-law. But while difficulties with in-laws are nothing new, this one could have repercussions for a major media merger—because Odey’s former father-in-law is Rupert Murdoch. The Odey Asset Management chief has said that British television company BSkyB’s offer for Sky Deutschland isn’t good enough. “The current proposal, a nil-premium takeover of the minorities of Sky Deutschland, significantly undervalues the company,” the hedge fund said.
Perry Capital Reports Increased Stake in Herbalife (Wall Street Journal)
Richard Perry‘s Perry Capital increased its stake in Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF), the nutritional supplements maker that hedge-fund manager William Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management has been campaigning against since December 2012. Perry Capital held a 4.9% stake, or 4.8 million shares, in Herbalife at the end of March, according to a quarterly securities filing Wednesday, compared with three million shares at the end of 2013.
Hintze gives £1.5 million to Tory party (Financial News)
A £1.5 million donation from one of the City’s best known hedge fund managers has swollen Conservative party coffers. Sir Michael Hintze, founder and chief executive of CQS, was the second biggest donor to a political party in the first quarter of this year, according to figures released by the Electoral Commission today. The largest donation for the quarter was £1,839,838 from Unite, the trade union, to the Labour Party.
Christie’s auction fetches $745 million (CNBC.com)
Nexans boss faces vote to push him off board (Reuters)
Shareholders in French cable firm Nexans’ will vote on Thursday on a resolution to push chairman and chief executive Frederic Vincent off the board. The resolution, forced onto the annual shareholder meeting agenda by 5.5 percent-shareholder and hedge fund Amber Capital, has won the backing of two major shareholder advisory groups, ISS and Proxinvest. It comes after Nexans reported a loss in 2013 and skipped its dividend for the year after being forced to raise new share capital in October, blaming a lack of growth in Europe and industry overcapacity.
Leading hedge-fund manager’s collection commands $44.6M (Tribune-Review)
Top works from hedge-fund manager Adam Sender’s contemporary-art collection, including pieces by Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince, sold for $44.6 million on Wednesday at Sotheby’s in New York. Nineteen lots from Sender’s collection opened Sotheby’s evening auction of postwar art. The group’s tally exceeded its $21.1 million to $29.9 million estimate. The top lot was Martin Kippenberger’s painting of two men walking arm-in-arm down a street. The work fetched $5.5 million against a high estimate of $4 million.
Jamie Dinan: Look to M&A for best plays (CNBC.com)
For the next great investment ideas, look to the M&A space, York Capital Management CEO Jamie Dinan said Wednesday. “I’m pretty constructive on the market,” he said from the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference in Las Vegas. “As you know, the market this year has been very frustrating for a lot of investors.” While noting that the Russell 2000 and the Nasdaq are down significantly from their highs, Dinan was nevertheless positive in his outlook.
Sotheby’s Sale Draws Cohen as Wynn Buys $28 Million Koons (Bloomberg)
On May 13, Christie’s sold a record $745 million worth of postwar and contemporary art in three hours in New York. The next evening, Sothebys (NYSE:BID)s tallied $364.4 million. Although it was Sotheby’s third-highest postwar-art sale in a decade, the result was half its rival’s haul. “It was day and night,” New York art dealer David Benrimon said about the two auctions. “You cannot compare the material yesterday and today.” Watching the sale were hedge-fund manager Steven A. Cohen; Mary-Kate Olsen, wearing oversized sunglasses, and her fiance Olivier Sarkozy, the half brother of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy; fashion designer Marc Jacobs and gallery owner Larry Gagosian. Activist hedge-fund manager Daniel Loeb, Sotheby’s new board member, yawned as bidding for a Matthew Barney work was underway.
V2 Capital Preps Liquid Alternatives Fund (FINalternatives)
The hedge fund space is changing rapidly, no more so than in the area of liquid alternatives—the term for hedge fund strategies that have been repackaged into 40 Act mutual fund structures. One proponent of the liquid alternatives space is Victor Viner, president of V2 Capital, an investment advisory firm he founded in 2004 that specializes in trading volatility-based equity derivative strategies.
