Aurelius Disputes Intelsat’s Use of Assets to Secure New Debt (Bloomberg)
Aurelius Capital Management, the hedge fund that contends Intelsat SA is in default on its bonds, is now accusing the struggling satellite operator of using some of the same assets to secure two separate pieces of debt. Intelsat pledged assets of its Intelsat Jackson Holdings subsidiary as collateral for the $1.25 billion of senior secured notes due 2024 that the company raised in March, Aurelius’s managing director David Tiomkin wrote in a letter dated July 7 to Intelsat’s chief financial officer, Jacques Kerrest. The same assets were pledged in May to help secure $815.3 million of senior unsecured notes due 2022, Tiomkin added. A copy of the letter was obtained by Bloomberg News.
Hedge Funds’ Tech Metamorphosis Seen in Citadel’s Microsoft Hire (Bloomberg)
Silicon Valley watch out. The finance industry is coming after your top managers. Hedge funds are poaching top executives from tech giants to manage their transformation into computer-driven firms full of engineers and mathematicians. Citadel’s hiring of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Kevin Turner follows big moves in the past year by Two Sigma Investments, which brought on Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s Alfred Spector, and Bridgewater Associates, which tapped Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s Jon Rubinstein. These executives are helping banks and hedge funds morph into companies that rely on complex computers, big data analysis and artificial intelligence to get an edge in investing. Doug Haynes, president of Point72 Asset Management, and Lloyd C. Blankfein, head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS), last year described their companies as technology firms.
Moore Capital Fires Hedge Fund Manager After Wild Hamptons Party (Reuters)
U.S. hedge fund Moore Capital Management has fired a portfolio manager a day after a media report of a raucous party he threw at a rented mansion in the Hamptons, New York’s summer playground for the rich and famous. Brett Barna had been employed for 6-1/2 years at Moore Capital, the $15 billion hedge fund run by billionaire Louis Bacon. “Mr. Barna’s personal judgment was inconsistent with the firm’s values. He is no longer employed by Moore Capital Management,” the firm’s spokesman, Patrick Scanlan, said in a statement on Thursday.
Ray Dalio’s Hedge Fund Falls On Hard Times, Report Says (CNBC)
The world’s biggest hedge fund got hit hard to start the year. Bridgewater Associates LP‘s flagship hedge fund was down 12 percent in the first half of this year, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Bridgewater’s Pure Alpha fund, as it is called, is the largest fund in founder Ray Dalio‘s $150 billion Connecticut-based money management empire. That marks the worst start to the year since 1995 for that portion of Bridgewater, the Journal reported, citing “people familiar with the firm,” and a previous report that appeared in Institutional Investor.
