Editor’s Note: Related tickers: FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE:FIG), Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS), American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG), Prudential Financial Inc (NYSE:PRU)
Shares of FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) closed Tuesday at $103.15, up 4.4% after rising more than 7% at one point on speculation Bill Ackman, hedge fund manager of Pershing Square, was looking to make a sizable investment in the shipping giant. It has not been confirmed that Ackman is interested in FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX), but a Reuters report detailed an investment worth as much as $1 billion that may be going somewhere. With past successes including McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) and The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), Ackman has an excellent record of picking winners. In the case of FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX), investors are looking to skate to where they think the puck may be going next.
Ex-Citigroup Trader Raises Less Than $100 Million for Hedge Fund (BusinessWeek)
Portman Square Capital LLP, founded by ex-Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) proprietary-trading unit head Sutesh Sharma, opened with less than a fifth of the amount the hedge fund originally sought, said two people with knowledge of the matter. …Sharma co-founded hedge-fund firm Old Lane Partners LP with Vikram Pandit. When Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) bought Old Lane in 2007, Sharma became head of a team of proprietary traders and Pandit later was named chief executive officer. At New York-based Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Sharma oversaw about $2 billion before resigning in late 2011. Pandit left Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) in October.
How to profit from Twitter trading (CNN)
It seems everyone in the investment industry is jumping on the Twitter bandwagon these days in the hope that they’ll spot some market-moving data before the rest of the world catches on. But have you heard of anyone making a success out of this? Probably not. Enter a new hedge fund that may have found a way to filter out noise created by millions of tweets and trade profitably. Paul Hawtin, CEO of investment management firm Cayman Atlantic, is launching a fund this month that bases its entire trading strategy on social media posts from Twitter and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB).
SkyBridge Capital and Woori Financial form partnership (eFinancialNews)
The agreement allows SkyBridge, which has approximately $8.2bn in assets under management and advisory, to distribute its hedge fund products in South Korea, home to the world’s fourth-largest pension fund. Woori Investment & Securities Co, a unit of South Korea’s largest financial group, will allocate capital to one of SkyBridge’s funds as part of the pact, the US fund said in a statement Tuesday without disclosing financial details. …In addition to pension funds, SkyBridge chief investment officer Ray Nolte said the firm also sees opportunities in South Korea’s corporate sector, as large Korean companies are cash rich.
Global Prime Partners extends its presence in Asia (HedgeWeek)
Global Prime Partners (GPP), a prime brokerage boutique which specialises in supporting emerging managers, has expanded its client service capabilities in the Asian markets with the hire of investment industry veteran Rupert Street who joins the firm with immediate effect. Street will lead GPP’s growing business and client support services throughout the Asian markets region based out of Hong Kong. …Street says: “Asia is under represented in prime brokerage servicing in the small to mid cap private wealth and hedge fund sector and the opportunities for GPP to expand in the region are highly attractive.”
Judge Rules for Hedge Fund to Take $33 Million in Art from Swindler (ArtfixDaily)
On July 2, 2013, Federal Judge Jed Rakoff upheld a decision to allow a hedge fund to take possession of 15 artworks from accused Ponzi schemer Marc Dreier. A Harvard and Yale-educated lawyer (now disbarred), Dreier, dubbed the “Mini-Madoff,” is serving 20 years in federal prison for a 2009 investment fraud conviction. His eight-count indictment included five counts of wire fraud in a scheme to sell $700 million in fictitious promissory notes. The current court decision involved his pledge of 15 artworks worth about $33 million to a hedge fund as security to make a deal go through.
Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) shares trading low (NYSEPost)
Carl Icahn, the second largest shareholder of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) reiterated recently that the company should capitalize on the huge opportunities presented through an active involvement in cost savings. He further ascertained that the stock should remain publicly-traded and that Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) should move towards a buyback of its shares of an aggregate value of $16 billion, so as to provide decent returns to its shareholders. The shares of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) have recently been declining owing to the reports which conveyed that the Silver Lake Partners and the founder of the company, Michael Dell, are not planning to raise their buyout offer which is worth $24.4 billion or $13.65 per share for the Round Rock-based computer maker.
How To Invest Like Jim Rogers (Nasdaq)
Making millions and retiring in your 30s is every investor’s dream. But for legendary commodities trader Jim Rogers, it was just the beginning of a career on Wall Street that has spanned six decades and produced a net worth in the hundreds of millions. Rogers showed a penchant for business at an early age. His career as an entrepreneur began at age 5 with selling peanuts and picking up empty bottles left behind at baseball games in Alabama. After graduating from Yale University in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree in history, Rogers headed to Wall Street and worked as an investment banker, meeting future business partner and billionaire George Soros.
