A streak of grown-up Tiger cubs are reuniting to honor their elder statesman. Julian Robertson turned 80 in June, but a major birthday party is being thrown in his honor this Saturday night at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan. According to an invitation sent to guests, the soiree is being hosted by Tiger Management alumni John Griffin of Blue Ridge Capital (with wife Amy); Chase Coleman of Tiger Global Management (with wife Stephanie); and Robertson’s sons Alex of Tiger Management, Jay and Spencer (with wives Alexandra, Claire and Sarah, respectively).
Ex-Intel man gets probation in Raj Rajaratnam case (TechEYE)
An ex-Intel executive who was involved in a major securities fraud and conspiracy investigation has been sentenced in New York. Rajiv Goel was given probation, fined $10,000 and told to forfeit $266,000 for his part in assisting Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of hedge fund management group Galleon, to commit a series of frauds. He was accused of giving the Galleon founder confidential information about Intel, including the company’s investments, in a bid to help him gain money from mergers and share prices. Upon sentencing Goel apologised to Judge Barbara Jones and said he was “deeply ashamed”. He was given brief respite with the courts crediting him for his cooperation in the case, which spanned for months.
US economy out of ‘intensive care’: Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio (IndiaTribune)
Hedge fund titan Ray Dalio said the US economy had come out of the “intensive care unit,” but he warned against any quick move to “austerity” budget measures. “We were in the intensive care unit,” Dalio, who runs the $120 billion hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, told more than 200 guests at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York on September 12. “We are largely healed and largely operating in a manner that is sustainable if we don’t hit an air pocket.”
Nordic hedge fund managers see risk reward opportunities in Eastern Europe and Iceland (Opalesque)
Nordic-focused hedge fund managers believe that the markets of Eastern Europe and Iceland offer a wide range of risk reward opportunities and that the region is on its way to complete recovery after the 2008 global financial crisis. Speaking as one of the participants in the latest Nordic Opalesque Roundtable, Carl Meurling CEO and one of the Founders of EME Partners, investing in long/short equity strategies in Eastern Europe including Russia and Turkey, described the Eastern European markets as suffering an extreme downturn in the first three weeks of October 2008.
Credit is an exciting space for hedge fund managers, says Manny Roman (HedgeWeek)
Speaking at the Fourth Annual European Alternative Investments Conference hosted by Duff & Phelps in London on Thursday 20 September, Emmanuel Roman (pictured), President and COO of Man Group and CEO of GLG Partners, said that capital constraints being put on investment banks presented a great opportunity for hedge funds today. “I always said, 10 years ago our biggest competitors (in the hedge fund industry) were investment banks,” said Roman, adding that because of Basel III and the increased capital requirements being put on these institutions, there are attractive opportunities for managers to engage in direct lending and buy high yield bonds.
Seattle Council OKs Hedge Fund Manager’s Arena Plan (Finalternatives)
Seattle’s City Council yesterday signed off on a hedge fund manager’s plan to build a new basketball arena in the city, his hometown. The 6-2 vote moves the plan, championed by Valiant Capital Management’s Christopher Hansen, one step closer to final approval; it now only needs the assent of the Metropolitan King County Council, which is expected to consider the matter next month. The County Council is likely to sign off, as it did on the original agreement in July.
Petters-Linked Hedge Funder Says Not Guilty Of New Charges (Finalternatives)
For the second time, a hedge fund manager charged with aiding the Thomas Petters Ponzi scheme has pleaded not guilty. Arrowhead Capital Management founder James Fry entered his plea to new charged brought in July. Fry and Frank Vennes, Petters’ chief fundraiser who also pleaded not guilty to the new charges earlier this month, face 31 counts of wire fraud, bank fraud, securities fraud, money laundering and making false statements.
Altana Wealth launches hard currency fund distribution share class (HedgeWeek)
Altana Wealth, the investment management group launched by hedge fund manager Lee Robinson, has launched a distribution share class for the Altana Hard Currency Fund (AHCF). The distribution share class will pay four per cent annually by means of capital redemptions. It has been created in response to demand from investors who are looking for alternative methods to offset their recurring liabilities, whilst simultaneously seeking capital growth. Traditional instruments which have served this purpose in the past, such as government bonds, now have very low (and in some cases negative) yields.
