Hedge fund manager Winton Capital making headway with long-only strategy (PIOnline)
North American investors are helping Winton Capital Management Ltd. make progress — albeit slowly — toward its founder’s goal of becoming a $100 billion company. …Winton Capital managed $25.5 billion as of June 30. The vast majority of the assets are in lucrative managed futures hedge funds for investors that include the $130 billion Teacher Retirement System of Texas, Austin; the £15.6 billion ($26.7 billion) Pension Protection Fund, London; the A$96.6 billion (U.S. $90.9 billion) Australian Future Fund, Melbourne; and the $23 billion Texas County & District Retirement System, Austin.
Hedge funds used ‘dubious’ means to bypass tax rules, senators say (TheGuardian)
More than a dozen hedge funds, with assistance of Barclays and Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:DB), used “dubious” financial products to claim billions in unjustified tax savings and circumvent rules meant to limit risky bets, a Senate subcommittee investigation has found. The Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations (PSI) released a report on its investigations on Monday, before a hearing on Tuesday. The PSI has been investigating a series of tax avoidance schemes by companies including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT).
Griffin ‘Can’t See’ Political Run As Ex-Titan Exec. Seeks Nashville Mayoralty (Finalternatives)
Hedge-fund heavyweight Kenneth Griffin has no political ambitions, but another industry veteran is hoping to lead his hometown. The Citadel Investment Group founder has played an outsized role in this year’s gubernatorial campaign in Illinois, donating more than $3.5 million to Republican challenger Bruce Rauner. The contributions include the state’s single-largest ever, a $2.5 million check cut last month. But Griffin said he expects that giving—and giving generously—is as far as he’ll go in politics.
Napier Park nears independence as Citigroup withdraws capital (FT)
Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C)’s $6bn hedge fund spin-off Napier Park took a further step towards independence on Tuesday as the US bank removed the last remnants of proprietary capital invested in its funds. Citi started its $2.4bn redemption schedule in March last year as the bank sought to comply with the Volcker rule, which bans proprietary trading as well as sponsoring or retaining ownership interest in a hedge fund or private equity fund. “It’s a major milestone for us,” Jim O’Brien, senior managing partner of Napier Park told the Financial Times. “It confirms the viability of the business.”
Cash Crops With Dividends: Financiers Transforming Strawberries Into Securities (NYTimes)
His boots were caked with mud when Thomas S. T. Gimbel, a longtime hedge fund executive, slipped in a strawberry patch. It was the plumpness of a strawberry that had distracted him. Mr. Gimbel, who once headed the hedge fund division of Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS), now spends more time discussing crop yields than stock or bond yields. He is the man on the ground for a group of investors — including New York’s biggest real estate dynasty, two Florida sugar barons and the founder of a multibillion-dollar investment firm — who have been buying up farms across the United States through a real estate investment trust called the American Farmland Company.
Senate scrutinizes hedge funds (CNBC)
Why Hedge Funds Are Expecting Apple To Crush Earnings Estimates (Investing)
Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down with CNBC’s Josh Lipton last week to discuss his firm’s blockbuster partnership to bring International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) business analytics software to Apple’s popular iPhone and iPad consumer devices. At the end of the interview when Tim Cook was asked what he thought of Eddy Cue’s comments that Apple had its best product pipeline Eddy has seen in 25 years prepared for later this year, Tim Cook laughed and noted that he agreed.
Co-investing entering new arena: Hedge funds (PIOnline)
Institutional investors increasingly are translating co-investment experience in private equity, real estate, infrastructure and energy funds to their hedge fund portfolios. Co-investment with hedge fund managers is growing, if a bit slowly, especially with credit and activist equity managers as institutions become more comfortable with an even more direct type of hedge fund investing. Appetite is growing: 52% overall of investors surveyed by J.P. Morgan Capital Introduction Group for its 2014 Institutional Investors Survey said they were willing to participate in hedge fund co-investments.
Hedge Fund Dromeus Turns Greek Tragedy to Triumph With 160% Gain (BusinessWeek)
Dromeus Capital Management SA is turning Greek tragedy into triumph. When Achilles Risvas, chief executive officer of the $240 million investment firm, and Jason Manolopoulos started a fund to wager on Greece’s recovery in October 2012, the country was in intensive care with euro-area governments pushing its leadership to make deeper spending cuts after a bailout. Greece has since largely repaired its finances, returned to the bond market, and according to economists will grow its economy for the first time since 2007.
Lawrence Robbins’s Glenview Keeps the Gains Going (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Lawrence Robbins’s Glenview Capital Management is off to another great start this year. Its flagship long-short equity fund is outpacing the S&P 500, and another equity fund it manages is surging, according to an investor letter obtained by Alpha. The New York-based firm’s assets under management now stand at $9.2 billion, including $2.8 billion in its Glenview Opportunity funds and $6.4 billion in the flagship Glenview Capital Partners long-short equity funds. This is the first time the firm has returned to the $9 billion mark since it entered 2008…
Hauke accounting firm to pay $1.8M in settlement (IBJ)
DeWitt & Shrader PC, an Indianapolis-based accounting firm that worked for convicted Ponzi schemer Keenan Hauke, has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle a state lawsuit, Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson announced Tuesday. Hauke, a prominent money manager from Fishers who led hedge fund Samex Capital Partners LLC, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in December 2011 for securities fraud. DeWitt & Shrader served as the accounting firm for Samex from January 2006 until April 2011.
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