Berkshire’s Combs, Weschler to Reap Gains With DirecTV (Bloomberg)
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) is one of the biggest beneficiaries of DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV)’s rally, thanks to a stake built by his deputy stock pickers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, at about half the current price. Berkshire had about 36.5 million shares in the satellite-TV provider as of Dec. 31, a filing shows. DirecTV has gained 25 percent this year to $86.08. AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is in advanced talks to buy DirecTV for about $50 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Berkshire’s cumulative gain on the holding is more than $1 billion.
Bridgewater Largest Hedge Fund For Fourth Straight Year (FINalternatives)
Bridgewater Associates and JPMorgan Chase remain the world’s largest hedge fund managers, as investors continue to flock to such firms. Westport, Conn.-based Bridgewater earned the top spot on Alpha magazine’s annual Hedge Fund 100 ranking of the world’s top hedge funds, with $87.1 billion. JPMorgan Asset Management, which includes Highbridge Capital Management, remains a distant second at $59 billion. Brevan Howard Asset Management retained third place with $40 billion, unchanged from last year. Och-Ziff Capital Management and BlueCrest Capital Management swapped fourth and fifth place, the former with $36.1 billion and the latter $32.6 billion.
Billionaire Wilbur Ross joins the market move back to SPACs (Quartz)
Billionaire Wilbur Ross has launched a special investment vehicle, which had been popular just before the financial crisis gripped the markets, to make opportunistic acquisitions. The prominent investor, who carved out a reputation restructuring troubled companies in the ’80s and ’90s and then launched his own private equity firm 14 years ago, has submitted a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission to form a so-called special purpose acquisition corporation (or SPAC). The deal marks Ross’s first SPAC, sources familiar with the matter say.
Highbridge Capital Continues Hiring Spree in London (New York Times)
The hedge fund Highbridge Capital Management, which sees big opportunities in Europe and is on a hiring spree to make inroads there, has just scooped up two portfolio managers. Juan Lamo de Espinosa left York Capital Management two weeks ago to join Highbridge’s London office, where he will head up the European equities division, according to a person briefed on the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly. He will begin in July and is expected to bring a team of three or four traders with him. Before heading up the European equities division at York Capital, Mr. Lamo de Espinosa worked for Citadel.
Lansdowne Managers To Succeed Co-Founder Heinz (FINalternatives)
Lansdowne Partners’ succession plan has taken another step, with its co-founder stepping back and its top money managers taking charge. Steven Heinz will relinquish day-to-day responsibilities at the US$13 billion firm. In his place will be Peter Davies and Stuart Roden, the managers of Lansdowne’s flagship Developed Markets Fund. With the new leadership will come a new limited liability partnership, with Davies and Roden at its head.
