Cliffs may close Bloom Lake iron ore mine (Reuters)
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (NYSE:CLF) said it may have to close its Bloom Lake iron ore mine in Quebec, weeks after it revealed that three “big steelmakers” were in talks to invest in the project. Cliffs’ announcement that it was looking to exit its Eastern Canadian iron ore operations sent its shares down about 12.7 percent to $8.91 in premarket trading. “Despite the continued interest of the prospective equity partners in Bloom Lake … the potential investment is not achievable within a time frame acceptable to Cliffs,” Chief Executive Lourenco Goncalves said in a statement on Wednesday.
Hedge fund Makuria sees Intralot shares tripling in 18 months (Reuters)
Mans Larsson, founder of hedge fund Makuria Investment Management, said shares in Intralot Integrated Lottery Systems and Services may triple in value over the next 12 to 18 months. Larsson, the former head of the London office at Canyon Capital Advisors who launched his own fund last year, said Intralot is a good business with predictable cash generation and is available at attractive valuation. The “company is now at an inflection point” where it is entering “a harvesting phase”, Larsson told the Sohn Investment Conference in London on Wednesday.
Singer Blasts CalPERS’ Hedge-Fund Exit (Finalternatives)
Some hedge fund managers, like AQR’s Clifford Asness, have offered mild criticisms of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s decision to redeem its entire hedge-fund portfolio. Elliott Management founder Paul Singer, as is his nature, isn’t tempering his displeasure. In a letter to clients, Singer called CalPERS’ September decision “off-base.” The pension, the largest in the U.S., was critical of the complexity and cost of hedge funds, and said they did not make sense for a system managing $300 billion. Singer couldn’t disagree more.
Hedge fund star Hintze tips long U.S. high yield credit, short Europe (Reuters)
Hedge fund CQS is betting on U.S. high-yield corporate bonds following the return of widening credit spreads and volatility in the second half of the year, the firm’s founder Michael Hintze, one of Europe’s most influential investors, said on Monday. Hintze, 61, whose firm manages about $14 billion, said he was also shorting European credits and flagged Russia as a “black hole” as it fights an economic crisis, sinking oil prices and a sanctions war with the West over Ukraine. “What’s happened more recently is that there is a significant differentiation,” Hintze told the Reuters Global Investment Outlook Summit in London, pointing to a widening in spreads between lower quality corporate issues and higher grade credit.
Hedge fund manager Chanos says art market frothy, shorting Sotheby’s (GlobalPost)
Hedge fund Kynikos Associates founder James Chanos said the art market is frothy and he is currently shorting Sotheby’s , a global auctioneer of art and jewelery. “I am not here to bury the art market, I am an art collector myself,” the short-seller, who is better known for his bearish bets on China, said at the Sohn Investment Conference in London on Wednesday. “But I do think that there are inherent risks in this sort of cyclical business,” he added. Chanos, the founder of Kynikos, managed about $4 billion at the end of Feb. 2014, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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