Loeb shorts Nu Skin (NYPost)
Dan Loeb’s Third Point hedge fund is playing both sides of the multilevel-marketing field riveted by the battle over Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF). Loeb has taken an 8 percent stake in nutritional supplement company Herbalife, helping it fend off a $1 billion short attack from fellow hedgie Bill Ackman, who believes Herbalife is a “pyramid scheme” that should be shut down by the feds. …In contrast, Third Point takes a dim view of fellow multilevel-marketing company Nu Skin, whose stock trades in tandem with Herbalife. Third Point took a sizable short position in Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS), which sells anti-aging products, after it began researching the company in the summer of 2011, said a source familiar with the situation who is neither long nor short in either company.
Now some hedge funds and money managers are pitching something they see as a Holy Grail: a strategy that often uses leverage to boost returns of bonds that usually occupy the low-risk, low-return portion of pension-fund investment portfolios. Leverage relies on borrowing money or using derivatives to make large investments while putting up less cash. The tactic’s widespread use helped inflate the world-wide debt bubble that burst during the financial crisis, and it was blamed for ruinous losses at banks and securities firms.
Robert Peston benefits from hedge fund boss’s generosity (Telegraph)
News has reached this column of an alliance between Andrew Law, the chief of macro hedge fund Caxton Associates, and the BBC’s business editor Robert Peston. Law is bankrolling Peston’s schools charity, Speakers for Schools, after the pair were introduced by a “mutual friend” that Peston was reluctant to disclose — perhaps because this business arrangement was not due to be announced until early March. Now the cat’s out of the bag, Peston tells Diary that Law “shares my determination to ensure that young people in state schools, like those we both attended, can benefit from access to inspirational speakers”.
Hedge fund manager, Patrick Wolff, sees rise of fortress USA in 2013 (Opalesque)
Patrick Wolff is founder of Grandmaster Capital, the first hedge fund seeded by Peter Thiel. Thiel is a well-known Silicon Valley leader and investor. Grandmaster is a fundamentals based long/short equity manager with some macroeconomic analysis added in – a layer supported, in part, by Wolff’s relationship with Thiel. He recently spoke with Greg de Spoelberch for Opalesque TV on his outlook for 2013. “The U.S. has relatively stable macroeconomic fundamentals, the U.S. economy is recovering, the U.S. can decouple to some degree from the rest of the world so long as there is not a full on 2008 style financial contagion, and it’s a good place to look for businesses whose earnings are mostly tied to the United States,” he says by way of explaining one of his current investing themes – fortress USA.
Galena Drops as Commodity Hedge Funds Trail for Second Year (BusinessWeek)
Hedge funds lost money for commodity investors for a second straight year as managers from the Galena Metals Fund to Clive Capital LLP trailed benchmark indexes of raw materials. The Newedge Commodity Trading index of 56 hedge funds fell 2.6 percent last year, while the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Total Return Index of energy, metals and agricultural products added 0.1 percent. Galena retreated 8.9 percent, the first annual loss since its inception in 2004, according to a letter to investors obtained by Bloomberg News. The performance was confirmed by the company. Clive, Europe’s biggest commodity hedge fund, declined 8.8 percent after a 9.9 percent slide in 2011.
Veteran hedge fund consultant still believes in value of alternatives (Opalesque)
Veteran hedge fund consultant Anthony Hodges is back in the UK and back offering his services to hedge funds and their investors. Hodges has spent some 30 plus years in the industry, having started working as a commodity trading advisor developing what were then revolutionary mechanical trading systems back in 1978. He has most recently spent seven years in Dubai, as the Executive Director in charge of the Ruler’s $1.5bn hedge fund portfolio. In the 1980s and 90s he was Managing Director of Rudolf Wolff Fund Management, a multi-manager hedge fund and subsequently he was at Sabre Fund Management in charge of their fund of funds.
Wall Street legend Jim Rogers considers investing in Bulgaria (Balkans)
Wall Street legend and highly successful international investor, author and commodities expert, Jim Rogers has said he is considering investing in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is among the few countries, in which he is considering investing right now, since they have made the most improvement since his latest trip around the world, the billionaire, currently based in Singapore, said in an interview for Gold Radio Café, Novinite reports.
Palm Favored by Ospraie Rising as Reserves Retreat: Commodities (Bloomberg)
Palm oil is rebounding from a seven- month bear market after Malaysia, the second-biggest grower, cut export taxes to diminish record stockpiles. …The most-consumed cooking oil rose 11 percent since hitting a three-year low in December on prospects for more exports and as trees, which are harvested throughout the year, start their lowest-yielding quarter. Dwight Anderson, the founder of New York-based hedge fund Ospraie Management LLC, said last month that palm was one of his top commodity picks for 2013. Dorab Mistry, who has traded the oil for three decades, says prices probably already peaked this year because output will rebound.
Seattle group signs deal for Sacramento pro basketball team (Reuters)
A Seattle-based investment group led by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen has signed a binding agreement to buy a controlling interest in the Sacramento Kings basketball team, paving the way for a return of professional basketball to a city still pining for the loss of its SuperSonics in 2008. Terms of the deal, announced by Hansen’s group and confirmed on Monday by the National Basketball Association, were not disclosed. The NBA must approve the deal and that could take several months.
McCrudden done with lists, not with fight (NYPost)
He’s baaccck! Vince McCrudden, the volatile hedge fund trader who was jailed for threatening to kill government regulators, will complete his 28-month sentence tomorrow. But despite his time in the clink, McCrudden continues to lash out at his detractors. Last week, he was back to his old tricks on his website, albni.com, announcing his impending release and penning angry missives to his attorneys, the federal judges who presided over his case and “the media.”
Kyle Bass Puts A Timeframe On His Infamous Prediction Of A Japanese Collapse (BusinessInsider)
Texan hedge fund manager Kyle Bass, the founder of Hayman Capital Management, was on CNBC from the floor of the NYSE talking Japan, housing and the Fed moments ago. Bass, who if famously bearish on Japan, has timestamped his trading saying that the turn will come 18 to 24 months from now, NetNet’s John Carney pointed out on Twitter. He’s been predicting a debt collapse for a long time, but with nothing to show for it.
Tilden Park Up 35% As Assets Top $1 Billion (Finalternatives)
A mortgage hedge fund helmed by a former Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) banker nearly tripled its assets last year while soaring more than 35%. Tilden Park Capital Management, launched two years ago by Josh Birnbaum, who helped orchestrate Goldman’s highly-profitable bets against subprime mortgages during the financial crisis, joined the ranks of the billion-dollar hedge funds last year.
New Jersey sets private equity commitment, hedge fund investment (PIOnline)
New Jersey Division of Investment, Trenton, committed $200 million to private equity fund Silver Lake Partners IV and gave Omega Advisors $150 million for hedge fund investments, confirmed spokesman William Quinn. The division, which oversees the state’s $71 billion in pension assets, previously committed $100 million in Silver Lake Partners III and invested $75 million in Omega’s Overseas Partners Class B fund, both in January 2007. Private equity consultant Strategic Investment Solutions and hedge fund consultant Cliffwater assisted.
Hedge funds up 6.19% in 2012 – Eurekahedge (InvestmentEurope)
The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index gained 6.19% through 2012 as the global hedge fund industry hit assets under management of $1.77trn, helped by a global market rally toward the year end. Figures in the January Eurekahedge Report show that industry assets grew by $64.5bn over the year, with the bulk of this gain from North American hedge funds. They grew assets by $48.7 or 4.18%. Relative value mandated funds experienced the biggest increase in AUM, up $13.3bn or 27.5% over the year, Eurekahedge said.
