Jana Partners Ekes Out November Gain Despite Some Notable Losses (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
After a rocky start to the month, Barry Rosenstein‘s Jana Partners, the activist and event-driven hedge fund managed by the New York–based investment firm of the same name, gained a modest 1 percent in November, bringing its gain for the first 11 months of the year to 16.6 percent. Jana, which manages about $7 billion, also posted a 1.6 percent gain for November in its Jana Nirvana Fund, a more concentrated fund. Jana Nirvana is up more than 25 percent for the year. The firm, which specializes in shareholder activism and other opportunistic investment strategies, was heavily held back last month by several of its recent high-profile activist targets and other stocks that rank among its largest portfolio positions.
Hedge Fund Uses Japan to Predict International Equity Growth (TheStreet)
Equipped with a couple of engineering degrees, Robert Page started his career at Lehman Brothers’ interest rate derivative option desk. In the early 90s, the bank offered him the whole Yen derivative book to trade; he moved to Japan and built the book into a large business with 12 currencies. “It was a very interesting time to begin trading in Asia,” he says in a recent Opalesque TV interview. “I arrived in Japan the week that the Japanese Government Bonds market began its collapse of 1994. In my first week of trading, I learned that the market absolutely collapses for unforeseen events; that was my first trial by fire, the first time running a large amount of risk.”
44% of institutional investors invest in hedge fund managers’ long-only strategies (PIOnline)
A surprisingly high percentage — 44% — of institutional investors invest in long-only strategies run by hedge fund managers, according to data released Monday by Deutsche Bank Markets Prime Finance. That compares to 40% of investment consultants, 36% of private wealth managers and 28% of hedge funds of funds, according to Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:DB)‘s “From Alternatives to Mainstream” hedge fund report. About 50% of hedge fund managers surveyed said they offer “non-traditional hedge fund products” such as long-only strategies, UCITS funds and mutual funds. About 30% of hedge fund firms said they offered long-only strategies totaling $177 billion as of Oct. 31.
Five out of six Market Vectors Hedge Fund Beta Indices positive in November (HedgeWeek)
Each of the indices is constructed using transparent, liquid ETFs to produce hedge fund-style returns without hedge fund pricing, opaqueness and redemption restrictions. MV Asia (Developed) L/S Equity Hedge Fund Beta Index was the top performer with a return of 1.88 per cent, followed by MV North America L/S Equity Hedge Fund Beta Index (1.62 per cent), MV Global L/S Equity Hedge Fund Beta Index (1.38 per cent), MV Global Event L/S Equity Hedge Fund Beta Index (0.78 per cent) and MV Western Europe L/S Equity Hedge Fund Beta Index (0.29 per cent). MV Emerging Markets L/S Equity Hedge Fund Beta Index was the only index to finish the month in negative territory recording -0.51 per cent.
A Second Act for a Top Wall Street Strategist (NYTimes)
J. Tomilson Hill was a well-known Wall Street deal maker in the 1980s, a skilled merger tactician whose work on the bidding war for RJR Nabisco earned him a role in the book “Barbarians at the Gate,” which memorably said he came across to enemies as “an oiled-back Gordon Gekko haircut atop 5 feet, 10 inches of icy Protestant reserve.” But in 1993, Mr. Hill’s climb up the ladder at Lehman Brothers ended when he was ousted as co-chief executive, and he spent the next seven years of his career in less prominent roles at the The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX), the private equity firm.
Critic Siedel asks SEC to investigate R.I. pension fund’s hedge fund investments (ProvidenceJournal)
Following up on a scathing 105-page report, financial industry critic Edward “Ted” Siedle called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Monday to investigate “soaring investment fees” and possibly illegal investment practices that the state Employees Retirement System has pursued under General Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo. Siedle, hired by Council 94 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees to review state pension fund investments, said the complaint builds on his earlier report and provides a “silver platter” of information “with in-depth analysis” for the SEC to investigate.
‘Smart money’ is bearish: Nomura’s Janjuah (CNBC)
Hedge funds turn to “long-only” investing in bid to grow (Reuters)
Half of hedge funds now sell products traditionally the preserve of mainstream asset managers such as “long-only” strategies, a study shows, reflecting how conservative investors have come to dominate the industry’s client base. Hedge funds have made their name wagering on asset prices both rising and falling, and often increase the risk of their bets with borrowed cash. By contrast, traditional long-only managers can only bet the price of a stock or bond will go up.
‘Quant‘ Hedge Funds: Computer Says No (BusinessInsider)
Hedge funds looking to spot and ride market trends are hoping for a fresh start IF SOMETHING has not worked for five years, most people would conclude that it was broken. Tell that to the geeks managing “quant” hedge funds, who craft elaborate algorithms to profit from market movements. Once money-spinners, their prized formulae have misfired since 2009, losing money in four of the past five years. Unless their results improve markedly, the giant funds will finish this year as the worst-performing of the most common hedge-fund strategies. “Trend-following” involves programming computers to analyse market movements and try to infer where they might go next.
Insider trading trial spotlights trades by SAC’s Cohen (HedgeWorld)
Portfolio manager Michael Steinberg sought to warn SAC Capital Advisors founder Steven A. Cohen that he was trading in the opposite direction to bets that were based on inside information, a former analyst at the hedge fund testified Monday [Dec. 2]. Jon Horvath, a former analyst at SAC who is cooperating in the government’s insider trading case against Steinberg, said that three days before Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) announced its earnings in August 2008, Cohen was betting the company’s stock would go up. Horvath said that, at Steinberg’s direction, he emailed another analyst, whose advice Cohen was following, about a second-hand read from someone at the company that the results would disappoint Wall Street.
2 Carl Icahn representatives join Talisman board (CBC)
Two representatives of Carl Icahn will join the board of Talisman Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:TLM), increasing the activist investor’s involvement in the oil and gas company’s key decisions. One of Icahn’s representatives will sit on the board committee searching for a successor to Hal Kvisle, who plans to step down as Talisman’s president and chief executive next year. Kvisle took the reins of the company last year and has since set out a new strategy that has honed its focus on the Americas and Southeast Asia. Talisman announced last month it would sell 75 per cent of its assets in northeastern B.C.’s Montney formation to Progress Energy Canada Ltd (TSE:PRQ), a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Petronas, for $1.5 billion.
Gen Re’s Gilbert Says Fed Sets Up Stocks for a Decline (Bloomberg)
General Re-New England Asset Management, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), said Federal Reserve policies that lifted stocks have also introduced systemic risks that could cause shares to tumble. Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), which surged more than 70 percent in its first day of trading as a public company last month, is an example of investor euphoria, GR-NEAM Chief Investment Officer John Gilbert wrote in his December commentary posted on the asset manager’s website. The microblogging service is valued at more than $20 billion without having reported a profit.
Recommended Reading:
Jeffrey Gates, Gates Capital Add To Position in Darling International Inc. (DAR)
Bay Pond Partners Open Position in First Internet Bancorp (INBK)
J. Carlo Cannell Acquires Some More Hooper Holmes, Inc. (HH) Shares
