Kynikos Associates Founder Chanos: We’re Still Short Caterpillar (CNBC)
Famed short-seller Jim Chanos said that the fundamental story for Caterpillar has not changed and that he is still betting against the company. “The collapse has not happened. The unwind has not happened. That’s ahead of us, not behind us,” the founder of Kynikos Associates said Wednesday in an interview with CNBC’s Scott Wapner on “Halftime Report.” While investors have seen Caterpillar as a way to invest in construction and growth in China, Chanos explained that the bubble in real estate and debt in the country hasn’t happened yet.
Loeb Reinsurer Cites Lesson of Failed Marriages in Shunning M&A (Bloomberg)
Third Point Reinsurance Ltd., co-founded by hedge-fund manager Dan Loeb, likened the risk of mergers and acquisitions to picking a spouse without being aware of how much can go wrong. “Just like marriage, in M&A the 20 percent that work are so beautiful it inspires us all” in the industry about the possible benefits of finding a partner, Chief Executive Officer John Berger said Wednesday at a conference. However, “50 percent of marriages end in divorce.” Third Point Re has resisted the temptation to pursue a deal as insurers have increasingly been seeking acquisitions or selling themselves to rivals in combinations that add scale and diversify risks. Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. acquired Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. last year and then agreed this month to sell itself to Japan’s Sompo Holdings Inc.
Steven Cohen May Return to Hedge Fund Industry When Ban Expires (The New York Times)
Steven A. Cohen, a billionaire investor barred from managing money for others, is one step closer to making his return to the hedge fund industry. Mr. Cohen, whose former hedge fund pleaded guilty to insider trading charges, has confirmed that a new investment firm he opened this year will probably begin raising money from outside investors in early 2018. “I think we’re leaning that way,” Mr. Cohen, 60, said in a recent interview at his office in Stamford, Conn. “But we haven’t made a final decision.” Mr. Cohen, considered by many to be one of the most successful stock traders of his generation, said he expected to make that decision in the next three to four months.
Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Peltz On Activism, The Election And Rate Hikes (CNBC)
Billionaire hedge fund manager Nelson Peltz shared his market views in an exclusive interview with CNBC’s Scott Wapner on Wednesday. Peltz is chief executive officer of Trian Fund Management. The firm manages more than $10 billion, according to its website. On the market environment, “Things are not as nearly as bad [as people think] … there is huge opportunity on the cost side [in corporations],” he said. On activists’ bad name: “Activist has become somewhat of a dirty word … [funds will] behave like highly engaged shareholders as opposed to what the cartoonish meaning of the word activist means,” Peltz said.
