Sotheby’s Enters Into Pact With Ebay To Sell Artworks Online (ColumbusCEO)
Sothebys (NYSE:BID), the auction house that put activist investor Dan Loeb on the board after he battled with management over performance, has entered into a partnership with eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) to sell artworks online. The companies are building an online platform for collectors and first-time buyers to browse and purchase collectibles including art, jewelry and fine wine, according to a statement Monday. Ebay and Sotheby’s will start by offering a number of live auctions taking place at New York-based Sotheby’s, and will offer 18 collecting categories.
Och-Ziff Capital Management Names Compliance Chief (ComplianceWeek)
Och-Ziff Capital Management, a publicly-traded hedge fund, has named David Becker as its new chief legal and chief compliance officer. He replaces Jeff Blockinger, who plans to retire from the firm, where he has worked for 10 years. To ensure a smooth transition, Blockinger will remain with the firm as an executive managing director and senior legal adviser through June 2015. Becker joins Och-Ziff from law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, where he was a partner. Previously, he was general counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Alternative assets continue to grow, finds Towers Watson survey (COOConnect)
Alternative Assets grew to $5.7 trillion from $5.1 trillion over the course of 2014, with the top 100 managers accounting for $3.3 trillion of that, according to a Towers Watson survey produced in conjunction with the Financial Times. Of the top 100 alternative investment managers, real estate comprises 31% or more than $1 trillion of the sum total; followed by private equity which accounts for 23% or $753 billion. Hedge funds control 22%, or $724 billion. Private equity funds of funds manage 10%, or $322 billion while funds of hedge funds comprise 5%, or $173 billion.
Goldman Sachs ups market year-end price target (USAToday)
At a time when the stock market is near record highs and top hedge fund managers like Carl Icahn are advising caution, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)’ top stock guru is upping his return projections for 2014. With the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index already trading above his year-end price target of 1900, Goldman’s David Kostin has raised his target to 2050. While 2050 may sound like a big, bullish upgrade, it amounts to just a 3.5% bump from the index’s level of 1978 in midday trading today.
Zachary hedge fund manager to stand trial this week after being convicted in multi-million dollar investment fraud (Nola)
A Zachary man will stand trial this week after he pled guilty to multiple counts of mail fraud from participating in a scheme which defrauded investors out of millions of dollars. James R. Holdman, 59, pled guilty July 10 before U.S. District Judge James J. Brady to the multiple counts and could face up to 40 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines and restitution to his victims, according to the U.S. Attorney Walt Green of the Middle District of Louisiana. Holdman operated a hedge fund called Greenwing Capital Management, LLC…
Countdown to Alpha & Icahn (CNBC)
Macquarie Alumnus Plans Global Hedge Fund (Finalternatives)
Gerald Kok, a former fund manager at Macquarie Group, is readying his own hedge fund. GSK Global Fund will invest in U.S. and Asia-Pacfic firms going through corporate events like mergers or divestments and with share prices running at a significant discount to fair value, Kok told Bloomberg. Kok runs Singapore-based G&S Asset Management with Susan Xiao who will also launch a fund this year. Together, the two funds will manage $10 million.
Soy, sugar drive hedge fund sell-off in ags (AgriMoney)
Hedge funds came close to their first net short position in soybeans since 2011, but proved surprisingly reluctant to sell down corn, as they drove their bullish bets on agricultural commodities to the lowest in five months. Managed money, a proxy for speculators, cut its net long position in futures and options in the top 13 US-traded agricultural commodities, from cotton to live cattle, by more than 86,000 contracts in the week to last Tuesday, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulator.
Boone Pickens’ OSU donations vs. price paid for each NFL team (TulsaWorld)
It’d be a gross understatement to say that business magnate and financier T. Boone Pickens has been generous toward the athletic program at his alma mater of Oklahoma State. Of the reported $500 million that Pickens has donated to OSU, half has gone toward Cowboys athletics. That $250 million is more than all but 10 NFL teams sold for. Even Pickens’ good friend, Jerry Jones, paid $100 million less for the Dallas Cowboys when he bought “America’s Team” in 1989.
Jim Rogers reveals his Singapore investment strategy (Yahoo)
Author and famed investor Jim Rogers picked what he sure knows a lot about when asked to choose the one investment he would make in Singapore now. “Well, it would be my little girls. They are very important to me,” the 71-year-old American told Yahoo Singapore last week in a phone interview in which he shared some investing tips. The author of five investment books, the latest one titled Street Smarts, Rogers started a family late in life. He was 60 when he had the first of his two daughters with wife, Paige Parker…
Activist investor lowers stake in PHH Corp. after sale (BizJournals)
Activist investor Orange Capital has drastically cut its stake in PHH Corporation (NYSE:PHH) less than a week after PHH sold its auto fleet leasing business, PHH Arval, for roughly $1.4 billion to Canadian equipment finance company Element Financial Corp, according to an SEC filing. The filing says that hedge fund now holds 1.65 million shares in Mount Laurel-based PHH, a major drop from the 4.11 million shares it previously held. Orange Capital led a group of activist investors last fall that sought to have PHH split or sell its two main business lines, auto fleet and mortgage…
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