Polar Capital plans global convertibles fund launch (InvestmentWeek)
Polar Capital is planning to launch a UCITS global convertibles fund with a long bias run by its experienced global convertibles team. The fund will be an extension of the group’s existing Polar Capital ALVA Global Convertible hedge fund, domiciled in the Cayman Islands. The group launched the hedge fund – run by David Keetley and Steve McCormick – in 2010, after poaching both from Vicis Capital. The strategy has so far gathered around $40m in assets according to Trustnet data, and the group is keen to create a similar product which has a long bias.
Shares of Third Point Reinsurance open flat in debut (Reuters)
Shares of Third Point Reinsurance Ltd (TPRE.N) hovered around their offer price on the first day of trading, valuing the property and casualty reinsurer at about $1.27 billion. About 3.4 million shares changed hands by 0953 ET, making the stock the most traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Third Point Reinsurance, controlled by billionaire hedge fund manager Dan Loeb, raised $275.6 million after its initial public offering of 22.05 million shares was priced at $12.50 each. Third Point LLC, the $11.6 billion hedge fund run by Loeb, launched its reinsurer arm last year with $750 million in capital. The reinsurer is led by John Berger, former CEO of Alterra Capital Holding’s reinsurance business.
When Shareholder Activism Goes Too Far (Newyorker)
With the hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman having resigned from J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP)’s board of directors on Tuesday, we can now declare the end of his extraordinarily unsuccessful attempt to reinvent J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP). It was months in the making: J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP)’s board fired Ackman’s handpicked C.E.O., the former Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) retail head Ron Johnson, back in April. But Ackman, who still owns more than seventeen per cent of the company, had stayed on the board after Johnson’s departure, and still seemed to harbor hopes of remaking the company. The debacle at J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) is now prompting people to look more skeptically at Ackman, who manages Pershing Square Capital, and that’s fitting. But it should also make us skeptical, in general, of one of the more dubious trends in today’s market: money managers who also fancy themselves corporate visionaries.
Hedge funds lose faith in gold (CNN)
Paulson slashed his position in the SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:GLD), one of the most popular funds for investors seeking exposure to physical gold, by more than half in the second quarter “due to a reduced need for hedging,” the firm said in an e-mailed statement. That’s the largest chunk he has sold since he first announced his big bet on gold in early 2009. Meanwhile, fellow billionaire investor George Soros, who has been lowering his exposure to gold for some time, completely dumped his stake in the gold ETF in the second quarter. So did Dan Loeb’s Third Point Capital.
You only need $50K to be a hedge fund player (Reuters)
Investing in hedge funds or their strategies has never been easier. And the price of admission into what used to be an exclusive club has never been so low. On Monday, Fidelity Investments underscored how the world of hedge fund investing, previously reserved for the uber wealthy, is opening up to mom and pop investors. Fidelity said it struck a deal with The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX) to have clients in Fidelity’s Portfolio Advisory Service (PAS) program – with as little as $50,000 in their accounts – invest in the The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX) Alternative Multi-Manager Fund.
Buffett Acolyte Zhao Returns to China Stocks (Bloomberg)
Zhao Danyang, the Chinese investor who won a charity lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett in 2008, led his hedge funds to post returns three times more than their Asian peers this year by shifting assets back to Chinese stocks. Zhao’s Hong Kong-based Pureheart Capital Asia Ltd. has more than 80 percent of its $217 million in Chinese stocks traded in Hong Kong, Singapore, the U.S. and at home from 50 percent at the start of 2013, said Jerrie Huang, its business development manager. The $162 million Pure Heart Value Investment Fund returned 24 percent this year through July, Huang said. The Eurekahedge Asian Hedge Fund Index rose 8 percent in the first seven months.