Fortress to Cut Stake in German Landlord Gagfah (Bloomberg)
Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE:FIG) plans to cut its stake in Gagfah SA (GFJ), the second-largest owner of German homes, to less than 50 percent as part of a transaction through which Gagfah will also sell shares. Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE:FIG), a private-equity and hedge-fund manager, will seek to sell 20 million of its shares in Gagfah, according to a statement after the market closed yesterday. Gagfah will sell 10.5 million treasury shares and 9.5 million new shares. Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE:FIG), based in New York, currently owns about 61 percent of Gagfah, according to the statement. The shares are being sold for 8.85 euros each, according to a term sheet outlining the transaction.
Singapore OUE Hospitality REIT to raise $480 mln in IPO (Reuters)
Singapore-listed Overseas Union Enterprise will raise about $480 million by listing a hospitality real estate investment in Singapore, according to a prospectus for the deal. OUE Hospitality Trust will sell about 682 million units at an offer price of between S$0.88 and S$0.90 a unit to investors. The company’s parent OUE will buy the remaining 626.8 million units, or about half the listed entity. Cornerstone investors that include Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS) and hedge fund manager Splendid Asia Macro Fund have agreed to buy 247.22 million units, according to the prospectus.
Tiger Cubs By the Numbers: How Lone Pine, Viking and Others Are Doing This Year (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Once again the so-called Tiger Cubs are dispelling the notion that they invest in lockstep. A sampling of some of the more high-profile members of this group, so named because they all worked for Julian Robertson’s Tiger Management, reveals a mixed bag of results for the first half of the year. Several of these managers posted gains in the low to high teens, while others generated gains in the mid-single digits. The top performer of the Tiger Cubs seems to be Robert Citrone’s Discovery Opportunity funds, managed out of Norwalk, Connecticut–based Discovery Capital Management. These funds have gained just under 17 percent for the first half of this year.
Wall Street: No Firm Is Above the Law (InstitutionalInvestor)
When Steve Cohen and his investment company SAC Capital Advisors agreed to pay a record $616 million in March to settle insider trading charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the billionaire hedge fund manager may have thought the case and a pocketful of troubles were over. Within days of the settlement, he celebrated by plunking down $60 million for a new oceanfront home in East Hampton, Long Island; that same week news came out that Cohen had paid $150 million last fall to buy Picasso masterpiece Le Reve from casino magnate Steve Wynn. But Cohen’s troubles are far from finished. In fact, they may be just beginning…
U.S. regulators place GE Capital, AIG under additional supervision (WashingtonPost)
The Financial Stability Oversight Council voted Tuesday to place GE Capital and American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG) under stricter supervision, the first substantial move to address the risks that large nonbank companies pose to the financial system. …Tuesday’s vote puts to rest a lengthy, multi-stage review process for GE Capital and American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG). The companies were notified in June of the council’s intentions and given a 30-day window to object to the designation. Unlike Prudential Financial Inc (NYSE:PRU), which was also named by the council, GE Capital and American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG) decided not to fight the designation.
PMQs: Cameron and Miliband on hedge fund and party donations (BBC)
Party funding dominated PMQs where the Labour leader asked the prime minister if a £145m cut in the last budget for Tory-supporting hedge funds was “just a coincidence”, But David Cameron said there was a “big difference” between donations to the his party, as donations to Labour bought places at its conference, candidates in the House of Commons, and got the opposition leader his job. But Mr Miliband said “6p a week in affiliation fees from ordinary people” could not be compared to a party funded by “a few millionaires at the top”.
AA-rated Ian Heslop to run OMGI’s first Cayman hedge fund (CityWire)
Old Mutual Global Investors has launched its first ever Cayman-domiciled hedge fund to be managed by Ian Heslop and team. The Old Mutual Arbea fund mirrors the investment process behind the group’s existing Global Equity Absolute Return fund, a Ucits vehicle, but is being run with higher gearing. The Arbea fund, which is a global equity market neutral fund, is targeting an annualised return of cash plus 9% with 9% volatility and to achieve can use gross leverage of between 300% and 400%. This compares to the Global Equity Absolute Return fund’s target of cash plus 6% with 6% annualised volatility and gross exposure of 200%.
