Editor’s Note: J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP), Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Sothebys (NYSE:BID)
Activist Loeb Takes $156M Stake In Sotheby’s (Law360)
Shaking off his recent brush-off from Sony Corp., activist investor Daniel Loeb disclosed a large stake in Sothebys (NYSE:BID)’s on Monday, but remained coy about his plans for the auction house. Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point LLC is now one of Sotheby’s biggest stockholders with a 5.7 percent stake valued at $156 million, according to a regulatory filing. It joins two other funds, Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management LP and Marcato Capital Management LLC, run by former Bill Ackman protege Mick McGuire.
Is Raj Rajaratnam really living like a prison king? (CNBC.com)
Two years ago Raj Rajaratnam received the longest-sentence ever handed down for violating insider trading laws. Suddenly, people are worried that he’s been treated too kindly—all because of the complaint of an unnamed source in the same prison. The impetus for the renewed attention on Rajaratnam was a column in Tuesday’s New York Post by John Crudele reporting that Rajaratnam, the former hedge fund manager convicted of insider trading in 2011, is “kickin’ it big in the Big House—with a personal ‘manservant’ at his beck and call.” “He’s reigning like a king,” a prison insider tells Crudele.
Madoff Feeder Fund Settles For $98M (FINalternatives)
Another Bernard Madoff feeder fund has settled with the court-appointed trustee seeking to recover money for the arch-fraudster’s victims. Maxam Capital Management’s Absolute Return Fund will pay $97.8 million into Irving Picard’s restitution fund, according to a court filing yesterday. The deal will allow it to file a claim for nearly $276.7 million from the Madoff estate. A federal judge must still approve the deal, which resolves a three-year-old lawsuit and would add to “eventual distribution to defrauded Madoff customers with allowed claims.”
Apple takes hedge fund top spot: Citi (CNBC.com)
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stocks were U.S. hedge funds’ top holding during the second quarter this year, beating travel website Priceline and iPhone manufacturer Qualcomm to the winning spot, according to new research from Citi. Eleven out of 50 hedge funds held Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) among their top-10 stocks, as hedge funds bolstered their IT holdings overall. Meanwhile, Twenty-First Century Fox was the biggest gainer in Citi’s quarterly top-10 stocks review, featuring in eight hedge funds’ top-10 lists.
After Ackman’s Exit, J.C. Penney Remains a Hedge Fund Play (New York Times)
William A. Ackman may have severed all ties to J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) on Monday, after selling off his 18 percent stake at an estimated $473 million loss. But his rivals in the hedge fund world aren’t bailing out of the troubled retailer just yet. A review of Penney’s publicly disclosed investors shows that many big investment firms are still betting that the company will manage to pull itself out of its woes, with more than a dozen ranking among the retailer’s 100 biggest shareholders. They include Soros Fund Management, which most recently reported a 9.1 percent stake; Perry Capital, with a 7.3 percent stake; and Glenview Capital Management, with a 3.8 percent stake.
Fed’s direction not overly concerning: Expert (CNBC.com)
Why hedge fund managers are bullish about Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)? (FinancialsTrend)
There had been heavy interest exhibited by the hedge fund managers in the stock of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the recent quarter. It was observed that the stock had attracted long positions from around 76 hedge funds by the end of second quarter of fiscal year 2013 which proved to be a hefty increase of 25% over the previous quarter. Yacktmann Asset Management was observed to be the hedge fund which had been holding the largest position in the stock of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) with shares worth $1.2858 billion constituting around 6.1% of the fund’s total portfolio.
Argentina Rejects US Court Order to Pay ‘Vulture’ Hedge Funds (Al-Jazeerah.info)
Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino said on Sunday that Argentina did not accept a New York court’s order to pay $1.47 billion to two hedge funds holding defaulted bonds, saying the case could go to the US Supreme Court. Argentina has said it will continue to pay back debt on its own terms, after a US appeals court ordered the South American country to hand $1.47 billion (1.1 billion euros) to two hedge funds holding its defaulted bonds.
Hedge Fund 75-Cent Aussie Call Draws Investors: Australia Credit (Bloomberg)
European investors are backing Excalibur Funds Management Pty’s call for the Australian dollar to slump to 75 U.S. cents, reflecting record bets from speculators on declines in the currency. Institutional investors placed $200 million with the Sydney-based hedge fund’s Australian dollar-only strategy since it started July 17, Matthew Harper, a principal and trader at Excalibur, said in an interview Aug. 22. Hedge funds and other speculators swung from record bets on Aussie gains in December to the most wagers ever this month that the currency will fall.
Nikko AM Names Collins Head of Communications (FINalternatives)
Nikko Asset Management will hire David A. Collins for the newly created role of head of group marketing and communications. Collins brings more than 20 years’ experience working in Japan and other Asian countries, mainly in financial services, most recently with The Hartford Financial Services Group where he was head of external corporate communications. Prior to The Hartford, he was a television producer at Reuters in New York.
Tips For Investors: Rapoport on Hedge Fund Advertising (HedgeCo.net)
Dian Vujovich at the Palm Beach Daily News writes about the recent changes to the Securities Act of 1933, which allows hedge funds to raise money through general solicitation and advertising to the public. US hedge funds are, for the first time, able to solicit investors freely and advertise their funds through mass media channels, from television adverts to newspapers articles and websites. “This is obviously a monumental development in the industry, lifting the general solicitation ban for hedge funds.” Evan Rapoport, founder of industry portal HedgeCo.net, said earlier this year in a HedgeCo exclusive.
