New Jersey hedge fund manager Tepper says U.S. on ‘verge of greatness’ (NJ)
David Tepper, the hedge-fund manager who runs the $15 billion Appaloosa Management LP, said he’s bullish on U.S. stocks as the economy is set to grow by as much as 3 percent this year. …Tepper said investors should own stocks because they’re historically inexpensive, U.S. companies have little debt, interest rates are low, credit is fully valued and the major risks to the global economy, such as a debt crisis in Europe, have diminished. Short Hills, New Jersey-based Appaloosa, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, returned 30 percent in 2012, he said.
Wesley Wang was unemployed and at home in Berkeley, Calif., about four years after being fired as a junior analyst for an affiliate of hedge fund giant SAC Capital when he got a surprise visit from the FBI. The Taiwan native listened as an agent told him he was the subject of an insider-trading investigation, outlined what investigators knew about his activities and offered a chance to cooperate with prosecutors. Wang said he understood, and asked for time to check with a lawyer. Within weeks of that January 2009 visit, Wang, now 39, was secretly helping federal prosecutors gather evidence against other suspects targeted in a three-year crackdown on Wall Street insider trading that has so far produced more than 70 arrests, convictions or guilty pleas.
Jesse Redmond starts hedge fund research and media company named Next Alternatives (Opalesque)
Jesse Redmond, co-founder of Evolved Alpha and Alpha Titans, has unveiled a hedge fund research and media company named Next Alternatives (Next). The business leverages skills developed during Redmond’s fifteen-year investment management career with his passions for media and technology. The initial offering is a hedge fund research service coined On Demand Due Diligence™. Next will evolve into a diversified research and media business in the coming quarters.
HFRU Hedge Fund Composite Index gains 1.11% MTD through January 21 (Opalesque)
Global equity markets posted gains to begin 2013 as investors responded to near term settlement of many of the issues surrounding the US fiscal cliff on the final trading day of 2012. Equity gains were broad based across regions, with leadership from the US, UK, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Argentina, while Energy & Oil Service, Technology & Biotechnology s led gains across sectors. US treasury yields rose across all maturities as the 30 year yield rose above 3 percent; Germany, France & UK also saw rising yields, although yields declined across Spain, Japan & Italy. The US dollar gained against the Japanese Yen, Euro & Swiss Franc, while falling against the Euro. Energy & Metals commodities rose led by Oil & Platinum, while gains in Agricultural commodities were let by Coffee, Corn & Cocoa.
Hedge fund managers at conference forecast stock gains (Reuters)
After years of favoring fixed income, investors are ready to put their money back into equities and they might be rewarded with strong returns, especially in U.S. stocks, hedge fund managers and investors said at a conference on Tuesday. “We have seen outflows from government bonds and the next big migration is going to be into equities,” said Tim Garry, a portfolio manager at $3.7 billion Passport Capital.
SAC Thinking the Unthinkable (DealBreaker)
The once-proud firm, which could blithely charge three-and-50 with a dismissive shrug of the shoulders or a penetrating, “you’ve got a lot of fucking nerve to question me” glare, has suffered indignities ranging from a snub from Citigroup (Citigroup!) to begging and coughing up extra cash to hang on to employees to pleading with clients to stick with it through the hard times, even as it continues to post double-digit returns. Now, it’s having Japanese banks turn up their noses at a once-in-a-lifetime, too-good-to-be-true opportunity to get a little piece of the Big Guy’s pie. …Steve Cohen does not pay for others to dine and golf with him or his minions! You pay, out of what’s left of your half of the profits after he gets his 3% management fee!
Optimism grows over Asia’s recovering hedge fund sector (AsianInvestor)
Favourable recent Asian hedge fund performance has spurred hopes of a better year ahead as the industry contends with a drop in assets on the back of disappointing 2011 returns. The Eurekahedge Asia ex-Japan Hedge Fund Index gained 11.5% in 2012, falling slightly behind MSCI Asia ex-Japan’s 19.4% rise. However, it represents a huge improvement from 2011, when Asian hedge funds delivered an average loss of -12%.
Dyal Capital buys stake in multistrategy hedge fund manager Halcyon (PIOnline)
Halcyon Asset Management sold a 20% passive minority stake to Dyal Capital Partners. Halcyon’s four active partners — managing principals John M. Bader, Kevah Konner, Thomas B. Hirschfeld and Joseph W. Hill — said they will collectively invest more than 80% of the after-tax profits from the sale in the firm’s multistrategy hedge funds for a minimum of three years, according to a letter to Halcyon clients that was obtained by Pensions & Investments. “We are delighted at this opportunity to align our interests further with those of our clients,” the partners wrote in their letter.
New York Appeals Court Precludes Attempted End Run Around Morrison (Mondaq)
A New York appellate court recently issued a decision favorable to securities issuers whose shares trade on non-US exchanges. The court held that certain hedge fund plaintiffs – whose federal securities fraud claims earlier were dismissed pursuant to the US Supreme Court’s decision in Morrison – could not pursue a new state court suit that was based on nearly identical allegations as the original federal suit. The decision comes in Viking Global Equities, LP v. Porsche Automobil Holding SE, where the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, held that the hedge fund plaintiffs’ claims should be dismissed pursuant to forum non convenience doctrine because the claims were more appropriately resolved in Germany, where the dispute was centered.
New hedge fund bucks trend with fees cut (FT)
One of the UK’s fastest-growing hedge funds is slashing its fees, in a move that it hopes will spark a rethink of the industry’s notoriously high charges. The new Core Macro fund being set up by Cambridge-based Cantab Capital will employ similar trading strategies as funds from Man Group, Winton Capital and BlueCrest, three of the world’s biggest hedge funds that manage $100bn between them, but at half the cost to investors.
