Sears Shares Crushed On Eddie Lampert’s One Year Anniversary As CEO (Forbes)
Exactly one year ago, billionaire hedge fund manager Edward Lampert named himself CEO of Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD), taking over from former International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) executive Lou D’Ambrosio. Lampert had for years already essentially been the most important man at the struggling retailer, having created the company by combining Sears and Kmart back in 2005 and serving as the company’s chairman. His ESL Investments hedge fund was the company’s biggest shareholder. But in 2013 he took full operating control. For a while in the fall of 2013, shares of Sears rebounded a bit as some investors saw hope in Lampert’s efforts to sell assets, working to unload Lands’ End, automotive service centers and real estate holdings in Canada.
BILLIONAIRE HEDGE FUND MANAGER: ‘Chris Christie Is A Once-In-A-Generation Leader’ (Business Insider)
Billionaire hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller, the founder of Duquesne Capital Management, is still supporting Gov. Chris Christie despite the whole “Bridgegate” debacle. Druckenmiller told Bloomberg TV’s Stephanie Ruhle that Christie is a “once-in-a-generation leader” and that he admires him. “The country thirsts for a great leader. A leader’s actions in crisis are revealing,” Druckenmiller told Bloomberg TV’s Stephanie Ruhle.
Stock-Picking Hedge Funds Win in 2013 (Wall Street Journal)
Conviction in a handful of companies helped the $7.9 billion London-based The Children’s Investment Fund Management post a 47% gain last year, its best since 2005, according to people with knowledge of the fund’s performance. Airbus Group NV, formerly known as the European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., was the biggest contributor to TCI’s performance, with an 89% gain in 2013, one of the people said. The fund, run by Christopher Hohn, was helped by gains in Japan Tobacco Inc. and French engine maker Safran SA, too. Another big winner, Whale Rock Capital Management LLC of Boston, rose 53% on bets that included Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD), Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P), and Chinese software company Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd (NYSE:QIHU), according to people with knowledge of the fund’s performance.
Hedge Fund Capital Greenwich Borrows Most in 358 Years (Bloomberg)
Greenwich, Connecticut, the top-rated home to hedge funds AQR Capital Management and Traxis Partners, is selling the most debt in its 358-year history. The offering of $85 million in one-year notes on Jan. 16 will pay for a new auditorium at Greenwich High School, renovations to a fire station and a refurbishing of the Nathaniel Witherell nursing home. “It is by far the largest borrowing the town has done at one time,” Comptroller Peter Mynarski said in a telephone interview. “It is about timing of the three projects.” Moody’s Investors Service awarded Greenwich its Aaa rating, citing “abundant taxable resources, substantial wealth levels and a growing but manageable debt position.”
US Supreme Court agrees to consider Argentina litigation case with hedge funds (MercoPress)
The court agreed to hear Argentina’s appeal after an appeals court said a hedge fund could subpoena banks for information about the country’s non-US assets. The hedge fund, NML Capital, a holder of Argentine bonds, wants repayment in full in a fight that was prompted by Argentina’s 2002 default. The repayment issue is the subject of high-profile litigation that could be headed to the high court in a separate case. “Argentina is in open defiance of dozens of judgments of US courts to pay American investors what it owes,” said Theodore B. Olson, a lawyer for NML. “It’s time for Argentina to stop trying to evade its obligations and to follow the law.”
Hedge fund stars suffer sharp losses (Financial Times)
Brevan Howard, Cantab Capital and Bluecrest were among the worst-performing hedge fund managers of 2013 as uncertainty around the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy triggered sharp losses for commodity and emerging market managers. Several trend-following hedge funds also suffered losses, with Cantab’s flagship CCP Quantitative fund finishing the year down 27.7 per cent and Bluecrest’s Bluetrend fund down 8.7 per cent as of November, although most funds still made gains, according to leaked analysis of 500 funds compiled by HSBC’s Alternative Investment Group.
