UPDATE 1-Mondelez adds activist investor Nelson Peltz to board (Reuters)
Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ), which makes Cadbury chocolate, Oreo cookies and Trident gum, said it added activist investor Nelson Peltz to its board. Peltz’s Trian Fund Management is Mondelez’s fourth-largest shareholder with 2.3 percent of its shares, according to Thomson Reuters data. The billionaire from Brooklyn had said last year that Mondelez could almost double its earnings per share by managing costs better. He had also said that the company should be acquired by PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP).
Third Point takes $1.3 billion stake in Dow Chemical, calls for spinoff (CNBC.com)
Third Point Management, the hedge fund run by activist investor Dan Loeb, announced on Tuesday it had taken a $1.3 billion stake in The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW), urging the company to consider severing its petrochemcial business. With the purchase, Third Point now becomes one of Dow’s top ten shareholders, with the company being the fund’s largest single position.
Mario Gabelli Is Bullish on The Pep Boys – Manny, Moe & Jack (PBY) and Diebold Incorporated (DBD) (Insider Monkey)
In a couple of recent moves, Mario Gabelli‘s GAMCO Investors and its affiliated funds, have raised the stakes in The Pep Boys – Manny, Moe & Jack (NYSE:PBY) and Diebold Incorporated (NYSE:DBD). The fund reported owning 6.32 million shares of Diebold, up from 5.66 million shares held earlier; and 7.62 million shares of The Pep Boys, versus 5.66 million owned before. The stakes represent 9.90% of the common stock and 13.65% respectively. Out of the aggregate amount, GAMCO holds 4.47 million shares of Diebold and 5.30 million shares of The Pep Boys.
Wharton GC Launches New Hedge Fund Oracle of Investing Fund LP (PR Newswire)
Wharton GC told its investors that it will launch a new hedge fund this year, and had sold another minority equity stake in the firm to an unidentified buyer to help ensure its long-term viability. Wharton GC described its new fund, Oracle of Investing Fund LP, as a variation of its long-short and global macro strategies that seeks to perform in any economic environment. In a Jan. 14 year-end report to investors, the hedge-fund firm said Oracle of Investing Fund LP would help ensure that Oracle Fund doesn’t grow to such an extent that could hurt its returns.
Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Gains 38% Keeps Housing Bets: Mortgages (Bloomberg)
The U.S. mortgage market has been very good to Anthony “the Mooch” Scaramucci. In the past few years, the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented stimulus contributed to some of the biggest returns for money managers investing in mortgages. Then housing prices soared, lifting the most beaten-up home-loan securities. And Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital, which invests $6.2 billion in hedge funds, was along for the ride. Mortgage investments fueled returns of about 38 percent over the past two years, about triple the industry average.
Bonus time on Wall Street (CNBC.com)
