It’s Official: Women Are Better With Money (Cosmopolitan)
Women are awesome: We can rock the boardroom and the bedroom—and still have time to watch The Bachelor on Monday nights. Our ability to multi-task and assess risk is exactly the reason why female-managed hedge funds are earning more than funds run by men. Just how much more? Funds owned or managed by women earned—on average—8.95 percent through September 2012, compared with 2.69 percent average for all hedge funds, according to a study by consulting firm Rothstein Kass. Pretty impressive, huh?
Mortgage Assets Still Good Buy: Hedge Fund Manager (CNBC)
Deepak Narula, who runs a group of real estate hedge funds, told CNBC Thursday that mortgage-related assets provide the best value right now. “The mortgage hedge fund group has posted very good performance,” Narula, who runs New York based Metacapital Management, said on Squawk on the Street. On average, he said, this type of fund was up over 20% last year—”and it’s not the first year.” One of Narula’s funds, the Metacapital Mortgage Opportunities Fund, which invests primarily in residential and commercial mortgages, was up 41.25% last year, with $1.46 billion in assets as of Jan. 1.
Ferro Corp. targeted by hedge funds; groups ask to place members on board of directors (Cleveland)
Calling Ferro Corporation (NYSE:FOE)‘s management “ill-equipped” to lead the company, a group of hedge funds is asking shareholders to appoint new members to the Mayfield Heights company’s board of directors. “Management’s articulated strategy and its lackluster execution on that strategy have consistently failed to deliver results,” hedge funds FrontFour Capital Group and Quinpario Partners said in a letter to Ferro’s shareholders. “Ferro’s portfolio of assets is haphazard and illogically structured, the company’s operating margins trail its specialty chemical peers.”
‘Raw deal’ for Ireland on bank debt (IrishTimes)
Ireland got a ‘raw deal’ in the euro crisis, global investor George Soros has said, drawing comparisons with Iceland. Speaking on RTÉ Radio One, Mr Soros said Iceland had fared better with its banking troubles. “If you compare the fate of Ireland with the fate of Iceland, Iceland is actually flourishing, although it had a bigger banking crisis than ireland in relation to its population, because it simply did not accept the liabilities of the banks,” he said. “But Ireland was not so lucky.” He said the “minimum” of demands on Irish debt would probably be met.
Roubini: Financial Tensions Could Lead To Protectionism (HereIsTheCity)
Roubini said that ‘problems are global, but policies are national” and that “coordinating among different countries is going to become increasingly difficult. Political tensions, economic and financial tensions, like currency wars, can lead eventually to protectionism’. …It was never G-7. We pretend it’s G-10. It was always G-1. The leader, Germany, was to provide the global public goods, security, free trade. Now this power is declining in terms of relative terms of the United States.
Pennsylvania Employees shifts Arden to custom strategy (PIOnline)
Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System, Harrisburg, hired hedge funds-of-funds manager Arden Asset Management to run $150 million in a custom, event-driven equity investment, confirmed spokeswoman Pamela Hile. The hire, part of the $25 billion pension fund’s new diversifying assets portfolio, is funded by about $100 million held by Arden in a legacy absolute-return portfolio and $50 million in cash. The pension fund originally hired Arden in July 2006 to run $650 million in low-volatility, non-directional hedge funds as part of its now-defunct portable-alpha program.
Swiss beat: As Cohen parties in Davos, legal eagles circle at home (NYPost)
Hedge-fund titan Steve Cohen took a break from battling investor redemptions to hob-knob with other heavyweights at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland. But Cohen, who runs $14 billion Stamford, Conn., hedge-fund giant SAC Capital, could be facing more trouble when he gets home. At least one class-action law firm is trying to rustle up investors to sue SAC for its ties to an alleged insider-trading scheme that led to the arrest of a former portfolio manager. Wilmington, Del.-based Chimicles & Tikellis posted a notice on its website saying it is seeking SAC investors and limited partners and is “actively investigating a proposed investor lawsuit against SAC Capital.”
Woman-owned New Sky Capital Hires 2 (Finalternatives)
New Sky Capital—a woman-owned, inflation-focused investment and advisory firm—has made two senior hires. Stephanie Payne has joined the firm as director of marketing and sales and Sean Cort as chief operating officer/chief compliance officer. Prior to joining New Sky, Payne was director of investor relations at Suranya Capital Partners, an emerging global macro hedge fund. Before that, she spent five years at Credit Suisse where she marketed both traditional and alternative strategies to private and institutional investors. Payne began her career at JPMorgan Chase.
