Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS), The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)
Are macro funds finally staging a comeback this year? After posting disappointing numbers in 2012 — when the average macro-focused hedge fund fell by 0.40 percent, according to Chicago-based industry tracker Hedge Fund Research — several brand-name managers are posting strong returns this year. Louis Bacon‘s New York-based Moore Capital Management, Andrew Law’s New York-based Caxton Associates and Paul Tudor Jones II’s Greenwich, Connecticut-based Tudor Investment Corp. are among the famous macro management firms posting strong returns in 2013. Experts say successful macro investors this year have correctly bet on the ferocious rally in the Japanese stock market and the decline in the yen…
Argentina raids factory of US investor head of a hedge fund litigating defaulted sovereign bonds (MercoPress)
The federal tax agency, AFIP said more than 50 agents were searching Dart Sudamericana, a business owned by Kenneth Dart that makes foam drinking cups. The statement noted that Dart is part of a hedge fund, EM Limited, seeking more than 700 million dollars on bonds that the government defaulted on in 2001. Dart is not part of two other hedge funds — NML Capital and Aurelius — that separately are seeking another 1.3 billion dollars from Argentina as full payment on defaulted bonds.
Hedge Funds Bulk Up in Bond Trading (BusinessWeek)
As banks abandon debt trading, hedge funds that bet on bonds and loans are pulling in money from investors and hiring traders. Debt-focused hedge funds drew $41.4 billion from pension plans, wealthy individuals, and other investors in 2012, the most since 2007, according to data from Hedge Fund Research. They managed a total of $639.7 billion as of March 31, HFR data show, surpassing stock-trading hedge funds, with $638.7 billion. Regulators are demanding that banks curb proprietary trading—betting with their own money—and hold more capital to back riskier investments. That’s allowed hedge funds to expand in businesses the banks are leaving, including distressed-debt trading and fixed-income arbitrage, a strategy that seeks to exploit short-term price differentials. “Hedge funds are playing in asset classes where they previously hadn’t played,” says Jason Rosiak, head of portfolio management at Pacific Asset Management.
Icahn wants $7 billion for Dell deal (BusinessTech)
Activist investor Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management Inc have initiated talks with banks and asset managers to line up commitments for as much as $7 billion in bridge loans to back their leveraged recapitalization proposal for Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), banking sources told Thomson Reuters LPC on Thursday. Jefferies & Co is leading the deal. Icahn and Southeastern are looking to lock in the financing before Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) shareholders meet in July to vote on a rival take-private offer from CEO Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners. Icahn and Southeastern are seeking at least $5.2 billion and as much as $7 billion in lender commitments, sources said.
