Editor’s Note: Hampden Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBNK), Visa Inc (NYSE:V), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)
Paulson Merger Fund Said to Fall 0.9% as Advantage, Credit Gain (Businessweek)
Billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson posted a 0.9 percent decline in his Paulson Partners Enhanced fund last month as stock markets fell, according to a person briefed on the matter. The loss reduces gains this year in the fund to 21 percent, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Paulson Partners Enhanced is the leveraged version of the firm’s merger-arbitrage strategy, Paulson’s largest fund group by assets. Paulson & Co., based in New York with $18 billion in assets, posted gains last month in its Advantage and credit funds and a loss in its Recovery fund.
Hedge fund chief says Japan needs another ‘big round’ of stimulus (Reuters)
Hedge fund titan Ray Dalio said on Friday the Japanese economy will need another big round of stimulus to boost sluggish growth, and some emerging markets are on the path to crisis. Dalio, chairman and chief investment officer of $150 billion firm Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, was speaking at the Japan Society in midtown Manhattan. In April the Bank of Japan pledged to inject about $1.4 trillion into its flagging economy in an effort to end two decades of stagnation. The monetary easing, coupled with reflationary, pro-growth policies championed by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, sent stocks rallying and the yen tumbling. Japan emerged from recession in 2012.
We Know David Einhorn & George Soros Love Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s Value. What Else? (Insider Monkey)
In August, billionaire David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital and billionaire George Soros’s Soros Fund Management filed their 13Fs for the second quarter of 2013 with the SEC, disclosing many of their long equity positions as of the end of June. Greenlight’s largest 13F position as of the end of Q2 was its 2.4 million shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Soros’s fund had a position as well. While the fund did not change its position in the stock, other hedge funds were selling the consumer technology company causing Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to fall to third on our list of the most popular stocks among hedge funds. Another common pick between the two funds was General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), which was also one of Einhorn’s favorite stocks per the filing.
August Blows Have Hedge Funds Reeling (FINalternatives)
August was a minor bloodbath for the hedge fund industry, with the average fund falling 0.86%, according to Hedge Fund Research, and only one substrategy managing a positive return for the month. The HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index is up 3.03% on the year after August’s decline. Fifteen of the suite’s 16 strategy and substrategy indices also suffered losses on the month, with only distressed restructuring in the black—and barely so, at just 0.09% (4.14% year-to-date).
Visa Inc (V): 13 Hedge-Fund Billionaires Bought This Global Leader (iStockAnalyst)
Recent 13-F filings, quarterly reports hedge-fund are required to file on their holdings, reveal that a total of 13 hedge funds owned Visa Inc (NYSE:V) at the end of the second quarter. That makes the company the second-most popular stock amongst hedge funds, with only General Motors Co (GM) more widely held, owned by 17 hedge funds at the end of the second quarter. That institutional interest has fueled big gains for Visa, with shares up 36% in the last year and 105% in the last two.
