Royal Mail hedge fund tycoon Chris Hohn posts his divorce papers (Telegraph)
Now that Chris Hohn’s hedge fund has become the biggest private shareholder in Royal Mail, with £200million worth of shares, his estranged wife will, at least, know who to speak to if her cheque is lost in the post. Mandrake hears that the financier and his wife, Jamie Cooper-Hohn, have begun divorce proceedings. This column disclosed in June that the philanthropists’ marriage had hit the rocks. “It is very sad, but the marriage is over,” says a friend of the couple.
Sotheby’s and the $14bn hedge fund hawk struggle for control of art market (TheGuardian)
The seasonal display of the world’s wealthiest people bidding for art and driving up prices to record levels is being overshadowed by a backroom drama pitting the venerable British auctioneer Sothebys (NYSE:BID) against one of New York’s most aggressive investment managers. Dan Loeb, 51, art collector and chief executive of Third Point, a hedge fund sponsor with $14bn under management, is campaigning to unseat Sotheby’s long-serving chairman, president and chief executive, William Ruprecht. Loeb, who has a 9.3% stake in the 269-year-old British salesroom, claims it has failed to “grasp the central importance of contemporary and modern art to the company’s growth”.
Hedge fund heavyweight will chair Columbia U. fundraising dinner (NYPost)
Hedge fund heavyweight Paul Singer might seem an odd choice of a business titan to chair the annual Columbia University Knight-Bagehot gala fundraising dinner, which will be held Nov. 4 at the New York Marriott Marquis. Three years ago, Singer seemed more interested in thwarting the business press — which the fellowship is aimed at — than aiding it. Singer’s Elliott Management asked a Manhattan state judge in 2010 to force AR magazine — a publication covering hedge funds — to reveal the name of the person who leaked information about Elliott’s fund positions as laid out in a letter to investors.
For Westport hedge fund, Sandy wasn’t the “Big One” (CTPost)
For a couple of days last fall, after Superstorm Sandy had flooded much of the Connecticut coast, flattened dozens of homes and left several trees blocking the roads near John Seo’s home in Westport, the hedge fund manager was unable to go to work. That in itself wasn’t a problem. His office for Fermat Capital Management — located just off the Saugatuck River, which had flooded badly — had actually fared the storm quite well. Plus, he and his staff could work remotely from their respective homes. There was another reason why Seo, who’s about as prepared as anyone for natural disasters, had reason to worry.
Ex-UBS Bankers Breach, Hill Set Up Hedge Fund Gemsstock (Bloomberg)
Al Breach, former Russia strategist at UBS AG (ADR) (NYSE:UBS), is setting up a hedge-fund firm with ex-colleague Charles Hill and UFG Asset Management’s Florian Fenner. Breach is combining with Hill, former head of trading at UBS’s joint venture in Russia, and Fenner, managing partner at Russia’s UFG for the past 11 years, according to filings made this month at U.K.’s Companies House. Mayumi Yamaguchi, who previously worked at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) in sales before being employed at several hedge-fund firms, is also listed as a director, the filings show. The firm, Gemsstock Ltd., was incorporated in September.
Plaudits To Carl Icahn For Reigniting Apple’s Weary Stock (Forbes)
Say what you wish about Carl Icahn, but the activist investor has re-energized Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock that had been weary and droopy before he snapped up shares and urged management to start buying back a sizable portion of its own shares. By simply showing an interest in Apple, Icahn has seen its stock reverse gear. Before he came into the picture, Apple was trading below $400 a share. After buying shares in August, which Icahn has since boosted by 22% to 4.73 million shares, Apple took wing and closed on Oct. 25, 2013, at $525.96. Earlier that week, the stock had traded higher, at $531 a share.
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