Asia Hedge Funds Find Fastest GDP Growth Doesn’t Help Returns (SFGate)
The world’s fastest economic growth isn’t helping Asia’s hedge funds. The Eurekahedge Asian index tracking 395 hedge funds returned 1.6 percent this year through August, the worst performer among regions and about half the 3.2 percent gain by the global benchmark. Funds have been hampered by a concentration on Asian equities, which have been driven more by Europe’s debt crisis and China’s slowdown than by company fundamentals such as earnings. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has climbed 8 percent in 2012, compared with the 13 percent gain by the MSCI World Index.
Mason files dissident proxy circular in Telus fight (Reuters)
Top Telus Corp shareholder Mason Capital Management LLC said on Monday it has filed a dissident proxy circular to block the Canadian telecom company’s plan to consolidate its voting and non-voting shares on a one-for-one basis. The U.S. hedge fund is locked in a bitter dispute with Telus, arguing that voting shareholders paid more, on average, for their stock and should be compensated as the two classes merge. Investors will vote on the matter at an Oct. 17 meeting.
More changes at Dallas-based Tuesday Morning Corp. (DallasNews)
A new chairman was named late Monday. Chairman Bruce A. Quinnell is retiring at the next annual meeting on Nov. 7. The board has elected Steven R. Becker to succeed him. In July, Dallas-based hedge fund Becker Drapkin Management LP gained control of four board seats after buying up more than 5 percent of the company’s stock. Co-founder and partner Becker, 45, joined and led the search for a CEO after Kathleen Mason was ousted. Earlier this month, Brady Churches, a former Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE:BIG) executive became CEO.
Palm Beach Moneybags David Koch Exposed? (GossipExtra)
Julie Hayek, Miss USA 1983 and a former girlfriend of the Palm Beach part-timer, is writing a book about the ups and downs of her very active dating life. And for some reason, it always seemed to involve billionaires like Koch, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Prince Albert of Monaco, hedge fund manager Jim Chanos and real estate maven Richard Cohen. Hayek dated the 20-year-older Koch for several years before he married current wife and society function companion Julia Flesher in 1996.
Highfields Capital Acquires a 5.8% Stake in Liberty Ventures (ValueWalk)
Highfields Capital, a hedge fund with well over $7 billion under management, has just reported a 5.8% stake in Liberty Ventures (LVNTA), according to a 13G filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The position is a new one for Highlands Capital. The hedge fund purchased 1,482,738 shares of Liberty Interactive Corporation – Series A Liberty Ventures (NASDAQ:LVNTA) The hedge fund is managed by Jonathon Jacobson’s. Liberty Interactive Corporation – Series A Liberty Ventures (NASDAQ:LVNTA) has a market cap of approximately $1.8B, which would value Highfields’s stake at slightly over $100 million.
Fink Says U.K. Should Go Offshore (Finalternatives)
Former Man Group CEO and International Standard Asset Management chief Stanley Fink thinks the U.K. should be easier on fortunes such as his own. The hedge fund honcho and treasurer of Britain’s governing Conservative Party has said in an interview that he lobbied the country’s chancellor of the Exchequer to do away with “archaic” taxation rules that drive people like himself to tax havens like the Cayman Islands, Channel Islands and Luxembourg.
Comac’s O’Shea Earns €42 Million (Finalternatives)
Comac Capital paid its founder more than €40 million last year, the overwhelming majority of its total payout to partners. The London-based hedge fund paid its 10 partners €54 million last year. Its highest-paid partner, likely founder Colm O’Shea, took home €42.4 million, the firm said. That’s a tidy sum, but a big comedown from 2009, when O’Shea earned €85 million of the €111 million paid out by Comac to its partners.
New Rules, Advertising, Fundraising Among Major Concerns At FINForums Summit (Finalternatives)
With a host of major rule changes and continued fundraising difficulties, it’s no surprise that the regulatory and capital-raising environments took center stage at the FINforums Annual Hedge Fund Summit in New York on Thursday. Rothstein Kass partner Gary Kaminsky warned that the Securities and Exchange Commission is about to become much more aggressive in its enforcement and hedge funds need to be prepared. Sadis & Goldberg partner Ron Geffner, a former SEC attorney, advised funds to hire competent compliance officers—and if they can’t afford a competent compliance officer, to outsource one.
