General Growth returns not enough for Ackman’s requirements (ChicagoBusiness)
Bill Ackman, the activist hedge-fund manager, said he sold his firm’s General Growth Properties Inc (NYSE:GGP) shares because the expected returns on the investment after management fees wouldn’t be high enough for his investors. “There’s still meaningful upside in General Growth,” Ackman said yesterday at the Harbor Investment Conference in New York. “I do view this as a teens compounded return over the next four or five years, so I think that’s actually a good investment.”
Hedge Funder Sees KKR’s Next Deal in Washington Mutual’s Shell (TheStreet)
Stephen J Errico of hedge fund Locust Wood Capital Advisers expects KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR) next buyout deal could come from the publicly-traded shell of Washington Mutual, the failed thrift lender whose assets and liabilities were acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) in a controversial crisis-era takeover. Errico said at the Harbor Investment Conference in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday that Locust Wood is investing in WMI Holdings, the publicly traded shell of Washington Mutual, because he believes KKR’s recent million investment in the company signals the PE firm may use it for its next billion dollar deal.
Fortress Buys Back Stake From Nomura (NYTimes)
The Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE:FIG), the first publicly listed hedge fund in the United States, has bought back a stake from Nomura, one of its principal investors. The news is a boon to Fortress, which paid $363.4 million for its 12 percent stake, and sent its shares climbing 5.8 percent to $8.45 on Thursday morning. Based in New York, Fortress has $58 billion under management and offers a variety of private equity and hedge fund products. “We are very pleased to announce a transaction that provides compelling benefits to both Fortress shareholders and to the corporate objectives of a valued business partner,” said Wesley R. Edens, the co-chairman and co-founder of Fortress.
MBTA pension fund posts investment return for 2013 (BostonGlobe)
The MBTA pension fund reported a 16.2 percent investment return for 2013, adding $200 million to the $1.6 billion fund. The investment gain, reported in a February newsletter on the retirement fund’s web site, includes a “total write down” of the fund’s $25 million investment in a Fletcher Asset Management hedge fund that lost all the money in a suspected Ponzi scheme. According to the newsletter, the investment “remains the focus of a significant asset recovery effort the fund is pursuing.’’ That reference appears to be the first written acknowledgment of the Fletcher loss by the pension fund, which did not disclose the pending matter in its 2012 annual report.
Hedge Funds Get High Scores In New SEC Audits (Finalternatives)
Hedge fund and private-equity firms are doing pretty well in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new “presence exams.” The SEC said last week that it is issuing deficiency letters to only about half of the firms its reviewed so far. Routine exams yield deficiency letters in about 80% of cases, Ashish Ward, the SEC’s exam manager in Los Angeles, told Thomson Reuters. The “presence exams” are being conducted at the roughly 1,500 new private investment advisers required to register under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. Such exams take less time that routine exams, but focus extensively on areas such as valuation, conflicts of interest and custody arrangements.
Recommended Reading:
Hedge Funds Lost A Bundle After URS Corp (URS) Large Drop
Park West Asset Management Boosts Its Stake in Outerwall Inc (OUTR)
Marc Lasry’s Avenue Capital Reveals Stake in Boulevard Acquisition Corp. (BLVDU)
