Lions Gate admits fault over Icahn hostile bid in SEC pact (TheGlobeAndMail)
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp admitted on Thursday it failed to disclose to investors in 2010 the steps it took to thwart a hostile takeover bid by billionaire Carl Icahn, as part of a settlement with U.S. regulators. Lions Gate, which produces popular movies and television shows like The Hunger Games and Mad Men, also agreed to pay $7.5-million (U.S.) to settle the charges, the Securities and Exchange Commission said. It is the first time in about 30 years that the SEC has brought a case against a company that is the target of a hostile tender offer, the SEC’s enforcement director, Andrew Ceresney, said.
Hedge Funds’ Big Bet on Fannie and Freddie May End Up Worthless (Businessweek)
Almost six years after bad home loans crippled the economy, Perry Capital and other big hedge funds are battling the government over the future of mortgage companies Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC), which needed taxpayer bailouts to survive. If the investors prevail in the courts or in Congress, they could enjoy one of the biggest paydays in history. And Todd Westhus, who spearheaded Perry Capital’s purchase of Fannie and Freddie preferred shares when they were trading for pennies in 2010, could join the ranks of hedge fund legends George Soros and John Paulson.
Procter & Gamble’s High-Tech Quest for the Perfect Diaper (Businessweek)
The teal-colored room packed with 12 toddlers and an almost equal number of watchful grown-ups could be a day-care center anywhere in the U.S.—except for the men and women in lab coats with tubes of saline solution in hand. This is The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)‘s Discovery Center, a baby-care research lab just north of company headquarters in Cincinnati. Toddlers romp around pulling books and toys onto the floor and sometimes escape into the hallway. Researchers set the children on examining tables and use small hoses to inject saline solution at precise “pee points” in the diapers—which differ for boys and girls—to determine how absorbent they are.
‘Lost’s’ Maggie Grace to Co-Star in CBS’ Wall Street Drama (Mxdwn)
Grace has been tapped to co-star opposite Charlie Cox in the CBS’ untitled Wall Street drama where she will play a new hire at the hedge fund in the Charlie Cox starrer executive produced by John Cusack. Grace will co-star as Jaime, a smart, ambitious, savvy new hire with a conscience who serves as an in-house legal counsel for a hedge fund. Most recently, the actress, repped by UTA, Wishlab and Jackoway Tyerman, starred in Showtime’s Californication and will next be seen in features We’ll Never Have Paris and About Alex. The drama from Justified writers Taylor Elmore and Ben Cavell, is set in the world of Wall Street money and power and is based on an original story from Elmore, Cavell, Cusack and Kevin McCabe.
Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors buys 5.3 percent stake in Momenta (BizJournals)
Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, a Connecticut-based hedge fund that is changing its name after an insider trading scandal, disclosed in a federal filing today that it now owns a 5.6 percent stake in Cambridge biotech Momenta Pharmaceuticals. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, SAC reported that it recently bought 2.9 million million shares in the company. Two million are owned by SAC Capital Advisors, and 900,000 by a unit within that fund called CR Intrinsic Investors.
Showtime Orders Hedge Fund Pilot Called ‘Billions’ (NYTimes)
Showtime announced its first drama pilot order of the season Thursday, a project created by Andrew Ross Sorkin, the author and financial reporter for The New York Times. The show is called “Billions” and will follow the conflict – and occasional collusion — between a fictional United States attorney based in New York and a cadre of super-rich hedge fund managers. Mr. Sorkin, whose nonfiction book “Too Big to Fail” was turned into a movie for HBO, co-wrote the pilot for “Billions,” with two experienced screenwriters, Brian Koppelman and David Levien (“Ocean’s Thirteen” and “Rounders.”)
Great time to own private equity: Strategist (CNBC)
Fortress Executives Join Buyout Peers Selling Stock in Rally (BusinessWeek)
Four top executives of Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE:FIG), the first publicly traded private-equity and hedge-fund manager in the U.S., will sell 25.7 million Fortress shares and operating units, about 10 percent of their interest, in an underwritten public stock sale. The planned offering, disclosed yesterday in a regulatory filing by the New York-based company, is the first large disposal of shares by Fortress insiders (FIG:US) since the firm went public seven years ago. Co-founders Wesley R. Edens and Randal A. Nardone and senior executives Peter L. Briger Jr. and Michael E. Novogratz stand to collect about $215 million in the sale based on Fortress’ closing price yesterday of $8.37.
Marc Faber: Unchecked bull market leads to big declines (CNBC)
A bull market left to run without a correction for this long sets up stocks for huge declines, “Dr. Doom” Marc Faber told CNBC on Thursday. How huge? The editor and publisher of The Gloom, Boom and Doom Report said U.S. stocks could drop 30 to 40 percent, if left without a significant pullback. “These types of bull markets without a correction usually lead to more than just a correction,” Faber said on “Squawk on the Street.” That means investors should get out of U.S. stocks and look for the financial assets that lose the least amount of money, he said. Cash and U.S. Treasurys remain the safest bets, Faber said, except in the very unlikely event of the U.S. dollar imploding.
Reid steps up fight with Koch ‘oil barons’ over Republican funding (Reuters)
Democratic senate leader Harry Reid delivered his latest attack on billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, saying they were trying to buy the American political system by funding conservative and libertarian candidates in midterm elections. Reid, 74, repeatedly used the word “radical” to decry the influence on U.S. politics of the Kochs in a speech to the U.S. Senate on Thursday. The brothers spent over $100 million on the 2012 elections and continue to pour money into races for the November midterms in which control of Congress is at stake. …Obama has asked donors to contribute more in a series of fundraisers. Billionaire hedge fund manager Tom Steyer has pledged to spend as much as $100 million on the midterm elections, focusing on candidates who favor plans to curb climate change.
‘Fabulous Fab’ ordered to pay US$825,000 (ChinaPost)
A once high-flying Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) trader dubbed “Fabulous Fab” was ordered Wednesday to pay more than US$825,000 in one of the prominent cases stemming from the mortgage meltdown that helped spark the Great Recession. Ruling in a civil case that regulators called a symbol of “Wall Street greed,” U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest decided Fabrice Tourre should pay a US$650,000 penalty and give up more than US$175,000 of his US$1.5 million-plus bonus for 2007. The case was considered one of the most significant legal actions related to the collapse of mortgage-backed securities, the subsequent financial crisis and the conduct of Wall Street banks that sold the securities. Tourre was found liable after a trial last summer.
Hedge funds recover from early 2014 losses… survey scrutinizes hedge fund manager credibility… (HedgeWeek)
Hedge funds recovered from January losses – all investment strategies yielded positive returns during the month with long/short equities and distressed debt leading with gains of 2.42 per cent and 2.33 per cent respectively Global markets trended upwards during the month led by a resurgence of investor confidence in the global economy. Market sentiment held strong as weaknesses in recent US macroeconomic data were largely attributed to the weather conditions, with Fed chair Janet Yellen reaffirming the need to keep the QE tapering on track as the US economy continues its recovery…
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