SAC Capital’s Steve Cohen is buying these stocks (MarketWatch)
A series of 13G filings with the SEC show that billionaire Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors is far from idle as some outside investors seek redemptions due to the fund’s legal problems relating to insider trading investigations and charges. 13Gs are filed when a hedge fund or other major investor controls 5% of a stock’s total shares outstanding. This does mean that they only disclose positions in smaller cap stocks rather than larger cap names—Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) were two of SAC’s largest holdings at the end of March, but the fund certainly fell far short of 5% ownership. The fund now owns 5.2% of Foster Wheeler AG (NASDAQ:FWLT), a $2.3 billion market cap company specializing in engineering and construction of infrastructure facilities including for processing of oil and gas.
Burbank’s Passport Sells Off Entire Agency Mortgage Portfolio (San Diego Source)
San Francisco-based hedge-fund firm run by John Burbank, sold its entire portfolio of mortgage debt backed by the U.S. government in the second quarter, according to a letter to investors obtained by Bloomberg News. “When we recognized prospects in the agency space had changed, we cut risk,” Passport wrote in the July 31 letter, referring to mortgage securities backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae. The firm retained its holdings of home-loan bonds without government backing, “viewing the prospects there as brighter.” Passport sold the agency debt in its $162 million M1 fund, a mortgage strategy run by Jeff Kong and Raphael Gonzalez, and in its $1.2 billion Passport Global Fund, which allocates to M1 and is run by Burbank, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Billionaires’ Battle Over LightSquared Breaks Into the Open (New York Times)
The hedge fund tycoon Philip A. Falcone may be down, but he’s not out, taking on the satellite television mogul Charles W. Ergen in a bankruptcy brawl. Their months-long fight took a new turn on Tuesday as Mr. Falcone filed a lawsuit accusing Mr. Ergen of colluding with another hedge fund in a “fraudulent scheme” that prevented his broadband wireless company LightSquared from emerging out of bankruptcy. Mr. Falcone’s complaint comes just over a week after Mr. Ergen, the chairman of both Dish and EchoStar, raised a bid for LightSquared to $2.2 billion from $2 billion.
Indices – Greenwich Global Hedge Fund Index regains 1.15% in July (+4.22% YTD), UCITS Alternative Index up 0.80% in July (+1.74% YTD) (Opalesque)
The Greenwich Global Hedge Fund Index gained +1.15% in July based on preliminary estimates. Hedge funds benefited from the global equity market rally as measured by the S&P 500 (+5.09%), MSCI World Equity Index (+5.19%) and FTSE 100 (+6.05%). Long-Short Equity led the way this month, up +2.10% on average. The gain brings the year-to-date total for Long-Short Equity strategies to +7.08%. Long-Short Equity is now a leading strategy for 2013, second only to Event-Driven strategies (+7.21% YTD).
Hedge Fund Association Adds High-Net-Worth Expert Hannah Shaw Grove to Advisory Board (EON: Enhanced Online News)
The Hedge Fund Association announced today the appointment of prominent global wealth consultant Hannah Shaw Grove to its High-Net-Worth Advisory Board. “The HFA is very pleased to welcome Hannah to our global leadership team. As hedge funds prepare to communicate directly to affluent investors and their financial advisors in new ways, Hannah’s knowledge will be instrumental to HFA members around the world,” said Mitch Ackles, HFA President.
