Tiger Global’s Private Equity Arm Gets Busy (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Tiger Global Management’s private equity business continues to be as active in the new year as it was in the fourth quarter of last year. …The private equity group is separate from the firm’s two hedge funds — Tiger Global LP and Tiger Global Ltd. — which manage roughly $6 billion and are run on a day-to-day basis by partner Feroz Dewan, as well as Tiger Global co-founder Charles (Chase) Coleman III. In January the two hedge funds lost 2.7 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively. Last year the two funds rose roughly 14 percent.
Hedge fund Kingdon Capital sees room for growth at Energy Transfer Equity (Reuters)
Energy Transfer Equity LP is undervalued by 50 percent and could receive a shot in the arm from the company’s plan to issue this year a new master limited partnership security tied to its Lake Charles natural gas liquefaction facility, hedge fund Kingdon Capital Management said. “Their intrinsic value is $60 today,” Kingdon’s Philip Hilal said at the 2014 Harbor Investment Conference late on Wednesday. Energy Transfer Equity ended trading on Thursday up $1.27, or 2.9 percent, at $44.04.
China: Funds on the edge (FT)
Liu Yijun runs the most successful, oldest and biggest hedge fund that almost no one has ever heard of: Prime Capital Management. From offices high in a gold-coloured Shanghai tower, the highly secretive manager controls more than $3bn. He invests exclusively in Chinese companies selected by a disciplined team of researchers who are among the best paid in the country. In a decade of stockpicking with almost no ability to hedge any of its bets in China’s rudimentary markets, Prime has still managed to deliver average annual returns of almost 26 per cent, with just one losing year, according to documents from the fund.
Ziff’s Pande Joins Blackstone’s Alternative Asset Management (WSJ)
A former executive at hedge fund firm Ziff Brothers Investments LLC has landed at The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX) +0.67%. Parag Pande, who ran an industrials portfolio at Ziff, started this week as head of research for Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Last fall, Ziff began the gradual process of shuttering its U.S. hedge fund. Mr. Pande had been considering starting his own fund before he signed up at Blackstone, some of the people said.
Ex-Soros Trader Eyes Frontier Markets (Finalternatives)
Plummeting stock prices in emerging markets aren’t deterring one Soros Fund Management veteran. Ahmad Zuaiter is readying a frontier markets hedge fund, focusing on countries such as Argentina, Iraq, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates and Zimbabwe. Zuaiter’s Jadara Capital Partners will avoid the more established emerging markets, including China, India and Russia. …Zuaiter worked at Soros Fund Management from 2006 through 2011, when firm founder George Soros returned outside capital and turned the firm into a family office. He divided his years at Soros between New York and Istanbul, and formerly worked at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
Hedge Fund Officially Allowed To Become Only Thing Gambling At Or On A.C. Casino (DealBreaker)
The state Casino Control Commission granted final approval to Chatham Asset Management, a hedge fund that is part of a lender group that emerged with an ownership stake in Revel following its bankruptcy last year. Chatham owns 28 percent of Revel…. During a brief hearing before the commission, Evan Ratner, a principal of Chatham, did not discuss the company’s future plans. It said last year it is pursuing “strategic options,” which is code in the industry for looking at a sale or a bankruptcy filing.
Meditation pays off for these high-profile names (CNBC)
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.
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