Say What!? Pickens’ Newlywed Bliss, Einhorn’s Casino Blues (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Globally the entire world thinks the governments have their back in asset markets. Generally speaking when everybody thinks something, you might want to take a few chips off the table and say maybe that’ s not going to work out so that everybody’s going to get rich. But I could be wrong.” James Chanos of Kynikos Capital on why he thinks asset prices are in a bubble. Alpha reported this week that Chanos’ long-short strategy has lost money in the bull market. (via CNBC) “So I have a casino and I want to start a poker game in the casino, so I get three card sharks and I tell them, go sit there and start the game. Make it look like a good game’s going on. There are no 4s, 9s, there are no queens in the deck…
Hedge funds’ leveraged bets on market rally to magnify sell-offs (Reuters)
Hedge funds are borrowing record amounts of money to fund bets that stock markets will continue rising, creating conditions that could accelerate price falls if those leveraged positions are hurriedly closed. Although global equities look set to advance for the remainder of the year, nervousness about the strength of China’s economy and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s plans to scale back its stimulus programme could mean a rocky ride for markets.
Hedge Fund Merger: Investcorp and Eyck Capital Management (HedgeCo)
Investcorp’s US based hedge fund business is teaming up with UK manager Eyck Capital Management LLP to offer its investors’ access to a specialized event-driven and distressed credit strategy spanning the European opportunity set. The London-based investment manager led by Khing Oei, is the latest asset manager backed by Investcorp, which has more than $11 billion in client and proprietary assets under management. Historically, Investcorp provides initial seed and acceleration capital ranging from $50 to $100 million.
Lampert’s Sears Still Has Turnaround Options (TheStreet)
Though recent media reports have cast Edward Lampert‘s decision to back off from holding Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD) commercial paper as a bad sign for the department store retailer, its financials counsel against immediate panic. And Lampert, who engineered the merger of Sears with Kmart in 2005 and has been CEO for a little over a year, continues to be in it for the long term, according to people familiar with his thinking. Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Partners, has been steadily dropping its holdings in Sears commercial paper over the past year. The latest pullback was from $140 million in November, to nothing currently, according to regulatory filings. The company still has $9 million in short-term debt, filings show.
Why hedge fund manager is bullish on jobs report (USAToday)
One hedge fund manager is bullish on the U.S. jobs market. “The monthly employment report shows us what good old-fashioned, bread-and-butter job creation is about: Higher consumer demand equates to job growth,” says Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at hedge fund LandColt Capital. Indeed, at first blush the stock market likes the March jobs report. The latest government reading on jobs saw a solid 192,000 non-farm jobs created last month (a tad lower than the 200,00 estimate) but also got a bump from upward revisions to the February jobs number (revised up 22,000 to 197,000) and January (revised up 15,000 to 144,000).
Third HFMWeek Award win for Legis Group (BusinessLife)
Legis Group was named ‘Best administrator – under $30bn Fund of Hedge Funds’ at the HFMWeek European Service Provider Awards 2014 last week (27 March). The awards, which were announced at a ceremony held at The Hurlingham Club in London, recognised companies that have outperformed their peer group and provided outstanding service and support to the European hedge fund industry over the past year. Hosted by Andy Zaltzman, the awards featured a number of categories and were judged by a panel of independent senior industry representatives who took into consideration financial progress, growth and genuine innovation across a number of different business areas to identify the eventual winners of each category.
Hedge funds meet the masses (CNBC)
