…fear that his $25 million home on the water here might fall victim to the next major storm. So he installed a costly defense against incoming waves: a shield of large metal plates on the beach, camouflaged by sand. His neighbor, Mark Rachesky, another billionaire hedge fund founder, put up similar fortifications between his home and the surf.”
Hedge Fund Pine River Capital’s High Yield Picks Include Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NLY) (Insider Monkey)
We have gone through the 13F for Brian Taylor’s Pine River Capital Management and here are five stocks it owned at the beginning of this year with high dividend yields. The fund’s largest holding at the end of December was its nearly 24 million shares of Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY). Annaly- like most of the high yielders we’ll be discussing here- is a real estate investment trust. Such companies are required to distribute a large share of taxable income to shareholders in order to preserve their favorable tax treatment, and this often results in high yields.
Billionaire trader Marc Lasry told investors in his $12 billion Avenue Capital that he will remain at the hedge fund and not become the next U.S. ambassador to France, according to a person familiar with the situation. Lasry, who would have been the first hedge fund manager tapped to be a U.S. ambassador, declined to comment. A longtime Democratic donor with close ties to former President Bill Clinton, Lasry was considered the front-runner to be nominated by President Barack Obama as the next ambassador to France. Chelsea Clinton, the former president’s daughter, once worked as an analyst for Avenue, which specializes in distressed debt investments.
Rothstein Kass Survey: Hedge Fund Managers Mixed on 2013 Outlook Despite Strong Performance Predictions (San Francisco Chronicle)
Rothstein Kass, a leading professional services provider to the financial services industry, today released its annual hedge fund outlook report entitled “Water Water Everywhere.” Produced by the Rothstein Kass Institute, the firm’s thought leadership arm, the survey, of 358 hedge funds, reveals that despite assets being at an all-time high and predictions of strong performance from most managers, many believe 2013 will be another challenging year for the industry. Those sentiments are based largely on unbalanced capital inflows that have plagued the industry since 2009. “Asset flows have emerged as an important theme in each of our studies since 2009, but the issue has clearly taken on a new level of significance based on what we heard this year,” said Howard Altman, Co-CEO of Rothstein Kass.
Marubeni Wins China Approval for $3.6 Billion Gavilon Takeover (Bloomberg)
Marubeni Corp. (8002) won approval from Chinese antitrust authorities for its $3.6 billion purchase of U.S. grain supplier Gavilon Group LLC, the Japanese commodities trader’s biggest acquisition. The approval, coming almost a year after Marubeni said that it agreed on the purchase, was posted yesterday on the website of China’s Ministry of Commerce. The go-ahead was only given on the basis that Marubeni and Gavilon continue to operate separate soybean sales units in China so as not to limit competition, the ministry said.
Hedge Funds Dismiss Argentina Payment Offer (FINalternatives)
Elliott Management Corp., Aurelius Capital Management and other holdouts from Argentina’s 2001 default have rejected the country’s latest offer to pay them. The holdouts blasted the proposal submitted by Argentina to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considering whether to force the country to pay the hedge funds and other who have rejected Argentina’s previous exchange offers. The country’s proposal to the court is similar to the terms it gave those who exchanged debt in 2005 and 2010, roughly 15 cents on the dollar.
