Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Agrium Inc. (NYSE:AGU), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Skechers USA Inc (NYSE:SKX), Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)
Germany’s economy will probably be in a recession by elections scheduled for the end of September because monetary policy officials in the euro area aren’t providing the necessary stimulus, said billionaire investor George Soros. “Germany itself remains relatively unaffected by the deepening depression that is enveloping the eurozone,” Soros said in a speech at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University in Frankfurt. “I expect, however, that by the time of the elections, Germany will also be in recession.”
MIK Fund Solutions & PortfolioScience Collaborate: High-Performance Risk Analysis via MIK (PRNewsWire)
MIK Fund solutions, a leading provider of data aggregation and reporting software for asset managers and PortfolioScience, a provider of on-demand risk management systems for hedge funds and hedge fund service providers, today announced the integration of PortfolioScience’s RiskAPI platform into the MIK Data Warehouse solution. The completed integration enables hedge funds that utilize MIK’s data warehouse to access a full suite of multi-asset risk analysis capabilities, seamlessly embedded within a fully flexible, multi-feature data warehouse. The collaboration with PortfolioScience allows clients of MIK to generate highly customizable and fully integrated suite of risk calculations such as: multi-model Value-at-Risk (“VaR”), multi-dimensional stress testing, exposure analysis, and option analytics. All calculations are available across funds, portfolios, sub-portfolios, and individual positions.
Aurelius Capital Management LP Offers Financing Cash to Clearwire (IVCPost)
The hedge fund Aurelius Capital Management LP had offered US$80 million in financing last Tuesday to Clearwire Corp, This is the alternative offered to the wireless service provider from the convertible financing offered by its majority shareholder Sprint Nextel. Sprint Nextel is trying to acquire the rest of Clearwire and has instituted a loan package financing for shareholdings swap with the company. This move by the hedge fund is the latest chapter of in the Clearwire saga which involves purchase of 49% of the shares that the company does not own by Sprint.
New York hedge fund snaps up ex-BlackRock rates chief (CityWire)
Hedge fund specialist Mariner Investment Group has announced the hire of BlackRock’s former head of global rates investments Eric Pellicciaro. The fixed income specialist joins the New York-based outfit in a fund management role and has been handed a global macro portfolio, called the Alarium Mariner Global Macro fund. Pellicciaro left the US giant in December last year, his departure coinciding with Euro Stars AAA-rated manager Matthew Marra ceasing active managements, and saw Pellicciaro relinquish roles on both the BGF US Dollar Core Bond and BGF US Government Mortgage funds.
Activist hedge fund Jana Partners fails to gain seats in Agrium (Opalesque)
U.S. activist hedge fund Jana Partners suffered defeat Tuesday despite early confidence of a victory after it failed to gain two board seats in Canadian agricultural supplies company, Agrium Inc. (NYSE:AGU). According to a report by the Financial Times, it was a rare defeat for the $4.5bn hedge fund firm run by Barry Rosenstein. Jana’s Rosenstein accused Agrium of changing the rules that resulted to his defeat. He was quoted as saying, “We have learnt however that after the vote deadline, enough votes for us were apparently revoked to change the outcome.”
Longboard Asset Management grows managed futures fund, sees opportunities in currencies (Opalesque)
Liquid alternatives are one of the fastest growing sectors of the alternative investment space. They offer fee conscious, risk averse investors a means of access to hedging strategies and hedge fund managers without all the fuss of actually investing in hedge funds. Many of these products offer a strategy-lite version of common hedge fund strategies like long/short equity, within a mutual fund structure. As Opalesque has reported, putting managed futures strategies in to a mutual fund structure is also gaining traction with both managers and investors.
Google Inc (GOOG), Broadcom Corporation (BRCM): To Call This Fund a ‘Tech Bull’ Would Be Saying it Lightly (InsiderMonkey)
Empire Capital Management, run by Scott Fine and Peter Richards, invests heavily in the technology sector, with more than three-quarters of the entire value of the fund’s equity portfolio in tech stocks. This strategy seems to be paying off nicely for the duo’s 13F-reportable assets, as it has grown in value by roughly 15% since the third quarter of 2012. In addition, all of the top five holdings in Empire’s equity portfolio are from the technology sector. At number two is Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), a new addition to the Empire equity portfolio, with 77,911 shares—a $55 million value. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been very active lately, following the release of the Samsung Galaxy and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s Home, both of which use Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Android as their operating system…