Morgan Creek’s Yusko out as CIO of Endowment Fund (Reuters)
Hedge fund investor Mark Yusko, who once headed the University of North Carolina’s endowment fund, has stepped down as investment chief of his $3.5 billion joint-venture Endowment Fund, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The Endowment Fund, which was designed to replicate how successful institutions like Yale University invest, was founded by Morgan Creek Capital, the investment firm Yusko founded in 2004, and Salient Partners, a Houston-based investment firm.
Yale May Buy More Hedge Fund Investments After Favoring Cash (FA-Mag)
Yale University, the second-wealthiest college, may increase its holdings of hedge funds after cutting them last year and shifting into cash, according to a report from the investments office run by David Swensen. Yale, whose $19.3 billion endowment is second in size only to Harvard University’s, may boost hedge fund investments to 18 percent of its portfolio after cutting them to 14.5 percent in the year that ended in June, according to the report posted to the investments office website. The university also increased its target for private equity and real estate holdings.
Ex-Citadel managing director’s structured credit hedge fund secures seed deal (HedgeFundsReview)
Continuum Investment Management expects to launch its maiden hedge fund on February 1 with close to $100 million in assets, including $85 million in seed capital from fund of hedge funds manager Grosvenor Capital Management. The fund will take a multi-strategy approach to investing in structured credit markets, focusing on pre-payment and credit-centric trades in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities (RMBS and CMBS) and other asset-backed securities.
Performance pushes hedge fund assets to record in 2012 (PIOnline)
Aggregate single and multistrategy hedge fund assets rose to a record $2.25 trillion as of Dec. 31, up 12.5% from a year earlier, according to year-end analysis from Hedge Fund Research. The net growth of hedge fund assets was driven to a huge extent by performance gains, which totaled $209.9 billion across all strategy categories in the year ended Dec. 31. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite index returned 6.22% in the 12 months ended Dec. 31.
In Insider Trading, Carl Icahn Buys $100 Million in CVR Refining (MinyanVille)
In a victory for common sense, the trading behavior of company executives, directors, and large shareholders in the stocks of firms they’re registered “insiders” at have been proven profitable to monitor by both academic studies and (more importantly) the experience of your fellow professional investors. …In insider purchases, Carl Icahn, the 21st richest man in America and a Director of CVR Refining LP (NYSE:CVRR), bought $100,000,000 worth of company stock. CVR Refining, of which Icahn holds a majority stake, had an IPO last Thursday worth about $600 million. Also at CVR, Director Vincent Intrieri bought $500,000 worth of company stock. Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) bought $4,720,319 worth of kidney-treatment company DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA). Berkshire is the majority share holder of the company. Perceptive Advisors, a Beneficiary Owner of biopharmaceutical company Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEGR), bought $1,336,285 worth of company stock.
Renowned Economist Dr. Nouriel Roubini to Provide Keynote Address at the Philippine Investment Summit 2013 (Sys-Con)
Dr. Nouriel Roubin, co-founder and chairman of Roubini Global Economics and a professor of economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business, will be giving the keynote speech on 30 January 2013 at the Shangri-La, Manila to an audience of bankers, fund managers, institutional investors and business leaders. Dr. Roubini, a former senior economist for international affairs on the White House Council of Economic Advisors and senior advisor to the undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department, is well sought after for his global economic insights and prescient calls on market trends for which subsequent events have mostly proven him right.
Galena Energy Hedge Fund Chief Lixi Said to Leave Company (Bloomberg)
Claude Lixi, the head of Galena Asset Management Ltd.’s energy hedge fund, left the London-based company, according to two people with direct knowledge of the departure. The people didn’t say whether he resigned or was fired, and asked not to be identified because the information is private. Lixi, 40, who was based in Geneva, declined to comment when contacted yesterday on his mobile phone. Duncan Letchford, the company’s chief investment officer in London, didn’t return a message left with his secretary yesterday. Lixi joined Galena, owned by Trafigura Beheer BV, in May 2009 from Morgan Stanley, where he traded oil options.
Former BlueGold hedge fund manager Andurand plans new oil fund (Reuters)
Pierre Andurand, manager of the oil-focused BlueGold hedge fund that closed after heavy losses last year, plans to launch a new energy hedge fund in London by next month. The firm, Andurand Capital Management LLP, opened in central London’s Brompton Road in July. BlueGold wound up in April after losing a third of its capital in 2011. “The new hedge fund will be launched in February. I can’t say more than that for now,” a source at Andurand Capital told Reuters.
J.P. Morgan’s Dimon Apologizes, Goes on Offense (WSJ)
James Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase was prepared in Davos to apologize for the more than $6 billion of trading losses racked up by the so-called London Whale, but he certainly wasn’t prepared to abase himself. As the head of a big bank who was in charge during the financial crisis and was at the first major session of the World Economic Forum on the global financial industry, he was an easy target. Min Zhu, deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, reeled off a string of statistics to show that the industry certainly hadn’t cleaned up its act since the crisis, and Paul Singer, principal of hedge fund Elliott Associates, was also keen to lambaste big banks, including Mr. Dimon’s.
ALERT: The Infamous Paul Tudor Jones ‘Trader’ Documentary Is Online Again (BusinessInsider)
Months ago, the infamous Paul Tudor Jones ‘Trader’ documentary resurfaced, only to disappear back into the depths internet again. So if you missed it then, grab it now from dailymotion before it’s too late — last time it was only up for about a day. All the drama stems from the fact that PTJ does not like this movie. He asked PBS to stop airing after it premiered in 1987. He also, according to Wall Street lore, purchased almost all of the copies of the movie on VHS.
