Editor’s Note: Related Tickers: Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) (NYSE:CP)
D. E. Shaw’s David Shaw and Utimco’s Bruce Zimmerman to be Honored along with 40 Investor and Consultant Nominees in Institutional Investor’s Hedge Fund Industry Awards (DigitalJournal.com)
Blue Valley Ranch pledges $4 million in proposed Highway 9 safety improvements (SkyHiDailyNews.com)
A project to expand State Highway 9, which runs north through Grand and Summit counties, received a $4 million matching grant from the owner of Blue Valley Ranch. The announcement came during Tuesday’s meeting of the Grand County Board of Commissioners, who all voiced their support for the project. The Blue Valley Ranch, located outside of Kremmling, is owned by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul T. Jones II of Greenwich, Conn. Jones previously donated $945,000 to kickstart the improvement project. The project will be submitted to the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Responsible Acceleration of Maintenance and Partnerships (RAMP) program, which seeks to expedite important road improvement projects in the state.
Hedge fund fees hot topic at R.I. Investment Commission (The Providence Journal)
Rhode Island has moved about $1 billion of its $7.6-billion state pension fund into hedge funds over the past 18 months, a move that General Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo defended against critics Wednesday in a meeting of the state Investment Commission. For the first eight months, the state paid nearly $16 million in fees. Facing withering criticism from recent stories by a Forbes magazine blogger accusing her of rewarding Wall Street fund managers, Raimondo and commission consultants argued that the strategy will help cushion the pension fund from a stock market crash such as the one in 2008 that cost the fund $2 billion.
Switzerland Set For Hedge Fund Influx (FINalternatives)
Switzerland went 0-for-2012 in terms of hedge fund launches last year. This year promises to be quite different—thanks in part to the country’s new hedge fund regulations. Among the new launches will be offerings from veteran JPMorgan Chase & Co. trader Deepak Gulati and former GLG Partners portfolio manager James Berger. The new launches could boost the size of the US$24 billion industry by one-third, according to Credit Suisse.
Netflix, Inc. (NFLX): The 10 Most Bullish Mega-Hedge Funds (Insider Monkey)
Steel Partners CEO Sues Ex-Spear Leeds Chief Over Support (Bloomberg)
Steel Partners LLC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Warren Lichtenstein sued Andrew Cader, former head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)’s Spear, Leeds & Kellogg LP, claiming he helped wrongly inflate child support payments for the mother of Lichtenstein’s 5-year-old daughter. Cader, 54, part owner of the Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball team, is in a relationship with…
…the hedge fund chief’s ex-girlfriend, British socialite Annabelle Bond, according to a complaint filed today in Manhattan federal court. Bond is the fourth British woman to climb Mount Everest and daughter of ex- HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) Chairman Sir John Bond, the filing stated.
Fund Manager Bajaj Wins Dismissal of Most Claims by Ex-Partner (Bloomberg)
Yashwant Bajaj, co-founder of hedge-fund firm Hachiman Capital Management, won dismissal of most claims against him by a former partner who said he was shortchanged after the two decided to shut their Singapore company. Toru Ueda claimed his former partner made an unauthorized debit after they decided to close the fund. That claim was struck out by a Singapore High Court assistant registrar, according to an April 19 order.
Renaissance hedge fund profits made their way to Obama camp (Muckety)
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) & Levin Capital Strategies’ +3.5% Yielders (Insider Monkey)
Here are five stocks which John Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies reported owning at the beginning of January which feature dividend yields of 3.5% or higher according to current prices and recent dividend policy. The fund reported a position of 3.1 million shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. Verizon Communications Inc. not only pays a high dividend yield- close to 4%- it also has little sensitivity to the broader economy as shown by the beta of 0.3. Investors should be aware that the company has been trying to buy the remainder of Verizon Wireless from Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) and there has been some speculation that it would pay with stock.
Omaha Civilian Employees chooses hedge funds-of-funds, midcap growth managers (Pensions & Investments)
Omaha (Neb.) Civilian Employees’ Retirement System hired hedge fund-of-funds manager SSARIS Advisors to run $17 million and New Amsterdam Partners to run $12 million in active domestic midcap growth equities, confirmed Buster Brown, chairman of the board of trustees.
Short-seller Chanos still bearish on PC-makers Dell, HP: CNBC (Reuters)
Hedge fund manager James Chanos told CNBC on Wednesday that he was still betting against the shares of computer-makers Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) and Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ). Chanos, noted for predicting the downfall of Enron and more recently a vocal bear on the Chinese economy, told CNBC that the “PC (personal computer) business is falling apart” and the industry faces structural problems. “The real structural issue is these companies are behind the eight-ball,” Chanos said. “The secular story has not gone away.” Chanos, who is president and founder of short-selling firm Kynikos Associates, has criticized Hewlett Packard for failing to keep up with competitors in the mobile and cloud computing space.
Ackman-Backed CEO Pushes CP Rail Profit Above Estimates (Bloomberg)
Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) (NYSE:CP) posted higher first-quarter earnings than analysts estimated as Chief Executive Officer Hunter Harrison makes progress on profitability goals set during last year’s proxy fight. Net income rose 53 percent to C$217 million ($211.6 million), or C$1.24 a share, compared with the C$1.22 average of estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Revenue gained 8.6 percent to C$1.5 billion, the Calgary-based railroad said today. Harrison, a former CEO at larger rival Canadian National Railway Co. (CNR), has cut jobs, closed yards and run longer trains as he works to end Canadian Pacific’s stint as the least efficient North American railroad. He took over in June after a proxy fight led by William Ackman, a hedge fund manager and the railroad’s largest shareholder, to oust Harrison’s predecessor.
