Botox Maker Allergan Formally Rejects $47 Billion Take-Over Bid From Valeant And Bill Ackman (JewishBusinessNews)
Three weeks ago Quebec based pharmaceuticals company Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) made a US$47 billion hostile takeover bid, in cash and stock, to acquire Irvine California based specialty pharmaceuticals company, and maker of Botox, Allergan. Valeant was joined in the bid by hedge fund Pershing Square, which is led by activist investor Bill Ackman. Bill Ackman even managed to raise a few eyebrows when he separately disclosed he had quietly built up a substantial position of almost 10% himself, even with knowledge of the pending bid. His reasoning, which many accept, is that as a joint bidder with Valeant he was entitled to do just that.
Doug Kass on Tech Valuations: ‘Nuthin But a P/E Thang’ (WSJ)
So gangsta, he ain’t. But hedge-fund manger Doug Kass, or rather the self-proclaimed “Dougie Fresh,” is working on his rap game to reflect his bearish views of the market. In light of the recent selloff in tech stocks and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s +1.01% rumored $3.2 billion deal for Beats Electronics LLC–the headphone maker co-founded by hip-hop producer and artist Dr. Dre–Mr. Kass of Seabreeze Partners Management reiterated his long-standing view that the market is overvalued and is due for a sizable pullback. But this time, he conveyed his views in a rather unorthodox manner.
No, Hedge Funds Aren’t Hijacking Peer To Peer Loans, Says Lending Club CEO (Forbes)
Are the pros pushing the peers out of peer to peer lending? These hot marketplaces that let people act like banks, lending extra cash to people who need it, have been growing in popularity over the last few years. Take Lending Club , the country’s largest peer to peer platform saw loans jump from $800 million in 2012 to $2 billion last year (it transacted $790 million in loans last quarter alone.) And grow it should. In the current low-rate environment, the company offers a win-win for borrowers and investors.
Questions over event driven activists adding value (Risk)
Event driven activist funds continue to be a favoured money-spinner for hedge fund investors. The strategy returned 16% last year and 3.3% in the first quarter of this year, among the highest of all returns, according to Hedge Fund Research indexes. Assets under the management of activist funds rose from $65 billion in 2012 to $95 billion in 2013, according to Hedge Fund Research. The year-on-year rise, $30 billion, is a significant upsurge: the number is equivalent to the amount of assets under activist funds’ management in 2008.
Lansdowne Partners promotes two managers (FT)
Lansdowne Partners is promoting its two leading investment managers to head the $18bn hedge fund in the final step of a succession plan from its founders to a younger generation of staff. Steven Heinz, who co-founded the Mayfair-based Lansdowne in 1998 and helped build it into one of the world’s largest equity hedge funds, is stepping back from his day to day responsibilities at the group, while Stuart Roden and Peter Davies, joint managers of its $13bn flagship Developed Markets fund, will now lead the company under a new UK LLP structure.
JPMorgan flagship fund stalls in tough climate (HereIsTheCity)
JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM)‘s asset management unit’s majority purchase of Highbridge Capital Management in 2004 long seemed like a win. The hedge fund firm assets grew from about $7 billion at the time of the sale to $37 billion in 2007. But Highbridge’s fast growth has slowed in recent years. Assets have declined since their pre-financial crisis peak to $24.5 billion as of Jan. 1; performance by its flagship hedge funds have been middling; and the firm has undergone notable personnel changes, not all of them planned.
World’s largest hedge funds (CNBC)
New Hedge Fund Bets On Bitcoin (Finalternatives)
Coin Capital Management is this week launching a Bitcoin-focused hedge fund, which will buy and hold the leading crypto-currency in an institutional grade environment. “We are pretty excited about Bitcoin…it is an exciting payment technology,” said Samuel Cahn, managing partner at the New York-based firm. “We are fully dedicated to holding Bitcoin, and we are the first ones to do so in an institutional grade hedge fund using the same types of checks and balances that investors have come to expect. Cahn founded Coin Capital—which is being seeded by a family office—along with his partners, brothers Sigmund and Drew Sommer.
No One Wants To Buy Steve Cohen’s Unbelievable $98 Million Upper East Side Penthouse (BusinessInsider)
Some people just don’t know how to appreciate a deal. According to Page Six, Billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen – whose hedge fund S.A.C. Capital plead guilty to insider trading last year – can’t unload his Upper East Side duplex penthouse, and it’s upsetting him a great deal. From Page Six: One source tells us, “Cohen hasn’t had a buyer, and he blames his broker. Furious is not the word. He’s had enough.” But another source sniffed, “The lack of a buyer might be because some feel the place might have some bad karma.”
SAC’s Steinberg Deserves Five Years in Prison, U.S. Says (BusinessWeek)
SAC Capital Advisors LP’s Michael Steinberg, convicted of insider trading in December, should be sentenced to more than five years in prison when he goes before a judge later this week, the U.S. said. The government also seeks forfeiture of about $365,000. Steinberg’s lawyers this month said his sentence shouldn’t exceed two years. Federal sentencing guidelines call for 5 1/4 years to 6 1/2 years, prosecutors said in a court filing May 9. “Steinberg benefited from a much more wide-ranging conspiracy in which multiple analysts pursued multiple sources,” the government said, rejecting Steinberg’s arguments that he’s the least culpable in the insider-trading scheme.
Fed Should Be Blamed For Credit Bubble? (ActionForex)
‘Maybe today there’s not a bubble in the U.S. stock market. But if we’re going to exit so slowly, then what’s the risk that we’d have a bubble in credit or in the stock market or in financial market a year from now, two years from now?’ – Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economist In January, Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economist, who is known for predicting the housing bust and global financial crisis, claimed the U.S. economy will disappoint this year. He claimed the world’s largest economy will pick up, however, the pace of growth will not be substantial enough to raise wages for Americans…
Dymon gets $500 mln from Temasek to seed hedge funds (Reuters)
Singapore-based asset manager Dymon Asia Capital has received a commitment worth $500 million from Temasek Holdings to start a hedge fund seeding venture at a time the Asian industry is starting to recover after six years of sluggish growth. Dymon will use the capital to seed new strategies and fund managers and manage all non-investment functions to allow managers focus on their trading activities. Asia-focused hedge funds returned nearly 16 percent to investors last year, their best annual performance since 2009, according to data from Eurekahedge.
CalPERS chopping hedge fund allocation (PIOnline)
CalPERS portfolio managers have begun cutting the system’s $5.3 billion hedge fund allocation in half, signaling a shift away from the asset class for the nation’s largest defined benefit plan, say multiple sources familiar with the pension plan’s operations. The $289.1 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s hedge fund program has been under review by top investment staff since January, spokesman Joe DeAnda confirmed in an interview with Pensions & Investments. But Mr. DeAnda said no decision will be made on the future of the pension fund’s hedge fund program until recommendations are presented to the CalPERS board sometime in the third quarter…
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