Bill Ackman’s admirable and refreshing antics (SDDT)
The word on Wall Street is that Bill Ackman, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, has jumped the shark. Between a $500 million loss on an almost $1 billion investment in J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP), and more than $300 million in losses on a billion-dollar-plus short position in Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF), Ackman has wigged out, the whisperers say. His hedge-fund brethren are all too eager to proclaim Ackman and Pershing Square Capital Management LP, the hedge fund he runs, a finished piece of business, torn asunder by his unique brand of arrogance, hubris and bull-headedness.
Here’s What Billionaire Value Hunter Carl Icahn Is Buying (DailyFinance)
Every quarter, many money managers have to disclose what they’ve bought and sold, via “13F” filings. Their latest moves can shine a bright light on smart stock picks. Today let’s look at investing giant Carl Icahn, who has made billions, partly by taking large positions in companies and pushing for change in them. These companies have included Texaco, RJR Nabisco, and Imclone. He’s also drawn to companies in or near bankruptcy, wanting to make them more valuable in order to sell them at a higher price.
Nouriel Roubini told to remove hot tub from roof of Manhattan penthouse (Telegraph)
Mr Roubini, a senior economic adviser to Bill Clinton, reportedly bought the loft apartment in 2010 for $5.5 million (£3.5m) and installed a hot tub, deck and party room with a bar on the roof. However, he did not seek approval from the Department of Buildings, which – after a complaint in February – has now ordered him to remove the additions to his terrace. “The roof is approved for use as a terrace according to the building’s certificate of occupancy,” said Kelly Magee, spokeswoman for the department.
Everything Alternative Investors Never Thought to Ask (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Last month, in a New Yorker story explaining how the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act will lift the 80-year ban on marketing private investment funds, Timothy Spangler, a lawyer, professor and blogger, compared alternative funds — and/or the people to run them — to creatures that suck blood and hide from daylight. “By including hedge funds and private-equity funds as beneficiaries of the JOBS Act, Obama has signaled that you have less to fear from a vampire if you can actually see him,” he wrote.
Man Versus Machine: How Humans Trumped Computers in August (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Humans clearly outperformed computers during August’s market swoon. A sampling of hedge funds that have already reported results for the most recent month indicate that long-short equity funds, macro funds and multistrategy funds that rely on good old-fashioned fundamental research — and people to pull the trigger on investment decisions — did a very good job of preserving their investors’ capital. In other words, these hedge funds behaved like hedge funds.
End of Ban on Hedge Fund Advertising Likely to Increase Demand from Self-Directed IRA & Solo 401(k) Plan Investors, According to IRA Financial Group Attorney (PRWeb)
IRA Financial Group, the leading facilitator of self-directed IRA LLC & Solo 401(k) plan solutions is expecting an increase in interest from its self directed IRA LLC and Solo 401(k) Plan in hedge fund investments due to the end of the eight year ban on advertising. According to Adam Bergman, an in-house tax attorney with the IRA Financial Group, the hedge fund advertising ban will likely help clarify the strategies used by hedge-fund managers and help explain some of the potential benefits of using retirement funds to make hedge fund investments.”