Hedge fund manager sues tax advisers over soured film bet (Financial News)
The founder of UK hedge fund Sloane Robinson is suing his former tax advisers of over 20 years for millions of pounds in damages after an investment in a film company went sour. Hugh Sloane filed his £2.5 million claim against London-based Saffery Champness at the UK Commercial Court in December. He alleges the firm failed in its fiduciary duty and accuses it of negligent misrepresentation. Rob Elliot, a partner at Saffery Champness, said the firm would be filing its “defence against the particulars of the claim in due course”. It declined to comment further.
Too risky to speculate on India: Ambit Capital (CNBC.com)
Diamondback Founder Raises Over $150M For New Fund (FINalternatives)
As Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital ends its operations as a hedge fund, his brother-in-law has raised north of $150 million for a fund of his own. Richard Schimel, co-founder of the now defunct Diamondback Capital, launched on and offshore versions of his Sterling Ridge Fund last November, according to regulatory filings, less than a year after he closed Diamondback in the wake of the U.S. government’s insider-trading investigation. While the regulatory filings showed the firm had raised $30 million for the offshore fund and $45 million for the onshore vehicle, a source with knowledge of the firm told FINalternatives the actual total raised was “north of $150 million.”
Ex-hedge-fund boss Michael Nock tries hand at art leasing business (South China Morning Post)
Michael Nock, 57, is multitasking: he invests, he collects art and he paints, and he combines his passions for business and art in his art rental business. Now he is hoping the city’s companies will hang more art on their office walls. CEO of Art Lease, a company that leases artwork to offices, Nock has made his office in Lan Kwai Fong a show house for the kind of space he wants his clients to have. Walking into the office, one finds a Bloomberg terminal besieged by paintings.
Hedge fund side pocket secondary market volumes top $1.6bn in 2013 (Opalesque)
A new report out from Setter Capital shows that secondary market volumes for hedge fund side pockets was up again in 2013. Data shows that LP’s are becoming more opportunistic fueling greater market activity. Setter Capital estimates the total secondary market volume for 2013 was $36bn, authors note that the figure may be conservative owing to the limits of their own research. A majority of respondents expect the same or greater level of transaction activity to take place in the first quarter of 2014. The average size of these transactions in 2013 was $28m, and that deal size is also expected to continue.
Ocado revival lifts Lansdowne Partners (Telegraph.co.uk)
A major bet that Ocado would finally triumph over Britain’s supermarket stocks helped Lansdowne Partners generate billions of pounds of profits and become one of the best performing hedge funds in the world last year. Lansdowne’s flagship $10bn (£6bn) hedge fund, which is run by Stuart Roden and Pete Davies, rose 33pc last year. Two other funds jumped 56pc and 46pc, contributing to a record year for the London investment house. Lansdowne is one of Ocado’s biggest shareholders with a 6.3pc stake.
Conman Flees Overseas With Investors’ Money, Raising $40 Million For Bogus Hedge Fund (Business Insider Australia)
An Australian conman has fled overseas with more than $40 million of investors’ money which was thought to be have been invested in gold mines and bullion. News Limited reports John Varoujan, whose real name is Varoujan Yaghldjian, set up the Gold Hedge Royalty Corporation after convincing investors he worked for the royal family in Dubai. Once the chairman of the Armenian Chamber of Commerce in Sydney, Varoujan dazzled at least 70 Australian investors with luxury cruisers and business meetings in Paris, London and Geneva.
U.S. ‘rushed to judgment’ against SAC’s Martoma, lawyer tells jury (Hedgeworld)
Prosecutors “rushed to judgment” in charging former SAC Capital Advisors portfolio manager Mathew Martoma with insider trading, his lawyer told jurors on Friday [Jan. 10]. Richard Strassberg, Martoma’s attorney, argued there were “many, many independent reasons” for the hedge fund to have made the trades at the heart of the case. “The story just doesn’t add up because in the haste to make a case, the prosecution rushed to judgment,” Strassberg said. Arlo Devlin-Brown, an assistant U.S. attorney, acknowledged that Martoma did research before trading in the stocks and making investment recommendations to Steven A. Cohen, the founder of SAC Capital.
