Why Hedge Fund Managers Should Never Buy Sports Teams (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
The hedge fund sports owner hex strikes again. The latest victim: Harbinger Capital Partners’ Philip Falcone. Last week the minority owner of the Minnesota Wild ice hockey team agreed to settle civil charges with regulators, which will result in the Minnesota native winding down his hedge funds. Falcone thus becomes at least the third hedge fund manager in the past few weeks who either owns or has made a bid to buy a professional sports team who has suffered a big setback in his day job. He joins Jeffrey Vinik of Vinik Asset Management, who recently announced he is shutting his hedge funds to devote his time to running the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team, and Valiant Capital Management’s Christopher Hansen, whose losing streak at his hedge fund roughly tracks his negotiations to buy the Sacramento Kings basketball team.
Soros Vet Dai Adds DH & YZ Execs. To New Hedge Fund (Finalternatives)
Former Soros Fund Management trader Jixin Dai has begun staffing his planned new Hong Kong hedge fund. Tian Fund Management features Ye Qingjun and Zhang Yongjun as directors, alongside Dai, the South China Morning Post reports. Ye is the former chairman of DH & YZ Capital, where Zhang was chief investment officer. Dai left Soros last year after the firm returned outside capital. He founder Tian in Hong Kong, where he helped set up Soros’ office, in January.
Hillhouse spin-out Brilliance Capital creates buzz in Asia (HedgeFundIntelligence)
In what is one of the most talked-about new Asian hedge fund launches this year, former Hillhouse Capital director Shi Lin is looking to debut a China-focused equity long/short fund by the end of May or early June under the Brilliance Capital moniker. The new Beijing-based fund is creating waves due to the manager’s credentials and by virtue of being the first spin-out from the legendary $7.5 billion China-based Asian hedge fund shop Hillhouse Capital. Brilliance is understood to have already garnered $30…
Iceland Gets Tough With Foreign Creditors of Failed Banks (BusinessWeek)
Iceland is a Nordic free-market democracy with glacier-covered volcanoes and hyperactive geysers. If you’re into mind-bendingly complex song lyrics, there’s Björk and Sigur Rós. In the rarefied world of global finance, Iceland is also where local pols and central bankers trample on the interests of bondholders like a herd of marauding reindeer. At least that’s the perspective of foreign bondholders and distressed asset hedge funds hoping to recoup their investments in three Icelandic lenders—Landsbanki Islands, Glitnir Bank, and Kaupthing Bank—that defaulted on $85 billion in debts in 2008.
Hess bails on chairman job (NYPost)
Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES) agreed to split the chairman and CEO roles yesterday, caving to pressure from billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer. Yesterday, the Texas oil and gas giant said Chairman and CEO John Hess would relinquish his chairmanship following the company’s annual meeting set for Thursday in Houston. Hess, the son of the company’s founder and former owner of the New York Jets, Leon Hess, has held both roles since 1995. The company said that the chairmanship will go to John Krenicki, a former vice chairman of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), if he is elected to the board next week.
