Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL)
Michael Dell has been advised to raise his $24.4 billion offer for Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), coming under further pressure as billionaire investor Carl Icahn revealed he had committed more than $3 billion to back an alternative proposal. The PC maker’s special committee told Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL)’s founder and chief executive a few days ago that he should raise his offer if he wants it to succeed, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. …Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) and Silver Lake declined to comment.
Kynikos’s Jim Chanos Is Still Waiting for HP (InstitutionalInvestor)
For two years and now going on a third, the Delivering Alpha conference – co-hosted by Institutional Investor and CNBC – has brought together the finest financial minds to discuss the pressing issues of the day and share their acute understanding of the markets. Some, like Omega Advisors founder Leon Cooperman, strike with remarkable accuracy. The soon-to-be-septuagenarian scored a perfect ten out often with his stock picks on last year’s Best Ideas panel. …Sitting alongside Cooperman and other luminaries, James Chanos laid out his best idea for 2012: Shorting the stock of PC maker Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) Since Chanos took the Delivering Alpha stage and called Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) “the ultimate value trap,” the company’s stock has jumped almost 30percent, from $19.30 to about $25.
Courts approve JPMorgan’s settlement with MF Global; ex-customers could get more money back (WashingtonPost)
New York judges have approved a settlement between MF Global and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), which could clear the way for former customers of failed MF Global to get more of their money back. The settlement was first announced in March, and its approval on Wednesday was largely a formality. Previously, the courts have said the settlement would be worth about $546 million: JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) will pay to reimburse customers, and will also relinquish claims on other funds. …JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) had held MF Global funds in several accounts and also processed the firm’s securities trades.
BlueCrest’s BlueTrend hedge fund suffers 16.9 percent slump (FoxBusiness)
BlueCrest Capital Management‘s BlueTrend fund, one of the world’s biggest computer-driven hedge funds, has suffered one of its worst ever peak-to-trough losses over the past six weeks. A listed feeder fund that channels capital into the $16 billion BlueTrend fund lost 16.9 percent between May 17 and June 28, regulatory filings show. The feeder fund closely replicates the performance of BlueTrend’s flagship fund, headed up by Brazilian-born Leda Braga, one of the hedge fund industry’s highest-profile women. A BlueCrest spokesman declined to comment.
FRM predicts hedge fund managers will remain well-hedged and low on performance over coming months (Opalesque)
Man Group’s $15.5bn fund of hedge funds’ business FRM’s latest Early View finds that markets over June proved the most extreme in terms of market behaviour in 2013, with both the Fed Policy and Chinese Economic Data shaking the markets. The firm writes: “Emerging Markets equities were difficult in places, with the move in US government bond yields, forcing investors to pre-price EM assets, fundamental worries and outflows all combining to result in large moves across both EM debt and equities.”
Billabong’s back-handed hedge fund compliment (BusinessSpectator)
It is tempting to see parallels between the role US hedge funds played in the recapitalisation of Nine Entertainment and the displacement of Billabong’s bank lenders by two US funds, one of them a key player in the Nine saga. At this point, however, there is at least one fundamental difference. When Nine fell into the clutches of Oaktree Capital and Apollo Global Management last year, all the equity, and then some, had long been wiped out. The negotiations which ultimately led to the hedge funds acquiring control of Nine were between the funds and mezzanine debt holders owed more than $1 billion, who ended up with about 10 cents of value in the dollar.
