Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF), Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD), Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF), General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL)
Billionaire William Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management LP has amassed a 9.8 percent stake in Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD), the activist investor said, signaling he plans to push for change at the company. Ackman disclosed his hedge fund’s investment in Allentown, Pennsylvania-based Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) in a CNBC interview today. He confirmed details of the holding via e-mail. Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD), an industrial-gas producer with a market capitalization as of yesterday of $22.1 billion, is the previously unidentified target described by Ackman in a July 8 letter to clients, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News.
Bill Ackman’s Herbalife Nightmare Gets 100 Percent Worse (Forbes)
Seven months ago, billionaire hedge fund manager William Ackman stood on a New York City stage at an unorthodox event that he had organized and declared that Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)’s stock was going to collapse because the controversial nutritional supplements seller was a pyramid scheme. But Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)’s stock has not collapsed. Instead it rocketed upwards from the $24 level to which it sank in the days following Ackman’s presentation to the $60 mark in 2013. Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)’s stock soared by another 5% in early morning trading on Tuesday to $63.58 after the company reported that its net income grew by more than 8% from the previous year to $143.2 million in the second quarter on revenues of $1.22 billion, up 18%. Shares of Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) -0.88%are now up by nearly 100% in 2013.
Sony is a “red-headed stepchild” – Loeb (IVCPost)
Famous hedge fund player Dan Loeb expressed his irritation with giant technology and entertainment company Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) today. The investor has been vocal in his suggestion for creating a spin-off of Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE)’s entertainment division. …Loeb went on to call Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) a “red-headed stepchild.” The sharp-mouthed investor criticized Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE)’s management, particularly its entertainment arm, saying the sector deals with a “famously bloated corporate structure, generous perk packages, high salaries for underperforming senior executives, and marketing budgets that do not seem to be in line with any sense of return on capital invested.”
Recent SEC ‘Bad Actor’ Provisions For Hedge Funds, Private Equity Funds, Could Unearth Unethical Backgrounds Of Executives: Securities Lawyers (IBTimes)
Recent regulations unearthing the legal backgrounds of those who sell private securities could lead to nervousness and layoffs among hedge fund and private equity executives, according to securities lawyers. The major 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms required the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt so-called “bad actor” provisions, which bar those convicted of financial crimes from selling private securities. The commission adopted these rules earlier in July.
Ex-analyst charged in insider-trading crackdown (BostonGlobe)
Continuing a relentless campaign against insider trading, federal authorities on Tuesday announced criminal charges against a former stock research analyst in a case connected to last week’s indictment of the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors. Sandeep Aggarwal, a former technology analyst at Collins Stewart, a research firm that has since become part of Cannacord Genuity, was charged with leaking secret information about a venture between Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) to at least two hedge funds, including SAC. FBI agents arrested Aggarwal on Monday in San Jose, Calif.
CF Industries’ stock gets pop from hedge fund (ChicagoBusiness)
Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) spiked nearly 12 percent yesterday after Third Point LLC, the hedge fund run by activist investor Daniel Loeb, said it held an unspecified stake in the Illinois company, the Wall Street Journal reports. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF), which makes and sells nitrogen and phosphate-based plant fertilizers, should “significantly increase its dividend,” Third Point said in a letter to investors, according to the Journal. The hedge fund noted CF’s “access to inexpensive natural gas, a key raw material in the production of fertilizer,” which “provides it with a low cost advantage over global rivals.”
Ideas for hedge funds mascots (FierceFinance)
Now that the SEC has authorized mass market advertising by sellers of private securities, per the JOBS Act, are we in for an onslaught of hedge funds advertisements? The conventional wisdom holds that the industry will take a go-slow approach to such broad advertising. Just because it can do something, doesn’t mean it should. One might argue that it makes more sense to advertise broadly only when they have a product aimed at the masses. Hedge funds can still only sell to accredited investors, though we might see more launch “hedge fund mutual fund”-like products.
Greenlight’s Einhorn cuts gold bullion to invest in miners (Reuters)
David Einhorn, head of hedge fund Greenlight Capital, said on Tuesday that he remained bullish on gold and that earnings growth would accelerate for General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) later this year. In a conference call for his Cayman Islands-based reinsurer Greenlight Capital Re Ltd, Einhorn said his optimism about gold “has not changed” and that his investment portfolio now had an equal exposure to gold miners and gold bullion. He said the position was not hedged. “During the gold selloff in the quarter, we sold a small amount of gold to take advantage of opportunities in gold-mining stocks that were in freefall,” said Einhorn, the chairman of the reinsurer.
Changing fortunes of Europe’s biggest hedge fund managers (eFinancialNews)
This year, managers needed $5.1 billion in assets to qualify for the Financial News Top 20, compared with $4.7 billion last year and $5 billion in each of the two previous years. The top 20 managers saw their combined assets rise by 4.5% to $277.1 billion in the 12 months to June 30. Assets under management of the top 10 grew 4.7% over the same period to $209.8 billion. In last year’s survey, the top 20 grew at a rate of 2.2%, but the assets of the top 10 dipped 0.8%. …Winton Capital Management – which had shown the biggest organic growth in the top 20 in the past two surveys – was the biggest loser in the top 20 in absolute dollar terms due to a drop in total assets under management.
Here’s Why Investors Should Buy Dell Shares Now Even As The Stock Looks Unhinged (Forbes)
Friday, August 2nd, is D (decision) Day for Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL). That’s when the company’s Special Committee is scheduled to reconvene and finally end the long agony of defeat — or sweetness of victory — for Michael Dell. Or, it could be the glory of an arduous win for his nemesis, activist investor Carl Icahn. So the crucial question – especially for traders and people who don’t own any Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) share – is the stock a buy or a sell, at this time? As most everyone now know, Michael Dell, with the help of private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners, seeks to acquire all of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) and turn it into a private company to do as he pleases with the pioneer in PCs.
What Happens If the BRICs Sink Like One? (Bloomberg)
Nouriel Roubini points out that after a decade of torrid growth, the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China) are slowing down. “Brazil’s gross domestic product grew by only 1 percent last year, and may not grow by more than 2 percent this year, with its potential barely above 3 percent. Russia’s economy may grow by barely 2 percent this year, with potential growth also at around 3 percent, despite oil prices being around $100 a barrel. India had a couple of years of strong growth recently (11.2 percent in 2010 and 7.7 percent in 2011) but slowed to 4 percent in 2012…
Convexity Closes to New Money Amid Disappointing Performance (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Convexity Capital Management, the secretive Boston-based hedge fund firm co-founded by Jack Meyer, expressed frustration to clients over what it describes as subpar performance and said it is closing to new investments until its performance improves. The firm’s main fund lagged its benchmarks by 132 basis points, or 1.32 percentage points, in the second quarter as well as for the first half. The fund also is behind its self-imposed benchmarks by 167 basis points for the 12 months ended June 30, according to Convexity’s second-quarter letter to clients.