Hedge Funds Remain Best Long-Term Investment (Finalternatives)
Smart investors will not only be in hedge funds over the next 10 years, they’ll be in small, emerging hedge funds, Mark Yusko told the FINforums Annual Hedge Fund Summit in New York on Thursday. The chief investment officer of fund of hedge funds firm Morgan Creek Capital Management and the “father of endowment-style investing” kicked off the day-long event with a high-energy talk that began with the blunt admission that hedge funds have underperformed the market by a whopping 89% over the past three years. But from 1999 to 2009, he said, hedge funds returned 8% while the stock market returned zero — “a big, fat goose egg.” And that’s why, he says, hedge funds will be the place to be over the next 10 years; particularly small, nimble funds investing in the BRICS and riding “the greatest consumptive boom in history” which he expects over the next 20 years in Asia.
Fund Manager’s Son Pleads Not Guilty in Montana Club Death (SFGate)
James Sinclair Welch, the son of a New York hedge-fund manager, pleaded not guilty to charges that he killed a passenger in an all-terrain vehicle while driving intoxicated at Montana’s exclusive Yellowstone Club. Welch, 19, was arrested after the Aug. 2 incident on a charge of negligent vehicular homicide under the influence of alcohol and was arraigned today before Madison County District Court Judge Loren Tucker in state court in Virginia City. “There are two sides to every story,” Welch’s attorney, John E. Smith, said before the hearing.
Hedge Fund MST Capital Turns to TradingScreen’s EMS, TCA (AdvancedTrading)
MST Capital, a global macro trading manager based in Sydney, Australia, announced it’s now using TradingScreen Inc.’s execution management system and transaction cost analysis platforms to trade FX, equities and derivatives. The firm said the move will help it embrace multi-asset class electronic trading, which is rapidly becoming the norm for hedge funds around the world in the wake of a rapidly evolving regulatory and business environment that’s placing a premium on best-execution, transparency and efficiency.
Forbes: America’s 10 Richest Hedge Fund Managers (InvestorPlace)
During the past few years, hedge funds have shown varying results, as mixed markets and retirements have made for some interesting times in the industry. In fact, most hedge fund managers have a hard time just beating the market. Still, some fund managers have managed to do very well for themselves, as Forbes points out in its list of America’s richest hedge fund managers. Here’s a look at the top 10:…
Adelson sets new record in political donations (MacauBusiness)
Sands China Ltd chairman Sheldon Adelson has set a new record in political donations in the United States. According to news outlet Politico, Mr Adelson has given US$70 million (MOP560 million) to the Republicans in the 2012 elections. That is almost triple the previous record, set in 2004 by billionaire financier George Soros, while trying to defeat Republican President George W. Bush, Politico reported.
Marina says no OSI funds during her MAC presidency (TheMalaysianInsider)
The Malaysian AIDS Council did not receive funds from George Soros-linked Open Society Institute (OSI) during Datuk Paduka Marina Mahathir’s presidency, she told The Malaysian Insider today. “Pls clarify that I was President of MAC fm 1994-2005. During my time we nvr rcvd OSI nor Global Fund money,” Marina (picture) said in a Twitter posting to The Malaysian Insider.
Billionaire Soros meets Cristina Fernandez and exchange ideas of world affairs (MercoPress)
Cristina Fernandez highlighted that the investor anticipated Argentina has a “promising future due to its agrarian capacities.” She also stated, after the encounter, that they spoke about “the agriculture in the contemporary world and stressed Argentina’s role as a main actor”. “I was very much interested in hearing his opinion on what is going on in the world”, said the Argentine leader. Asked specifically about the possibility of Soros or his companies investing in Argentina, Cristina Fernandez said it “was not the main issue of the exchange”, but did not confirm or deny the matter.
SEC Charges Tyco for Illicit Payments to Foreign Officials (SEC)
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE:TYC) with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) when subsidiaries arranged illicit payments to foreign officials in more than a dozen countries. The SEC alleges that subsidiaries of the Swiss-based global manufacturer perpetuated schemes that typically involved payments of fake “commissions” or the use of third-party agents to funnel money improperly to obtain lucrative contracts. Overall, Tyco reaped illicit benefits amounting to more than $10.5 million as a result of the paid to win business.
German High-Frequency Bill to Affect Hedge Funds, Official Says (Bloomberg)
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet will vote on a bill tomorrow that limits high-frequency trading even for market participants outside Germany and requires automated orders to be marked as such, a government official said. High-frequency traders will have to seek authorization and will be supervised under the legislation proposal, the official told reporters in Berlin today on condition of anonymity because the bill has not yet been published. High-frequency trade will be curbed and market abuse will be punished, he said in Berlin.
