Fresh Off $1.3B Raise, Dyal Fund-Of-Funds Keeps Spending (Law360)
Dyal Capital Partners LP, a $1.28 billion fund-of-hedge-funds managed by private equity firm Neuberger Berman Group LLC, has bought a minority stake in Scopia Fund Management LLC, its fourth hedge fund investment since its launch a year ago. Terms of the deal, including the size of Dyal’s minority stake and the purchase price, were not disclosed. Scopia, which manages about $3.4 billion in assets, will retain control over its operations and investments, and managing partners Matt Sirovich and Jeremy Mindich will remain at the helm. Scopia…
Hedge Fund Manager Bernard Horn’s Stock Picks Include Infosys (InsiderMonkey)
Bernard Horn has been investing in global equities since graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s business school in 1980. Polaris Capital Management, his current fund, was founded in 1995 and recently reported about $4 billion under management. Because of its global nature, Polaris has a particularly wide universe of stocks to invest in. Horn and his team like to narrow down the colossal number of publicly traded companies by using proprietary screening techniques to identify which ones have an attractive level of discretionary cash flow- cash flow from operations less maintenance capital expenditures- in relation to their market value.
Soros-backed Adecoagro takes land gains to $132m (Agrimoney)
Adecoagro realised more of the substantial gains within its 283,000-hectare landbank by selling one of its Argentine farms in a deal valuing it at 11 times the purchase price a decade ago. The South America farm operator, in which billionaire George Soros’s investment group is the top shareholder, said it had sold 51% of the company controlling its Santa Regina farm, in Buenos Aires province, for $13.0m, equivalent to $7,058 per hectare. The, unnamed, buyer has an option, expiring in June 2014, to buy the rest of the farm at $7,370 per hectare, taking the total bill to $26.1m.
U.S. Has Been Let Down by Its Leadership (Economonitor)
The deal reached in Washington on New Year’s day prevented the US economy from falling off the so-called fiscal cliff. However, given the dysfunctional nature of the American political system, it won’t be long before there is another crisis. Two months, in fact. If no action is taken by March 1, $110bn of spending cuts will commence. At about the same time, the US will hit its statutory debt limit, known colloquially as the debt ceiling.
Almost All of Wall Street Got 2012 Market Calls Wrong (Bloomberg)
From John Paulson’s call for a collapse in Europe to Morgan Stanley (MS)’s warning that U.S. stocks would decline, Wall Street got little right in its prognosis for the year just ended. Paulson, who manages $19 billion in hedge funds, said the euro would fall apart and bet against the region’s debt. Morgan Stanley predicted the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index would lose 7 percent and Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) foresaw wider swings in equity prices. All of them proved wrong last year and investors would have done better listening to Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein, who said the real risk was being too pessimistic.
Paulson Resort Inks New Deal for PGA West (WSJ)
A Coachella Valley golf resort that was recently purchased out bankruptcy by the Singapore government has struck a new deal with the PGA PG -0.63%, ensuring the home of The Bob Hope Classic will continue to operate under the PGA West banner. The owners of California’s La Quinta Resort & Club PGA West, a group led by hedge-fund manager John Paulson’s Paulson & Co., have inked a new deal that will see the 2,000-acre property remain a PGA-branded resort through 2061. The pact allows the hedge fund to transfer the licensing agreement to the resort’s new prospective owner: the real-estate investment arm of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, which wants to buy the Paulson-owned resort and three others for $1.5 billion.
The world’s most profitable hedge fund is… (eFinancialNews)
SAC Capital International, Cohen’s long/short equity strategy, tops the ranking of the 20 most profitable hedge funds in the world (see table). The $9bn fund, which was the third most profitable hedge fund in the previous year’s rankings, gained 10% in the first 10 months of last year, after 8% in 2011. It brought home $789.5m in profits. Performance puts it at 86th place in Bloomberg’s rankings of the best performing large hedge funds, but SAC was propelled up the profitability rankings by the high fees it charges, with a 3% management fee and performance fees of up to 50%, according to investors.
