Must-have accessory for House candidates in 2014: The personalized super PAC (WashingtonPost)
Daniel Innis, a former business school dean running a long-shot campaign for the House in New Hampshire, faced a big financial disadvantage until a wealthy friend put hundreds of thousands of dollars into a super PAC backing his candidacy. A similar assist from a billionaire hedge fund chief helped New York state Sen. Lee Zeldin secure the GOP nomination for a Long Island congressional seat. Both men hit upon the must-have ingredient in this year’s midterm elections: Along with a driven campaign manager and sophisticated social media strategy, candidates need a rich friend or relative.
Highfields Capital’s Chief Risk Officer Resigns (WSJ)
The chief risk officer at $13 billion hedge-fund firm Highfields Capital Management LP has resigned to be a co-founder of ex-SAC Capital Advisors LP executive Solomon Kumin’s new hedge fund, according to people familiar with the matter. Todd Rapp, 39, will be co-founder and partner at Mr. Kumin’s still-unnamed firm, the people said. He had been at Highfields since 2012, the people said. Mr. Kumin was SAC’s chief operating officer until earlier this year. Highfields notified investors earlier this week that Mr. Rapp would leave at the end of July, an investor said…
Third Point’s Loeb takes stakes in Fibra Uno, YPF, Royal DSM (Reuters)
Daniel Loeb, head of hedge fund firm Third Point LLC, said in his quarterly investor letter dated Friday that he expects market volatility to continue and that he is optimistic on Argentina. Loeb, an activist investor, said Argentina is likely to reach an agreement with its holdout creditors by yearend and that his $14 billion firm has taken a stake in Argentine oil company YPF SA, in addition to stakes in Mexican REIT Fibra Uno and in Dutch life sciences company Royal DSM. Loeb said an agreement between Argentina and its holdout creditors would “undoubtedly benefit the Argentinian economy”.
Icahn: Too many companies run by ‘morons’ (Yahoo)
Carl Icahn defended the role of activist investors like him, saying that companies are being run by “morons” who need oversight. “I do love this country. I’m not so sure I love a lot of the people, but I love the country. From my point of view, we’re going to lose this because…the problem you have is the wrong side is running these companies,” he said at the Delivering Alpha conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor. “We’re going to have morons running the companies soon, and we’re almost there. It’s amazing how bad these companies are and the boards are when we get in them,”
SEC investigating hedge funds in House committee insider-trading probe (PIOnline)
Some of the country’s largest hedge funds are being investigated by the SEC as part of an insider-trading probe, court documents filed by the agency in U.S. District Court in New York late Wednesday show. Securities and Exchange Commission officials are investigating staff members of the House Ways and Means Committee for their role in possible insider trading during a change in federal health-care policy that led to share price increases in several health insurers.
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