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.
Denner Joins Vivus Activist Slate in First Post-Icahn Move (BusinessWeek)
Alex Denner, the former head of health-care investments for billionaire Carl Icahn, joined the activist slate challenging drugmaker VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS) in the first move of his new fund, Sarissa Capital Management LP. First Manhattan Co., which said it holds about 10 percent of VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS) shares outstanding, added Denner to its proposed slate to bring the total number of potential directors to nine, matching an expansion by VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS) of its board in the past month. Denner’s fund owns about 2 million shares, or 2 percent, of VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS)’s stock, First Manhattan said today in a statement.
P&G CEO Bob McDonald Steps Down After Pressure From Bill Ackman, Activist Investor (BusinessInsider)
Bob McDonald, the 59-year-old CEO of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) and a 33-year veteran of the company, has stepped down suddenly. …Ackman had privately urged the company’s board last year to replace McDonald, according to the Wall Street Journal, and at the Ira Sohn investing conference early this month, the hedge fund manager had said that McDonald only had a couple of quarters to show that he could improve performance. Ackman also took pot shots at McDonald for serving on too many corporate boards, which, he claimed to have calculated, ate up 25% of his time.
Five investments hedge funds are selling (MarketIntelligenceCenter)
The misleading name “hedge fund” refers to a class of investment vehicles that have in common only one trait: that they do not meet the criteria for any investment vehicle that is recognized and regulated by the SEC. The U.S. does limit participation in hedge funds to accredited investors, these being necessarily wealthy and presumably sophisticated. Many hedge funds operate within the U.S., as kicking them out would merely cause them to set up shop elsewhere and would do nothing to stop investors from putting money into them.
