Hedge Fund Legend Joel Greenblatt – Writing A Bigger Book (GuruFocus)
Every year, when Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) kicks off his value and special-situation investing class at Columbia Business School, he makes his students a guarantee. “If they are good at valuing businesses, the market will agree with them, typically within two or three years,” says Greenblatt, who has been an adjunct professor since 1996. While he can’t make any such guarantees to investors, his track record lends validity to this thesis. Using an über-concentrated deep-value approach, the hedge fund he founded in 1985 produced 34% average annual gains, after fees and expenses, for the first decade…
Could the Knicks Be an Activist Play at Madison Square Garden? (WSJ)
Could an activist investor score a sale of the New York Knicks? Hedge fund JAT Capital Management LP filed an activist position in The Madison Square Garden Co (NASDAQ:MSG) +1.64% with the SEC late on Friday night, disclosing it owns a 6.7% stake in the Class A shares. That would be enough to make them a top 3 player in the stock, according to FactSet. JAT, which has never filed an activist position before and therefore isn’t likely to fight a public campaign, doesn’t give any hint at what its thesis is or what it would seek…
Hedge fund crude bets tumble amid surging global supply (LiveMint)
Speculators are the least bullish on the US crude oil prices in 16 months as refinery maintenance weakens demand at a time when Libya and Iraq are swelling global supplies. Futures dropped a fifth consecutive week after money managers reduced net-long positions in West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark grade, by 14% in the seven days ended 19 August, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said. Prices sank below $95 on 19 August for the first time in seven months as US air strikes in Iraq helped reverse the advance of Islamic State militants and Kurds work to increase oil shipments.
Accounting Firms Profit From Hedge-Fund Regulation (Finalternatives)
New international hedge fund regulations are proving a headache for the industry—but a boon for accounting firms. The so-called “Big Four” accountancies are ramping up their offerings to hedge funds, helping them navigate complex new rules and regulations on both sides of the Atlantic. In particular, the European Union’s new Alternative Investment Fund Managers’ Directive is driving hedge-fund managers to seek more advice from accountants—and driving those accountants to bolster their hedge-fund teams and services.
UBS Hedge-Fund Distribution Exec. Promoted (Finalternatives)
UBS Wealth Management has placed a hedge-fund distribution specialist at the helm of its whole Asia-Pacific distribution effort. Paul Stefansson was named head of investment fund distribution for the region, Citywire Asia reports. He succeeds René Buehlmann, who was named Asia head of UBS Global Asset Management last month. Stefanson had been a managing director for investment and hedge fund distribution at the firm, which he joined in 2006. He will remain based in Singapore in his new role.
