Hedge Fund Billionaire Izzy Englander Paid A Record $71 Million For His Palatial Duplex (BusinessInsider)
Izzy Englander and his palatial new duplex. It’s official: Hedge-fund billionaire Israel “Izzy” Englander paid a record $71.3 million for a duplex apartment at New York’s swanky 740 Park Ave., according to Bloomberg. That’s the highest price ever paid for a New York City co-op. The billionaire purchased the apartment from the country of France, which was once used by the French ambassador, for a whopping $23 million over the asking price. A three-way bidding war pushed up the apartment’s price, Curbed reported when the sale was first announced.
How A Dinner At A Billionaire’s House Led To A Massive Hire For A Startup That’s Trying To Make Eggs Obsolete (BusinessInsider)
A little less than a year ago, Josh Tetrick was at a dinner in the home of billionaire hedge fund manager Tom Steyer. Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor, were hosting the dinner for a non-profit that was trying to raise money. Tetrick is the founder of Hampton Creek, a San Francisco startup that’s exploring plant species to create alternatives to eggs. It currently sells an egg-less mayo, egg-less cookie dough, and it’s working on egg-less scrambled eggs.
Hedge Fund Blames High-Frequency Trading for Shutdown (WSJ)
A hedge-fund manager is blaming an unusual culprit for his firm’s demise: high-frequency traders. Rinehart Capital Partners LLC, which had been backed by hedge-fund veteran Lee Ainslie and specialized in emerging-markets stock-picking, is closing, according to a letter viewed by The Wall Street Journal. In the letter, Rinehart founder Andrew Cunagin aligned himself with those who have been critical of the rise of fast-moving traders.
Loeb’s Reinsurer Slumps as Hedge-Fund Investors Gain (Bloomberg)
Dan Loeb’s foray into the reinsurance industry is proving to be more volatile for investors than his hedge-fund returns. Third Point Reinsurance Ltd (NYSE:TPRE), a Bermuda-based firm that relies on the billionaire money manager to oversee its assets, rallied about 50 percent last year after its initial public offering. Since peaking on Dec. 20, shares have slid 17 percent. Loeb’s main hedge fund, in contrast, returned 6.4 percent this year through August after gaining 25 percent in 2013.
Why You Should Consider Investing in CGI Group Inc. for Capital Growth (Fool)
In 2013, CGI Group Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GIB) was in the news for all the wrong reasons. The Obamacare fiasco put the company in the middle of a heated debate with our neighbors in the south. Add to that the negative press of hedge fund investor Jim Chanos announcing his short position, and we can begin to understand why the stock is only up 12% so far this year. Aside from that negative press, the underlying business is getting stronger and here are a couple of reasons why I like the company.
Cramer: World dreams of Apple’s balance sheet (CNBC)
For Hedge Fund Whistleblower, Waiting Was the Hardest Part (WSJ)
When Frank Harrison decided in 2009 to go to the Federal Bureau of Investigation with allegations of fraud at hedge fund New Stream Capital LLC, he wasn’t prepared for one of the most nerve-wrecking aspects of being an informant—a long wait with little inkling of action being taken. Whistleblowers have become an increasingly important part of the U.S. government’s white-collar crime enforcement efforts and the 2010 Dodd-Frank law introduced new incentives to come forward with information…
Blackstone Hiring Hedge Fund Veterans For New Fund (HedgeCo)
Hedge fund investor The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX) is now hiring top hedge fund talent for the launch of Blackstone Senfina Advisors LLC, a new hedge fund that will will have to up to 30 teams of seasoned investors with $100 million each to play with, making “make big, bold bets”, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. Blackstone Senfina Advisors LLC will invest in private equity, real estate, credit and hedge funds, Blackstone currently has $272 billion in assets for public and corporate pension funds, academic, cultural and charitable organizations. Blackstone already manages $58.3 billion in assets at its BAAM hedge funds solution division.
3 more sentenced in $40 million ‘Black Diamond’ investment fraud (CharlotteObserver)
A federal judge in Charlotte this week sent three more financiers to prison, all linked to a massive Ponzi scheme that devoured life savings across western North Carolina. Chad Sloat, Michael Murphy and Jeffrey Toft were hedge fund managers for the $40 million “Black Diamond” investment fraud, which prosecutors said attracted 400 victims. Almost a fourth of those were 75 or older. The mastermind, Keith Simmons of Ashe County, was sentenced in 2012 to 50 years in prison and ordered to pay $35 million in restitution for what prosecutors described at the time as the worst financial crime in memory for this part of the state.
DAVID TEPPER: ‘It’s The Beginning Of The End Of The Bond Market Rally’ (BusinessInsider)
David Tepper says the bond rally is over. Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Tepper said, “It’s the beginning of the end of the bond market rally. We are done.” Tepper, the founder of $20 billion hedge fund Appaloosa Management, made these comments following the ECB’s interest rate cuts – and asset purchase program – announced earlier this morning. After starting 2014 at around 3%, the yield on the ten-year fell to less than 2.4% during the summer and is currently trading near 2.45%.
This Former Hedge-Funder Guarantees He Can Get Your Kid Into An Ivy League School (BusinessInsider)
This week’s Bloomberg Businessweek cover story profiles Steven Ma, a 36-year-old former hedge fund analyst who is making millions guaranteeing families that he can get their children into a top college – or their money back. Ma is the founder of ThinkTank Learning, described by Bloomberg reporter Peter Waldman as “a chain of San Francisco Bay Area tutoring centers that operate out of strip malls.” As long as an applicant can reach a certain GPA and SAT score – and the family pays tens of thousands of dollars – Ma guarantees his almost entirely Asian immigrant clientele admission to one of the best colleges in the country.
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