George Soros joins Ready for Hillary national finance council (WashingtonPost)
George Soros, the billionaire investor, philanthropist and backer of liberal causes, has signed on to be a co-chair of the national finance council for Ready for Hillary, the super PAC mobilizing support for a possible White House bid by Hillary Rodham Clinton. “George Soros is delighted to join more than one million Americans in supporting Ready for Hillary,” Michael Vachon, Soros’s political director, said in a statement. “His support for Ready for Hillary is an extension of his long-held belief in the power of grassroots organizing.”
Barclays must return $297m in dispute with hedge fund (HereIsTheCity)
Barclays breached a derivative agreement with a Black Diamond Capital Management unit and must return an estimated $297m in collateral to the hedge fund, a divided New York state appeals court ruled on Thursday. Reuters reports that the Connecticut-based fund’s BDC Finance LLC filed a lawsuit against the bank in 2008, claiming Barclays had defaulted on a $40m collateral call made at the height of the financial crisis. Barclays disagreed with that amount, asserting that it owed only $5m, which it remitted to Black Diamond two days after the call was made. Black Diamond then declared Barclays in default.
Top hedge fund is poaching talent (HereIsTheCity)
David Stemerman’s fast growing hedge fund firm, Greenwich,Conn.-based Conatus Capital Management, has poached talent from other leading investment managers in the last few months. Among the firm’s major targets are top hedge funds SAC Capital Advisors and GLG Partners and private equity shop Thomas H. Lee Partners, according to an investor letter obtained by CNBC.com. Dave Tompkins was hired recently as a senior consumer analystat the equity-focused hedge fund. He was most recently a portfolio manager at SAC unit CR Intrinsic and had previously worked as consumer sector co-head at Shumway Capital and as a senior consumer analyst at Tudor Investment Corp.
Kate Middleton Goes Sexy in Jenny Packham for Hedge Fund Gala (Fashionista)
Kate Middleton can’t wear mom jeans every day. Proving the ultimate clotheshorse chameleon (a newly discovered hybrid in the deep Amazonian jungle), the Duchess showed up tonight at the 100 Women In Hedge Funds Gala dinner in London in a dress that was a far cry from the demure, cream-colored McQueen she donned for baby George’s Royal Christening. Instead, she picked a clavicle-baring, deep navy, silk tulle gown by her go-to designer Jenny Packham, according to Grazia. And forget about that matronly pillbox hat–Middleton let her hair down, long and in loose curls, for the evening. Girl looked good.
Hedge fund boss says wife violated pre-nup (NYPost)
Dallas hedge-fund mogul James Dondero did a Texas two-step on Thursday in his closely watched divorce trial, The Post has learned. Dondero, 49, the co-founder and president of the $18 billion asset manager Highland Capital Management, locked in a bitter two-year divorce court battle with his wife, Rebecca, claims the pre-nup should be ripped up because she violated its terms by asking for more than the $5 million maximum pre-nup payout. Dondero and his lawyers are trying to persuade a Dallas state court jury at a trial this week that his 33-year-old wife, known as Becky, breached the pre-nuptial agreement. A decision is expected Friday.
