Ackman’s Pershing Square Holdings fund up 31.2 YTD (Reuters)
Billionaire investor William Ackman‘s Pershing Square Holdings portfolio, the hedge fund he plans to list publicly later this year, has gained 31.2 percent this year through August, an investor in the fund said on Wednesday. The portfolio gained 3.1 percent last month, extending its already strong gains for the year which have made it one of the industry’s best performing funds this year.
Elliott Wants Proof Of Argentine Threats Against Citi (Finalternatives)
Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) has asked a federal appeals court to allow it to make future payments on Argentine bonds, arguing that it would jeopardize its license to operate in the country if it didn’t. Elliott Management wants the bank to prove it. The hedge fund, which is battling Argentina for payment on debt the country defaulted on in 2001, issued a subpoena to Citi seeking evidence that Argentina has threatened it with punitive action if it fails to deliver the payments.
Eric Cantor Joins Donor’s Boutique Hedge Fund & Private Equity Firm (HedgeCo)
Former Republican politician Eric Cantor has joined Moelis & Company as vice-chairman at a salary over $1 million a year, The Guardian reports. Moelis was a donor and political supporter of the former House majority leader from Virginia. Moelis & Company’s asset management business includes private equity firm Moelis Capital Partners and hedge fund Gracie Asset Management. In addition to these two asset management platforms, Moelis & Company recently acquired Freeport Financial Partners LLC to expand its asset management business to provide capital solutions to middle market companies.
Billionaire hedge fund manager’s divorce latest (HereIsTheCity)
The New York Times reports that now his wife, Anne Dias Griffin, is having her say. In documents filed in Cook County, Ill., on Tuesday, Ms. Griffin responded to her husband’s divorce petition with a formal request for sole custody of their three children and for permission to move them to New York. Perhaps more surprisingly, she also argued that a prenuptial agreement that the two signed in 2003 was actually done under duress and should be voided. The two filings suggest that the breakup of the Griffins, one of Chicago’s richest and most prominent power couples, will move from domestic dispute into public brawl.
Fresh Off Its Darden Victory, Starboard Launches New Fund (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Starboard Value, the New York-based activist hedge fund firm headed by Jeffrey Smith, has launched a new hedge fund, according to a regulatory filing. The firm’s newest offering will be called the Starboard Partners Fund. The regulatory filing for the new fund indicates that Starboard has not raised any money yet. Starboard is not actively marketing the fund and has only a small amount of money in it, according to a person familiar with the fund. It is not clear what the advantage…
Stop trading Apple, own it: Cramer (CNBC)
Helen of Troy: Could Weakness Lure Suitors? (WSJ)
Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) -9.79% spooked investors Wednesday morning. The consumer products company slashed its 2015 earnings guidance and admitted to weakness in its personal-care business. Shares sank more than 10% after the company’s announcement. But it may not have scared potential buyers away. …Activist investors have been circling Helen of Troy for much of this year. In February, Sachem Head Capital Management, a $1.6 billion hedge fund, urged the company to consider a sale.
Key prosecutor in SAC probe to join law firm Milbank (Reuters)
A lead prosecutor in the U.S. government’s insider trading investigation of hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors has left the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office to join the law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. Antonia Apps, who helped secure a $1.2 billion criminal plea deal from Steven A. Cohen’s SAC Capital last year and the December conviction of SAC portfolio manager Michael Steinberg, will join Milbank as a partner, the New York firm announced Wednesday.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc Moves Toward Asset Sales (Benzinga)
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (NYSE:CLF) spiked Wednesday on news that it hired investment bankers to help it sell non-core assets. The Cleveland-based iron and coal-mining company will put its Appalachian coal assets and Australian iron mines on the block, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:DB) was hired to sell the coal assets and Jefferies Group LLC to sell its Australian assets, according to the report. Insiders at Cliffs last month lost a proxy battle with hedge fund Casablanca Capital LP, which wants the company to divest everything but its core U.S. iron ore operations — five mines in Minnesota and Michigan.
Laval firm mooted to supply Tesla Motors’ gigafactory (TheSuburban)
American multimillionaire author Jim Rogers has singled out Laval-headquartered mining firm Maison Graphite as the logical choice to supply the US $5 billion gigafactory that Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) plans to build. The gigafactory will permit Tesla to ramp up its battery production and achieve its goal to sell 500,000 electric cars a year by 2020. Customers line up to buy Tesla’s Model S electric-only sports car, which Car and Driver named car-of-the-year, and there’s already a long waiting list for its yet-to-be-released Model X electric sport utility vehicle (see our hedge fund investor letters group).
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