Starboard Succeeds in Replacing Entire Darden Board (WSJ)
Starboard Value LP succeeded in replacing the entire board of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) +0.18% according to a preliminary count of the vote of shareholders, the company said Friday. The New York hedge fund, which owns 8.8% of Darden and is the company’s second-biggest shareholder, will have two of its own partners on the board along with 10 other directors it nominated. The new board has several restaurant-industry veterans, including Bradley Blum, who was previously president of Olive Garden. Starboard Chief Executive Jeffrey Smith, who is one of the hedge fund’s two representatives on the board, said in a statement that the new board is “excited” to get to work.
Northern Trust provides hedge fund administration to BlueHive Capital (HedgeWeek)
As part of the broad mandate, Northern Trust will also provide depositary services. “We selected Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services for its industry-leading technology and commitment to transparency,” says Sebastien Boucher, chief investment officer and founder of BlueHive Capital. “Whether it’s providing more transparency to investors or complying with regulatory requirements, the demand for data is growing and Northern Trust’s innovative technology solutions help us to meet those demands.” Based in Paris, BlueHive Capital was launched by former Natixis CIB’s global alpha team…
Third Point Among Biggest DSM Owners, Pushes Nutrition (BusinessWeek)
U.S. activist investor Third Point LLC, which has asked Dutch chemical maker Royal DSM NV (DSM) to focus on nutritional additives, is now the company’s third-biggest shareholder. The New York-based hedge fund, which helped push The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) in the U.S. to divest assets, now owns a 3.004 percent stake, according to a regulatory filing last week. While DSM has resisted shareholder calls to divest its 4.3 billion-euro ($5.5 billion) legacy plastics and chemicals units, the company has in recent weeks advanced efforts to sell part of them, according to people familiar with the matter.
Finisterre Hires Barclays Vet As Credit Research Chief (Finalternatives)
Finisterre Capital has named its first head of credit research, bolstering its capabilities in fixed-income. The London-based hedge fund named Christopher Buck to fill the role. Buck joins the US$2.6 billion firm from Barclays Capital, where he was head of Latin America corporate credit research. “The institutional inflows over the last year have emphasized our ability to deliver alpha for our clients in a format that meets their needs,” Finisterre co-founder Paul Crean said. “During this period, we have been consistently looking to expand our team.”
Computer-Driven Programs Reboot in Choppy Market (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
It looks like this year’s commodity trading adviser rally is for real, as 2014 is shaping up to be the best year for computer-driven hedge funds since 2008. Most of these funds, which are the computer-driven siblings of human-driven macro funds, extended their gains in September and are easily beating the equity indexes, underscoring once again that CTAs are not closely correlated with the stock market. Of course, this has been a bitter reality since the stock market’s rally began in March 2009, as many CTAs and trend followers have generated one or more losing years.
