Hedge Fund News: Edward Lampert, Andrew Manuel, Och-Ziff Capital

Sears Is Borrowing Money from Its CEO (Again) (The Wall Street Journal)
Sears Holdings said Thursday that it would accept $300 million in debt financing from Edward Lampert’s hedge fund, the latest instance of the company’s chief pumping money into the struggling retailer. ESL Investments Inc. controls about half of the shares of Sears, which reported a quarterly loss on Thursday. Mr. Lampert’s fund has repeatedly stepped in over the past few years to loan the company money. Such moves underscore the unique nature of the relationship between Sears and Mr. Lampert, who serves as the company’s chairman and CEO. The latest $300 million is secured by a junior lien against the company’s inventory, receivables, and other working capital.

LMR Partners Co-Founder Manuel Said to Plan Own Macro Hedge Fund (Bloomberg)
Andrew Manuel, a co-founder of the $2.5 billion hedge-fund firm LMR Partners LLP, is preparing to start his own global macro hedge fund with two partners later this year, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Manuel left LMR in 2015 and is setting up Ixworth Capital LLP in London, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader will be joined by former LMR colleague Sebastien Di Meo, who most recently worked at Symmetry Investments, and Jonathan Ridgway, who used to work for Barclays Plc, the people said. Manuel declined to comment.

Another Nail in the 2-and-20 Coffin (BloombergGadfly)
Hey, look, another hedge fund is throwing a sale! Och-Ziff Capital Management Group is trimming the management fees on some of its main funds — which range from 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent of assets annually — by 25 basis points, as Sabrina Willmer and Saijel Kishan reported this week. No business likes to reduce prices, whether it’s selling alpha or alfalfa. But once one of the big operators does it, it’s hard for everyone else to resist following suit. It was one thing when Tudor Investments trimmed fees last month to 2.25 percent of assets and 25 percent of profits, down from 2.75 percent and 27 percent. That’s like Harry Winston cutting prices on diamonds — the folks at Zales probably won’t get too worried.